The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 190 A Clash of Speed! A Life-or-Death Investigative Showdown!
"Dr. Liu, this is the place."

Chu Xiong stopped his horse and said to Liu Shuyi, "Prefect Jiang was discovered at this intersection."

Liu Shuyi looked up and saw that there were still some dried bloodstains on the ground at the intersection ahead.

He dismounted and went to the bloodstains.

The bloodstain was not large; one side was arc-shaped, while the other side seemed to be blocked by something, preventing the bloodstain from spreading and stopping abruptly.

"Prefect Chu, was that stone lion in this position back then?"

Liu Shuyi pointed to the side where the bloodstains stopped abruptly and asked Chu Xiong.

Chu Xiong nodded: "Doctor Liu is truly remarkable. Although he did not witness the incident firsthand, he was able to make an accurate judgment. I admire him."

Liu Shuyi automatically ignored Chu Xiong's half-hearted praise and asked, "Where is that stone lion now?"

"We moved it back to the governor's office."

"When did you discover that the stone lions outside the yamen were missing?" Liu Shuyi asked again.

"When we went to the yamen for roll call the next morning," Chu Xiong said to Liu Shuyi, "it might make you laugh, but when we discovered the stone lion was missing, we wondered if we were dreaming."

"Stealing valuables is not uncommon, but stealing a stone lion that is of no use to ordinary people is something I've never even heard of."

"That stone lion can't be sold for money, it's very heavy, and it's hard to hide... What was this thief thinking, stealing it?"

Liu Shuyi could understand how Chu Xiong and his men felt at the time. It was no different from leaving gold and silver treasures untouched and instead carrying away the cement roadblocks in front of the door.

At first glance, it does seem quite absurd.

However, after the incident...

Liu Shuyi said, "Now, can you understand the murderer's intentions?"

Chu Xiong met Liu Shuyi's gaze with his brown eyes, shook his head and said, "I still can't figure it out. Does the murderer want us to believe that the stone lion came to life and killed Governor Jiang?"

Can't figure it out?
Liu Shuyi gave Chu Xiong a deep look before looking away: "We need to investigate further to determine the killer's motive. Before that, there is no point in making wild guesses. We must be careful not to fall into the trap that the killer has set for us."

Chu Xiong smiled and nodded: "What Doctor Liu said makes sense. We can't make wild guesses before we have concrete evidence. It would be bad if it caused any misunderstandings."

Du Gou and Changsun Chong exchanged a glance after hearing Chu Xiong's meaningful words.

Chu Xiong clearly had his own ideas, but he pretended to be confused. They didn't know whether Chu Xiong had other plans or felt that the time was not right to break off relations, so he wanted to maintain the appearance of harmony.

Liu Shuyi didn't care about Chu Xiong's intentions. As long as Chu Xiong didn't openly break off relations, he could still order Chu Xiong around. This case was difficult to investigate, and he couldn't let go of this rare opportunity to order Chu Xiong around.

"Prefect Chu..."

Liu Shuyi glanced around and asked, "I wonder if there are any yamen runners patrolling Xingzhou City at night?"

"Of course," Chu Xiong said. "The rules of the imperial court have always been firmly upheld by the Xingzhou Prefectural Government."

"On the night of the incident, did the patrolling constables pass through this intersection?"

"That's how it happened."

Chu Xiong said, "Xingzhou City is not large. The yamen runners patrol the entire city every night."

“I asked the constables who were on patrol that night, and they said that when they passed by here that night, they did not find anything unusual, nor did they see any trace of the stone lion.”

Liu Shuyi nodded: "When did they pass by here?"

Around the hour of Chou (1-3 AM).

"Who was the first person to discover Governor Jiang's body, and when did he discover it?" Liu Shuyi asked again.

Chu Xiong said, "A local resident was on his way to work when he passed by here and discovered the blood-red stone lion and the tragically deceased Governor Jiang... It was around 3:45 a.m. at that time."

When the yamen runners patrolled past during the Chou hour (1-3 AM), they found nothing unusual. The murder was discovered by the people at the third quarter of the Mao hour (3:45 AM) in the morning. In other words, if no one is lying, the murderer set up the scene between the Chou hour and the third quarter of the Mao hour.

"Did any of the local residents hear anything unusual that night?" Liu Shuyi thought for a moment and continued to ask.

Chu Xiong shook his head: "No, they all said they didn't hear it."

Liu Shuyi nodded slightly, then asked, "What were the coroner's findings?"

"He was cut open in the stomach by a sharp weapon, his abdomen was ripped open, and he died from excessive blood loss."

Died from excessive blood loss... Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed. Died from excessive blood loss meant that Jiang Rui was not killed in one blow and had a chance to call for help.

"Has anything ever been stuffed into Governor Jiang's mouth?" Liu Shuyi asked.

"Huh? In your mouth?"

Chu Xiong was somewhat bewildered: "No, when we found Governor Jiang, there was nothing in his mouth."

"Is it that... or did you not check his mouth?" Liu Shuyi stared intently at Chu Xiong.

