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

Liang Gaocheng and Duan Hongzhi glanced at each other quickly, their faces looking very ugly. Then Duan Hongzhi turned his head away and denied it: "That's nonsense. I don't understand what you are saying!"

"It doesn't matter. If you don't understand, I can explain it to you." Lin Lezhi responded calmly.

"In the case of the missing bride in Yulong Village, a total of six bodies have been found in Yulong Village since twelve years ago."

"In order to avoid the anger of the river god, the villagers of Yulong Village would hold a human sacrifice every two years. Three young women, including He Yuqing, lost their lives during the sacrifice."

Lin Lezhi glanced in the direction of the people. There were many children among them. Lin Lezhi felt that there was no need to explain many things, and then slowly said: "The other three corpses are the corpses of the deceased women that the village chief of Yulong Village paid for."

"However, the villagers of Yulong Village deliberately concealed the incident, so not many people outside the village knew about it. The source of all this tragedy was that a rich man threatened He Yuqing's parents' lives and forced He Yuqing to marry him."

Liang Gaocheng snorted coldly and said, "He Yuqing jumped into the river and died. What does it have to do with us?"

"If you feel that you have a clear conscience, why do you keep silent about the matter of marrying a new bride? Also, I never said how He Yuqing died. How did the Third Boss know about it? Could it be that the Third Boss was present?"

The third master's pupils shrank, and he said quickly: "What's the point of marrying a wife? Besides, since not many people know about it, and no one here can testify, who knows if you are intentionally framing me."

Hearing this, Xiao Yihuo's brows frowned slightly, and his expression darkened.

Before Xiao Yihuo could take any action, Lin Lezhi smiled at him calmly, and his eyes suggested that Xiao Yihuo didn't need to worry.

"Third Master, what you said is wrong. There is indeed no one here who can testify for me, but that doesn't mean there is no evidence left. Please take a look."

Lin Lezhi turned around and took out something from his arms in front of everyone. Looking at the thing in Lin Lezhi's hand, the people were confused.

Duan and Liang turned their heads to try to see clearly what Lin Lezhi was holding, but Lin Lezhi had his back to them, and they couldn't see it at all from where they were kneeling.

Yang Hancai also stretched his neck, trying to see clearly, but when he thought of his identity as a prefect, he quickly sat down and straightened his posture.

"When I was in Yulong Village, the village chief Ji was afraid that I would discover the secrets that had been hidden in the village for many years, so he wanted to use a drug to make me fall asleep. Fortunately, I found out in time and did not faint."

Liang Gaocheng looked unhappy and said disdainfully: "It's just a stick of incense, it's not a rare thing, how can it be considered evidence!"

"Would you like to take a look at what I have in my hand first, bosses?" Lin Lezhi turned around and held the thing in his hand in front of the two of them.

"Are you two trying to say that you don't recognize this thing?"

Duan and Liang's faces turned dark instantly.

What Lin Lezhi was holding in his hand was not incense at all, but two thin hollow stalks. Due to the heat and smoke generated by the burning incense, the front part of the light yellow stalk was smoked black.

Before, before he and Xiao Yihuo appeared on the tree in the backyard, Lin Lezhi deliberately looked for the two straws outside the door, but when he arrived in front of the door, he did not find them, only some incense ashes scattered on the ground.

Just as Lin Lezhi was squatting on the ground grabbing his hair, almost thinking that there was no way out, Xiao Yihuo took it out from his arms, handed it to Lin Lezhi, and said lightly: "Is this what you are looking for?"

Lin Lezhi's eyes lit up all of a sudden, he stood up and took it, "This is it, it seems you are not blind."

However, after Lin Lezhi took it and walked a few steps, he felt something was wrong. His eyes darkened again, and he looked at Xiao Yihuo and complained: "But...if you find anything useful again, can you give it to me earlier?"

Xiao Yihuo curled up the corners of his mouth into a smile, and said as a matter of course: "I wanted to give it to you, but I saw that you were very happy to be given a nickname, so I didn't interrupt you."

Lin Lezhi was so angry that he lost all his temper.

Okay, love is waiting for me here. Lin Lezhi breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "Anyway, thank you very much."

Lin Lezhi tilted the two hollow rods slightly, and the unburned incense slipped out, with signs of breakage at the ends.

Lin Lezhi followed his heart and said with a lingering fear on his face: "If I hadn't seen this incense in Yulong Village and knew how powerful it was, I'm afraid I would have been hiding under your knives by now."

Yang Hancai became more and more confused as he listened, and asked in confusion: "It's just a stick of incense, is it that powerful?"

"Of course it's awesome."

Lin Lezhi presented the incense to Yang Hancai and said, "Although this incense looks ordinary and no different from ordinary incense, it smells very special, with a faint musky scent."

