Zhen Shicheng slowly scanned the crowd, his words clear and like thunder falling on everyone's ears: "The murderer must be among those in the hall."

There was an immediate noise in the hall.

"Who killed Prince An?"

"I can't figure it out. He was just toasting with Prince An and drinking, how come he disappeared in the blink of an eye?"

"Zhen Shicheng said that the murderer is in the palace. If we can kill him in the dark, it would be most convenient to find someone close to Prince An, right?"

"What do you mean? Do you think that I killed Prince An?" The one who spoke angrily was Prince Kang, who had just been frightened.

"Oh, don't worry, Your Majesty. This is just common sense..."

"That can't be attributed to me either!"

…

"Enough, shut up!" Emperor Jingming roared with full force.

After waiting for so long for the winter solstice, he was thinking of leaving the palace for some fresh air to get rid of the bad luck of the past year, but who would have thought that someone would die again!

Another person died...

Thinking of this, Emperor Jingming felt somewhat hopeless.

He could already imagine that if he wanted to find another opportunity to go out in the future, there would be even more things to say about the history.

"Zhen Aiqing, please continue."

Zhen Shicheng bowed to Emperor Jingming and said, "First of all, please send someone to guard the door of the palace and don't let anyone out."

Emperor Jingming nodded and immediately gave Pan Hai a look.

Pan Hai understood and stepped aside to start arranging the corresponding matters. Soon, several guards were guarding the doors leading to the back hall and outside the main hall.

Zhen Shicheng walked around Prince An's body and finally stopped.

Everyone stared at his every move. Frightened by Emperor Jingming's roar just now, no one dared to speak.

For a moment, the hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. There was an eerie silence.

Zhen Shicheng cleared his throat and asked, "During the time when it got dark in the hall, was anyone bumped into or noticed someone walking by?"

After a moment of silence, someone said, "I don't know who stepped on my foot just now."

The person next to him said awkwardly: "Sorry, I stepped on it."

Zhen Shicheng glanced at the two people who were talking and silently looked away.

The one being stepped on was the Minister of Works, and the one stepping on him was the Minister of Rites, both of them were old men with half their bodies already buried in the ground. It would have been too difficult for them to kill Prince An with one blow by bypassing several tables in the dark.

Another person said, "I was toasting at that time, and suddenly everything went dark in front of my eyes. I don't know who bumped into me, and the wine spilled all over me."

One of them hurriedly said, "Master Zhang, I didn't mean to bump into you. It suddenly got dark in the hall, and I panicked. I wanted to go back to my seat and get ready, but I didn't know who I bumped into, and half of my sleeves were soaked with wine."

He raised his sleeves and said, "Everyone, take a sniff. I still reek of alcohol."

The person next to him sniffed and indeed smelled a strong odor of alcohol.

Several people mentioned minor bumps and bruises, but upon closer inspection, there was nothing unusual.

Everyone looked at Zhen Shicheng with subtle eyes.

This is a difficult situation, nothing can be found out. Zhen Shicheng might betray the emperor's trust this time.

Many people are somewhat disgusted with Zhen Shicheng, who comes from a poor family and has no foundation.

To be more precise, it was precisely because Emperor Jingming favored Zhen Shicheng and Zhen Shicheng refused to give face to anyone that some people became increasingly dissatisfied with him. To put it bluntly, it was actually envy and jealousy.

Jiang Ancheng, who was sitting in the corner, was quite worried about Zhen Shicheng's situation.

Brother Zhen seems to be in trouble.

While he was worried, he was also somewhat relieved: he had originally felt a little regretful that his daughter and son-in-law did not come, but now it seems a good thing that they did not come.

When he was drinking with Brother Zhen, Brother Zhen accidentally said that his son seemed to have a affinity with murder cases, and he almost rolled up his sleeves and beat Brother Zhen up.

Humph, I guess Brother Zhen will have nothing to say this time.

Zhen Shicheng remained calm, and when the palace was quiet again, he said in a loud voice: "Just now, the palace suddenly lost its vision, and no one noticed the murderer, but there are a few things that are certain."

Everyone held their breath and listened to what he said next.

"First of all, Prince Kang, who is closest to Prince An, is not the murderer."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone started whispering.

Prince Kang was so moved that he almost cried and almost rushed over to hug Zhen Shicheng.

"Master Zhen, you are really very observant. If anyone dares to question your ability to solve cases in the future, I will be the first to scold him!"

Everyone looked up at the sky silently.

The real reason why Prince Kang judged Zhen Shicheng to be so observant was...

Emperor Jingming could not help but ask, "Lord Zhen, how can you be sure that the murderer is not Prince Kang?"

Zhen Shicheng said to Prince Kang: "Please turn around, Your Majesty."

Although Prince Kang was confused, he cooperated when Zhen Shicheng said that he was either a murderer or a good person.

Emperor Jingming stared at Prince Kang's back, waiting for Zhen Shicheng to explain.

"Your Majesty, please look, there are some bloodstains on the back of the prince, most of which are dripping down in the shape of needles. This shows that when Prince An was stabbed and blood spurted out, Prince Kang had his back to him." Zhen Shicheng explained slowly, "How could the prince kill Prince An when his back was turned to him?"

Someone whispered, "Could it be that the blood spurted out after he turned around?"

Prince Kang took a look at the man and secretly wrote down his name in the black account.

Zhen Shicheng flatly denied: "No, the murderer stabbed Prince An in the heart with a dagger and immediately drew his sword, and blood must have spurted out at the moment of drawing the sword. And the murderer should have been standing beside Prince An at that time, so some of the spurting blood would have splashed on Prince Kang's back."

Zhen Shicheng used a handkerchief to pick up the dagger that had fallen beside Prince An's body.

Everyone looked at the red tip of the dagger and shuddered.

Although it was winter now, the hall was as warm as spring. They had already taken off their coats and were now wearing thin clothes, so they suddenly felt cold.

"Why did the murderer draw his sword? If he didn't draw his sword, would the blood not have spurted out?" asked a minister with a strong desire for knowledge.

Zhen Shicheng smiled coldly: "That's exactly what I'm going to say next."

Everyone immediately put aside their speculations and waited for Zhen Shicheng to continue.

"Even if the murderer stood to the side and avoided the blood, there was still a possibility that blood would splash on his body. So why did he choose to draw his knife immediately?"

After Zhen Shicheng asked this question, some generals understood.

Someone murmured, "In order to prevent Prince An from having a chance to struggle..."

Zhen Shicheng immediately replied, "Yes, it is to reduce the struggle of Prince Shaoan. If a person is stabbed in the chest, he will not die instantly if he does not draw his sword immediately. He will often struggle violently, which will not only alarm others, but also the dead person may scratch the murderer. The murderer does not want to see this happen, so he will draw his sword immediately regardless of the bloodstains. In addition, the scene will be chaotic after the darkness, so the killing process can be done without anyone noticing."

Zhen Shicheng said as he slowly scanned the crowd: "From this we can infer one thing: the murderer has experience in killing people."