Chapter 22 I feel like I have raised a stupid son
Lord An came hurriedly, glaring at Tian Sheng with a sullen expression, "Tian Sheng, you are so bold as to take a human life in public!"
Tian Sheng never expected that Lord An would appear, and he was so scared that he fell to his knees with a thud.
"Sir, I am wrongly accused. It was that woman who committed the murder first. If such a thug is not dealt with promptly, it will endanger the people. I am also worried about the safety of the people! I beg you to investigate!"
"The people?" Tian Sheng's words made An Daren laugh. "If you had any regard for the people, why would you poison their leaders? Why would you let innocent people take the blame?"
"Sir, I didn't do it. I am innocent!" Tian Sheng cried out for justice.
"No? Humph!" Lord An snorted coldly, flicked his sleeves, and took two steps to the side. "Look who this is!"
Tian Sheng looked up and met Lu Chengjing's bottomless black eyes.
Sitting on a simple stretcher, Lu Chengjing asked in a cold voice, "Master Tian, I don't know how I have offended you. Not only did you let me take the blame, you also ordered someone to murder me on the way to the capital. Master Tian, can you give me an explanation?"
"You're slandering me!" Tian Sheng cursed. "It's clear you harbored evil intentions, resenting the fact that Lord Li accepted Lu's eldest son as his disciple over you, which is why you poisoned him. Now you're blaming me for the poisoning, Lu Chengjing, you're such a treacherous villain! Lord An sees everything clearly and will definitely not grant your wish!"
Lu Chengjing sarcastically said, "Master Tian has a sharp tongue, and it's easy for him to confuse right and wrong."
Shang Wan came over and said, "It was clearly your dog that bit someone, yet you blamed an outsider like me. Do you have any shame?"
"you!"
"Shut up!" Lord An was too lazy to listen to Tian Sheng's continued quibbling. "Take him away and put him in jail. No one is allowed to visit him without my permission!"
Two yamen runners came forward, covered Tian Sheng's mouth, and dragged him away.
"Master An, they are Geng Hao and Niu Baoqing." Shang Wan pointed at the two quails huddled together.
Lord An waved his hand and said, "Take them all to jail!"
Geng Hao looked at Shang Wan pitifully. What about the promise to save his life?
Shang Wan couldn't understand the look in his eyes, but considering that he had tried his best to protect Niu Baoqing, an important witness, he still pleaded for him in front of Lord An.
Lord An said he would consider the matter and ordered the guards to ask a doctor to treat Geng Hao's injuries.
The two were taken away.
The guards arrived with a large number of yamen runners and temporarily sealed off the Tian Mansion. No one in the Tian Mansion was allowed to go out.
Lord An went to pay homage to Li Wenhua's spirit. All the members of Li's family came to pay their respects. Lord An comforted everyone and stayed at the inn with three guards.
The court hearing would not begin until tomorrow, and Lu Chengjing was still a criminal and had to return to prison. However, Lord An sympathized with his injuries and allowed Shang Wan to stay with him to take care of him.
Shang Wan originally wanted to go back to Yushu Village, but thinking that only one day had passed, nothing serious should happen, he felt at ease and occupied half of Lu Chengjing's straw mat.
In order to invite Lord An back as soon as possible, Shang Wan ran to the provincial capital as fast as he could, and came back on horseback, so that he was able to rescue Lu Chengjing in time.
He hadn't slept for almost a whole day and night. As soon as he relaxed, Shang Wan felt sleepy and fell asleep with his head slightly tilted.
Lu Chengjing couldn't sleep, firstly because of the dull pain from his injuries, and secondly because there was someone lying next to him and he was not used to it.
Stroking the small porcelain vase with his left hand, Lu Chengjing stared at the wall for half the night before turning his head very gently. With the faint moonlight coming in through the window, he quietly looked at the face of the person next to him, which was both familiar and unfamiliar.
Shang Wan was so alert that he smacked his lips and asked, "Why are you staring at me in the middle of the night?"
