His voice was hoarse, and his dark face was full of exhaustion and weariness. Even though he was only seventeen years old and not yet an adult, his whole body was lifeless, his drooping eyebrows were raised, and his eyes were full of indifference.
“I didn’t kill anyone.” He lowered his head and murmured.
This justification was too pale and weak, whether you killed someone or not, was not something that could be explained by a simple justification.
Lin Fei looked at Liu Yuan.
Liu Yuan understood and stepped forward. He spoke up and asked, “He Xiaoniang1 had been dead for two years, but you didn’t do anything then. It’s likely that you’ve only recently discovered that Yan San and others were the culprits who killed her back then. When did you find out?”
Lu Qing looked at Liu Yuan, paused, and was about to speak when he heard Lin Fei who was beside him suddenly say, “Did you find it when you went down to offer the sacrificial ceremony into the river?”
It was very likely that a piece of evidence fell to the bottom of the river. When offering sacrifices to the river gods, they had to dive into the bottom of the river.
What made a good swimmer almost drown? When he sees something unbelievable.
Lu Qing lowered her eyes and was silent for a while, then sighed lowly, and said: “I saw her purse in the sand at the bottom of the river, and I would never admit the wrong embroiderer of the purse. And there was a piece of jade pendant in that purse.”
The jade pendant was well-made, and it was obviously not He Xiaoniang’s or the He family’s property. After he was rescued, he began to look for the owner of the jade pendant.
“I asked many pawnshops before I found someone insightful who said that the belongings belonged to Yan San, the Deputy Chief of the Imperial Censorate,” Lu Qing said. “At first, I didn’t believe it. I even secretly observed Yan San several times. He appeared refined and courteous, and his wife came from a prestigious family, carrying herself gracefully. They didn’t seem like those kinds of people.”
But falsehoods couldn’t stay true forever. How long could one keep up a pretence? As time went on, he discovered another side of this seemingly refined and courteous Yan San.
“He doesn’t like prostitution, he finds it boring, but prefers girls from good families who come from poor backgrounds.” Lu Qing smiled wryly, and said, “Every one he chooses was specially selected.”
Thinking about He Xiaoniang’s ordeal, Liu Yuan and the others suddenly realized: that they understood the reasons behind Yan San targeting women from such families.
If a woman with an identity and background like He Xiaoniang was specifically selected to attack, firstly, such a woman would not know Yan San and others, and secondly, if something really happened, and their family members would know about it, they would not make a statement. Those who want to preserve their reputation will not complain because the woman’s humiliation was an embarrassment to the family, while those greedy for money, can easily be bought to silence them.
“There were quite a few incidents like that,” Lu Qing said. “In some cases, families simply took the money and sold those women to Yan San to serve as maids.”
Of course, these maids weren’t ordinary household servants. Even if something happened to them, their own families wouldn’t care, so who else would bother?
However, even though they sympathized with Lu Qing and found Yan San and his accomplices truly despicable, as officers of Dali Temple, they had to continue their questioning.
Liu Yuan looked at Lu Qing, and continued to ask: “Did you find Liu Xiaolang and the others after following Yan San?”
Lu Qing shook his head when he heard this, and said, “I don’t know Liu Xiaolang and the others.”
How can it be? Liu Yuan frowned, and was about to continue to ask him why he didn’t know, when Lin Fei suddenly said, “You only found Yan San through the jade pendant?”
Lu Qing nodded, “Yes”.
Lin Fei asked again: “On the day of Yan San’s accident, did you go to Yan San’s private boat?”
Lu Qing said: “Yes.”
“And then killed Yan San and drowned him in the bathtub?” Lin Fei asked again.
Hearing this, Lu Qing became agitated, shook his head again and again, and said, “I didn’t drown him, he was already dead when I went in!”
How was it possible? When Liu Yuan, Bai Zhu and others heard this, they couldn’t help frowning, and Liu Yuan even opened his mouth, hesitant to speak.
Lin Fei did not refute Lu Qing’s words but continued to ask him: “Was it you who hit Píngxī xiǎo jùnwáng, Li Yuan?”
” It was me.”
