Mao time is the time when the sky is about to get light. It is possible that Chao Yun did not burn paper but managed to sneak into the main courtyard and kill someone.
"Take me to the west wing for a look." Zhen Shicheng looked at Chao Yun deeply and temporarily stopped questioning.
A group of people rushed to the west wing.
At Zhen Shicheng's request, the maid led everyone to a corner of the courtyard and pointed to the ground: "It's here."
Jiang Si squeezed in front without leaving any trace. When he looked carefully, he saw some black ashes vaguely left on the ground. If a day or two had passed, there would definitely be no trace left.
Zhen Shicheng stared at the ground thoughtfully.
The ground here seems a little different—
Thinking this, he walked over there and raised his foot to touch the ground.
A slightly soft feeling came over me.
Zhen Shicheng's expression changed, and he immediately ordered his subordinates: "Dig it up and take a look."
A bailiff immediately stepped forward to start digging.
Except for a layer of loose soil on top, the soil underneath was very loose and soft, and the yamen runners quickly dug out a bundle.
"There really is something there!" There were shouts of surprise from the crowd.
At this moment, everyone stared at the package that was dug out, but Jiang Si and Zhen Shicheng looked at Chao Yun at the same time.
A person's first reaction is always the most real.
Unfortunately, the two were destined to be disappointed. Perhaps Chaoyun had been disheartened for too long, and at this moment, there was still no expression on his face, neither nervous nor surprised.
Zhen Shicheng sighed, his eyes met with the girl in the blue shirt and white skirt, and he almost couldn't help but give her a thumbs up.
When he discovered an important clue, the first thing he did was to observe the suspect's reaction instead of looking at the physical evidence. This was the result of years of experience. The little girl in front of him was not even as old as his son, and it was even more impossible for her to have any experience. It could only be her talent and understanding.
This is really a good seedling.
Zhen Shicheng's heart, which cherishes talents, began to itch again.
Lord Zhen had a problem. When he felt itchy, he liked to stroke his beard. He stroked it several times and broke two hairs before he came to his senses. He straightened his face to hide the pain and said, "Open it and have a look."
"Yes." The bailiff immediately opened the bundle.
These yamen runners were all experienced men, and they were extremely careful when opening the bundle. Soon the contents of the bundle were revealed to everyone.
It was a bloody dress.
There was a burst of gasps from the crowd.
Zhen Shicheng took a step forward, squatted down and looked at the bloody clothes.
The material and style of the clothes are very ordinary, but the color is suitable for middle-aged women.
The wife of the Earl of Yongchang was stabbed to death with a candlestick, and her blood flowed all over the bed. It was difficult for the murderer to keep his clothes clean, and this bloody dress is almost certainly what the murderer was wearing when he committed the crime.
Zhen Shicheng stood up and looked at Chaoyun intently: "Did you bury this bloody shirt?"
Chao Yun was silent.
Zhen Shicheng was very patient, but Yongchang Bo could not help but get angry: "What are you still asking? It must be this bitch who killed the lady!"
Chao Yun suddenly looked towards Earl Yongchang, his bloodless lips trembling violently.
"Uncle, please be patient." Zhen Shicheng advised.
Yongchang Bo pointed at the bloody clothes, his face extremely ugly: "What else can I say when the evidence is solid? Murder must be punished, not to mention that this slave girl committed treason and killed the lady... Sir, this slave girl is left to you to deal with!"
Zhen Shicheng looked at Chao Yun who remained silent, and always felt that something was not right.
Was it really Chao Yun who killed the wife of the Earl of Yongchang?
Although Chao Yun had sufficient motive to kill and there was blood-stained clothes buried in the yard as evidence, it was not so easy to kill a living person with a candlestick.
The woman in front of me was thin and looked so weak that she would fall down at the slightest breeze. Did she really have the strength to stab someone to death with a candlestick?
Seeing that Zhen Shicheng did not respond, Yongchang Bo suddenly reached for the sword from Xie Yinlou's waist.
Xie Yin consciously pressed the hilt of the sword downstairs.
Yongchang Bo did not move and shouted, "Let go!"
Xie Yinlou didn't react much to his father's words, but looked at Zhen Shicheng.
Yongchang Bo was furious: "You little bastard, let me go, don't you want to avenge your mother?"
Xie Yinlou held the hilt of the sword and said calmly, "Of course my son wants to avenge his mother, but the prerequisite is to identify the murderer."
Earl Yongchang was quite angry that her strength was not as great as his son's. He turned to Zhen Shicheng and said, "Master Zhen, doesn't this prove that she is the murderer?"
Zhen Shicheng stroked his beard and said carefully: "There are still many doubts about this. Human life is at stake, so we can't jump to conclusions hastily."
He knew that more than 80% of the officials in charge of criminal cases in the Great Zhou Dynasty could close a case based on speculation alone. As long as the speculation was reasonable, the suspect would be identified as the murderer even without solid evidence.
But he won't do that.
Whenever he handles a case, he would rather let it remain unsolved due to his limited ability than close it based solely on inference.
The law is vast and there is no loophole. There is always a possibility of solving an unsolved case, but once a person dies in vain, he can never come back to life.
Behind every dead person, there are countless tears of their loved ones.
"Any other doubts?" His wife's sudden death and his concubine being the biggest suspect had already made it difficult for Earl Yongchang to calm down.
"When was the last time you saw Chaoyun?" Zhen Shicheng did not answer Earl Yongchang's question and continued to ask the two maids.
A maid said, "I poured some hot water for my aunt before she went to bed. It was probably the beginning of the night."
This time coincides with the time Chaoyun said to go to bed.
Zhen Shicheng then said to Yongchang Earl: "One of the doubts is how Chaoyun sneaked into the main courtyard after the beginning of the year and hid in the wardrobe of the Earl's wife's bedroom."
The Earl of Yongchang was speechless for a moment.
At that time, he and his wife had just rested and had not even fallen asleep yet. Unless Chaoyun was a fairy, she could have hidden in the closet without being noticed by him.
"But how do you explain this blood-stained shirt? She burned the paper money after her wife was murdered. She may have used the paper money to cover up the blood-stained shirt after killing her wife."
"But it still doesn't explain how she hid in the closet." Zhen Shicheng reminded calmly.
The most crucial part doesn't make sense. No matter how much the other facts fit, he will never randomly pin the accusation of being the real murderer on one person.
Yongchang Bo thought about it, and suddenly his face changed: "Someone hid in the closet. It has always been just Master Zhen's guess, right? Maybe the fingerprints in the closet were left by the maid by chance, not by the murderer."
Jiang Si coughed lightly and interrupted, "Uncle, it was my niece's guess that someone hid in the closet, and Lord Zhen just acknowledged my guess. Have you forgotten that it was the discovery of the fingerprints at a strange angle in the closet that cleared your suspicion—"
Earl Yongchang was speechless.
Xie Qingyao held his forehead silently.
In order to prove that the concubine was the murderer, he overturned the previous conclusion and successfully put the hat of the murderer on himself again. My father is really amazing...
Yongchang Bo's silence made Zhen Shicheng smile to Jiang Si.
He said, this girl is still adorable.
At this time, the girl smiled back at Zhen Shicheng: "Master Zhen, I don't think Chaoyun is the murderer."