Chapter 43 Peony Soul Confesses Her Crime
"Sir, it's them!" Leng Yanshan snorted coldly at Shao Yanzhe and his group who came out of the house, and then shouted to the constables walking towards them.
The leader was a burly man dressed in a dark blue short jacket. He had a fierce expression on his face, with one hand hanging casually at his side and the other holding a willow-leaf knife, his thumb resting on the hilt for easy drawing.
Behind him followed a dozen or so constables dressed similarly to him.
As they approached, the people surrounding them instinctively made way for them.
Shao Yanzhe looked over, his gaze sweeping over the dozen or so constables, finally settling on the two people walking at the very back.
The two men were dressed differently from the constables, but they ended up standing beside the head constable, and judging from their appearance, they were of similar status to him.
One of them wore a light blue long gown, and the other wore an indigo long gown. They exuded a refined and scholarly air, clearly indicating that they were intellectuals.
"What's going on?" The head constable glanced at everyone, his gaze finally settling on Leng Yanshan.
Leng Yanshan immediately said with a sorrowful expression, "My lord, a few days ago my nephew wrote a letter saying he was going to participate in the provincial examination. I never expected that so many days would pass, and even after the examination was over, my nephew still hadn't shown up. Later, my nephew's servant came to me and said that my nephew had been murdered!"
As he spoke, his eyes reddened, and then he suddenly pointed at Shao Yanzhe and said, "He is the murderer who murdered my nephew!"
He then looked at the head constable: "Sir, you must do justice for me and catch this murderer so that my nephew's soul can rest in peace!"
The head constable followed his hand and looked at Shao Yanzhe. After sizing him up, he neither believed nor disbelieved him. He stepped forward and asked, "Scholar, do you agree with Mr. Leng's identification?"
Shao Yanzhe glanced at Leng Yanshan, unsure of what kind of act he was putting on.
However, he cannot admit to the accusations against him.
He looked at the two men with a puzzled expression and said, "My lords, I have never met this Mr. Leng before, let alone know the nephew he speaks of. How could I possibly have killed his nephew? I do not understand such slanderous words."
The constable looked at Leng Yanshan again, waiting for him to say something next.
Leng Yanshan immediately replied, "I have witnesses."
As he spoke, he pulled out a boy of about fifteen or sixteen years old from behind him, pointed at him and said, “Sir, this is my nephew’s servant. He saw my nephew and this scholar Shao leave with his own eyes, and then my nephew disappeared without a trace.”
"Therefore, my nephew must have been murdered by him!"
He answered decisively, then looked at the servant beside him and said, "Come here, tell me, did you see my nephew and this scholar Shao leave together?"
The servant quickly raised his head, glanced at Shao Yanzhe, and then nodded, saying, "Yes!"
A look of satisfaction flashed in Leng Yanshan's eyes: "My lord, did you hear that? It was indeed this scholar Shao who killed my nephew."
The constable glanced at him, then waved to the people behind him.
"Take them all back and let the prefect decide."
Afterwards, Shao Yanzhe and his six companions, along with Leng Yanshan and his companion, were all taken to the Jiangzhou government office.
Soon, a middle-aged man in a scarlet official robe walked into the government office hall, sat down, and asked, "What is it?"
The constable immediately went to the middle-aged man's side and reported the general situation.
Zhou Jiming leaned close to Shao Yanzhe's ear and whispered, "This man is Han Yuzhang, the prefect of Jiangzhou. He is a fourth-rank official and has been in office for two and a half years. He will be able to return to the capital to report on his duties in another six months. He is fair and just, so you don't need to worry that he will favor Leng Yanshan."
Shao Yanzhe nodded slightly to indicate that he understood, and glanced at Leng Yanshan, who seemed confident, not understanding why he was so sure of himself.
Having learned the general situation, Han Yuzhang looked up at Shao Yanzhe with a very serious expression and said, "Master Leng says you murdered his nephew Leng Zhijie. What do you have to say?"
Is Leng Zhijie Leng Yanshan's nephew?
Shao Yanzhe glanced at Leng Yanshan subconsciously. Wasn't he his son?
Thinking about these things, he replied quickly: "Prefect Han, I did not murder Leng Zhijie, the nephew of Lord Leng. Since Lord Leng says so, there must be evidence other than that servant to prove that someone really saw me kill Leng Zhijie with my own hands. Why don't you ask Lord Leng to produce the evidence to prove that I killed Leng Zhijie?"
Leng Yanshan smiled and said, "Of course there's more, there's also my nephew's coachman. They all saw my nephew leave with you."
He looked at Shao Yanzhe as if to say, "You'd better confess your crime quickly!"
Shao Yanzhe chuckled, then shook his head and said, "No, Mr. Leng, you don't understand what I mean. What I mean is, you need people who actually saw me kill Leng Zhijie. These people can only prove that Leng Zhijie was with me before he disappeared, but they can't prove that I killed him. Do you understand?"
Han Yuzhang, sitting at the head of the table, quickly curled the corners of his mouth into a smile. This scholar was quite clever.
Leng Yanshan said, "My nephew left with you before he disappeared. If you didn't kill my nephew, then who did?"
Shao Yanzhe paused, glanced at a certain spot, and then asked, "Where's the evidence?"
Leng Yanshan: "..."
Leng Yanshan really had no evidence to prove that Shao Yanzhe had killed Leng Zhijie himself.
He respectfully cupped his hands towards Han Yuzhang and said, "Please, sir, do me justice!"
Han Yuzhang glanced at him, not wanting to get involved.
