Chapter 123 Angry

◎Jinjiang exclusive◎

Because Zhou Jin and his wife had found the recently missing woman in the Suguo Mansion's manor and had also captured an aide to Lan Renhao, the Duke of Suguo's son, on the spot, this naturally alerted the Dali Temple. Upon receiving Zhou Jin and others' report, the Dali Temple sent people to temporarily seal off the Suguo Mansion's manor...

Later, officials from the Dali Temple unexpectedly unearthed the remains of over forty women in the farmyard where livestock were raised! The coroner confirmed that these were the remains of most of the women who had gone missing in recent years!

Some of the corpses have turned into white bones, while others have not yet rotted, indicating that the culprit who killed them has been committing crimes continuously in the past few years!

This extremely cruel case not only caused an uproar among the people of Kyoto, but even Emperor Chengqian was alarmed because it involved the Duke Su's Mansion!

A special imperial decree was issued, strictly ordering the Dali Temple to investigate the case as soon as possible!

When the Dali Temple was trying this case, the streets of Kyoto were deserted and everyone ran to the gate of the Dali Temple to watch!

At the beginning of the trial, the two surviving women rescued by Zhou Jin and his wife testified that the culprit who hurt them was not the staff member, but Lan Renhao, the prince of Suguo, himself!

Lan Renhao naturally refused to admit it and put all the blame on his staff, saying that it was his staff who did these things behind his back and he was not aware of it!

He also found several witnesses to prove that he was in the mansion at the time and had not gone anywhere! He also accused the two women of falsely accusing him!

At the time, Zhou Jin's side suggested that they could examine the evidence left at the scene, such as the possibility that Lan Renhao's fingerprints were on the whip he was holding, or that his footprints were left in the secret room...

However, the Dali Temple official investigating the case stated that while the steel whip Zhou Jin and others had mentioned was indeed found at the scene, Lan Renhao's fingerprints were not found on it, nor were any footprints or other evidence proving Lan Renhao's presence at the scene.

Zhou Jin's team was immediately put on the defensive because they hadn't caught Lan Renhao on the spot. Apart from witnesses, they had no direct evidence to prove that Lan Renhao was the murderer.

But the people of Kyoto are not fools. How could they believe that a small staff member of the Duke Su's Mansion dared to commit such a serious crime!

Therefore, public opinion tends to believe that Lan Renhao is the murderer of those women!

The families of the women who were brutally murdered by Lan Renhao gathered in front of the Duke of Su's mansion and burned paper money...

Duke Su of Su, Lan Ting, also felt ashamed because of what had happened in the manor. Faced with the family members who came to the manor to cause trouble, he simply ordered the gates to be closed and forbade the servants to beat or drive them away...

But Duke Suguo didn't believe the two women's accusation that his son was the culprit who killed those women. He felt that no matter how despicable his son was, he would not do such a beastly thing!

Also, because Zhou Jin was Emperor Chengqian's latest confidant, and Mu Feng was Emperor Chengqian's most trusted adopted son, he even suspected that Emperor Chengqian wanted to use this incident to force him to hand over military power, and instructed Zhou Jin and his wife to pin the blame on his son!

Therefore, the rift between Emperor Chengqian and his ministers deepened because of this incident.

…

The case was tried in the Dali Temple for a full half month, but in the end, because the staff member himself confessed that it was indeed he who colluded with two managers in the Suguogong manor to kidnap those women and brutally rape and kill them, and that the Suguogong prince had nothing to do with it.

And one of the managers he identified was quite similar to Lan Renhao in both shape and appearance!

Among the two women rescued by Zhou Jin and his wife, one changed her mind at the last minute, saying that she was too confused at first and recognized the wrong person, the manager who looked similar to Lan Renhao in the same case!

Now, when she compared the steward with Lan Renhao, she realized that she had mistaken him for the wrong person! The one who had bullied them was actually the steward!

So, even if the other woman insisted that it was Lan Renhao who murdered them, and Zhou Jin and his wife testified that they were certain it was Lan Renhao who escaped...

But because there was no evidence at all, the Dali Temple finally declared Lan Renhao not guilty due to insufficient evidence!

His aide and two stewards were sentenced to death by slow slicing! All their property was confiscated and used to compensate the families of the victims.

At the same time, the Duke of Su’s Mansion was ordered to pay compensation of 500 taels to each family of the victims due to its poor supervision of slaves!

At this point, the whole case is closed!

Such a result naturally made Zhou Jin and others very angry, but there was nothing they could do...

Zhou Jin also knew that the aide's final acceptance of all the blame and the woman's subsequent denial were likely the work of Lan Renhao's men...

"We can't just let it go like this! I'll arrange for someone to keep an eye on Lan Renhao. I don't believe he won't reveal his true colors in the future!"

Mu Qingni was so furious that she slammed the table in anger when the four-person group met in the space!

"Don't worry, even if the law still can't bring that beast to justice, I still have a way to kill him!

"When the time comes, we'll inflict upon that beast all the tortures he inflicted on those women, and then send him to the afterlife! This will also avenge the deaths of those innocent women!"

