The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

After pondering for a long time under everyone's watchful eyes, Chang'an finally had a flash of inspiration and hurriedly said, "My lord, although we can no longer find Lu Xiaosan, I have a way to prove that this letter was not written by him."

"Oh? Tell me about it," Hua Chang said, squinting her eyes.

"I believe everyone here is aware to some extent that everyone participating in the Kaiyuan Martial Arts Tournament signs a waiver of life and death before going on stage, and Lu Xiaosan is no exception," Chang'an said calmly.

"You want to show us the death warrant that Lu Xiaosan signed?"

Chang'an nodded. "That's right. According to regulations, the death warrant he signed should have been sent to Qiantang along with him. Although he has disappeared now, the death warrant won't have grown legs and run away. As long as you find the relevant person in charge, you can find out who is lying."

"Very good, I will send a trustworthy person to investigate thoroughly." Hua Chang said with satisfaction.

Upon hearing this, Ou Jianzhong and his adjutants panicked. At this moment, it was absolutely impossible to get ahead of Hua Chang in front of her.

Chen Fugui still grinned wickedly, "Didn't you just say that Lu Xiaosan is illiterate? If that's the case, how did he sign the death waiver? Or are you just talking nonsense again?"

Chang'an shook his head helplessly, "That's precisely why they need to check my life or death contract as well."

Why do we need to check your waiver of death?

Chang'an smiled bitterly and said, "To be honest, I am illiterate. So the death contract between him and me was written by the same person, so the handwriting and content are the same, only the signature is different."

He continued, "Lu Xiaosan drew three horizontal lines in the signature area, while I drew a circle in the signature area."

"You...you're talking nonsense!" Chen Fugui finally became a little anxious. He really couldn't believe that a monk who chanted Buddhist scriptures would not even recognize a single word!

"Whether I'm lying or not, we'll know once we get those two death contracts, hahaha." Chang'an laughed smugly.

Chen Fugui knew that the death contract must be as Chang'an had said, so he hurriedly said to Hua Chang, "Sir... that Lu Xiaosan... might have specifically asked someone else to write the letter."

Hua Chang glanced at him sideways, puzzled, and said, "But Ou Jianzhong just said that he only stumbled upon Lu Xiaosan and Raymond colluding, yet he ended up as a eunuch and his family was almost all slaughtered. So I wonder, what kind of brave person is he to dare to take such a risk to write a letter for them?"

Chen Fugui was so frightened that cold sweat poured down his forehead. "Maybe... he was originally Raymond's man, for example... a teacher at Spring Lake Academy, that's right, it must be!"

Hua Chang looked at the letter again, becoming even more puzzled. "Could a schoolteacher really write such terrible handwriting?"

Chen Fugui panicked even more and kowtowed again, saying, "This...this is just my guess. Perhaps it's someone else. Please...please investigate thoroughly, sir!"

Hua Chang nodded. "We really need to investigate this handwriting carefully. How about we start by checking Yun Chun Restaurant?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Fugui trembled with fear, because he was the one who wrote the letter.

He has always been an extremely cautious person, and in order to prevent more people from knowing about this, he wrote this letter of framing himself.

Although he deliberately wrote the characters crookedly, making them look like they were written by a child, the characters, though out of shape, never lost their spirit.

If you compare this letter with his handwriting, and show it to a true master calligrapher, they would immediately see the clues and expose his conspiracy.

So, Chen Fugui, like Ou Jianzhong, finally turned ashen-faced. It seemed that it was only a matter of time before everything was exposed.

At this moment, a stern-faced soldier suddenly broke through the crowd and came to Hua Chang. He was one of the two soldiers that Hua Chang had just sent out.

After whispering a few words to Hua Chang, he saw her smile and nod.

The officers and soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs, "Bring the person up here!"

Ou Jianzhong was panting heavily, his mind filled with thoughts of how to coax Ou Zhuangyuan into saying something appropriate.

But when Ou Jianzhong saw the person he was brought to, he was so frightened that all his plans vanished.

"Why isn't the person who came the top scholar Ou?" Chang'an asked, looking at the two elderly men, both over fifty years old, who had been brought to him.

"We should at least give He Lai a little face," Hua Chang said with a scornful smile, then turned to the dumbfounded Ou Jianzhong and said, "Judging from your appearance, you are indeed a very filial son. After all these years, you still haven't forgotten what your parents look like."

"These...these two are his parents?! Weren't they brutally murdered by Raymond?" The crowd began to murmur again.

Ou Jianzhong shook his head and hurriedly denied it, saying, "No, I don't know them. My parents were killed by Raymond, and there's no way they could still be alive."

"Get out of the way!" Ou Jianzhong chased after the two old men again.

Hua Chang's eyes darted around as she scrutinized him, saying, "Several years ago, it was you who drove them out of the house. Ever since then, I've had people keeping a close eye on everything you do, Ou Jianzhong."

"Wh...what...sir...how could you know these things!?" Ou Jianzhong was terrified, and Chen Fugui and his adjutant also lost their vitality.

“As a local official in Qiantang, how could I possibly stand by and watch two elderly people wander outside?” Hua Chang said sternly.

"My son, it was only because Master Hua took us in to do some light work at his mansion that we were able to reunite," the two old people sobbed, their eyes filled with tears.

"Hmph, do you think that extra money in your family came from someone? It was all saved up by Old Man Ou and Old Woman Ou after they finished their work, specifically for you two brothers!" the stern-faced soldier said sternly.

Ou Jianzhong was stunned, but quickly flew into a rage: "You two old bastards! Of all people to go to, you had to go to the government! Is the government a place for us lowly commoners to stay?! Now everything is... beyond saving... Ugh..."

Faced with his harsh words, the two elderly people were not angry at all; instead, they cried and showed concern for him…

Upon seeing his injuries, Madam Ou nearly fainted from fright, and Father Ou immediately kowtowed to Hua Chang, pleading, "My lord! My lord, please save my child!"

By this point, everyone in the room believed that these were his parents. Because in this world, only parents would willingly be the ones to take advantage of their child.

Hua Chang couldn't help but sigh softly, "The hearts of parents are always full of love and worry..."

He got up and helped Mr. Ou up, looking into his eyes and said softly, "Old Mr. Ou, I promise your second son will live a peaceful and happy life."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Ou's face turned pale and then purple. His eldest son's life was ruined, but his second son's future had been promised by Master Hua himself...

Hua Chang said softly, "Let's take the two elders down to meet their second son."

Hua Chang, being a father himself, understood their thoughts. If he simply offered to help them go back to rest, the two elders would surely be reluctant to part with their eldest son…

Although the two elderly people looked expectant, they were more reluctant to part with their eldest son. In the end, with the help of the two soldiers, they reluctantly left.

During this time, Ou Jianzhong did not respond to his parents in the slightest...

Chang'an felt a mix of emotions upon seeing this, but there was nothing he could do.

After watching the two elders leave, Hua Chang sighed softly, but soon his gaze sharpened again.

"Do you have anything else to quibble about?"

Ou Jianzhong's eyes were lifeless, and he was utterly despondent. He simply shook his head blankly.

Seeing this, Xiaolin was overjoyed and quickly kowtowed to Huashang, "My lord, you are truly wise!"

Hua Chang smiled and said, "Since you're so happy so early, let me start by telling you about your matter."