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Chapter 84 Water Thief
It was a barefoot footprint, with the outline from heel to toe clearly visible.

Cao Tianbao frowned and looked at his nephew fiercely. Cao Chenfeng was stared at by his uncle and felt very flustered. He hurriedly shook his head at him, indicating that the footprints had nothing to do with him.

Zhu Yu held up the blood-stained footprint and looked at it carefully with a frown. Compared with autopsies, inferring things from footprints was not her specialty, but she had more or less come into contact with it in the past, and it was enough to deal with the current situation.

The footprint was only slightly longer than Zhu Yu's hand and looked narrow. The bloodstains at the heel were very light, with only a vague outline. The sole and toes were particularly clear.

"Is this... a child's footprint?" The Jingzhao Yin, watching nearby, felt somewhat puzzled. He turned and asked Zhuang Zhi, "Does your daughter have a child serving her?"

Zhuang Zhi also looked surprised, and shook his head in a daze: "No, the maids in the house are all fifteen or sixteen years old, there are no little kids!"

"He's not a child." Zhu Yu waved his hand at Jingzhao Yin, "This man's steps are very light, but even though they are light, their steps are very steady.

Children walk unsteadily and land heavily, so the footprints they leave behind don't look like this.

The man's feet were thin and small, with the footprints heavier in the front and lighter in the back. The outer footprints were deeper than the inner footprints. This showed that he was a thin man, and he must have walked on tiptoe in the house, afraid of making noise, so he didn't dare to put his heels on the ground.

This person happened to step into such a large pool of blood. When he realized that something was wrong with his feet, his next step had already fallen and he had no time to retract it.

After that…”

Zhu Yu crouched down and looked around carefully: "There are no other complete footprints left... He must have realized something was wrong, so he hurriedly wiped the blood off his feet with his clothes and ran away.

If he accidentally stepped on the blood on the ground, he must have groped his way in in the dark."

"Oh?" Upon hearing that the footprints were left by a thin person, Jingzhao Yin's brows relaxed and he quickly glanced at Cao Tianbao. "So it's possible that Zhuang Lanlan was killed by some scoundrel who sneaked in after Cao Chenfeng left?"

"That's not the case." Zhu Yu shook his head. "How could such a thin man kill Zhuang Lanlan by stabbing her through the body with a single fatal blow while she was completely defenseless?
A criminal who could kill someone with a single blow wouldn't sneak in here barefoot, and if he accidentally stepped on blood, he'd be so frightened he'd flee in panic."

After she said this, Jingzhao Yin also felt that it made sense: "That makes sense! Why is this person barefoot...?"

"Sir, I have a guess." Zhu Yu was still certain of her own judgment, but the person she was talking to was Jingzhao Yin, not Lu Qing, so she had to leave some room for herself. "This embroidery building is built by the water, and there are no other courtyards or houses around it, so that person should not have come here deliberately.

Being barefoot indicated that this person rarely walked on land, so I guessed that he might be a scoundrel who was good at swimming. Because he was thin and agile and knew how to swim, he often took advantage of the night to steal property from passenger ships parked on the shore in the river.

On the night Zhuang Lanlan was murdered, for some unknown reason, this person suddenly had the idea of ​​sneaking into the embroidery building to steal. He sneaked in in the dark, stepped on blood, realized something was wrong, and then discovered the body, and fled in panic.

As soon as she said this, a yamen runner beside her seemed to be hesitant to speak. "What's wrong?" Jingzhao Yin also noticed the yamen runner's reaction and waved his hand impatiently, "If you have something to say, just say it!"

"Sir, we...we did catch a thief two days ago, just as this officer described!" The yamen runner looked at Zhu Yu with admiration. "He's very thin, but he's a great swimmer. He often dives into the water at night, and when it's quiet, he'd climb onto people's boats and steal their belongings!
When we caught him, he was barefoot, without shoes!"

The Jingzhao Yin was shocked. Although he was the highest-ranking official in Jingzhao Prefecture, it was precisely because of this that all the trivial matters were usually handled by his two Shao Yins and a group of hereditary soldiers. The Si Gong, Si Cang, Si Hu and others each performed their duties, so there was no need for him to worry about everything.

When he heard Zhu Yu's confident words just now, he didn't take it too seriously. He didn't expect that their Jingzhao Prefecture actually caught such a thief!
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and bring that thief here for questioning!" He hurriedly ordered the yamen runner. Then, when he turned to look at Zhu Yu again, his expression was filled with admiration. "What is the name of this Chief Secretary? I've never seen him before. I didn't expect that Prince Xiaoyao would have such a capable person in his mansion. The prince is truly a talent scout!"

"Lord Wu, you're too kind." Lu Qing smiled and bowed to the Jingzhao Yin. "I didn't know Yu Changshi was so capable. It's just a coincidence, God's will, I guess."

Jingzhao Yin had just been sandwiched between these giant Buddhas, feeling overwhelmed and confused for a moment. He forgot that the last time the chief historian of Xiaoyao Palace showed his prowess was at the wedding banquet of Xiaoyao Prince.

When he thought of the situation that day, Jingzhao Yin's smile became embarrassed. In order not to cause himself any more trouble, he immediately gave up the idea of ​​continuing to chat with Zhu Yu.

Cao Tianbao had been watching closely since Zhu Yu examined the bloodstains on the ground and copied the bloody footprints. His emotions seemed quite complicated. He seemed curious about how Zhu Yu was going to prove his nephew's innocence. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder why Lu Qing asked his men to do such a thing.

Lu Qing seemed to be unaware of Cao Tianbao's gaze and looked around the room on his own.

Zhuang Zhi probably didn't expect that a scoundrel might have come here on the night his daughter was murdered. He seemed to be frightened for a moment, frowning and leaning against the door with a confused expression.

Cao Chenfeng had finally calmed down a little more than before, but he didn't dare to act rashly as he watched his uncle's anger still linger. He could only curl up aside, staring at Zhu Yu, regarding this "Yu Changshi" as his only savior.

Zhu Yu ignored these people with different thoughts and squatted in front of the pool of blood, continuing to ponder.

She didn't know how other people got their identities outside.

Anyway, because of Lu Qing, she has gained several more identities.

Originally, she was just the daughter of Prince Shuo Zhu Cheng, and now she was also the Princess of Xiaoyao. She was also Yu Changshi of Xiaoyao Palace, the Second Master Zhu who had people delivering silver to Yunyin Pavilion every month, and she was also the personal attendant of the Golden-faced Censor...

Forget it, this guy is whoever he wants to say he is.

Anyway, whoever told the lie should cover it up, so she doesn't bother with it.

　I wish all my friends in the north a happy Little New Year!
　　My friends in the south, wait for me to wish you again tomorrow!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)