Lu Hu’s hot temper was no one or two-day affair. Speaking such words naturally meant he wasn’t afraid of being retaliated against later.

And those students didn’t dare make a sound either. After all, they had no strength to truss a chicken, and with Master Yu currently absent, if they stepped forward to rescue, it would undoubtedly be like an egg hitting a stone.

Lin Shu’s abdomen ached from the beating, his head covered in sweat, his eyes bloodshot and veined. Because he was already injured, being seized now left him unable to struggle.

He could only glare at Lu Hu, shouting angrily, “Let me go.”

“You’ve killed someone now. Once we get to the yamen court, Magistrate Huang will properly try you.”

“I didn’t kill anyone. I didn’t kill Guo He.”

“The evidence is conclusive.”

“I’ve already explained clearly and proven I wasn’t at the academy on the 13th.”

Lu Hu looked at him fiercely. “You weren’t here on the 13th, but the deceased died on the 12th.”

Uh!

“No… impossible!” Lin Shu’s voice trembled, his heart slightly stunned. A sense of unease spread from his chest to his throat, and cold sweat broke out between his brows.

Lu Hu was no good bird. He raised his chin high, with a fierce and menacing face, threatening, “You still won’t confess? Then we’ll have to show you some color. I’d like to know whether your mouth is harder or my fists are harder.”

He gave the officers a look!

The two officers holding Lin Shu nodded in understanding, clenched their fists, and struck fiercely at Lin Shu.

“Did you kill him or not? Speak! Will you talk or not?”

Forcing him to confess!

Although Lin Shu was in terrible pain, he still stubbornly refused to admit anything.

So the two beat him even more viciously, landing two more punches on him.

As the dull thuds of those two fists grew louder and louder, the smile at the corners of Lu Hu’s mouth became more and more sinister.

Even somewhat twisted!

“Stop!” Ji Yinshu couldn’t watch anymore. She stepped forward and questioned, “Is this how the Bingjing yamen conducts business?”

Her tone carried reproach.

Lu Hu turned his head to look, his two thick black eyebrows furrowing tightly toward the center. He looked Ji Yinshu up and down.

This person had hair bundled high, tied with a light gray hair ribbon, secured at the crown knot, hanging down to the waist. A plain light blue robe, sleeves slightly open at the sides, features delicate and refined, elegant and handsome. Especially those eyes—lacking the hardness of a man, possessing more of a woman’s gentleness.

At the same time, Ji Yinshu was also looking at him!

This person’s face showed cruelty, murderous intent blazing. His methods were fierce. Whether from his words or his actions, he was clearly someone with extreme tactics, with the reckless arrogance and conceit of one who dominated alone.

His dry, dark lips moved. “The yamen is conducting business. You have complaints?”

That tone carried provocation and contempt.

Ji Yinshu spoke seriously, “Although Bingjing is far from the capital, a place of dragons’ claws and snakes’ tails, what Chief Constable Lu has just said and done carries the meaning of sitting in judgment yourself. When did it become the case that yamen officers could torture people before a case is decided? Could it be you want to force a false confession?”

That was quite a serious accusation!

Lu Hu snorted. Those two eyebrows hardened like two large knives. “You assembled that skeleton, you found the evidence, and I heard everything you said in the room just now. Since the deceased died on the night of the 12th, then he is the killer. Being so, the yamen arrests him, and he refuses to confess. What’s wrong with using some methods to force an interrogation?”

His tone was intimidating.

What a peculiar explanation!

Ji Yinshu met his hard, gloomy gaze.

Not the least bit afraid!

She said, “All the evidence, though it points to Lin Shu as the killer, during the investigation process there will inevitably be oversights. Evidence exists, but it is dead. Only facts are living. Before the matter is completely clarified, these are all unknowns. Even I myself dare not determine that what I just said is iron-clad fact. Does Chief Constable Lu believe me so completely?”

“Are you saying the killer isn’t Lin Shu after all?”

“Whether it’s him or not requires investigation to know.”

“Then I’d like to see how you investigate.”

Lu Hu snorted coldly and had those two officers release Lin Shu.

Two fellow students immediately stepped forward to support him.

“Lin Shu, are you alright?”

Beaten like this—what do you think?

Ji Yinshu took a breath, looking at Lin Shu who was beaten and aching all over, needing support just to stand steadily.

She said, “Lin Shu, although you weren’t at the academy on the 13th, Guo He delivered the letter to Shang Zhuo on the 12th. And because he wasn’t feeling well, he went to sleep early. So whether Guo He died on the night of the 12th or on the 13th after you left the academy is unknown. But on the night of the 12th, the young attendant ran into you and said you reeked of alcohol, thinking you must have secretly drunk. But if I remember correctly, that day in the pavilion when Muruo opened the wine, the wine smell filled the entire pavilion. At that time, your expression and behavior both showed you disliked that wine smell very much. Since you dislike the smell of wine, why would you drink? Since you don’t drink, why would you smell of alcohol that night? And coincidentally, that wine was exactly the pine flower wine Guo He loved to drink most. If I’m not mistaken, on the night of the 12th, you must have encountered Guo He. Something must have happened between you two, which is why you’re so guilty and nervous.”

Lin Shu gasped heavily in pain, his eyes glancing elsewhere, lowering his head. “In any case, I’m not the killer, and that night… I never saw him.”

“At a time like this, you still won’t tell the truth? Lin Shu, Master Yu said your nature isn’t bad and doesn’t believe you would kill someone. You keep saying you’re wronged, but now everything is laid out before you. If you really didn’t kill anyone, then honestly tell us—what exactly happened that night?”

“I don’t know, I…”

Ji Yinshu interrupted him. “If you can’t come up with the truth, the yamen people will take you away. At that time, no one can help you. Even if you’re willing to tell the truth then, saying you’re not the killer, you’ll have no way to clear yourself.”

Yes!

Once he was taken away and locked in prison, he’d be sent into the tiger’s den—certain death.

Even if he truly was wronged, but given Lu Hu’s words and actions just now, that man would definitely subject him to severe torture to extract a confession. Even if he denied it to the death, Lu Hu would certainly have ways to make him confess and sign.

Recognizing the situation, Lin Shu couldn’t help but become frightened. After struggling internally for a long time, he met Ji Yinshu’s gaze, pouted, and gritted his teeth.

“Fine, I’ll talk.”

At that moment, the surroundings suddenly became quiet!

Everyone waited for him to reveal what exactly had happened that night.