After a short rest, Chu Mingyun and Su Shiyu set off to the home of Zheng Wan, who was killed first.
His predecessor, Right Fufeng Zheng Wan, has been dead for more than a month, and his body has long since been buried in the ground for safety. However, his home is still a piece of plain clay. The maid came out to greet a woman in a filial attire. The white hairpin was slanted on her slightly messy temples.
After a few words of comfort, they were led directly to the hospital where the accident occurred. The government has come to check it before, and a funeral has already been held. Most of the objects here are not as they were at the time of the incident, except for the faint blood stains on the stone slabs of the courtyard, which silently remember everything that happened.
After Su Shiyu stood in front of the desk and looked at it for a long time, he picked up a few documents and pondered on something. Chu Mingyun took his eyes back, but felt that there was nothing to see in the courtyard, so he turned and walked towards Mrs. Zheng.
The appearance of Zheng Wan's death is still vivid in his mind. This other courtyard has become a wound in Mrs. Zheng's heart. She doesn't want to set foot there again, so she has been waiting for them outside the hospital.
"Mrs. Zheng," Chu Mingyun asked, "Since it is said that your husband was killed in the middle of the night, what is he doing here by not going back to his room to sleep in the middle of the night?"
"There are still some official documents in the government office, so my husband brought them back and reviewed them in the study." Mrs. Zheng replied slowly.
"Zheng Wan is always like this?"
"It's not often," she thought for a while, and said, "If there are some important documents that have just arrived, my husband is used to taking them home and reading them slowly."
"So if the murderer is not a servant in your house, he is someone you know well." A gentle voice sounded behind him, and Su Shiyu walked steadily.
Chu Mingyun looked at him and smiled slightly: "What did Master Su see?"
"Originally, I didn't find any useful clues," Su Shiyu said, "but Master Chu's question just reminded me."
"...Master Censor, why do you say that?" Mrs. Zheng looked at Su Shiyu, her eyes flashing.
Su Shiyu smiled lightly, "It's just my guess, but it should be the same. There are guards' bodies in this courtyard, which means that the murderer's skills are not good enough to not disturb anyone, but no one in the other courtyards in the palace knows about it. In fact, even you, Madam, only found out that Mr. Zheng was killed in the early morning of the next day, so it seems that the murderer entered here directly."
Mrs. Zheng frowned and looked at him puzzled, "What does what your lord said have anything to do with the identity of the murderer you just said?"
Chu Mingyun already understood, "What he means is that the other party must know that Zheng Wan has the habit of approving official documents here, and if he knows the layout of your mansion, he can find it directly, not someone he doesn't know." He paused. After a pause, he turned his head to face Su Shiyu and said, "It must be someone who knows that Zheng Wan has an important official document that night."
Su Shiyu nodded and was about to speak when he heard Madam Zheng's trembling voice say, "How could it be..."
They looked at her slightly surprised.
"How... it's possible..." Madam Zheng twisted her sleeves tightly with her fingers, unable to accept it, "My husband is kind, and the people in the house have never been mistreated, and they have all served for many years, and no one left after the accident. , even the little girl from the accountant's family came to comfort me... How could they be murderers!"
"Mrs. Zheng..."
"If it's someone you know..." Tears welled up in her eyes, her body trembled slightly, and the maid beside her hurriedly supported her, her head bowed in a state of sympathy. Mrs. Zheng took a deep breath and stared straight at them. She was so confused that she almost questioned, "If you know him well, why would you want to attack them?"
Chu Mingyun and Su Shiyu were speechless.
Madam Zheng turned her head away, covered her face and wept silently.
Not long after they returned to the mansion, Su Xing came to care about the investigation. Su Shiyu smiled lightly and said that there was still no result. Seeing Su Xing's expression, he seemed to have something to say, so he asked, "What else is there for uncle?"
Su Xing glanced back, and the head bookkeeper came forward and said: "Report to the two adults, today, among the people who went out of the city, a sneaky person was caught, and he was tortured just now. He believed that he was the one who killed Lord Zheng... "
Chu Mingyun couldn't help sneering and said, "I haven't checked the clues for so long, but now I can let you guys catch them all at once?"
"Perhaps I know that the two adults are coming, and I can't hold it anymore."
Su Shiyu looked at him for a moment, then smiled softly, "Alright."
Oil lamps were burning in the prison, and the jailers saluted them and stood aside. The middle-aged man in the prison was dozing off, his temples bulging slightly under his scattered hair, and the palm resting on his side was thick.
The man was startled by the sound, opened his eyes in a daze, and suddenly woke up when he saw the person coming, his face actually showed a look of horror. Before anyone could react, the man suddenly knelt down and pulled a loud sound from the iron chain. He said to Chu Mingyun with great fear: "Sir...Sir, please spare your life!"
Chu Mingyun looked at him inexplicably, "Are you talking to me?"
"It's... it's not good for my subordinates to do things... but..." The man raised his head and glanced at Chu Mingyun quickly, shaking like a sieve, "I beg your lord to raise your hand!"
The jailers all took a breath and stared at Chu Mingyun invariably.
Su Shiyu watched thoughtfully, but did not speak.
