In the prison, Hei Te Changzhi was wearing a white prison uniform, sitting against the wall, staring into the void.
Suddenly, several exclamations came from the direction of the door, followed by the sound of a human body falling to the ground.
"Daniu, what's wrong with you?"
A jailer who was patrolling shouted loudly, hesitated for a moment, and walked towards the door. Not long after, there was another exclamation, and then the cell returned to silence.
The prisoners in the cell were all startled. They walked to the cell door one after another and looked sideways in the direction of the door. Even Hei Te Changzhi stood up and looked around.
At this moment, a burst of slow footsteps came, and a man in black with a face covering was seen walking inside, holding a long knife in his right hand, with blood still dripping from it.
The prisoners immediately retreated to the corner of the cell, looking at the man in black with horror. The man in black walked all the way to the door of Hei Te Changzhi's cell, turned around, and faced Hei Te Changzhi, with a cold light shining in his eyes.
.
Click!
The long knife cut off the door lock, and the man in black walked into the cell.
Hei Te Changzhi was shocked and angry, and asked: "Who are you?"
"Hey, you're familiar with it!" the man in black said solemnly.
Others couldn't understand what he said, but Heijia Changzhi knew it very well. The other person spoke his native Baekje dialect, which means "you should know."
Black Teeth Changzhi said in Baekje: "I have promised His Highness the Prince to plead guilty, why do you still come to kill me?"
"The situation has changed, and His Highness the Prince thinks it would be better for you to shut your mouth forever." The man in black said coldly.
A look of struggle appeared on Hei Te Chang's face, and after a while he sighed: "I didn't take this life seriously when I agreed to take the blame. As long as the prince promises me and doesn't regret it, you can take this life.
"
The man in black grinned and sneered: "His Highness pretended to agree to you because you were still useful. Now that you are of no use, what qualifications do you have to negotiate terms with us?"
The muscles on Hei Te Changzhi's face couldn't help trembling, and he said angrily: "He lied to me?"
"What do you think? Why should Your Highness keep his promise to a dead person?"
Black Teeth Changzhi roared: "We are all from Baekje, why are we so hard on each other?"
"If you want to blame, blame yourself for being stupid! Okay, enough gossip, I'll send you on your way."
After saying that, the man in black chopped off his head with a knife. Hei Te Changzhi put up his shackles and tried his best to resist.
In an instant, the two of them were fighting each other. Black Tooth Changzhi was a military commander, and his martial arts skills were not bad, but after all, he was wearing handcuffs and anklets, which made it difficult for him to move, and he couldn't support himself after a while.
At this moment, there was a sudden rush of footsteps outside the prison door, and someone shouted loudly: "Quick, quick, you dare to break into the Dali Temple prison, we must not let the thief escape!"
The man in black exclaimed: "How did it come so fast?" He slashed at Hei Te Changzhi several times. When Hei Te Changzhi saw the reinforcements coming, he perked up and tried his best to resist.
At this time, a group of Dali Temple officials could be seen rushing over. The men in black hurriedly abandoned Hei Te Changzhi and rushed outside.
Hei Te Changzhi breathed a sigh of relief, supported the wall with his hands, and gasped violently. After a long time, a female voice came from the direction of the door: "Who are you, and who ordered you to break into the Dali Temple prison?"
"I am Lu Zhining's friend! I came here to avenge Brother Lu!" the man in black shouted loudly.
The woman said coldly: "Detain him first, and wait until Shaoqing comes back to deal with it."
After a while, a woman in green clothes walked in with someone. When the woman saw Hei Te Changzhi's cell door open, she immediately came over and asked, "Did that person come to you just now?"
Black Teeth Changzhi gritted his teeth and said: "Don't listen to his nonsense. He is not a friend of Lu Zhining, but a killer sent by Prince Buyu Feng of Baekje. He is here to kill me and silence me!"
Zheng Lingxuan suppressed the excitement in her heart and said slowly: "What's going on? Please tell me in detail!"
…
At the beginning of Xu Shi, Wu Chengsi, Zhuge Nan and Han Cheng returned to Dali Temple together, and saw Zheng Lingxuan waiting at the gate, smiling, and seemed very happy.
Compared with her, the expressions of Wu Chengsi and others looked like dropped eggplants.
After dismounting, Wu Chengsi stepped forward and asked, "Did you ask about anything at the Criminal Department?"
Zheng Lingxuan pursed her lips and smiled and said: "It's not bad. What about you, can you find anything useful by checking the drug store?"
Zhuge Nan glared and said, "How did you know we were going to check out the drug store?"
"Nie Sicheng told me."
"That guy is so talkative." Zhugenan curled his lips and said.
The group of people passed through the gate and arrived at Shaoqing's Yamen. Because the civil servants had gone to the Yamen, Wu Chengsi personally made tea for them.
Zheng Lingxuan held the teacup and said, "Tell me, how was your investigation?"
