The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 92 The Secret Revealed! The Truth Comes to Light!
"He wasn't under control! He's the real culprit!"

Liu Shuyi's two sentences were like a bomb thrown into a calm lake, instantly creating a huge uproar in everyone's minds.

Zhao Feng's eyes widened, Du Gou's pupils contracted, Li Chengqian's youthful face was full of bewilderment and shock, and even the usually aloof Du Ying's beautiful eyes showed surprise at this moment.

Liu Shuyi's words were truly unexpected.

They had considered that Liu Shuyi might reveal surprising control methods, or even mysterious reasons such as gods, demons, or monsters. They had considered all of these possibilities. But what they had never imagined was that Liu Shuyi would say that there was no control at all!
If Ba Zhuo wasn't under control, wouldn't that mean that Ba Zhuo really wanted to kill Kang Wei from the very beginning?
But didn't Bazhuo hope that the Tang Dynasty would unite with the Xueyantuo? How dare he kill Kang Wei?
Was he not afraid that the Tang Dynasty and the Xueyantuo would break off relations, leading to the Xueyantuo's destruction by the Turks, and that he would not have a good end either?

I can't understand it! I can't comprehend it!
Zhao Feng couldn't help but ask, "Master Liu, what exactly happened? Why did Ba Zhu kill Kang Shaoqing? Did he betray the Xueyantuo?"

"impossible!"

Du Gou frowned: "Ba Zhuo is the crown prince of Xueyantuo and the next Khan of Xueyantuo. He was just appointed as Yabghu, and his position is very stable. How could he possibly betray Xueyantuo?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Indeed, if Bazhuo were a subject of Xueyantuo, or even one of Xueyantuo's other princes, and harbored resentment because the position of crown prince had not fallen to them, it was possible that they might betray Xueyantuo.

But Bazhuo was already the crown prince, and no one could threaten him. His betrayal of Xueyantuo was as absurd as the question of "Why did Your Majesty rebel?" It was simply impossible.

"But if he didn't betray Xueyantuo, why would he do such a thing?" Zhao Feng couldn't understand it at all.

Li Chengqian's delicate brows were furrowed as he said, "Master Liu, please tell us quickly, I have no patience whatsoever."

Liu Shuyi smiled and was about to speak when there was a knock on the door.

A voice came from outside the door: "The Xueyantuo envoy and all the officials have arrived."

Liu Shuyi raised his head and said, "Please invite them in."

Then, with a creak, the door opened.

More than a dozen figures entered Ba Zhuo's bedroom one after another.

Fortunately, Ba Zhuo's room was the most spacious in the entire Duting Post Station; otherwise, these people might not have been able to squeeze in.

The Tang Dynasty officials were led by Xie Mo, the Vice Minister of Revenue, followed by Hou Junji, the Vice Minister of War, Wei Cheng, the Director of Rites, and a familiar face, Qin Wuyuan, the postmaster of Duting Post Station.

At this moment, Qin Wuyuan hung his head, his back was bent, and he looked like he had lost his soul. When he saw Liu Shuyi, he gave Liu Shuyi a bitter smile, his face full of helplessness at being caught in this undeserved disaster.

Not long ago, a prefect died at Duting Post Station, and the turmoil had just subsided when another important official of the court died there. Moreover, this case was directly related to the future of the Tang Dynasty and the Xueyantuo...

As the highest-ranking official at Duting Post Station, Qin Wuyuan would inevitably be implicated if the matter were investigated.

This is truly like someone lying at home being blamed for something falling from the sky, and he can't even explain it.

Liu Shuyi nodded to Qin Wuyuan, then turned his gaze to the Xueyantuo envoys.

The leader of the Xueyantuo envoys was a middle-aged man with a beard and a resolute face. Du Gou introduced him in a low voice: "He is Tutun Zhaohe. Apart from Bazhuo, he is the highest-ranking person in the Xueyantuo envoy group."

"Behind him were Burkefield and his general, Hurley."

Looking back, Liu Shuyi saw that Fei Qin was a burly man in his forties with a scar on his face, which made him look quite intimidating.

