Chapter 73 The Villain Accuses First

The scar on his arm, below his left elbow, is a long line that has just scabbed over.

Judging from its pinkish-white color, it was clearly a fresh wound, and it also attracted Li Jin's attention the moment he raised his hand.

"But what really breaks our young master's heart is the young lady." At this point, the people in front of them all sighed repeatedly.

“Young Master treats Miss very well. He always gives her a portion of his earnings and shares some with his son-in-law.” He said, “Because the son-in-law is a son-in-law who has married into the family and is a scholar, but his family is poor, he is afraid that the son-in-law will have any resentment, so he helps him in every way.”

The personal attendant looked troubled: "Who knew that the young master was a proud scholar with little ability but a really big arrogance. Our young master helped him, and not only did he take the money, he also accused the young master of being a kept man."

"Hmph!" He took a deep breath. "The son-in-law has no money of his own, but he takes the monthly allowance from the manor to play chess and drink wine at Guilai Pavilion and gamble, and that's how he expands the master's network of connections."

"Our young master earns money through his own efforts and contributes to the family income through dirty and lowly begging. Not only is the young master heartbroken, but we servants also cannot understand it and are heartbroken by it."

As Li Jin listened, she glanced at the scar on his elbow and asked casually, "So your young master doesn't have a good relationship with Miss's family?"

"That's not entirely true." The personal attendant hesitated for a moment. "Normally, things are still on the surface."

At this point, another servant standing at the edge couldn't stand it anymore. He stepped forward and forcefully interrupted him: "What do you mean 'acceptable'? Have you forgotten how the son-in-law disgusted our young master in the courtyard last month?"

"Young Master always treated us very well. Now that he has died with his eyes wide open in dismay, why are you still here to save face for them!"

After saying that, he pulled his personal attendant behind him, bowed and clasped his hands, and said to Li Jin, "Your Highness Prince Jing, I am a second-class servant in the Second Young Master's courtyard. Although I do not usually enter the inner room, I am responsible for handling all the dealings with the accounting office and other courtyards."

"It's no secret that Miss is sharp-tongued and mean-spirited; she comes to our young master every few days to complain about being poor."

"In order to get the young master to take out money, they even went to great lengths to trick him into doing business!" As he spoke, he gradually became agitated: "The young master likes doing business, it's his hobby, the young master doesn't need to make money through doing business at all."

"But whenever the young master doesn't want to continue, Miss Chen Lan always comes up with all sorts of excuses, bringing out all sorts of odds and ends to trick the young master into spending money."

He spread out his palms and counted on his fingers one by one.

"In the dead of winter, the young master was told to stockpile bamboo mats to resell next year. The young master had no experience of those hard times and did not know that bamboo mats would get moldy after a winter of dampness. He believed the young lady's words and lost everything."

"This spring, they sent the young master to stock up on firewood again, saying that firewood prices were low again. The young master had already been burned once, but he still didn't want to question the young lady, so he went to do it again!"

His face was contorted with anger as he pointed towards Chen Lan's courtyard. "She's a viper! After a whole winter, she sold all that unwanted, damp firewood to our young master at a low price. Because of that, the young master and the master had several big arguments, and he almost got kicked out of the manor."

“That firewood is impossible to sell. You can see the west wing of our courtyard; it’s piled high with bamboo mats and firewood.”

As he spoke, Li Jin glanced at the others behind him, intentionally or unintentionally.

They remained silent, but their expressions genuinely showed their support for the outspoken servant.

"That son-in-law is even worse. He comes every few days asking for money, saying he'll smooth things over for the young master. Smooth things over my ass!"

He spat fiercely, and if his personal attendant hadn't quickly raised his hand and coughed lightly to remind him not to lose his composure in front of the guests, he probably would have cursed a few more times to vent his anger.

The atmosphere in the courtyard was unusually somber. Li Jin sat there without saying a word, tapping his palm with the black fan in his hand.

