Shen Yao never minces words, "murder case..."
"What... a murder!"
Upon hearing this, Wu Tiezhu felt his vision go black and almost fainted. Seeing this, Su Yan quickly stepped forward to support him.
At this moment, Xia Hongying, who had been hiding in the house, heard the commotion outside and came out under everyone's gaze.
Without a trace of fear on his face, but rather with a relieved expression, he walked up to Shen Yao.
She said in a deep voice, "I am Xia Hongying, the person you are looking for is me..."
Shen Yao sized up the woman in front of him. Although her appearance was not outstanding, her eyes and brows were full of charm, especially her bright and clear eyes. Peach blossom eyes are the most charming and affectionate.
If you meet Xia Hongying's gaze, you will be completely captivated by her affectionate eyes.
Even Su Yan couldn't help but take a few more glances at it.
However, Shen Yao was oblivious to the situation and coldly questioned, "I have already determined that Dong Dayong's death is related to you. Xia Hongying, do you have any explanation?"
Xia Hongying smiled, her face showing decisive composure. "Sir, I killed Dong Dayong. I have nothing to say in my defense. Take me away!"
After saying this, Xia Hongying raised her hands and let the yamen runners put shackles on her.
The news of Xia Hongying being taken away immediately sparked heated discussions among the villagers of Wujia Village. They all crowded around the wall to watch the spectacle, but no one went up to ask what was going on.
When Wu Tiezhu saw that his daughter-in-law was about to be taken away, he knelt down in front of Shen Yao with a thud and pleaded bitterly, "Sir, Hongying must have been framed. She may have committed murder. Whatever she did wrong, you can arrest this old man instead."
Shen Yao naturally ignored Wu Tiezhu and instead cast a glance at Su Yan beside him.
Su Yan naturally understood Shen Yao's meaning and sighed helplessly, "Uncle Wu, the government is also investigating the case under orders. If Xia Hongying really did not kill anyone, we will naturally not make things difficult for her."
"Father, you don't need to plead for me. You must take good care of yourself from now on." Xia Hongying's eyes were glistening with tears, as if she were giving her last words.
Before he could finish speaking, Shen Yao had already led his men out of the courtyard. Wu Tiezhu chased after them desperately, but suddenly a surge of blood rushed to his head. Unexpectedly, anger overwhelmed him, and he fainted.
Seeing this, Su Yan quickly joined other yamen runners to carry Wu Tiezhu back to his bed in the room.
Speaking of which, Wu Tiezhu was also a pitiful person. His parents died when he was young, and he finally got married, but his wife died in childbirth, leaving only Wu Yaozu as his only son.
But Wu Yaozu was no good either. He was disobedient as a child, often hanging out with thugs and hooligans, and developed a gambling addiction. He even gambled away all the money Wu Tiezhu had painstakingly saved for his coffin.
Su Yan later learned that Wu Tiezhu was only fifty years old this year, but now he looked so old that he was almost half buried in the ground.
The saying "Children are debts owed to their parents in their past lives" couldn't be more fitting for Wu Tiezhu.
Fortunately, Wu Tiezhu was well-liked in Wujia Village, and as soon as they saw him faint, they immediately rushed around to help.
Su Yan was, after all, an outsider. Even if she sympathized with Wu Tiezhu, she certainly wouldn't be as well taken care of as the people from Wu Family Village.
So, while everyone was busy, he quietly left the Wu family with the yamen runners.
When they reached the village entrance, Su Yan saw Shen Yao leaning against the carriage, seemingly waiting for them.
"Lord Shen, why haven't you returned to the yamen yet?"
Shen Yao naturally wouldn't say that he was deliberately waiting for someone, so he casually made up an excuse, "Isn't the weather nice? I'm just stretching up. Why have you been staying at the Wu family's place for so long?"
Su Yan chuckled awkwardly, "I took Wu Tiezhu's pulse, and he's fine for now. I'll also check if we can find any remaining bones."
"How is the situation?"
Su Yan shook her head in disappointment, "We didn't find anything. Did we guess wrong? The victim in the dismemberment case might be someone else. Perhaps Wu Yaozu really is hiding from gambling debts."
Shen Yao smiled and said, "Let's not overthink it. It's not too late to go back to the yamen for further investigation."
Su Yan thought about it and realized that Shen Yao was right; solving a case couldn't be rushed.
Upon returning to the yamen, Shen Yao first interrogated Bucktooth, asking him not only for details of Dong Dayong's case but also for information about Wu Yaozu.
Ten days ago, Wu Yaozu owed the gambling house one hundred taels of silver. He then negotiated terms with the gambling house, agreeing to sell Xia Hongying to a brothel and sell his old family house to pay off the gambling debt.
But for some reason, after Wu Yaozu left the casino, he seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Bucktooth and his men searched almost every inch of Chang'an, but no one saw Wu Yaozu.
Bucktooth had no choice but to seek help from Wu Tiezhu, which led to the scene outside Chang'an where Su Yan intervened to help those in need.
After listening, Shen Yao and Su Yan began to sort out the details of the case.
Wu Yaozu's disappearance does not seem to be a coincidence, and Xia Hongying also hooked up with Dong Dayong a month ago.
It is highly likely that Wu Yaozu happened to stumble upon Dong Dayong's affair with his wife, which led to his own demise.
Shen Yao thought Su Yan's analysis made a lot of sense, but at present it was just speculation, and they did not yet have the murder weapon or evidence to prove that Wu Yaozu was killed.
So, they began interrogating Xia Hongying.
From the moment Xia Hongying appeared in the courtroom, she remained calm and composed, as if everything was within her expectations.
This piqued Su Yan's curiosity. Logically speaking, when people come to court, many of them will defend their innocence.
However, Xia Hongying readily confessed the process and reasons for killing Dong Dayong.
She was tempted to kill Dong Dayong simply because he was unfaithful to her and had an affair with someone else behind her back.
But in Su Yan's opinion, this reason was far too far-fetched. It would be more believable to say that it was to kill someone to cover it up.
After listening to Xia Hongying's story, Shen Yao and Su Yan exchanged a knowing glance, both realizing that Xia Hongying hadn't told the whole truth.
Shen Yao didn't have time to play games with Xia Hongying and went straight to the point, asking, "Where did you put Wu Yaozu's head?"
Upon hearing this, Xia Hongying was taken aback at first, seemingly surprised by Shen Yao's words, but quickly regained her composure.
At this moment, Xia Hongying looked calmly at the two of them, her eyes losing their original brightness and revealing a smile as deep as an abyss. "That's right, besides Dong Dayong, Wu Yaozu was also killed by me... They all deserved to die, but even killing them wouldn't quell the hatred in my heart..."
After saying that, Xia Hongying's originally delicate face suddenly turned ferocious, and she laughed maniacally, "My lord, you would never understand how happy I am to watch them die in pain, bit by bit."
Wu Yaozu loves gambling, doesn't he? I'll teach him what it's like to be dismembered. And Dong Dayong fared even worse; I watched him beg for mercy in agony, crawling like a dog at my feet… Hahahaha… I don't think adults would understand how I felt.”
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