Behind Fei Qin was General Hulile, who was the first to react after Ba Zhuo committed the murder and pulled Ba Zhuo away. Hulile was over thirty years old, with a furrowed brow and his gaze frequently drifting into the inner room, seemingly very worried about Ba Zhuo's condition.

"The last person was Jiezhuo, the only literate person in the Xueyantuo delegation. He was in charge of discussing the details of the alliance with our Great Tang."

Liu Shuyi looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Jie Zhuo was much thinner than the other three. At the age of thirty-five or thirty-six, he did have the air of a scholar and was less barbaric and rude than the others.

"A strategist?" Liu Shuyi said in a low voice.

Du Gou nodded: "More or less. Father said that Jie Zhuo's official rank is not high, but during negotiations, Ba Zhuo often adopts Jie Zhuo's suggestions."

Liu Shuyi knew exactly what was going on.

The two groups stood clearly separated on either side, each scrutinizing the other with obvious wariness in their eyes.

It is clear that after everyone witnessed Ba Zhuo's brutal killing of Tang Dynasty officials, their mindset had changed.

The Tang Dynasty side would inevitably suspect that the Xueyantuo envoys might have ulterior motives. Even if there was a hidden story behind Bazhuo's murder, the culprit must have been hiding within the Xueyantuo envoy group.

Until the truth is fully revealed, they cannot trust the Xueyantuo envoys as they did at the banquet.

As for the Xueyantuo, although they were aware of the existence of Turkic spies, the spies had not yet been exposed. They were unsure whether this was a lie told by the Tang Dynasty to appease them. They feared that the Tang Dynasty might suddenly turn against them and accuse them of a conspiracy by their Xueyantuo envoys, and arrest them.

A complex and tense atmosphere hung over everyone.

Cui Lin then entered the room and walked straight toward Liu Shuyi.

Seeing the different expression on Cui Lin's face compared to when he left, Liu Shuyi's heart stirred, and he asked, "Did you find something?"

Cui Lin's gaze swept over the Xueyantuo envoy, then he leaned close to Liu Shuyi's ear and whispered, "I suspect someone..."

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered as he listened to Cui Lin's words.

Cui Lin looked at Liu Shuyi: "Although I don't have concrete evidence, he gives me the same feeling as those spies. Of course, I might be wrong, so just take this as a reference..."

"I believe you!"

Before Cui Lin could finish speaking, Liu Shuyi interrupted him.

Cui Lin was taken aback and looked at Liu Shuyi, who said, "Actually, I also have doubts about him."

"You suspect him too!?" Cui Lin's eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly calmed down after remembering Liu Shuyi's abilities.

Indeed, given Liu Shuyi's abilities, this is nothing to be surprised about.

The thought that his suspicions were the same as Liu Shuyi's meant that he hadn't repeated his mistakes and had finally been right this time, and Cui Lin breathed a sigh of relief.

If he falls again, he will really start to doubt himself.

Fortunately, he finally got it right this time.

Liu Shuyi said to Cui Lin, "You've worked hard. You should take a rest."

Having said that, he looked at the crowd, took a deep breath, and said loudly, "I am Liu Shuyi, an assistant director of the Ministry of Justice. I have been ordered by His Majesty to investigate this case. After my investigation, the case has become clear. I have invited you all here today to reveal the truth of this case."

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, both Hou Junji and the other Tang officials, as well as Hulile and the other Xueyantuo envoys, were taken aback at first, and then quickly turned their heads to look at Liu Shuyi with surprise.

"Has the truth been found out?"

"real or fake?"

"He hasn't been here to investigate for very long, has he?"

Although they had not met Liu Shuyi before, they knew that he had come to investigate, so they knew exactly how long he had been there.

It doesn't seem like even half an hour, right?

Is that all it takes to solve the case?
Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Liu Shuyi didn't waste any more time and said directly, "Zhao Lingshi, please tell everyone about the progress we have made so far."

He really disliked repeating himself, so he could only make Zhao Feng waste his breath.

Fortunately, Zhao Feng was very willing to do these things for Liu Shuyi.

He looked at everyone and said, "Liu Yuanwailang originally deduced that Xueyantuo Yehu Bazhuo was being controlled by the bandits..."

