The Strange Case of Xiaobaicai

Brief introduction to the case The unjust case of Yang Naiwu and Xiaobaicai In October of the twelfth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1873), a murder occurred in Yuhang Town, the seat of Yuhang County, Zhejiang Province. Ge Pinlian, a tofu shop clerk, died of a sudden illness. The county magistrate Liu Xitong suspected that Yang Naiwu, a member of the county, had seduced Ge Pinlian's wife Bi Xiugu and poisoned Ge Pinlian to death. He tortured Yang Naiwu and Bi Xiugu severely to extract a confession. The crime of "scheming a husband and stealing a wife" was reported to the Hangzhou government office and the Zhejiang Provincial Office. Hangzhou Prefecture and Zhejiang Province also broke off the relationship as originally planned and reported it to the Ministry of Punishment. Later, Yang Naiwu's sister Yang Shuying took control of Beijing for the second time, which alarmed a group of justice officials in the court and jointly appealed. The imperial court ordered that the Ministry of Punishment open the coffin and perform an autopsy, and then the truth came out and the injustice was cleared up. Background of the unjust case Yang Naiwu, a native of Yuhang, lives in Qingcheng Lane, Qianjie Street, Yuhang Town. In August of the twelfth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty, he won the imperial examination at the age of 33. He was an upright man and liked to take care of injustices for good reasons. He had deep grudges with Liu Xitong, the magistrate of Yuhang County. At that time, there was a beautiful girl named Bi Xiugu in the town. Because she often wore green clothes and white skirts, her neighbors called her "Little Baicai". When she was 18 years old, she married Ge Pinlian and rented a room in the back room of Yang Naiwu's house. The two families got along harmoniously. Bi Xiugu often came to Yang's house to chat and eat, and Yang Naiwu taught Bi Xiugu how to read. The bad guys in the neighborhood spread the rumor that "sheep (yang) eat cabbage."