There were only four people in the hall, two county magistrates, the chief arresters Cheng Xiao and Xu Zhen.
"Xu Zhen," Song Zhili said while still standing, frowning, "There are no outsiders here, you can tell me, who killed Old Man Li?"
"Actually, the answer couldn't be simpler," Xu Zhen shrugged and finally said, "The murderer is Old Man Li himself!"
"What? You..." The two county officials frowned, and Chen Houlu couldn't help but ask, "Are you saying this too lightly? Suicide? How could it be possible?"
Tsk tsk...
Song Zhili smacked his lips repeatedly and glanced at Cheng Xiao unconsciously, because the two of them had also thought about whether Old Man Li would commit suicide?
But...it doesn't make sense at all. Old man Li was suing his daughter. How could he commit suicide at such an important moment?
However, he soon discovered that Cheng Xiao was thinking seriously, and it seemed that Xu Zhen's words made him realize something.
Could it be...
this……
But the more this happened, the more displeased he became with Xu Zhen.
"Oh my God," Chen Houlu shook his head repeatedly, "Are these father and daughter suffering from mental illness? Are they ruining themselves like this?"
Therefore, as early as the day of Old Man Li's death, Xu Zhen had already thought that he might have committed suicide.
"Huh? You..." Chen Houlu was about to retort, but suddenly remembered Xu Zhen's behavior at Wei Yulang's house and had to stop speaking.
"You..." Cheng Xiao stared. He was quite depressed. He felt that Xu Zhen was contradicting him all the time, but he couldn't do anything about it.
"Sir," Xu Zhen reminded, "recall now that when you announced that Old Man Li would be imprisoned, was Old Man Li's reaction... normal?"
"Sir," however, the alert Cheng Xiao reminded, "I think all this is Xu Zhen's speculation, and there is no solid evidence!"
"You can pinch it yourself and see if you can," Xu Zhen didn't offend him and just replied casually, "see if you can pinch out the same traces!"
However, when I heard what Xu Zhen said, I felt that there was indeed something wrong with Old Man Li's reaction at that time.
"A group of people..." Song Zhili spread his hands and murmured, "Select Old Man Li and his daughter, first abandon Old Man Li's daughter naked in the market, and let her frame Qiu Batian.
oh?
Song Zhili hurriedly tried to recall it, but he couldn't remember it.
Xu Zhen remembered clearly that at that time, Old Man Li's eyebrows were tightened, his eyes were red, he was breathing very hard, and he was always slow to respond to other people's words. He was obviously very worried.
Unexpectedly, at such a critical moment, someone suddenly knocked on the door hurriedly.
Then came the voice of a certain government official:
"Sir, a letter has arrived..."
"Yes." Chen Houlu also thought of this question and immediately turned to Xu Zhen and asked, "Xu Zhen, do you have any evidence?"
Because they felt that Cheng Xiao's words were indeed reasonable, and it seemed that they were suspected of being fooled by Xu Zhen.
It was obvious that he had completely believed Xu Zhen's speculation.
"Perhaps they were all forced," Xu Zhen said. "Unfortunately, their father and daughter were selected by that group of people and used as tools to deal with Qiu Batian."
"But...suicide..." Chen Houlu tugged at his beard and asked, "Why?"
The two county magistrates looked at each other, but did not stop Cheng Xiao.
"Because we have confirmed that Qiu Batian himself did molest Ailian in Yong'an Market, so Ailian cannot admit the wrong person!"
"Remember it carefully," Xu Zhen reminded again, "when you said that you wanted to arrange for Old Man Li to write the petition on your behalf, was he surprised first and then thanked you and said that you belonged to Master Qingtian?
"
After Song Zhili heard this, he had no choice but to wave his hand at Cheng Xiao, and then Cheng Xiao let go of his hand.
"Xu Zhen!" However, Cheng Xiao shouted, pointed at his neck and said, "Then how do you explain the pinch marks on Old Man Li's neck?"
"This..." Song Zhili suddenly hesitated. If he could not confirm this matter, it might affect his subsequent countermeasures.
