In the fourth year of the Chui Gong era, Di Renjie served as the governor of Jiangnan. During an inspection of Lin'an County, which was under his jurisdiction, he encountered a chaotic case. An old man named Meng Yunde accused his son-in-law Li Dayou of killing his daughter Meng Xianglian and his son Meng Yang, while Li Dayou counter-accused his father-in-law of hiding Meng Xianglian with the intention of marrying her off to another man. It turned out that Meng Xianglian had returned to her parental home in anger after a quarrel with Li Dayou. After Meng Xianglian returned home, Li Dayou's mother fell ill out of anger, and Li Dayou had no choice but to invite Meng Xianglian back to take care of her. Li Dayou went to Meng Xianglian's home and tried every means to persuade her to return. Meng Xianglian agreed to go back, but it was already late, so her younger brother Meng Yang would send her back the next day. Due to worries about his mother, Li Dayou hurried home that night. However, after several days, he did not see Meng Xianglian return. When he went back to request her, he was informed by his father-in-law that they had already set off long ago. With two living people suddenly missing, Li Dayou suspected that his father-in-law had hidden his wife away to marry her off to someone else, while Meng Yunde suspected that Li Dayou had killed his wife and son. The magistrate of Lin'an County, Zhou Congshan, was unsure of how to handle the situation and could only seek help from Di Renjie.