Zhou Jin comforted Mu Qingni and decided that if he couldn't find evidence of Lan Renhao's crime, he would have to deal with him privately!

After hearing this, Mu Qingni's anger subsided a little!

Unexpectedly, after Mu Qingni was angry, Zhu Xi started making trouble again!

Zhu Xi and Zhou Yu were very angry when they heard Zhou Jin and the others talk about everything they saw in the secret room, and heard about the corpses that were dug out. They thought about the dozens of women who died innocently because of Lan Renhao!

Especially Zhu Xi, after all, the other party was his grandmother's nephew, and he actually did such a thing, he felt ashamed!

"I never thought that my uncle, who had made countless military achievements for Great Yan, would raise such a beast! He was willing to sacrifice his reputation for him and even used his connections to exonerate him!"

Because of this case, things were not going well between Duke Su and Zhu Xi some time ago!

One felt that the other party had no principles and was actually protecting his own son!

One of them thought that the other party had forgotten his family after getting married, and actually helped his brother-in-law's family to deal with him, his uncle!

"Forget it, let's not talk about it anymore. After all this commotion, I think that beast will behave himself for a while. I will send someone to keep an eye on him and won't let him do evil again!

If we still can't find evidence of that beast's crime after a while, your brother and I will go and kill him!"

Mu Qingni was the first to be furious, but because of Zhou Jin's words, she was the first to come to terms with it. She felt that the beast was already dead, and mentioning him would only ruin her mood. So she changed the subject and said to Zhou Yu:

"Ayu, I'm here to ask for your help on something...

It was the woman we rescued, the one who had been pointing fingers at Lan Renhao from the beginning to the end, her name was Qingniang...

She was originally the daughter of an official family, and her father was the director of the Imperial College. However, after the case was over, when the Dali Temple came to her home and asked them to take her back, her family felt that she had brought disgrace to the family and refused to acknowledge her as their daughter.

I couldn't bear to see this, but I also admired her ambition, so I figured out a way to get her indenture from her family and keep her as a maid. I planned to wait until this crisis was over before asking her what her plans were...

But because of the medicine that beast gave her, she still feels uncomfortable from time to time after coming out of Dali Temple, so I want you to go and see her to see if there is any way to relieve her discomfort..."

Zhou Yu...

Her brother had already told her that the drug that the beast's staff had given the two women was very similar to drugs in later generations. If it was really that, it would be difficult to quit...

…

The next day, Zhou Yu, accompanied by two maids, returned to his parents' home to see Qingniang. He then confirmed that Qingniang was addicted to drugs...

"Luckily, you were only forced to take that drug once, so you haven't developed a strong dependence on it yet. And you haven't taken it for almost twenty days. As long as you persevere and get through these few days, the discomfort will disappear. As long as you don't take that drug again, you'll be fine..."

While Zhou Yu was applying medicine on Qingniang's body, he comforted her,

When she was in Dali Temple, Qingniang had suffered from drug addiction several times, but she always endured it. When she really couldn't bear it anymore, she would use her nails to scratch her arms, and her arms were covered with wounds!

When Zhou Yu saw this, he turned to Mu Qingni and said:

"Sister-in-law, if Qingniang is feeling too uncomfortable when the poison takes effect, have the maids tie her hands and feet and release them when she feels better. Don't let her hurt herself!"

"Yeah," Mu Qingni responded.

"Don't worry, Princess. I will definitely persevere! No matter how difficult it is, I will survive, and I will live well!"

Qingniang also said to Zhou Yu that it was more like encouraging herself than making a promise to her.

"Yes! Qingniang! It's good that you think so! That's the way you should think! Remember, what you've experienced wasn't your fault in the first place, so there's no need for you to shrink back. You can just stand up in front of others with confidence!

It is already difficult for us women to live in this world. If we are to be harsh on ourselves because of other people's mistakes, then we are really stupid!

Moreover, I believe that the majority of people in this world can clearly distinguish right from wrong! As for those who are confused, the more you fear them, the more they will become more aggressive!

Zhou Yu held Qingniang's hand and encouraged her gently. He felt that after this incident, Qingniang was not only physically hurt, but also psychologically! Especially since she was abandoned by her family afterwards!

However, what she can do to help is still limited, and most of the psychological healing in the future will depend on herself. Fortunately, although Qingniang looks weak, she is strong at heart!

And, fortunately, after examining Qingniang, she discovered that, despite the humiliation and abuse she had endured, her brother and the others had rescued her in time, so she hadn't suffered any substantial damage and was still a virgin!

This should be a comfort to Qingniang!

"Don't worry! We are all women. If you have any problems in the future, we will help you!" Mu Qingni also hugged Qingniang's shoulders and comforted her.

With the two of them comforting her, Na Qingniang finally couldn't hold it in any longer and started crying while hugging Mu Qingni. The more she cried, the more she couldn't stop...

I want to cry out all the fear, grievances, and resentments I've experienced these days...

The author has something to say:

Cai Cai's new book "Fei Shi Yan Ran" is being updated. If you are interested, you can go and take a look...