The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 208 Mysterious Man Warns! Liu Shuyi Devises a Plan to Determine the Truth!

"letter?"

"Left by the thief who sneaked into your room?"

Cheng Chumo looked at the envelope in Liu Shuyi's hand and asked curiously.

While examining the envelope, Liu Shuyi said, "I chose this room on short notice. No one would have known I would be staying here beforehand and thus left the letter here... Apart from the few of us, only that uninvited person has entered my room."

"He sneaked into your room just to deliver this letter to you..." Cheng Chumo became more and more curious: "What does the letter say? It's so mysterious."

Liu Shuyi didn't rush to open the envelope. He looked at the Imperial Guards and said, "There's nothing else here. Go and rest."

"Yes."

The guards bowed to Liu Shuyi and Cheng Chumo before leaving the room, thoughtfully closing the door behind them.

Seeing that there were no outsiders around, Cheng Chumo's curiosity was like a cat scratching at him, and he urged, "Doctor Liu, can you take a look now?"

Liu Shuyi smiled and said, "Of course."

He placed the lantern on the table, lit the candle with a tinderbox, and then sat down beside the candle to examine the secret letter by its light.

Apart from the words "To be opened by Liu Shuyi," there were no other words or designs on the envelope.

The handwriting of these five characters looks very ordinary and has no special features. Either the writer has not practiced calligraphy, or it was written in this way on purpose to avoid the writer finding the recipient by the handwriting.

The envelope was sealed with wax, indicating that it had not been opened by anyone after it was written on.

The envelope contained no further clues, so Liu Shuyi didn't delay any longer. He tore the envelope open and took out the letter inside.

Opening the letter, one finds only two very brief sentences inside.

—The dense branches conceal the cold glint of a sword; do not follow the old post road and tread the dust of home!

Looking at these two lines of poetry, Liu Shuyi narrowed his eyes, his gaze becoming deep and unfathomable.

Seeing Liu Shuyi's unusual expression, Cheng Chumo couldn't help but ask, "Doctor Liu, what did the letter say? Is there a problem?"

"General Cheng, please take a look." Liu Shuyi handed the letter to Cheng Chumo.

Cheng Chumo took the letter and quickly read it.

then……

Is this poetry?

Cheng Chumo frowned deeply. Although he had finally seen the secret letter that had piqued his curiosity, who would have thought... damn it, he couldn't understand it at all!

Can't this person be a little more direct in their letter?
What does "The dense branches conceal the cold glint of a sword" and "Do not follow the old post station to return to dust" mean?
This is really too much of a bullying for a martial artist who doesn't like to study!

Cheng Chumo couldn't help but look at Liu Shuyi: "Doctor Liu, what does the person who wrote this letter mean? Did you understand it?"

"Looks like I've understood it..."

Liu Shuyi tapped his fingertips lightly on the table, a thoughtful expression on his face: "I just don't know if it's believable."

Cheng Chumo quickly asked, "What do you mean?"

Liu Shuyi took the letter back, looked at the two sentences on the large sheet of paper, and said, "The hidden branches conceal a cold blade, meaning we are being watched, and someone wants to ambush and kill us! And 'Do not follow the old post station to return to dust' is to advise us not to return to Chang'an by the original route..."

"So, this secret letter is saying that someone is planning to ambush us on our way back to Chang'an. If we want to be safe, we must not turn back!"

As Cheng Chumo listened to Liu Shuyi's words, his pupils suddenly contracted.

His expression changed, and all his muscles tensed involuntarily. He said, "Someone wants to ambush us? Could it be that these former subordinates of the Prince of Xi have decided to attack us after all?"

Liu Shuyi's eyes were deep as he slowly said, "It might not be these former subordinates of the Prince of Xi..."

"Don't forget, Fusheng Tower and the illegitimate son of Prince Xi also have a great grudge against us. This time, we are far away from the territory controlled by the court, which is naturally the best opportunity for them to get rid of us."

"Not to mention the enemies we've made during this time, the forces behind Miaoyin'er, and the spies from the Turks and Liang Shidu..."

