Chapter 31 The Important Witness is Gone
Suppressing the urge to punch him, Li Jin asked his second question with a smile: "I have another matter to ask Mr. Fang."
Fang Qing looked flattered and quickly cupped his hands and bowed, waiting for Li Jin to ask a question.
"Where is Manager Cao, whom you mentioned, now?" he asked, while discreetly putting the small bottle back into his sleeve and then swung his fan open, waving it back and forth.
His relaxed demeanor eased Fang Qing's anxiety considerably.
In the end, he was just a pampered prince. No matter how much he was praised outside, he would believe it after just a few words from me.
Looking at Li Jin's smiling face, he said smugly, "I've already locked him up at home! He's ready to be interrogated by the Prince at any time!"
"Alright." Li Jin smiled, his eyes narrowed, looking pleased. "Now, take me to see him."
What? Now?
Fang Qing was taken aback: "This... Your Highness, why don't you wait at the yamen? I'll go and bring him here right away."
“No.” Li Jin shook his head. “I want to see him in person. I have a more important question that I must ask him face to face.”
With a thud, Fang Qing's heart, which had just settled, jumped again.
His gaze swept over the silent Du Jin, noticing his incredibly tense face. After a moment's hesitation, he cautiously inquired, "May I ask if Your Highness wishes to ask about him..."
Li Jin clicked his tongue, deliberately adopting a nonchalant attitude, waved his hand, and said with a hint of helplessness, "Mr. Fang, you don't know, this case was originally a minor one, and it's not my place to personally get involved."
“But…” His smile cooled slightly, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.
Fang Qing, who had made his fortune through his business acumen, could not possibly be unaware of this. He paused for a moment, and his previous smugness vanished instantly, replaced by a deeper appreciation for Li Jin.
The Prince of Wei, Jing, is unfathomable.
Li Jin paused, deliberately lowering his voice as if whispering, and said casually, "But I heard on the way that the whereabouts of the Six Doors' detectives are somehow known even to a common peasant woman. How can this be allowed?"
The detective, the peasant woman, and Fang Qing's lips twitched involuntarily.
“Lord Zhou, please stay. The two of us will go there.” Li Jin gave Zhou Zheng a meaningful look, and then walked out on his own.
If the Manager Cao mentioned by Fang Qing had no idea what the Six Doors Divine Constable was, and had never heard of Yun Fei, then Fang Qing's statement above could be completely overturned.
We can use the discrepancies between Granny Liu's testimony and his own account as a breakthrough point, which might allow this old fox to reveal some of his true colors.
But Li Jin was still too late.
Inside the room, Manager Cao had a three-foot-long white silk ribbon hanging from the beam. Beside the table was a suicide note detailing how he ran a brothel, lusted after women, forcibly abducted them, and caused the death of Miss Lian's husband.
The details are meticulous and clear, even mentioning the details of how, out of fear of the Six Doors investigation, he climbed over the wall into the courtyard the night before, got into an argument, and ended up beating Miss Lian to death with a hammer.
Seeing that Manager Cao had been taken off the white silk and was lying flat on the ground, his death horribly visible, Jin Shu expressionlessly tied his hands together.
Li Jin squatted down and did a quick inspection. He glanced at Fang Qing, who was hurriedly comforting his family in the courtyard. Taking advantage of this moment, he leaned close to Jin Shu and said in a low voice, "Don't look too closely. Try to stall for time."
He gestured to Jin Shu with his eyes: "I can tell whether it's suicide or homicide."
Before Jin Shu could even react, he turned around and saw Fang Qing, who was about to enter the house with anger and disgust on his face, as if he deeply hated the person in front of him. He raised his hand and stopped him.
"Mr. Fang, please leave this to the coroner. We'll wait outside."
It was only then that Fang Qing realized with surprise that the skinny bean sprout following behind Li Jin was actually a coroner.
That's really interesting. When Prince Jing goes out, he doesn't bring any beautiful women or servants, just a bodyguard and a coroner.
This bizarre combination is as if they foresaw that a murder would occur wherever they went.
It can be described as a luxurious lineup of killers, invincible under heaven.
As the door slammed shut behind them, the brilliant sunlight was shut out, and the paper windows on the door reflected the silhouettes of Li Jin and Fang Qing as they walked away.
Jin Shu looked at the corpse lying on the ground in front of her. Just as she squatted down, she saw that the window in the shaded part of the house was open a crack.
Zhou Zheng poked his head out from outside, tiptoed inside, and made a "shh" gesture at her.
Seeing him tiptoeing around, his body hunched, his eyes scanning the room, Jin Shu understood. So that's what Li Jin meant by stalling for time.
This Prince Jing of the Great Wei is a man with a heart as deep as the sea.
Jin Shu hesitated for a moment, then looked away and focused all her energy on the mystery in front of her.
Zhou Zheng quickly searched the room, looking carefully at every spot: the headboard, the footboard, in drawers, cabinets, even under the scrolls and in the book boxes on the display shelf.
Jin Shu didn't look up, focusing intently on examining the man on the ground: his hyoid bone, collarbone, eyelids, occiput, and the gradually appearing lividity. After the autopsy was finished, she glanced at the man lying on the ground one last time, afraid of missing any important details.
That one glance startled her; she noticed something unusual under the table.
What is this?
It was a hidden compartment, sealed off with white wax, and would indeed be difficult to spot if one did not look closely.
She looked up in surprise at Zhou Zheng's retreating figure and pursed her lips.
Outside, Li Jin was dragging Fang Qing along; inside, Zhou Zheng was oblivious to what was happening.
Jin Shu pursed her lips, raised her hand, and gently tapped the ground with her fingernail, making a crisp sound.
Zhou Zheng was taken aback. He turned around and met Jin Shu's eyes. She pointed under the table, her mouth opening and closing as if making the words "hidden compartment".
The antique-style round table with four corners is decorated with carvings and painted with red tung oil paint.
Looking at it from the front, there is a thick template embedded on it. If you don't squat down and look from the side, you won't be able to notice that there is a clear interlayer under the wooden board.
Zhou Zheng carefully lay down on the ground, used a knife to remove the wax, took off the cover of the hidden compartment, reached into the compartment and found four letters and two account books.
Zhou Zheng casually rolled over for a moment, glanced at Jin Shu, nodded, and then casually stuffed the things into his arms.
It seems that these are the things Li Jin was looking for.
Seeing that he was about to close the lid and leave, Jin Shu became a little anxious and quickly grabbed his clothes, gesturing with both hands to indicate that he should tear open the clothes of Manager Cao.
Zhou Zheng raised one eyebrow and lowered the other, his gaze shifting back and forth between Jin Shu and the corpse in front of him.
He had seen many coroners perform autopsies, but this was the first time he had ever encountered such a request.
His face was full of doubt, but he only hesitated for a moment before obediently doing as instructed.
The tearing sound of clothes being ripped inside the house surprised Fang Qing, who was standing in the courtyard. He stood on tiptoe and craned his neck, but was stopped by Li Jin, who seemed to see through everything: "Don't look. My coroner has some strange habits. He's done a few examinations before, and the blood and flesh are flying everywhere. He can't stand it."
Fang Qing was half-believing and half-doubting, but looking at Li Jin's smiling face, he obediently took two steps back.
Not long after, Jin Shu opened the door, clapped her hands, stood in the doorway and said to Li Jin, "Commit suicide."
He then untied his hands and exclaimed, "His body is still warm; he died at most half an hour ago."
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