Turned Himself In

As the four members of the investigation team discussed things further and sorted out their clues, the case slowly became clearer and clearer, and they had decided what to do next too.

That was a good thing.

If everything went well, they might be able to crack this case soon.

But hidden behind the case was always this one thing. It wasn’t just this case. The previous cases before this too.

What happened 18 years ago.

What in the world really happened 18 years ago? Besides getting rid of the bandits in Beiqing Mountain, who else made use of that event to do something else? And what did they do?

The team did not brush past this matter. They analyzed every connection and clue both from this case and past cases. They ended up making a rather bold conjecture.

This national traitor definitely existed. How else could they explain this spate of murder cases? The box with secret drawers and its design were definitely real, and the gold that disappeared silently along the salt shipping routes were also real.

There was definitely someone in the palace with great power and ambition, with the intention of betraying the country. And there had to be a reason why this person wanted to betray the country. What would have made this person turn against the country they were living in? What could make them hate the country so much? Something must have happened to this person.

And the starting point of all these things seemed to be 18 years ago…

They had reason to believe that something major happened at that point in time. The treasonous acts had not begun yet, but something led to it back then?

Perhaps this traitor had been doing something that they didn’t want others to know, or they had made a mistake and couldn’t reverse it, so things slowly ended up in this state.

The emperor probably didn’t know anything back then and only realized it many years later, so he began a major investigation into it. But because he had no idea who they were dealing with, even the Eagle Guards got killed in the process.

The unfortunate part was that all of them had too few clues. Even though they had this bold conjecture in hand, they couldn’t prove anything…

But they couldn’t wait any longer to crack this murder case.

Since they had a direction to work with, Zhao Zhi immediately led his men out.

After Zhao Zhong died, he made sure that the remaining suspects were watched round the clock. That way, the killer would not be able to kill anybody else. But at the same time, because the killer couldn’t do anything, they couldn’t get any further clues.

And now, they could focus their efforts on Linglong.

They would start looking into her past, find out which aspects were true about her and which were false, gather statements… If the killer was really her, she would not be able to get away after so much evidence of all degrees was gathered about her. She would have to confess to her crimes.

But to their surprise, before they could do anything about Linglong, Jiang Shaoyuan admitted to the murders!

He turned himself in at the courthouse and claimed that he had committed all the murders. He was able to tell the authorities the time, place, victims’ names, which poisons he used, how he tied them up and so on… He was so detailed, it was difficult to think he was lying.

Zhao Zhi and his team immediately ran to the courthouse.

Qi Yan had question marks written all over his face. “What’s going on? Didn’t we conclude the killer was Linglong? Why is it Jiang Shaoyuan now? And he turned himself in too! Could it be that we had overthought everything? The killer was just doing all this to protect Linglong?”

Wen Yuansi had a grim look in his eyes. “Calm down. Let’s find out what’s going on first.”

He did not think their prior discussion was wrong. But Jiang Shaoyuan’s behavior was very strange.

Even if he was trying to take the rap for Linglong, he couldn’t possibly be so sure of all the details, unless he was an accomplice. But there was no sign that this killer had an accomplice…

He looked at Song Caitang.

Song Caitang thought the same way. “I don’t think we were wrong.”

But she had not expected Jiang Shaoyuan to do this either.

There was no doubt that this man truly had feelings toward Linglong. But would he really be willing to go this far for her?

Zhao Zhi snorted and marched up to Jiang Shaoyuan. “What poison did you use in the Madam Wang case?”

“Quicksilver!” Jiang Shaoyuan spoke loudly and clearly, and stood up straight and confidently, as though he was in the right.

“Where did you get it from?”

“I bought it!”

“Where did you buy it from? From who?”

“It’s a secret, hidden place! I used a lot of money to buy it! I don’t know who the seller is!”

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice as he glared frostily at the other man. “We rely on evidence to crack cases. We will not just arrest you simply because you claim to be the killer. After all… what if you are actually here to take the rap for the real murderer?”

The room instantly fell silent after he said those words.

Qi Yan’s eyes lit up with pride. My Brother Zhi is always so formidable! He goes straight to the point!

“I said I’m the killer, so I’m the killer! Why would I take the rap for someone else? You think I would do something dumb like that?” Jiang Shaoyuan got worked up. “I’m sure you know very well that Bianliang has a black market for all sorts of things! You can obtain certain things as long as you have the right channels! You know that!”

“And… so?”

Jiang Shaoyuan glared at Zhao Zhi. He was the killer! He just said so!

“I need you to understand one thing, Mr. Jiang,” Zhao Zhi took two steps forward. His movements, expression and tone of voice were very relaxed. “Giving a false statement is not easy. Bianliang might be a large city and it contains many hidden areas and people, but as long as I want to find out more about something, I’ll be able to. I hope you will think carefully before you speak.”

The sun’s rays filled the wide hall.

Zhao Zhi was wearing his princely robes, so the clouds, the sea and dragons were subtly embroidered along the hems. The atmosphere changed instantly as he walked and spoke slowly and seriously.

He had hit all the right points.

Jiang Shaoyuan began to hesitate. Zhao Zhi looked like he knew everything.

Qi Yan’s eyes lit up excitedly. His Brother Zhi was always so good at taking control of any situation!

Song Caitang also… glanced at Zhao Zhi with some approval as well as helplessness in her eyes. Whoever had the most resources always had the upper hand.