"It's not complicated at all," Xu Zhen said. "Old man Li was probably coerced and forced to take the poison. It's possible that the murderer threatened him with his daughter's life. If he refused to do it, he would be killed.
Killed his daughter!"
"So..." Chen Houlu thought of something and said, "The body in Old Man Li's house is not his daughter Ailian. Does this mean that the murderer fulfilled his promise and spared Ailian's life?"
"My lords," Xu Zhen said his speculation slowly, "if there really is such a murderer, unless he can become invisible, there is no way he could kill Old Man Li in this way."
Xu Zhen did not expect that Cheng Xiao would suddenly get angry. He immediately suppressed his face and struggled to explain: "Without a trial, how can we know that there is really no problem between them? Besides, these are all speculations, and I have no evidence..."
Although the distance was far away, Xu Zhen could still tell at a glance that the content on the letter was very short, and seemed to only contain a few words.
He didn't care about the life or death of Old Man Li and his daughter, but he felt really angry about being framed in this way.
"Xu Zhen, since you already knew that Old Man Li committed suicide, but you still asked me to interrogate the two jailers, what the hell are you thinking about? Do you think we are all fools?"
"Ah?" Chen Houlu felt a little messy, so he quickly stroked his beard and combed it carefully.
At first, Xu Zhen only thought that he was worried about whether he could win the lawsuit, but later he recalled carefully and found that Old Man Li's language was inconsistent with his body, and he would unconsciously touch his neck when speaking, which was a typical manifestation of lying.
"Vicious, really vicious!"
However, he naturally couldn't explain these modern micro-expression mind-reading techniques to Song Zhili. He could only open them in the ancient way:
"..." Song Zhili said nothing, obviously thinking about Xu Zhen's inference.
Cheng Xiao glared at Xu Zhen fiercely, then opened the door, took in the letter from the Yamen servant's hand, turned around and handed it to Song Zhili.
"They calculated early in the morning that Old Man Li would be imprisoned in the South Prison as a plaintiff, so they forced Old Man Li to commit suicide by taking poison in the cell, in order to frame us and create the illusion that we were complicit with Qiu Batian..."
"Perhaps, he only abandoned the market naked and was not raped." Xu Zhen said, "I even suspect that his daughter Ailian was also involved.
Song Zhili looked at the envelope and immediately opened it eagerly and took out the letter paper.
At such a critical moment, he couldn't make a wrong move.
"You mean," Song Zhili said, "that Old Man Li knew from the beginning that it was not Qiu Batian who raped her daughter and abandoned her naked in the market?"
"The old man Li's eyes are black, his eyes are red, his expression is weak and his body is weak, and he has three of the five major evil aspects. He has obviously made plans to die!"
As he spoke, Song Zhili's fists were clenched and trembling, with both anger and fear...
"This..." This time, Song Zhili finally remembered and immediately nodded meaningfully, confirming that Old Man Li was indeed abnormal at that time.
If you really came to complain with all your heart, why would you lie?
Song Zhili's face was livid, and he was obviously holding back a breath of bad breath.
"Old Man Li..." Song Zhili continued his analysis, "When he was imprisoned, he took poison with him. When the time came, he overturned the table, pinched his neck, and finally committed suicide by swallowing the medicine.
, we are even more determined to take this scapegoat...
"Then, he asked Old Man Li to come to the Yamen to complain...
The harsh force immediately caused Xu Zhen to cough violently.
"No," Xu Zhen answered very simply, "If we can find evidence, how can their conspiracy succeed?"
Dangdangdang...
"Although he is just a commoner," Xu Zhen continued, "how could he not know what the consequences would be if he sued Qiu Batian? But he still came, isn't this a problem?"
Unexpectedly, before Xu Zhen finished speaking, Cheng Xiao suddenly got angry, grabbed Xu Zhen by the collar, forcibly lifted Xu Zhen up, and shouted angrily:
However, after Song Zhili saw these words clearly, his face instantly became solemn, and his eyes almost became a blur.
Next, he rolled his eyes and thought seriously for a long time. Then he put the letter away and Cheng Xiao said:
"Captain Cheng, gather everyone together immediately. Tonight... we will arrest - Qiu Batian!!!"