Chapter 82 As my person, consider my feelings.
Li Jin spoke these words with a blank expression.
"On the day of the incident, Huang Liangping went to ask for money again and had a physical altercation with Chen Feng. It was then that you made the decision to simply kill him."
He looked at the woman in front of him with disgust: "In your eyes, if Chen Feng dies, you will be the biggest beneficiaries."
Li Jin narrowed his eyes, looking at Chen Lan, who was panting heavily and indignant.
This woman, together with her husband, murdered her own brother. Now that her crimes have been exposed, she shows not a single trace of remorse.
The evening breeze, carrying the scent of grass from the courtyard, gently caressed Chen Lan's face like a tender hand.
She swallowed hard, stared at the IOU and ledger in Zhou Zheng's hand, clenched her fists, and glared angrily at Li Jin: "What do you mean by beneficiary?!"
She said coldly, "He shouldn't have stayed in the Chen family in the first place. Why should he, the child of a maid, occupy the position of the eldest son of the Chen family and compete with me for the Chen family's property?!"
"Even without him, we could at least get two-thirds of the inheritance from Father!"
At that moment, Chen Lan no longer concealed her greed. She proudly raised her head, looked at the people in the courtyard, and said as if she had gone mad, "That should have been mine all along! I just took back what was rightfully mine! What did I do wrong!"
“The money he gave me kept getting less and less, but I could still talk to him with a smile.” She raised her hand and patted her chest. “As a legitimate daughter, to be able to watch a son born out of wedlock inherit the family fortune and still treat him so gently, I’m already very great!”
"But what about him? He's ungrateful! He really thinks he's my brother!" Chen Lan pointed at Li Jin's face. "He deserves to die!"
With a whoosh.
Tea leaves, mixed with water, fell to the ground along the jawline on that arrogant and domineering face.
Chen Lan stared in astonishment at Crown Prince Li Jing, glancing at the empty teacup in his hand, her heightened emotions finally calming down.
With a clang, Li Jing slammed the lid of the teacup shut and stared coldly at Chen Lan.
"You're the one who deserves to die." With that, he turned around expressionlessly and walked towards the courtyard gate.
As he brushed past Li Jin, he stopped and handed her an empty teacup, saying in a cool tone, "It's getting late."
After saying that, he left the courtyard alone without looking back.
The stars are vast and the sky is deep.
Chen Lan knelt before Li Jin and used the excuse that she had been kidnapped to trick Chen Feng into going to the outside of Yanxing Gate.
Beside the Longshou Canal, Chen Feng realized he had been deceived. During another argument with Huang Liangping, she attempted to strangle Chen Feng with her arm.
“I wanted him to stop shouting, but he’s a man and I’m a woman.” She paused. “So I had Huang Liangping take off his coat and find a chance to cover him up.”
"Then..." Chen Lan paused, "Chen Feng, whose head was covered, was still making a fuss. Liangping got impatient and took out the dagger he had prepared."
At this point, she collapsed there, remaining silent for a very long time.
He dug his fingertips into the bluestone pavement, and after a long while, he gritted his teeth and said, "He deserved it."
Its appearance was exactly like that of a demon from hell, its soul filled with filth.
When Li Jin left, he saw Chen Wen at the courtyard gate, who looked as if he had aged ten years in just a few hours.
He sat there with his back against the courtyard wall, completely devoid of the arrogant air he had displayed in the past few days.
The scene of Chen Lan being taken away by the Six Doors had an impact on this once spirited middle-aged man that was no less painful than the loss of Chen Feng.
After a long pause, Chen Wen laughed self-deprecatingly with his withered lips.
"She is the child born to that maid." After he finished speaking, tears streamed down his face, and he could no longer utter another word.
The three siblings of the Chen family, when their late wife got married, brought a maid with her to accompany her to the bedside.
After giving birth to her second son, Chen Feng, the lady's health deteriorated rapidly, and she became bedridden.
During that time, the maid became pregnant with Chen An's child and became a concubine in the Chen family.
The lady had a very good relationship with her and took care of her in every way.
But fate is unpredictable; the concubine died in childbirth, leaving behind this girl.
The lady treated her as her own daughter and never mentioned that she was born out of wedlock. Over time, almost no one in the Chen family knew that Chen Lan was just a daughter born out of wedlock.
And this secret was taken to the grave with the lady.
“Return Pavilion, White Jade Flute.” The Crown Prince stood at the entrance of the Chen family's residence, glancing behind him. “Song Zhen is such a busybody.”
When Lian Shui, the attendant beside him, heard the name Song Zhen, he hesitated slightly.
