Shen Yu glanced at Li Huyi: a dark-skinned, burly body, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a square face, with an air of loyalty, courage, and righteousness.
Although he stuck out his tongue and licked his lips in a lewd manner, his eyes were dull and lifeless, which showed that Li Huyi was not a lecherous man who craved women.
The long scar on his face looked like a knife wound; if I'm not mistaken, Li Huyi must be a soldier who had been on the battlefield.
Last year, when Prince Yan was returning from the northern frontier, he was assassinated. One of his bodyguards was slashed in the face while saving Prince Yan. Could it be Li Huyi?
Before Shen Yu could ask a question, Li Huyi spoke first, "Yu Yu, do you still remember me? I used to be the personal bodyguard of Prince Yan."
Li Huyi actually took the initiative to reveal his identity?
Shen Yu became even more suspicious that Li Huyi was acting on Yan Wang's orders. So, she nodded to indicate that she remembered Li Huyi, and then asked:
Now that the Prince of Yan is dead, what are your plans?
Li Huyi continued to stare at Chen Yu, stammering, "I... left the Yan Prince's mansion when Madam Yu left. The life or death of the Yan Prince is no longer my concern."
"Why did you leave King Yan? I remember how kind King Yan was to his servants."
At this moment, Li Huyi's eyes darted away, then he looked at Lord He and shouted, "My lord, how can you allow Yu Yu to interrogate me in court? She is a woman, and all the questions she asked are unrelated to this case."
Bang! The judge slammed his gavel and demanded, "Why did you kill the cripple?"
"Because I love Yu Yu, I can't stand seeing her with other men. Last year, when Yan Wang replaced Zuo Zhen to perform the wedding ceremony, I saw Yu Yu outside the Zuo family's gate. At that time, I fell in love with Yu Yu at first sight. Even if I never marry, as long as I can see Yu Yu in this life, I will be content."
Seeing Li Huyi's nonchalant expression of affection, Prince Jing, who was standing outside the door, was furious. He rushed in and angrily asked Li Huyi, "Why didn't you kill Bai Yehua when he married Chen Yu?"
"I...I am no match for Bai Yehua. A cripple is a cripple after all, so I can easily succeed."
Bang! The magistrate slammed his gavel and demanded, "When did you enter Chen Yu's mansion and abduct the cripple? Tell the truth!"
"Yesterday, the well water in the Kong family mansion was poisoned. The Emperor ordered Yu Yu to come and treat the patient. Upon hearing this news, I waited outside the Kong family mansion, and Yu Yu indeed came. Later, Yu Yu took the lame man to the Mu family."
At this point, Li Huyi's voice became low as he continued, "Yu Yu and the cripple actually rode in the same sedan chair to the Mu family. After they left the Mu family, I secretly followed them to Guhe Village and hid outside. At midnight, I secretly sneaked into the cripple's room."
To my surprise, he stabbed me with a dagger, and I took the opportunity to knock him unconscious.
I helped him toward the west gate, but I was injured. Once outside the west gate, I stole a carriage and took him to the dock outside the east gate.
At this moment, an old man walked in, looked Li Huyi up and down, and said to Lord He, "Sir, it was this villain who stole my carriage."
"Very well, I will certainly handle this according to the law. You may leave now."
Seeing the old man leave, Lord He glared at Li Huyi and continued to question him:
[Since you can't stand seeing the cripple and Chen Yuzi together, why not just kill him? Taking him away is just asking for trouble.]
“I didn’t want Yu Yu to collect his body and give him a proper burial. I thought there were sharks in the river outside the east city, so I threw him in. As long as the sharks ate him, no one would recognize him. I never expected that he would be wearing a jade thumb ring. I can only blame myself for being careless!”
Shen Yu kept shaking her head. In her opinion, every word Li Huyi said was a pre-prepared lie.
The carriage was stolen to deliberately leave behind witnesses; the jade thumb ring was left behind to prove that the corpse was Liu Yu.
Because she didn't believe it, the mastermind exposed Li Huyi again.
These are all inferences made by Chen Yu.
She walked up to Li Huyi, bent down to look into his eyes, and asked, "Since you had already escaped, why did you walk right into our trap?"
“I couldn’t escape! After discarding the cripple’s body, I intended to leave by boat, so I hid in the passenger ship. It was the boatman who discovered the bloodstains and found me, and then he reported it to the authorities.”
Chen Yu shook her head again.
Lord He frowned and continued to ask, "Then why were you injured? The cripple has lost his memory and forgotten his martial arts?"
"My lord, you don't know, the cripple was probably frightened by me. He stabbed me in the chest with a dagger, then pulled it out and swung it at me. Look, my body is covered in wounds."
After saying this, Li Huyi took off his clothes and showed his bare chest to everyone.
Shen Yu didn't mind and carefully examined Li Huyi. The wounds were all on his chest and arms. Although he had lost a lot of blood, they were all superficial wounds and had not damaged his internal organs.
At this moment, Master He looked at Master Bai beside him and instructed, "Bring up the murder weapon found in the cripple's room so that Mu Chenyu can verify it."
Chen Yu went to verify.
The dagger engraved with a small fish was indeed Liu Yu's personal item, which he often carried when gathering herbs in the mountains. The dagger bore only Liu Yu's fingerprints, and the bloodstains belonged to Li Huyi.
In Shen Yu's view, the mastermind behind the scenes had laid a flawless trap in order to cover up the truth.
She still couldn't believe Liu Yu was dead. First, Yan Wang's pendant had appeared outside the east gate. Second, Li Huyi had taken the cripple to the east gate. These coincidences made her even more suspicious that Yan Wang had taken Liu Yu away.
Ta-da...
Kong Ying rushed into the hall and directly questioned Lord He, "What do you mean, sir? I have already explained that the jade pendant was a keepsake of Young Master Kang'er, and I returned it to Prince Yan yesterday. Why did you still send Gu Erlang to the Kong residence to investigate?"
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com