Li Feng kept winking at him continuously, but unfortunately Feng Cheng completely ignored him, making Li Feng furious with hatred. What a brute! Even in this situation, he doesn’t know to restrain himself. If he had known this would happen, he shouldn’t have listened to his sister’s words and helped him earlier. This time, he truly was being ruined by the Feng family.
Setting aside Li Feng’s secret cursing, County Magistrate Qin shouted, “While it’s true that Feng Chunxiu was murdered, the one who killed her isn’t necessarily Wu Meixue. Stop making unreasonable trouble here!”
Feng Cheng pointed at Li Shimin and said, “We clearly took away one pearl, yet there are still eleven pearls in the box. This shows that Li Shimin has been lying all along, trying everything possible to exonerate Wu Meixue!”
“The pearls that my elder brother and I gifted to Meixue were indeed sixteen in total. The box should have contained ten pearls, but as for why there’s one extra, it’s because…” Li Shimin extended his hand, slowly opening his tightly clenched left fist. In his palm lay a red silk cord strung with pearls, and one part of the cord clearly showed traces of something having been removed.
Feng Cheng said in surprise, “This isn’t…” He turned his gaze to Jiang Caiping, who raised her delicate chin proudly and said, “That’s right, this is my red silk cord.” She extended her hand, and indeed the red cord that had been on it earlier was now gone. “Second Young Master had already become suspicious of you and Li Feng, so on the way back, he quietly asked me for the red cord, precisely to let you expose yourselves. As it turns out, Second Young Master guessed correctly – you used despicable and shameless methods to frame Sister Wu.”
Feng Cheng’s pupils contracted slightly as he stared at Li Shimin. “When did you put it in there?” County Magistrate Qin had gone to examine the box as soon as he entered – logically, Li Shimin shouldn’t have had any opportunity to tamper with it.
Li Shimin smiled faintly. “Have you forgotten about County Magistrate Qin nearly falling?” When County Magistrate Qin was about to reach the desk, he had deliberately tripped him, then taken advantage of helping County Magistrate Qin to secretly place the pearl removed from the red cord into the box, creating the false impression that no pearl was missing.
Feng Cheng never imagined it was such a scheme. He who had always swindled others was now swindled by someone else, and had taken such a huge fall. He was truly furious enough to explode.
Feng Chunming had always thought it was supernatural intervention, but now realized it was Li Shimin’s doing. He was filled with regret, but he didn’t understand – if it wasn’t supernatural, why had thunder suddenly struck? Was it just coincidence?
Li Shimin saw through his thoughts and said, “There was no thunder outside – I had Zhihong set off firecrackers!” On the way back to the yamen, he had already devised his strategy, using supernatural fears to force the Feng family to reveal the truth.
Learning he had been deceived, Feng Chunming felt both regret and hatred, but it was too late. What should have been said and what shouldn’t have been said – he had already said it all. Spilled water cannot be gathered up.
Feng Cheng gritted his teeth. “You’re the Second Young Master of the Governor’s mansion – how can you use such despicable methods!”
Jiang Caiping spat, “Stop slandering him! If it weren’t for Second Young Master’s superior wisdom in seeing through your conspiracy, Sister Wu would have been killed by you. You still have the nerve to criticize here!”
Feng Cheng was left speechless by her words, and shouted, “What does a little girl like you understand? Using deception is wrong!”
Before Jiang Caiping could argue with him, Li Shimin said, “Magistrate Qin, could you have someone take me to the crime scene? I might discover something.”
County Magistrate Qin greatly admired Li Shimin’s intelligence and keen observation, and immediately said, “Good, this subordinate will accompany you there.”
It wasn’t yet dark, so everyone went together to the mountain forest where Chunxiu’s body had been discovered. Where the body was found, there were still blackened bloodstains.
Li Shimin looked around and said, “Besides moving the body, nothing else here has been disturbed, correct?”
The constable confirmed, “Yes, except for the body and collecting some necessary evidence, nothing else was touched. Moreover, it hasn’t rained recently and few people come here, so everything should remain as it originally was.”
Li Shimin nodded and walked around carefully examining the area. This place was at the bottom of a hillside, with the corpse site facing a slope about ten zhang high, covered with wild grass and trees.
While Li Shimin was investigating, Yunyi noticed Wu Laosan’s expression seemed off, and whispered, “Father, what’s wrong?”
Wu Laosan tugged at his wrinkled cheeks. “Nothing, I just feel uneasy. There are quite a few wild rabbits and foxes here, and I often come hunting. But now that someone has suddenly died here, just thinking about it makes this place feel eerie, making me shiver from the bottom of my heart. It seems I can’t come hunting here anymore.”
Yunyi comforted him, “It’s alright. We didn’t kill anyone, so even if there really are ghosts, they won’t come for us.”
Wu Laosan forced a slight smile. “You’re right, we’re not afraid.”
Li Shimin looked up for a while, then suddenly climbed up. Though the slope wasn’t too high, it was very steep, requiring him to grab onto the wild grass to climb up. Li Shimin stayed up there for a long time before coming down.
County Magistrate Qin approached and said, “Second Young Master, did you discover anything?”
“Not clear yet.” Saying this, he called over the constable and had him point out where the body had been lying and the stone used as the murder weapon. He asked very detailed questions – how many wounds were on the body, whether it was found face-down or face-up, and even the exact position of the stone.
Fortunately, the constable had a good memory, and since this had happened just yesterday, he answered all of Li Shimin’s questions.
Feng Cheng said impatiently, “Second Young Master, how long do you intend to keep looking?”
Li Shimin ignored his words. After finding a stone similar to the previous one according to the constable’s description and placing it in the corresponding position, he pulled County Magistrate Qin forward, pointed at the hillside and whispered a few words. Then he called over Duan Zhihong for some quiet discussion. The latter responded and began climbing the slope using both hands and feet, then rolled down amid everyone’s gasps. Because the slope was steep, he rolled down very quickly, reaching the stone’s location in an instant. Just as he was about to suffer a head injury, Li Shimin, who was standing nearby, pulled him to safety, stopping him less than a foot from the stone.
Before everyone could react, County Magistrate Qin was already sighing, “Second Young Master truly has divine foresight – this subordinate is filled with admiration!”
Feng Li, who harbored resentment against Li Shimin, immediately wiped her tears upon hearing this. “What divine foresight! The murderer who killed my daughter still hasn’t been found.”
County Magistrate Qin snorted lightly. “Ignorant woman! Second Young Master found the murderer long ago!”
Hearing this, the Feng family members looked completely astonished. Feng Cheng urgently said, “Where is the murderer? Who exactly killed my daughter!”