Chapter 67 Murder Case: A man disguised as a girl and kept in a deep house, really...

The Duke of Lu was the nephew of the Empress Dowager and the cousin of the Emperor. Although he had no real power, he was a member of the royal family, so the death of his young master was naturally a big deal.

When Yu Qing arrived at the scene, Ye Chengyuan's body was covered with a white cloth, and the person crying beside him was probably his mother, the Duke's favorite concubine.

"Chengyuan has always been kind to others, and he's only had a grudge against one person in recent times. My Lord, this must be the work of that evil woman from the Xuanbei Marquisate. Quickly arrest her and interrogate her!"

"I'm deeply sorry for the loss of your son, Madam. I hope you'll accept my condolences," Yu Qing said. "But I have no evidence, so please don't make any irresponsible remarks."

The lady raised her head upon hearing this. At first she didn't know who Yu Qing was. Only after being reminded did she realize that this was the Prince of Xuanbei Marquis. She immediately showed a complicated expression.

The last marriage proposal became known to everyone, and the relationship between the two families naturally became strained.

A murder occurred in the Duke's Mansion, and the first thing that should have happened was to seal off the place and investigate it by the imperial guards. However, the Xuanlin Guard was led by Yu Qing, so the people in the Duke's Mansion refused to let the guards examine the body and collect evidence, saying that they would definitely bend the law for personal gain. At the same time, they had already sent someone to report to the emperor.

"My master and I originally thought it would be a good thing to establish a good relationship with the Marquis' Mansion, so we just let him go," the lady said. "Not only did you humiliate him, you even took his life... How lawless!"

Yu Qing knew that it was impossible to communicate with her at this time, so he walked around her and asked about the situation first.

This morning, the waiter went to the fourth young master's room to call him to school, but found that he was dead and there was blood on his chest.

It was heard that Qiying had been practicing martial arts since she was a child in the Marquis' Mansion and had extraordinary skills. In addition, it was rumored that she flatly refused a marriage proposal and was arrogant. Not only did this lady suspect Qiying, many people felt that this matter was closely related to the Xuanbei Marquis' Mansion.

Several of the young master's attendants, including those who had originally proposed marriage, had been fanning the flames against Duke Lu, accusing Qiying of being a vicious and cruel person. She had first teased their innocent young master for fun, then harbored a grudge because his reputation had been ruined. Last night, she had taken advantage of the situation and come after the young master, but he had been soft-hearted and unprepared, and she had killed him with a single blow.

"Now that things have come to this, we should just hand Qiying over to the Ministry of Justice for detention and interrogation, and we'll have a conclusion."

Yu Qing sneered, "Torture? The Duke is really joking."

In terms of apparent rank, the Duke's Mansion is higher than the Marquis' Mansion, and Yu Qing has not yet inherited the title and is only the Crown Prince.

However, she holds real power after all, and now is in charge of tens of thousands of guards. The Duke of Lu is somewhat afraid of her.

"Why, the prince won't hand her over?" his wife cried out first, "Do you still want to protect her?"

"It's impossible to send someone to await trial without any evidence," Yu Qing said calmly, "The Duke's Mansion doesn't have the final say in the capital."

Normally, the Duke of Lu could bully others by taking advantage of his power, but now he couldn't do anything forceful. He just stiffened his neck and said that he would wait for the emperor's judgment.

The stalemate continued, so Yu Qing didn't want to waste time with them. He went outside and asked his personal guard to go back to the mansion and bring a message.

"What did you say?" Xie Jing came over and asked, "Are you not allowing anyone to touch Miss Qiying?"

Xie Jing came here with her just now, but His Royal Highness Prince Jing did not go to the noisy place inside, so he waited outside for the time being.

"No, tell them to prepare to send Qiying over later," Yu Qing said calmly, "They should testify when necessary and confront each other when necessary. Since they didn't do it, there's nothing to avoid. Not showing up will only give people an excuse to criticize them."

Seeing that she was very calm, Xie Jing felt that his worries were unnecessary.

·

The Duke's Mansion is also located in the prosperous area of ​​the capital, and hearing about the murder case alarmed many people.

Around noon, the Fifth Prince also came over and comforted Duke Lu. As he left, he privately told Yu Qing, "I'm related to Duke Lu, so it's hard for me to help you. However, at least I have some influence in the Ministry of Justice. Don't worry, I'll talk to them later, and they'll know how to handle the case. They won't touch Miss Qiying."

Yu Qing felt that his actions were unnecessary and politely declined his offer, saying, "Your Highness, don't worry. Qiying is innocent to begin with. It doesn't matter who tries her. I won't let her go to the Ministry of Justice."

The fifth prince Xie Tingchen choked and said helplessly: "...Okay."

An hour later, an order finally came from the palace.