He remained silent for a long time before slowly saying, "I have three final questions."

"First, has the second young master of the Chen family been suffering from any illness or pain lately?"

The reason for asking about the illness was a note found at the scene, which contained a list of several Chinese medicinal herbs and was soaked in water.

"Secondly, what kind of business are you referring to as the young master's business?"

When asking about business, it's necessary to exclude business-related issues, such as hatred arising from money.

"Third, what happened to the injury on your hand?"

His gaze was intense as it fell upon Chen Feng's personal attendant.

The attendant calmly bowed and said, "Your Highness, my young master has not been ill recently, nor has he taken any medicine. His livelihood is not fixed; he simply enjoys the process of making money through business, but what he sells is not always consistent. As for the injuries I bear..."

He paused for a moment: "On the day the young master passed away, the son-in-law came to ask for money again. The young master couldn't take it anymore and said some harsh words, and the two of them started fighting. I stepped forward to break up the fight, and I don't know what cut my arm, but it started bleeding profusely."

He frowned: "Everyone in the courtyard can testify for me in this matter."

A fight broke out? That's a new clue; I hadn't heard anyone mention it before.

Li Jin instinctively became alert. He stood up and took two steps forward: "Why did they start fighting?"

The servant was taken aback, then hurriedly recalled: "It seems that when the young master was playing chess at Guilai Pavilion, he heard that a powerful merchant from the capital had come and wanted the young master to invest in business together."

"What kind of business?"

"This..." The attendant frowned in thought. After a moment, he said with certainty, "Medicinal herbs! Angelica, ginseng, and the like, they'll ask for ten taels of gold right off the bat."

"Because of the previous two incidents, the young master no longer trusted the son-in-law. He got angry and said that if the son-in-law was sick and needed to buy medicine, he should pay for it himself and not accompany him."

"Then, while I was pouring a cup of tea, when I came out, the two of them were already fighting."

After hearing these words, Li Jin looked towards Chen Lan's courtyard.

Just now, when he asked Chen Lan who the victim had a bad relationship with, the woman, who had clearly cowered and hidden herself, finally had a reasonable explanation.

In the family's mansion, the victim and her husband got into a fight. Surprisingly, when facing the head of the Six Doors and with a knife pointed at her neck, she gritted her teeth and said she knew nothing.

There is only one plausible explanation: she is intentionally hiding something.

The attempt to cover it up only makes it more obvious.

Perhaps her husband, Huang Liangping, was the vicious murderer.

And she happened to learn all of her husband's crimes.

Li Jin glanced at the four servants in front of him: "Chen family son-in-law Huang Liangping, do you usually use your left hand or your right hand?"

Before them stood four people, who cupped their hands in greeting and responded in unison, "Left hand."

The case is now half solved; the remaining steps are simply a proof problem.

Although Huang Liangping was a son-in-law who married into the family, he was still the son-in-law of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. Without solid evidence, even Li Jin could not confront Chen Wen head-on.

Just as Li Jin had finished deploying his secret guards and was keeping a close eye on Huang Liangping's every move, Eunuch Lin from the Imperial Study rushed to the Six Doors.

He mysteriously beckoned Li Jin to a corner of the room and whispered, "How could His Highness Prince Jing be so careless as to let that scoundrel Chen Wen drag the Crown Prince into complaining to His Majesty?"

Li Jin paused, "What?"

Eunuch Lin looked at him with a disappointed expression: "I ask you, did you go to Miss Chen's courtyard and point a knife at that young woman?"

After hearing this explanation, Li Jin understood.

He chuckled lightly, then retorted with utter disdain, "Did Chen Wen come crying and saying that I entered the women's courtyard without permission and was in the wrong, or even that I molested his daughter?"

Oh dear, you knew all that!

"I know." Li Jin was furious. "Let's go, perfect timing. I'm going to accuse him of harboring a criminal suspect and send him to resign and return home as a gift to the Ministry of Justice and the Crown Prince."