Then, he recounted in great detail how Liu Shuyi had become suspicious, how Du Ying had helped him confirm it, and how he ultimately eliminated those possibilities, leaving only Ba Zhuo who was not under control, leading to his deduction that the murderer was him.

And as soon as he finished speaking...

"impossible!"

Xueyantuo general Hulile shook his head directly: "Yaghu would never do such a thing! The alliance between Xueyantuo and the Tang Dynasty is Xueyantuo's top priority. Before we set off, the Khan repeatedly instructed us that there must be no accidents!"

"This matter is of paramount importance, even above the lives of all of us. When Ye Hu was in contact with the Tang Dynasty, he kept telling us that we must not cause any trouble, and we must not create any obstacles..."

"Under these circumstances, there is absolutely no way he could have killed a high-ranking official of the Tang Dynasty! He must have been controlled, or there must be some other reason!"

Showa's resolute face also showed the same certainty: "That's right, Yehu would never kill Kang Shaoqing."

Fei Qin didn't speak, but nodded emphatically, agreeing with the two.

The only scholar, Jie Zhuo, pondered for a moment and said, "Ye Hu truly had no motive or reason to do such a thing. If we must say that this was Ye Hu's doing, then I think the problem may not lie with him, perhaps..."

He looked at Liu Shuyi, his voice carrying a deeper meaning, and said, "Is the problem with Kang Shaoqing? Is it possible that Kang Shaoqing has a problem, that he might be plotting against His Highness the Crown Prince, and that Ye Hu discovered it, which is why Ye Hu, in his haste, didn't have time to explain and directly attacked Kang Shaoqing?"

Huril's eyes lit up: "That's entirely possible! If that's the explanation, then it makes sense!"

Du Gou and the others had never considered this possibility, and upon hearing this, they all frowned and fell into deep thought.

Liu Shuyi gave Jiezhuo a deep look. No wonder Xueyantuo would specifically send this low-ranking civil official, and why Jiezhuo would listen to his advice. He was indeed quick-witted and had a very fast reaction.

In a single sentence, the problem was passed on to the Tang Dynasty, thus avoiding the consequences of Xueyantuo taking responsibility. In any case, Kang Wei was dead and there was no way to verify the facts. Who could be sure that he really had no problems?

but……

Liu Shuyi slowly said, "It seems that you have all forgotten that before you, Xueyantuo Yehu, even before the banquet, you had already coated your dagger with a deadly poison that kills on sight."

“As you said…” He looked at Jiezhuo: “Bazhuo Yehu noticed that Kang Shaoqing was suspicious when he was walking out with His Highness the Crown Prince, which is why he suddenly attacked… If he only found out about the situation at that time, why would he have applied poison to the dagger before the banquet?”

"Regarding Ba Zhuo's application of poison to the dagger, I had previously analyzed it with His Highness the Crown Prince. Even if he wanted to protect himself and deal with the Turkic spies, he wanted to capture them alive, so the poison he applied should not have been such a potent poison."

"This……"

Jiezhu frowned, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Perhaps Ye Hu knew that Kang Shaoqing had a problem before the banquet."

"You knew about it before the banquet?"

Liu Shuyi laughed directly: "If he knew before the banquet, then from the start of the banquet to his sudden attack on people, there was a full hour or so. In such a long time, couldn't he have just told Kang Shaoqing about it?"

“At the banquet, everyone sat separately. He was closest to His Highness the Crown Prince. He could have easily whispered to His Highness the Crown Prince, and His Highness could have directly ordered the Imperial Guards to arrest Kang Shaoqing, ensuring that Kang Shaoqing would not even have a chance to resist. Why bother him to do it himself?”

"This……"

Jiezhuo frowned more and more deeply. He racked his brains to find a reasonable explanation, but in the end, he didn't say another word.

Liu Shuyi had blocked all his paths forward and backward, leaving him powerless to refute.

Seeing this, Xie Mo, the Vice Minister of Revenue, whispered to Wei Cheng, "I didn't expect that Assistant Minister Liu would be so eloquent. He blocked all the other party's paths with just a few words. If there is a need for negotiation in the future, we can let Assistant Minister Liu participate as well. It's better to make the other party feel bad than to be so angry that we die."