Under Liu Shuyi's gaze, Chu Xiong felt inexplicably guilty. His gaze wandered and he coughed, "I don't know about that. Autopsies are the coroner's job. I can send someone to ask the coroner."

His gaze was unfocused, and his eyelids blinked unconsciously... He was lying.

It's unclear whether he checked Jiang Rui's mouth, or whether he knew the coroner hadn't checked it at all but was too embarrassed to say so, and therefore tried to evade the question.

Liu Shuyi was afraid of pushing Chu Xiong too far, causing Chu Xiong to simply quit, so he didn't pursue the matter further.

He continued, "Have you found the primary crime scene?"

"What does 'first crime scene' mean?"

"The place where Governor Jiang was killed."

Liu Shuyi said, "Given the fact that Governor Jiang was disemboweled, a large amount of blood must have flowed out of the wound. With so much blood flowing on the ground, it would spontaneously spread outwards and eventually become a large bloodstain."

"But the bloodstains at the intersection are not large, which means that the amount of blood flowing must not be much, which does not match the situation of Governor Jiang disemboweling someone."

"So it's obvious that this is just a place the murderer used to create the illusion of the stone lion killing someone, not the place where the murderer actually killed Governor Jiang, or even disemboweled him."

As Chu Xiong listened to Liu Shuyi's eloquent speech, his eyelids twitched involuntarily.

He knew Liu Shuyi was capable, but he hadn't expected him to be this capable. He had only just arrived in Xingzhou City and hadn't even had a sip of water yet, but he had not only directly deduced where the corpse might have been placed, but also deduced the murderer's murder and body removal based on the bloodstains that had been there for seven days... This ability would be fine if used for legitimate purposes, but if it were used to defend the court and frame others, it would be terrifying.

Chu Xiong's expression flickered a few times, and he shook his head, saying, "We have always believed that the murderer killed Governor Jiang here, and we never thought that the murderer moved the body here... Therefore, we have never searched for the so-called primary crime scene."

His eyes darted around, and his hands were placed in front of him in a defensive posture... He's lying again!
Liu Shuyi narrowed his eyes. Chu Xiong must know that this is not the real crime scene, and may even have already found the real crime scene.

But... he didn't want me to know, so he deliberately kept it from me.

He indeed doubted his motives for coming to Xingzhou. In Chu Xiong's view, perhaps he was not there to investigate the case at all, but to find a scapegoat for the imperial court.

Therefore, he won't really help with all his might. Instead, he'll keep things to himself and delay his own progress. As expected, his people are likely continuing to investigate the case. He wants to find enough evidence to prove that the court was behind it all before he finds a scapegoat for the court.

In this case, these former followers of the King of Xi must unite, and now they have a common enemy—themselves.

I might become their best choice to sacrifice myself!

Thinking about this, Liu Shuyi felt an increasing sense of urgency.

If the murderer coincidentally used the stone lion in the crime, that would be one thing. But if he deliberately used the stone lion, it would show that he intended to smear the imperial court.

Under these circumstances, he must have had other means to prove that this case was orchestrated by the imperial court to eliminate dissidents...

Perhaps Chu Xiong and his group have already obtained so-called evidence that is extremely detrimental to the imperial court...

My time is running out!

He had to find real evidence and catch the real culprit before Chu Xiong and the others reached their final conclusion... Otherwise, he and everyone who had come here with him would not have a good ending.

Liu Shuyi's heart was in turmoil, but his face remained calm, as if he had not noticed Chu Xiong's lie.

He nodded and said, "The murderer is very cunning and good at disguising himself. It's normal that Prefect Chu didn't notice anything."

Chu Xiong looked embarrassed: "It's still because I'm not capable enough. Fortunately, Doctor Liu is here. With Doctor Liu's skills, I believe that no matter how cunning the murderer is, it will be in vain."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuyi merely chuckled and shook his head. He said, "Prefect Chu, may I see the case file?"

"of course."

Chu Xiong was very generous and didn't hesitate at all.

He took a book out of his pocket and handed it directly to Liu Shuyi.

"Please feel free to look through this file, Doctor Liu. However, our abilities are limited, and we have searched for many days without any results. This file may not be of much help to Doctor Liu."

Liu Shuyi smiled and said, "I am new here and know very little about the case. This file may not be of much use to Prefect Chu, but it will definitely be of help to me."

As he spoke, he opened the book.

Just as Chu Xiong had said, the file was excessively simple.

The above only contains a description of the scene, the results of their inquiries with the surrounding people, and a brief record of Jiang Rui's whereabouts that night.

The description of the scene was very detailed, but not very useful.

When questioned by the people, the questions were few and the answers were few—the people knew nothing about the murderer's crime.

As for Jiang Rui's whereabouts that night, the file states that after finishing his shift, Jiang Rui went to a brothel and suddenly left the brothel around midnight, after which he disappeared without a trace.

The case file shows that Chu Xiong and his team have indeed been busy these past few days, asking many people and investigating many things.

