After listening, Su Yan agreed with Shen Yao's guess.
"Lord Shen, if the woman that day was indeed Xia Hongying, then her husband, Wu Yaozu, is very likely already murdered..."
Why are you so certain?
"Lord Shen, as far as I know, Wu Tiezhu is not the only person in Chang'an responsible for handling night soil; there are three people in Guozixiang alone."
The fact that the murderer specifically chose the day Wu Tiezhu was on duty is no coincidence..."
After listening, Shen Yao seemed thoughtful. "Could you be overthinking it? The identity of the victim in the dismemberment case hasn't been verified yet. It might not be Wu Yaozu."
"No... Lord Shen, do you remember what I said? You did not report the dismemberment case to your superiors, and on the day of the incident, no one outside the government could have known about the dismemberment case."
I was wondering how Dong Dayong knew about the dismemberment case in the city, and even knew that the body was transported out of Guozi Lane. Clearly, he must know the inside story of the dismemberment case; it's like he's trying to hide something obvious.
After Su Yan's reminder, Shen Yao also remembered the matter of the forged portrait, and that Dong Dayong had deliberately provided them with the wrong clues.
"But I don't understand why Dong Dayong would point out the location where he threw away the remaining body parts."
Su Yan smiled. "Lord Shen, we didn't find any remains in the place Dong Dayong pointed to from the beginning. I guess he dared to point there because he knew there was nothing there."
But he never anticipated that we would find the remains by tracing the location where the wild dogs were buried.
"It seems Xia Hongying is indeed highly suspected of committing the crime... I must hurry and apprehend her, lest she escape..."
After saying that, Shen Yao turned around and prepared to leave.
Su Yan quickly waved and called out to Shen Yao, "Lord Shen, don't go yet, I want to go too..."
Shen Yao turned around, looked at Su Yan who was stuck between the wooden railings, and couldn't help but smile. "Don't forget, you are now the prime suspect in the case. I can't let my personal feelings interfere with my duties."
"Lord Shen, please stop teasing me. If I go with you, at least I can hear Xia Hongying's voice and see if she's the woman who hit me with a stick. I'll be very cooperative in solving the case."
"Come on, you're probably holding a grudge against someone for knocking you out," Shen Yao teased with a smile.
Su Yan looked aggrieved and said, "Am I that kind of person? Lord Shen, look how long I've been in jail, please have some mercy and let me go with you..."
Shen Yao didn't say anything, but smiled and took out the key he had prepared, opened the cell door. He had come to the prison with the intention of letting Su Yan out.
It was just a spur-of-the-moment idea to tease him and see how long Su Yan could hold out in the cell.
After Su Yan was released from prison, she opened her arms, closed her eyes with a blissful expression, breathed in the fresh air, and enjoyed the warmth of the sunlight on her body.
Three days later, Su Yan was finally freed from the torture cell and felt extremely relieved.
While she was engrossed in enjoying herself, Shen Yao had already walked a hundred meters away. As soon as Su Yan opened her eyes, she quickly chased after him.
"Lord Shen, wait for me..."
…………
Wu Tiezhu's home was located outside Chang'an City, in an extremely ordinary courtyard.
When Shen Yao appeared at the entrance of Wu Family Village with a large group of people, the villagers craned their necks to look at him.
Coincidentally, as soon as Shen Yao entered the village, he saw Bucktooth leading a group of people out of Wu Family Village.
When the buck-toothed man and his group saw the government officials, they immediately scattered and fled in all directions, like mice seeing a cat.
Su Yan looked at the buck-toothed men who were slipping on their feet and felt puzzled. There was no sign of Sun San among the constables brought by Shen Yao. Why did the buck-toothed men act like trembling mice when they saw them?
As the saying goes, if you haven't done anything wrong during the day, you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door in the middle of the night.
Su Yan and Shen Yao exchanged a glance, and Shen Yao immediately understood what she was thinking. He waved to the constables behind him and then went after the buck-toothed man.
Before long, Shen Yao carried Su Yan down the slope by the collar of his buck-toothed man, as if he were a chick.
The man with buck teeth recognized Su Yan and immediately knelt down, begging for mercy, "Sir, it's not my fault, I only do things for money... I didn't kill him, the wronged have their culprits..."
Su Yan didn't expect that before she could even ask anything, the buck-toothed man had already given himself away.
"Bucktooth, you confessed everything honestly and without missing a single detail. Now I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself. But if you hide anything, I don't know if the judge will give you another chance when you go to the Dali Temple," Su Yan said, feigning a threat.
After being threatened by Su Yan, Bucktooth was already pale with fright and confessed everything.
“Sir, it was that vile woman Xia Hongying who gave us money to find someone to torture Dong Dayong. But when we left, Dong Dayong was still alive and well. He wasn’t dead at all. We really didn’t kill Dong Dayong.”
Sun San was right. Bucktooth was a cowardly thug. In no time, he revealed how he and seven or eight brothers had forcibly confessed to Dong Dayong that he had done *that* to him.
After hearing what the buck-toothed man said, Shen Yao and Su Yan exchanged a knowing glance. It was truly a case of blind cats catching dead mice; they hadn't expected to gain anything from catching Xia Hongying.
The buck-toothed man's words also confirmed that Xia Hongying was the murderer of Dong Dayong.
When they arrived at Wu Tiezhu's house, the yard looked as if it had been ransacked.
Shen Yao and Su Yan looked at the buck-toothed man in perfect unison, having roughly guessed why he had appeared in Wu Family Village.
The man with buck teeth gave a helpless smile. "Wu Yaozu owes money and won't pay it back. I, sir, have no choice..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the people inside the house seemed to hear the commotion in the yard.
Wu Tiezhu appeared before the crowd, his face bruised and swollen, covered in injuries.
When Su Yan saw Wu Tiezhu's injuries, she kicked him a few times and yelled, "Don't you know how to respect your elders? Look what you've done to him..."
Su Yan kicked with all her might, causing her buck teeth to clench in pain, but she stubbornly endured it without making a sound.
Wu Tiezhu was also quite surprised by Su Yan's sudden appearance.
"Officer Su, what brings you here?"
Looking at Wu Tiezhu's injured and aged appearance, Su Yan didn't know how to start the conversation. After all, what she wanted to say was a significant blow to an elderly man in his twilight years.
Shen Yao noticed Su Yan's predicament and took over the conversation.
"Is Xia Hongying at home? I have a case that requires her cooperation in the investigation. Will she come with us to the yamen?"
Upon seeing Shen Yao's appearance, Wu Tiezhu immediately became worried. "My lord, what case is it that requires Hongying to go to the yamen?"
Although Wu Tiezhu was old, he knew that when government officials came to take someone to the yamen, it was usually not a good thing, so he couldn't help but feel anxious.
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