Lu Chengjing: "...You didn't sleep?"
"Asleep." Shang Wan turned his head and half-opened his left eye. "But with you staring at me like this, even the dead can come back to life."
She yawned sleepily. "Tell me, what are you thinking about when you're not sleeping?"
Lu Chengjing was silent.
Shang Wan opened his eyes with a light click of his tongue. "Don't force me to deal with you in the middle of the night. Come on, I still want to sleep."
Lu Chengjing made an excuse, "I'm worried about the court hearing tomorrow."
"Tomorrow is just a formality, what's there to worry about?" Shang Wan reached out and patted him like a round pat, "Go to sleep well, the better your sleep will be, the faster your injury will heal."
Lu Chengjing responded softly and closed his eyes, feeling the slight force coming from the quilt, and fell asleep unknowingly.
Hearing his breathing become even, Shang Wan withdrew his hand and sighed secretly. Why did he suddenly feel like he had raised a stupid son?
The next day, a scream woke Shang Wan from his sleep.
She opened her sleepy eyes and asked, "Who died?"
"Tian Sheng." Lu Chengjing also woke up. It would be better to say that he had woken up a long time ago, but he had been lying there with his eyes closed to rest.
Shang Wan paused in his stretching motion, threw off the quilt, got out of bed, and ran to watch.
Tian Sheng died of poisoning. Like Li Wenhua, he bled from all seven orifices and his death was horrifying.
Is this suicide out of fear of punishment?
Shang Wan stared at Tian Sheng's body and always felt that Tian Sheng was not the kind of person who would commit suicide, and he chose such a painful way to die.
Lord An rushed over after receiving the news. After the coroner examined Tian Sheng's body, he found poison on the nail of his left thumb. After scraping it off and examining it, it was found to be the poison that Tian Sheng had been poisoned with.
Lord An's brows were furrowed so tightly that they could pinch a fly to death. Tian Sheng was well prepared for this.
As the saying goes, it is better to live a miserable life than to die a good death. Although death is the same either way, living one more day is a day better.
Furthermore, Tian Sheng had no time to say goodbye to his family yesterday. Given how much he doted on his children, even if he wanted to commit suicide, he should have done so after seeing his family for the last time.
There is something strange about this matter.
"First, take the body to the morgue."
Two yamen runners came forward and carried the body away.
Lord An turned around and ordered the guards, "Search closely for anyone who had contact with Tian Sheng in the prison yesterday."
"yes!"
Shang Wan was about to leave after watching the scene when Lord An called out to her, "Madam Shang, your hearing is excellent. Did you hear anything strange last night?"
Shang Wan looked up at the sky and recalled for a moment, then shook his head, "No."
In her heart, Tian Sheng was already a dead man and there was no need to pay more attention to him.
Lord An was obviously a little disappointed. After asking about Lu Chengjing's situation, he left with his guards.
Although Tian Sheng is dead, the case still has to be tried.
No poison was found in Tian’s house yesterday, so the physical evidence was lacking. However, Tian Sheng died of poisoning, and his death was the same as Li Wenhua’s, so the physical evidence was already there.
Xie Zhiqiang confessed that Tian Sheng instructed him and the squad leader to kill Lu Chengjing during the escort. Niu Baoqing also confessed that he was forced by Yang Rang to poison Li Wenhua.
When Yang Rang learned that Tian Sheng was dead and he himself was seriously injured, he didn't know how long he could live. He felt quite disheartened and confessed the truth.
Tian Sheng planned to poison Li Wenhua for the same reason that Lu Chengjing had guessed. He was worried that Li Wenhua would expose his affair with Zhang and ruin his official career.
"Sir," Lu Chengjing bowed to Lord An, "I have something I don't understand, and I'd like to ask Yang Rang."
Lord An nodded in agreement.
Lu Chengjing turned his head and looked at Yang Rang, "How did Tian Sheng know that Li Wenhua knew about his affair with Zhang?"
(End of this chapter)
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