The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 179 Found! The final key witness! Everything from back then is finally clear!
Hearing Yuan Tiangang's answer, the weight that had been hanging over everyone's hearts finally lifted.

Yang Wenwan's birth chart is dominated by the element of wood, and her surname also contains the element of wood. Furthermore, Yang Wanli needed someone with the strongest element of the five elements to set up the formation. The murderer was Yang Wanli, who was seeking revenge in the Yang family mansion. Moreover, he used the five elements method to dismember and dispose of the body. All of this is enough to show that Yang Wenwan's mysterious disappearance back then was done by Yang Wanli.

Similarly, the deaths of Wei Miao and the doctor, and even the subsequent fate of Yang Wenwan's family, can all be determined by this.

Back then, Yang Wanli harmed so many people with just Yang Wenwan, who was associated with the element of wood in the Five Elements theory.

And what about the other four supreme beings he sought? How many people were harmed by him?
No one dared to think about it.

Although the truth was now within reach, they did not feel as relaxed and happy as they usually did when a case was about to be solved. Instead, the more they learned about the truth, the more depressed and sullen they felt.

Moreover, they were all thinking about one thing... how should they deal with the murderer?

They could understand the murderer's motives. If they were relatives of innocent people like Yang Wenwan, they certainly wouldn't have let Yang Wanli off the hook after learning the truth.

But... every country has its laws.

No matter how valid the reasons, one cannot disregard the imperial court and arbitrarily use private punishments against a fourth-rank official, or even dismember and dispose of his body, causing widespread panic among the people.

So, will the murderer really be treated as a normal homicide case?

They felt it wasn't appropriate.

Having encountered so many cases and arrested so many criminals, this was the first time Li Xinchun and his team had ever felt so hesitant and conflicted.

"Dr. Liu..."

Li Xinchun couldn't help but look at Liu Shuyi and asked, "What do you think we should do with the murderer?"

Unable to make a decision, he turned to Liu Shuyi for an answer.

Liu Shuyi glanced at Li Xinchun and the others, but did not give an answer easily. He said, "The murderer has not been found yet, and we still do not know who the owners of the other four urns of ashes in the locked room are. The case is far from closed. Isn't it a bit premature to think about these things now?"

Li Xinchun blushed, realizing that he had indeed thought too soon, and also that it was inappropriate for him to ask Liu Shuyi this question in public.

If Liu Shuyi answers that everything will be handled according to the law, it would undoubtedly be somewhat inhumane. If this gets out, he might be criticized for being heartless and too cold-blooded.

However, if Liu Shuyi answers that there are extenuating circumstances and he can be exonerated, people will seize the opportunity to attack him for not prioritizing the law as an official of the Ministry of Justice. They will then say that Liu Shuyi disregards the law, has no principles, and is unworthy of being an official of the Ministry of Justice.

It's a dilemma: to deal with it according to the law, or not to deal with it at all. It's a real pitfall. As long as he answers, he'll give others ammunition to criticize him... And since he asked the question himself, Li Xinchun's heart skipped a beat. He was afraid that Liu Shuyi would misunderstand that he had deliberately set a trap for him. He quickly said, "Look at my brain! Doctor Liu is only here to help me investigate the case. This is a question that Doctor Liu doesn't need to consider. I shouldn't have asked Doctor Liu. I hope Doctor Liu will forgive me."

Liu Shuyi naturally knew that Li Xinchun meant no harm, otherwise he wouldn't have let it go so easily.

He didn't dwell on the topic with Li Xinchun, saying, "It's getting late, we need to get going."

"Depart? Where to?" Li Xinchun was taken aback, and the others were also puzzled.

Liu Shuyi looked at him: "Didn't I just say that we still don't know the identities of the other four people, and we haven't found the murderer yet? Of course, we need to solve these two problems next."

Li Xinchun thought Liu Shuyi was just saying it casually to avoid his question, but he didn't expect Liu Shuyi to be telling the truth.

"Where do we find the murderer? Where do we confirm the identities of the other four urns of ashes?"

Although Yang Wanli's relationship with Yang Wenwan's family was confirmed, and his evil deeds were also confirmed, they had no clues about the murderer, nor any information about the other four innocent people.

Where can I find this?
Seeing the blank looks on everyone's faces, Liu Shuyi didn't keep them in suspense. He said, "It's not difficult to know someone's name, nor is it difficult to find out where they were born, but..."

"It is extremely difficult to know a person's birth date and time."

Birth date and time (eight characters)?

