The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 106: Case Closed! The Truth Revealed!

As Liu Shuyi finished speaking, Zhang Xu, who had been sneering and looking confident of victory, suddenly froze.

"What do you mean?"

His eyes were fixed on Liu Shuyi.

"Could there be a turning point?!"

Zhao Feng and the others' eyes lit up, and they all quickly looked at Liu Shuyi.

Then you see Liu Shuyi sitting upright below the plaque that reads "A Bright Mirror Hangs High," his fingertips gently stroking the gavel on his desk.

He gazed intently at Zhang Xu with deep eyes and said calmly, "There is something that Governor Zhang may not know."

"Before I set off from Cuihua Mountain to Shangzhou City, I gave Deputy Lieutenant Lu a secret mission to carry out."

Lieutenant Lu?
who is it?

Zhang Xu did not remember that among the people who arrived at the Shangzhou Prefectural Governor's Office with Liu Shuyi last night, there was a deputy lieutenant surnamed Lu.

At this moment, Liu Shuyi raised his hands and clapped them gently twice.

Then everyone saw a burly figure walk into the courtroom.

"Lieutenant Lu! When did you arrive?"

Seeing this travel-worn, dusty figure, whose clothes were even somewhat torn, Zhao Feng's eyes lit up, and he said in surprise.

Lu Yangyuan grinned at Zhao Feng and said, "I just arrived here before Liu Yuanwailang summoned you."

Zhao Feng nodded in realization: "No wonder I had no idea you were here."

Zhang Xu frowned slightly upon hearing Lu Yangyuan's words.

No wonder he didn't know Lu Yangyuan had arrived. Liu Shuyi had summoned him as soon as Lu Yangyuan arrived, so his own people didn't have a chance to tell him that new personnel had arrived.

"Lieutenant Lu..."

Liu Shuyi's gaze swept over the crowd, noticing the curiosity and doubt on their faces, and he said, "Why don't you tell everyone what I asked you to do, and what you discovered?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yangyuan immediately agreed.

He turned to the crowd and said, "Yesterday, before Lord Liu set off, he only asked me to do one thing..."

That is, to confirm whether the cliff is climbable!

what! ?

Everyone was stunned.

"Is the cliff climbable?"

Ding Feng and Ren Cheng were completely bewildered.

Cui Lin's eyes flashed as he recalled the situation at Cuihua Mountain, and he asked, "Is it the cliff opposite the cave at the exit of the secret passage?"

Lu Yangyuan nodded: "That's right."

Seeing that Ding Feng and Ren Cheng still didn't understand, Zhao Feng explained in detail how the secret passage of the Cuihua Mountain Temple connected to the cave on the other side of the mountain range, and how after exiting the cave, there were mountain roads and cliffs.

Ding Feng then understood. He looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "So that's how it is. That Assistant Minister Liu asked this Deputy Lieutenant Lu to confirm whether the cliff was climbable. Could it be...?"

Liu Shuyi knew that Ding Feng had understood his intention in having Lu Yangyuan do this, and the others had also figured it out to some extent.

He said, "When I stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down at the mountain below, something came to mind..."

“If the murderer was Wan Langzhong’s companion, then the time it took for him to return to Shangzhou after the murder would be his biggest flaw.”

"Judging from the arrangement of the stone tablet and the manifestation of the miracle, he must have planned all of this for a long time. So, for a well-prepared murderer, would he really let time become a flaw that might expose him? Or, does he have a way to solve this problem of time?"

Upon hearing this, Ding Feng and the others nodded in agreement.

Indeed, it's normal if the murderer killed someone in a panic, without any preparation.

It is obvious that the murderer had planned all of this for a long time, and he would not have let it go unchecked if he knew there were flaws.

but……

At that time, Liu Shuyi had not yet arrived in Shangzhou, nor had he inquired about specific information from Wanrong, yet he had already begun to speculate that the murderer was a fellow traveler from Wanrong, and had even considered the timing of the incident...

Is this the skill of the rising detective?
Ding Feng and Ren Cheng exchanged another glance, both seeing shock and pressure in each other's eyes.

They were only away from Chang'an for a month, and yet such a prodigy appeared in Chang'an.

After they return to Chang'an after completing their inspection mission, who knows what the prison system in Chang'an will become?

At that time, they couldn't even imagine how much pressure the other prison officials would be under, given Liu Shuyi's phenomenal efficiency in investigating cases.