At this moment, Shao Yanzhe stepped forward and said with a serious expression, "My lord, in fact, I also want to accuse Lord Leng of murder for money!"
Han Yuzhang glanced at Leng Yanshan, his interest piqued. He sat up slightly and asked, "Who did he kill?"
Shao Yanzhe replied, "It's Shen Qiongzhi from the Shen family!"
Shen Qiongzhi?
The Shen family?
Han Yuzhang narrowed his eyes slightly. Was the Shen family that Shen family?
The name Shen Qiongzhi sounded familiar. He thought carefully and quickly remembered that she was the legitimate daughter of the original head of the Shen family. After her father died, she married a scholar.
"Do you have any evidence?" He looked up at Shao Yanzhe.
Shao Yanzhe nodded: "Of course! Please summon the witnesses, sir!"
"Summon the witness!"
Leng Yanshan watched coldly, quite certain that when he killed Shen Qiongzhi, only Madam Sun was present, and afterwards, Madam Sun was also killed by him.
There is absolutely no one in this world who can prove that he killed Shen Qiongzhi.
The next moment, the confident expression on his face froze.
"You! How did you get here?"
His finger trembled as he pointed at the red figure that walked in, his eyes filled with disbelief.
The person who arrived was Madam Yin. She stood next to Leng Yanshan, not even glancing at him, and knelt down to pay her respects to Han Yuzhang above.
Han Yuzhang carefully examined Shen Qiongzhi and immediately noticed something was wrong; it seemed that she had no shadow.
Wait a minute! What that scholar just said was that Leng Yanshan murdered Shen Qiongzhi.
So, could Shen Qiongzhi standing here be a ghost?
"Is the person in the hall Shen Qiongzhi?"
"It is indeed I, your humble daughter."
What grievance do you have?
Madam Yin calmly recounted Leng Yanshan's past misdeeds to the public.
After listening, Han Yuzhang looked at Leng Yanshan and asked, "Do you know your crime?"
Leng Yanshan regained his composure and glanced at Madam Yin, saying, "My lord, she is a ghost; she cannot be trusted!"
Shao Yanzhe scoffed, "Since Mr. Leng thinks she's untrustworthy, then surely he can trust his nephew?"
As he spoke, he pointed to Lengzhijie, which had appeared out of nowhere.
Leng Yanshan glanced at him, his eyes narrowed, unmoved.
He bowed to Han Yuzhang and said, "Sir, do you agree with my thoughts? Is it really possible to convict me based on just a few words from these ghosts?"
Han Yuzhang turned to look at the two people beside him. After seeing them nod slightly, he made a definitive statement: "Master Leng, is he your nephew?"
Leng Yanshan subconsciously replied, "Yes!"
"That's good. In that case, his current identity is not so important, as long as he is not lying."
Shao Yanzhe seemed to be deep in thought; it seemed that these two had somewhat different statuses.
Leng Yanshan opened his mouth as if to say something, but Han Yuzhang stopped him: "Leng Yanshan, do you plead guilty?"
Shao Yanzhe waited for Leng Yanshan to continue his sophistry, but to his surprise, Leng Yanshan opened his mouth, his eyes filled with struggle, but his mouth quickly uttered a single word: "Admit it!"
After saying that, he widened his eyes, clearly shocked that he had admitted it so readily.
"Alright, men, take him away and lock him up," Han Yuzhang said decisively.
"Yes!" The head constable stepped forward to accept the order.
Even though Leng Yanshan was unwilling, the difference in physical strength made it impossible for him to resist, and he could only be taken away.
After that, things were simple. After signing their confessions, Shao Yanzhe and his group left the government office.
"Brother Zhou, who are those two people standing next to Prefect Han?" Shao Yanzhe asked in a low voice.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiming's eyes flashed with disgust, and he said, "Brother Shao, they are not good people. If you encounter them in the future, just stay away from them."
Seeing that he didn't want to talk about it, Shao Yanzhe didn't ask any more questions, but he had a guess in his heart.
Besides Emperor Xirui, there was another extremely powerful figure in the Dayong Dynasty: the Grand Secretary Gu Huiming. He secretly suppressed Emperor Xirui, making him a puppet who could only be manipulated by others.
I've heard that this Grand Secretary has an organization called Tianluozhao, similar to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which is spread throughout the entire Dayong Dynasty.
He thought for a moment, then leaned close to Zhou Jiming's ear and whispered, "Are they from the Heavenly Net Order?"
Zhou Jiming glanced at him in surprise, but did not deny it and nodded.
After the group returned to their lodgings, Shao Yanzhe looked at Madam Yin and said, "Madam Yin, Leng Yanshan will probably be executed soon. What are your plans for the future?"
Madam Yin said, "I have no other ideas for the time being. I must see Leng Yanshan die with my own eyes before I am satisfied. Nothing else matters."
A fierce glint flashed in her eyes. If it weren't for Leng Yanshan, how could she have fallen to this state!
"Very well." Shao Yanzhe knew that Madam Yin harbored hatred for Leng Yanshan, and that this hatred would not disappear as long as he was alive.
In the following period, he frequently went to the government office to inquire about Leng Yanshan's situation. When he learned that Leng Yanshan's final sentence was beheading, he immediately informed Madam Yin.
On the day Leng Yanshan was executed, Madam Yin went to watch and seemed to be in a good mood.
Shao Yanzhe was not interested in this and did not go.
Soon, Madam Yin returned, but her complexion was not very good.
"What's wrong?" Shao Yanzhe asked, puzzled.
Madam Yin said, "The person who was beheaded was not Leng Yanshan."
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