The emperor had not fully recovered from his illness and had no energy to deal with this matter. Duke Lu's request was finally submitted to Prince Rui. Prince Rui would not support him and responded without bias.

The Duke's Mansion accused Qiying, but there was no evidence to support it, so she could not be detained. However, considering Qiying was from the Xuanbei Marquis Mansion and Yu Qing was the commander of the Xuanlin Guard, he should avoid suspicion.

Therefore, the Xuanlin Guard was asked not to intervene for the time being and the case was transferred to the Ministry of Justice, where an important official was selected to take full charge and handle the case according to the regulations.

When the officials from the Ministry of Justice arrived, the people from the Duke's Mansion reluctantly gave up their positions and let them start investigating the case. At the same time, the Ministry of Justice also sent people to the Marquis' Mansion to invite Miss Qiying to come for questioning.

Seeing that Yu Qing had no intention of leaving, Duke Lu said, "The prince has ordered that the prince should not interfere. Why are you still staying in my mansion?"

Yu Qing said curiously, "I didn't interfere, I just watched. His Royal Highness Prince Rui didn't ask me to leave, did he?"

Soon Miss Qiying got out of the car, walked through half of the inner house without looking around and entered the crime scene. She introduced herself to the chief official of the Ministry of Justice in a confident and confident manner, answered all the questions and spoke frankly.

The people in the Duke's Mansion were anxious when they heard this, fearing that she would use sweet words to clear herself of suspicion.

But Yu Qing was watching from the side. Not only did he detain Qiying and torture her to extract a confession, he even interrogated her in a gentle tone.

Just as the Duke of Lu was about to jump up and down, someone else stepped into the yard.

"...Your Highness Prince Jing?"

Seeing that a more distinguished person had arrived, the Duke of Lu had no choice but to stop.

Xie Jing did not take the main seat he had vacated, but instead sat down next to Yu Qing and said gently, "No need to be so polite, Duke. I am just a spectator."

Duke of Lu: “…”

Qiying had never seen King Jing, but she knew that he was currently working with Yu Qing. When she saw Xie Jing, her eyes froze for a moment, then she quickly looked away.

·

A pig's head just died in this yard. The coroner is performing an autopsy and there is a faint smell of blood.

Yu Qing tilted her head to look at Xie Jing, feeling that his spotless clothes were about to be stained with bad luck, and said, "Your Highness can return to Beichensi. You don't have to stay with us."

Xie Jing said: "I'm bored, I want to join in the fun."

Sure enough, within a moment, Xie Jing seemed to smell the odor and opened his folding fan to cover his face with disgust. Seeing this, Yu Qing said helplessly, "Why don't you go wait outside?"

Xie Jing said gloomily, "It's okay, I can bear it."

Yu Qing: “…”

If you suffer yourself, no one else can do anything about it.

The coroner came quickly and reported that Master Ye had died from a sharp weapon piercing his chest. There was no sign of a struggle, and the wound was shaped like a hairpin or something. There was women's powder on his collar, and there was a beautiful handkerchief in his arms.

"The evidence is irrefutable. What can you say?" cried the lady. "My poor child—"

The head of the Ministry of Justice said, "My Lord, Madam, this is not enough to make a conclusion..."

"She must have come looking for Cheng Yuan last night and killed him when he was off guard. Cheng Yuan is a clean man and never goes out to have affairs with other women. The only one who could get close to him is this vicious woman!"

Xie Jing asked, "What kind of cosmetics are you wearing? Show it to me."

The coroner scraped off as much as he could, leaving only a fine powder on the edge of the small silver spoon, which he presented to Xie Jing.

This was something from a corpse. Seeing Xie Jing take it, Yu Qing couldn't help but frown, but he lowered his head to smell it and quickly returned it.

"This perfume powder is not the same as the one Miss Qiying uses," Xie Jing said, "but the scent is the same as the one worn by the maids in the mansion."

Yu Qing's heart moved, and she didn't know whether what he said was true or just nonsense.

When the prince spoke, no one dared to question it and immediately went to study the perfume powder carefully.

Duke Lu saw that Yu Qing himself did not intervene, but King Jing seemed to be in cahoots with him. What should he do if he tried to disrupt the situation?

He quickly said, "In addition to physical evidence, there are also witnesses. Let the servants in the courtyard come over to question them."

The two maids who usually served the fourth young master the most were brought in and knelt in the middle.

According to the two people's answers, the young master said yesterday that Miss Qiying wanted to meet alone in the evening in order to resolve the conflict. So the young master dismissed everyone else and left the door open for Miss Qiying, but she was gone when he woke up in the morning.

"If we were meeting alone, why bother choosing the Duke's Mansion?" Qiying asked. "This place is heavily guarded, with so many people and so many different opinions, it's impossible to hide from others."

