The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 50 In Chang'an, within an hour, the elder brother appeared!

Two quarters of an hour later.

A massive, dark mass of people stormed into the Ministry of Justice's gates.

The officials in the Ministry of Justice were taken aback, almost thinking that someone had come to attack the Ministry.

They quickly grabbed a clerk from the Ministry of Justice and asked, "What happened? Why are there so many people? Weren't you all out investigating a case? Why have you all come back?"

Seeing his colleagues follow Liu Shuyi into the Ministry of Justice's courtyard, the clerk hurriedly said, "He went to investigate a case, that's why he's back! Assistant Minister Liu has already cracked the murderer's scheme, and he's back now to find the murderer! Make way, or I won't even have time to drink the soup for meritorious service..."

After saying that, he quickly pushed aside the people blocking his way and rushed into the Ministry of Justice.

The officials from the other three departments were left staring at each other blankly.

"Didn't they say it was a case of self-immolation? Where did the murderer come from?"

"It's only been a little over an hour, right? And Master Liu has already solved it?"

"Where is Qian Yuanwailang? Didn't Qian Yuanwailang vow to make Liu Yuanwailang's promotion unpleasant? Why haven't we seen him? Didn't he go to investigate the case?"

There are many questions, but no one can answer them.

…………

Inside the Ministry of Justice, there is a three-story building with a brick and wood structure. The outer walls are made of rammed earth and are four and a half feet thick. The roof is covered with blue tiles and iron horses hang from the eaves. It is heavily guarded. This is the cabinet warehouse where the Ministry of Justice stores its case files.

The floor of the cabinet is paved with marble, smooth and flat, giving it a solemn and dignified feel. The bookshelves are made of camphor wood and coated with peppercorn juice to prevent moisture and insects.

The third floor of the cabinet storehouse was a secret archive room, specifically for storing files related to treason and members of the royal family. There were guards on duty outside the door at all times, and only two fourth-rank vice ministers and Minister Du Ruhui were allowed to enter the entire Ministry of Justice.

The first and second floors of the cabinet storehouse were where ordinary files were stored.

When his predecessor was oppressed in the past, he copied many documents here, so he was very familiar with the archives. As soon as he entered, he led everyone directly to the second floor.

Then, he looked at Zhao Feng and said, "Arrange for people to first find the suicide files from the last three years, and then find the self-immolation files from the suicide files... If there are no relevant files, then go back three years..."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Feng nodded immediately: "Yes!"

Having said that, he led the officials who had clearly expressed their willingness to follow Liu Shuyi to search for the case files.

Seeing everyone busy at work, Liu Shuyi let out a long sigh of relief.

From accepting Qian Wenqing's challenge to investigating the case at Wangyue Tower, and then finding clues to the murderer, his brain had been working at high speed, and his mind had been in a state of extreme activity and tension. Although the time was not long, he was still very tired. Now he can finally take a short break.

He went to the table where he usually copied case files and sat down.

Looking out the window, one could see Wang Gui and the other officials from the Chang'an County government pacing anxiously. Because the Ministry of Justice's storeroom was a restricted area, and only Ministry of Justice personnel were allowed to enter, Wang Gui and his group could only watch helplessly from the outside.

Liu Shuyi smiled. He didn't know what to do either. Besides, the shelving was full of bookshelves, and there wasn't much open space. The Ministry of Justice staff were already crowded, so even if they could get in, they wouldn't be able to help much.

He picked up the kettle, poured himself a glass of water, and slowly took a sip.

Recalling the original owner's memories, it seemed that this was the first time he had ever been so relaxed at the table where he copied the documents.

"Found one!"

At that moment, Zhao Feng's voice suddenly rang out.

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered, and he turned his head to look. He saw Zhao Feng walking towards him carrying a scroll of files.

"This is a self-immolation case that occurred on the 16th day of the third month of the first year of the Zhenguan era, in Suzhou."

Zhao Feng handed the case file to Liu Shuyi.

Liu Shuyi nodded slightly, quickly opened the file, and scanned it rapidly with his eyes.

But soon, he placed the case file on the desk, shook his head, and said, "The victim in this self-immolation case was angry because his neighbor had forcibly seized his land. In a fit of rage, he went to his neighbor's house and set himself on fire, trying to make his neighbor feel guilty and let others know about his neighbor's evil deeds through his death..."

“There are many eyewitnesses to this case, and the evidence provided by the local government is also very complete. Moreover, he is an elderly man living alone, with no family or descendants, which does not match this case. Therefore, he should not be the case file we are looking for.”

Seeing how quickly Liu Shuyi made his judgment, Zhao Feng admired him and, without hesitation, turned around and continued his search.

As Liu Shuyi said, suicides happen frequently, but self-immolation is a method that few people would use.

