When the book-traveling little detective meets the two-faced prince

He confessed what was weighing on his mind and explained his abnormal behavior since landing on the island, but Zhou Yuanliang did not feel relieved at all, nor did he feel any relief for a moment. Instead, he felt even more depressed.

It felt like a heavy stone pressing down on his heart, making it almost impossible for him to breathe and his back became more and more bent.

finally.

He collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

Just as he could not experience the pain that the villagers of Huaifeng Village endured before their death, he was not qualified to feel sadness and resentment on their behalf.

same.

It was also difficult for him to judge what Zhou Yuanliang said and experienced.

After a while, Lin Lezhi helped Zhou Yuanliang up, patted Zhou Yuanliang's shoulder and comforted him: "It has already happened, and the past cannot be changed. What we can do now is to find out the truth and prevent anyone from getting hurt again. You are very brave to speak out."

Hearing this, Zhou Yuanliang's dull eyes gradually regained focus, and a glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes as he looked at Lin Lezhi.

"really?"

Zhou Yuanliang asked with anticipation and gratitude in his eyes, and in an urgent yet somewhat uncertain tone.

Lin Lezhi responded with a firm look and nodded solemnly.

Deng Yang lowered his eyes and pondered Lin Lezhi's words. His brows furrowed tighter and tighter. He couldn't figure it out: "But...but why would he do this? This will not benefit him at all. Why would he risk his life? There are so many fishermen. Why did County Magistrate Chang insist that Wu Sanshan do this? Could it be that he has some leverage over County Magistrate Chang?"

Lin Lezhi exhaled lightly and said slowly: "I think... it is of no benefit to him, and he is not doing this for himself."

"Not for yourself?"

Deng Yang's expression became increasingly incomprehensible, and the people around him were equally confused.

"The lanterns reflected on the lake, but the three mountains were not visible."

Everyone was already very confused, and Lin Lezhi suddenly uttered this inexplicable sentence, which sounded like a poem with a sense of melancholy, making everyone present even more confused.

"What do you mean by this?"

There was no urging in Cheng Su's tone, he just asked in a deep voice.

Lin Lezhi looked at Cheng Su and said slowly, "General Cheng, do you still remember that when Magistrate Chang went to investigate Wu Sanshan's identity, he brought back the news that there was no such person."

Hearing this, Cheng Su's eyes darkened and he motioned Lin Lezhi to continue.

"No one in Haibei Village or even the entire Pinghai Town knows where Wu Sanshan came from. All we know is that when Wu Sanshan came, he covered his face with a veil. When others asked him, he just said that he was not good-looking and was afraid of scaring others. It's not surprising that the villagers don't know Wu Sanshan's origins, but why the government can't find any clues, isn't it strange?"

"Are you saying that Chang Feizhang lied?"

"I think...Regarding the fact that Wu Sanshan's origins could not be found in the register, County Magistrate Chang did not lie. He did investigate according to the general's order, and the result was that there was no such person. Even if General Cheng did not believe Chang Feizhang and sent someone to investigate himself, he would only get the same result."

"Why?"

"The reason has already been revealed by County Magistrate Chang."

"Oh?"

"General, do you still remember that day in the military tent, when Magistrate Chang came to report that he had not found out about Wu Sanshan's background, and the general reprimanded him, he said something."

Thinking back to Chang Feizhang's failure to find out Wu Sanshan's origin, Cheng Su flew into a rage, frightening Chang Feizhang so much that he kowtowed and said, "Maybe Wu Sanshan is not his real name, so he is not found in the register."

"A pseudonym..."

Cheng Su murmured.

"Yes, it is an alias. A person changes his name and appears under a new name. He can conceal his past and start over in a new place."

Lin Lezhi paused, then continued, "Whether it's County Magistrate Chang or General Cheng who investigates, the results will be the same because it's easy to miss something."

"The household registration of all the people in Pinghai Town is stored in one place, so how could there be any omissions?"

"For the registers are searched of the living, not of the dead."

Lin Lezhi's words made almost everyone present feel a jolt in their hearts, and there was a great deal of fear in their eyes, but Jiang Lian'an's eyes did not show much fluctuation. Judging from his expression, it seemed that he had known it for a long time.

