Qi Hanlin was very excited, believing that the stone might be the key to solving the case. They decided to study the stone together to see if they could find any clues.
After several days of research, they discovered that the stone was not an ordinary stone, but a token.
This token is the family emblem of the Marquis of Ningyuan, and only members of the Marquis of Ningyuan family can possess it.
This discovery shocked Qi Guze and Xu Yuehuai, who believed that the Marquis of Ningyuan might be the real culprit who set fire to the Empress and killed her.
Qi Hanlin also believed that Marquis Ningyuan was a suspect, and he decided to send people to search Marquis Ningyuan's residence.
They searched every corner carefully, but found no valuable clues.
Qi Hanlin was very anxious. He was worried that if he could not find evidence soon, the real culprit might escape justice.
So he decided to send a team of skilled guards to secretly infiltrate the Ningyuan Marquis's residence and search for evidence. The guards searched the Ningyuan Marquis's residence all night, but still found no conclusive evidence.
Qi Hanlin sat in his study, his face grim, his gaze coldly fixed on the intelligence report in his hand. His brows were furrowed, clearly contemplating his next move.
Qi Guze and Xu Yuehuai stood aside, their faces solemn as they awaited his decision.
"This Marquis of Ningyuan is truly audacious, daring to set fire to the palace and even murder the Empress," Qi Guze said through gritted teeth, his face filled with anger.
Xu Yuehuai shook her head slightly, her tone somewhat helpless: "This matter is too tricky. We don't have enough evidence, so we can't take action lightly."
“Although there is no conclusive evidence, we already know that the real culprit is the most likely suspect,” Qi Hanlin said in a deep voice. “I have ordered that Marquis Ningyuan be placed under house arrest in his residence and kept under strict guard. Once the evidence is found, he will be punished.”
As night fell, the palace fell silent.
Qi Guze and Xu Yuehuai rushed to the Ningyuan Marquis's residence. They arrived at a secluded courtyard, the place where the Ningyuan Marquis was being held under house arrest.
They entered the room and saw Marquis Ningyuan lying on the bed, his face deathly pale and his breath weak. A trickle of blood oozed from the corner of his mouth, clearly a sign of poisoning.
"How could this happen!" Xu Yuehuai exclaimed in shock. "Didn't we send people to keep a close watch on us? How could this still happen!"
Qi Guze's gaze was cold, and he said firmly, "There must have been an inside traitor who leaked the information and took the opportunity to get rid of Marquis Ningyuan, trying to erase all the evidence."
They began to carefully search the room for clues.
After a while, Xu Yuehuai noticed some strange traces.
She crouched down and pointed to a few drops of blood on the floor, saying, "Look, there are a few drops of blood here. Obviously, someone stayed here."
Qi Guze's eyes sharpened as he followed the bloodstains, which led all the way to the window. He walked over and opened the window, where he saw a jumble of footprints in the courtyard outside.
“Someone has been here,” Qi Guze said in a deep voice. “They must have killed Marquis Ningyuan under cover of night and then escaped from here.”
Xu Yuehua nodded, her brows furrowed in thought: "We need to investigate quickly and find their trail."
They went out of the room and into the yard. The footprints in the yard were somewhat blurred, but some traces could still be made out.
They followed the footprints, passing through a grove of trees and arriving at a small river. Scattered on the sandy bank were some objects, clearly indicating that someone had stayed there.
Qi Guze and Xu Yuehuai approached and saw a series of deep footprints on the beach that stretched all the way into the river.
“They must have gotten on the ship from here and then escaped from here,” Xu Yuehua deduced.
Qi Guze nodded, a determined glint in his eyes: "You wait here first. I'll have someone row a boat over, and we'll go track down their whereabouts later."
He immediately returned to the palace, gathered a team of capable guards, and set off by boat to investigate along the river.
They followed the river forward, constantly searching for any suspicious signs.
As night fell, a thin mist hung over the river. Qi Guze and his guards became alert, carefully observing their surroundings.
Suddenly, they saw a small boat ahead, and the people on board seemed to be rowing frantically, trying to shake them off.
"Hurry and chase after them!" Qi Guze shouted.
The guards rowed vigorously, gradually approaching the small boat.
As they approached, they discovered that the people on the boat were the real culprits. They were carrying the murder weapon and sitting on the boat, looking panicked.
"Stop! Or I'll fire!" Qi Guze shouted, raising his bow and arrow at them.
Seeing this, the murderers rowed even harder, trying to escape as quickly as possible. Their eyes were filled with fear and panic, as if they knew they had nowhere to run.
"Slide faster! Faster!" one of the killers shouted, his voice filled with tension and despair.
However, no matter how fast their ships were, they couldn't outrun Qi Guze's arrows.
Qi Guze's eyes were resolute as he gripped his longbow. He knew he had to prevent these murderers from being killed by arrows, otherwise there would be no way to prove their innocence.
So he could only order his guards to shoot arrows at their ships. As the arrows whistled past, holes began to appear in the murderers' ships, and water kept pouring in.
The ship slowed down and eventually could no longer support their weight.
Upon seeing this, the murderers immediately jumped out of the boat and tried to swim to the shore.
Upon seeing this, Qi Guze immediately ordered his guards to continue rowing the boat across. He and his guards rushed to the shore and began to hunt down the murderers.
Their footsteps echoed along the lakeside at night, and their figures appeared exceptionally tall in the moonlight.
However, when they reached the edge of a dense forest, they encountered a trap.
In a deep, secluded forest, moonlight filters through the sparse leaves, dappling the ground.
Suddenly, ropes were lowered from the trees, tightly binding Qi Guze and his guards.
They tried to break free, but the ropes tightened more and more, as if they were alive.
"Everyone be careful!" Qi Guze shouted, a sharp glint in his eyes.
The hissing sound continued as the rope tightened, almost suffocating people.
Just then, a series of chaotic footsteps came from deep within the woods, and the murderers rushed out from the shadows, their faces twisted and ferocious, their eyes gleaming with a vicious light.
"You dare to chase after us? You must be courting death!" the leader of the murderers laughed wildly, holding a sharp blade whose tip gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
"We won't let you succeed!" shouted the head guard, Li Tie, as he struggled desperately, but the ropes bound his body tightly.
However, Qi Guze quickly took out a small dagger, then neatly cut the rope, and handed it to the guards next to him so that they could also untie themselves.
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