After all, the pain of self-immolation is something that few people can bear, and it is far less quick than hanging or using a knife.

The first round of screening was completed in less than an hour.

There were only a dozen or so files on Liu Shuyi's desk.

Zhao Feng and the others surrounded Liu Shuyi, anxiously waiting for him to make a judgment. If these files were not what Liu Shuyi was looking for, they would count back three years to search for files from the eighth to the sixth year of the Wude era.

Liu Shuyi opened and put down the case files one by one, and soon picked up the third to last case file.

As before, he quickly opened the file and scanned it rapidly. But unlike before, this time, he did not quickly close the file and put it aside. Instead, he suddenly leaned forward and narrowed his eyes.

Seeing Liu Shuyi's different reaction than before, Zhao Feng's heart stirred, and he couldn't help but ask, "Master Liu, what's wrong with you?"

"Found it!" Liu Shuyi said in a deep voice.

found it! ?

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up.

Zhao Feng hurriedly asked, "What case?"

"An accident occurred on the fourth day of the fourth month of the ninth year of Wude in Tongji Ward, Chang'an City."

"Tongjifang? An unexpected incident?"

Zhao Feng hadn't looked through this file, so he didn't know its contents and asked, "What kind of accident?"

Liu Shuyi looked at the file and said, "A wealthy merchant named Bai Ju'an, due to excessive drinking, knocked over a candlestick in an inn, causing a fire that ultimately led to his and his wife's deaths in the flames."

"Because someone was passing by outside when the incident occurred, they happened to see the whole process through the window paper. Later, the Wan'an County government investigated but found nothing unusual, so the case was closed as an accident."

"There were witnesses, and the authorities didn't find anything unusual later, so it must have been an accident, right?"

Zhao Feng asked, puzzled, "Why does Master Liu think this is the case we're looking for?"

"First, there are suspicious points in this case."

"Suspicious points?" Zhao Feng was taken aback.

Everyone else felt a chill run down their spines.

Liu Shuyi said, "According to eyewitness testimonies, they saw through the window paper that Bai Ju'an seemed to want to drink water. He staggered to his feet, but accidentally fell and knocked over the candlestick, causing the candle flame to directly ignite the bed and instantly set the entire house ablaze. They didn't even have a chance to rescue him."

He looked at Zhao Feng and said, "Isn't this fire burning too fast? Without kerosene or other accelerants, even if blankets and mattresses are easy to burn, it shouldn't be possible for flames to fill the entire room in just a few breaths, leaving Bai Ju'an and his wife no time to escape, and the witnesses outside no time to come to their aid, right?"

"This……"

Zhao Feng frowned. He hadn't noticed anything wrong when Liu Shuyi was explaining the case, but now that Liu Shuyi was bringing up this detail, he felt it was indeed illogical.

This fire did indeed burn a little too fast.

"And the second..."

Liu Shuyi looked at the witness's testimony, his eyes narrowing, and said, "It is said that one of the three witnesses testified as follows..."

"He said that he was drinking with his colleagues and they agreed to go to the outhouse together. When they passed by Bai Ju'an's room, they heard a noise coming from inside. When they turned around, they found that the candle had been overturned and flames were rising. He was anxious to go with his colleagues to save people, but because he had injured his ankle on the battlefield with the Turks, he was left with a limp. In addition, they were drunk and drowsy, and they could not walk steadily, so they could not save people in time. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as Bai Ju'an and his wife perished in the fire."

Liu Shuyi turned to Zhao Feng and reminded him, "Do you remember the results of Miss Du's autopsy?"

The autopsy of Miss Du...

Zhao Feng's memory quickly returned to the conversation between Liu Shuyi and Du Ying at Wangyue Tower.

then……

His eyes widened suddenly, and he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise: "A knife wound from a Turkic scimitar, and swelling in the ankle, the possibility of a limp!?"

"so……"

Zhao Feng couldn't help but swallow hard, and said, "The deceased at Wangyue Tower, is this witness?!"

Liu Shuyi said in a deep voice: "The knife wound from the Turkic scimitar proves that he fought with the Turks. The swelling of his ankle proves that he has a limp. According to the records, this man is named Yang Feng. He served in the army for eight years. He left the army due to injury, but because of his military merits, he was given the title of military officer of the rank of 'Military Commandant'."

"Although a military officer has no real power, he has the salary and benefits of a ninth-rank official, so his life is not too bad, which fits the waiter's assessment that he is richly dressed and of high status."

"At the same time, because of his military background, he is impatient and generally has a bad temper, which is consistent with Xiao Er's assessment of him."

"The matching of one or two factors may be a coincidence, but the matching of so many factors cannot be a coincidence."

Liu Shuyi's deduction was reasonable and well-founded, so Zhao Feng had no reason to doubt it.