He shook his head, his eyes fixed on the flickering candlelight: "We have quite a few enemies."

As Cheng Chumo listened to Liu Shuyi's words, he couldn't help but click his tongue: "You don't know until you count, and then you're shocked... How did we offend so many powerful forces in such a short time?"

Liu Shuyi said, “You’re wrong. It’s not that we offended them, but that they intended to harm the Tang Dynasty and took repeated actions. For the sake of the court, we had to thwart their conspiracy, which is why they resented us… The main reason is them, not us.”

"That's true. If they hadn't been so ambitious and committed such treacherous and vicious crimes one after another, we wouldn't have been able to confront them."

At this moment, even the usually easygoing Cheng Chumo couldn't help but sigh, "What a turbulent time!"

As he spoke, he looked at Liu Shuyi and asked, "What are you planning to do?"

Liu Shuyi's gaze returned to the letter. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "The most important thing now is to determine the authenticity of this letter."

"If this letter is truly meant to help us, then we should naturally avoid the danger."

"But if..."

He met Cheng Chumo's gaze, his eyes deep: "This letter was written by the person who wants to harm us. If we follow the advice in the letter, we will be like lambs to the slaughter, choosing a path to certain death!"

Cheng Chumo was startled, feeling as if the sky above him, which had just cleared of dark clouds, was once again shrouded in dark clouds, making it difficult to see the way forward!

Its danger is even greater than that of the case in Xingzhou!
He couldn't help but ask, "How can we be sure this letter is credible?"

Yes, how can we be sure...?

Liu Shuyi frowned slightly, his mind racing.

To determine whether a secret letter is credible, one can only consider two aspects.

One is the identity of the person writing to you... If you can know their identity or their faction, you can roughly determine whether they are hostile to you.

The other, as mentioned in the secret letter, was an ambush along the way back...

The letter writer made no attempt to reveal their identity, and there were no clues about their identity in the letter, nor was there any way to reply. Therefore, even though Liu Shuyi was very skilled at investigating cases, he was unable to make any further judgments about their identity due to the extremely limited information.

So……

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered: "We can only choose the latter method to verify it."

He looked at Cheng Chumo and said, "General Cheng, there is something I need you to do."

Cheng Chumo knew that Liu Shuyi must have an idea, so he quickly said, "Go ahead."

Liu Shuyi said, "Select ten skilled guards from the Imperial Guards, have them wear straw hats to cover their faces, and have them leave Xingzhou City overnight, returning to Chang'an along the original route."

"At the same time, go to the Snake Tiger Guards and borrow ten well-trained carrier pigeons. Have each member of the Golden Guard carry one pigeon, and release one pigeon every two hours of travel..."

"If they encounter danger along the way, they can release all the carrier pigeons. If the situation is critical and there is no time to release the carrier pigeons, then they should not release any of them and should just escape for their lives."

Cheng Chumo's heart skipped a beat, and he said, "Does Doctor Liu want to... have them test whether anyone is lying in ambush along the way?"

Liu Shuyi nodded: "Starting tonight, I will announce to the public that I am ill and need to rest, and I will not show my face again, even if 'Chuxiong' is beheaded..."

"And tonight the Imperial Guards left Xingzhou City with their faces covered... When these two things come together, it's easy for others to think that I have secretly left Xingzhou City tonight."

“In that case, if anyone really wants to ambush me, they will definitely make a move.” Cheng Chumo thought for a moment and said, “You are the most important among us, and you certainly deserve their attention…”

He said to Liu Shuyi, "In this way, if more than one carrier pigeon returns, or none at all, it means they have encountered an accident, and someone has indeed intercepted and killed them?"

Liu Shuyi nodded: "Although doing this will alert them and let them know that we have discovered that someone is trying to ambush us, they will definitely change their methods of dealing with us... But at least we know the specific situation and can use it to plan countermeasures, which is better than knowing nothing and plunging headlong into unknown danger."

