Wu Song returned home to find his brother Wu Da dead and learned from Pan Jinlian’s lies that he supposedly died of a heart ailment. Skeptical, Wu Song investigated with coroner He Jiushu, uncovering that Wu Da had been poisoned by Pan Jinlian and Ximen Qing. When the magistrate refused to take the case, Wu Song took matters into his own hands, interrogating Pan Jinlian at home until she confessed. Enraged, Wu Song personally executed both Pan Jinlian’s accomplice and Ximen Qing. Honoring his fallen brother, he paid tribute at Wu Da’s altar. The magistrate, acknowledging the circumstances, exiled Wu Song to Mengzhou.