Lin Lezhi did not beat around the bush and stated his own inference: "The household registration of all the people in Qujiang County is naturally registered in different books according to each village and town. This makes it very convenient and clear to search. But... if a person is deceased, or... if all the people in the village are missing for no reason, then their household registration will be easily overlooked."

"Even if he didn't ignore it and opened the dusty register, he had flipped through it countless times eleven years ago. He didn't find anything back then, so now he would just flip through it roughly and not think about it. Not to mention, Wu Sanshan is not his real name, but a pseudonym."

Cheng Su's eyes showed a great shock, and he said, "You mean, Wu Sanshan is from Huaifeng Village."

"The lanterns reflect the lake, but the three mountains are invisible." Lin Lezhi recited the sentence again and explained slowly: "When you first walk to Pinghai Lake, you can see two green mountains standing on the lake island, and there are mountains behind the lake island. You can see different things depending on where you stand. If you walk slowly north along Pinghai Lake, you can see the third mountain hidden behind the mountain on the left."

As he spoke, Lin Lezhi's eyes darkened, and he swayed slightly as he said, "I think... the name Wu Sanshan may mean leaving his hometown and never seeing the three mountains again."

Realizing that he was distracted, Lin Lezhi immediately came back to his senses, looked at Cheng Su and said, "This is just my personal guess. The truth needs to be further investigated by the general after returning to Pinghai Town. I think... as long as we start with the people who left Huaifeng Village or disappeared in the early years, and then compare it with the time when Wu Sanshan appeared in Pinghai Town, we can get the truth."

"Going north, isn't that Haibei Village!" Meng Dafeng said thoughtfully, "Wu Sanshan is from Huaifeng Village, so everything makes sense. He wanted to avenge the dead people of Huaifeng Village. So Wu Sanshan planned all this with County Magistrate Chang, and the people they killed were the villains who massacred the entire village that year and left clues to the second Huaifeng Village for us to discover. If Wu Sanshan had not lived on the lake island for a long time, he would not have known everything on the island so well."

The green leaves under the discarded items, the stove with no leaves falling on it, and the small stones on the roof used as signs were all clues they had carefully planned and left behind.

Meng Dafeng's eyes revealed an unconcealable sadness, and he could not help but say, "But why does he have to die?"

Meng Dafeng's words came from his heart, and everyone present had the same feeling. In addition, they had always believed that Wu Sanshan was a greedy and murderous villain, and they were prejudiced against him.

At this moment, I feel mixed emotions.

Obviously, he could have survived by simply hiding somewhere on the island and reappearing after the truth was revealed. However, he chose to end his life in such a tragic way.

Deng Yang's eyes were filled with astonishment and grief, but he could also see a hint of joy as he said, "I knew that Magistrate Chang was a good official. He knew that the people were still worried about what happened back then, and he never gave up investigating the Huaifeng Village case eleven years ago. He had no other choice but to come up with this plan and kill the villain by faking his own death. But... now that the truth is becoming clear, why hasn't he shown up yet?"

Liu Yunhe suddenly thought of something and said with a serious look on his face, "Could it be that the murderer who massacred the people of Huaifeng Village back then is still among us?"

After the words were spoken, everyone's hearts, which had relaxed a little, tensed up again. Everyone looked panicked, and they looked at the people around them with scrutiny and suspicion.

Lin Lezhi looked at Jiang Guitan, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he said in a slightly joking tone: "I have said so much, Jiang Guitan is not going to tell you what you know?"

Hearing this, everyone turned their eyes to Jiang Lian'an, who had not spoken for a long time.

Originally, everyone regarded Jiang Lian'an as a chivalrous man who saved people from distress, but the current situation is difficult to understand, and people have become wary and fearful of Jiang Lian'an.

Amid the silence of the crowd, Jiang Lian'an remained calm and said calmly, "Brother Lin did say a lot, and his inferences about the case were reasonable, as if he had seen it with his own eyes. But... why did Brother Lin assert that I also knew about this matter, and was so sure that I knew the whereabouts of County Magistrate Chang? What evidence do you have?"