The head constable was experienced in investigating cases. He glanced at the names of the two and said, "This Yang Ming did have his official seal stamped at the government office, but this Li Qi did not."
"How did the captain know?" Xiao Tuo asked.
"Because the Lord of the Household Department has been ill these days, and I just happened to have no tasks, the Lord transferred me to the household registration office. I am very sure that Li Qi's official certificate has not been stamped. Moreover, you see, Li Qi's official certificate was only stamped at the government office yesterday. How could I not remember what happened yesterday? Moreover, it says here that he is from Zhangzhou. He needs to pass through seven prefectures on his way to Beijing, but he only has three prefecture seals, which means that his official certificate is forged. Why did he forge it? Because he is a local. Everyone from outside the area must have a public certificate, only the locals don't."
Xiao Tuo immediately asked the shopkeeper, "Do you still remember what this Li Qi looks like?"
"Remember, remember." The shopkeeper said quickly.
The waiter also said, "I remember it too."
Liu Yue heard from the side, "Is it the one who lives next door to me? I remember him too. I've seen him twice."
"That's good. Let's ask the artist to draw his appearance right away," said Xiao Tuo.
Liu Yue said: "Why bother? I will draw it myself."
Her painting skills have improved recently, and this is a good opportunity to verify this.
"You?" Xiao Tuo looked at her with some disbelief.
"certainly."
The waiter prepared the stationery, Liu Yue recalled the man's appearance, and wrote with a flourish.
After a moment, she picked up the scroll and handed it to Xiao Tuo. Xiao Tuo took a look at it, frowned, and then showed it to the shopkeeper and the waiter, "Does it look like it?"
The shopkeeper and the waiter were stunned for a moment and shook their heads together, "Not like that."
Liu Yue snatched it back and said angrily, "How is it different? It looks like it to me."
The shopkeeper said, "The eyebrows are not so dark, the face is not so square, and the eyes are not so big."
Xiao Tuo was speechless, and said to the captain: "You go and invite the painter, I will go back to report to the prince first, and then we will meet at the princess's mansion."
Liu Yue packed up her things and looked at the portrait again. It was indeed not very similar, so she followed Xiao Tuo dejectedly.
The waiter and the shopkeeper would naturally go back with them. Since three of them had seen the thief, the portrait should be able to be drawn very accurately.
When Xiao Tuo and others returned to Prince Liang's Mansion, everyone had already moved to the Princess's Mansion, so they had no choice but to go to the Princess's Mansion again.
Murong Jie and Zi'an both changed color when they heard that the blood antelope's horn had disappeared.
As soon as he found out the situation, Su Qing brought Xia Lin here. Xia Lin also brought Yuan Cuiyu, who accompanied him and also wanted to visit the princess.
Prince An said, "Since someone has seen the thief, let's ask Cuiyu to paint him. I'm sure she can paint better than the painter."
Murong Jie looked at his mother-in-law, "What do you think?" He knew that she had not painted for a long time and wondered whether she was willing.
Yuan Cuiyu's heart knot had long been untied, she said: "Okay."
Seeing that she agreed, Prince An quietly breathed a sigh of relief. He had always hoped that she would paint again because it meant that she had abandoned the sad things of the past.
Yuan Cuiyu asked the three people about Li Qi's appearance, and their answers were slightly different.
Murong Jie frowned and said, "It's clearly the same person, why are they saying different things? How can the county lady paint this picture?"
Yuan Cuiyu smiled, "It's okay, just merge them."
In fact, the three of them said the same thing, but there were problems in the expression. Yuan Cuiyu used to specialize in painting portraits for a period of time. Although she had not picked up a painting brush for a long time, she was not rusty about it.
She sketched an outline with just a few strokes, and the outline was definitely correct because the three of them said in unison that it was a square face. The eyebrows, eyes, nose, and lips all had different opinions. It was like Liu Yue said that his eyes were big, but the waiter said they were not very big, because he met a lot of people every day and must have seen a lot of people with big eyes, so he thought that Li Qi's eyes were not particularly big.
After the painting was finished, Yuan Cuiyu handed the portrait to Xiao Tuo, who unfolded it in front of the three people. The three people were stunned and pointed at the portrait and said, "Yes, it's him, exactly the same."
Liu Yue was immediately astonished by Yuan Cuiyu's beauty. She said in admiration, "You haven't even seen him, how come he painted her so closely?"
Yuan Cuiyu smiled, "Ordinary people have two eyes, a nose, and a mouth, but they are all different sizes, so it doesn't look weird when they are drawn."
Xiao Tuo handed the portrait to the captain, and Murong Jie ordered, "Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, you must find this person, and quickly."
"Yes, Your Highness!" The captain of the police took the order and left.
Murong Jie gave the order personally, and the government office did not dare to be negligent. In addition to the government office, patrol guards were also dispatched to find this person in a short period of time.
Sure enough, there was news the next day.
The head of the police arrested this man and Liu Yue recognized him at a glance, "It's him!"
The man had wounds on his face, probably from torture. The head of the police reported, "Your Highness, this man is Zhang Qi, a refugee from the city. He has confessed that he stole the blood antelope horn, but he has already given it to the person who ordered him to do so."
"Who instructed you to steal the bloody antelope horn?" Murong Jie asked coldly.
Zhang Qi knelt on the ground, begging for mercy, "Your Majesty, please spare my life. I am just collecting money, and I don't know him. He found me the day before yesterday and gave me a public certificate, asking me to stay at Yuelai Inn, and then wait for an opportunity to steal the antelope horn in the next room. After the task is completed, he will give me 100 taels of silver. I was greedy for money, so I agreed."
"Who ordered you to do that?" Murong Jie asked coldly, as if he hadn't heard his explanation.
"I said I don't know him, he came to me on his own initiative," Zhang Qi defended.
Murong Jie slowly raised his head, his lips curled up with a trace of cruel coldness, "Take him to the torture room, chop off his fingers first, and if he still doesn't talk, chop off his toes one by one."
"yes!"
Zhang Qi was so scared that he kowtowed repeatedly, "Your Majesty, please spare my life. I really don't know. I have never seen this person before. Please spare me."
"Take him away!" Murong Jie said sternly.
Xiao Tuo immediately dragged Zhang Qi away. Zhang Qi turned back and begged for mercy, looking really wronged.
Liu Liu couldn't bear it and said, "Your Majesty, maybe he really doesn't know."
Before Murong Jie could speak, Liu Yue said, "This grandson must know that he is lying."
Liu Liu asked, "How do you know he is lying?"
Liu Yue snorted, "I can tell at a glance. If he didn't know this person, why is the official certificate only one character different from his? This proves that the person who forged the official certificate knew him a long time ago and knew his name. Of course, this can be said to be that the other party knew him, but he didn't know the other party. However, his eyes were evasive and his face was guilty, which clearly showed that he was hiding something. I am very good at judging people, and I am sure this point is correct. I believe that the prince thinks so too."
Murong Jie nodded and looked at Liu Yue with appreciation, "Yes, it seems that the leader of the Salt Gang is indeed worthy of his reputation."
Zi'an laughed. These big shots, each of them had a very stupid private life, but when it came to doing serious work, each one was more powerful than the other.
(End of this chapter)