Niuer sneaked into the front building from the back yard yard and knocked out three guards who were patrolling at night. In addition to Lu Hong and the other two who were arranged by Xue Rui to hide, there were four people sleeping in the room downstairs. After being awakened by the fighting sound upstairs, they ran up one after another.
It just so happened that Lu Hong and the others had been sent out by Yu Shu, and they met Yu Shu and Xue Rui in the corridor. Then, Lu Hong and the others were delegated tasks. Those who boiled water went to boil water, those who fetched medicine went to fetch medicine, those who asked for a physician went to fetch a physician, and then they carried their unconscious companions back to their rooms. For a time, no one disturbed Yu Shu and Xue Rui.
.....
Lu Hong came back with the medicine. The door of Yu Shu's room was kicked by him. At that time, the murderer sneaked in, and he did not dare to act rashly. Until he heard the fighting sound in the room, he hurriedly rushed in.
However, they were still a step too late. When they entered, Xue Rui's sword just happened to pierce through the murderer. Lu Hong only managed to kick the man in black to the ground. The two companions behind him didn't even have a chance to show off their skills.
"Your Excellency, it's not easy to find a doctor in the middle of the night. Let me clean your wound and stop the bleeding with medicine first."
When Xue Rui heard the sound of footsteps, he stopped the topic of conversation with Yu Shu. Before Lu Hong walked into the inner room, the two of them had already consciously let go of the hand that was holding each other's hand, and the affection between their brows was concealed, causing others to be unable to see anything unusual.
"Let me do it." Yu Shu reached out and asked for the bottle in Lu Hong's hand. She was in danger on the way from Yiyang to the capital. She was very skilled in bandaging and decocting medicine. In addition, He Fangzhi, the doctor, was her godfather. It was easy to treat the wound for Xue Rui.
"Is there hot water?" Yu Shu asked as she carefully rolled up Xue Rui's sleeves.
"Yes, someone will bring it up later." When Lu Hong saw Yu Shu's action, he was relieved. He stood aside, brought over the lighted candlestick, and helped her.
Xue Rui's arm was slashed by the murderer's hatchet-like weapon. It extended from three inches above his elbow all the way below his elbow, and the injury was at his joints. Fortunately, his tendons and bones weren't cut. It was just that the wound on his flesh was red, and it looked terrifying.
Xue Rui saw Yu Shu cleaning and dressing him with a straight face. He did not dare to say it was painful. After she bandaged it, his forehead was covered with cold sweat.
Yu Shu looked up at him and said nothing. She washed her hands in the basin of water in the basin. She washed his face with a handkerchief and said, "Xue Rui, how to deal with this murderer?
"Wait until we find a doctor. I think you'll need a few stitches on your wound." She frowned as she finished speaking. Her gaze fell on the corpse on the ground and she said, "How should we deal with this murderer? He's dead, and we can't get anything out of him. We don't even know who ordered him to do this. "
"Drag him away and search him." Xue Rui ordered Lu Hong. "Search his room, the cellar where he hid his head, and the rice and firewood he bought during the day. Maybe we'll find something."
Lu Hong answered and called his companions outside to carry Niu Er's body out.
Now that there were no outsiders in the room, Yu Shu finally whispered to Xue Rui in a small voice: "I know it was Ning Wang who did it, but I can't identify him. It is so frustrating."
Although Da An valued the Dao of Change, they had never used divination as evidence. After all, it was hard to tell the truth from the lies. Even if they spoke, it would only be a one-sided story.
When it came to solving a case, it was important to have concrete evidence.
"If Ning Wang knows that Niu Er is dead, he must be more aggrieved than you!" Xue Rui was actually in the mood to joke with her at this moment.
Yu Shu thought about how Liu Hao's plan had failed and how he had wasted his efforts. Her expression became better.
As the two were talking, someone ran in from outside the door. It was Lu Hong, who had returned.
"Daren! We found a secret letter on Niu Er's body. Please take a look. "
It was no wonder Lu Hong was so shocked. After all, the death of an imperial envoy was a big case. If they did not investigate it clearly, they would be punished for not doing their job well.
On the contrary, if Xue Rui successfully solved this case, he, as the small commander of the guards, might be promoted to an official position.
This sealed letter had been opened, but it was obvious that Lu Hong did not have time to read it before it was delivered to Xue Rui.
Yu Shu's heart jumped. Not good. The letter found on the murderer's body was most likely related to Liu Yi!
Damn it. She was so focused on finding out what Xue Rui had hidden from her that she forgot to search the murderer's body when no one was around.
She looked at Xue Rui in annoyance. He took out the so-called secret letter and read it. In the next moment, his expression changed slightly.
"How is it? Did you find anything?" Lu Hong asked anxiously.
Xue Rui hesitated. "… According to this letter, the one who ordered the murderer to kill Censor Zhou was the Eleventh Prince."
Yu Shu's face darkened.
Lu Hong was shocked.
Xue Rui passed over the secret letter to them, and both of them read it successively. Sure enough, even though the letter was obscure, it still inadvertently mentioned the Eleventh Prince, and there was even a scarlet red mark at the place where the letter was signed. It was written in an ancient style, and they could discern that it was the character 'Yu'.
"If I remember correctly, the Eleventh Prince's character is' Yu '." Xue Rui said.
When Yu Shu heard him say it so clearly, she felt strange. Then, someone ran in from outside.
"Your Excellency, Your Excellency, please take a look. This was found in the fire under the kitchen stove. The murderer, Niu Er, wanted to destroy it but left it."