"I wonder if Magistrate Yang still remembers the underworld flowers that bloomed on the corpses of the bandits in the mass grave."

"Of course I remember. That's the poisonous Datura flower. It can usually only be seen outside Northern Qi on the border leading to Yunqiang Kingdom. Could it be..." As he spoke, Yang Hancai's face suddenly turned pale and he retreated backwards, trying to avoid this thing as much as possible.

"What Magistrate Yang thought was correct. This fragrance is extracted from the Datura flower, and it also has a nice name."

"The spring breeze blows the willow leaves, and a dream makes one drunk. According to the village chief, this incense is called Fu Sheng Zui. It was given to He Yuqing by a rich man who wanted to marry her, but was afraid that she would regret it before she got married. When the incense is lit, it can make people fall asleep at best, or even cause hallucinations, with the body swaying like a willow leaf, as if drunk."

Lin Lezhi looked at Shi Peng who was kneeling on the ground and said, "When you sneaked into the abandoned house, were the bandits in the abandoned house in the same state?"

Shi Peng seemed to have not yet come out of his previous self-blame, and his expression was dazed, but he still followed Lin Lezhi's words and nodded affirmatively.

After receiving Shi Peng's affirmative response, Lin Lezhi looked at everyone and said, "In fact, they are not drunk, but they have been poisoned by the mandragora flower, which has made them unconscious, just like being drunk."

Lin Lezhi took a deep breath and said, "The people of Yulong Village didn't want to help you accomplish this, but you said that if this fails, all the people of Yulong Village will be buried with you."

"But you didn't expect that He Yuqing refused to marry and even jumped into the river to die even though she was drunk. This matter could have ended there, but you killed her without mercy and even killed He Yuqing's parents. If it weren't for you, those innocent women wouldn't have died!"

"Perhaps you would never have thought that after more than ten years, Yulong Village still has the incense you gave me, so I dared to use it on me and Boss Hu today."

The four customers had been moved out through the tunnel by Lin Lezhi a long time ago, so Boss Hu had no idea about this incense. Upon hearing about this, Boss Hu's face changed and he looked at the incense with fear.

"I just want to ask, do you recognize the lives of He's parents or not?" Lin Lezhi said with a calm look in his eyes.

Liang Gaocheng sneered, showing disdain for Lin Lezhi's inference, and said sarcastically: "Based on this, why do you think this incense is ours? How many people are there in Ya Ren Zhuang? Did you see us order it with your own eyes?"

Hearing this, Lin Lezhi smiled calmly, then looked at Liang Gaocheng and said, "I said that the two heads of the family are smart people, but they are often too smart for their own good."

"What do you mean?"

"Since you know this incense, you naturally know how powerful it is, but you don't know how much incense is needed to be effective. In order to be safe, you must have taken a whole stick each and put it on your body."

"But if this fragrance continues to burn, it might hurt yourself."

Lin Lezhi held the small piece of Fu Sheng Zui in his hand. The bottom of the incense had obvious signs of being broken. Then Lin Lezhi said slowly, "Since you were captured this morning, you probably haven't had a chance to deal with the evidence that was broken off."

Suddenly, Duan Hongzhi's eyes widened, with a look of panic on his face.

Yang Hancai quickly picked up the stone and slammed it on the table again. The hole on the table got bigger. "Quick, search their bodies!"

Under Yang Hancai's order, the people disguised as the people from Ya Renzhuang immediately stepped forward and held down Duan and Liang, and indeed found a broken Fu Sheng Zui from each of them.

"The evidence is irrefutable, and you still want to quibble. Tell me! Were the other bandits poisoned in the abandoned house also caused by you two? Why don't you confess the truth now!"

Yang Hancai stopped banging on the table and threw the gavel to the ground with an angry look on his face.

The sound made by the stone when it was thrown to the ground was not loud. Instead, it made a crisp sound when it landed on the stone slab. However, it was enough to scare Duan Hongzhi so much that he bounced on the ground.

Duan Hongzhi trembled and said, "It's unfair, Lord Yang. This... this Xiangyuan is not ours. The brothers in the waste... the waste house have nothing to do with us. We only found out that they were killed in the house after we went out and came back."

"He...He Yuqing, she had already been poisoned by Fu Sheng Zui long before we found her. We just wanted to...want to find out if anyone from the Xing family survived that year. In case, that's why we...were responsible for taking the lives of the He family."

"How could you make the matter of murder sound so easy? You are truly heartless. You aided and abetted the evil, indirectly killing many young women, as well as He's parents. You can no longer escape the death penalty!"

Hearing this, Duan Hongzhi collapsed to the ground.

Yang Hancai wanted to bang the stone again to make a final decision, but the stone had already been thrown onto the stone slab by himself, so he had no choice but to bang the table with his hand.

