Chapter 8 Chapter 8 "I'm sorry that Miss Gu has been wronged."...
Gu Huaiyu came back just after lunch, looking angry and unhappy. As soon as he entered the room, his eyes were on Zhu Song, as if he had come to collect a debt.
Zhu Song was puzzled by his gaze and asked, "What's wrong?"
Gu Huaiyu sat down in front of Zhu Song without saying a word. Qu Zhoubai glanced at the two of them, then stood up to serve him some food. "You haven't had lunch yet, right? I'll get you some."
Gu Huaiyu responded, and Qu Zhoubai left. Zhu Song asked, "What happened?"
Gu Huaiyu's eyes flickered for a moment before he said, "Fortunately, Lin Feng was executed. The Lin family was burned to death. There was no injustice at all."
"What?" Zhu Song stood up in shock. "No wrongful conviction?"
Gu Huaiyu looked at him in confusion, "Why are you so excited?"
Zhu Song's eyes widened. "I...I've already pleaded with His Majesty, how can there be no injustice?"
Gu Huaiyu raised his eyes and said in a bad tone, "Without any evidence, what can you use to plead with His Majesty?"
At this time, Qu Zhoubai brought the food over and said, "Use the thing on his neck."
Gu Huaiyu frowned fiercely and turned to look at Zhu Song, "Is what he said true?"
Zhu Song didn't say anything. Gu Huaiyu slammed the table and stood up suddenly, shouting in a stern voice, "Zhu Song."
Zhu Song still didn't say anything, so Qu Zhoubai quickly tried to persuade him, "What's wrong? Why are you suddenly angry? If you have anything to say, just talk it out. Don't be angry, don't be angry."
Zhu Song looked at him and said, "You can go buy a sand hat now."
"Ah?" Qu Zhoubai looked at him, confused, then at Gu Huaiyu. His heart sank, and he instantly guessed what was going on. "Didn't the Lin family get killed?"
Zhu Song sat down and said, "I am responsible for my own actions. I will go to the palace and explain things to His Majesty."
Gu Huaiyu snorted coldly, "You go and make a promise, and then you admit your mistake. Do you think the emperor is your father?"
Zhu Song stood up and walked out. Gu Huaiyu called out to him, "Where are you going?"
Zhu Song replied without even turning his head: "Go find Lin Feng. He has put such a huge obstacle in my way. I can't let him go so easily."
Gu Huaiyu quickly followed and grabbed Zhu Song's arm. Zhu Song turned around to look at him. Qu Zhoubai was watching from the side and stamped his feet anxiously, "I won't let him go either. I'm so angry."
Gu Huaiyu still didn't let go. Zhu Song looked at him suspiciously. Although his expression was ugly, it was more solemn than worried. Usually when Gu Huaiyu was angry, he would show this seemingly serious expression. Zhu Song asked suspiciously, "The Lin family was killed, right?"
Qu Zhoubai didn't understand why he suddenly said that. "Brother Song, you're not upset, are you? Why would Gu Er lie to you about something like this?"
Gu Huaiyu's eyes flickered unnaturally. This was his reaction when his heart was touched. Seeing this, Zhu Song also understood that Gu Huaiyu was worried about him, so he patted Gu Huaiyu on the shoulder and said, "Gu Huaiyu, you know me. As officials who are the parents of the people, we will go through fire and water for them. Those are thirty-one lives. Besides, the emperor has given me half a month. I believe I can find out the truth."
Zhu Song spoke seriously, and Gu Huaiyu suddenly became deflated when he looked at him, "Forget it, I can't control you." After saying that, he pulled Zhu Song out of the door.
Qu Zhoubai was holding the food and was completely confused. What was going on?
"Hey, are you still going to eat?"
With a bowl of rice in his hand, he didn't know whether to put it down or not, so he finally chased after him with it.
They came to Shuyun Villa again. The yamen runners were still digging up the bones. Gu Huaiyu pulled Zhu Song to the steamed bones, picked up the cervical vertebra and handed it to him. He saw that the middle part of the cervical vertebra was red and slightly darker. When he held it up to the sun and looked at it, it was bright red, which was due to the injury he had sustained during his lifetime.
There was only this one wound on the entire corpse. In other words, it was a sword that killed the person in the throat. Only a well-trained master could do that.
Zhu Song put the bones back and asked, "How many bones have been dug out now?"
