“We…we received a blood letter from that year!” Xun Zhou looked at the two people who were looking at him and spoke subconsciously.

The moment he opened his mouth, he felt an inexplicable regret. But when he finished speaking, facing the two thoughtful faces in front of him, he felt inexplicably relieved.

The secret has been kept in my heart for too long, and it’s somewhat suffocating.

Now that it has been said, there is no need to hide it anymore. Xun Zhou said: “The messenger who sent the letter encountered bandits on the way to deliver the imperial edict, and the imperial edict was stolen. The messenger was afraid of being implicated, so he went to the bandit camp to negotiate. The bandit camp was very reasonable and returned the stolen imperial edict to the messenger after hearing the news!”

As soon as this matter was mentioned, Lin Fei on the opposite side could not help but frown: “I have never heard Wei Fu and the others who handled this case say that the imperial edict was looted!”

“Even ants are greedy for life!” Xun Zhou sighed helplessly and explained, “The messenger did not dare to tell this matter. Besides, the edict was taken back and the wax seal was not removed. So he pretended that nothing had happened and hurriedly sent the edict over.”

And then… everyone knew what happened next. The famous general died tragically, and Wen Xuance became the person who replaced the edict.

“The messenger was lucky enough to conceal the fact that there was nothing wrong with the imperial edict. If there was something wrong with the imperial edict, the messenger would not dare to say anything!” Wen Mingtang understood after hearing this, “It’s not that I can’t understand the messenger’s concealment, but this concealment has made the whole case lack a crucial link.”

Xun Zhou made a sound of acknowledgment and said, “Originally, apart from the two messengers, no one else was likely to know about this matter. Over the years, my jiěfū and I have been investigating it, and by chance, last year, an old messenger retired and returned to his hometown. It just so happened that his ancestral home was in the same county where my jiěfū lived. His ancestral home had been seized by evildoers and was difficult to reclaim, but my jiěfū stepped in to help. Feeling deeply guilty, the old messenger then brought up this matter.”

Afterward, Xun Zhou and his companions naturally went to check the news about the bandit camp from that year. When they found out, they were immediately shocked.

“We have asked people around us, where did the bandit camp come from?” Xun Zhou said, “There had never been any bandit camp, so how can there be talk of looting the imperial edict?”

Either the old messenger lied, but he was old, and if he hadn’t said anything, no one would have linked him to the matter. If he hadn’t spoken up, who would have known about it?

“We don’t think he had to lie, so if that’s the case, there’s only one possibility…”

Before Xun Zhou could finish, Lin Fei said, “Someone pretended to be a robber, intercepted the imperial edict, replaced it, and then used the messenger to avoid being implicated, so he did it without anyone noticing.”

Wen Mingtang nodded, not forgetting what Xun Zhou had said before: “The blood letter you are talking about is…”

When the words “blood letter” were mentioned, Xun Zhou’s face turned pale. He looked at Wen Mingtang and said solemnly, “The old messenger who told us about this is dead.”

After these words came out, even Lin Fei’s expression changed. Without waiting for Xun Zhou to speak, he took the initiative to ask: “How did he die? Was it man-made?”

Xun Zhou neither shook his head nor nodded, he just looked at Lin Fei and said, “He died when he fell into the water while out at night. Everyone in the tavern can prove that he drank a lot of wine that day, so it makes sense that he fell into the water while drunk.”

So… it seemed like someone was doing this, but Xun Zhou neither shook his head nor nodded, there must be something else going on.

“Two days after the messenger’s accident, my brother-in-law received a letter that was secretly thrown in through the crack of the government office with an anonymous name. When my jiěfū opened the letter, he saw the blood-written note by the messenger.” Xun Zhou said, “Because of the previous house-seizing incident, the messenger had written many notes, and my jiěfū naturally knew his handwriting. Both the signature and the handwriting can be matched with that of the messenger. If there was no accident, it must have been written by him.”

As for the content of the blood letter, it recounted the robbery on the way to delivering the imperial edict and pleaded for a thorough investigation of the matter.

If this was to inform Xunzhou’s jiěfū, there was really no need, because they had already known about this from the messenger, so the messenger’s blood letter was obviously not to inform Xunzhou’s jiěfū, but…

“Physical evidence.” Lin Fei said, “Leave a physical evidence.”

The person was still alive, but he left behind physical evidence in advance. Then something happened not long after he left the physical evidence. So… this can only prove one thing.

“The messenger must have discovered or known something, and knew he was going to die, so he left a physical evidence.” Lin Fei said.

Xun Zhou looked at Lin Fei, who either kept silent or always hit the nail on the head, and nodded, “Shaoqing Lin is right!”

It seemed that this person’s ability was much more powerful than the rumors. Xun Zhou sighed: No wonder Sister Mingtang trusts him so much!

“Delivering the imperial edict will not be entrusted to one messenger, where is the other messenger?” Lin Fei did not wait for Xun Zhou to sigh and continued to ask.

Xun Zhou, forced to interrupt his thoughts, shook his head and said, “He died. I heard that he ate something unclean, contracted malaria, and passed away. He died two months before the old messenger.”

The two messengers met with accidents within two months of each other. If this was not a coincidence, then someone wanted to completely clear up the matter and prevent it from being overturned.

When Lin Fei heard this, he frowned and asked Xun Zhou, “Have you checked on the two messengers?”

Xun Zhou nodded and said, “I checked, but found nothing.”

Lin Fei said “Hmm” and stretched out his hand to him: “Show me the information you found about the two messengers.”

He hadn’t investigated it himself, so the phrase “no findings” was something Xun Zhou and the others had said, not Lin Fei.

Xun Zhou: “…” He raised his head and looked at Wen Mingtang beside him, only to see Wen Mingtang nod at him and say, “Lin Shaoqing has handled many cases. Let him investigate. Maybe he can find clues that you and I haven’t found.”

When it comes to investigating cases, Lin Shaoqing was certainly much better than them! Xun Zhou took out a stack of envelopes from his arms and handed them over, saying, “I did bring them this time. I was afraid that Sister Mingtang wouldn’t believe it, so I brought them just in case. I didn’t expect that they would really come in handy.”

Wen Mingtang looked at Xun Zhou who had prepared everything and thanked him: “Thank you for running around for my father!”

Xun Zhou hurriedly said, “Sister Mingtang, what you said really embarrasses me. The teacher has been very kind to us…”

Before he finished speaking, Lin Fei, who had collected his things, spoke up. This time, he was not as polite and cooperative as before. Instead, he interrupted Xun Zhou and said, “Since he had treated you with such great kindness, why do you want to join Wang He’s school?”

Wen Mingtang: “…”

Their Lin Shaoqing was so good at “speaking”, and she didn’t know if anyone had ever beaten him up because of his “speaking” skills.

(End of this chapter)

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