Chapter 228 Song Zhen's Shadow
The prison was as still as a stagnant pool.
Whether it was Li Jin or Jin Shu, their outward appearances remained calm, but in their hearts, a raging storm was brewing.
It would be a lie to say I wasn't shocked.
Since the incident, he has repeatedly reviewed the entire case and knows that Yang Defa is intentionally hiding something, and also knows that Ms. Xu is shrouded in a great mystery.
It was suspected that Zhao Can was keeping a mistress, and Yang Defa stumbled upon the situation, which led to his accidental killing.
She suspected that the Crown Prince had hired someone to kill her in order to silence her, but he had managed to escape, so Miss Xu became the scapegoat.
I never expected the truth to be like this.
It will be presented to him in such a heart-wrenching way, more convoluted than the script.
Yang Defa gasped for breath, his hatred and anger mixed with helplessness and heartache as he stared intently at Li Jin with eyes filled with despair.
"Your Highness Prince Jing wouldn't want to get involved in this mess, would you?" He gradually calmed down, regaining his initial arrogant and overbearing demeanor. "Why don't you just convict me of the murder sooner and close the case? That way, you won't have to worry about the Prime Minister..."
"How did Zhao Can make his move?" Li Jin abruptly interrupted him.
Yang Defa was stunned for a moment, looking at Li Jin standing outside the prison. He was dressed in a light gold outfit, and his attention was not distracted by this love affair.
He is still searching, searching for what will happen next.
"You..." Yang Defa chuckled incredulously, "You're not really going to investigate, are you?"
Li Jin remained silent, his expression unchanged.
Yang Defa was astonished. He looked at him, his lips moving as he spoke for a long while before finally saying, "That's the Prime Minister's eldest son! He's a favorite of the Crown Prince!"
He couldn't believe that a carefree prince of the Great Wei would risk provoking the Crown Prince's wrath for him and Miss Xu.
"So what?" Li Jin stared at him. "In the end, he's nothing more than a subject of the king."
Yang Defa and Li Jin were only three steps apart; one was in prison, and the other was outside.
After a long pause, Yang Defa chuckled softly, with a hint of admiration: "I underestimated Prince Jing after all."
He pursed his lips, and after a long while, said calmly, "Zhao Can, enraged by Miss Xu's words, stood behind her and strangled her with a hemp rope until she stopped moving, then he let go."
"I leaned against the wall and watched him kick Ms. Xu's body, then ordered someone to find some big nails."
Yang Defa took a deep breath: "I watched him chisel two coffin nails into the wall, hang a white silk ribbon, and make it look like she hanged herself..."
That night was the most difficult night of Yang Defa's life.
He leaned his head against the mud wall, watching Zhao Can finish cleaning the whole house last night, and then swaggered away.
Only then did he dare to cry silently.
Just before dawn, the girl who had tied him up there reappeared.
She pulled the burlap sack from his mouth, looked at his dazed state, pointed to the mud-brick house and said, "Do you want to just go out like this and get caught and beaten to death by Zhao Can, or do you want to avenge your wife?"
At that time, Yang Defa lost the ability to think. He didn't know what to do and stood there like a piece of wood.
Before he could reply, the girl stuffed something into Xu's mouth by herself, then glanced at him and said, "If you want to die, turn right outside the gate. The assassins hired by the Prime Minister's family are just outside the city wall."
"If you want to avenge your wife, then you should wait here obediently for the people from the Jingzhao Prefecture to come, and for Prince Jing from the Six Doors to arrive."
After saying that, she turned her back to Yang Defa and took two steps in the direction she was leaving.
But as if remembering something, she stopped there, turned to look at his face: "The two children are still here, cheer up."
child.
These two words struck Yang Defa like a thunderbolt, jolting him awake from his daze.
He broke free of the ropes binding him and hurriedly ran to the other side room.
"The two children were sleeping there, covered with small blankets, as if last night's events were all a dream." A soft light flashed in Yang Defa's eyes as he sighed.
"Later, after much consideration, I realized that if I couldn't find the Jingzhao Prefecture first, the Ministry of Justice might arrive right after," he said. "So I sent the two children to the neighbor's aunt who often helped me, and they went to the Jingzhao Prefecture's office together."
He looked up, his gaze sweeping over Feng Chao and Li Jin.
“But it’s not to avenge Miss Xu, but to…” He took a deep breath, “to the child.”
Having served as Zhao Can's study companion for so many years, Yang Defa was well aware of the political situation in Beijing.
Until he went into hiding, Prince Jing, Li Jin, of the Six Doors, was in a precarious situation and could hardly protect himself.
He had no hope that this prince, who himself might not even be able to save himself, would lend a helping hand.
But Yang Defa understood that if things escalated, Zhao Can wouldn't dare to harm the child for the time being.
Especially after the Six Doors intervened, he had to endure it to avoid being caught red-handed.
Li Jin understood his thoughts.
“There’s one more question,” Li Jin asked. “Do you remember any unusual characteristics of the girl who kidnapped you?”
Yang Defa recalled for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes."
He looked at Li Jin and gestured with his hands behind his waist: "She was wearing a black cloak, but you could still see two short knives behind her waist."
"Two short knives?" Li Jin's expression turned serious as he stepped forward. "Did you see them clearly?"
Yang Defa nodded: "Two short swords are not common. The girl is quite thin, and the hilts of the swords can still be clearly seen under the cloak."
Li Jin breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at Jin Shu and Zhou Zheng, who were equally surprised.
No one expected it to be He Lin.
It was the "five" she inserted that sent Yang De to Li Jin.
Does this mean that Song Zhen is behind all the serial cases?
Was the so-called guide really Song Zhen, just as Li Jin had guessed?
Before Li Jin could think further, Yang Defa took a half step back, cupped his hands and bowed deeply, saying, "I once thought that Prince Jing was also a member of the royal family who regarded human life as worthless, no different from the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister."
"But today, Your Highness's few words revealed something quite different to me."
Yang Defa bowed his head deeply, his expression sincere and earnest: "If Your Highness is willing to help me avenge my deceased wife, Yang Defa will offer up this head to testify against the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister in court."
Li Jin frowned: "Proof?"
He looked up and glared at Li Jin: "Does Your Highness know why the Crown Prince wanted to exterminate my own brother's family? And why did he order Zhao Can to kill me, a mere study companion?"
Yang Defa chuckled, his expression softening considerably.
He said, "Six years ago, in the case of the late Crown Prince's rebellion, there was a key letter. The letter said that the two carts of armor were supplies that were being urgently sent to the palace, and asked Xiao Chen, the General of the Golden Guard who was guarding the palace at the time, to do him a favor."
"After my brother received those two carts of armor, he didn't destroy them to save his life; instead, he hid them."
Yang Defa looked at Li Jin: "And that letter was written by me."
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