The three-day period came quickly. Facing Fang Zilan who came to ask for an explanation, the Punishment Department felt extremely panicked, but his face was still calm.
Zou Hongqi, the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishments, came forward with a smile on his face, "Master Fang, regarding the murder of Master Wu..."
"Lord Zou, I just came from Jingzhao Yin Mansion. I heard from Lord Fu Yin that your Criminal Department is making great progress." Fang Zilan said with a smile: "Don't let me down."
Zou Hongqi's smile froze on his face, "Did... Mr. Fang heard it wrong?"
"Did you hear it wrong?" Fang Zilan repeated, raising her eyebrows and said, "In that case, could you please Master Zou to ask Jingzhao Prefect to come and listen to me in person?"
Zou Hongqi took a breath of air, "I made a mistake, but there are many doubts about Master Wu's murder. Three days is really too short..."
"Master Zou, don't be nervous. I just want to ask one thing clearly today." Fang Zilan calmed her expression and said solemnly: "On the 28th, why did Master Wu leave the Criminal Department?"
Zou Hongqi looked troubled, "There are some clues about this matter, but..." He hesitated for a moment before saying: "After the incident, some scraps of paper that were burned to ashes were found on Mr. Wu's case. There was only one word on them. It has been well preserved. I asked people to compare the handwriting, and no one in the punishment department matched it."
Fang Zilan said calmly: "Master Zou, can you let me have a look at that word?"
Zou Hongqi hurriedly asked someone to present the only remaining evidence, "I think someone wrote a letter inviting 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 always cautious. If the letter asked him to burn it after reading it, why did he leave this fragment behind?" Fang Zilan looked at the words in front of her carefully, her expression dark and unclear.
"It's a coincidence that Master Gu, who was revising the law with Master Wu that day, didn't see anyone when he went to look for him, so he simply started searching for him by himself." Zou Hongqi explained: "Master Gu has a fiery temper, and he accidentally hit him After turning over the tea cup on the case, this fragment was preserved."
Fang Zilan's eyes scanned the edge of the fragment, and as expected, there were light yellow tea stains. She pursed her lips and said, "Who sent a letter to Mr. Wu on the 28th? Have you checked it?"
"It has been checked." Zou Hongqi replied: "The documents sent to the Ministry of Justice are always handled by a special person. Even on the 28th, no one else handled it. I also ordered someone to check the person in charge, and it was consistent with usual. There is nothing unusual. It seems that the murderer used a trick in advance to mix the letter among the documents."
Fang Zilan seemed to say casually: "To be able to sneak a letter into the documents of the Ministry of Punishment, the murderer must be very familiar with the official procedures."
Zou Hongqi raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, "I have also thought about this. I need to be meticulous and familiar with the government, but I also need to be able to kill people quickly and 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 further questions, just said a few words like "Mr. Zou, thank you for your hard work, remember to tell her the results", and then left.
Zou Hongqi looked at her back and frowned involuntarily. Qian Qian on the side breathed a sigh of relief and said in confusion: "Sir, Master Fang has left, you..."
"Qian Qian, don't you think Mr. Fang is here not to ask for an explanation, but more like to confirm something?" Zou Hongqi interrupted Qian Qian's words. He asked curiously: "Confirm what? Does Mr. Fang already know 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, "Sir, are you doubting Mr. Fang..."
"What nonsense are you talking about!" There was more anger in Zou Hongqi's voice, but he deliberately lowered it a bit, "If it were Mr. Fang, would it be necessary to go to such trouble? Those powerful men above us will kill the people below. It's as easy as killing an ant, why do you need to do such a dangerous thing?"
Qian Qian lowered his head after being scolded by him, but he couldn't help but ask: "What do you mean, sir?"
"Intuition." Zou Hongqi lowered his serious face and whispered in a rather spirited voice: "After handling cases for so many years, I always have an intuition for judging people."
Qian Qian's face was full of disbelief, and Zou Hongqi glanced at him with a look of disbelief, "How come you haven't made any progress after following me for all these years?"
"Sir, I feel that this matter is too mysterious..." As soon as Qian Qian finished speaking, he fell silent when he met Zou Hongqi's eyes.
The intuition of others may be mysterious, but the intuition of their Minister of Justice has never been wrong, just like the clouds before the rain, the low-flying swallows, and the noisy frogs, they are like omens.
"It's going to rain." Zou Hongqi's voice came faintly, pulling Qian Qian back from his 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 confused, "Sir, it's not autumn yet."
"Just wait and see." Zou Hongqi seemed to be talking to himself: "This autumn in the capital is probably going to be three points cooler than in previous years."
Fang Zilan doesn't know yet whether this year's autumn will be cooler than in previous years, but she already feels that this year's summer will be very difficult to endure. Wu Sheng is dead, and Yang Zhiqing may not be able to stay.
After seeing the fragment, she returned to the government office, repeatedly compared everyone's handwriting, and found the same words as in her memory.
After reading it, she slowly closed her eyes. It was 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 font, but the characters he imitated from another official in the house. It's just that Xiao Li's handwriting is domineering, and there are obvious traces of ink blur at the end of each character. Although the imitation characters also have traces of ink blur, they are obviously dotted deliberately. When they overlap with the characters, the ink color is darker and not natural enough.
A counterfeit word is not enough to identify Yang Zhiqing. He has been on leave 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 home quietly. However, before she could test him, 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 powerful, but the second sentence is full of vibrato, "Brother Wu, please, don't come to me again. I will worship regularly from now on, so just let me go..."
Seeing this, Fang Zilan took a deep breath, knocked on the door, walked directly behind Yang Zhiqing, and said solemnly: "It is indeed you."
Yang Zhiqing heard the noise and turned around to see who was coming. He was so frightened that he sat on the ground, "Master Fang, you...why are you here?"
Fang Zilan looked at the tablet where he worshiped. Wu Sheng's name was engraved on it, so she asked without answering: "If you don't do evil things, don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. What evil things has Mr. Yang done to be so afraid of Wu?" Sir, come to find you?"
"I...I didn't..." Yang Zhiqing shook his head violently to deny it, but heard Fang Zilan say word for word: "Master Wu did not burn the letter you imitated. People from the Criminal Department are comparing the handwriting and will check it soon. it's your turn."