He nodded emphatically, excitedly saying, "It's definitely him! The deceased must be Yang Feng! We've found him, we've really found him!"

"And the third one..."

Liu Shuyi said, "The time when Bai Ju'an and his wife died in the fire was around 3:45 PM, which is exactly the time when the two self-immolation cases occurred."

"Even the timing is exactly the same!"

"In this way..."

Zhao Feng looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "The murderer is a relative of Bai Ju'an and his wife? Their son?"

Liu Shuyi's gaze returned to the file, and he said, "Bai Ju'an and his wife only have one son, Bai Jinghong. When the accident happened, their son was fifteen years old, and now he is seventeen. He is a little younger than the age described by Xiao Er, but it is normal to make a mistake in judgment if there is a difference of two or three years."

"Then there's no doubt about it, it's definitely him!" Zhao Feng said with absolute certainty. Liu Shuyi neither nodded nor shook his head. It wasn't that he doubted his judgment of the murderer, but rather that his gaze involuntarily fell on the last part of the case file.

That is the initial verdict of the Dali Temple in this case.

The result was no abnormalities.

And behind this result is the name of the person who reviewed it.

—Qin Wuyang, the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, and Liu Shuzhong, the Judge of the Court of Judicial Review, a rank of 8th grade!

His elder brother!

This was the first time he had ever seen his elder brother's name outside of the Liu residence!

Moreover, this case occurred on the fourth day of the fourth month of the ninth year of Wude, only one month after the disappearance of the elder brother on the fourth day of the fifth month.

The elder brother's initial hearing of this case will be held later.

In other words, the elder brother mysteriously disappeared less than a month after participating in the investigation of the case.

Is there any relationship between the two?

And then there's the "no abnormalities" review result.

In the original owner's memories, Liu Shuzhong was an extremely intelligent, calm and quick-witted person. After Liu Wenjing's accident, the Liu family was suppressed by Pei Ji's faction. The fact that they have been able to hold on until now without completely collapsing is all thanks to Liu Shuzhong.

Could someone as intelligent and quick-witted as Liu Shuzhong really not have noticed the unusually rapid spread of the fire in the case file?
Or is there something else hidden here that I don't know about?
Liu Shuyi frowned. He had too little information to make any further speculations.

"Let's go!"

Liu Shuyi stood up, put away the case file, and said, "There's no point in thinking about it too much. We'll find out the truth once we investigate."

With that, he got off the shelf and headed outside.

Wang Gui and the other people from Chang'an County were anxiously waiting outside the storehouse when they suddenly saw Liu Shuyi and his group walking out quickly. Wang Gui hurriedly went up to them and asked nervously and expectantly, "Master Liu, how is it?"

Liu Shuyi's gaze met Wang Gui's tense and anxious eyes, and he smiled slightly: "I have successfully completed my mission and found it."

…………

Tongjifang is located at the southernmost end of Chang'an City, right next to the city wall. It took Liu Shuyi and his group a full half hour to arrive.

According to the location recorded in the file, they stopped in front of a grand mansion.

Looking up at the two characters "Wei Mansion" on the plaque, Wang Gui frowned and asked in confusion, "Isn't this Bai Ju'an's residence? How did it become Wei Mansion?"

Liu Shuyi narrowed his eyes and said, "Just ask."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Feng immediately dismounted and went to knock on the door.

"Coming, coming! Stop knocking, or you'll break the door!"

An unfriendly voice came from inside the door.

Not long after, a creaking sound was heard, and the red-painted door was opened.

A man with a mustache, dressed as a butler, peeked out from behind the door.

"My master has gone to work, you all—"

Before he could finish speaking, his expression changed drastically when he saw Liu Shuyi and the others in official robes standing outside the door.

Then, in front of everyone, he performed a masterful face-changing act, his initial impatience quickly transforming into a fawning, obsequious smile.

He quickly pushed the door open, bowed, and said, "This humble servant greets Your Excellency. May I ask what brings you here?"

Seeing the butler's obsequious manner, Wang Gui and Zhao Feng's eyes flashed with disdain.

Liu Shuyi calmly asked, "Is this Bai Jinghong's residence?"

"Bai Jinghong?"

The steward hurriedly shook his head: "Of course not, this is the Wei family. Our master is Wei Congyi, and his official position is the head of the Ministry of Revenue."

Wei Congyi, a principal clerk in the Ministry of Revenue?
Liu Shuyi looked at Zhao Feng and Wang Gui, and both of them shook their heads.

Just like Liu Shuyi's previous position as the head of the Ministry of Revenue, the head of the Ministry of Justice was an official, but his rank was too low, and no one outside the office where he worked would know about him.

Liu Shuyi asked, "Have you always lived here?"

