"You can show me the official documents. If there is irrefutable evidence and the perpetrator is still at large, then even if my brother is not the perpetrator, I will be willing to take him to Jingzhao Prefecture and confront you in front of the prefect."
The yamen runners on the opposite side immediately looked hesitant when they heard this. The youngest son of the Zhang family was indeed dead, but he died in the back street of the brothel, and no one saw how he died. After the Zhang family reported the matter to the police, the prefect also ordered people to investigate, but no useful evidence was found.
Mr. Zhang refused to give up and searched for everyone who had a grudge against his youngest son during that period. The little beggar named Shen was the only one who disappeared. The Zhang family thought that he had committed murder and ran away out of guilt, so they took people to turn the west of the city upside down and even gave money to the government office to help catch the man, but in the end it was just speculation.
The little beggar disappeared, and the Zhang family's matter was left unresolved. As time passed, they had long forgotten about it, but they didn't expect that someone from the Zhang family would find them early this morning and say that the little beggar had been found.
The Zhang family gave them some money and asked them to come to the downtown area to arrest people. How could they get any arrest warrants when they were paid to do the job? Moreover, the words "officials are being manipulated by others" from the Rong family girl made them all pale. It was okay for them to take some money privately to help others, but if a real commotion broke out and people knew that the officials of Jingzhao Prefecture could be manipulated at will by a merchant, then they would be dead.
The leading officer quickly said, "Madam Rong has misunderstood. We only heard from the Zhang family that the person who killed their husband is here..."
"They say, and you believe?"
Rong Zhen's face darkened. "Since when did the Jingzhao government become surnamed Zhang? You have no evidence, no official documents, and yet you rush in and accuse my Rong family's son of murder. If he really was taken away by you just now, wouldn't the Zhang family be able to tell you who he is when they say so?"
"And you too!"
Rong Zhen looked at the Zhang family with a cold expression, "My brother had always been sick, thin, and not looking very good. He came into the Rong family and spent nearly a year recuperating before his health improved. He doesn't look completely different now, but he has changed a lot. Even I, his elder sister, can hardly remember what he looked like before."
"But you guys, after more than half a year, were able to recognize him at a glance. You even pointed at my well-dressed brother in the middle of a busy street and said he was the beggar you were looking for. Aren't you afraid you've found the wrong person?"
"Brother."
Rong Zhen looked at Chen He: "You come forward."
Chen He felt a little heavy on his feet, but Rong Zhen pulled him forward a step. Rong Zhen looked at the people around him and said, "You are all discerning people. Take a look at my brother. Does anyone think he looks like the murderer they are talking about?"
Everyone's eyes were on Shen He, who was about eleven or twelve years old. He was wearing clothes made of fine fabrics, and his long hair was tied up with a hairband. His face was a little pale, perhaps because he was frightened by the sudden change, but his features were fair and handsome, his lips were red and his teeth were white. He stood with his back straight next to the two little girls, and it was obvious that he was a young man raised in a wealthy family.
They had seen beggars in the capital before. They were all dirty and unkempt. Even if there were a few who could clean themselves up, they were all skinny, hunched over, and looked stingy. Few of them looked neat. How could they look like the man in front of them?
"How could this young man be a beggar?"
"Yes, and how could a child this young kill someone?"
"Don't you think this is incredibly strange? The Zhang family wanted to arrest a beggar, and after more than half a year, he suddenly transformed into this appearance. Anyone who saw him would have doubted whether they had recognized the wrong person. But the Zhang family actually directly sent the yamen runners over. Aren't they afraid of finding the wrong person?"
There were some smart people in the crowd, and they looked at the Zhang family with a strange look in their eyes.
The yamen runners also came to their senses and looked fiercely at the Zhang family. Rong Zhen's expression turned cold: "Tell me, who asked you to frame my Rong family?!"
The Zhang family leader was furious: "Don't talk nonsense..."
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