Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang's deduction pieced together the testimonies of the ladies, maids, and guards they had interrogated recently. The timeline and the murderer's motive and logic aligned perfectly. Xiao Lou subjectively believed that their reasoning was very close to the truth. However, no matter how they speculated, it was all just theoretical speculation—they had no concrete evidence!
To convict someone, you can't rely solely on speculation; evidence is key.
There are no witnesses in this case. No one in the backyard saw the young lady with anyone when she died; when Lin Shaobo died, it was already dark, and no one saw who strangled him.
Physical evidence was even harder to find. The poison used to kill the young lady had already been swallowed and digested. In ancient times, there were no professional instruments to extract drugs from the blood of the deceased, nor could fingerprints be extracted from the white silk...
Therefore, even if Yu Hanjiang deduced that the murderer was very likely the mysterious eldest son of the Prince's mansion, he could not convince the Prince or His Majesty that Qi Fenghua was the murderer. He couldn't very well say, "This is just my guess," or he would make a fool of himself.
We must find compelling evidence.
Yu Hanjiang frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "First, we need evidence of the timeline. Qi Fenghua should have been on the front lines fighting between Qi State and Yan State. His sudden appearance in Jiangzhou is unreasonable. Isn't Xiao Yu going to Yan State? Why don't we send him a message by carrier pigeon to confirm whether Qi Fenghua is in the military camp? Once we confirm that he has left the military camp, the timeline will make sense."
Xiao Lou turned to look at the map of the four countries hanging on the wall, and asked thoughtfully, "How long does it take to get from Jiangzhou to the front line?"
Yu Hanjiang roughly measured the distance on the map with his thumb and forefinger and said, "It took us a day and a night to get from the capital to Jiangzhou. The journey from Jiangzhou to the front line is five times longer than that to the capital. Even by fast horse, it would take five days and five nights."
To facilitate solving the case, the four countries in this Hearts world are relatively small, so the travel time is not too long. Otherwise, if it were set up according to a dynasty with a vast territory like the Tang Dynasty, it would take several months just to travel from the capital to the border.
Remembering that the young lady had been dead for less than five days, Xiao Lou turned to Yu Hanjiang and said, "Five days and five nights is a journey that even if Qi Fenghua killed someone to cover his tracks and immediately returned to the front lines, it wouldn't be enough time. So, he's very likely still in Jiangzhou?"
Yu Hanjiang thought so too. He frowned slightly, crossed his arms, and said, " Qi Fenghua risked his life to rush back to Jiangzhou. He must have something important to deal with and won't leave so soon. He disguised himself as a guard to enter the Prince's mansion. What exactly is he trying to do? We need to find out the truth of this matter before we can understand his real motives."
Xiao Lou nodded: "I'll write a letter to my brother. Xiao Yu should still have some clues about Qi Fenghua."
The carrier pigeons kept at Tianxiang Tower could also be used to send messages to Xiao Yu. Xiao Yu communicated with Aunt Qing through Tianxiang Tower's carrier pigeons while in Jiangzhou. However, Xiao Yu had the faster Li Qingzhao.
Li Qingzhao's second skill, "Who Sends a Letter from the Clouds," can lock onto a target and send a message without being intercepted. It is also several times faster than a regular carrier pigeon. In the letter, he carefully explained the reason and asked his younger brother to find a way to sneak into the military camp when he passed by the front line to check on Qi Fenghua's situation. Once he found out, he should immediately send the letter back by this pigeon.
Yu Hanjiang then interrogated the group of assassins overnight.
As the owner of Tianxiang Tower and the leader of the Jiangzhou intelligence organization, Aunt Qing naturally knew a great deal. However, this middle-aged woman was strong-willed and tenacious, making it virtually impossible to pry her open up and get her to confess honestly.
Yu Hanjiang had no choice but to resort to psychological tactics, carefully observing her expression before asking directly, "Do you know His Highness the Crown Prince of Yan State?"
A hint of surprise flashed in Aunt Qing's eyes, and she immediately denied it: "I don't know her."
Yu Hanjiang looked at her coldly: "Do you know the eldest young master of the Prince's Mansion— Qi Fenghua?"
Aunt Qing said expressionlessly, "I don't know her."
Yu Hanjiang said, "Sending Snow Goose to the Prince's Palace to assassinate someone was the idea of the Crown Prince of Yan State, wasn't it? You want to take this opportunity to stir up trouble in Jiangzhou, assassinate the Prince or the Princess, and ruin the marriage alliance between Qi State and Zhao State, right?"