Liu Shuyi was unaware of what Ding Feng and the others were thinking. He deliberately paused to give them time to process what he was going to say before continuing, "If we want to solve the problem with the timeline, we can only change the time he spent on the road."

"Increasing the time is of no use to the murderer; it only increases the risk of him being exposed, so he can only reduce the time."

"But there is no shortcut from Cuihua Mountain to Shangzhou. How could the murderer have reduced the time spent on the road?"

Ding Feng couldn't help but ask, "So you suspect that the murderer didn't descend the mountain normally, but instead rushed down the cliff?"

Liu Shuyi laughed and said, "It's not that abrupt, it just reminded me of a cliff..."

He said, "My idea is to reduce time. There are only two ways: either shorten the distance or increase the speed."

“Shortening the journey… The distance from Cuihua Mountain to Shangzhou cannot be changed; there’s only one road, and there’s no way to shorten it.”

"What about speed?"

"Could the murderer have obtained a steed that can travel a thousand miles a day? But such a divine horse is too rare, so I only consider it as a candidate."

"Then I thought, if we don't use a thoroughbred horse, can we increase the speed? The quality of the horse cannot be changed, so if we want it to be faster, we need to make the road easier to travel."

"But……"

Liu Shuyi looked at everyone and said, "When I turned to look at the mountain road, I found that it was very winding and steep. Moreover, due to the snow and ice, it was even more difficult to travel than in summer and autumn. Horses could not even reach 30% of their usual speed on such a mountain road."

“Cuihua Mountain is very high and is a large mountain range. To get down from Cuihua Mountain to the bottom of the mountain, you have to walk at least twenty miles of winding mountain road. These twenty miles of winding and slippery road will take more than an hour.”

"So... at that time I had an idea. There was no way to reduce the time on flat roads! But was there any way to cross the mountain road directly without walking it? If we didn't walk it, we would save at least an hour and a half."

Cui Lin recalled the time when Liu Shuyi and Du Gou stood on the edge of the cliff for a long time and said, "So, you're considering going down the mountain via the cliff?"

Liu Shuyi said, "When Du Sicheng told me about the formation of the cliff, he said that the cliff was a spectacular sight caused by a sudden landslide during the reign of King You of Zhou."

"I looked down and saw that the cliff was as if it had been cut by a knife, very clean and with very few protruding rocks, which made me think of a possibility..."

His gaze fell on Zhang Xu, whose lips were tightly pursed and whose expression had darkened again, and he said, "Could we tie an extremely long rope to the cliff and then use the rope to slide down the cliff?"

"The cliff is as sharp as if cut by a knife, with few protruding rocks, so there won't be too much of an obstacle. If we practice many times in advance, the danger can be greatly reduced."

"In this way, we can reach the foot of the mountain in a very short time, thus saving more than an hour of time going down the mountain. Moreover, when going down the other side of Cuihua Mountain to the official road leading to Shangzhou, it will be faster than the road at the foot of Shenci Mountain. All in all, the time saved is nearly two hours."

Listening to Liu Shuyi's words, Du Gou couldn't help but say, "So, when I told you about the landslide, I made fun of myself because I felt that this knowledge wouldn't be of any help to you, but you comforted me, saying that it might not be useless... At that time, you had already figured everything out?"

Liu Shuyi laughed and said, "I can only say that I have some guesses, but I am not sure whether it will work."

"Since we are in a hurry to get to Shangzhou and cannot verify it ourselves, I can only entrust this somewhat dangerous task to Deputy Lieutenant Lu, who is the most skilled in martial arts."

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi claim that he was "the strongest in martial arts," Lu Yangyuan immediately straightened his back, his excitement and pride barely concealed.

Liu Shuyi said to Lu Yangyuan, "Deputy Lieutenant Lu, you should tell everyone about the verification results."

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly turned their attention to Lu Yangyuan.

Even Zhang Xu was staring intently at Lu Yangyuan with eyes that looked like he wanted to devour him.

Although Lu Yangyuan was not of high rank and rarely received the attention of so many important figures, he had experienced life-and-death crises on the battlefield many times and possessed a strong heart, so he was not nervous.

Even when he saw Zhang Xu's murderous gaze, he glared back fiercely and said, "Master Liu trusts me, so of course I can't let him down."

"So after Liu Yuanwailang left, I immediately had someone find a rope. After tying the rope up, I slid down the cliff using the rope."

"I was a little nervous at first, after all, it was my first time doing something like this. But as I slid down higher and higher, and encountered almost no danger, I became bolder and slid down faster. In the end, I reached the bottom of Cuihua Mountain in just 15 minutes."