Gu Huaiyu replied, "I don't know, they weren't wearing any. I took a quick look and there were probably about twelve or thirteen."
The blessing chanted, "We must confirm the fatal injuries of all the corpses."
Gu Huaiyu nodded, and Zhu Song continued, "We only have half a month, we have to hurry."
"Um"
Gu Huaiyu's characteristic is that his emotions come and go quickly, and when they pass, he acts as if nothing happened. He responded and was about to go back to work when Qu Zhoubai called out to him, "You'd better eat first."
Zhusong also said to him, "Eat."
Gu Huaiyu took the bowl from Qu Zhoubai's hand, squatted down and started eating. Zhu Song stood not far away and looked at him and couldn't help laughing. This scene was funny no matter how you looked at it.
Gu Huaiyu noticed his gaze and asked, "What's so funny about this?"
Zhu Song even had the leisure to joke with him, "I'm sorry that Miss Gu has been wronged."
Gu Huaiyu glared at him and ignored him. Zhu Song caught a glimpse of Qu Zhoubai also smiling there, and said unhappily, "Hurry up and get back to work."
Qu Zhoubai shrugged and muttered softly, "Oh, I don't know who said you don't have to worry about this matter, but now you're ordering people around and being rude."
"Hurry up. Otherwise, the sand control will drag you down."
Qu Zhoubaidao: "No need to delay, I am willing to go."
Zhu Song couldn't explain it to him clearly, so he just took his hand and pulled him away.
The three men, along with the yamen runners, spent two full days to determine the fatal injuries of the 31 bodies of the Lin family. Without exception, all of them were caused by a single sword strike in the throat.
Zhu Song carefully determined the location of the corpses, all of which were in a residential area. This meant that the other party moved very quickly and no one showed any signs of escaping. To be able to do this, there must be more than one murderer. Based on the layout of Shuyun Villa, Zhu Song initially estimated that there were at least ten murderers.
With such a large number of masters, the mastermind behind this must be someone powerful.
At the same time, the various people that Zhu Song sent out to gather intelligence also returned.
The Lin family is in the business of mermaid pearls. Thirteen years ago, the head of the Lin family, Lin Sicheng, accidentally obtained a rare red coral while going out to sea. Lin Sicheng claimed that he wanted to keep this item as a family heirloom, but he exhibited it publicly in Beijing fifteen times within three months, attracting tens of thousands of people each time, and the price was once hyped up to 100,000 taels of gold.
After the fire at Shuyun Villa, some people suspected that the disaster was caused by the priceless red coral, but there was no evidence and the case was eventually left unresolved.
Apart from the news about the Lin family, the rest is about Lin Feng.
However, Lin Feng did not lie. He did beg in the capital for three years and was indeed taken away by someone, but there was no news about him afterwards, as if he had suddenly disappeared in the capital.
After listening to his subordinates' report, Zhu Song lowered his eyes and thought for a while, then raised his eyes and asked, "Did anyone see what the carriage that took Lin Feng away looked like?"
The subordinate replied, "Only an old beggar saw it, but he is old, his memory is a little confused, and his description may not be accurate."
Zhu Song said: "Try to ask clearly"
The men responded and retreated.
Zhu Song and Gu Huaiyu exchanged a glance, and Gu Huaiyu poured him a cup of tea. "Red Coral. Could it be that he hired someone to kill for money?"
Zhu Song lowered his eyes and looked at a tea leaf that had fallen out of the cup, bobbing up and down in the water, just like Lin Feng. Suddenly, the tea leaf in the cup separated. It turned out to be two pieces, but they had just been stuck together, and Zhu Song hadn't seen it.
Zhu Song raised his eyes and looked at Gu Huaiyu, "I was wondering, who is the person who took Lin Feng away?"
Gu Huaiyu analyzed: "The only people who can completely conceal their tracks in the capital are either powerful or wealthy businessmen."
Zhu Song asked, "Then why didn't Lin Feng seek his help, but instead caused such a big scene in the capital?"
Gu Huaiyu couldn't understand, "What do you mean?"
Zhu Song shook his head. He didn't know, it was just a hunch. Since that man had supported Lin Feng for ten years, he must have had feelings for him. But Lin Feng didn't ask him for help, and he hadn't appeared since Lin Feng's accident. Most importantly, Lin Feng seemed to not want to mention him.
