With his words, the black cloth was removed layer by layer, and daylight once again fell upon everyone. After adapting to the brightness, Li Shimin said, “Night watchman, look again. Who exactly is standing in front?”

The night watchman looked up, and in the next moment, his face instantly turned ashen. Standing several zhang away were not Jiang Caiping and Wu Meixue as he had claimed, but two yamen guards. “How… how could this be?”

Li Shimin said solemnly, “At the fourth watch, it was still very dark. There were no lights on this street, only the moonlight above and the lantern in your hand. Even young people would have difficulty seeing clearly who was standing several zhang away, so how could you, a man nearly sixty years old, see clearly? Therefore, I had Zhihong cover the area with black cloth to recreate the original scene, and secretly had Zhihong switch the people standing there. As expected, you couldn’t see clearly at all. You were lying!”

Upon hearing this, the night watchman immediately panicked. The lantern fell to the ground, and ignoring the burning lantern, he hastily said, “No, this commoner wasn’t lying!”

Jiang Caiping had already come out of a nearby building with Yunyi. Hearing the night watchman’s words, she became furious and pointed at him, saying, “You old man, even after being exposed by the Second Young Master, you’re still lying! Tell me, did you take benefits from the Feng family and deliberately frame Sister Wu?!”

The night watchman hurriedly said, “Heaven and earth be my witness, this old man has lived over sixty years and has never harmed anyone!”

Over there, Feng Cheng stepped forward and grabbed his collar, saying viciously, “Didn’t you tell me you could see clearly? How is it that now you can’t see clearly? Old fool, are you deliberately playing me? Believe it or not, I’ll beat you until you’re looking for your teeth on the ground!”

Seeing the situation turning bad, County Magistrate Qin immediately scolded, “Feng Cheng, don’t be insolent! Step back!”

Although Feng Cheng was used to being domineering in Shuangqiao Village, he didn’t dare be presumptuous in front of County Magistrate Qin and Li Shimin. After glaring fiercely at the night watchman, he released him and stepped back to his original position.

“I… I truly didn’t deliberately frame Meixue.” The night watchman glanced at Feng Cheng and said with a bitter expression, “Earlier, after Feng Cheng learned that I had seen Chunxiu on the night of the ninth, he kept pressing me about who the person talking to her was. Actually, it was so dark that night, how could I see clearly? Even with Chunxiu, I only recognized her by the sound of her voice. As for the other person, they never spoke at all.”

“If that’s the case, why did you insist it was Meixue?”

At this point, the night watchman didn’t dare hide anything more and said truthfully, “Chunxiu spoke very quickly at the time, and I couldn’t hear clearly what she was saying, but she mentioned the name ‘Meixue’ more than once, so… I deduced that the person talking to her was… was Meixue.”

Jiang Caiping laughed bitterly with anger, “You deduced? On what basis did you make such a deduction? You spoke so confidently in court, saying it was definitely Sister Wu. She was almost killed because of you!”

Li Shimin signaled for Jiang Caiping to step back and stared at the anxious night watchman, saying, “Since you couldn’t be certain, why didn’t you tell the truth?”

“This commoner did say so. This commoner told Feng Cheng clearly at the time, but he didn’t believe it and insisted that this commoner identify who was talking to Chunxiu. If I couldn’t say, he would beat this commoner to death. This commoner was afraid, and thinking about what I had heard at the time, I figured I probably wasn’t wrong, so… I said it was Meixue.”

Wu Laosan said angrily, “How could you do this? Meixue is someone you’ve watched grow up since she was small. Whenever I hunt something good, I don’t forget to share some with you. How could you speak carelessly and wrongly accuse Meixue? If it weren’t for the Second Young Master’s keen insight this time, Meixue would have been killed by you. If she… if she had died, could your conscience be at peace?” For Wu Laosan, Meixue was his everything, more precious than his own life. Seeing someone harm Meixue, how could he bear it?

The night watchman knew he was in the wrong and didn’t dare argue back, letting Wu Laosan scold him. After a while, he glanced at Li Shimin and said quietly, “This commoner was also forced by Feng Cheng. Please forgive me, Second Young Master.”

Feng Cheng was already holding back a belly full of anger, and hearing this, how could he bear it? He cursed angrily, “You old fool, you clearly spoke nonsense yourself, yet you blame me for forcing you. You truly deserve a beating!”

The night watchman saw Feng Cheng looking fierce and menacing, shrank his head, and didn’t dare speak again. Li Shimin calmly observed all this and said indifferently, “Since the night watchman didn’t see clearly who was talking to Chunxiu at the time, and Meixue never left the Governor’s mansion, it’s clear that she is not the murderer!”

Feng Chunming immediately said, “Although the night watchman didn’t see clearly, that pearl is absolutely real evidence. Wu Meixue must be the murderer!”

Li Shimin nodded noncommittally and said, “I remember that box of pearls—I gave it as a reward on behalf of my elder brother. There were sixteen pearls in total.”

Jiang Caiping interjected, “Sister gave me five pearls to take home for my family. Mother said we had enough at home, so I used these five pearls to make a sash for myself.” As she spoke, she extended her hand, and indeed there was a red sash strung with five pearls on her left wrist.

Li Shimin glanced at it and said, “That means if eleven pearls were found when searching Wu Laosan’s home, then the pearl at the crime scene doesn’t belong to Wu Meixue. Isn’t that right, County Magistrate Qin?”

County Magistrate Qin understood his meaning and said, “This subordinate didn’t count carefully earlier. I’ll only know after returning to the yamen.”

“If that’s the case, let’s hurry back.” Under Li Shimin’s words, everyone returned to the county yamen. As they approached the long desk, County Magistrate Qin accidentally stumbled, but fortunately Li Shimin supported him in time, preventing him from falling.

After County Magistrate Qin thanked Li Shimin, he took the box from the desk and opened it. After counting carefully, there were exactly eleven pearls inside, neither more nor less. In other words, the pearl at the crime scene did not belong to the Wu family.

“Well, both the so-called witness and physical evidence have been investigated. The person was not killed by Meixue—she is innocent.” Hearing this, Wu Laosan and the others breathed a sigh of relief, while the Feng family members all looked incredulous, including Li Feng.

“This is impossible!” Feng Chunming was the first to lose control. He rushed over and snatched the box from County Magistrate Qin’s hands, counting over and over again. But no matter how he counted, there were always eleven pearls—not one less. He murmured, “The Wu family’s pearls couldn’t possibly be eleven. I clearly took…” Halfway through speaking, he seemed to think of something and abruptly stopped his words. At the same time, Li Feng’s silent but cold gaze also fell on his face.

To this, Li Shimin smiled faintly and said something that made the Feng family even more terrified: “You clearly took one away, didn’t you?”

Feng Chunming turned pale with horror, his hands trembling slightly. He put down the box and placed his hands behind his back, saying weakly, “I… I never took any. Second Young Master, don’t wrongly accuse a good person.” His heart was pounding—he had clearly taken away one pearl, so how could there still be eleven pearls in the box? Was this haunted?