With Jiang Bin’s words, everyone recalled what had happened on the mountain path yesterday. A man in yellow clothing stepped forward and chimed in, “That’s right. Yesterday, the heir apparent and Wang Huai got into a fight on the mountain path. Everyone saw it, and they also heard the heir apparent say he would kill Wang Huai. Moreover, at last night’s banquet, they also had a conflict. Wang Huai humiliated the heir apparent on the spot—everyone present witnessed it. It seems highly likely that the heir apparent harbored resentment toward Wang Huai and therefore killed him!”

“It’s possible!”

Wang Huai’s faction all voiced their agreement. Li Shiyan’s friend Zhao Quanzhi angrily jumped out, pointing at them and retorting, “Don’t slander him with such vicious lies and nonsense! Right now, there’s no evidence proving that Shiyan killed anyone. By saying such things, you’re clearly trying to frame him as the murderer!”

Jiang Bin glanced at him and countered, “Young Master Zhao, I know you and the heir apparent have a good relationship. Since you have such a good relationship, you should know what kind of person the heir apparent is, right? Everyone has witnessed how the heir apparent usually acts tyrannically and throws his weight around in the capital. If we’re talking about him killing someone to vent his anger, it wouldn’t be strange at all.”

“It’s precisely because I know his character that I don’t believe Shiyan would kill anyone! If you keep spouting such nonsense, I’ll…”

“What? Are you going to kill me too?”

“You truly can’t spit out anything decent from that dog’s mouth of yours!” Zhao Quanzhi suppressed the anger in his heart. Clenching his fists, he wanted to hit someone, but the current circumstances didn’t permit him to do so, so he restrained himself with great effort.

Meanwhile, Zhu Yao, who had been anxious and flustered all along, also stepped forward at this moment to speak with Jiang Bin, “You’re completely making baseless claims. Don’t jump to conclusions so recklessly. This matter definitely has nothing to do with Shiyan. Right now, he’s also missing, his safety unknown. Everyone is still searching for him. We still don’t know what the truth actually is. Moreover, Magistrate Huang hasn’t even said anything, yet you keep speaking with such absolute certainty, clearly intending to frame him deliberately.”

The little white rabbit actually erupted!

This startled Qiu Shu, who was sitting in the great hall. She hadn’t expected that Zhu Yao would actually learn to talk back to people, and speak so logically at that.

“How interesting.” She smiled behind her hand.

Jiang Bin’s face suddenly turned a shade of blue-green. He swallowed and continued, “So it’s Miss Zhu. I know you’re engaged to the heir apparent, but you shouldn’t defend him like this! Right now, it’s precisely because he’s disappeared that he’s even more suspicious. Only someone who killed a person would feel guilty enough to flee in panic. Otherwise, how could a perfectly fine person just disappear?”

“You didn’t witness it with your own eyes. Everything is just your one-sided account.” Although Zhu Yao was timid, for Li Shiyan’s sake, she no longer spoke softly and gently.

Jiang Bin was about to say something more when someone beside him suddenly tugged at his sleeve, quietly reminding him, “Jiang Bin, stop talking. The heir apparent is ultimately Minister Li’s nephew. If you keep going, won’t that be the same as slapping Minister Li in the face?”

Ah! He had been so focused on suppressing Li Shiyan’s faction that he had completely overlooked this matter concerning Minister Li. He quickly shut his mouth and carefully glanced at Minister Li sitting in the seat of honor, afraid that his earlier words might have displeased Minister Li and brought himself trouble later.

He saw that Minister Li, sitting in the seat of honor, looked extremely displeased after hearing those people’s words. Today was his sixtieth birthday, and it had turned out like this. Moreover, the person now implicated in this murder case was his own nephew. If what Jiang Bin said was true, his nephew was indeed currently the prime suspect.

He stroked his beard, his brows tightly furrowed, and let out a heavy sigh.

After listening to everyone’s words, Chief Justice Huang analyzed what they had said one by one. He also began to ponder in his heart. Then his gaze swept over the crowd as he said, “Right now, nothing has been verified and confirmed. Everyone should not speculate wildly. Since the Court of Judicial Review has taken over this case, we will naturally investigate until the truth comes to light. We won’t let the murderer go unpunished.”

The crowd fell silent.

Chief Justice Huang asked again, “Who was the last person to see Wang Huai and Heir Apparent Li last night?”

Jiang Bin pointed to several young masters beside him and said, “Last night, several of us returned to the courtyard together with Wang Huai. After greeting each other in the courtyard, we each went back to our rooms to rest. No one saw him again after that.”