"Come here, first temporarily detain them in a room. After all the corpses here are buried, bring these two back to the Changluan County Office to convict them and let the truth be known to the world!"

The case was solved, and the people all showed joy on their faces and shed tears of joy. Shi Peng's tense expression finally relaxed.

In the absence of yamen runners, the task of detaining Duan and Liang could only be done by the common people who had infiltrated the Ya Ren Village.

At this moment, Duan Hongzhi suddenly used his body to push away the people nearby, and used the knife hidden in his sleeve to cut the rope between himself and Liang Gaocheng.

After the fake owner of the manor said that, the knife was put away.

Yang Hancai was so scared that he hid aside.

Duan Hongzhi stared with bloodshot eyes, panting heavily, holding the dagger in his hand, and said to Lin Lezhi viciously: "What does this have to do with you? Why do you have to meddle in other people's business!"

Lin Lezhi lowered his eyes for a moment, then raised them again without the slightest hesitation or fear in his eyes, and said firmly: "It's not that I'm meddling in other people's business, it's just your karma from heaven, you can't blame anyone else."

“Hahahahahahaha…” Duan Hongzhi laughed wildly for a while, then looked at everyone present and said, “It’s God’s will. Fine, we’re all going to die anyway, so I’ll drag a few more people down with me.”

"Also! I was going to marry He Yuqing, and I was the one who ordered the He family to be killed. It had nothing to do with my third brother. I forced him to do it."

"Brother--!"

"Stop talking, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have brought you to do this kind of thing." After saying that, Duan Hongzhi looked at everyone present and said, "I did everything by myself. If you want to kill me, just kill me alone!"

Liang Gaocheng, who had been unwilling to accept the defeat and wanted to fight his way out, suddenly lost his stubbornness and said, "Brother, forget it."

"I've said before, if I ever see that little bastard, I'll send him to report to the King of Hell." After saying that, Duan Hongzhi roared and stabbed at Shi Peng who was still sitting on the ground.

Shi Peng saw it and had no intention of hiding.

At the critical moment, Xiao Yihuo rushed to the front. Lin Lezhi rushed over a little slower, which frightened Yang Hancai so much that his legs and feet almost went limp. He hid aside and shouted, "My lord, be careful with the knife!"

Xiao Yihuo twisted Duan Hongzhi's wrist and the knife fell to the ground. Lin Lezhi kicked the knife away, and the people behind them quickly pinned Duan and Liang to the ground.

"You didn't..." Lin Lezhi helped Shi Peng up. Before he could ask any concerned words, the thing on Shi Peng's waist slipped down halfway. When it fell, the white cloth tied on the knife handle was already stained with blood.

Shi Peng's waist and abdomen had been pierced by a sharp blade, and blood was still flowing out.

Looking at the blood-stained knife on the ground, Lin Lezhi realized that this was the knife that was trapped when he came here. Didn’t he bury it in the soil?

Lin Lezhi supported Shi Peng's upper body and squatted down. The moment he squatted down, Shi Peng leaned close to Lin Lezhi's ear and whispered something. Suddenly, Lin Lezhi's eyes widened in disbelief.

Seeing this, Xiao Yihuo also walked forward and squatted down. Lin Lezhi's hand was trembling as he supported Shi Peng.

Qingchuan went forward to check on Shi Peng's condition, and then shook his head helplessly at Lin Lezhi and Xiao Yihuo.

The knife was already coated with a deadly poison.

"Why are you doing this?" There was an unresolved sorrow in Lin Lezhi's eyes.

"Jiang... Young Master Jiang, I don't care about their lives, but the civilian from Yunqiang country who died was innocent. If I hadn't planned all this, he might not have died. I am giving my life back to him."

"Thank...thank you two gentlemen for helping us. Now...now...my wish has been fulfilled. Xiao An must be waiting for me..." Shi Peng looked at Xiao Yihuo and Lin Lezhi and asked, "Can I...can I ask you two gentlemen for another favor?"

"You say." Xiao Yihuo said.

Shi Peng panted heavily and said with an uneasy look: "The people in the abandoned house, they are just helping me, can you please not punish them."

"Don't worry, they'll be fine."

After receiving Xiao Yihuo's promise, Shi Peng finally smiled and said, "Thank you... Thank you, Your Majesty... Thank you, Mr. Jiang..."

Lin Lezhi tried hard to calm himself down, and while Shi Peng was still conscious, he took out the peace knot that belonged to Shi Peng from his arms and returned it to Shi Peng.

"That's great." Looking at the peace knot, Shi Peng's smile deepened.

Shi Peng smiled and looked at the people in the abandoned house. They had already burst into tears. Shi Peng held on for a breath and said weakly, "Thank you all for staying with me all these years. I have a family again."

After saying this, Shi Peng closed his eyes forever, smiled and fell asleep.