"Your Highness, I don't understand," Lian Shui asked. "When you told me to wait at the door, I didn't understand. What if something had happened inside just now?"
“Prince Jing is not a fool,” he said calmly.
Seeing that Lian Shui was still puzzled, he added, "With you inside, Zhou Zheng can't easily go looking for the murder weapon."
This left even Shui completely bewildered.
"That's enough." Li Jing waved his hand. "Let's return to the Crown Prince's residence."
Li Jing knew exactly what cards Li Jin held before coming to the Chen family.
He would interrogate Zhou while he searched for evidence in the yard, which was practically the only feasible approach.
However, the case itself... is still slightly different from what Prince Jing deduced earlier.
There is only one person in the entire capital who has access to such secret information about the Chen family.
Therefore, Song Zhen must be behind this case.
Nine times out of ten, it was he who deliberately lent them so much money and then deliberately spread the rumor that Chen Feng wasn't the legitimate son, but a son who had stolen their family fortune. It was also he who secretly instigated this foolish couple to commit such a heinous crime.
The reason... is probably because Crown Prince Li Jing needs to eliminate everyone on that branch of the family connected to Yang An.
In this way, without shedding blood, they easily crushed Chen Wen's spirit. As expected of Song Zhen, she has never let him down.
"Lian Shui," he called from inside the carriage, "After Chen Wen resigns, have someone keep an eye on him. Since Prince Jing is in the capital, you can take action from a distance and handle things more cleanly."
In front of the carriage, Lian Shui hesitated for a moment, pursed her lips, and replied with a "Yes."
"And..." the person in the car chuckled softly, "go find Song Zhen. I need to know everything about this 'Mr. Jin'."
Unlike the composed and unhurried Crown Prince, Li Jin's heart sank to the bottom.
The sky, which was originally bright with the moon hanging high, was gradually covered with a thick layer of dark clouds.
He didn't know if it was because the case of fratricide reminded him of his brother Li Mu, or because of Chen Lan's stubbornness in the end, that Li Jin felt as if a stone was stuck in his chest.
Jin Shu finished writing the case file and the case notes, and handed them to him.
He sat there, motionless.
Outside, a heavy rain soon began to fall. There was no sentiment of spring rain being as precious as oil, nor the beauty of watching the night rain in the slanting wind.
He looked at Jin Shu, took the case notes and notebook, and while flipping through them, asked without looking up, "Didn't I tell you to just ask whatever you want? Your hesitation makes me uncomfortable."
Jin Shu was taken aback.
Is this Prince Jing some kind of supernatural being, or is he just incredibly perceptive? How come I can't escape his notice no matter what I'm doing?
"I just felt that although the case was solved, it was still..."
“There are no buts,” Li Jin interrupted her. “That’s just human nature.”
Inside the room, the flickering candlelight reflected off Li Jin's face, obscuring his expression.
Outside, the heavy rain lashed down on the blooming flowers, scattering petals all over the ground.
"Whether you choose to be greedy or not, it all boils down to greed." He sneered. "Everyone's the same."
Six years ago, Consort Shu and Li Jing were corrupt, so his brother Li Mu died and his mother Consort Xiao was sent to the Cold Palace.
Six years later, Chen Lan and Huang Liangping became corrupt, so her brother Chen Feng died, and her father's hair turned white overnight.
Human nature is inherently flawed; Li Jin understood this statement all too well and was acutely aware of its meaning.
Jin Shu nodded and didn't continue.
She took the jade flute from behind her waist and placed it on Li Jin's table.
The crisp sound of the flute lightly touching the table made Li Jin lift his eyes and glance at her face.
She looked at Li Jin, pursed her lips, and couldn't find the words for a long time. Should she say "return it to you," or "help me return it to Young Master Song"?
As if reading her mind, Li Jin put down the notebook in her hand, placed her hands on the table, and smiled slightly: "Take it with you. The capital is a mixed bag. Taking this will at least keep you safe."
Jin Shu was taken aback: "This flute, I..."
“That’s Song Zhen’s legitimate son,” he laughed. “Proof of the Crown Prince’s right-hand man.”
The Crown Prince?! Jin Shu blinked, and after a long while, she exclaimed "Oh!" as if she had just realized something. "No wonder he made me take care of you and serve you tea and water."
Upon hearing this, the smile on Li Jin's face vanished: "You're paying attention to him now?"
Jin Shu looked at him, frowning, and said, "I didn't say a word, but he kept talking."
"Did you respond to him?" Li Jin asked again, displeased.
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