Lady, escort the emperor! 12
Chapter 12: A Natural-Born Investigator
After the Chang’an County Magistrate exposed his identity, Li Nuo’s subsequent interrogation went exceptionally smoothly.
Those twenty-odd officials, regardless of their rank or the government office they worked in, were incredibly cooperative. For every question Li Nuo asked, they answered tenfold, their attitudes surprisingly pleasant. To accommodate Li Nuo, who was seated, they all answered with their bodies half-bowed.
This scene filled Pei Zhe with envy.
As the Chang’an County Magistrate, he frequently interacted with Chang’an’s officials and powerful figures. Those people, when speaking to him, would act as if their noses were pointed towards the heavens. Yet, being questioned by Li Nuo, a man without any official position, they didn’t even dare to lift their heads.
After questioning the last official, Li Nuo stood up and said, “Thank you for your cooperation, gentlemen. You may leave.”
“Not at all, not at all.”
“It was the young master who was inconvenienced.”
“The young master has been troubled…”
“This subordinate takes his leave…”
…
Within ten seconds of Li Nuo speaking, these officials scrambled to leave, as if a single step slower would condemn them to eternal confinement.
Li Nuo was slightly surprised. It seemed his unseen father held considerable influence in the court, extending to the officials’ respectful treatment of him.
After they left, Li Nuo said to the Chang’an County Magistrate, “These court officials had no motive to commit the crime. If they wanted to kill Zheng Yuanwai, they wouldn’t have done it themselves…”
Actually, Li Nuo didn’t need to explain; Pei Zhe already knew the officials weren’t the culprits. He had planned to release them first. However, even after releasing over twenty people, nearly two hundred remained. He didn’t know what method Li Nuo would use to find the killer among them in less than two hours, merely through questioning.
Full of doubt, he watched Li Nuo’s performance silently.
With the twenty-odd officials released, almost two hundred people remained. Li Nuo couldn’t possibly question them one by one. He paced back and forth outside several cells, then pointed at one, saying, “Open the door; the person inside can leave.”
The jailer looked at the Chang’an County Magistrate. Pei Zhe nodded, saying, “Do as the young master says.”
By morning, he understood the entire case. Keeping these two hundred people locked up was pointless; they would eventually be released anyway. In his view, the case would likely remain unsolved.
Not all murder cases are solved. In fact, in Da Xia, eight or nine out of ten murder cases remain unresolved. Cases where the culprit is caught are rare.
Li Nuo walked to another cell and spoke again, “The person in this cell can also leave.”
The inmates of two cells were released. The remaining two cells held, respectively, the female members of Zheng’s household (the maidservants, Zheng Yuanwai’s wives and concubines, and a few female guests), and Zheng Yuanwai’s business associates.
Li Nuo instructed the jailer to open these two cells, saying, “You may all leave.”
The Chang’an County Magistrate was stunned. What the heck? After all this trouble, he let everyone go?
The prisoners didn’t care about this. Hearing they could leave, they rejoiced, rushing out of the cells. Just as a handsome man happily stepped out of the cell door, his shoulder was suddenly pressed down, and the following voice sent a chill down his spine, instantly freezing his heart.
“They can go; you stay.”
Li Nuo’s right hand rested on the handsome man’s shoulder, his left hand grasping a young woman’s wrist. He said calmly, “And you.”
The woman looked puzzled, while the handsome man’s face paled, questioning, “Wh-Why, sir?”
Yes, why?
The Chang’an County Magistrate thought the same. He couldn’t understand Li Nuo’s actions. He hadn’t questioned these two hundred people, so why single out these two?
What was different about them?
Li Nuo smiled faintly at the handsome man. The smile was kind, yet the man felt a cold shiver run down his spine, as if all secrets were laid bare before Li Nuo.
Li Nuo didn’t explain, only instructing the jailer to keep the man and woman separately confined in the furthest cells of the prison, preventing them from seeing each other, thus preventing collusion.
Throughout the entire process, a fog of confusion filled Chang’an County Magistrate Pei Zhe’s mind.
After Li Nuo separated the two, Pei Zhe finally couldn’t hold back and asked, “Young master, why did you leave only those two? Was there something wrong with them?”
Li Nuo was looking for problems with the answers already in hand; naturally, he found them easily, but he couldn’t state them outright.
He thought for a moment and said, “Those previously imprisoned, uncertain about what would happen next, were anxious and uneasy. Most were bowed in thought or lost, their movements erratic. But within the short two quarters of an hour I questioned those officials, the man and woman in those two cells secretly exchanged glances sixty-eight times. Unless they had something to hide, how else can this be explained?”
The Chang’an County Magistrate stared at Li Nuo, as if looking at a monster.
While questioning those officials, he had also managed to pay attention and observe sixty-eight glances exchanged between a man and a woman among two hundred people in five cells?
Pei Zhe was a normal person; he couldn’t imagine a normal person doing this.