Chu Mingyun tilted his head and looked at him for a moment, then suddenly shook his head and smiled, "I don't know if I want to drag me into the water. I don't have someone as ugly as you."
The man choked suddenly.
Su Xing glanced at Chu Mingyun with a subtle expression, then turned to Su Shiyu and said, "Yu'er, why don't you ask?"
Su Shiyu smiled lightly and said, "Since he is begging Lord Chu, then Lord Chu shall make the decision."
Hearing the words, the man hurriedly looked at Su Shiyu and pleaded repeatedly: "Lord Censor! Caomin committed a serious crime, and he knew he should die... But, my wife and child are innocent after all, and I ask the lord to rescue them."
The meaning of these words is quite deep, Su Shiyu narrowed his eyes to look at him, but did not smile.
Chu Mingyun glanced at Su Shiyu with a smile, and then said to the man again: "Okay, stop shouting. Let me ask you, it has been so long since Zheng Wan was killed, why didn't you escape from Fufeng County earlier, why did you appear today? already?"
The man looked straight at Chu Mingyun, his face was a little distorted, and said, "I just follow the orders. Since you are trying to clear yourself up, how can I explain it."
"Heh," Chu Mingyun said coldly, "you said you were my subordinate and acted according to my orders, so now you insist on what I'm doing?"
The man avoided his gaze and lowered his head, "As the lord said, I'm just a chess piece that I can throw away at any time, so I can't count as your subordinate. It's just a fight to see if I can let it go. My wife was lucky to survive."
"What happened to your wife and child?" he said with a smile.
"I'm afraid your lord knows this better than me..."
Chu Mingyun narrowed his eyes slightly, but he was about to step forward but someone suddenly grabbed his arm. He turned to look, and Su Shiyu smiled at him, "Seeing that he is emotionally unstable, I probably can't ask anything. There is no need for interrogation. In a hurry, Master Chu is also tired today, why don't you go back to rest first?"
Chu Mingyun frowned and looked at Su Shiyu's expression, then turned his head and responded perfunctorily.
This development was really exciting, and when the group left the cell, the prison guards could finally get together without any scruples and chatted happily. Outside the cell, the main bookkeepers who were following along with their entourage also had strange expressions.
Su Xing couldn't help but pulled Su Shiyu and whispered: "Yu'er, look at the situation just now..."
However, Su Shiyu rarely interrupted him, his tone was still gentle and calm, "It is not uncommon to use one-sided words to slander the powerful, and there is no evidence that it is the person who committed the murder, and my uncle should not make a premature conclusion. ."
Chu Mingyun walked in front alone and heard clearly, and chuckled lightly without emotion. He knew in his heart that no matter how much the man's words could confuse people, it couldn't make Su Shiyu suspicious of him. It wasn't because Su Shiyu trusted him, but the man believed in his own judgment.
Even so, he was still faintly irritable. After all, Chu Mingyun had always had a bad temper, so he was just messing around with Su Shiyu, and he really had no patience for others.
I don't know if Su Shiyu noticed that he was in a bad mood. In the next two days, Su Shiyu unexpectedly neither went to the cell for interrogation, nor to Zheng Wan's house, but pulled Chu Mingyun to pile up Fufeng County due to Zheng Wan's death. Most of the official documents were approved for help, so Chu Mingyun was even more irritable.
When Su Shiyu knocked on his door with a few books at night, Chu Mingyun put one hand on the door frame and said unbearably, "Master Su, if you didn't come to sleep with you, please come back."
Su Shiyu lit up the book in front of his eyes. It was not an official document but a military book. "You don't have to sleep. I'm afraid there will be a change tonight. You and I will wait in your room."
Chu Mingyun raised his eyebrows slightly, took back his hand and let him enter the room, "What happened?"
"I don't know exactly how it will happen." Su Shiyu put the things on the table, "but I have already told my uncle to leave Fufeng County to check elsewhere. If they don't do it tonight, they will have no chance."
"They?" Chu Mingyun sat down opposite him, "What do you know?"
"It's just a guess," Su Shiyu smiled. "Organized crimes always have to be dispatched. In the past two days, I compared the time and place of the five murders of officials before and after, and found that if the mastermind was here, the time would be exactly right. ."
"So you're going to use the two of us as bait?"
Su Shiyu raised his eyes to look at him, the candlelight reflected his pupils like ink, and he said with some jokes: "Is it possible that Master Chu is afraid?" The gentle voice was slightly provoked at the end, and he seemed to hide a smile. I mean, it sounds really good.
Chu Mingyun was stunned for a while like this, and then he smiled and said, "Didn't you come to my room because you were afraid?"
Su Shiyu shook his head and said with a chuckle, "I'm here just for convenience, Master Chu is over-hearted."
"Why do you have to explain," Chu Mingyun said with a smile, "Is it so hard to say that you want me to protect you with such a thin skin?"
Su Shiyu looked at him silently for a moment, then suddenly said, "By the way, I wanted to ask you something earlier."
"Um?"
"Master Chu is so thick-skinned, won't he feel hot?" Su Shiyu asked seriously.
"..." Chu Mingyun replied solemnly: "Would you like to touch it?"
Su Shiyu silently picked up a military book and handed it over, ending the conversation.
Chu Mingyun glanced down at the title of the book, "I've read it, change it."