Chapter 225 Blood Ties

Seeing that Li Jin had no intention of backing down, and hearing the carriage gradually receding outside the door, Jin Shu chuckled dryly, touched the pillar with her hand, and tentatively stepped back.

Seeing her blatant attempt to escape, Li Jin chuckled softly: "Come with me."

He took Jin Shu and, unexpectedly, went to the prison of the Jingzhao Prefecture.

“Last night in the palace, Eunuch Chen revealed Yang Defa’s identity.” Li Jin, speaking in a low voice, said, “He is Yang Qingyun’s younger brother and also the study companion of the Prime Minister’s eldest son.”

Jin Shu was taken aback: "Then this fifth case..."

“Yes.” Li Jin nodded. “It must also be related to six years ago.”

Feng Chao, holding the prison key, led them deeper into the prison.

It was dark, damp, and dimly lit. The place held criminals awaiting trial, as well as death row inmates who had been given death sentences and were awaiting execution.

A cold wind whistled through the narrow passageway, making the gloomy atmosphere even more eerie.

Upon reaching the innermost point, Feng Chao stopped and unlocked the heavy iron lock.

"Yang Defa, His Highness Prince Jing has arrived." After saying this, he made way for Li Jin and stepped aside.

Yang Defa, who was always arrogant and haughty, sat on a pile of straw and glanced at Li Jin indifferently.

"Still not planning to speak?" Li Jin wasn't annoyed. He simply sat down on the ground with him, flicked open his fan, and gently shook it twice.

"There is a long ligature mark on the deceased's neck, with the two ends intersecting. It means that he was strangled with a rope and then hung on the wall of your house."

“Yang Defa, you said you walked five miles to pick corn for two consecutive days, returning under the stars and moon.” Li Jin paused, “but the gates of the capital city close at 7:00 PM.”

“Your shoes were free of mud, your yard was free of soil, and inside the house, apart from men’s belongings, there were almost no items that a married woman like the victim could use, let alone two girls.”

"With so many questions, which one do you want to explain first?"

After Li Jin finished speaking, he glanced at Yang Defa's face.

He didn't seem to care and remained arrogant.

After listening, he scoffed, "What's there to explain?" He raised his hand and patted his chest, the iron chains on his wrists rattling. "You want to say I killed him?"

He laughed wildly, "Whether I killed him or not is up to you to decide. What does it matter who killed him? Anyway, if you say so, then so be it."

Despite being met with such a hostile response, Li Jin remained unperturbed. He nodded, fanning himself with a slight smile, and uttered two words indifferently: "Zhao Can."

In that instant, Li Jin's gaze was fixed on Yang Defa's face.

The man visibly stiffened when he heard the name of the prime minister's eldest son.

His previous arrogant demeanor seemed to have hit a wall, replaced by a hint of displeasure.

Li Jin narrowed her eyes slightly, seizing on this detail to probe his mental state: "I never expected that you could hide a woman and two children for him. It's truly admirable."

At this point, Yang Defa's gaze sharpened, and he stared intently at Li Jin: "What exactly does Prince Jing want to say?"

Seeing the anger in his voice, Li Jin knew that he had hit the nail on the head.

The woman in the coffin was the woman that Zhao Can, the prime minister's eldest son, had hidden with Yang Defa. And the two children must also be Zhao Can's children.

Li Jin remained silent and unhurried. He smiled faintly and slowly waved his fan, his face showing an expression as if he knew everything.

Time was slowly burning away at Yang Defa's soul.

As his lips turned slightly pale, as if he were about to explain himself, Li Jin deliberately added, "Why bother?"

Yang Defa paused for a moment.

"Don't you have any idea how your brother died?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Defa clenched his fist and stared intently at Li Jin.

Li Jin was not afraid of such a threat. He chuckled and waited for his response.

Unlike before, Yang Defa's anger deepened and intensified when Yang Qingyun was mentioned. He stared at Li Jin for a long while before asking in a deep voice, "Who did Prince Jing say died?"

“Your own brother,” Li Jin said, “The Crown Prince is always ruthless. Your brother is involved in a treason case, so he is doomed to die.”

Inside the prison, there was a deathly silence.

Yang Defa remained silent, staring at the ground with his fists clenched.

After a long pause, he suddenly swallowed hard and said, "She is my wife, and her child is my child." He paused again, "She is my lawfully wedded wife!"

He is still on the run.

Li Jin closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and growled in a low voice, "Can you fool yourself with these words?" He snapped his fan shut, his gaze sharp as a knife, "I was able to find out about your relationship with Yang Qingyun. Do you think I wouldn't know about your affairs?"

"Your wife, your children." Li Jin narrowed his eyes. "Yang Defa, are you up to it?"

Those three words struck a nerve with Yang Defa's fragile pride, which he had concealed behind his arrogance. His lips trembled, his hands clenched into fists, he gritted his teeth, and he was restless and uneasy.

"That's the woman I married through proper channels!" Suddenly, he let out a heart-wrenching roar that echoed throughout the prison.

Jin Shu and Zhou Zheng rushed in, but before they could take two steps forward, Li Jin raised his hand and blocked them from behind.

Yang Defa before me seemed like a completely different person; his veins were bulging, and he was furious. That resentful redness spread from his forehead all the way to the base of his neck.

He was panting heavily, like a wild beast, staring intently at Li Jin.

Li Jin understood.

I understand the psychology of this pathetic man, and I understand why he did everything.

After a long pause, Li Jin changed his strategy. He let out a long breath and looked at Yang Defa with an absolutely clear mocking tone, saying, "You think that as long as you take the blame, the two children will live?"

Li Jin mimicked his earlier manner and laughed wildly: "Yang Defa, have you gone mad from reading too much?" He held a fan in his hand and poked Yang Defa's forehead directly. "Let me tell you! Anyone involved with the Crown Prince will have their entire family slaughtered. Your brother was like that, Minister Liu of the Ministry of Works was like that, and Lin Zhongyi was like that too."

"Now you're telling me that's your child, your woman?" Li Jin narrowed his eyes and raised his chin slightly. "Heh, then I'd like to see if you'll also suffer the same fate of having your entire family wiped out."

After saying that, he stood up, didn't even glance at Yang Defa, and turned to leave.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Yang Defa seemed to snap out of a dream: "Wait!"

Li Jin, who had already reached the prison gate, turned around slightly after hearing this, glanced at Yang Defa, and said with cool lips: "Lock it up."

At this moment, Yang Defa truly panicked. He stood up and ran towards the door, stopping Feng Chao from locking it while shouting in the direction Li Jin had left, "I'll talk! I'll talk! Please! Please save those two children! They're so young! They don't know anything!"

"The child is innocent!"

The clanging of the chains mingled with Yang Defa's roar, filling the entire prison.

Li Jin, who had walked ten meters, stopped. He turned around and looked at Yang Defa, whose face was pressed against two prison bars and whose cheeks were twisted from the pressure, desperately trying to look at him. After thinking for a moment, he slowly strolled back.

This time, Li Jin didn't go in. He stood outside with his arms crossed, looking like he might turn around and leave at any moment.

Yang Defa pursed his lips, and after a long while, he finally said hesitantly, "He is the child's biological father, who killed Miss Xu with his own hands."