“That’s right.” Cheng Chumo nodded emphatically in agreement.

"Moreover..." Liu Shuyi continued, "The area where they would intercept us is most likely within Hebei Province. Once we leave Hebei Province, we can ask any city we encounter to send troops to protect us... It will be very difficult for them to intercept us again, and it will be easy for the local government to find out."

"Only in the Hebei Province region, even if some prefectures discover these people with ulterior motives, these former subordinates of the Prince of Xi are fighting their own battles and prioritizing their own interests, so they may not care... Therefore, as long as the Imperial Guards leave the Hebei Province region and do not encounter any danger along the way, they can write a letter directly and send it back by carrier pigeon, and we will know that this secret letter is a trap."

Cheng Chumo's eyes lit up: "We came to Xingzhou from Bingzhou. In other words, as long as the Jinwu Guard can reach the Bingzhou area from Xingzhou, we can confirm... and the journey is not too far. If we don't stop day and night, we can arrive in a little over a day."

"We only need to stay in Xingzhou City for a maximum of two days to find out the result!"

Liu Shuyi nodded: "That's right, but if we do that, the Imperial Guards carrying out the mission will face extreme danger..."

Cheng Chumo calmly said, "From the day we became members of the Imperial Guard, everyone was prepared to die for His Majesty and the court. Even I have already written my will."

"Moreover, our Golden Guard is one of the most elite forces of the imperial court, and each of us is quite capable. This time, we have chosen the strongest among the strongest to come to Xingzhou City. It will not be an easy task to kill them..."

"Doctor Liu only needs to wait for the results; the rest is up to me and the Imperial Guards."

Liu Shuyi was not one to hesitate. Under the current circumstances, this was the best and most feasible solution he could think of in a short time. He said, "Then I'll leave it to you."

Cheng Chumo's carefree expression vanished, replaced by a serious one, which gave Liu Shuyi a rare sense of composure and reassurance: "Doctor Liu, please rest well these next two days. I will have people guard the door and not allow anyone to approach. All meals will be delivered on time, and I will inform you immediately of any news from the Imperial Guards."

…………

After seeing Cheng Chumo off, Liu Shuyi sat back down at the table.

He moved the candle closer, his gaze returning to the letter.

Looking at the very brief content, he tapped his fingertips on the table repeatedly, his eyes growing increasingly deep.

If the Imperial Guards all arrived safely in Bingzhou, it means that the secret letter was a trap. There are too many people who have a grudge against me and want to kill me, so there's not much to analyze.

But if the Imperial Guards really encountered an accident along the way, it would mean that this secret letter was truly helping him... Then the identity of the person who wrote the letter would be something he needed to think about deeply.

The letter writer knew a secret that even he himself was unaware of, and was able to freely enter and exit the heavily guarded governor's office, delivering the secret letter to his room without anyone's knowledge... The letter writer's status and abilities were definitely not low.

Due to her family background and Pei Ji's suppression, the original owner of this body had no one to associate with over the years, not even a single friend.

Therefore, this mysterious and powerful letter writer should be unrelated to the original owner of this body.

Although he had investigated many cases and made acquaintances with many people because of them, these people had either come to Xingzhou with him or had no need to hide their identities. He did not have any secrets with anyone.

He thought and thought, but still couldn't figure out who the letter writer might be.

However… he remembered something else.

—The Yang Wanli Incident!

The cause of Yang Wanli's incident was that the forces behind Miaoyin'er wanted to deal with him. They intended to eliminate him from a distance without his knowledge by using Chen Fengshui, the magistrate of Nanyang County in Dengzhou.

This matter was truly extremely dangerous, and I was completely unprepared before it happened.

If Yang Hui hadn't killed Yang Wanli first, preventing Yang Wanli from having the opportunity to confess, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

The reason Yang Hui killed Yang Wanli was that he received a mysterious letter. The letter not only told him that Yang Wanli was the culprit who caused his family's destruction, but also thoughtfully instructed Yang Hui on how to do it...