Li Xinchun seemed to have thought of something, but he was still a little short of it and hadn't fully figured it out.

"A person's birth date and time are one of their most important secrets, and they are not easily revealed to others. Even the household registration records of the Ministry of Revenue can only tell a person's birth year, month, and day, but not the more specific time, so..."

Liu Shuyi glanced at the thoughtful crowd and asked, "How did Yang Wanli know Yang Wenwan's birth date and time?"

"How did Yang Wanli find out?" Li Xinchun frowned, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes. He said, "He certainly couldn't ask Yang Wenwan or her family directly, otherwise, after Yang Wenwan's mysterious incident, Yang Hui couldn't help but suspect him..."

"But how can we know if we don't ask directly? Did we bribe the servants of the Yang family to find out?"

Liu Shuyi said, "Let's not even talk about whether the servants would have the opportunity to know their master's birth date and time. Just look at Yang Wanli's inquiries... If he would specifically bribe the servants of the Yang family, it can only mean that he has some suspicions about Yang Wenwan. But how could he suspect Yang Wenwan's birth date and time in the vast sea of ​​people?"

“This…” Li Xinchun guessed, “Perhaps he didn’t doubt Yang Wenwan’s birth chart…”

"No doubt? So you mean he went door-to-door in Chang'an, bribing servants and inquiring from house to house to find these five people? Like searching for a needle in a haystack?"

As soon as Liu Shuyi said that, Li Xinchun knew how outrageous his guess was.

With a population of nearly one million, if Yang Wanli were to bribe servants from house to house, the amount of money and time required would be terrifying. More importantly, as Liu Shuyi said, the servants might not know their masters' birth dates and times. Moreover, the more people he bribed, the greater the risk of information leaks. If any servant was exposed, Yang Wanli would inevitably be implicated.

Given Yang Wanli's cautious nature, would he do such a thing?
Furthermore, Yang Wanli was busy refining elixirs and cultivating his spiritual practice every day, so he didn't have time to do these things.

"It's wrong to ask the Yang family directly, and it's wrong to inquire with the servants. So how did Yang Wanli know Yang Wenwan's birth date and time? It couldn't have been the Yang family who told him on their own initiative..."

At this point, Li Xinchun's gaze swept over the birth chart in Liu Shuyi's hand, and he suddenly paused. Then, the lines that had not been clear in his mind suddenly became clear.

His eyes widened as he pointed at the faded birth chart and said, "Birth chart! It contains Yang Wenwan's birth date and time! If Yang Wanli can see the birth chart, he won't need to ask anyone or inquire with anyone; the Yang family will simply hand it over to him!"

"Birth date and time certificate!?"

Upon hearing Li Xinchun's words, Gu Wen and the others subconsciously turned their gaze to the birth chart in Liu Shuyi's hand.

Looking at the bright red and festive birth chart, and recalling Li Xinchun's words, they couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines. They felt that the bright red color of the birth chart, at this moment, was as if it had been stained with blood.

The original festive atmosphere suddenly turned eerie and terrifying.

Is it really a marriage certificate? They quickly looked up at Liu Shuyi.

Then they saw Liu Shuyi smile slightly and say, "Magistrate Li is quick-witted and his thoughts are the same as mine."

"Is that really a marriage certificate!?"

Gu Wen and the others felt a chill in their hearts.

Liu Shuyi held up the marriage certificate in his hand and said, "Whenever a marriage is to be made, it is necessary to 'ask for the name,' and to 'ask for the name,' one must present the birth date and time. It can be said that in a person's life, this is probably the only time that they will take the initiative to present their birth date and time."

"Therefore, if Yang Wanli wanted to obtain other people's birth dates and times secretly without alerting anyone, and use those birth dates and times to find the person with the most extreme five elements that he needed, then the Geng Tie (庚帖) would be the safest and easiest method."

“But his identity is special. Yang also said that he rarely goes out except for official business. So the person who divines good and bad fortune and calculates the eight characters of his birth chart is definitely not him.”

"That is to say..."

Liu Shuyi's gaze swept over everyone, and he slowly said, "He must have bribed others to work for him. This person is the one who calculated the birth charts of Yang Wenwan and Wei Miao! If this person has not been silenced, and we find him, then we can use him to find out the identities of the other four people."

“Even if this person is silenced, there may still be records of him taking money to calculate other people’s birth charts. Even if there are no records, we can post notices to find the people whose birth charts have been calculated by this person. The people will report them spontaneously, and then we can find people who disappeared before marriage like Yang Wenwan from among these people who reported them. This way, we can also confirm the identities of the other four people.”

