Chapter 390 A Yao's Teachings
Gu Jingxi saw the hatred on the couple's faces; they truly hated their adopted son to the core, wishing they could grind him to dust. So in the end, they didn't collect his body and had the officials throw it directly into a mass grave.
He didn't answer Mr. Shen's question, but instead asked in a low voice, "I've heard that he's usually very filial to you and friendly to the neighbors. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would do such a thing. Apart from the fact that he has romantic feelings for Miss Shen and can't have her, do you have any other reason to believe that he is the murderer?"
Father Shen sighed softly, and said with grief and indignation, "Sir, my wife and I initially believed him and thought that it was Young Master Li who harmed Qinghe. But in the end, Qingshan confessed and signed the document, and was sentenced to beheading by Prefect Wei. Fearing that he would die a mutilated death, he smashed his head against the courtroom and died. Before he died, he even apologized to us. We really didn't expect him to do such a thing. No wonder they say you can't see into someone's heart; you can know a person's face but not their heart."
Looking at the couple in front of him, Gu Jingxi felt that he couldn't get any valuable clues from them, so he could only start with the Li family.
Mr. Shen found it very strange and couldn't understand why anyone from the imperial court would come to investigate his daughter's death. They were just ordinary people, and even if the whole family died, it wouldn't alarm the capital.
After a moment, Mr. Shen asked hesitantly, "Sir, the case has been closed for so long, why are you investigating it again? Could it be that the murderer who killed Qinghe is someone else? But Qingshan has already confessed that he did it."
"grown ups!"
After a long silence, Mother Shen suddenly raised her voice, her tone quite agitated, and said, "You just asked Qinghe if she had feelings for Yingjie. I suddenly remembered that when the news of Yingjie's death came, Qinghe seemed to have lost her soul. Now, after thinking about it carefully, I think she might really have feelings for that boy Yingjie."
"But at that time, my husband and I were helping the Yang family and couldn't take care of Qinghe. We didn't know when she ran away. Later, when Qingshan went to find Qinghe, could it be that he saw that Qinghe was distracted and took advantage of her, wanting to make her lose her virginity and have no choice but to marry him? But Qinghe was unwilling. He was afraid that the matter would be exposed, so he killed Qinghe and framed Young Master Li."
If there were no other issues, Gu Jingxi would have made the same assumption, but with other things influencing things, he was more inclined to believe that Shen Qingshan was innocent, so he asked in return, "What if it wasn't Shen Qingshan?"
The Shen couple were stunned. It wasn't Qingshan?
After a moment, Madam Shen said incredulously, "That was Young Master Li? My lord, that beast has already confessed his crime, how could it be Young Master Li? My lord, you do not know, Young Master Li had considered taking Qinghe as a concubine, but before he could bring her into the manor, Qinghe was murdered."
Gu Jingxi asked, "Have you already whispered about Miss Shen's marriage to the young master of the Li family?"
Mother Shen shook her head: "No, but if the Li family asks a matchmaker to arrange a marriage, we will not refuse this good match, unless Qinghe is unwilling."
The Li family are wealthy merchants in Deqing County, with a fortune to their name. If their daughter were to marry into the family, she would surely live a life of comfort and luxury. How could they, as parents, disagree? They would only refuse if their daughter did not want to marry, since they only have one daughter. No matter how close an adopted son is, he is not their biological son, but their daughter is.
Gu Jingxi then asked, "Has Miss Shen ever revealed that she is in love with Young Master Li?"
Madam Shen shook her head again: "No, but she said that Young Master Li is a gentle and kind person. If Young Master Li asks a matchmaker to propose marriage, she has no reason to be dissatisfied with the marriage."
After carefully recalling his adopted son's actions over the years, and combining this with the words of the official in front of him, Shen's father felt that there might really be something suspicious about the case. He asked nervously, "Sir, is it really not Qingshan who did it?" As he spoke, he knelt down with a thud. "Sir, you must do justice for me and my daughter. If it really wasn't Qingshan, please find the real culprit for my daughter."
Gu Jingxi said calmly, "Whether it is true or not, I will find out. You can stay here for now. If you remember any clues, you can inform Fang Xuan and the others. Before the case is solved, you must not leave or appear in public. What does your daughter look like? Describe her and I will draw a portrait."
The Shen couple were bewildered after hearing this. Their daughter had passed away, so what use was knowing her appearance? But they still described to Gu Jingxi how tall their daughter was, who her nose resembled, who her eyes resembled, and even what hairstyle she liked.
Based on what they said, Gu Jingxi drew a five-tenths portrait. He then revised it twice based on their words. The portrait was about nine-tenths similar to Shen Qinghe. He then asked the Shen couple to leave.
Fang Ce stepped forward and asked, "Lord Marquis, why are you so determined to pursue this case?"
Gu Jingxi narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "We haven't found any other abnormalities yet, but I feel that this case is a bit unusual, so we can't let it go. Zhou Yun and Yu Chuan have investigated and found that Prefect Wei has accepted bribes to do favors for others. Although we haven't found his private accounts yet, he has done favors for others. The Li family is wealthy, so they may have bribed Prefect Wei."
As he spoke, his tone turned serious: "Even if this case is unrelated to the deaths of the previous two magistrates of Deqing County, it must be investigated. Normally, we can turn a blind eye to accepting some benefits and doing some harmless things, but maliciously fabricating false cases and disregarding human life is a serious matter and must be thoroughly investigated. Otherwise, if this kind of thing happens again, many people will be wronged and die unjustly."
Fang Ce nodded, then asked, "My lord, if this case is related to the deaths of the previous two magistrates, how should their deaths be investigated?"
Gu Jingxi replied, "I will investigate the government office in Deqing County to see if I can find any clues. The first official sent by the imperial court died in the government office, so he must have found some clues. I just don't know if there will be any clues left behind. Before Miss Shen's case is solved, you must keep an eye on the couple and prevent them from going out, lest they go out and tell someone, alerting the enemy."
Fang Ce replied, "Don't worry, my lord, I understand."
Afterwards, Gu Jingxi instructed Fang Xuan to go to Huzhou City and secretly investigate the private accounts of Prefect Wei. As long as the private accounts were found, it would be clear whether or not Prefect Wei should be punished. Even if the private accounts were not found, evidence of collusion between officials and merchants would be acceptable.
After dealing with these matters, Gu Jingxi glanced at Shen Qinghe's portrait and rubbed his temples with a headache. If this case was unrelated to the deaths of the two county magistrates, and no clues could be found in the county government or elsewhere, and the person behind the scenes did not reveal anything, this case might really become an unsolved mystery.
On his way back, Gu Jingxi took the portrait with him.
When he returned to the guest room, Ayao was already asleep, but a light was left on in the room for him.
The next morning.
Gu Jingxi gave the portrait to Chan'er and told her about Shen Qinghe's case. He then instructed Chan'er to disguise herself as Shen Qinghe and go to the Li family's young master that night to get some information out of him.
Last year, Chan'er had plenty of experience pretending to be a ghost to scare people because of Meng Jinyao's instructions. She also had experience in how to talk to people as a 'ghost', so this was not a difficult task for her. She immediately replied, "Don't worry, my lord, I will certainly live up to your expectations."
Meng Jinyao asked with a smile, "Why does my husband also do such superstitious things?"
Gu Jingxi smiled gently and replied softly, "I never thought of using this method before. It's all thanks to A Yao's excellent teaching. People with guilty consciences are most afraid of ghosts and are easily frightened, making it easy to extract information from them."
Meng Jinyao looked up and glared at him, explaining that she did this because her abilities were limited and this was the only thing she could do.
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