Ding Feng couldn't help but say, "We reached the bottom of the mountain in just a quarter of an hour, while it would have taken at least an hour to walk along the mountain path. This has saved us so much time!"

Lu Yangyuan said, "At that moment, because it was my first time going down a cliff like this, I was unsure of myself, so I was very slow. Later, in order to verify how long it would take to get down, I climbed back up and went down again."

"And this time..."

He looked at everyone and said, "It took me less than a quarter of an hour!"

"Less than a quarter of an hour!?"

Ding Feng's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but say, "Compared to more than an hour, isn't it like we barely spent any time and arrived at the foot of the mountain directly? Plus, this side of the mountain is closer to the official road, so..."

He suddenly looked at Zhang Xu and said, "Returning two hours early is entirely possible!"

Hearing Ding Feng's words, everyone looked at Zhang Xu.

Cui Lin sneered, "Prefect Zhang, you could have returned two hours earlier, so your claim that someone saw you at noon yesterday does not absolve you of any guilt. What else do you have to say?"

"I……"

Zhang Xu's expression changed, his face shifting between light and dark.

He never expected that Liu Shuyi would actually consider the cliff!

Who in their right mind would choose to walk along a perfectly good mountain path instead of considering a cliff?

His expression flickered violently as he said, "Even if it's possible to quickly descend that cliff using a rope, so what? You have no concrete evidence to prove that I left!"

"Whether it's the words in the book or the so-called cliff that's passable, it's all just Liu Shuyi's deduction about me! Yes, based on these deductions, I do seem to be the prime suspect! But that's all..."

He stared at Liu Shuyi and gritted his teeth, saying, "You still don't have conclusive evidence to prove that I am the murderer!"

Everyone frowned.

They didn't expect that even at this point, Zhang Xu was still making excuses.

But as Zhang Xu said, as long as his reasons remain plausible and there is no way to prove him wrong with irrefutable evidence, he is merely a suspect and cannot be put on trial.

"I didn't say I didn't have conclusive evidence, did I?"

Just then, Liu Shuyi's voice suddenly rang out.

"What!?" Zhang Xu was stunned.

Then Liu Shuyi slowly took out a piece of cloth from his pocket, held it up high, and said, "Prefect Zhang, do you recognize this piece of cloth?"

The moment Zhang Xu saw the cloth, his pupils contracted sharply.

"you……"

He suddenly looked at Lu Yangyuan: "It's you!?"

Lu Yangyuan grinned and said, "Didn't expect it to be such a coincidence that I found out, did you?"

The crowd was somewhat confused by what the two were saying. Ding Feng asked, "Master Liu, what is this piece of cloth?"

Liu Shuyi said, "This was found on a protruding rock when Lieutenant Lu slid down the cliff to the foot of the mountain."

"Found on the stone?" Ding Feng recalled Zhang Xu's reaction and couldn't help but ask, "Could this belong to Governor Zhang?"

Looking at Zhang Xu's pale face, Liu Shuyi said calmly, "Prefect Zhang's expression has already proven everything."

“I think that although Governor Zhang had practiced many times and could slide down the cliff very easily, he was sliding down at night, and the light was very dim, or even nonexistent. So, in the absence of clear vision, coupled with his haste to slide down, he accidentally scraped against a protruding rock.”

"And coincidentally, there were some bloodstains on this piece of cloth..."

As he spoke, he turned the cloth over, allowing everyone to see some bloodstains on it.

Liu Shuyi said, "Judging from these bloodstains, Governor Zhang was grazed by that stone, so..."

He squinted at Zhang Xu and said, "Governor Zhang, could you take off your clothes and let us see if you have any abrasions?"

"If there are no scratches, then my assumption is wrong. I can leave this seat immediately and apologize to you on the spot."

“But if you have abrasions, I think there’s nothing more to say… Of course, you can continue to argue that your injury came from somewhere else, but abrasions on a rock are different from injuries caused by other things. We can have a doctor examine it carefully. If you think you can fool the doctor, you can continue.”

Lu Yangyuan grinned and said, "I not only brought back this piece of cloth, but I also knocked off that protruding stone. Comparing the wound with the stone should be more accurate."

Upon hearing Lu Yangyuan's words, Zhang Xu's face turned extremely ugly.

He never imagined that the brainless brute he despised would become the last straw that broke his back.

