The woman was very emotional because of the bad news about her son, but her breath was stuck in her throat and she couldn't speak. In an instant, her pale face turned red, as if someone was strangling her neck.

"Sister-in-law, what's wrong with you?" The county lieutenant sighed, but given the woman's condition, it was unrealistic to take things slowly, so he could only feel apologetic.

The woman's eyes were wide open, her face was stiff and trembling, and she stretched out her finger with difficulty to point at Xuanci.

Everyone looked at Xuan Ci with increasingly strange eyes.

Under such circumstances, Xuanci still maintained his monk demeanor. He stepped forward, clasped his hands together, and chanted a Buddhist name, "Amitabha, do you have anything to say to me? Don't worry, as long as the murderer who killed your son is from the temple, I, as the interim abbot, will definitely punish him severely!"

The woman's lips trembled, as if she was about to say something, but suddenly her whole body froze and she put down her outstretched hand weakly.

"Sister-in-law!"

The woman lay on the bed with her eyes closed, already dead.

The county lieutenant and others looked at the dying woman in silence, while the monks chanted the Buddha's name: "Amitabha."

"Madam, Madam, please wake up--" the little maid threw herself beside the woman and burst into tears.

The woman did not reveal any information about the murderer herself, which seemed to put the case in a difficult situation.

The county commander looked at Xuan Ci with a serious gaze.

"Amitābha, if you need any help, I will certainly lead all the monks in the temple to cooperate." Xuanci said calmly. It was obvious that although the woman pointed at him just now, it did not make him feel panic.

This is not surprising. Xuanci is the interim abbot. If he is identified as the murderer without solid evidence, the county lieutenant and his men will never be able to leave Lingwu Temple.

Lingwu Temple, which has been prosperous for nearly twenty years, has long been a powerful tiger that cannot be shaken by ordinary hunters.

"Go and invite the people outside the temple gate in. I have more questions to ask them." The county lieutenant seemed very calm and ordered Captain Zhao.

Soon a group of people rushed in and instantly filled the courtyard where the case was being investigated.

The darkness could never stop the enthusiasm of the people to watch the excitement, let alone this time the excitement was full of twists and turns. First, the Li family from the neighboring town came to pick up the body, and then the young master of the Liu family's cloth shop in the town was picked up. Now Liu Sheng's mother was chopped to death.

Missing out on such excitement will make you regret it for thirty years!

"Please come in, folks, because Liu Sheng's mother was also seriously injured and died. The two lives are of great importance, and I want to ask you some more questions." After the county lieutenant finished speaking, he whispered a few words to his men and walked into the room with his hands behind his back.

Soon his men pointed out a man from the crowd and asked him to come in.

The man was very confused: "Sir, I live in the west end of town, and I have only a nodding acquaintance with Liu Sheng. I don't know anything about him."

"Just go in when I tell you to. Why are you talking so much nonsense?"

When the people in the yamen started to act rudely, the common people naturally became well behaved and walked into the room nervously.

Several people went in one after another. Jiang Zhan wondered, "Why do I feel like they just let people in randomly?"

"What we want is chaos." Jiang Si stared at the door and said softly.

The finger pointed by the woman just now made Xuanci highly suspicious, but he was the interim abbot, and just the finger pointed by the woman was not enough to convict him. At this time, the county lieutenant needed more information to make a fatal blow.

However, it is not easy to get anything out of the common people when dealing with such a person who holds a high position in Qingniu Town. The purpose of asking questions in this way without any rules is to put the people being questioned at ease.

As the night deepened, strings of lanterns under the eaves emitted soft light. The cool summer night was more comfortable than the day, but the mosquitoes were annoying. From time to time, the sound of "pa pa" of mosquitoes being slapped could be heard from the crowd.

The door finally opened and the county lieutenant strode out.

There was fatigue on his brow, but his eyes were clear.

Immediately, a yamen runner moved a chair to the courtyard. The county lieutenant sat down and slowly looked around at everyone. He shouted at the county lieutenant in a deep voice: "Xuan Ci, you still don't plead guilty?"

Xuan Ci was not anxious or panicked: "Amitabha, what crime has a poor monk committed?"

The monks stared at the county lieutenant with a fierce look, and the crowd was in turmoil.

The people who came in later did not know that the woman was pointing her finger at Xuanci.

The county lieutenant raised his voice and said, "Before Liu Sheng's mother died, she pointed at you. Could it be that Master Xuanci wants to deny it?"

"The poor monk does not deny it."

"Have you forgotten that I wanted Liu Sheng's mother to point out the murderer of her son, and she pointed her finger at you. Everyone saw it just now."

Xuan Ci smiled faintly: "She pointed at the poor monk because she didn't know who the murderer was, so she naturally wanted to ask the poor monk who was the interim abbot for an explanation."

"Then why did the monk you sent to protect Liu Sheng's mother attack her?"

Xuan Ci looked at the Four Commandments.

Because of what the maid who served Liu Sheng's mother said earlier, Sijie had been quietly surrounded by several yamen runners. At this time, his face was pale and he looked straight at Xuanci.

Xuanci sighed, "Fourth Discipline, you have disappointed me so much! I ordered you to invite Liu Sheng's mother here, why did you hurt her?"

Sijie was shocked, his lips trembled for a long time, and he knelt on the ground: "Liu Sheng... Liu Sheng was killed by me. Master sent me to ask for Liu Sheng's mother. I was afraid that the matter would be exposed, so I decided to do it once and for all -"

The crowd immediately burst into shouts of surprise, apparently hearing with their own ears that a monk in the temple had murdered someone was beyond their imagination.

"Why did you kill Liu Sheng?"

"I..." Sijie's eyes rolled, his left hand spinning the Buddhist beads quickly, "He ran into the back mountain sneaking around, the poor monk thought he was stealing and chased him away, but he beat and scolded the poor monk, the poor monk killed him by mistake in a fit of impulse, and when he saw that the big mistake had already been made, he pushed him into the well..."

"Pa pa pa." Clear applause rang out, and the county lieutenant's face darkened. "I didn't expect that monks could tell lies so fluently."

He suddenly looked at Sihai: "Which hand does Sijie use to eat?"

"My left hand." Sihai blurted out nervously, and then he touched his bald head in regret.

"I have seen Sijie use his left hand to spin the Buddhist beads. Adding to what Sihai said, this is enough to prove that Sijie is left-handed, right?"

“Yes, so what?” Sijie looked at Xuanci for help, but Xuanci remained indifferent.

"Coroner!"

Soon the coroner came forward and bent over, saying, "The murderer grabbed the victim's neck from behind. The finger marks on the victim's neck are deep on the right and shallow on the left, proving that the murderer is right-handed."

"The murderer is right-handed, and Sijie is left-handed, which means the murderer is someone else. And who is the person that Sijie would rather admit to being the murderer than not know for sure?" The county lieutenant stared at Xuanci and asked word by word.

Perhaps it was a habit of monks, Xuan Ci also stroked his Buddhist beads, and asked calmly: "What is the motive? Just like you said before that Jiang Er had no motive, so we will temporarily exclude him as a suspect, what is the motive of a poor monk as the interim abbot to harm an ordinary pilgrim?"

"Motive? You have one!"