Aunt Qing answered "I don't know" to all the following questions.
After questioning her for half an hour without any results, Yu Hanjiang had no choice but to release her and call Snow Goose over.
Snow Goose also gritted her teeth and remained silent, but there were already two witnesses, Qin Rui and Xiao Yu, who testified about the assassin's attempt to kill the prince at the palace that day. Whether she confessed or not would not affect Yu Hanjiang's judgment of the case.
After interrogating the newly captured assassin, Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou and said in a low voice, " Aunt Qing is indeed a subordinate of the Crown Prince of Yan State. When the Crown Prince's name was mentioned, her eyes flickered, her body stiffened, and a layer of cold sweat appeared on her forehead. This is a typical reaction when a criminal's secrets are exposed." Yu Hanjiang thoughtfully stroked his chin and said, "But when Qi Fenghua's name was mentioned, she looked blank. She probably really doesn't know him."
Xiao Lou naturally didn't question Yu Hanjiang's judgment and analyzed seriously: " If Aunt Qing doesn't know Qi Fenghua, it means that Qi Fenghua and the Crown Prince of Yan State might not be on the same side? His purpose in returning to Jiangzhou has nothing to do with this assassin group... So why did he suddenly return to Jiangzhou?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "Perhaps it's related to the rebellious forces within Qi State that we've been investigating?"
Xiao Lou nodded in agreement: "That's the only explanation."
If that's the case, then it's not surprising that Qi Fenghua ruthlessly killed his own sister. After all, in ancient times, many emperors ascended the throne over mountains of corpses and seas of blood. As long as they ultimately succeeded, what's a few relatives killed along the way?
What? Are fratricide and father-son conflict considered rare? What about a sister who chants Buddhist prayers every day and offers him no help whatsoever?
Recalling the scene of Qi Yiyao being poisoned to death by her own brother, Xiao Lou felt a chill run down his spine.
He took a deep breath to calm himself down and said, " Qi Fenghua has been on the front lines for so many years. There's no reason for him to suddenly rebel. There must be some kind of opportunity behind this. He can't accomplish anything great on his own. There must be some rebellious forces behind him. We need to find someone who knows about the war on the front lines to investigate his past in detail."
After thinking it over carefully, Yu Hanjiang said, "I'm afraid we should ask your brother about this. He's the only one who has returned from the front lines right now."
Xiao Lou nodded and immediately sent out the message by carrier pigeon to her younger brother.
*
It was nearly 1 a.m., and Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou were still awake, and their teammates were too embarrassed to go to sleep.
During this time, Shao Qingge settled Ye Qi and Liu Qiao in a nearby inn. After Yu Hanjiang finished interrogating the assassin, Shao Qingge secretly led them in through the back gate of the prefectural government office to check on the progress of the case.
Xiao Lou shared their deductions with everyone—the murderer was most likely the eldest son.
Ye Qi's eyes widened: "I felt like something had been overlooked, and it turns out it's this young master from the royal mansion!"
Shao Qingge rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on: "I'm really not suited for the heart room. What was the young master's name again? I don't even remember."
"His name is Qi Fenghua." Old Mo remembered the name very clearly. He frowned and said, "I didn't expect it to be him... The introduction said he was on the front line. I thought he was a general who was focused on fighting on the front line and had little to do with this case."
Liu Qiao concluded, "It seems that this young master, who has the lowest profile, has actually been in Jiangzhou all along. On the day of the Prince's birthday banquet, he hid in the backyard for more than two hours. If any of us had passed by the backyard and encountered him, he might have killed us to silence us."
Hearing this, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.
The boss has always been by our side; it's just that no one expected it or noticed it.
Xiao Lou said, "Our reasoning has hit a bottleneck— what exactly does Qi Fenghua want to do by suddenly returning to Jiangzhou? He doesn't seem to have any connection with the assassin group in Yan State. Aunt Qing doesn't know him, and my brother hasn't mentioned him either. This means that he has nothing to do with the assassination of the prefect and the prince, and killing my sister must have been a coincidence."
Ye Qi reached out, scratching his head as he pondered carefully.
Shao Qingge laughed at him from the side: " Miss Ye, you're pretending to be a lady now, don't mess up your hair."
Ye Qi blushed, immediately withdrew her claws, and quickly straightened her long hair.