Seeing that Zhang Xu remained silent, Cheng Chumo immediately waved his hand: "Men, take off his clothes!" Upon hearing this, the Imperial Guards immediately walked towards Zhang Xu.

Ding Feng and the others took a step back, looking at him with expressions that ranged from anger to mockery, to watching a show, to searching.

Seeing himself looking like a comical monkey, being stared at like this by everyone, Zhang Xu felt it was a great humiliation.

"enough!"

He shouted directly, "No need to look, I do have injuries!"

Faced with the choice between being humiliated and stripped naked, having his wounds exposed to everyone, and confessing voluntarily, he chose the latter.

Liu Shuyi raised an eyebrow, showing no surprise at Zhang Xu's choice, and said, "Then, is this wound from a cut on the cliff? If you say no, we still need to find a doctor to examine it properly—"

"Liu Shuyi! That's enough!"

Zhang Xu clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth, saying, "I've already admitted it, why are you still being so aggressive?"

"Aggressive?"

Liu Shuyi shook his head and said, "Prefect Zhang has also investigated many cases. You should know that when we try cases, we need the most accurate testimony. If the testimony is ambiguous, it means that there may be a problem with the case. I'm just afraid that you will be wronged."

Zhang Xu glared fiercely at Liu Shuyi, feeling like he wanted to devour him, but he also understood that Liu Shuyi was an extremely cautious person, and if he didn't give a definite answer, Liu Shuyi would never stop.

So in the end, he could only grit his teeth and say, "This injury was caused on the cliff. Are you satisfied now?"

Liu Shuyi said calmly, "You killed people, you committed the crime, you deceived everyone, you betrayed the court... So Zhang Xu, what reason do you have to be angry and dissatisfied? When you killed people, didn't you think about the consequences that would happen today?"

"you……"

Liu Shuyi didn't give him a chance to speak at all.

boom!
He slammed his gavel and said, "Tie up Zhang Xu, the murderer of Wan Langzhong!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Imperial Guards who were already beside Zhang Xu rushed over.

One of them kicked Zhang Xu in the knee, causing him to fall to his knees, while the other grabbed Zhang Xu's arm and pressed him firmly to the ground.

Then they quickly tied Zhang Xu up with ropes.

At the same time, the chief clerk, who was not far from Zhang Xu, was also tied up.

Zhang Xu struggled with all his might, but the rope tightened the more he struggled, and in the end he could only glare hatefully at Liu Shuyi.

Liu Shuyi didn't look at Zhang Xu, but instead scanned Ding Feng and the others again, and said, "Imperial Censor Ding, Director Ren, do you have any objections to Zhang Xu's murder of Wan Langzhong?"

The two shook their heads almost simultaneously.

Liu Shuyi found two irrefutable pieces of evidence: the handwriting and the cloth strip. Zhang Xu himself also admitted it. How could they possibly have any objections?
Ding Feng sighed, "Having witnessed how Assistant Minister Liu solves cases, I now realize how inefficient I am at investigating them."

Liu Shuyi humbly replied, "I was just lucky."

lucky?
If they only have the book as evidence, they might consider whether they were just lucky.

But after the incident at the cliff, no one doubted Liu Shuyi's abilities anymore.

Ding Feng pursed his lips and couldn't help but say, "Master Liu, although the murderer has been found, we still don't know who the thief who obtained the secret in Wanlang is..."

Upon hearing Ding Feng's words, Ren Cheng and the others couldn't help but look at Liu Shuyi.

They also remembered that there was a thief hiding among their patrol team.

But to their surprise, Liu Shuyi said, "Imperial Censor Ding need not worry, and none of you need to be wary of others. There are no thieves among you."

"What!?"

Ding Feng was stunned for a moment.

Zhao Feng and the others were also taken aback.

Ding Feng frowned and said, "Liu Yuanwailang, you said there are no thieves among us, does that mean... the thieves are from the governor's office, not from our patrol team?"

Liu Shuyi shook his head with a smile: "What I mean is, there was never such a thief from beginning to end."

"what?"

"There's no such thief?"

Everyone was completely bewildered, not understanding what Liu Shuyi meant at all.

Liu Shuyi said, "Now that we know Zhang Xu is the murderer, we can work backward from that conclusion..."

He looked at everyone and said, "Think about it, after learning some very important information, Langzhong Wan did not tell any of your patrol team members. Instead, he secretly left with Zhang Xu, whom he had only known for two or three days, and deliberately avoided you. What does this mean?"

Cui Lin said thoughtfully, "This shows that he trusts Zhang Xu enough, and the degree of trust far exceeds that of others."