Wei Cheng nodded in deep agreement: "That's certainly possible."

Seeing that the Xueyantuo envoys were all frowning and remained silent, Liu Shuyi asked, "Do any of you have any objections to the fact that Yehu was not under control and that he deliberately killed Kang Shaoqing?"

The Tang Dynasty officials naturally shook their heads without hesitation.

The Xueyantuo envoys looked at each other, and in the end, they could only shake their heads in agreement.

Faced with the facts, even the wisest Jiezhuo was helpless; what else could they say?
"it is good."

Liu Shuyi continued, "Since everyone has no objections, I will continue my analysis."

"Although it is certain that Bazhuo committed the killing, as the Xueyantuo people said, Bazhuo Yabghu had absolutely no motive or reason for doing so. His actions are incomprehensible no matter how you look at them..."

Why would he do that?

"Everyone needs a motivation to do anything, but what exactly is that motivation?"

Jiezhuo couldn't help but ask, "Yes, why?"

Except when he was sleeping at night, he was almost always by Ba Zhuo's side. He saw and remembered everything Ba Zhuo said and did.

Apart from the sudden killing of Kang Wei, all of Ba Zhuo's previous actions were within his comprehension. He could fully understand Ba Zhuo and knew that Ba Zhuo did all this for the sake of the alliance between the Tang Dynasty and Xueyantuo.

But just as everything was about to settle down, Ba Zhuo suddenly went berserk and killed someone, doing the exact opposite of what he had always believed!

This left him bewildered and unable to understand.

He tried his best to create an opportunity for Ba Zhuo and Xueyantuo, but he couldn't understand Ba Zhuo's behavior, so how could he win him over?
Everyone else was equally puzzled. The smarter and more logical a person was, the more confused they became by this completely illogical behavior.

Liu Shuyi's gaze swept across everyone's faces, lingering on the expressions of the Xueyantuo envoys before he said, "Xueyantuo Yehu Bazhuo, no matter what we think, shouldn't have acted so suddenly as to kill someone. So, do you think there's any possibility..."

Almost simultaneously, everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on Liu Shuyi. They knew that the most crucial moment had arrived.

Then they heard Liu Shuyi say in a deep voice, "Since Ba Zhuo would never kill anyone, could it be that the killer... wasn't him at all?"

"What!?"

"He wasn't the murderer!?"

Liu Shuyi's words completely baffled everyone.

They felt as if they were hallucinating.

They clearly witnessed Ba Zhuo kill the person right in front of them; the warm drops of blood even splattered on their faces. They watched Ba Zhuo make the move with their own eyes, yet Liu Shuyi claimed that Ba Zhuo was not the one who killed the person.

Is Liu Shuyi joking?
Hou Junji frowned. Coming from a military background, he was straightforward and short-tempered. He said directly, "Master Liu, do you think we have something wrong with our eyes, or do you think we are lying?"

Faced with Hou Junji's displeasure, Liu Shuyi showed no panic. He simply shook his head calmly and said, "I have never doubted you."

As he spoke, he looked at the Xueyantuo envoy and said, "I would like to know if your Yabghu has any birthmarks or anything like that could verify his identity?"

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Du Gou and Cui Lin's eyes flashed, and they finally understood what Liu Shuyi meant.

Du Gou said, "Do you believe that someone is impersonating Xueyantuo Yehu Bazhuo? The real killer wasn't him, but the imposter?"

"Impersonating the Yabghu!?" Hulile and the other Xueyantuo envoys widened their eyes, their faces filled with disbelief.

"How is this possible?" he couldn't help but say. "We have never been separated from Ye Hu. Who could impersonate Ye Hu?"

Showa frowned and said, "Yagu's behavior has always been normal, and we know Yagu well enough. If someone is impersonating him, we will definitely be able to tell."

Jie Zhuo frowned, but remembering Liu Shuyi's rebuttal just now, he hesitated for a moment and said, "Ye Hu was shot in the right side of his abdomen by an arrow three years ago, and should have a noticeable scar."

scar?

Liu Shuyi raised an eyebrow.

