Chapter 31 Doubts

Ji Linyou had originally wanted to take advantage of his confusion to get the truth, but when he flatly denied it, he was immediately furious: "You still dare to deny it? Your Jin family deliberately missed the opportunity to fight, resulting in the loss of Prince Changhua and the Crown Prince, and the loss of their troops. There is witness and evidence. Otherwise, why would Jin Tang be poisoned immediately after the truth was revealed?"

"You are slandering me! My son was murdered, and you still want to frame him and frame my Jin family!" Although Jin Baoyi has always been kind to others, especially not daring to offend people in the court and the army, at this moment, his son's death made him lose his mind, and he rushed forward and roared at him in grief and anger.

How could Ji Linyou be afraid of a fat old man and just raise his hand to push him?

Ling Tianshui stepped forward to stop him, while Cui Fufeng held Jin Baoyi and said, "Uncle Jin, your son is in trouble now, and the truth has not yet been revealed. It's not appropriate to panic for now. I hope you will accept my condolences."

"Sanlang! Dad asked you to come back a long time ago, why didn't you come back?" Jin Baoyi couldn't control himself. He pushed him away tremblingly and lay on the bed beside Jin Tang's body, weeping bitterly, "They must have killed you! How have you let them down? During these days in the palace, you did everything you could to help the county lady... but who knew... that it would bring disaster to the end!"

Qian Deng listened to his grief-stricken cries, his heart filled with grief. He forced himself to say, "Uncle Jin... please rest assured. I will definitely catch the murderer and let your son rest in peace."

"County Lady, Sanlang must have incited jealousy, which is why he ended up like this! They...they couldn't bear to see my son win the favor of the County Lady, so they killed him!" Jin Baoyi accused incoherently, his eyes sweeping over Cui Fufeng and Xue Xiyang and Meng Lanxi outside the house, and finally settling on Ji Linyou, who looked the strongest and most robust. Thinking of his words and actions just now, his eyes were filled with anger and resentment, biting him fiercely.

Although he didn't say anything, everyone understood what Jin Baoyi meant from his expression.

Ji Linyou was furious and blurted out, "How do you know that your family didn't kill even your own family members to cover up the Huangsha Valley incident, and then put the blame on me? You businessmen only care about profit. To avoid the crime of exterminating your family and cover up the truth, what wouldn't you do?"

Jin Baoyi jumped up, rushed forward and punched Ji Linyou fiercely: "You, you first slandered my son, and then slandered my Jin family, what is your intention!"

Ji Linyou raised his hand to block. He was young and agile, and easily avoided Jin Baoyi.

Jin Baoyi's attack missed, and he fell to the ground. His image as the richest man in Chang'an was completely shattered. He wailed and trembled as he got up and rushed towards Ji Linyou again, swinging his fists wildly and roaring, "Give me back Sanlang's life! Give me back my son's life..."

Ji Linyou stretched out his hand to catch his chaotic attack and could have easily knocked him to the ground, but when his eyes met his fat face, which was twisted with grief and anger and full of tears, his hand loosened for some reason under the flash of the light.

With a bang, Ji Linyou was hit hard on the face, and it immediately became red and swollen.

Seeing the situation getting to this point, not only Cui Fufeng, but also Xue Xiyang and Meng Lanxi who were watching outside came in to try to stop them and stood between the two of them.

Qiandeng looked at Ji Linyou silently and shook his head.

He raised his hand and touched the swollen and painful spot on his face, then gritted his teeth and retreated.

Qian Deng sighed and walked over to Jin Baoyi, who was being half-pulled and half-supported by Cui Fufeng. He whispered, "Uncle Jin, we are all deeply saddened by your son's death. Like you, we all want to avenge him and find the real culprit. There are still many suspicious points in the case. I think your son's death is more than simple. Perhaps, as Ji Linyou said, it is related to the Battle of Huangsha Valley. I hope you can first mourn while we slowly investigate the truth and clear Jin Tang's name."

Jin Baoyi nodded with difficulty, wiped away his tears, and looked at his son's body in front of him. He vaguely thought of how Jin Tang was wrongly imprisoned when Yu Guangling died.