"Yes."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "But why does Dr. Wan trust someone he's only known for two or three days so much?"

"I think this is the only very important secret that Wan Langzhong and Zhang Xu discovered together... because it is an important secret that they both knew, and only the two of them knew it, which is why Wan Langzhong trusted Zhang Xu so much."

After thinking about it, everyone nodded in agreement.

"But that's where the problem lies. The secret Wan Langzhong knows is exactly what Zhang Xu and his group are trying to do. Zhang Xu and his group are at Cuihua Mountain to create momentum for this secret. In other words, the secret that Zhang Xu and Wan Langzhong discovered together is Zhang Xu's own secret. Yet, not only did Zhang Xu not quickly silence Wan Langzhong, but he also went to Cuihua Mountain with Wan Langzhong, created miracles there, and even had someone impersonate him, pretending that he had been at the governor's mansion all along, and even left from the cliff..."

Liu Shuyi said, "These, I think, are enough to prove one thing."

"That is……"

He glanced at everyone and said, "Wan Langzhong's discovery of this secret was deliberately orchestrated by Zhang Xu!"

"Zhang Xu deliberately let Wan Langzhong discover this secret, deliberately left secretly with Wan Langzhong, deliberately lured Wan Langzhong to Cuihua Mountain, and deliberately killed Wan Langzhong on Cuihua Mountain..."

"All of this was a conspiracy planned in advance by Zhang Xu!"

Ding Feng thought about it carefully and nodded, saying, "If that's the case, it's definitely not a coincidence that Zhang Xu and Wan Langzhong went to Cuihua Mountain together! And it's also not a coincidence that he and Wan Langzhong obtained the secret together."

"But why would he do that?" Ding Feng asked, puzzled. "If he only wanted to kill Wan Langzhong, there was no need for him to lure Wan Langzhong to Cuihua Mountain to do it, was there?"

"Besides, he's going to Cuihua Mountain to fabricate a miracle. Why would he bring someone like Wan Langzhong, who could cause an accident, with him on such an important trip?"

Although the murderer's identity has been confirmed, Ding Feng still can't understand what Wan Rong did.

Everyone else had the same puzzled expression.

Liu Shuyi glanced at Zhang Xu, who was staring intently at him with tightly pursed lips, and sighed, "Because he needs Wan Langzhong to know this secret."

"What?" The crowd still didn't understand.

Then Liu Shuyi continued, "Because they need Wan Langzhong to tell us this secret, or rather, they need us to learn this secret from Wan Langzhong."

Ding Feng and the others frowned deeply. They felt they understood something, but due to a lack of key information, they still didn't quite understand.

Cui Lin and the others, who knew the specific secrets of the Prince of Xi's illegitimate son, suddenly widened their eyes and their expressions changed.

"You mean..."

Cui Lin reacted quickly, unable to help but say, "Zhang Xu wants us to know this secret, and then use us to spread it!"

Liu Shuyi said, "We not only hope to spread the secret through our hands, but also hope to use His Majesty's hand..."

"What?! Your Majesty?"

Cui Lin was taken aback at first, then his pupils suddenly contracted.

He understood what Liu Shuyi meant.

After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, it was universally acknowledged that His Majesty had eradicated the bloodline of Prince Xi.

King Xi had no descendants left in the world.

Therefore, now that a illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi has suddenly appeared, many people will inevitably doubt whether this illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi is real or fake.

If His Majesty did something to this illegitimate Prince Xi, it would be tantamount to verifying the identity of this illegitimate Prince Xi from the perspective of the emperor!
At that time, regardless of whether this person is real or fake, he will become real the moment His Majesty takes action against him!
Will His Majesty take action against him?

no doubt!

His Majesty cannot tolerate someone suspected of being a son of the Prince of Xi living in the world.

Zhang Xu and his group used Wan Rong for two reasons. First, Wan Rong was of a high rank and was the head of the inspection team. If something happened to Wan Rong, it would inevitably attract a lot of attention.

On the other hand, Wan Rong was a member of the Ministry of Justice, who was skilled at searching for clues and was loyal enough to the court. So who would doubt the authenticity of the intelligence that Wan Rong left behind with his life?

Who would have known that this was deliberately left by Zhang Xu and his team for the investigators?

Once the investigators discover this secret and hand it over to His Majesty, their plan will have already succeeded...

And they will certainly use this to spread the word that this secret was protected by Wan Rong at the cost of his life, and was personally uncovered by Detective Liu Shuyi...

