Qingyun's Love: Tiger Boy Falls in Love with a Pretty Lawyer

Ran Mo's eyes lit up. This was a valuable clue. After asking the man's name, she and Qing Sheng returned to the cell. He stared at the woman for a long while, but didn't say anything. The woman felt a little uneasy under his gaze.

Ran Mo decided to trick her. With a hint of regret, he slowly said, "Why are you hiding the truth? Lü Da has been taken into custody by the county government. You must know what he will say. Now it depends on how you can get yourself out."

The woman's face paled slightly at this. This detail didn't escape Ranmo and the others' attention. Qingsheng was about to ask further questions, but Ranmo stopped him with a look. The woman gritted her teeth and looked upward again, wanting to speak but stopping herself.

Ran Mo struck while the iron was hot, "How long are you going to hesitate? Now is the time to prove your innocence and seek justice for your husband so that he can rest in peace! Just tell us if he has ever behaved badly."

The woman closed her eyes and pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised her head and said, "Although I made some minor mistakes, I didn't do anything serious. I don't know what Lu Da did. I just need to talk about my relationship with him."

Ran Mo nodded. With this in mind, they could slowly investigate. The two of them listened intently as the woman began to speak softly.

Her family was distantly related to Lu Daben. When she first married here, she had helped out a lot. But later, as men and women avoided suspicion, they didn't visit each other often.

Until one day, he met her on the street and saw that her face was a little red and swollen. He asked her how it happened. She didn't want to tell him at first, but then she remembered that they were related, so she told him that she and her husband had quarreled and he had accidentally slapped her.

Upon hearing this, Lü Da was furious and immediately wanted to go to her house to settle the score with her husband. She quickly stopped him, saying that every family has its own difficulties and that fortunately their relationship had not yet deteriorated to that point.

Lu Da finally stopped talking and said that if her husband ever beat her again, she must tell him and he would support her. Although she didn't say anything, she felt very warm in her heart.

From then on, she no longer had to avoid him. Sometimes, when she stopped by to do some work, she would bump into him and they would chat. She no longer felt as depressed as before.

Originally, their relationship wasn't unusual. But one New Year's Eve, she thought it would be lonely for Lu Da to be alone, so she made some extra dumplings in advance and secretly sent them to him when she had a chance.

Lü Da, who had always been aloof, was moved by her presence, and he greeted her tenderly. She sensed the atmosphere was off, put down her dumplings, and turned to leave. But Lü Da, possessed by his own desires, embraced her and refused to let her go.

She was terrified, and fearing her screams would attract others, she could only offer gentle persuasion. Still, Lyuda wouldn't let go. She had no choice but to tell him that if she and her husband ever could no longer live together and divorced, she would naturally come to him.

Lydda then let her go. She took advantage of the opportunity to flee. She was a woman who strictly followed the rules of marriage, and she never met Lydda again after that.

At first, Lü Da found an excuse to go to her house to do something, but when she showed him indifference and coldness, he had no choice but to go back. He never came back.

The woman recounted all this with a sorrowful look on her face. She concluded by saying she couldn't say for sure whether Lydda was involved in her husband's death, but that Lydda was definitely not a bad man. She hoped the authorities would investigate and not wrongly accuse a good man.

After hearing this, Ranmo and Qingsheng weren't happy about finding a new clue. Instead, they felt a little upset. Ranmo thought for a moment and asked, "Then do you remember when was the last time Lu Da came to your house?"

After calming down a bit, the woman said, "About ten days ago."

Ran Mo nodded slightly and took note of it. Then he casually asked, why did she buy rat poison when she already had a cat at home?

The woman explained that she had only just brought the cat in from another family a few days ago. She'd bought the medicine, but she was afraid it would spill everywhere and get eaten by the chickens and ducks, which would be disastrous. So she'd kept it in the closet, unused. Later, when she got the cat, she planned to let it catch mice.