General Huli clapped his hands and said, "That's right, Yehu was indeed shot by an arrow. I know the exact location. If the Yehu who killed him was really a fake, he couldn't have had such a scar three years in advance!"

With that, he walked directly into the inner room.

Arriving at the bedside, Hulile lifted the blanket covering Bazhuo and then untied Bazhuo's outer robe and inner garment.

Look upwards—

“The scar is still there, and the location… is exactly where Ye Hu was injured three years ago. This is clearly Ye Hu himself, not an imposter!”

Upon hearing Huli's words, everyone gathered around the bed and looked down.

Sure enough, there was an old scar on the lower right side of the abdomen after cauterization.

The scar was cross-shaped, and it still looks quite shocking now.

After observing for a while, Du Ying said to Liu Shuyi, "It is indeed what the arrow looks like after it has healed."

"He is Ba Zhuo himself!"

"It seems that Assistant Minister Liu made a mistake."

"Yes, the Xueyantuo envoys are most familiar with Bazhuo. If someone were really impersonating him, how could they not notice?"

Everyone whispered.

The Xueyantuo envoys exchanged glances, but their expressions became even more severe.

If the bald spot on the bed was fake, their crisis would be resolved immediately. But who knew that the bald spot was real?

Jie Zhuo felt a pang of regret. He wondered if he should have told the truth, or if he should have gone along with Liu Shuyi and confirmed the matter.

Cui Lin frowned as he looked at Liu Shuyi. He didn't think Liu Shuyi, who had crushed him in the last case investigation, would make such a mistake.

But the truth is that it was indeed Ba Zhuo himself.

Why is this happening?
Li Chengqian's little head was also filled with big questions. Listening to the discussions of the crowd and looking at Liu Shuyi's completely unsurprised expression, he couldn't help but ask, "Master Liu, you're not surprised at all? Do you know that he is the real Ba Zhuo?"

Everyone was taken aback upon hearing Li Chengqian's words.

"Does Liu Yuanwailang know that he is the real Ba Zhuo?"

They quickly looked at Liu Shuyi.

Cui Lin stared intently at him: "Really?"

Looking at Li Chengqian's clever appearance, Liu Shuyi almost couldn't resist ruffling Li Chengqian's hair.

He smiled and said, "Your Highness is wise."

"Do you really know that he is Ba Zhuo himself?"

Hou Junji frowned: "But didn't you just say that Ba Zhuo was fake?"

Others nodded.

Liu Shuyi said, “I did say that Ba Zhuo is fake, but when I said fake, I meant that the Ba Zhuo who smeared the dagger with deadly poison and who suddenly killed people in front of you is fake. But I did not say that the Ba Zhuo lying here is also fake.”

Liu Shuyi's words were a bit convoluted, and it took everyone a while to understand what he meant.

Jie Zhuo stared at Liu Shuyi and said, "So, what you mean, Master Liu, is that the Ye Hu who committed the murder and the Ye Hu lying in front of us are two different people?"

"Yes." Liu Shuyi nodded.

"how is this possible?"

Hulile found it hard to believe: "After Yabghu fainted, I carried him here, and he has been unconscious ever since. Moreover, the gate has been guarded by your Tang Dynasty guards the whole time. You say there are two Yabghu? How did the real and fake Yabghu switch places? Could they have switched places remotely?"

Everyone frowned and pondered for a moment before nodding in agreement.

Huli's words, though crude, are not without reason.

If there really are two Ba Zhuo, then there must be an opportunity to exchange them.

But from beginning to end, Ba Zhuo was trapped in this room. How could the thieves exchange him?

Unless, the thief is hiding here.

But is this possible?

This is the Duting Post Station of the Great Tang Dynasty. How could thieves possibly sneak in? And even if they could, where would they find a place to hide?

Huril immediately turned around and flipped open the lids of those cabinets.

He searched through all the cabinets but found no one.

“The only place in this room is in the closets where people can hide, but these closets are either empty or only contain the clothes and bundles of the Yehu. There is no one hiding here at all,” Huli said.

Seeing this, Jiezhuo tentatively asked, "Master Liu, could there be a problem somewhere?"

