The coroner and the concubine doctor pursue the murderer in the Dali Temple

Xiao Mubei and Chu Yunxi entered Hu Min's home and saw that his house was much bigger than Du Pei's. The tables, chairs, beds and stools he used were also made of better materials than those used by ordinary villagers here. It seemed that he often extorted money from the common people.

Hu Min followed in, looked at Xiao Mubei cautiously, and asked, "I wonder what the prince wants to see me for?"

Xiao Mubei sat down at the top seat and stared at Hu Min for a while, which made him feel guilty and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Xiao Mubei then spoke, "Hu Min, three days ago, from the hour of Shen to the hour of You on the third day of the second lunar month, where were you?"

Hu Min raised his head and thought for a while, then said, "That day I drank with a bunch of friends until 3 p.m., and then we came back to sleep."

“Is there anyone else in the family who can vouch for you?”

Hu Min shook his head. "My parents don't live here. I usually live here alone."

"That means no one can prove your whereabouts after Shen Shi, right?"

Hu Min nodded in confusion.

Xiao Mubei asked again: "Do you know Du Pei from the east end of the village?"

"Yes, didn't he die two days ago?"

"Yes, Du Pei is dead. Someone saw you going to Du Pei's house to look for him recently. What were you doing?"

Hu Min was stunned for a moment before he realized, "Your Highness, do you suspect that I killed Du Pei?"

"Before the murderer is caught, we must investigate everyone who has had contact with Du Pei."

"It's unfair, Your Majesty. I... I did look for him recently, but it was only because he owed me money. I went to him to ask him to pay me back." Hu Min immediately cried out for injustice.

"When did he owe you money? How much did he owe you? Was there an IOU?"

Xiao Mubei's three consecutive questions made beads of sweat appear on Hu Min's forehead again. Chu Yunxi couldn't help but secretly praise him in her heart. The prince has become more and more experienced in questioning cases recently.

Hu Min raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his temples and replied, "He borrowed 100 taels of silver from me about a month ago, saying that he wanted to... he said that he wanted to use it to repair the house. We are all fellow villagers, so I didn't ask him to write an IOU."

Chu Yunxi thought that Du Pei's house didn't even have a decent table, and Du Pei was timid and afraid of things, while Hu Min was the village bully. Even if Du Pei wanted to borrow money, he probably wouldn't go to Hu Min.

She signaled Xiao Mubei with her eyes, and Xiao Mubei immediately understood. He slammed the table with a loud bang and shouted, "You are lying!"

Hu Min was so frightened that his whole body shuddered. He immediately knelt down reflexively, his body shaking continuously.

Xiao Mubei stood up, exuding a cold aura, and walked to Hu Min step by step, saying word by word: "Hu Min, I will give you one last chance. Tell me the truth about that day. I will consider it as your voluntary confession. Otherwise, although this is not the Dali Temple, I have plenty of ways to make you tell the truth. Do you want to try?"

Hu Min's body was shaking even more violently, and his words were incoherent, "Prince...Prince, that person...that person was really not killed by me...me."

"I'm asking you, did you go to find Du Pei between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. that afternoon?"

“I’ve been there.”

Xiao Mubei and Chu Yunxi looked at each other. He had indeed been to the Du family. It seemed that they were one step closer to the truth.

"What were you doing?" Xiao Mubei's tone was still cold.

Hu Min wiped the sweat off his head again, made up his mind, and said, "Your Highness, Du Pei...he is a prostitute, you know that, right?"

Xiao Mubei said coldly: "Don't ask me, just tell me what's yours."

Hu Min said: "That day, I drank too much and felt hot all over, so I wanted to find him to relieve... relieve my heat, so I went to his house to find him and did it with him... did that thing. Du Pei has a fetish, he likes... to be strangled by the neck, I also think it's very exciting, but I know my limits and always control the time. It was the same that day. When I left, Du Pei... he was still fine."

"When did you leave?"

"It was probably... 3:45 pm, because I had to go to the casino to collect gambling debts at 5:00 pm. The people in the casino can prove it. Today, I heard that Qin Shiyue sued Wang Youshan, and I thought that after I left, Wang Youshan went back and accidentally strangled Du Pei. Your Majesty, couldn't it be Wang Youshan?"

Xiao Mubei said coldly: "Don't ask about things you shouldn't ask about. Hu Min, your suspicion has not been cleared yet. Please follow us for the time being. If we find out that you didn't do it, we will naturally let you go."

Hu Min shouted again, "Your Majesty, it really wasn't me who did it. Your Majesty is very clear."

The purple-robed guards ignored his shouting, and two of them picked him up and dragged him away. Although Hu Min knew some martial arts, he did not dare to resist and was obediently taken back to Zhuoma's mansion.

It was already very late when Xiao Mubei and Chu Yunxi left Hu Min's house. They had not had dinner yet. They were too busy organizing the engagement banquet at noon and had not had time to eat anything. They were both hungry. They saw a noodle stall on the side of the road, so they sat down and ordered a bowl of noodles each.

The stall owner also went to the engagement banquet at noon. When he saw the prince and princess visiting his small stall, he felt honored and refused to take any money no matter what.

Xiao Mubei had no choice but to thank him and sit down. There were not many people at the stall at this time, so Xiao Mubei and Chu Yunxi discussed Hu Min's confession again.

Chu Yunxi pondered and said, "I think Hu Min is telling the truth. If he killed the person, he wouldn't be in this state when he first saw us today. He would either be very nervous or run away. If he had a strong psychological quality, he would pretend to be calm and think of the words carefully. He wouldn't make up a clumsy lie that is easy to be found out."

Xiao Mubei agreed with Chu Yunxi's words, "If Hu Min is telling the truth, then the time range of Du Pei's death is narrowed down to the evening hour. As long as we find someone who went to Du Pei's house at the evening hour, then this person is basically the murderer without a doubt."

"That's right, but we asked Du Pei's neighbors, and no one saw anyone going there at that time. Logically, every household would not close the door at You hour, so if someone went there, it would be impossible that no one saw it. What went wrong?" Chu Yunxi pondered.

The stall owner brought two bowls of noodles with a lot of beef in them. The two men thanked him again and started eating.

Perhaps because she was really hungry, Chu Yunxi felt that this noodle was more delicious than ever before.

While they were eating, Wen Rulan also came. As soon as he sat down, he immediately ordered a bowl of noodles. He was also very hungry.

Chu Yunxi swallowed the noodles and asked, "Brother, did you gain anything?"

Wen Rulan shook her head. "No one in the village is missing, and no one has noticed anything unusual. Du Pei's neighbor next door even said that because of Du Pei's case, people kept coming to their house to question them these past two days, and they are very annoyed. They hope that we can solve the case as soon as possible so that they can live in peace."