His Majesty has taken action, and so many people have witnessed the discovery of Wanrong's secrets. This is irrefutable evidence!

Thinking of this, even someone as proud as Cui Lin couldn't help but gasp, feeling his hands and feet turn icy cold.

What a brilliant scheme and conspiracy!

No! This can't even be called a conspiracy anymore. The moment Wan Rong fell for the trap and went to Cuihua Mountain, it was already an open conspiracy.

Not only Cui Lin thought of these things, but Du Gou, Du Ying, and Zhao Feng also understood this point.

This caused a drastic change in their expressions.

Looking at their expressions, Liu Shuyi said, "Actually, I found it very strange when I discovered Wan Langzhong's body."

"If the murderer killed someone and really wanted to hide them, why didn't they just hide them in a cave? If they hid them in a cave, as long as we couldn't find the traps, we would never know that Wan Langzhong had been killed!"

"Furthermore, if the murderer wanted to hide the statue, why didn't he hide it in the cave as well? Even if he felt the cave was unsafe, he should have taken the statue with him instead of leaving it at the cave entrance. If we search the mountain because of the stone tablet, the statue hidden at the cave entrance will be discovered sooner or later!"

Du Gou's eyes flickered as he said, "Zhang Xu wanted us to know about Wan Langzhong's murder, but he was afraid that if he threw the body out directly, we would become suspicious. So he hid it in the statue to give us the illusion that he had gone to great lengths to hide it, in order to lessen our suspicions?"

Liu Shuyi nodded: "That's right, because he needs Wan Langzhong to guide us."

Zhao Feng couldn't help but ask, "Was it all Zhang Xu's doing, that Wan Langzhong broke his finger and that the envelope was hidden under those trees? Were they all tricks he used to deceive us?"

"This shouldn't be it..."

Liu Shuyi said, "Or rather, it should be said that Zhang Xu acted in accordance with the trend."

"Go with the flow?"

Liu Shuyi looked at Zhang Xu and saw that Zhang Xu was staring intently at him, his expression becoming increasingly tense. He said, "I think it must be because Zhang Xu mentioned Cuihua Mountain when he was creating the false secret, which is why Wan Langzhong went to Cuihua Mountain first, to find out if there was a very important secret there."

"Then, when he went up the mountain, Wan Langzhong was worried about the dangers there, so he hid the letter beforehand to ensure that if something happened to him, someone would find it..."

"But Zhang Xu sees Wan Langzhong as a target and will not let him go unchecked, so he will be under constant surveillance of Wan Langzhong."

"In other words, Zhang Xu must know about the envelope."

"But this is exactly what he wanted. If Wan Langzhong hadn't hidden the letter beforehand, he might have even left the letter for Wan Langzhong to trick us."

Zhao Feng and the others felt a chill run down their spines.

Thinking back to Wan Rong's deathbed, when he endured immense pain to break his third finger...

At that moment, Wan Rong must have been unwilling to be killed like this, and he must have wanted the people investigating the case to find the secret he had risked his life to protect...

Little did he know that everything he did was part of Zhang Xu's plan.

Even his reaction before death was calculated!
Looking at the silent crowd, Liu Shuyi said, "Therefore, the secret that Wan Langzhong obtained was Zhang Xu's scheme, so the so-called thief who obtained the secret naturally does not exist."

"As for why Wan Langzhong obtained such an important secret, yet preferred to act with Zhang Xu rather than let the inspection team help him, and even treated Imperial Censor Ding and his group coldly..."

Upon hearing this, Ding Feng and the others instinctively looked at Liu Shuyi.

Then Liu Shuyi said, "I think it must be Zhang Xu who framed the inspection team in that secret."

"They framed us!?" Ding Feng was stunned.

Liu Shuyi nodded: "He probably secretly told Wan Langzhong that someone in your patrol team was colluding with thieves, or even that they sent someone to impersonate someone from your patrol team, so that Wan Langzhong could secretly overhear the impersonator's words and thus learn the secret..."

"In short, it's too easy to frame you. Wan Langzhong is unaware of the truth and only thinks that some of you are colluding with the thieves. He doesn't know exactly who is colluding with the thieves, so he can't trust any of you."

"This……"

Looking at Zhang Xu, whose face was growing paler, Liu Shuyi said, "That's exactly what you wanted! You wanted to leave Wan Langzhong with no choice but to go with you!"

"Zhang Xu, am I right?"

(End of this chapter)