Shen Wei had hidden so much information that he hadn’t expected Su Yunkai to know this much. The victim had been dead for twelve years and the matter had been buried for over a decade. Su Yunkai was in the Ministry of Rites, so how did he guess?
Shen Wei was so scared that he did not dare to say more. He was afraid that with one more word, Su Yunkai could guess another thousand.
Shen Wei didn’t know that Su Yunkai had a good friend in the Ministry of Justice who had disclosed the case to Su Yunkai because the friend wanted his assistance. In addition, the Ministry of Justice always cooperated with the yamen and Bai Shui was a constable who jointly investigated cases. She also told Su Yunkai all the details.
Therefore, it was easy for Su Yunkai to guess what Shen Wei was attempting to hide.
However, since Shen Wei had no idea how Su Yunkai knew all of this, his fear intensified.
“Su Xiu was only sixteen at that time. You cruelly slaughtered her for amusement.”
The more Su Yunkai said, the angrier Su Yunkai got. At the end, he was nearly shouting. “Su Xiu had no parents and lived with her brothers. Even after killing her, you colluded with the local government to send her brothers to prison and exile. Shen Wei, if I was still in the Ministry of Justice, I would send you to the guillotine myself!”
Shen Wei was frightened and his face paled. However, his fright had already reached a climax, so when he finally reacted, he laughed. “That’s right! You have no right to decide whether I live or die. You are just a servant in charge of the imperial examinations and the vassal states. No matter how filled with righteous indignation you are, you can’t determine my fate. Su Yunkai, so what if you’re angry? What can you do?”
Ming Yue saw a madman. It was clear that he had always been insane. Otherwise, how could he have done such inhumane things?
“Indeed. Since you don’t need to ask me for anything, why are you here?”
Shen Wei’s face turned ugly. He just remembered that he had come to ask Su Yunkai for help. Telling Su Yunkai about the past served the purpose of providing him more information so that he could find the murderer. Shen Wei couldn’t die like the others. He’d only killed a lowly commoner! Why should he pay for it with his own life?
“Lord Su… You are an official and I’m only a commoner. You have the responsibility to help me and to protect the safety of the people in the villa. Find the murderers, Su Xiu’s two brothers, and send them to the government to be dealt with.”
Ming Yue couldn’t help but say, “You want to send them there because you claim they killed people. What about you, then? You also killed someone!”
Shen Wei shook his head, his expression earnest. “I killed no one. Jin Fugui and Liang Fandong were the ones who did it. It had nothing to do with me. That house was mine, but I lent it to them. In the end, I could only watch before my eyes helplessly as they tortured that girl named Xiu Xiu. What a pity. She was so young.”
Seeing that he denied the accusation and pushed all the charges away from himself, Ming Yue felt so disgusted that she nearly vomited. She wanted to slap him. Her body trembled in anger. She could hardly believe such vermin existed in the world.
Shen Wei’s sophistry was something Su Yunkai had expected. The dead could not speak for themselves. According to Shen Wei’s character, pushing all crimes onto the shoulders of Liang Fangdong and the others was normal behavior. Only, Su Yunkai hadn’t expected that Shen Wei dared to make this confession in front of him. He couldn’t help but glance at Yu Fenglin, who had been silent for a while. Su Yunkai was worried that the reason Shen Wei was so calm now was because he had bribed the marquis.
If that was the case, the matter had become trickier.
Even if he was not in the Ministry of Justice, he couldn’t just ignore this matter. No matter if ended up owing countless favors, Su Yunkai knew that he must send Shen Wei to prison to receive the punishment he deserved. However, if the Marquis of Pingxi—who could cover the sky of the capital with his hands—intervened, Su Yunkai would not be able to see this out until the end, even if he did exhaust all his connections and use the best of his abilities.