At the same time, Zhao Zhi had to stop stealing glances at her. That was definitely going to reduce the effect his words had!

Wen Yuansi was a lot more rational. He had gone through similar situations many times and was quite used to this, so he didn’t look surprised and even helped to support Zhao Zhi’s threats, “I thought I should remind Mr. Jiang also that murder is a crime, and so is taking the rap for someone else. If we find out that you are indeed the killer, then we will immediately sentence you to death without hesitation. But if you are not the killer, you may not get the death penalty. But that doesn’t mean you’d get to live well either.”

Most people were happy to live, and a small proportion would rather die. But almost everyone feared being somewhere in between

Jiang Shaoyuan’s eye twitched as he glanced at Wen Yuansi, then at Zhao Zhi.

Both of them were expressionless, like the surface of a calm lake.

He could only sigh.

“I didn’t want to implicate her since we were on such good terms, but it looks like I don’t have a choice now.” He suddenly narrowed his eyes and raised his chin, his gaze faraway and his voice slow as he uttered a name, “It was Linglong.”

Qi Yan nearly leaped up in excitement. “You’ve confessed! You’ve confessed! You’re finally being honest! It was Linglong! She did it!”

“What do you mean, Mr. Qi?” Jiang Shaoyuan frowned as he stared daggers at Qi Yan. “What did Linglong do? I was the one who forced her to sell me the poison and keep it a secret.”

Qi Yan suddenly felt like his throat was stuck and he nearly forgot to breathe. “You—”

Jiang Shaoyuan sneered at him. “Mr. Qi, do you have doubts about my personal abilities? One has to take certain actions in order to get things done. I have to be careful in everything I do. Since I’m going to commit murder, I can’t possibly prepare everything personally.”

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes. “So you chose Linglong to be your accomplice.”

“I wouldn’t consider her an accomplice. Women are a little too stupid and have a loose mouth, so how could they be of any help?” Jiang Shaoyuan smiled faintly. “But Linglong’s circumstances and status were convenient. She has no family or friends, she will be forced to retire once she loses her beauty and has no spouse to rely on. It didn’t take much to push her into a corner. She wouldn’t dare to disobey me.”

As he spoke, he even looked at the other people in the room with a smug expression on his face. “And what was the result of that? She didn’t tell you about me at all, didn’t she? Ha! This stupid woman! She thinks I like her so much!”

Qi Yan was shocked. Could it be that Linglong was just being used by this man?!

He turned to stare rather helplessly at Song Caitang for answers.

Song Caitang frowned slightly and was deep in thought, so she didn’t pay him any attention.

“Not just this. I also forced her to be my alibi on all occasions too!”

Jiang Shaoyuan was not done gloating. He looked even prouder of himself when he heard how silent everyone was. He folded his hands behind his back and scanned the group. “You’ve found the victims and you’ve also looked into the details of the case. Haven’t you realized that I’ve been busy with something else whenever a murder occurs, so I’m eliminated as a suspect immediately, and Linglong is also too busy to commit any crimes during the same time period?”

Qi Yan’s eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. He pointed a finger at Jiang Shaoyuan and shouted, “So, you were really busy committing crimes! Linglong just shut the door and stayed by herself in the room to create an alibi for you!”

Jiang Shaoyuan clapped his hands. “You’re so clever, Mr. Qi.”

He was complimenting Qi Yan with his words, but his actions and the look in his eyes were filled with disdain.

Qi Yan nearly hit the roof.

Zhao Zhi was still able to remain calm. He slowly adjusted his robe and sat down on the chair reserved for the person with highest status in the room. “Tell me how you committed the murders then. Let’s start with Madam Wang.”

He wasn’t just calm. He even picked up a teacup and took a sip.

His relaxed and confident demeanor helped everyone to refocus. “What time did you do it and how did you do it?”

Qi Yan took two deep breaths to calm himself down, then glared at Jiang Shaoyuan.

Jiang Shaoyuan looked a little annoyed, but he was still cooperative. Since Zhao Zhi had asked, he gave him a proper answer, “That night, I did not actually fall asleep. While Ningyan was sleeping, I secretly got up and killed Madam Wang.”

Qi Yan scoffed to himself.

He wanted to say: you had so much fun with the young woman, she became too tired to continue and fell asleep, but you weren’t tired at all? You weren’t feeling weak at all? And you still had the energy to commit murder?!

But he knew that it wasn’t the right time to say something like that, so he merely rolled his eyes to express his displeasure.

“By the time I secretly entered Madam Wang’s room, she had already fainted.”

Zhao Zhi did not say anything.

He was taking on the role of the patient listener, so Wen Yuansi stepped forward to ask a follow up question, “Why did she faint? You already knew she would faint?”

“Of course,” Jiang Shaoyuan threw Wen Yuansi a glance. “She had inhaled the poisonous quicksilver fumes. That’s the one I was talking about earlier. The one I forced Linglong to get for me.”

“Then the poisoning—”

“Of course, I had set up everything beforehand.”

Wen Yuansi’s expression did not flinch, even though Jiang Shaoyuan spoke to him like he was an idiot. He continued asking, “She died in her room, which was located within the residence reserved for the mistress of the house, and that’s within the inner house of the Zhengs’ estate. How did you get in there?”

Jiang Shaoyuan snorted. “Mr. Wen, you still don’t believe me, I see.”

“I definitely prefer to trust people,” said Wen Yuansi with a kind smile on his face. “That’s exactly why I’m asking.”