Chapter 47 The Box of Truth
Li Jin took a few steps forward, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the crowd, his voice much deeper: "Come with me."
Upon hearing this, Jin Shu quickly exchanged pleasantries and said, "Yun Fei, Shen Wen, Shang Xuan, Jin Shu will take her leave."
Then, he hurriedly walked towards Li Jin's direction.
But when Jin Shu reached him, she noticed that Li Jin's expression was a little strange. He looked her up and down before turning around and walking inside with some displeasure.
The Six Doors of the Great Wei Dynasty, separated from the Imperial Guard by a wall within the imperial city, with its gray walls and black tiles, is exceptionally solemn.
The inner courtyard houses, consisting of ten sections, are clustered together. Besides the coroner's office and the constable's office, there is also the evidence room where Yunfei works, the supervisory office where Shen Wen works, and the prison where Su Shangxuan works.
And the most central authority over all of this is Li Jin's sect master's courtyard.
A wide road paved with bluestone connected these key courtyards, forming the special Three Judicial Offices that oversaw the operation of the entire Wei Dynasty's legal system.
Jin Shu followed Li Jin for a long time on the bluestone path, passed through the small pavilion, and stepped into the main courtyard.
At that moment, the man in front of her suddenly stopped.
"Are you acquainted with Su Shangxuan?" He frowned and turned to look at her.
Caught off guard by the question, Jin Shu shook her head, saying, "It was our first meeting."
First meeting? Li Jin's eyes narrowed slightly, his expression a mix of surprise, disdain, or perhaps both.
After a long pause, he spoke again: "Calling me by my first name, I thought we were acquaintances."
He turned around and added as he walked away, "If you don't want to be someone without secrets, don't get too close to those two."
After saying that, he seemed to realize that it was inappropriate, since they were colleagues and his confidants, so he abruptly added, "These two people are eloquent and persuasive; you can't handle them."
These words left Jin Shu with enough questions to circle the Six Doors.
I was completely baffled and didn't understand what he meant by those words at all.
If we're talking about being eloquent and persuasive, this person in front of her is no less so, and it's obvious that she can't handle him either!
But Li Jin didn't give her any more time to think. He stepped over the threshold and handed her the two letters in his hand, along with the confession that Su Shangxuan had worked so hard to obtain all night: "Take a look."
These messages and testimonies, taken together, recounted an incident that occurred at the Lin residence several years prior.
At that time, Lin Ruxue pointed out that one of her personal maids had stolen a priceless white jade bracelet from her.
"In the eyes of the Lin family, this matter was not counted as an enmity because the maid begged for forgiveness first, and then Lin Ruxue said that as long as the bracelet was returned to her and she left the mansion to find another way to make a living, the matter would be wiped clean."
Li Jin crossed his arms and sneered, "Lin Ruxue never knew until her death that the bracelet she took from the maid actually came from the Crown Prince Li Mu's residence. It was priceless and far beyond what the Lin family could afford."
Jin Shu pursed her lips, her gaze remaining fixed on the paper in front of her.
The former Crown Prince Li Mu, wasn't he Li Jin's older brother?
The intelligence Shen Wen obtained overnight stated that the bracelet was given by the late Crown Prince Li Mu to a maid named Fan Yin ten years ago as a reward for her extraordinary musical talent.
"Then the maid that Lin Ruxue identified as the thief..." Jin Shu raised her eyes and looked at Li Jin.
He nodded: "It is indeed Sanskrit."
Jin Shu hesitated for a moment: "Does the sect leader mean that Fan Yin is the murderer who killed Lin Ruxue?"
Li Jin glanced at her size and smiled, "Exactly."
“Last night I asked Shen Wen to investigate Fan Yin, and this morning he found out who she is.” He pointed to the contents of the third sheet of paper and said, “Fan Yin has changed her name, but she is still in the capital, and we have all met her.”
Jin Shu paused, looked at the contents of the paper, and clicked her tongue: "Who is this person?"
She thought it would be the female shopkeeper, He Lin.
But what was written on the paper was Qingqing from He Lin Restaurant.
Who is Qingqing?
Just then, Jin Shu paused, surprised, and said, "It's her?"
Is that the restaurant girl who looks confused and is biting her right thumbnail?
Not to mention Jin Shu, even Li Jin was surprised when she saw the result.
At that time, in He Lin's restaurant, the girl was dazed and her speech was trembling.
Li Jin assumed that she was afraid of the profession of a constable in the Six Doors and did not think about it more deeply.
Now it seems that what this girl was afraid of was not the constables of the Six Doors at all, but the fact that her revenge killing had been exposed so quickly.
"Has the sect leader never seen this Sanskrit chant before?"
Li Jin walked briskly, and Jin Shu jogged to keep up with him.
"I've seen him." He didn't turn his head. "It was seven or eight years ago. Who could remember clearly?"
When they arrived at the restaurant with a small group of people, the restaurant owner, He Lin, was quite surprised: "Qingqing?"
She nodded with a bewildered look and led the group back to the private room where Li Jin had been drinking during the investigation the day before.
The sunlight was beautiful, streaming into the private room through the windows, and the wind chimes on the eaves jingled.
Fan Yin, who had changed her name to Qingqing, sat in the seat that Li Jin had occupied yesterday and poured herself a glass of wine.
Unlike the timid woman she had met yesterday, the Buddhist chant seemed ready at this moment.
She was ready to confront all the mistakes she had made, and at what she considered the right time and place, she would speak to Prince Jing, Li Jin, whom she had been waiting for for so long, and say the words that had been bottled up in her heart for so long.
Those truths she kept hidden in her heart six years ago.
As the four people filed in, there was no trace of the panic she had shown yesterday on her face. Instead, she smiled and said, "Everyone, you've arrived."
She knew that with Prince Jing's abilities, he would find out about her very soon.
She had already arranged everything in a day and had no worries.
Seeing her calm demeanor, Li Jin chuckled softly, stepped forward, and sat directly opposite her.
"I only wish to speak with Your Highness alone." She raised her eyes and gazed at Li Jin in front of her.
He didn't speak, but turned his head and waved in Jin Shu's direction.
After Jin Shuzhou and the restaurant owner left the room and closed the door, he picked up a wine cup, filled it with wine, and said with a smile, "Long time no see, Fanyin."
Before him, the girl called Fanyin paused for a moment, her nose tingled, and tears welled up in her eyes.
“I haven’t heard that title in a long time,” she said. “Six years.”
For six years, ever since Crown Prince Li Mu was falsely accused and imprisoned overnight, she had never heard such a gentle chant.
She sat there in silence for a moment, then took out a small box from the side and placed it in front of Li Jin.
The exquisite rosewood box was opened in her slender, white jade hands, revealing a translucent white jade bracelet lying quietly inside.
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