"Then did you tell him that you bought arsenic?" Ran Mo asked calmly.

The woman's expression changed slightly, and after a moment she said that she had a lot of things to do at home and couldn't remember.

Ran Mo asked her a few more detailed questions, and then they needed to check on Lü Da's situation. After comforting the woman, the two men left the cell and reported the details to the magistrate.

The magistrate nodded and said that this was a new clue. He had sent someone to summon Lü Da. If Lü Da dared to refuse or flee, it would clearly indicate that he had something to hide.

Soon, Lü Da was summoned. The magistrate ordered his men to prepare and set up a small court in the yamen, similar to a simplified trial procedure.

Ran Mo looked over. He saw a stocky figure with a square face. His eyes were calm, yet tinged with a hint of cunning.

The magistrate slammed the gavel and shouted, "Lü Da, tell me the truth. Are you involved in the death of Zhu's son?"

Upon hearing this, Lü Da cried out in injustice. The magistrate shouted, "Don't deny it! Zhu's daughter-in-law has already confessed everything about you and her. If you can confess the truth, you might even get a lighter sentence."

Lu Da raised his head and replied, "I don't understand what you mean. Although Zhu's daughter-in-law is related to me, we don't interact with her on a daily basis. Her husband and I have no grudges against each other. Why would I want to harm her?"

"From what I've heard, the rumor is that the man took poison and died. What does this have to do with anyone else? Are we going to wrongfully accuse the living because of a dead person? If the Zhu family's daughter-in-law is making a false accusation against my good man, I will confront her face to face!"

His eloquent defense was well-reasoned and contained more evidence than the two paragraphs spoken by the magistrate combined.

The magistrate paused for a moment. Ranmo, standing at the side of the hall, saw this and signaled to ask a question, but the magistrate waved her off and told her to go ahead.

Ran Mo looked at Lu Da and said, "You can speak openly. The more you talk, the clearer things will be. If you conceal any details, you naturally know the consequences. Let me ask you, when was the last time you went to the Zhu family?"

Lu Dalue was startled, then thought for a moment and said, "About twenty days ago. I can't remember exactly." Ran Mo knew he was hiding something, so he didn't expose him. He continued, "Did you ever buy arsenic from a pharmacy?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Da immediately cried out in despair, "Sir, please don't be so suspicious of me! I've never bought that poison. I even catch rats myself, let alone buy arsenic for anything else."

"Have you ever seen this item in anyone else's home? For example, has Zhu's daughter-in-law ever mentioned it to you?"

Lu Da hurriedly shook his head, saying he had never heard of this from Zhu's daughter-in-law. Ran Mo then reminded him that the Zhu family also had a cat. Lu Da became even more interested, saying that if he had known she had a cat, why would she need to buy medicine since it could catch mice?

Upon hearing this, several people looked at Lu Da. Lu Da suddenly felt that he had said something wrong and quickly said that he was just thinking that having a cat meant there was no need to buy medicine, and he didn't really know whether her house had arsenic hidden.

Ran Mo asked again: "Where were you on the day Zhu's son died?" "I stayed at home all day except for walking around the door. I am a loner and don't interact with others much. When I have nothing to do, I rest at home. I didn't go anywhere." Lu Da said hurriedly.

Ranmo looked at the magistrate. The magistrate understood what he meant and had the clerk write down his words. He then ordered the yamen runners to verify the information. He then warned Lü Da that if he lied, he would be detained and interrogated. Lü Da kowtowed and agreed.

Ran Mo could sense from several of his questions that Lü Da hadn't told the truth in some places. But that wasn't enough to prove he'd done anything wrong. It seemed the case needed further investigation, both internally and externally, to verify the details. No good person should be wrongly accused, and no bad person should be let off the hook.

She nodded to the magistrate, who adjourned the courtroom. Since there was no definitive evidence that Lü Da had committed a crime, he was released for the time being, awaiting summons at any time.