Chapter 230: Yue Palace Token

He Yanxiu had changed into clean clothes at this time, but his hair was not dry yet and was still dripping with water. He had to wrap himself in a cloak to avoid catching a cold.

"I have carefully checked secretly just now, and I didn't find any suspicious people among those young masters with anything suspicious." Shi Ding replied, "But judging from Chai Mingjun's wound, it is probably a short dagger or something like that. If the murderer had carefully planned the murder, he could have thrown it into the boat or into the river during the chaos."

"I just went into the river with a few other people to search. Although the water was relatively calm at this time, it was too deep and there was a lot of water plants and mud at the bottom of the river. It was also dark, so we didn't find the murder weapon. But I found this in the river."

He Yanxiu took the thing that Shi Ding handed over and looked at it carefully.

It is a token made of fine iron, with a small word "Chi" engraved on the front.

Chi is a monster that harms people in the mountains and forests in legend.

He Yanxiu was the only one he had heard of in the whole world with this name.

That is the Prince of Yue’s Palace.

He Yanxiu's pupils suddenly tightened, "This matter is actually related to the Prince of Yue's Palace?"

Shi Ding nodded. "I just don't know if this Chai Mingjun is from the Prince of Yue's Palace, or if he was killed by someone from the Prince of Yue's Palace. I just made some inquiries and found out that this Chai Mingjun is the eldest son of the nearby Chai Tongzhi. The Tongzhi is only a sixth-rank official, and the things he knows are very limited. With such an identity..."

There is probably no need for the King of Yue to send anyone here.

"And just now I heard from others that Chai Mingjun is an upright person who is obsessed with poetry and books. He can't even ride a horse. He is a weak scholar who can't even tie a chicken. He doesn't seem like someone who can become a minion of the Prince of Yue's Palace."

All in all, this matter is quite strange.

"This token came out of nowhere. You stay here for a while and see the results of Magistrate Lin's investigation, and then investigate the Chai family thoroughly." He Yanxiu put the token away and gave the order.

"Yes, I obey your command." Shi Ding bowed and responded, called two guards to go with him, and disappeared into the night.

Because of the fire on the pleasure boat and the murder tonight, County Magistrate Lin ordered that all the boats and personnel present at the time be detained for two days, questioned one by one and the boats be searched in order to find the murder weapon.

He Yanxiu and Su Yujin's boats also had to dock near the pier.

The investigation could start and end at any time, so the two decided not to go ashore to find an inn for the time being. They just stayed on the boat for the time being and sent Xing'an and others to the shore to replenish drinking water and some food.

While waiting for questioning, Su Yujin was quite nervous, "Second Master went to rescue that person, but something like this happened. Will Second Master get into trouble because of this?"

When sailing at night, there were always fires in pleasure boats and people being assassinated. Su Yujin had to speculate on conspiracy theories and worry secretly.

"How could that be?" He Yanxiu explained with a smile, "To convict a person, you need to confirm the witness, the material evidence, and the intention. It can be said that none of them can be missing. Even if one of them is missing, the other two must be very clear and the person must plead guilty."

"At that time, many people saw that the man had stopped struggling after falling into the water before I went to save him. This shows that he had been stabbed before I went to save him. This is one reason."

"We were just passing through here. We didn't know those people, and we never had any dispute with Chai Mingjun, so we didn't intend to kill him. This is the second reason."

"And if I really want to kill someone, I will naturally not save him and get myself into trouble. This is the third reason. It can be said that I have no suspicion at all, and I will not be involved in any trouble."

"What's more, I am the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and Chai Mingjun is just the son of a Tongzhi, a scholar by birth. If I really dislike him, I can find any fault with him and punish him and his father. There is no need to do this."

Said...

That makes a lot of sense! Su Yujin nodded repeatedly, and only heaved a sigh of relief when Magistrate Lin brought the yamen runners to question her and He Yanxiu and determined that he had no suspicion of killing Chai Mingjun.

Especially after learning about He Yanxiu's identity, he was even more respectful, "It's Master He, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I was offended just now, I hope Master He will forgive me."

"It is my duty, Lord Lin. Since I am involved in this matter, I naturally have to cooperate." He Yanxiu nodded slightly and asked, "It's just that a good person was assassinated in front of me. I am really angry. I wonder if Lord Lin has made any progress in his investigation of this case?"

When asked, County Magistrate Lin frowned, then sighed, "I am incompetent and have not yet found the murder weapon. And just now, after asking everyone, I learned that Chai Mingjun struggled in the water for a while after falling into the water, which shows that he was not killed when he fell into the water."

"After they fell into the water, the testimonies of others all said that they had not seen anyone approaching, and the other two who fell into the water were struggling on the spot. It can be seen that it was probably not someone present who committed the crime. It is possible that someone took advantage of the chaos to sneak into the water, assassinated Chai Mingjun, and then dived away and left secretly."

If this is true, then things will be difficult.

This is a canal. The place where the incident occurred is adjacent to the dock, and there are many people coming and going. Finding the murderer of Chai Mingjun would be harder than climbing to the sky.

The more County Magistrate Lin spoke, the more worried he became.

"This case is indeed difficult to handle." He Yanxiu also frowned, "We can only do our best."

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Do your best and leave the rest to fate.

"Yes." County Magistrate Lin replied with a frown.

All the people staying here at this time were merchants traveling from the south and the north, and there was no time to waste. After the first round of interrogation, County Magistrate Lin asked those who had no possibility of committing the crime to sign and seal their testimonies and leave first.

This included the ship that He Yanxiu and Su Yujin were on.

The boatman is ready to sail.

"Please stay." Someone came hurriedly and stopped him, "Master He, please stay!"

He Yanxiu raised his hand, walked from the cabin to the bow, looked at the man briefly, and raised his eyebrows slightly, "Are you the person who fell into the water that I and Xing'an rescued last night?"

The man who was caught by Xing'an and then dragged to the side of the boat by He Yanxiu was able to save his life.

"That's right. I'm Su Wenxuan. Thanks to Lord He and the young man who came to my rescue last night, I was able to save my life. I will never forget such a great kindness."

Su Wenxuan bowed respectfully three times to show his respect and gratitude, then he stood up and said, "I should have come earlier to thank you, but because of the interrogation by the government last night, Lord He and I were both suspected, so it was inconvenient for me to come and talk to Lord He, so I have delayed it until now."

"My family used to trade in grain and porcelain, and we often traded with vassal states. Our family was considered wealthy. However, during the summer flood a few years ago, my father donated almost all of his wealth to disaster relief. The emperor was so generous that he granted my father the title of Viscount of Anmin County."

In ancient times, the titles of duke, marquis, earl, viscount and baron were different in different dynasties. The titles here refer to the Song Dynasty. The duke, marquis, earl, viscount and baron were all based on their fiefdoms: dukes were given titles for more than 2,000 households, marquises were given titles for more than 1,000 households, earls were given titles for more than 700 households, viscounts were given titles for more than 500 households, and barons were given titles for more than 300 households. The corresponding ranks were: kings were first rank, heirs of kings, princes of counties, and dukes were second rank, dukes of counties and founding dukes were second rank, county dukes were second rank, marquises were third rank, earls were fourth rank, viscounts were fifth rank, and barons were fifth rank (the above information comes from Baidu) 　　 　 (End of this chapter)