Because the timing of this secret letter's appearance, and the timing of Yang Hui's actions, coincided perfectly with Ding Feng's arrival in Chang'an, it was just in time to kill Yang Wanli before Ding Feng could make his move... Therefore, I deduced that the true intention of this secret letter was not only to help Yang Hui take revenge, but also to help me avoid the conspiracy of Miao Yin'er's forces!

In other words... that secret letter was very likely written for himself, and a mysterious person was secretly helping him!
At that moment, he also received a secret letter, also asking him to avoid danger...

This made Liu Shuyi wonder if the two secret letters were related, or if they were written by the same person!
If it really is the same person, then who is the other person?

Looking at the illegible handwriting on the paper, Liu Shuyi let out a soft sigh: "Let's first verify the authenticity of the letter's contents. If it's true..."

His gaze was deep and unfathomable: "Then I really need to think about who would help me so selflessly!"

…………

The following day, after noon.

With a creak, the door was pushed open.

Wearing a cloud-white long dress, with a cool temperament and stunning beauty, Du Ying walked in carrying a food box.

Liu Shuyi was sitting on the bed reading a book out of boredom when he saw Du Ying arrive. He smiled and said, "Is it noon?"

Du Ying nodded slightly, opened the food box, took out the food, and said, "I just went out for a while and was delayed for a bit. Are you hungry?"

Liu Shuyi put down his book, threw back the covers and got out of bed, laughing, "I've been lying in bed the whole time, so I haven't used up any energy. How could I get hungry so quickly?"

He sat down next to Du Ying, looked at the delicious-looking dishes on the plate, and said, "You didn't make this?"

Du Yingwei subtly pursed her lips: "It was made by Qingqing. She heard you were sick and was very worried about you, so she cooked for you herself and worked for more than an hour... Tsk tsk, she is such a grateful and kind girl. I like her very much."

Du Ying's tone was as cold as ever, but Liu Shuyi inexplicably detected a hint of sourness in it.

He laughed and said, "Aren't you curious why I could tell at a glance that this food wasn't made by you?"

Du Ying's attention was indeed diverted: "Why?"

Liu Shuyi looked into Du Ying's beautiful eyes: "Because besides the people in my household, you are the first person to cook for me personally and bring me food."

"I will never forget the taste of those meals, and I will never forget that when I was starving and freezing, a girl with a cool and aloof demeanor, who in other people's eyes would never have anything to do with the kitchen, personally cooked for me."

In an instant, Du Ying's fair face turned red.

Looking at the serious expression on Liu Shuyi's handsome face, Du Ying felt a rare sense of shyness, as if she wanted to escape.

She quickly turned her head away, afraid that Liu Shuyi would notice her unusual behavior: "Why...why are you saying all this?"

Liu Shuyi laughed and said, "I'm just explaining to you why I can recognize these dishes immediately that you didn't make them. I want you to know that for me, no matter how sumptuous or delicious the food is, it can't compare to the taste and emotion of that day in my memory."

Du Ying had initially felt a little uncomfortable about Qingqing cooking for Liu Shuyi, but now all that discomfort had vanished, and she felt her heart pounding like a deer's.

There was even a kind of indescribable joy and emotion.

She never expected that Liu Shuyi would remember what she had done so clearly and so deeply.

Seeing that Du Ying's tone had changed and that she was too shy to look at him, Liu Shuyi smiled.

Although he never had a romantic relationship in either of his two lives, it doesn't mean he didn't understand romance or girls' hearts.

He didn't date in his past life because he wanted to focus on his career and had no intention of starting a family.

But in this life, his career is progressing steadily, and his father-in-law has been helping him from the beginning. Du Ying has been following him from the very beginning, selflessly helping him investigate cases... He is not a heartless person, so he naturally does what he should do.

Seeing that Du Ying was no longer jealous, Liu Shuyi stopped saying anything mushy, lest he scare the ice queen away.

He picked up his chopsticks and, while eating, said, "Miss Du just went out, but... did she go to see the execution in 'Chuxiong' this afternoon?"

(End of this chapter)