Zhuge Nan thought to himself: "This girl never talks much, why is she so active today?" He took a sip of tea, frowned and said: "We visited all the pharmacies in the city in the afternoon, and asked Fang Zheng to take care of Baekje.
The merchants all called over to ask questions, but there were only two pharmacies that stocked the medicine "cabbage."
"Then what did they say?" Zheng Lingxuan asked again.
"Not only has no one bought this medicine within a year, but no one has even asked." Wu Chengsi shook his head and answered.
Zhugenan crossed his arms and said: "This thing is getting weirder and weirder. Do you think we are trying to make things complicated? The murderer is actually Hei Te Changzhi?"
"No, the murderer is not Hei Teochangzhi!" Zheng Lingxuan said firmly.
Just as Zhuge Nan was about to ask why, Wu Chengsi smiled and said, "You must have gained a lot in the Ministry of Punishment today!"
Zheng Lingxuan smiled slightly and said what she had learned from the Ministry of Justice. Wu Chengsi smiled slightly and said: "Miss Zheng really has a talent for solving crimes. She came up with the story in such a short time. From this point of view, Hei Te Changzhi should be the replacement.
People bear the blame!”
"It's not possible, it's certain!" Zheng Lingxuan corrected.
"How do you know?" Zhugenan looked at her in surprise.
Zheng Lingxuan went on to talk about Nie Ziyun pretending to be a Baekje killer, and finally said: "Heiji Changzhi has personally admitted that it was Fu Yufeng, the prince of Baekje, who used the Heiji clan in the old land of Baekje as a blackmail to order him to take the blame!"
Wu Chengsi clapped his hands and praised: "Good! Miss Zheng is quick in thinking and flexible in handling the case. This case finally has some clues!"
Zheng Lingxuan waved her hands repeatedly and said, "No, this is all thanks to Nie Sicheng."
"Where is Nie Ziyun?" Zhuge Nan asked.
"He said he still had something to do and went out after helping."
Zhuge Nan nodded and said excitedly: "The real culprit behind the scenes must be the Baekje prince Fu Yufeng. He should still be in the city. We can spread our manpower and search for him throughout the city!"
Wu Chengsi held his chin and said, "But how did he kill Lu Zhining and the others? Miss Zheng, did Hei Te Changzhi give us any other important clues?"
"He said that when he first arrived at the Hanlin Academy, the two people were already dead. He was afraid that he would be mistaken for the murderer, so he turned around and ran away!"
"That's not right!" Zhugenan shouted loudly: "If a normal person saw a murder, his first reaction would be to report it. Since he didn't commit the crime, why did he run away with a guilty conscience?"
Zheng Lingxuan thought for a moment and said, "Could it be because he and Lu Zhining have always been at odds and he was afraid that others would doubt him, so he ran away?"
Wu Chengsi pondered: "Then did he say why he went to the Hanlin Academy?"
"Gao Lan came to him and said that Lu Zhining invited him to drink at the Hanlin Academy and wanted to reconcile with him, so he went there."
Wu Chengsi thought: "Li Duozuo once said that he saw Gao Lan talking to Hei Te Changzhi, which can be explained."
Zhugenan scratched his head and said, "But the question is, if it wasn't this kid, who killed him?"
Wu Chengsi suddenly remembered the case in Baiyun Nunnery, and thought in his mind: "Could it be one of Lu Zhining or Gao Lan who poisoned the house?"
Zhuge Nan shook his head and said: "Judging from their horrified expressions when they died, it probably wasn't suicide. And even if one of them was poisoned, no toxin was found in the wine flask, and the wine glass was never used. This is totally unexplainable!"
"I think there is only one possibility left." Zheng Lingxuan said in a condensed voice.
"Are you saying that some witnesses are lying?" Zhuge Nan said.
"Yes, isn't this the only explanation?"
Zhugenan stood up and took a few steps back and forth: "But I carefully observed the expressions of those people when they were questioned. Based on my many years of experience in handling cases, they should not be lying!"
Zheng Lingxuan smiled secretly and said, "How old are you and how much experience do you have?" She looked at Wu Chengsi and said, "Master Wu, I want to go to the Hanlin Academy to question the witnesses tomorrow, is that okay?"
"Of course, you can say hello to Shangguan and tell him that I will temporarily transfer you and come directly to Dali Temple to attend the Yamen tomorrow."
Zhugenan trusted his own vision very much and still did not think that the witness was lying. He decided to lead people to search the city tomorrow to find the whereabouts of the Baekje prince.
After leaving Dali Temple, Wu Chengsi and Zheng Lingxuan returned to the Duke's Mansion. Along the way, Zheng Lingxuan was more lively than yesterday. She chatted with him about interesting things in the world in the past, and Han Cheng also chimed in from time to time.
After returning to the mansion, after dinner, Wu Chengsi lay in bed unable to fall asleep for a long time.
The sudden appearance of the prince of Baekje reminded him of Di Renjie's words when he left.
The Hanlin Academy case is probably just the tip of the iceberg of a larger conspiracy.