Just as Zhao Quanzhi was about to place the yellow pouch into the pit he had dug—

Chaotic footsteps suddenly came from all around, and a powerful presence surrounded him from all directions.

His hand paused, his head lifted, and he saw many elite soldiers from the Court of Judicial Review rushing out from nearby.

In less than three seconds, they had him surrounded.

“Seize him!”

The elite soldiers parted, creating a small path. Chief Justice Huang, wearing his official robes with imposing authority, walked out. His two eyebrows were like sharp swords ready to pierce through his cap.

Zhao Quanzhi’s hand trembled, and the yellow pouch fell into the pit he had already dug.

At the same time, two elite soldiers grabbed him.

He struggled with a face full of shock, saying: “You… what are you doing? Let me go!”

But he couldn’t break free!

Chief Justice Huang strode forward, the authority in his eyes completely evident.

“Chief Justice Huang, what is the meaning of this? Why are you arresting me?” Zhao Quanzhi asked angrily.

But Chief Justice Huang didn’t respond to him. Instead, he fixed his gaze on the yellow pouch that had fallen into the pit, bending down to pick it up.

Seeing this, Zhao Quanzhi broke out in anxious sweat, his back tensing as he prepared to snatch the pouch back. However, his body was held firmly in place.

Unable to move!

“Give that back to me!”

Chief Justice Huang’s eyes narrowed as he said: “Young Master Zhao, this item is yours?”

“Of course it’s mine!”

“Then why were you burying it?”

“How I handle my own belongings shouldn’t need to be reported to Chief Justice Huang! Just because I’m burying something means I should be arrested?” What Zhao Quanzhi said was reasonable.

“As for why this official is arresting you, Young Master Zhao, you should ask yourself.”

“You… what do you mean?”

“Take him away!” Chief Justice Huang ordered.

Before long—

Zhao Quanzhi was escorted to the main hall of the villa.

Chief Justice Huang immediately sent people to notify everyone. Soon, Minister Li, the Marquis of Kangding, Minister Zhu, Minister Wang, and Wen Cong all arrived. Of course, Su Ziluo and the Wen brothers were also present.

Even those who were staying at the villa came to observe the spectacle.

Wanting to know what exactly had happened?

Zhao Quanzhi was still held by two elite soldiers, unable to move. His face was bright red. Being humiliated like this before everyone’s eyes was utterly mortifying!

The surrounding people also began discussing among themselves.

All kinds of speculation!

Minister Li saw the situation before him and didn’t quite understand what had happened. He asked Chief Justice Huang: “Chief Justice Huang, what is this about?”

Chief Justice Huang bowed to him and replied: “Minister Li, I am searching for the culprit.”

The Marquis of Kangding asked anxiously: “The culprit? Are you saying this matter is related to Young Master Zhao?”

“Marquis, please don’t be anxious.”

“How can I not be anxious? Shiyan is still being held!”

His son was being considered the murderer—how could he not be anxious?

He was nearly frantic!

Chief Justice Huang didn’t explain much. Instead, he waved his hand at the two elite soldiers, ordering: “Release him.”

The two elite soldiers released Zhao Quanzhi.

Zhao Quanzhi’s arms ached from being grabbed. He twisted them vigorously several times, shaking his shoulders while forcefully patting his wide sleeves. Jumping with rage and full of fury, he looked at everyone before his sharp gaze finally settled on Chief Justice Huang. He demanded: “Chief Justice Huang, what is the meaning of arresting me like this?”

Actually, others didn’t understand either!

Chief Justice Huang was calm and unhurried: “Zhao Quanzhi, this official always sees matters through from beginning to end. Without sufficient reason, this official would naturally not arrest anyone arbitrarily.”

“Reason? Ridiculous!”

“At this point, won’t you personally admit that you killed Wang Huai?”

Eh!

As these words came out, everyone was shocked!

They began discussing: “Zhao Quanzhi killed someone?”

“Chief Justice Huang has investigated cases for many years and never wrongly accuses anyone casually. This must be fact!”

“How could this be? He kept loudly defending the heir, but now he’s turned out to be the culprit himself?”

“Let’s first hear what he has to say.”

…

Zhao Quanzhi’s face changed drastically. A trace of panic immediately appeared on his face, which he quickly suppressed. With a trembling voice, he refuted: “Don’t make groundless accusations! I didn’t kill anyone! And I certainly didn’t kill Wang Huai. Chief Justice Huang, to catch a thief you must catch stolen goods—you need proof and evidence. In front of so many people, you say I killed Wang Huai. This is blatant false accusation. Do you still want to keep your official cap or not?”