Zhu Song and Gu Huaiyu stood up at the same time, "Let's go and interrogate Lin Feng."
As a result, the two had just taken two steps when the yamen runner came to report, "Sir, there are two men outside the door. One claims to be Lin Feng's uncle, and the other claims to be Lin Feng's cousin. They want to see you, sir."
Zhusong said: "Please come in."
"yes."
After the bailiff left, Zhu Song and Gu Huaiyu looked at each other but neither spoke.
As soon as the two of them sat down, the yamen runners came in with their men. Both of them were dressed like Confucian scholars and had good looks. Zhu Song faintly smelled the odor of medicine on them.
The bailiff said, "These are Master Zhu and Master Gu."
The two men bowed together, "We, Xu Lizhu and Xu Songlan, greet the two masters."
Zhu Song said: "No need to be polite."
Gu Huaiyu asked, "Are you two from the Xu family, a renowned medical family?"
Xu Lizhu bowed and replied, "In reply to your Excellency, I am the humble servant."
The Xu family's Xinglin Hall was well-known throughout Liang State.
Zhu Song frowned, "Who is Lin Feng's mother to you?"
Xu Lizhu replied, "I dare not deceive you, sir, she is my younger sister.
Thirteen years ago, Xinglintang was still only in Qingzhou. When I heard the bad news about the Lin family, half a month had passed since the incident. My mother fell ill because of this incident. I took care of her at home. I wanted to wait for my mother to get better before coming to the capital to collect the bodies of my sister's family. But my mother was hit so hard that she forgot about the extermination of my sister's family after she woke up. I didn't dare to mention it again for fear of upsetting her.
The dead are dead, and the living are more cautious. In recent years, I only dared to go to Shuyun Villa quietly to pay tribute during the Qingming Festival. I didn’t dare to stay for long, for fear of arousing my mother’s suspicion.
Thirteen years have passed in a flash.
A few days ago, the Qingxi incident caused a big stir, and my mother also heard about it. Today, my mother found out that Qingxi was her grandson. She was so shocked that she immediately regained her memory. She took my hand and told me to go and recognize Lin Feng. After that, she passed away.
I beg you to let me see Lin Feng."
Xu Lizhu knelt down as he spoke, and Xu Songlan followed suit.
Xu Lizhu continued, "This is all my fault. If I had come to the capital, the child wouldn't have suffered so much. This is all my fault, and I am willing to take the punishment for him."
Zhu Song did not embarrass him, but simply said in a businesslike manner: "Lin Feng is currently a serious criminal. If you want to see him, you must have a yamen officer present to watch."
Xu Lizhu kowtowed, "Thank you very much, sir."
Zhu Song said to the yamen runner, "Take them there."
The bailiff responded and, after the two men thanked him repeatedly, took them to the prison.
After they left, Gu Huaiyu asked with some suspicion, "Why did the Xu family suddenly appear again?"
Zhu Song handed him the case file on the table and said, "Take a look at this."
"Xu Wanyin, the mistress of Shuyun Villa, was once known as the most beautiful woman in the world. Thirteen years ago, she was betrothed to the eldest son of the Wang family in Qingzhou. However, when she was eighteen, she met Lin Sicheng, the head of the Lin family, and fell in love with him at first sight. Despite her family's objections, she married him in the capital. Ten years after her marriage, Xu Wanyin has never returned to the Xu family.
Although Xu Wanyin was married, she still had countless suitors, including Wang Shichang, the eldest son of the Qingzhou Wang family. A month before the Lin family fire, Wang Shichang had given Xu Wanyin a set of valuable headgear, but Xu Wanyin returned it.
Gu Huaiyu listened to him while reading the case files. Not only was Xu Wanyin known as the most beautiful woman in the world, but even her two children, Lin Qiudie and Lin Feng, were also known as the golden boy and jade girl.
Gu Huaiyu looked at Zhu Song and asked, "Are you saying this case might be a murder of passion?"
Zhu Song didn't answer but said, "Don't you always say that you only look at evidence and not speculation?"
Gu Huaiyu said: "There is no clue in this case now. Reasonable speculation is also a good way to solve it."
Zhu Song said honestly: "Actually, I just looked at the information."
Gu Huaiyu looked up at him from the file and said, "Find Wang Shichang."
"nature"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