“Why hit him?” Lin Fei asked.
There was a hint of shame on Lu Qing’s face, but he opened his mouth to explain: “I was indeed planning to board the boat and kill Yan San that day. But when I got on the boat, I saw Yan San dead in the tub. Before I could react, Yan San’s boat collided with a private boat next to it. When I heard the sound coming from the cabin, I was startled and realized that there were other people on board. When I was about to jump off the boat and escape, I saw Li Yuan running over. He recognized me at a glance. When he saw Yan San inside, he was shocked and asked me why I was there. I told the story of He Xiaoniang being killed by Yan San. After he heard about it, he let me hit him with a stick and left him there to confuse the authorities. He wanted me to take this opportunity to run away and leave the capital…”
Of course, the final result was that Lu Qing did not escape.
“She…she is still here, where am I going?” Lu Qinghong said, “I tried to leave, but I walked for a day and a night, but… I couldn’t let her go, so I came back. “
Liu Yuan and the others looked at each other, frowning deeply.
Judging by Lu Qing’s appearance, it didn’t seem like he was lying. But the officials of Dali Temple couldn’t be driven by emotional impulse. They couldn’t afford to look like the righteous ones, lest they genuinely mistake people for being righteous.
Evidence was what mattered.
According to what Lu Qing said, he didn’t kill anyone at all, and Li Yuan stayed behind to confuse the scene and help Lu Qing escape.
There must be someone else who killed Yan San.
But… what about the evidence? Who knew that these were not Lu Qing’s evasive words?
After pondering for a while, Lin Fei asked Lu Qing: “When did you board the boat that day?”
With a bitter smile, Lu Qing replied, “During wèishí2.”
Lin Fei asked, “Is there anyone to prove it?”
Lu Qing hesitated for a moment, seeming to wonder why he was suddenly being asked this, but he continued, “When I was participating in the river sacrifice, I accidentally fell into the water. The local official in charge of the sacrificial worship was concerned that such incidents might happen again in the future, so he specifically selected a few of us with strong swimming abilities to practice together. We practiced until noon and were only allowed to leave at wèishí. If you need witnesses, they are the witnesses.”
Therefore, he boarded the boat during Weishi.
But… this was useless! Bai Zhu subconsciously lowered his head and flipped through the file. The time of Yan San’s death given by Wu Zuo was between wǔshí3 and wèishí.
Even if there were witnesses, it couldn’t prove that Lu Qing didn’t kill anyone, and half a moment was enough to drown someone to death.
Lin Fei didn’t say much, just glanced at him, and left the cell with the file.
Liu Yuan and others hurriedly followed, and when they walked out of the prison of Dali Temple, they heard Lin Fei say: “Go and find out whether what Lu Qing said is true, if it is true, the murderer must not be him.”
The officers were shocked immediately: “Lin Shaoqing, why?”
Lin Fei turned his gaze towards them and uttered two words in a faint tone, “Sleeping potion!”
Sleeping potion? The few people were startled when they heard it, but when they remembered what Shuangxi had confessed, they suddenly understood.
Judging from the corpses of those people, there was no sign of being forcefully drowned, and it was very likely that they drowned after being drugged.
The work of Dali Temple did not find traces of drugs in the stomachs and noses of Yan San and others.
If this was the case, the drug should not have been mixed with tea or eaten, and it was most likely scattered in the air. If the drug sprinkled in the air had not evaporated, as long as anyone entered the cabin, it was possible to be affected by it.
However, according to Shuangxi’s confession, they entered the cabin and were not affected, so the drug must have evaporated by then.
When Shuangxi and the others boarded the boat, there were witnesses present. Now calculating the time it took for that sleeping potion to dissipate, it must be half an hour before wèishí. Hence the time of Yan San’s death would naturally need to be adjusted earlier, likely falling before wèishí and near wǔshí.
And if it was before or during wǔshí, if Lu Qing had someone to testify, he would be able to prove that he was not the real murderer of Yan San.
Footnote
- The name of the poor girl
- Between 1 to 3 PM
- Between 11 AM to 1 PM
Translating one chapter one day at a time 
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