It was the Princess of Lingling who resolved all the doubts and found the real murderer of Yu Guangling in the midst of the mystery, thus clearing Jintang of his grievances.

He lowered his hand dejectedly, his voice choking and trembling. "Alright, I'll go back now... to find out the connection between the Jin family and the Huangsha Valley. I hope the county lady can... find the truth for my son and give him justice!"

Even though he was heartbroken over the loss of his young son, Jin Baoyi had no choice but to accept the result and go back to prepare for Jin Tang's funeral.

After Qian Deng silently sent him away, he tried his best to calm his mind. Together with Cui Fufeng and Ling Tianshui, he took out the confessions from the interrogation and re-examined and screened everyone's traces.

At this point, it seemed like all suspicion was indeed focused on Ji Linyou. From the motive, method, timing, and conditions, he matched the case perfectly, practically the only one who could have been responsible.

"But all of this seems so logical and normal." Qian Deng slowly shook his head, indicating that he refused to readily accept this conclusion. "For example, Ji Linyou, as a clerk of the Imperial Guard, carried a knife. If he was the murderer, why did he use poison? I remember that he saw smoke at the valley entrance and rushed to put out the fire. Why would he have carried poison with him beforehand?"

Cui Fufeng also confirmed Qian Deng's idea: "What's more, the difficulty of Ji Linyou tricking Jin Tang into opening the door and then poisoning his tea is much greater than simply stabbing him to death after he opens the door."

"That's true. But there are some actions that only Ji Linyou could have performed in this case." Ling Tianshui was much calmer and more ruthless than them. "Jin Tang died in a sealed secret room. So, besides Ji Linyou, who was the first to approach his body, who could have taken the things he held in his hand before dying? The clues pointing to him are numerous and obvious. His suspicion is impossible to clear."

"Especially since he was involved in my wife's murder, this is of the utmost importance. We must investigate it as soon as possible." Cui Fufeng pondered and flipped through the file again. "Also, the deaths of Shi Jingning and Princess Changyi are worthy of further investigation."

Qian Deng said briefly, "The Imperial Guards' base isn't far from here, so let's start there and investigate Ji Linyou's daily movements."

Ling Tianshui was the most in favor: "Especially his sword—the one that appeared in several previous incidents, the standard sword of the Imperial Guards."

A knife is the most important thing for a soldier. Generally speaking, he will never leave his body without reason. Moreover, a lot can be seen from the condition of the knife.

"Let's go." Without further ado, Cui Fufeng went with him. "Let's go to the Imperial Guard together and make sure to thoroughly investigate everything about his daily life."

Qiandeng watched them leave, his eyes fixed on the pages of the interrogation file about Ji Linyou for a while, then he slowly turned back two pages and looked at the interrogation records.

Meng Lanxi. In her backyard, she was the best at poisons and pharmacology.

Jin Tang and the man who died on the canal were both killed by Aconitum poisoning.

But in stark contrast to Ji Linyou, his movements last night were too clean, leaving no chance for him to take action.

The only unreasonable thing that happened to him was that the rabbit Baibai was inexplicably stepped on to death.

There must be a reason to kill a person, but what is the reason to kill a rabbit that can't talk and has no aggressive nature?

Who can benefit from it, and what does its death lead to?

——This led to a big fight between Meng Lanxi and Jin Tang. The conflict between the two intensified, making Jin Tang more alert and vigilant, and he even locked the doors and windows tighter.

It seems that the person who harmed the rabbit ended up losing more than he gained, and did not gain anything.

But, rabbit...

Qiandeng always thinks of the word "rabbit" that Shi Jingning wrote stroke by stroke on her palm before he died.

Is there any connection between the rabbit that died on Zhuangzi and the rabbit written by Shi Jingning at that time?

Qiandeng pressed his faintly beating temples, and faintly heard the song "Ancient Erotic Song" that they used to recite when they were young.

The lonely white rabbit wanders east and west. Clothes are never as good as new, and people are never as good as old.

There was no point in thinking too much. Qiandeng looked up and let out a long sigh. He simply closed the file in front of him, put aside all his troubled thoughts, and walked out to the courtyard where the gentlemen lived.