Chapter 121: Expressing Gratitude [seeking Monthly Votes]
Lin Jianshan glared, “You from the Shang family, stop spouting nonsense!”
“I didn’t say you were the murderer, why are you in such a hurry?” Shang Wan raised her eyebrows, “Is this question hard to answer? Or are you feeling guilty?”
“I didn’t murder anyone!” Lin Jianshan denied resolutely.
Dan Dajun narrowed his eyes, “Since you say you didn’t murder anyone, where were you when the crime happened?”
“I… I went up the mountain to chop wood.”
“Who can vouch for you?”
Lin Jianshan looked around, and everyone avoided his gaze.
It wasn’t that everyone didn’t want to vouch for him, but giving false testimony meant facing official punishment. What if Lin Jianshan really was the murderer? Wouldn’t that leave a scourge in the village?
Village Chief Lin said, “I can vouch for him. We went up the mountain together.”
“Oh, Village Chief is truly determined despite his disability.” Shang Wan said leisurely, “He’s still got an arm in a sling, yet he could go up the mountain to chop wood.”
Dan Dajun suspiciously examined Village Chief Lin’s arm and frowned, “You two are father and son, so your mutual testimony isn’t credible. Was there a third person who saw you two go up the mountain to chop wood?”
The two looked at each other, unable to name a third person.
Lu Chengjing suddenly spoke up, “Officer, may I ask a couple of questions?”
Dan Dajun nodded.
Lord An had specifically instructed him before leaving that, as long as it didn’t involve principles, he should appropriately accommodate Lu Chengjing and Shang Wan.
He was still hoping to be transferred to work under Lord An, and it was just a couple of questions, so naturally he wouldn’t deny Lu Chengjing this favor.
Unexpectedly, the person Lu Chengjing questioned wasn’t the Lin father and son, but Liu Yuzhi.
“Does the young lady recognize this red string?”
Liu Yuzhi looked away, “I’ve never seen it.”
“As far as I know, this red string is used for seeking marriage fate at the Matchmaker Temple.” Lu Chengjing glanced at the red string on Li Dashan’s wrist, “The young lady seems to have given quite a few to people. Dashan, the red string on your wrist was given to you by Liu the young lady, right?”
Li Dashan’s face first turned red, then paled as he understood Lu Chengjing’s meaning.
He asked hesitantly, “Many people means?”
“Look over there.” Shang Wan pointed them out one by one, “See the red strings on their wrists? Not only the same style, but even given by the same person.”
Li Dashan: “…”
The aggrieved youths: “…”
The tears Liu Yuzhi had brewed up flowed back before they could fall.
She had given them out separately, and no one had seen her doing it, so how did Shang Wan and Lu Chengjing find out?
“I-I didn’t.” She tried to quibble, “I was just thanking you for helping me, that’s all. No other meaning.”
This was purely treating Li Dashan and the others like fools.
Li Dashan angrily took off the red string and threw it on the ground. He pointed at Liu Yuzhi wanting to curse, but facing a delicate young lady, some words just wouldn’t come out, which instead made him feel sick.
He took two deep breaths and turned his head, not looking at Liu Yuzhi again.
The other youths didn’t have his good temper. Not only did they throw away the red strings, they also sarcastically mocked Liu Yuzhi in unison.
Liu Yuzhi’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and she couldn’t help covering her face and sobbing “wah wah wah.”
Lu Chengjing said, “Don’t cry yet.”
Liu Yuzhi’s sobbing stopped. She lifted her head with teary eyes, waiting for Lu Chengjing’s comfort.
Shi Tou looked at his brother-in-law with a reproachful gaze.
How could he comfort a woman other than his sister? Brother-in-law, you need to uphold male virtue!
“You can cry after I finish asking.” Lu Chengjing ignored the embarrassment on Liu Yuzhi’s face and asked, “How many of these red strings did you give out in total?”
“F-Five.”
Exactly the five aggrieved ones including Li Dashan.
Lu Chengjing’s gaze turned cold, “Lying in front of the officer—watch out for the plank. I’ll ask you again: how many in total?”
Liu Yuzhi seemed to return to the day Lu Chengjing attacked her with the short arrow. Her whole body shivered, and she blurted out, “Seven!”
Lu Chengjing pressed, “Who are the other two?”
“It’s… it’s…” Liu Yuzhi stammered with a red face. Dan Dajun suddenly drew his official saber with a “clang,” scaring Liu Yuzhi into pointing at Lin Jianshan, “Eldest Cousin.”
Everyone: “Oh~”
Liu Yuzhi waved her hands explaining, “I was just thanking Eldest Cousin for taking me to the city to play. No other meaning.”
The women snorted lightly.
“Didn’t you just say the same thing?”
“Got it, got it. No matter what, it’s all for thanks.”
“Tomorrow I’ll go to the Matchmaker Temple and get a bunch to give out as thanks.”
The words entered her ears one by one, making Liu Yuzhi’s face alternate between red and white, nearly rubbing her clothes to shreds.
Zhou Shi’s eyes blazed with fury as she glared at her. She never imagined Liu Yuzhi would try to seduce her man! Did she think she was dead?!
Lu Chengjing was unaffected and said to Liu Yuzhi, “One more is missing.”
Liu Yuzhi shook her head with tears in her eyes, “No more. I haven’t given out the last one yet.”
She regretted it to death. She shouldn’t have been cheap and given out the same thing.
Dan Dajun spotted the key point, “Lu Xiucai Scholar, where did the red string in your hand come from?”
“Picked it up at the crime scene.” Lu Chengjing handed it over, “There’s blood on it. I suspect it’s left by the murderer.”
Dan Dajun looked down carefully and saw blood stains on the red string.
He raised his eyes to Lin Jianshan, “The physical evidence is here. What more do you have to say?”
Lin Jianshan showed no panic, “Such red strings can be obtained at the Matchmaker Temple for two copper coins each. They all look the same. How can you prove it’s mine?”
“No, the ones Liu the young lady gave you are different.” Lu Chengjing signaled Dan Dajun to compare the bloodstained red string with the one on his wrist and those thrown on the ground by Li Dashan and the others.
The difference became apparent upon comparison.
On all the red strings Liu Yuzhi gave out, the jade maiden on the pendant had two red clouds added to her cheeks, like a shy expression.
The one on Dan Dajun’s wrist didn’t have it.
He rubbed it with his hand and found it could be rubbed off with force.
“Liu Yuzhi, what’s going on here?”
Liu Yuzhi said softly, “I drew it on with colored pens when I was bored.”
Actually, her intention was to make them different from others’, but unexpectedly it became evidence identifying the murderer.
“Officer, even if the red string is mine, it could have fallen off when I was putting clothes on the corpse.” Lin Jianshan defended himself, “I had no grudge against Aunt Gui. Why would I kill her?”
This statement did have some reason. Dan Dajun thought for a moment, held up the silver hairpin, and asked, “Then why was this silver hairpin on the deceased? It couldn’t have fallen off when you were putting clothes on the deceased too, right?”
The silver hairpin was wrapped in the deceased’s clothes, probably originally kept in her bosom by the deceased.
Lin Jianshan couldn’t answer.
“What are you arguing about?” A skinny-faced constable noticed a group of children pushing each other, their voices growing louder, and scolded them.
A boy puffed out his chest and said loudly, “Report to the officer, we have a clue!”
At these words, the adults all turned to look.
The speaker was actually Yuan Lang, the youngest son of the Yuan Family.