"If we still don't find them, it means that Yang Wanli has bribed more than just this one person. In that case, we'll put in some effort to find all the people whose birth charts have been calculated but who disappeared before their marriages... This will be more troublesome and will take more time, but as long as these people are from Chang'an and their families still care about them, we will definitely be able to find them."

Everyone's eyes lit up as they listened to Liu Shuyi's words.

His previously furrowed brows relaxed at that moment.

Liu Shuyi not only pointed out the direction for their next investigation, but also considered all possibilities.

As long as they investigate in the direction Liu Shuyi is pointing, they will eventually find out the identities of those four innocent people!

When these four people were killed in despair, they couldn't help them. But at least after discovering what happened to them, they could return their ashes to their families so that they could be laid to rest... In this way, Li Xinchun and the others could have some peace of mind.

Li Xinchun took a deep breath and said earnestly, "Doctor Liu always manages to find the key to a breakthrough when we are all at a loss! To be honest, I am a somewhat arrogant person. In this life, I only admire His Majesty and his people who conquered the world, but now... you have joined the ranks of those I admire." Liu Shuyi smiled and shook his head, "Magistrate Li, please don't say that. If you keep praising me, I'll get cocky."

He looked up at the sky; the sun was setting. He said, “It’s getting dark. We need to hurry and find this fortune teller… If we can figure him out, the murderer might be able to ascertain him as well. So even if Yang Wanli didn’t silence him, we still need to prevent him from being killed by the murderer.”

"Yep!"

Li Xinchun's heart tightened as he realized the urgency of the situation, and he quickly said, "Let's set off immediately."

Liu Shuyi looked at Lu Yangyuan and said, "Deputy Lieutenant Lu, you are good at riding and archery, and you are faster than us. You and County Lieutenant Gu will go ahead and go to the Wei residence first to ask Wei Miao's parents who was the person who calculated the birth charts of Wei Miao and Yang Wenwan back then. Then you will split into two groups. One of you will come back and inform us, and the other will go to find that person first. If he is still alive, ensure his safety."

Although Lu Yangyuan hated this accomplice of Yang Wanli, he also knew how much this man's survival was of help to them.

Without any hesitation, he nodded emphatically: "This humble official will depart immediately."

Gu Wen also quickly pledged his loyalty to Liu Shuyi: "Don't worry, Physician Liu, as long as he hasn't been silenced, I will risk my life to protect him!"

After saying that, the two quickly ran outside, and soon the neighing of warhorses could be heard, and the hooves of horses disappeared into the distance.

Liu Shuyi didn't delay. He directly told the yamen runners, "Seal off the Yang residence. No one is allowed to enter or leave the Yang residence. Also, separate the servants of the Yang residence and do not allow them to stay together."

Upon hearing this, Li Xinchun asked, "Does Physician Liu suspect... that there are Yang Wanli's people in this Yang residence?"

Liu Shuyi neither nodded nor shook his head: "This is Yang Wanli's territory. It's not impossible that he has a few trusted confidants working for him on his own turf, guarding his study, and monitoring others... It wouldn't hurt for us to be cautious."

Li Xinchun thought for a moment and said, "That's true. At this time, we should be as cautious as possible. If there really are such people, we can't let them take the opportunity to escape or collude with each other."

As he spoke, he directly ordered the yamen runners to do as Liu Shuyi commanded.

After making the final arrangements, the group left the Yang residence without further delay and rode their horses toward the Wei family.

Before they had even left Xuanyangfang, several people came galloping up from ahead.

Upon seeing Liu Shuyi and Li Xinchun, they quickly dismounted. A man dressed as a yamen runner bowed and said, "Doctor Liu, Magistrate Li, I have found the people who followed Yang Hui on his business trip back then."

They were originally arranged by Li Xinchun to search for members of the caravan that were trading with Yang Hui.

Li Xinchun was surprised by the series of good news. He quickly asked, "Where is he?"

Then, a strong man in his forties walked out from behind the yamen runners.

He looked a little nervous and quickly bowed, saying, "This humble one, Qin Liu, greets Physician Liu and Magistrate Li."

"Qin Liu?"

Liu Shuyi glanced at Qin Liu and asked, "What are you responsible for in the caravan?"

Qin Liu hurriedly said, "Guards."

"Have you been following Yang Hui's caravan all along?" Liu Shuyi asked again.

