Don't ask where people go

Chapter 431
The three-day period came soon, and Fang Zilan, who came to ask for an explanation from the Ministry of Criminal Justice, felt extremely flustered, but his face was still calm.

Zou Hongqi, Shangshu of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, greeted him with a smile on his face, "Master Fang, about the murder of Master Wu..."

"Master Zou, I just came from Jingzhao Yin's Mansion, and I heard that Mr. Fu Yin said that your Ministry of Punishment is making great progress." Fang Zilan smiled and said: "Don't let me down."

Zou Hongqi's smile froze on his face, "This...Did Mr. Fang hear it wrong?"

"Did you hear wrong?" Fang Zilan repeated it, raised her eyebrows and said, "In this case, please ask Mr. Zou to invite the governor of Jingzhao Mansion to come and listen to it face to face?"

Zou Hongqi took a breath, "I made a slip of the tongue, but there are many doubts about Mr. Wu's murder, and the three days are really short..."

"Master Zou, don't be nervous. I just want to ask one thing clearly." Fang Zilan collected her expression and said in a solemn voice, "Why did Master Wu leave the Ministry of Punishment on the [-]th day?"

Zou Hongqi looked distressed, "There is a little clue about this matter, but..." He hesitated for a moment, and then said: "After the incident, I found some ashes of paper scraps on Mr. Wu's case, and there was only one word on it. It was well preserved. I ordered people to compare the handwriting, and no one in the Ministry of Punishment matched it."

Fang Zilan said calmly: "Master Zou, can I have a look at that word?"

Zou Hongqi hurriedly asked someone to present the only remaining evidence, "It seems that someone wrote to invite Mr. Wu, but he didn't want it to be known, so he asked Mr. Wu to read it and burn it."

"Master Wu is usually cautious. If the letter told him to burn it after reading it, why did he leave this fragment?" Fang Zilan looked at the words in front of him carefully, with a gloomy expression.

"It's a coincidence that Mr. Gu, who was revising the law with Mr. Wu that day, didn't see anyone when he went to him, so he simply searched for him." Zou Hongqi explained: "Mr. The teacup on the table was turned over, and this fragment was preserved."

Fang Zilan's gaze swept over the edge of the fragment, and as expected, there were light yellow tea stains.She pursed her lips and said: "Who sent letters to Mr. Wu on the twenty-eighth day, have you checked it?"

"I have checked." Zou Hongqi replied: "The documents sent to the Ministry of Punishment have always been handled by special personnel. Even on the twenty-eighth day, no one else handled it. I also ordered the person in charge to review it. It is consistent with usual. There is nothing unusual, presumably the murderer used a method in advance and mixed the letter with the documents."

Fang Zilan said casually: "The murderer must be very familiar with the government's procedures to be able to mix the letter into the documents of the Ministry of Punishment."

Zou Hongqi raised his hand and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, "I've thought about this too. You need to be careful and familiar with the government, and kill people quickly so that you can escape in public..." He paused, and then said: "If there is only one murderer , I’m afraid it doesn’t make sense.”

Fang Zilan didn't ask any more questions, just said something like "Master Zou worked hard, remember to tell her the result of the investigation", and then left.

Zou Hongqi looked at her back and frowned involuntarily.Qian Qian breathed a sigh of relief, and said puzzledly, "My lord, Mr. Fang has already left, you..."

"Qian Qian, do you feel that Master Fang is not here to ask for an explanation, but more like to confirm something?" Zou Hongqi interrupted Qian Qian, and he wondered: "Confirm what? Could it be that Master Fang already knew the murderer?" Who is it?"

A look of doubt flashed in Zou Hongqi's eyes, and Qian Qian's eyes widened as if he suddenly thought of something, "My lord, don't you suspect Mr. Fang..."

"What nonsense!" Zou Hongqi's voice was a little more angry, but he deliberately lowered it a little bit, "If it's Master Fang, would it take so much trouble? Those powerful adults above us, kill the people below It's as easy as killing an ant, why do you do such a thing that gets you angry?"

Qian Qian was so trained that he lowered his head, but he still couldn't help asking: "Then what do you mean, my lord?"

"Intuition." Zou Hongqi closed his face, and said in a low voice, somewhat distracted: "After handling cases for so many years, I always have an intuition."

Qian Qian's face was full of disbelief, and Zou Hongqi glanced at him resentfully, "You've been with me for all these years, why haven't you made any progress?"

"My lord, I feel that this matter is too mysterious..." Qian Qian fell silent when he met Zou Hongqi's gaze.

The intuition of others may be mysterious, but their intuition of the Minister of the Ministry of Justice has never made a mistake, just like the gougou clouds before the rain, the low-flying swallows, and the noisy frogs, like omens.

"It's going to rain." Zou Hongqi's voice came faintly, pulling back Qian Qian's thoughts. He muttered, "Summer is almost over, why is it still raining?"

"One autumn rain and one cold." Zou Hongqi's sigh made Qian Qian a little confused, "My lord, it's not autumn yet."

"Just wait and see." Zou Hongqi seemed to be talking to himself: "This autumn in Beijing may be three points colder than in previous years."

Fang Zilan doesn't know whether this year's autumn is cooler than previous years, but she already feels that this year's summer is very difficult.Wu Sheng died, and Yang Zhiqing might not be able to stay.

After seeing the fragment, she went back to the government office, compared the handwriting of the people repeatedly, and found the same word as she remembered.

After reading it, she slowly closed her eyes.It's rare that Ji Ningtian didn't lie to her, but she didn't want to face the truth.

The characters on the fragment were not Yang Zhiqing's original characters, but the characters he imitated from another official in the mansion.It's just that the small official's characters are domineering, and there are obvious traces of ink smudges at the end of each word. Although the imitation characters also have traces of ink smudges, they are obviously dotted on purpose. After overlapping with the characters, the ink color is darker, which is not natural enough.

A counterfeit word is not enough to identify Yang Zhiqing, he has been on vacation for the past two days, so you might as well give him a try.

Fang Zilan made up her mind and sneaked into Yang Zhiqing's house quietly.However, before she could test her, she saw Yang Zhiqing kneeling in the ancestral hall, muttering, "Brother Wu, I just want to survive, don't blame me!"

The first sentence is very imposing, but the latter sentence is trembling, "Brother Wu, please, don't come to me again. I will worship at regular times in the future, so please let me go..."

Seeing this, Fang Zilan took a deep breath, knocked on the door, walked straight behind Yang Zhiqing, and said in a deep voice, "It really is you."

Hearing the noise, Yang Zhiqing turned his head to see who was coming, and sat down on the ground in fright, "Master Fang, you...why are you here?"

Fang Zilan looked at the tablet he worshiped, and it was Wu Sheng's name engraved on it, so she asked instead: "Don't do bad things, and don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. What kind of bad things did Master Yang do to be so afraid of Wu Sheng?" The adults came to look for you?"

"I...I didn't..." Yang Zhiqing shook his head violently to deny it, but Fang Zilan said word by word: "Master Wu didn't burn the letter you copied. People from the Ministry of Punishment are comparing the handwriting and will check it soon." it's your turn."

　Whether it was a coincidence or an ulterior motive, the truth was finally brought out

　　
　
(End of this chapter)