Hearing the words “accompany you to your grave,” Li Mingzhou became agitated and carried a trace of fear.
That fear, however, was not because he himself would be imprisoned, but rather because he worried that Yu Yin would be subjected to harsh interrogation.
With half his body prostrate on the ground, he shouted loudly, “Yu Yin didn’t kill anyone. You cannot interrogate her.”
Jingrong laughed coldly. “Li Mingzhou, it’s not up to you to argue now. It doesn’t matter if you stubbornly refuse to speak, but digging up corpses is a fact. You cannot clear yourself of suspicion, and Miss Yu Yin even less so. Unless you tell us the truth—this is the only way you can save yourself and save Miss Yu Yin.”
Jingrong had thrown out this olive branch. As for whether Li Mingzhou would take it, that depended on his attitude.
Li Mingzhou probably weighed things in his heart for a long time before taking a breath, making up his mind, and raising his head to say, “Fine, I’ll speak.”
Everyone held their breath and pricked up their ears to listen.
“The reason I went there was because Chang Shiliang had something on him that I had to retrieve.”
Fang Mingsan asked, “What thing?”
“A jade thumb ring, and moreover, that ring of mine had the two characters ‘Shang Xi’ carved on it.”
With this statement, Fang Mingsan glanced at Constable Zhang, who understood and quietly left.
Immediately after, Fang Mingsan asked, “Why was your jade thumb ring in his possession?”
Li Mingzhou’s face grew haggard as he slowly sat up, his shoulders sagging down powerlessly.
At this moment, he was still hesitating about whether or not to speak.
After choking up for a long time—
“Twenty years ago, we were all leaders of the Liu Gang, but later some things happened, and the entire gang disbanded. We each went our separate ways, and from then on, we never contacted each other privately again. However, a few months ago, Chang Shiliang suddenly came looking for me, saying his silk business wasn’t doing well and he urgently needed money for operating capital. Considering we were brothers once, I couldn’t bear to stand by and watch him perish, so at that time, I gave him a sum of silver. He even wrote an IOU, which is still kept at my residence.
But who would have known that just a few days later, he came to my door again asking to borrow money. At that time, I had just invested all my money in purchasing a batch of expensive jade and simply couldn’t come up with that much to give him. I could only give him a jade thumb ring I carried with me, telling him to take it to the money exchange and use my name as collateral to borrow a sum of money. I originally intended to retrieve the ring from him the next day, but the next night he died. Tonight when I went up the mountain, I just wanted to retrieve my thumb ring to prevent you from finding objects related to me and dragging me into this.”
His voice was mournful!
But—
Fang Mingsan questioned, “That thumb ring doesn’t constitute evidence at all, and if you didn’t kill anyone, why would you still worry about these things?”
“That thumb ring is a token of love between my wife and me. It’s been with me for over ten years, so I had to retrieve it. Moreover, twenty years ago, we brothers made a pact that from that day forward we would go our separate ways and never contact each other again. None of us wished to mention the Liu Gang affairs from those days. So if you discovered that jade thumb ring was mine, you would certainly ask about my relationship with Chang Shiliang. I didn’t want to be implicated in this matter, which is why I went up the mountain in the dead of night, wanting to secretly retrieve the ring.”
This was barely believable!
But—
“What does this have to do with Yu Yin pretending to be a ghost to frighten people?”
Li Mingzhou’s eyes flickered, and he moved his mouth for quite a while. “Yu Yin and I are indeed acquainted. Although she was born in Chang’an Office, she maintains her integrity and has a gentle temperament. So over time, we became familiar with each other—you could say we’re confidants. The reason she frightened people was because Chang Shiliang, Wu Lei, and Liu Shuhuai had bullied her multiple times. She wanted to pretend to be a ghost to scare them so they would stop harassing her. She told me about this, and I didn’t object.”
Jingrong narrowed his sharp eyes. “Oh? Such a coincidence exists in this world? The three people Yu Yin frightened all died the next day, and they all happened to be members of the Liu Gang along with you.”
Li Mingzhou hardened his tone. Being questioned inevitably made him somewhat angry.
“I’ve already told you everything about my situation. Every word I’ve said is the truth.”
He stiffened his neck!
At this moment, Constable Zhang also came in and whispered in Fang Mingsan’s ear, “Master Chang indeed had a thumb ring on his hand, and on it are carved the two characters ‘Shang Xi.'”
So it matched what Li Mingzhou said?
Fang Mingsan thought for a moment, his face stern, and asked Li Mingzhou, “Even if you truly went to retrieve the ring, what you’ve said is merely your one-sided account. Moreover, what happened with your Liu Gang back then? To conceal your relationship with the deceased, you actually chose to dig up corpses to retrieve the ring?”
Li Mingzhou: “Old matters from years past—it’s been twenty years already. Better not to mention it.”
“Is it that you can’t speak of it, or is it because something happened back then that made you harbor resentment and choose to kill them?”
“I did not.”
Li Mingzhou was very agitated. His body braced to rise but was pressed back down by the constables.
And just as Fang Mingsan was preparing to say something—
Suddenly—
A soft voice transmitted from outside the yamen hall.
“He didn’t kill my father.”
Everyone looked toward the sound.
It turned out to be Miss Chang from the Chang family—Chang Yiyan!
Her small frame was already fragile, supported by her nanny as she walked in. Her delicate, pale face looked infinitely weary, and her eyes weakly stared at Li Mingzhou on the ground.
As she entered, she fearfully retreated a small step backward, shrinking beside her nanny, slowly raising her long lashes to look at Fang Mingsan on the high seat.
Her tone was soft and thin. “He didn’t kill anyone. That night, I saw the murderer. It wasn’t him. My father wasn’t killed by him.”
Everyone was shocked!
Fang Mingsan leaned half his body over the desk. “Miss Chang, are you saying you saw the murderer?”
She nodded!
“Then who was the murderer?”
She shook her head again!
“Didn’t you say you saw the murderer?”
“I did see them, but… I didn’t see clearly. At the time, the murderer was wearing a hat, and moreover, their build was different from his.” As she spoke, she pointed at Li Mingzhou.
Chang Yiyan didn’t seem to be lying. In those clear eyes was innocent purity.
Her words left everyone confused.
“Since you saw the murderer at the time, why didn’t you stop them? Why didn’t you tell anyone? Why only come to the yamen to inform us now?”
“I…”
“Miss Chang, this matter is grave. Every word you say is extremely important.”
“I…”
Chang Yiyan was perhaps frightened. Her feet shuffled backward, and her small body hid behind her nanny.
Trembling with fear, her head hung low!
Seeing this, Ji Yunshu walked to her side, her tone gentle. “Miss Chang, don’t be afraid. Tell us everything you saw that day.”
She raised her head to look at Ji Yunshu, and the panic in her eyes diminished by several degrees.
Perhaps because Ji Yunshu’s gaze was too gentle, Chang Yiyan gained some sense of security.
She called out “Brother Ji,” then after choking up a few times, sniffled and said, “That night, I couldn’t sleep and wanted to find my nanny to talk. When I passed through the back courtyard, I saw a person carrying something under a tree. That person had their back to me and was wearing a hat. Their build wasn’t large, and moreover…” She pointed at Li Mingzhou again. “They were slightly taller than him.”
“You truly didn’t see their face clearly?”
She shook her head.
“No. Later I left.”
After speaking, her body shrank backward again, and she said no more.