Chapter 79 The Wicked Woman Who Murdered Her Brother for His Family Fortune
He mentioned Jin Shu.
Li Jin's scalp tightened, and he hurriedly took two steps forward. Just as he was about to speak, he saw the Crown Prince change his tone and look at him silently: "You are a prince after all. It is inappropriate to neglect your official duties and go sightseeing."
Li Jin was taken aback for a moment, then cupped his hands in greeting: "Brother is right."
Crown Prince Li Jing stopped and, with a reprimanding tone, glanced at Li Jin's face: "I can help you this time, but I may not be able to help you next time."
He walked alongside him, as if the rumors of their fierce rivalry were nothing but idle gossip.
At this moment, there was a real sense of mutual support between brothers: "You're already this old, yet you still have a playful heart. How can you expect the officials to respect you?"
As Crown Prince Li Jing spoke, his eyes kept glancing at Jin Shu behind him.
He pondered for a moment, then remained silent.
When Chen Lan saw Li Jin again, she instinctively took a half step back, her face extremely ugly.
Indeed, after failing to falsely accuse Li Jin of indecent assault and causing her father to suffer a great humiliation in the Imperial Study, she doesn't have the face to stand here as if nothing happened.
At the entrance, the Crown Prince stood with his hands behind his back, deliberately standing side by side with Jin Shu.
Li Jin witnessed this scene, glanced at Li Jing, and said calmly, "Mr. Jin, go and get His Highness a chair."
After saying that, he watched Jin Shu leave and disappear before turning his head to look at Chen Lan in front of him.
His expression was displeased, and his tone was not so gentle: "Miss Chen, before I ask, there is something you need to know first."
Li Jin sneered: "Huang Liangping said that you planned this, for the money Chen Feng needed to buy medicinal herbs."
Chen Lan was stunned.
Chen Wen was also stunned.
Only the Crown Prince didn't listen to what he said at all; his eyes were fixed on Jin Shu from the corner of his eye the whole time.
Chen Lan, thrown off balance by those words, panicked immediately.
She didn't know how much of Li Jin's words were true and how much were false. She gripped her handkerchief tightly with her fingers and pursed her lips into a thin line.
“Your Highness Prince Jing, my daughter was indeed impolite last time, but now you are making baseless accusations in front of His Highness the Crown Prince, even if…”
“Codonopsis pilosula, Angelica sinensis, and half a maple leaf,” Li Jin said calmly, watching the slightest change in her expression.
Even if the youngest daughter of the Chen family tries to keep a tight rein on herself, she is still, in the end, just a girl who has never experienced the ways of the world.
The names of those medicinal herbs were like deadly chains, gradually binding her soul.
The terror on her face, though only for a moment, did not escape the eyes of everyone in the courtyard.
Even if Chen Wen, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, was not very good at solving cases, he had seen at least eighty or a hundred interrogations.
Li Jin's few words caused Chen Lan's expression to change drastically and throw him into disarray. Even he knew that there was more to this than met the eye.
Could it really be her?
At this moment, everyone in the courtyard had their own thoughts.
Chen Lan was racking her brains to find a way to escape punishment, while Li Jin was waiting for Chen Lan to fabricate a story full of loopholes so that she could turn the tables on him.
Chen Wen was caught in the middle, torn between his tragically deceased second son and his daughter and son-in-law, who seemed to be connected to the case, causing him immense suffering.
The Crown Prince sat silently to the side, secretly contemplating how to discard Chen Wen, a pawn whom Li Jin had used against him.
Jin Shu, who was called to fetch a stool, was the only one who focused all her attention on this sudden "interrogation".
Having spent several years in the police force in her previous life, she couldn't help but admire Li Jin's interrogation techniques.
It turned out to be the "Nine-Step Interrogation Method".
First, they directly accused Chen Lan of participating in the murder case, while observing her reaction, and then they threw out a key point in the case: medicinal herbs.
Then, while waiting for Chen Lan to defend herself, she abruptly interrupted, thwarting her confidence and arrogance.
Standing to the side, Jin Shu did some calculations.
Next, Chen Lan will definitely try to exonerate herself by spouting nonsense, and Li Jin will use her own words to find the logical flaws in her defense.
At this moment, Jin Shu was like a spectator, her eyes fixed on the scene of these masters exchanging blows.
Wonderful!
Whether it was her overly expectant expression or her "burning" look, her curiosity seemed to overflow from her cheeks, causing the Crown Prince sitting in front of her to keep a close eye on her every move.
This junior coroner is quite interesting.
Taking advantage of the break, Zhou Zheng scratched his head, avoided everyone's gaze, and quietly slipped out of the courtyard.
He has other tasks to do.
In the courtyard, Li Jin pulled up a small stool and sat down, flicked open his fan, and looked at Chen Lan with a smile. He calmly tossed the names of the medicinal herbs one by one in Chen Lan's face: "Snake tongue grass, calcite, Miss Chen, you can't be unfamiliar with these things, can you?"
Chen Lan's expression shifted from fear to gradual calm. Perhaps she had already prepared an excuse, for her gaze towards Li Jin became slightly more resolute.
The show is about to begin.
"This humble girl does not know what Your Highness Prince Jing is referring to. I have heard of Codonopsis and Angelica sinensis, but I have never heard of the others."
Before her, Chen Lan looked disgusted and patted her chest with one hand: "Your Highness, my father always said that cases must be handled with evidence. Although I am a woman and do not have your high position and power, you cannot slander me like this!"
Slander by those in positions of power and influence.
Li Jin glanced at her and said, "You two really do look quite alike."
He said, "Huang Liangping was just shouting about status and wealth, saying that as long as Chen Feng is killed, he can get a bigger share of the family fortune."
Chen Lan was startled, her eyes twitched involuntarily, and her face paled several shades without her realizing it.
This obviously unnatural reaction made Chen Wen, who had been standing silently to the side, really anxious. He took two steps forward, raised his finger, and pointed at Chen Lan's forehead: "Lan'er! You! Both of you!"
He was so anxious and angry that he was panting heavily.
“Lord Chen Wen.” Crown Prince Li Jing, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke, coldly glancing at Chen Wen’s face, and said indifferently, “You may leave.”
That tone, so faint as the wind of a cold winter month, swept sharply across Chen Wen's face.
It's refreshingly cool.
"...Your Highness!" Chen Wen cupped his hands, his trembling slightly, "This humble official..."
"Don't you understand?" Li Jing's voice suddenly rose, and his gaze toward him was as cold as snow.
The atmosphere in the courtyard was unusually eerie.
As if after a difficult internal struggle, Chen Wen's lips were pressed into a thin line, and he bowed deeply, remaining frozen in that position for a moment: "...This humble official shall take his leave first."
He admitted it.
Before leaving, he glanced at Chen Lan out of the corner of his eye, sighed with heartbreaking grief, and then walked heavily out of the courtyard.
Although the interrogation was abruptly interrupted, it was a good thing for Li Jin.
This little incident brought Chen Lan to the peak of pressure.
Her answer, which she thought was flawless, actually alerted her father, who worked in the Ministry of Justice, to something clearly amiss.
This saved Li Jin a lot of trouble in the protracted battle.
Watching Chen Wen stagger away, Chen Lan's head was buzzing.
She doesn't understand!
Where exactly is it? And which sentence gave me away?
The stronger her reaction, the darker the prince's expression became.
"More trouble than good" is his latest assessment of Chen Wen.
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