There was no tea in the room. Yu Fenglin playing with the cup in his hand without saying a word. Noticing Su Yunkai looking at him through his peripheral vision, Yu Fenglin understood that Su Yunkai already knew about his secret deal with Shen Wei. His heart skipped a beat. Although the father-son pair in the Su family were both officials, their power and connections were not as good as his own. He was not afraid of Su Yunkai. Although, no matter what, getting bitten was still painful. He was afraid that Su Yunkai would persist.
“What do you think of this matter, marquis?”
The attention was directed to the marquis now. Yu Fenglin couldn’t help but look at Su Yunkai. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Miss Su Xiu’s experience is indeed deserving of sympathy, but Shen Wei said that he was not involved in this matter. Moreover, Lord Su isn’t able to provide conclusive evidence to refute it.”
“If I brought evidence, can the marquis act as a witness? After we head down the mountain, will the marquis come to the yamen to offer your testimony?”
Yu Fenglin paused. Shen Wei looked at Su Yunkai doubtfully. Although Su Yunkai knew quite a bit about the matter, how would he be able to get evidence? The event had happened twelve years ago. If there was evidence, Shen Wei would’ve been arrested when the corpse was found.
Shen Wei tentatively asked, “What evidence do you have? You are not a member of the Ministry of Justice or a member of the yamen.”
Su Yunkai’s stare was cold. “I will find evidence one day.”
As soon as he said this, Shen Wei was relieved. Even Yu Fenglin could tell that Su Yunkai had no evidence. Even if there was, it would be found in the future. If Yu Fenglin interrupted this case and prevented any evidence from being found, what progress could Su Yunkai make? Now that the alliance was secure, Yu Penglin spoke agreeably. “I’ve always respected Lord Su. I promise you that as long as you find evidence that Shen Wei is the main culprit behind the murder of Su Xiu, I will testify for you. Even if you don’t punish him, I could never tolerate such a vicious man.”
Su Yunkai said, “I heard you.”
Ming Yue also immediately said, “I heard you as well. Gentlemen don’t go back on their words.”
Yu Fenglin said with a smile, “Naturally.”
“That’s good. Now, I just remembered something. I think I have evidence in my hand. I was a little nervous earlier, so I forgot.”
Shen Wei’s turned ugly again. “What did you say?”
Su Yunkai’s smile was chilling. “After you killed Miss Su Xiu, you threw the corpse into a fish pond in the yard. Did you think you could bury the truth by selling the house a couple of times?”
Shen Wei’s heart stumbled as he heard these words. Su Yunkai even knew about the house? Because it had been for the sake of pleasure, Shen Wei hadn’t used his real name to buy the house. How did Su Yunkai know?
“That year, you said that Su Xiu stole a jade ring family heirloom in order to weave a fake crime and send the Su brothers to prison. You never would have thought that when Su Xiu died, she pulled your ring off. The ring is indeed in Su Xiu’s possession. If I hold you in the villa and give your parents the ring to confirm, then they are the ones who can testify that you are the murderer.”
Shen Wei was stunned. “You… Who are you? Are you Su Xiu’s brother?”
When Yu Fenglin heard Shen Wei ask such a question, he knew that everything was true. Yu Fenglin’s demeanor and face changed rapidly. Su Yunkai had set a trap for them. They had been careless and stepped into it. Yu Fenglin realized that Su Yunkai had had evidence for a long time. Only, after realizing Yu Fenglin’s deal with Shen Wei, Su Yunkai had changed his mind in an instant and then trapped Yu Fenglin into serving as a witness.
This Su Yunkai was really hateful. He couldn’t be underestimated.
Seeing that Yu Fenglin wasn’t helping and wasn’t speaking, Shen Wei waved his hand and angrily shouted, “Marquis of Pingxi!”
Yu Fenglin said coldly, “So you really killed someone.”
Shen Wei was surprised. “What are you talking about? You took my money.”
Yu Fenglin began to reproach him. “When did I ever take your money? Do I have any bank notes from you? Do you have the evidence? You killed someone, yet you want to pull me under the water with you. Slandering marquises is an even heavier crime!”