"You have martial arts skills, so sneaking into the inner house at night shouldn't be difficult for you!"

"The Xuanlin Guards are responsible for patrolling. They let you go because you are from the Xuanbei Marquis' Mansion. If it were someone else, it would naturally be difficult to avoid the guards!"

Yu Qing watched coldly as the people from the Duke's Mansion began to argue with each other. Meanwhile, Xie Jing's folding fan slowly stopped. He stared at the maid who had given evidence and whispered, "...something seems off about these two."

Yu Qing asked doubtfully, "You saw it again, is it true?"

Xie Jing said, "Really? His maid... isn't a woman, right?"

Yu Qing was stunned: "What do you mean?"

Xie Jing raised his hand to call the official over and whispered a few words in his ear. The official from the Ministry of Justice also looked hesitant and went back to tell the person in charge.

Soon, everyone in the Fourth Young Master's courtyard was rounded up by the police and taken into the house for questioning. Lady Lu asked anxiously, "What does this mean? They're not arresting the murderer, but are investigating our people instead?"

"Just confirming one thing," the person in charge said, "it will be done soon."

It took only a stick of incense to find out the truth.

The maids in the fourth young master's courtyard were all disguised male prostitutes whose gender was difficult to distinguish.

After further interrogation, it was discovered that Ye Chengyuan, who appeared to be indifferent to women, actually had unusual fetishes. He was afraid that revealing them would bring disgrace to the family, so he had them carefully concealed.

Although he has no female confidantes outside, he has many people in his own yard, and no one knows about it when the door is closed.

It's like this, and he still says that he admires the girl. Naturally, it's not credible.

When the matter was exposed, those boy molesters panicked and confessed without waiting for the torture. They said that the young master had been bullied outside recently and had become more and more erratic in the courtyard. Last night, he asked one of them to serve him. That person seemed to be angry and stabbed the young master to death. He had fled the house in the morning and disappeared.

Madam told them to keep it a secret and put the blame on the Xuanbei Marquisate. Actually, the story about Miss Qiying coming was completely fabricated, and as for the handkerchief, they put it into the young master's arms later...

Duke Lu was dumbfounded, and the concubine's face turned pale. She said, "Master, I also listened to..."

She didn't continue, and finally paused with difficulty.

After all, Ye Chengyuan's death was his own fault, and the murderer was someone in his inner house.

The Ministry of Justice ordered people to arrest the escaped boy lover, and brought in several servants of the Duke's Mansion, along with his wife, for questioning. Yu Qing overheard this and heard from the steward that the fourth young master was neither good at literature nor martial arts, and had studied for so many years but had made no progress. He heard an idea from somewhere a while ago that the Marquis of Xuanbei had a daughter who was still unmarried. If he could marry her, he would probably be able to get a good official position in the Xuanlin Guard.

He had no interest in women anyway, so it didn't matter who he married. Why not? Unexpectedly, he got into trouble and not only did he not marry the woman, but he also made an enemy and ultimately lost his life.

Qiying was a victim involved from the beginning to the end. Now that there is a conclusion, there is no need for her to stay in this murky place.

Yu Qing told the person in charge that if he wanted Qiying to testify in the future, he could just come to the Marquis' Mansion to ask for help, and then he sent Qiying back to the mansion.

·

Sitting in the carriage, Yu Qing was lost in thought.

Xie Jing whispered, "Why, are you still thinking about his family?"

"Hmm..." Yu Qing frowned and said, "It's really disgusting to think that a man is disguised as a girl and kept in a deep house."

She was referring to the Fourth Young Master Ye. Fortunately, Qiying didn't really have anything to do with him, otherwise Yu Qing would have skinned him alive.

I just saw those boy parasites, the oldest of them was only about sixteen or seventeen years old. They were pitiful to see. I wonder where the boy who killed him could have escaped to.

Xie Jing: "...Yes, indeed."

He changed the subject and said, "But did you hear what that lady said? It seems that they and their son were also instructed by someone else. Has the prince had any grudges with any family recently?"

Yu Qing didn't tell him that there might be spies in her house. She could handle it herself.

Then, her questions turned to Xie Jing.

Although she knew that the truth would eventually come out after the Ministry of Justice investigated, the Duke of Lu's Mansion was being unreasonable and obstructing the progress again and again. She was prepared to be delayed for two or three days, and at the earliest she would have to wait until evening.

As a result, the matter was resolved in just an hour. She couldn't help but look at Xie Jing with admiration. She didn't expect that he had a talent for handling cases.

"Your Highness, can you smell the difference in the perfume?" Yu Qing said.

"Oh, I just said that," Xie Jing said, "There are so many types, it's hard to have exactly the same one."

Yu Qing asked curiously, "Then how did you find out that something was wrong with that little maid?"