However, nothing was gained.

As a result, apart from the last piece of information about Jiang Rui's whereabouts, which he didn't know, he had grasped all the other details of the case file within the short few minutes of his arrival.

This file really isn't very helpful to me...

"What a well-prepared file for me..."

Liu Shuyi looked at the extremely simple dossier and sneered inwardly.

If he hadn't just discovered that Chu Xiong already knew about the first crime scene, and even had found it, he might have been deceived by Chu Xiong into believing that this was all that Chu Xiong and his group currently possessed.

In a normal case file, any clues discovered during the investigation are usually recorded.

In other words, Chu Xiong knew this place wasn't the actual crime scene, so he had to show it in the case file...

However, the case file contains not a single word about this.

This is enough to show that either Chu Xiong deliberately concealed his true progress in the case file, or the case file in front of him is not a real case file at all.

Chu Xiong handed me this useless file, clearly indicating that he didn't want to share the clues and evidence they had obtained, and wanted to use this to delay my investigation and buy time for their investigation.

Liu Shuyi took a deep breath, suppressed his chaotic thoughts, and said with a smile, "It's clear from the files that you, Prefect Chu, have been working very hard these past few days."

Chu Xiong sighed and shook his head: "What's the use of all this hard work? It yields nothing. It's not even as much as what Doctor Liu did in a few minutes."

"You can't say that."

Liu Shuyi said, "Without your hard work and accumulation, I wouldn't have been able to find the ideas out of thin air. You have helped me a lot."

"Really?" Chu Xiong was somewhat incredulous. He had thought long and hard before writing this useless but effective dossier. Could Liu Shuyi really find some clues in this dossier that he considered utterly useless?
"of course it's true."

Liu Shuyi took in the changes in Chu Xiong's expression.

"I wonder what ideas Doctor Liu has come up with?" Chu Xiong couldn't help but ask.

Liu Shuyi said, "This line of thinking is still very simple and somewhat abstract. I can't think of a way to explain it for the time being... I'll tell Prefect Chu after I've sorted out my thoughts and made some progress."

Chu Xiong carefully examined Liu Shuyi and saw that Liu Shuyi looked calm and composed, which made him unsure whether Liu Shuyi was bluffing him or really had ideas about investigating the case.

"correct."

Liu Shuyi seemed to have thought of something and said, "I saw in the case file that Governor Jiang was spending the night in a brothel when the case occurred, but around midnight, he suddenly left the brothel... I wonder why Governor Jiang left?"

Chu Xiong hesitated for a moment, then said, "I asked Qingqing, the girl who served Governor Jiang in the brothel. She said that Governor Jiang had already gone to sleep, but suddenly sat up, said he had to go out for a while, and then left..."

"Miss Qingqing had no idea why Governor Jiang left. She even thought he had gone to the outhouse and had no idea that he had left the brothel directly."

He suddenly got up and left in his sleep...

Without any warning...

Had he arranged to meet someone at midnight long ago, or did something suddenly happen that caused Jiang Rui to change his original plan to go to sleep...?

Liu Shuyi was about to ask more questions when a yamen runner suddenly strode over and said to Chu Xiong, "Prefect Chu, the yamen has urgent business that requires your attention..."

Upon hearing this, Chu Xiong frowned: "Can't you see that I'm accompanying Physician Liu on an investigation? Can't something wait a bit?"

The constable shrank back instinctively when Chu Xiong berated him.

Seeing this, Liu Shuyi said, "Official business is important, Prefect Chu, you don't need to delay your official duties for my sake. Just arrange someone for me to guide me."

Chu Xiong hesitated for a moment: "Physician Liu has come from afar, and he represents the imperial court. It would be truly inappropriate for me not to accompany him..."

Liu Shuyi shook his head with a smile: "The case cannot be solved in a short time. If Prefect Chu really spends every day with me, the Prefectural Government Office will have to shut down... I understand Prefect Chu's intentions. Even if I am returning the favor, I cannot let Prefect Chu neglect his official duties because of me."

Seeing Liu Shuyi say this, Chu Xiong nodded: "Then I will go and handle official business first. I will arrange for the person most familiar with the case and all matters in Xingzhou to assist you. If you need any help from me, Doctor Liu, just send someone to the yamen to find me, and I will help you as soon as possible."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "Alright, I certainly won't stand on ceremony with Prefect Chu."

Chu Xiong didn't linger any longer. He nodded to Liu Shuyi and then spurred his horse and rode away quickly.

Watching Chu Xiong's departing figure without looking back, the smile on Liu Shuyi's face slowly faded.

If a clerk encounters something and needs to report to his superiors, he will whisper it to them... He would never loudly say that there is urgent official business to be dealt with.

It was obvious that they were deliberately trying to make me listen.

The purpose, without a doubt, was to give Chu Xiong a legitimate reason to leave him.

It seems Chu Xiong has no intention of providing any further assistance, not even the superficial support he's offering...

From now on, I can only rely on myself...

(End of this chapter)