"Not really."

The housekeeper said, "We moved in the winter before last."

The winter before last?

Liu Shuyi pondered for a moment: "Was this the Bai residence before?"

"Seems to be."

The butler said, "I only started serving you after you moved here, so I don't know much about the history of this house."

"According to people nearby, this used to be a merchant's house, but the merchant had an accident and not only died, but also lost all his important goods. This caused creditors to come to collect their debts and eventually took over the house. Then our master bought the house from the creditors."

Liu Shuyi nodded and asked, "Do you know where the original owner of this house is? Have you ever seen him?"

"I have not seen it."

The butler shook his head: "However, his ancestral home has been taken away by creditors, and now he is homeless. He probably won't be doing too well."

Hearing the butler's words, Wang Gui's heart sank. He said, "This is troublesome. Bai Jinghong has disappeared without a trace, and the Bai family has changed owners. We have no way to investigate further."

Liu Shuyi frowned and pondered for a moment, then said, "County Commandant Wang, how long will it take for your subordinates who went to confirm whether Chen Feng's three witnesses are missing to return?"

Wang Gui thought for a moment and said, "The residences of these three people are in different neighborhoods in Chang'an City, and their families may not know that something has happened to them. It will take some time, at least half an hour."

"More than half an hour?"

Liu Shuyi looked up at the setting sun and said, "Time is running out."

Wang Gui was startled.

Liu Shuyi said, "There are three eyewitnesses in the case file. If my deduction is correct, the murderer is seeking revenge based on this case. That means he believes that these three eyewitnesses are problematic and that his parents did not commit suicide by accident, but were killed by these three people."

"Therefore, he won't stop after killing just the first two."

"Now that we've begun our revenge, we won't let anyone get away with it!"

“And every time he made a move, it was at three-quarters past 7 PM, which is exactly the time of death of Bai Ju’an and his wife in the case file… Making a move at this time was an obsession for him!”

"Therefore, he will definitely choose to make his move against the third person at the hour of Xu (7:45 PM)! But now, there is only one hour left until the hour of Xu (7:45 PM)!"

He looked at the solemn-looking crowd and said, "And we don't even know who the only survivor is, where he is now, or whether he has made contact with the murderer."

"Furthermore, the murderer always chooses the location in advance each time he strikes, and this time will certainly be no exception. However, we have no clue which inn or restaurant he chose. There are at least one or two hundred restaurants and inns in the entire city of Chang'an!"

"Is it possible to find the location where the murderer intends to commit the crime within an hour, by searching through all the inns and restaurants scattered throughout Chang'an?"

Hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Wang Gui felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

He couldn't help but swallow, his hands and feet were ice-cold, and he subconsciously shook his head: "Too late! How could it possibly be too late!?"

"Even if I were to mobilize all the manpower in Chang'an County government right now, even if I were to ask the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Imperial Guard to take action... it would probably take me more than half an hour to get from here to those government offices. After going through the formalities and arranging manpower, the remaining half hour would have already passed. There simply wouldn't be enough time!"

His face turned pale, and the other yamen runners and officials from the Ministry of Justice also felt a chill enveloping their entire bodies.

They thought Liu Shuyi had meticulously unraveled the mystery of the self-immolation, found the case file, and brought them here, and that they were just one step away from solving the case and that it was about to be over.

But who knew that this seemingly small step would be as far as an abyss!

They've already investigated this far, they know the killer's intentions and identity, and all they can do is watch helplessly as the killer murders a third person... How could they possibly be willing to do that?

But what can you do if you don't want to?
An hour is too short!

There's no time to do anything!
At this moment, everyone felt a tremendous sense of powerlessness.

This is the helplessness of having no recourse in the face of visible despair.

"Is there really no other way?"

Seeing everyone gritting their teeth and stamping their feet, Zhao Feng couldn't help but look at Liu Shuyi and say, "Master Liu, are we really just going to watch him continue killing people?"

Upon hearing this, everyone subconsciously looked at Liu Shuyi.

If there's anyone in their hearts who can still create miracles, it's Liu Shuyi.

After all, they had witnessed Liu Shuyi's abilities firsthand. Without Liu Shuyi, they would never have arrived here and would never have known the murderer's identity.

But... no matter how capable Liu Shuyi is, he can't solve a problem that's so obvious, right?

As long as time cannot be reversed, it is impossible to stop the murderer before he takes action!
At this moment, Wang Gui and the others were conflicted. They knew that no one could change the current situation, but they still held onto Liu Shuyi's last hope, because if even Liu Shuyi couldn't do anything, they would really have to accept their fate.

Then, they heard Liu Shuyi's voice slowly ring out: "I can give it a try."

　This case should be closed tomorrow. I apologize for keeping everyone waiting for so long.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)