Chapter 77 Deceptive Tactics
Dressed in fine clothes, adorned with gold and jade pendants, and a landscape painting fan by a renowned artist, he possessed an arrogant and unrestrained demeanor, yet also carried a deep-seated fierceness.
Huang Liangping himself was quite different from what Jin Shu had imagined.
She imagined him to be a vicious-looking man, or a greasy, middle-aged man with a fleshy face and a large belly.
Unexpectedly, he was a man in his thirties, with a dignified appearance and an air of scholarly arrogance, but without a trace of the gentleness typical of scholars.
With two constables from the Six Doors holding him down on his left and right, he still had the strength to struggle and scream.
"You bunch of dogs from the Six Doors! Do you even know who I am? How dare you treat me like this! Aren't you afraid I'll tear down your Six Doors signboard?!"
Li Jin was amused by his bold words.
Seeing his frantic struggle and roaring like a mad dog, she raised her chin slightly: "Quite the boast."
He lifted the hem of his robe and sat upright on the octagonal chair beside him. "I'm quite curious, how exactly does Young Master Huang intend to remove the signboard of our Six Doors?"
His kind face and smiling demeanor sent a chill down Huang Liangping's spine, his face stiffened, and after a long pause, he uttered two words: "Pah!"
With a whoosh, Zhou Zheng drew his longsword, its cold, star-like gleam seemingly drawing a line of light along the blade, landing precisely between Huang Liangping's eyebrows.
He was terrified; half of his previous arrogance vanished. Gritting his teeth and glaring, he stubbornly maintained his inexplicable pride and said defiantly, "You...you do you know who I am?!"
Li Jin took the teacup from Song Zhen, held the lid, and gently blew away the foam. His smile remained unchanged, and without raising his eyes, he asked, "Then do you know who I am?"
Huang Liangping was stunned for a moment, and only then did he finally calm down and look at the man sitting there with his arms crossed.
She wore a pale yellow outer robe, held a jet-black fan in her hand, had a faint smile on her face, and wore a hollowed-out jade pendant with golden tassels at her waist.
His feverish head suddenly cooled down.
"You like to use your status to speak, then I'll play along." Li Jin narrowed his eyes, looking at Huang Liangping's terrified expression. "What? My status isn't even worth the attention of a live-in son-in-law like you?"
Huang Liangping was taken aback.
The person in front of me was none other than Li Jin, the Prince of Jing of the Great Wei.
But considering that the Chen family of the Ministry of Justice has always been at odds with the Six Doors, and that Chen Wen doesn't take Prince Jing seriously, he doesn't need to give them any special treatment.
His thoughts were written all over his face, but Li Jin didn't expose him. He put the teacup aside and threw out three questions in a row.
"I've come to see you, Young Master Huang, for no great reason. I just wanted to ask where you were on the night of Chen Feng's murder, around 9 PM? Who were you with? Are there any witnesses?"
Right now, Huang Liangping adopted a nonchalant attitude: "I thought it was something serious... Since it's just a question, then Your Highness should tell him to put down his knife, and we can talk things out."
He turned to look at the solemn scene around him, his mouth twisted in dissatisfaction: "This attitude of yours doesn't seem like basic hospitality."
guest?
Li Jin, with one eyebrow higher than the other, raised his hand and waved it.
With a whoosh, Zhou Zheng sheathed his knife, and the constable beside Huang Liangping also released his grip and took two steps back.
He got up as if he were at home, rubbing his shoulders and doing chest-expanding exercises, showing that he didn't take Li Jin seriously at all.
Indeed, Song Zhen, a wealthy man in the capital, is the Crown Prince's right-hand man, and the Ministry of Justice is the Crown Prince's right-hand man. In Huang Liangping's eyes, standing in this Guilai Pavilion is like standing on his own territory, his home turf.
What's there to be afraid of?
"What did Prince Jing ask me just now?" He rotated his shoulders, moving his left shoulder and then his right. He also rubbed his neck and lower back.
Li Jin remained calm and composed, looking at him with a gentle smile: "Tell me, where were you when Chen Feng was murdered?"
Huang Liangping's face contorted into an exaggerated expression as he looked at Li Jin with a disdainful smile: "What does Chen Feng's murder have to do with me? I didn't kill him. Why does Your Highness have time to ask me why I didn't catch the murderer?"
What an arrogant and ignorant son-in-law!
Li Jin chuckled, crossed her arms, gazed at his face, and deliberately said, "Someone said they saw you."
Upon hearing this, Huang Liangping was stunned, as if time had stopped, and the smile on his face instantly took on a crack.
These subtle changes were all noticed by Su Shangxuan.
He blended into the background, observing everything about the confrontation between Li Jin and Huang Liangping.
A moment later, he leaned down and said something to Shen Wen.
"Huh?" Shen Wen lowered his voice, "What do you need this for?"
Su Shangxuan did not answer, but urged indifferently, "Go quickly."
Shen Wen looked suspicious, scratched his neck, and walked towards the back hall of Guilai Pavilion.
Li Jin's interrogation was still ongoing, but only Su Shangxuan knew that Li Jin actually had very limited information at the moment.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have used Huang Liangping's "identity" as leverage from the very beginning to gain control of the interrogation.
He's grown up; all his efforts over the years haven't been in vain.
Li Jin learned most of his interrogation skills little by little from Su Shangxuan.
What he is doing now is the most crucial first step in interrogation: psychological control.
He needed to first plant the seeds of authority and indomitable spirit in Huang Liangping's heart. Only then could he hand him over to Su Shangxuan, making the second formal interrogation quicker and smoother.
The emperor's timeframe was far too short; following conventional methods, meticulously analyzing the situation and conducting peripheral work would clearly not provide enough time.
He has no choice but to confront the issue head-on and obtain more targeted clues.
While he was thinking, Shen Wen had already turned out from the back room, carrying a dagger with no hilt, broken into pieces, and covered with bright red bloodstains. He had secretly brought it out with a handkerchief.
Shen Wen looked troubled and lowered his voice to ask, "This color is a bit too far-fetched..."
Su Shangxuan raised his chin and pointed to the potted plant next to him.
Does that mean he should get some dirt on his hands?
Shen Wen was skeptical. He pursed his lips, frowned, and quietly walked to the potted plant.
Under Song Zhen's astonished gaze and with Li Jin following in his peripheral vision, Shen Wen rubbed the broken, bloodstained dagger in the soil of the potted plant.
Huang Liangping burst into laughter.
“How could I possibly see a villain?” He said with a “don’t lie to me” look, his words firm. “I rest at 3:45 PM every night, and my wife is my witness.”
Li Jin narrowed his eyes: "That's not what your wife said." He laughed, "Your wife probably wouldn't dare to lie when facing the Tang sword of the Six Doors."
Seeing this, Jin Shu finally understood.
She hadn't uttered a sound since she came in because she couldn't understand what Li Jin was trying to do.
Ultimately, they had no evidence whatsoever. Li Jin was interrogating Huang Liangping based entirely on speculation.
How do we review this?
Let alone the real culprit who is trying every means to get away with it, even an ordinary person from the city would probably not be able to get any information out of them.
But now she understands—it's a deceptive tactic, a type of interrogation technique!
Jin Shu turned her head to look at Li Jin, who remained calm and composed.
This man, with his mix of truth and falsehood, was constantly testing Huang Liangping's "psychological leverage."
Jin Shu was deeply impressed by the extent to which the interrogation techniques of the Great Wei had advanced.
Deceptive tactics, coupled with the broken knife in Shen Wen's hand.
Without any mental training, Huang Liangping was bound to not last more than two rounds.
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