Shen Wei suddenly realized that he was going to be an abandoned chess piece. This meant that even his lifeline was gone. If Su Yunkai was serious, he would truly die. Shen Wei furiously shook his head. “I didn’t kill anyone. I didn’t kill anyone.”
Su Yunkai looked at him and said, “You said you didn’t kill anyone, but did you know that the Su brothers already collected criminal evidence regarding your little trio when their sister passed away? However, given the many obstacles you set up, the evidence was taken away by the government as well as sent to the frontier? Although the evidence was destroyed in the same year, the official who saw it is still alive. As long as I find the evidence, I will be able to pry open their mouths and let them testify against you. Shen Wei, you are a murderer. You won’t get away with killing an innocent!”
Shen Wei sat limply on the ground. He stared at Su Yunkai, who looked hateful and terrifying, like a judge straight from hell. He knew everything. How did he know everything . . . ?
“I didn’t kill anyone. You are slandering me…” Shen Wei murmured and struggled. As he spoke these words, his eyes suddenly shone with a desperate desire to survive. His limp legs sprang up and he rushed out of the room.
He wrenched the door open, but before he could take another step, he was forced backwards by a blow.
Bai Shui’s eyes were ice cold. She glared at Shen Wei, causing him to cry, “Spare me, my lord. I don’t want to die. It was Liang Fangdong’s idea. I just lost myself for a moment.”
Su Yunkai was silent for a moment. Then, he said, “When you killed Su Xiu, did you ever consider her fear? She was only sixteen years old. Sixteen years old! So young, yet you tortured her to death for your own selfish desires. Did you ever think about letting her go when she cried and begged for her life? No, you were focused on only satisfying yourselves. You stole her life. She only lived for sixteen years, while her brothers suffered for twelve years…”
He didn’t know how or when the Su brothers had come back from exile. It was likely that they still hadn’t let go of their hatred, as they hadn’t forgotten pain even after twelve years. This was why they had headed to the capital for revenge. In fact, the brothers might not let go even after sixty years.
The more Shen Wei cried and begged, the more disgusted Su Yunkai felt.
Yu Fenglin, afraid of getting implicated, swiftly exited the room when Shen Wei began kowtowing for mercy. Bai Shui didn’t dodge in time and got hit in the shoulder. Her face instantly turned pale and her brow tightened. Yu Fenglin slowed and looked at her. The face was pale, but the expression was the same as before, as though the pain just now was an illusion. He thought for a moment before leaving in a hurry, without much extra thought.
Qin Fang, who was standing behind Bai Shui, was also startled by the event earlier. He immediately stepped forward and tied Shen Wei with ropes. As soon as the bridge was repaired, he would be escorted to the yamen. “I’ll call some people to watch him. Brother-in-law, you go and have a rest.”
Su Yunkai nodded. Remembering that Ming Yue’s medicine needed to be changed, he brought Ming Yue over to find some medicine.
They left the room and crossed the yard. As it was near dusk, the temperature at the top of the mountain dropped rapidly. The light evening breeze made both of them feel slightly cold. In actuality, their hearts had been heavy and chilly ever since the case had started. Now that Shen Wei’s criminal title was settled, their hearts finally started warming again.
As they thought, two people standing in the yard entered their sight.
Both were people in their mid-thirties, but their faces bore signs of age that made them look as if they were in their forties.
What was different now was that the two men that had once been quiet and calm now carried a warmer look.
“Mr. Su, thank you for bringing justice to Xiu Xiu.”
Su Yunkai’s eyebrows were still drawn tight. He looked at Cui Xiu, the storyteller with incredible oral skills, and Zhao Kang, the musician with excellent instrumental skills. His heart was even heavier. “If it hadn’t been for your evidence, I wouldn’t have been able to make Shen Wei confess so easily.”
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A Hint of Spring 
Thank you for the update.
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