His words carried warning!

Threat!

Chief Justice Huang remained steady and unhurried, completely unaffected by the threat in his words. He took out the yellow pouch in his hand and, before everyone’s eyes, opened it and extracted a sachet from inside!

When he saw that sachet, Zhao Quanzhi was immediately at a loss for words.

A trace of nervousness flashed across his face.

But reason told him he must remain calm!

Otherwise, he would surely die!

The crowd looked at the sachet in Chief Justice Huang’s hand, not understanding its significance.

The sachet was very small, made of deep blue and red-white interwoven fabric. The stitching was extremely delicate, embroidered with a pattern depicting several white auspicious clouds and several brightly colored flowers clustered together—very beautiful. However, because the sachet had been made so long ago, it inevitably showed some wear and age, though it was well preserved…

Chief Justice Huang walked up to Zhao Quanzhi holding the sachet and said: “You know what this is, don’t you?”

“It’s just a sachet.”

Then Chief Justice Huang produced a white handkerchief and held it before him. On the handkerchief was a blood-colored pattern: “The blood stain pattern on this handkerchief was discovered at the artificial mountain. And this pattern is exactly identical to the design pattern on this sachet. This means someone took this sachet to the crime scene, and the sachet was stained with blood, leaving this pattern impression on the artificial mountain. You just said this sachet is yours. This shows that on the night Wang Huai died, you were at the scene.”

“Don’t make groundless accusations!”

“Then how do you explain this?”

“I…” Zhao Quanzhi was at a loss for words.

Luo Yang, who had been hidden in the crowd all along, suddenly jumped out with a triumphant smile on his face, saying: “Young Master Zhao, at this point you still won’t admit it! Now we have both the person and the evidence. Even if you want to explain, you can’t explain it clearly.”

Zhao Quanzhi was astonished: “It’s you?”

“That’s right, it’s this young master!” Luo Yang sauntered up to him, pointing at the handkerchief in Chief Justice Huang’s hand, saying: “I gave this handkerchief to Chief Justice Huang. I also asked Chief Justice Huang to help stage this performance. I said I could find the culprit, but he had to say in front of you that evidence was found at the artificial mountain. After hearing this, you would definitely be anxious and afraid, wanting to know what was found. Then I’d tip you off, deliberately saying the item found at the artificial mountain was a sachet. You’d feel guilty and rush back to check whether the sachet was lost. Although it wasn’t lost, you were very scared in your heart, worried that eventually someone would really discover this sachet, so you would definitely destroy it! But… this young master doesn’t know why you didn’t use scissors to cut it to pieces or burn it with fire, but instead ran off to bury it! This is truly puzzling!”

Luo Yang was deeply confused!

If it were him, he would definitely destroy the sachet immediately.

But this was also enough to prove that this sachet was very important to Zhao Quanzhi—so important that even though it was so worn, he still didn’t want to throw it away or destroy it!

After hearing his words, Zhao Quanzhi’s face stiffened, and he had a sudden realization: “You… dare to trick me?”

“If I didn’t trick you, how could I hook you, this big fish?”

“Shameless scoundrel!”

“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures!” Luo Yang spoke with conviction.

“Hmph! So what if that’s the case? Does burying a sachet make me a murderer?” Zhao Quanzhi still struggled, looking at the sachet in Chief Justice Huang’s hand and saying: “The pattern on the handkerchief is so blurry. Although it looks somewhat similar to the pattern on this sachet, that doesn’t mean it was imprinted by this sachet’s design! Furthermore, this sachet is clearly clean and doesn’t have a single drop of blood on it. I was just burying this sachet out of boredom. That’s not against the law, is it? Based solely on this one point, you determine that I’m the culprit who killed Wang Huai. If this gets out, who will accept it?”

Chief Justice Huang: “You still won’t admit it?”

“I didn’t kill anyone. What is there to admit?”

He remained stubborn to the end!

Refusing to admit it no matter what.

And based on this single point alone, it truly wasn’t sufficient to prove he was the culprit.

Just as he thought he had the upper hand, a voice came in from outside.

“I can prove there are blood stains on this sachet!”

Eh?

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw Cai’er supporting the weak-bodied Zhu Yao as she slowly walked in…