Suddenly, Ye Qi's eyes lit up: "Right, I remember the Zhao State delegation also happened to come to Jiangzhou? They haven't been involved at all! Could it be that the return of the eldest young master of the royal family is related to this delegation?"
Upon hearing this, everyone was taken aback.
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou exchanged a glance, and suddenly everything became clear to them.
Ye Qi is actually quite clever. No wonder he got an S in the low-level heart room rating. Xiao Lou praised him in his heart and looked at him appreciatively, saying, "Xiao Ye is right. The Zhao State delegation should also have a role to play."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Since the assassins from Yan State don't know the young master, it's possible that the young master really has nothing to do with Yan State, but rather with Zhao State. Perhaps our initial reasoning was correct in its overall direction, but we just targeted the wrong person."
What does it mean to have the right approach but the wrong target?! Shao Qingge didn't quite understand, so he simply decided to give up thinking, sit patiently to the side while fanning himself, and continue to sit up and sit back with a smile, ready to win.
Old Mo thought carefully about his initial line of reasoning and said, "Are you referring to your initial theory that 'the Prince and Zhao State joined forces to usurp the throne'?"
Liu Qiao also recalled this matter and said, "At that time, Lord Yu speculated that the Second Miss of the Prince's Mansion and the Second Prince of Zhao State were engaged. If the Prince's Mansion and the Second Prince of Zhao State formed an alliance, the Second Prince would help the Prince usurp the throne, and the Prince would then help the Second Prince ascend to the throne. The two sides would then be mutually beneficial allies."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou initially made this conjecture.
The timing of the Zhao State delegation's arrival was somewhat coincidental. Moreover, they did indeed enter the Prince's residence on his birthday. If the eldest daughter happened to overhear the Prince and the delegation's secret plot, the Prince's motive and logical chain for killing his daughter to silence her would be quite complete.
However, after careful observation and reasoning, it was discovered that the prince was not a traitor—he was on the same side as His Majesty. When the late emperor was alive, he personally suggested passing the throne to the grandson of the emperor. He also assisted in suppressing the rebellion the year the crown prince ascended the throne. There was no reason for him to rebel now.
Yu Hanjiang concluded, "Now it seems that the Prince is innocent. On the contrary, the eldest son of the Prince's mansion may have some kind of collusion with Zhao State. So our initial line of reasoning was correct, but we got the wrong person—the one who wanted to collude with Zhao State to rebel was not the Eighth Prince, but the Eighth Prince's eldest son— Qi Fenghua."
The teammates' expressions were complicated when they heard this.
The a-grade secret room is making everyone dizzy. The relationships between the people in the Prince's Mansion alone are enough to give you a headache, and then there are the two foreign powers, Yan State and Zhao State, involved. It's a complete mess.
Yan State's assassin group sent a Show Girl to assassinate the emperor. Qi Fenghua wants to join forces with Zhao State to usurp the throne. If Yu Hanjiang and his group cannot solve the case in time, the emperor on the dragon throne in the capital might be killed in a few days!
Whether His Majesty dies at the hands of an enemy assassin or a traitor within his own country, the Great Qi State will descend into chaos upon the emperor's death, and they will naturally fail to pass the test and be eliminated. It's truly a thrilling thought.
Fortunately, the assassin storyline has now been successfully solved— the intelligence group under the command of His Highness the Crown Prince of Yan State.
The assassins plotted to disrupt Qi State, attempting to assassinate the prefect, princes, princesses, and even the emperor. Except for Xiao Yu, all the other assassins were captured. Yu Hanjiang also sent a message to His Majesty, thus temporarily concluding this storyline.
The plot to rebel was likely orchestrated by the eldest son in collusion with Zhao State.
By analyzing the two lines separately, the whole case finally became clear!
Yu Hanjiang said, "We still need evidence. The Zhao State delegation shouldn't have left yet, right?"
Mo Xuemin immediately nodded and said, "They didn't leave. I saw them when I passed by today. They are all staying at the post station in Jiangzhou and have been received by people arranged by the Prince's Mansion."
Yu Hanjiang looked at Liu Qiao and Ye Qi and said, "Xiao Liu, Xiao Ye, you both have fast movement cards. You are responsible for keeping an eye on this delegation. If they make any unusual moves, report it immediately."
Liu Qiao and Ye Qi nodded simultaneously: "Understood."
******