But considering he was that man’s son, it seemed somewhat acceptable that he could do this.
However, if that couple really exchanged so many glances, they definitely had a problem.
Pei Zhe turned to a constable, ordering, “Check the identities of those two!”
Soon, the constable returned with a file. Pei Zhe took it, glanced at it, and immediately connected the dots, muttering, “Could it be…”
Li Nuo asked, “Magistrate Pei, have you figured something out?”
Pei Zhe handed the file to Li Nuo, then realized Li Nuo didn’t recognize many characters. He said, “The man is named Cui Ze, a newly-rich merchant in Chang’an. The woman is named Zhang Xiaoyun, the eighth concubine Zheng Yuanwai took six months ago… Cui Ze and Zheng Yuanwai had no enmity, no motive to commit the crime. But if he had an affair with Zheng Yuanwai’s concubine, it all makes sense.”
Crimes of passion and revenge are the most common in murder cases. Zheng Yuanwai was kind and had no enemies, so a crime of passion was highly probable. He was over fifty, no longer in his prime, yet had many wives and concubines, inevitably unable to satisfy them all.
The eighth concubine was in the bloom of youth, needing attention, while Cui Ze was young and handsome. Young men and women sometimes fall in love; it’s quite normal.
The case was nine out of ten solved.
He had observed carefully; when separated, Cui Ze glanced at Zhang Xiaoyun with panic in his eyes. Though everyone was released except them, panic was expected, but Pei Zhe, having seen countless criminals, keenly perceived something unusual in his panicked eyes.
However, this was unimportant to Pei Zhe now.
Nothing was as shocking as what Li Nuo had done.
What is a natural-born investigator?
This is it.
Without visiting the crime scene or knowing the details, needing nothing but his eyes, he could find the killer among more than two hundred suspects. What kind of unbelievable ability was this?
If he lived three hundred years ago, Legalism might have had another sage.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the Warring States period anymore. The schools of thought had faded, Legalism was defunct. Even if he was a natural-born investigator, he couldn’t go far down the path of Legalism. The court officials wouldn’t allow another Legalist sage to emerge. What a pity.
Sighing internally, he looked at Li Nuo and asked, “Young master, what do we do next?”
Unknowingly, he had come to rely on Li Nuo.
Chang’an County Yamen.
The Prison.
Cui Ze leaned against the cold prison wall, his face pale, his heart filled with terror.
How could this be? How was this possible? Their actions were flawless. Even the servants of the Zheng household didn’t suspect anything. The Chang’an County Magistrate investigated all morning without suspicion, so how did that person know?
Thinking of those all-seeing eyes, he panicked completely.
If he didn’t know they were the culprits, he wouldn’t have released everyone but them.
Even more bizarre was that he had been imprisoned for nearly an hour, yet no one had interrogated him. Let alone how excruciating this hour had been.
Footsteps sounded at the cell door; the jailer brought food.
From morning until now, nearly four hours without food or water, he was starving. The food provided by the Chang’an County Yamen was plain cabbage and tofu with rice, with a faint sour smell, it didn’t seem fresh.
Cui Ze, accustomed to delicacies, found this spoiled food hard to swallow.
Then, a strong aroma of food reached his nose.
This aroma was extremely familiar to Cui Ze.
“Roast chicken, steamed fish, braised pork, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and this rice… This is top-grade northeast rice!”
Even facing imminent disaster, Cui Ze felt resentment. They were all prisoners; why did they give him spoiled cabbage and tofu rice, yet others received such fine meals?
Two jailers carried the delicious food, passing Cui Ze’s cell, seemingly chatting casually.
“The woman is about to confess, right?”
“Exactly. Otherwise, why would the sir invest so much? I’d confess too. Refusal only leads to death; those who confess first may avoid death, though they will be exiled, but they have a chance…”
What!
The jailers’ words were like thunder in Cui Ze’s mind.
She confessed?
Confessing first avoids death; why didn’t anyone tell him?
Damn it, that bitch! She seduced him, killed Zheng Yuanwai, then planned to seize his property. Now it was him who would die! This was intolerable!
The jailers had moved on. Cui Ze grabbed the cell bars, using all his strength to shout, “Sir, I confess! I confess everything!”
At the same time.
On the other side of the prison.
“The man is about to confess, right?”
“Exactly. Otherwise, why would the sir invest so much? I’d confess too. Refusal only leads to death; those who confess first may avoid death, though they will be exiled, but they have a chance…”
In a corner cell, the young woman listened to the jailers’ seemingly casual words, then looked at the delicious food in their hands. She said nothing, but her sigh betrayed her disappointment.
She wouldn’t confess, but knowing Cui Ze, his mind couldn’t resist such blatant tactics.
Indeed, the next moment, she vaguely heard Cui Ze’s shout.
The prison was large, and they were far apart, but a grown man’s loud shout couldn’t be entirely blocked.
Besides disappointment, a deeper fear, and relief, were evident in her eyes.
(End of Chapter)
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