“Did anyone hear any disturbance during the night?”

“No, everyone had been drinking and went to sleep early.”

Then, several servants stepped forward. One of them said, “Last night at the banquet, the heir apparent got drunk. We were the ones who escorted him back to his room. The heir apparent had drunk quite a lot at the time and vomited for quite a while. Afterward, he scolded us a few times and then told us to leave.”

Hmm?

Chief Justice Huang asked, “Scolded? Why did he scold you?”

The several servants looked at each other.

It seemed they had something awkward to say.

Chief Justice Huang’s eyes sharpened. He walked up to them, his gaze stern as he said, “If there’s any concealment, this official will absolutely not show leniency.”

One servant gave a shudder and quickly told the truth, “After we helped the heir apparent back to his room last night, because the heir apparent had been angered by Young Master Wang at the banquet, he kept wanting to go find Young Master Wang to have it out with him. But we kept blocking him and wouldn’t let him go, so… the heir apparent angrily scolded us a few times and then told us to leave. As for whether the heir apparent went out again after that… this servant doesn’t know.”

“Was there anything unusual that night?”

“No, nothing.”

Chief Justice Huang then asked everyone again, “Did anyone see the heir apparent after that?”

The crowd was silent as the grave.

At this moment, a voice spoke up, “Last night… I saw the heir apparent.”

Hmm?

Everyone turned to look in the direction of the voice and saw a handsome young man walk out from behind Wen Che. His black-and-white eyes turned, showing some measure of caution and hesitation.

Who was this person?

Everyone widened their eyes to look at him. This person didn’t seem like a servant from the estate, but he also didn’t seem like some young master from a noble family!

Luoyang noticed countless pairs of eyes staring at him. His steps halted, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to do.

Shu Tian was surprised and secretly grabbed his wrist, lowering his voice to demand, “What are you doing?”

He turned his head and responded softly, “I’m not doing anything! I really did see him.”

“Stop making trouble!”

“I, Luoyang, am not someone who makes trouble. If I saw it, I saw it. I originally didn’t want to say anything—didn’t want to invite trouble on myself. But given the current situation, I have no choice but to speak up.” He hadn’t wanted to get involved in this case at all, but since a life was at stake, how could he not step forward and clarify things?

Wen Che turned his head and gave him a cold sideways glance, but ultimately said nothing.

At this moment, Chief Justice Huang had already walked up to Luoyang and asked, “Speak. Did you truly see the heir apparent?”

Luoyang raised his head and said emphatically, “Last night around the hour of the Rat, I definitely saw the heir apparent.”

“Where?”

“Right by an artificial rock formation in the back courtyard of the west wing. He came out from behind the rocks and nearly collided with me. I saw he reeked of alcohol and was acting flustered and panicked. Most importantly, I noticed blood on his hands and clothes. I was about to ask him about it when he hurriedly rushed off.”

As these words came out, the crowd erupted in an uproar!

Everyone began discussing in low voices.

Chief Justice Huang confirmed again, “Are you certain it was the hour of the Rat? And are you certain the person you ran into was the heir apparent?”

Luoyang, asked to the point of impatience, waved his hand, “Anyway, believe it or don’t believe it as you wish. Every word I’ve said is the truth. Otherwise, may I, Luoyang, be struck by five thunderbolts from heaven!”

“Very well.” Chief Justice Huang immediately ordered his men, “Come, go look around the artificial rocks in the west wing.”

“Yes!”

The elite officers from the Court of Judicial Review received their orders and went to investigate behind the rock formation.

At this moment, Wen Yu leaned toward Wen Che, worried, “This Luoyang really knows how to cause trouble. Li Shiyan is Minister Li’s nephew. By coming out now and spouting such nonsense, isn’t he essentially making an enemy of Minister Li? We’ll be implicated along with him.”

Indeed, that was the logic.

Making an enemy of Minister Li—not worth it!

But—when Wen Che looked across at Su Ziluo, he had a different thought in his mind. After remaining silent for a while, he said to Wen Yu, “The Su family and the Marquis’s manor have always had an excellent relationship. Li Shiyan is about to marry Minister Zhu’s daughter, which would strengthen Marquis Kangding’s power and indirectly assist the Su family as well. So… if Li Shiyan truly killed someone, Marquis Kangding’s position would inevitably be shaken. Wouldn’t that also indirectly suppress the Su family’s influence? Moreover, Wang Huai is the nephew of the Minister of Works. By having Luoyang come out and say these things, the Minister of Works will also feel an additional measure of gratitude toward our Wen family in the future.”