Yu Shu raised her head to take a look and saw a guard holding a piece of black wood in his hand, handing it over to Xue Rui. She moved closer and saw clearly that it was a blackened plate that was only the size of two fingers. One side was burnt off, but the other side was still there. However, there were no words on it, only a few strange lines were carved on it. It looked like waves and clouds at the same time.
Her heart skipped a beat. She couldn't help but curse: This treacherous Prince Ning. How many things did he prepare to frame that fool Liu Yi?
However, Xue Rui examined the burnt command token in his hand over and over again as his slanted brows gradually knit together, and then he passed the command token to Lu Hong.
"Take a look."
Lu Hong looked carefully and shook his head. "Your subordinate's eyes are poor. I can't tell where this token is from. Does Your Excellency not recognize it?"
"No, I've seen this token before."
Lu Hong's eyes lit up. He hurriedly asked, "Then what is this?"
Xue Rui's face was expressionless as he replied, "In my Da 'an Empire, whenever a prince leaves the palace to build his own residence, His Majesty will allow him to raise a private army of no more than fifty people. Although they are registered and reported to the Ministry of War, they only listen to their master's orders. This private army is equivalent to a suicide squad. Every one of them has a mark, and some of them don't even know each other until the day they die. They only have a waist tag to prove their identity, and they will leave their bodies until the day they die. The one in your hand should be the waist tag of a suicide squad from a prince's residence.
Yu Shu was stunned. Liu Yi was not old enough to leave the palace. How could he have a private army? Then where did this suicide soldier token come from?
Lu Hong also thought of this question. His expression suddenly became strange.
The criminal who killed Zhou Qing had walked right into the trap. What's worse was that he was dead. What's worse was that they found two pieces of evidence that pointed to the two princes!
Lu Hong didn't dare ask Xue Rui which Prince's Estate the burnt token in his hand belonged to. At this moment, he'd finally realized that no matter if he was able to investigate this case or not, he wouldn't be able to reap any benefits.
"All of you, go out and search again. See if there is anything else missing. Take care of Niu Er's body and Lord Zhou's head. We will return to the capital tomorrow morning to report to His Majesty."
As soon as Xue Rui finished speaking, Lu Hong and the others tactfully left. They did not look good. It seemed that they were destined to have a sleepless night.
As soon as they left, Yu Shu stood up and closed the room door before retreating to the side of the bed, and then she stared fixedly at Xue Rui as she asked in a low voice. "What exactly is going on? It's fine if it's a secret letter on the prisoner, but why is there another token on his waist?"
After following Xue Rui for the past two days, she always felt that her brain was not enough.
Xue Rui turned to look at her. "Didn't I promise you that I would not let Prince Ning go so easily?"
Hearing this, Yu Shu was surprised and delighted. She sat down beside him and said, "I knew it was you who did it. I knew it. How could I forget to search the killer's body? You should not have forgotten. What kind of ambush did you set up? How could they find the evidence of the eleventh prince's crime?"
Xue Rui raised his eyebrows. "What is the relationship between the eleventh prince and us? We don't need to cover for him."
It sounded straightforward, but Yu Shu did not forget the main topic. "Isn't this the trap that Prince Ning dug for you? How can you not fill it in?"
Xue Rui asked her in return, "Who do you think placed the waist tag that was found in the kitchen there?"
Yu Shu was silent for a moment and stared at him again. "… Where did you get the token of the Men of Sacrifice of Prince Ning's Mansion?"
The token was placed by Xue Rui and couldn't run away, so it must be the real thing. But how could such a crucial thing fall into the hands of Xue Rui?
"It's a long story. I'll tell you about it in the future." Xue Rui could not move his left hand, so he reached out his right hand and held her hand across half of his body. He pulled her hand over and placed it on his knee. His wound was burning with pain, so he pinched her little hand to ease the pain.
The token of Prince Ning's Mansion was brought here by Hōtoku last night. After confirming that Niuer wanted to kill Yu Shu, he privately asked Hōtoku to burn one side of the token and put it under the kitchen stove in the mess at night, so as to create the illusion that Niuer, the cook who cooked tonight, destroyed the evidence.
"As for the secret letter I left on the murderer, it was for —"
"Wait, don't say it first." Yu Shu raised her hand to interrupt Xue Rui. She rubbed her forehead and said, "Let me think about it first."
She couldn't always rely on his cleverness and not use her brain. This habit was not good.
Xue Rui laughed. "Well, let me think about it."
Yu Shu did not hesitate for long before an idea struck her. She snapped her fingers and blurted out, "You're doing this so that Prince Ning and Liu Yi will fight each other!"
That's right, by leaving behind a secret letter that pointed to Liu Yi and creating a waist token that pointed to Liu Hao, the number of suspects in the assassination of the imperial envoy had increased from one to two. Prince Ning knew who the real culprit was, but Liu Yi did not!
Liu Yi was wrongly accused. If the dirty water was only poured on him, it would definitely be following Prince Ning's plan and causing Consort Lu's faction to hate Xue Rui. However, now that Prince Ning had also been pushed out, even if Liu Yi was a fool, he had no choice but to suspect his good brother.
Between the two of them, one of them must take the blame. What kind of crime was the assassination of the imperial envoy? At this juncture, the brotherly love and brotherly respect were nonsense.
Xue Rui said that a tooth for a tooth. It turned out that this was the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Awesome!
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