Qin Liu said, "I don't follow him all the time, but Master Yang once helped me, so as long as I don't have any other missions, I will follow Master Yang's caravan."

"So, you're quite familiar with Yang Hui?"

"Yes."

"Do you know why Yang Hui suddenly decided to go into business after his family's troubles?"

Qin Liu frowned and shook his head, saying, "I don't know either."

"Don't know?" Li Xinchun frowned, looking somewhat dissatisfied.

Qin Liu's heart tightened, and he quickly explained, "I dare not hide it, I really don't know... At that time, many accidents happened in Master Yang's family. We heard that Master Yang was greatly affected and thought that he would not go into business again for a while."

"But who knew that a few days later, we received a message from Master Yang that he was going out to do business and asked us who was willing to follow him."

"I was thinking of Master Yang, and although I was a little surprised when I heard the news, I did not hesitate and immediately agreed to accompany him on this trip."

"Three days later, we set off, but before we reached our destination, while passing through a mountain in the Bazhou area, Mr. Yang accidentally fell off a cliff. We searched for three days and three nights, but we never found Mr. Yang's remains."

Although ten years have passed, Qin Liu still sighs with regret when he mentions the matter: "Master Yang was a kind man, he shouldn't have ended up like this."

Liu Shuyi looked closely at Qin Liu, and after confirming that Qin Liu's behavior was normal, he asked, "Did you witness Master Yang's fall off the cliff?"

Qin Liu said, "We were resting halfway through when Master Yang said he felt a tightness in his chest and wanted to walk around. Not long after, we heard Master Yang cry out in alarm. We rushed over to check, but all we could see was a figure falling off the cliff..."

Li Xinchun's heart skipped a beat: "So, you didn't witness Yang Hui's fall?"

Qin Liu thought for a moment and nodded: "Yes."

Li Xinchun couldn't help but look at Liu Shuyi: "Another accident without eyewitnesses..."

He thought of Wei Miao's experience with the doctor.

Liu Shuyi also looked thoughtful and asked, "Did Master Yang leave alone? Did your caravan have no one else with you?"

"Yes, we had been traveling for three hours straight, and everyone was exhausted. We were all resting where we were, except for Mr. Yang who was walking around."

Liu Shuyi nodded slightly, and then asked, "After Yang Hui died, did you continue to deliver the goods to their destination?"

Qin Liu shook his head: "This business trip was mainly to open up trade routes in Jiannan Road. With Master Yang's accident, there was no one to lead us, and we didn't know who to sell our goods to or how to open up trade routes. Moreover, even if we opened up trade routes, it would be meaningless, so we returned the way we came."

Liu Shuyi gently stroked the stiff reins with his fingertips. After a moment of contemplation, he nodded: "I understand. Thank you for your cooperation."

Qin Liu hurriedly said, "It's all my duty. Master Yang never withholds our money. When he knows that someone in our family is sick, he will specially purchase medicine and sell it to us at a low price. He is a very kind person. I also hope that the truth about what happened to Master Yang's family back then can be found out as soon as possible."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "Yes, that day won't be too far away."

After saying that, he ordered the yamen runners to take Qin Liu away.

After Qin Liu left, Li Xinchun couldn't help but ask, "How was it? Did you get anything?"

Liu Shuyi gathered his thoughts and nodded, saying, "I have some guesses, but whether that's true or not still needs further confirmation..."

"Let's go!"

He let out a breath: "Let's find this fortune teller first."

Without further delay, the group continued their galloping journey.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, they encountered Gu Wen, who was rushing back. Before Liu Shuyi could ask, Gu Wen took the initiative to say, "I have already asked Wei Miao's parents. They said that the person who calculated the birth charts of Wei Miao and Yang Wenwan back then was a famous fortune teller in Zhaoguofang named Deng Hao, known as Deng the Fortune Teller."

"And this Deng the fortune teller, they saw him not long ago when they passed through Zhaoguofang!"

Li Xinchun's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed excitedly, "So, he's still alive and hasn't been silenced?"

"Yes!" Gu Wen nodded emphatically.

Li Xinchun quickly looked at Liu Shuyi, only to see Liu Shuyi's eyes narrow slightly: "It seems that this Deng Bansian's relationship with Yang Wanli is different from that of others."

"He hasn't been silenced in ten years; he may know more secrets than we originally thought."

"Let's go."

Liu Shuyi gripped the reins and looked ahead, illuminated by the blood-red sunset: "If we find him, everything that has happened over the years will perhaps become clear."

(End of this chapter)