"It's like they're being controlled. They do whatever you tell them to do, and they don't respond when you call them. Their eyes are vacant."
Liu Shuijin's expression turned extremely unpleasant as he said this. After a moment of silence, he spoke again:
"I suspect they were poisoned, but I don't know what kind of poison they were given."
“Once, Zhang Qiang came over, and I tried to get information out of him, but he saw through my plan. He then fed me a poison and had me beaten up like this. I don’t know what happened after that.”
"I only vaguely heard them say that they were going to move people, but I was too badly injured to hear clearly where they were going."
Liu Shuijin spoke so much in one breath that he was out of breath and it took him a while to catch his breath.
Who is Zhang Qiang?
Seeing this, Lin Yuxin could only wait until he felt better before asking.
"Zhang Qiang is the county magistrate of Quyan County. He has worked with me for five years. I never expected him to harbor such malicious intentions!"
Liu Shuijin was so angry when he talked about Zhang Qiang that he wanted to tear him to pieces.
"He wasn't harboring malicious intentions; rather, it was premeditated. I suspect he had conspired with others to target Quyan County. You just said the person who came was carrying Prince Rui's token?"
Lin Yuxin's gaze sharpened, her lips curled up, and she let out a cold laugh before asking another question.
"Yes, that's right. I checked it several times, it's real!"
Liu Shuijin could say this with certainty.
He looked very carefully at the time, so there's no mistake.
Lin Yuxin frowned. Prince Rui?
Emperor Xia had eight sons in total, but only six survived. Besides Crown Prince Cheng Yanhao and the demoted Sixth Prince Cheng Lixiang, there were also the Third Prince Cheng Yijing, the Fourth Prince Cheng Shuoying, the Seventh Prince Cheng Xuyan, and the Eighth Prince Cheng Yuming.
Of these six princes, only the seventh prince, Cheng Xuyan, was eight years old, and the eighth prince was five years old, so they were not yet adults and therefore not granted titles. Of the other four, only the third prince was granted the title of Prince Rui, and the fourth prince was granted the title of Prince Heng.
If they really do possess Prince Rui's token, why is Prince Rui being so high-profile? He's been amassing wealth and even risking his life; isn't he afraid of being exposed?
[However, it's also possible that someone framed him? But there's no evidence yet, and the magistrate's statement only concerns Prince Rui; we need to investigate further.]
Thinking of this, Lin Yuxin rubbed her temples, feeling that this trip was even more tiring than the one in the capital, and she still had to solve cases!! Her CPU was about to burn out!
If only it were Li Xiaochen, he could handle all the brain-intensive tasks!
Suddenly I miss him! Lin Yuxin pouted and sighed inwardly.
"Very well, then did you know there's an underground passage in your study?"
Lin Yuxin took a deep breath, calmed herself down, and then looked at Liu Shuijin and asked.
"An underground passage? I have no idea!"
Liu Shuijin looked at Lin Yuxin with a blank expression; he really didn't know that there was an underground passage in the study.
"This thing was in your study, and you didn't even know? This princess is very curious to know how you became a county magistrate!"
Lin Yuxin looked at Liu Shuijin with suspicion, but seeing the blank look on his face, she knew he was telling the truth.
Lin Yuxin rolled her eyes, speechless.
“I have only been in Quyan County for three years. When I came here, Zhang Qiang said that this was my study and that everything in it was prepared for me in advance. I didn’t think much of it and didn’t notice anything wrong over the years.”
Liu Shuijin was deeply hurt by the princess's words, and her voice was filled with grievance.
"But that makes sense. Why would they put the switch at the very bottom, in such an inconspicuous place? Someone without a brain might not even be able to find it."
Lin Yuxin didn't care how slow-witted the magistrate was. She pointed to the calligraphy brush hanging in the bottom right corner of the bookshelf and said...
Liu Shuijin looked in the direction Lin Yuxin was pointing and saw the bent calligraphy brush and a hole in front of the bookshelf. He couldn't catch his breath and fainted.
Lin Yuxin: ...!
Is he really that useless? How did he even become the head of a county? Did he buy his way into office?
Lin Yuxin looked suspiciously at Liu Shuijin, who was lying unconscious on the recliner, a hint of disgust flashing in her eyes.
Perhaps it was because the disdain in Lin Yuxin's eyes was too obvious that Wang Yu could feel it, so he spoke:
"This Liu Shuijin is not from a poor family, but the second son of the Yongjue Marquis's mansion. His original name was Liu Haixin. After the Yongjue Marquis died, his elder brother inherited the Yongjue Marquis's mansion and the title. He found a fault in Liu Shuijin and drove him out."
"This Liu Haixin is quite capable. He directly participated in the imperial examination and even became a third-ranked scholar. However, he requested to be transferred to another region, so the emperor just sent him out casually. At first, I didn't remember, but I remembered when I saw the jade pendant that was exposed on his waist after he fainted."
"That jade pendant is a symbol of the Yongjue Marquis's mansion. Many prominent families in the capital have such family items."
Wang Yu recounted the background of Liu Shuijin that he had just remembered.
"So Liu Shuijin isn't stupid, but pretending to be stupid?"
Lin Yuxin understood what Wang Yu meant. If he were really stupid, how could he have survived in the family for so many years? He even managed to avoid his eldest brother's targeting, pass the imperial examination as a third-place scholar, and hide away for so many years without any problems.
So this person is just pretending to be weak to take advantage of others? What is his purpose?
Lin Yuxin looked at Liu Shuijin with a sharp, scrutinizing gaze. After a few moments, she looked away and then said to Xueying:
"The three of us will go down and take a look first. The rest of you stay up here and keep watch. Everyone else, come down with me and take a look!"
"yes!"
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