Liu Shuyi was not surprised by the results of the search for Hulile. He remained calm and said, "I would say that the Bazhuo at that time was fake and is not the same person as the Bazhuo at this time. This is not just empty talk; I have my evidence."

"First, Ba Zhuo's behavior at the banquet was clearly abnormal."

“When I learned about the banquet from His Highness the Crown Prince, I learned that Ba Zhuo only talked and toasted His Highness the Crown Prince throughout the entire banquet, and never took the initiative to drink with other officials of our Great Tang. Whether from the perspective of politeness or from his own situation, he should not have done so.”

"This is just like his later violent killings, something he should never have done, but he did anyway."

“I think it’s precisely because he’s a fake that he doesn’t dare to have contact with too many people, fearing that his disguise will be exposed. So he only communicates with His Highness. After all, compared to others, His Highness is young and not as perceptive as other officials. Moreover, His Highness is meeting him for the first time and doesn’t know the original Ba Zhuo. Therefore, by only contacting His Highness, he can ensure that he will not be exposed to the greatest extent.”

Wei Cheng, a secretary in the Ministry of Rites, stroked his beard and said, "He did indeed neglect us at the time. If that's the explanation, it makes sense."

Liu Shuyi continued, "Secondly, the doctor and Miss Du both examined the patient on the bed."

The doctor explained Ba Zhuo's coma by saying that he had drunk too much alcohol and had fallen into a drunken stupor.

"But Miss Du explained that Ba Zhuo had been drugged and was unconscious."

"Drowsiness and coma are two completely different symptoms! Drunkenness and drugging are also completely different! I think that even if that doctor's skills were not good enough, he could not be so far off from Miss Du's judgment, so ridiculously wrong."

Li Chengqian frowned and said, "Although the doctor was urgently summoned, he is the best doctor in the vicinity, no worse than the imperial physicians of the Imperial Medical Bureau."

"The best doctor?"

Liu Shuyi nodded and said, "That means he wouldn't make such an obvious mistake."

"If that's the case, and neither is Miss Du, does that mean the doctor's examination of Ba Zhuo and Miss Du's examination of Ba Zhuo are not the same person at all?"

“This…” Li Chengqian’s dark eyes suddenly lit up: “That’s right, how come I didn’t think of that!”

After a moment's thought, Hou Junji and other Tang officials, along with Jie Zhuo and other Xueyantuo envoys, finally nodded in agreement.

This is no longer pure reasoning, but clear evidence.

"And the third one..."

Liu Shuyi took in everyone's reactions and said without pausing, "Under normal circumstances, the smell of alcohol on a person's breath is directly related to how much alcohol they have drunk."

"The more alcohol you drink, the stronger the smell of alcohol will be on your breath."

"At the banquet just now, I personally checked the wine pots on everyone's tables. I found that only Ba Zhuo's table had four empty wine pots, while most of the others had three wine pots. Jie Zhuo and Kang Shaoqing had the fewest, with only two empty wine pots."

"This means that Ba Zhuo drank the most wine, so logically, his breath should also have the strongest smell of wine."

But what is the truth?

Liu Shuyi looked at Ba Zhuo on the bed and said, "Although there is alcohol on Ba Zhuo's breath, you can't even smell it unless you sniff carefully. But you all..."

His gaze swept across the crowd, finally settling on Jiezhuo, and he said, "Even you, who drank the least, exhaled a much stronger smell of alcohol than Bazhuo when you spoke to me!"

"Is this...really?"

Jiezhuo paid no attention to the smell of alcohol.

It wasn't that he deliberately ignored it, but rather that people who drink alcohol naturally exhale alcohol fumes, so they subconsciously become accustomed to the smell of alcohol in others.

The way Li Chengqian looked at Liu Shuyi was filled with an overwhelming and unending admiration.

He just wanted to ask Liu Shuyi how he came up with these ideas.

Even though he hadn't been drinking, he could smell the unpleasant odor of alcohol on these people's breath, but he never intended to use it to investigate the case.

He nodded emphatically: "It's true! The burning smell of alcohol is indeed no match for any of you."

"It really is so..."

At this moment, neither the Xueyantuo envoys, such as Jiezhuo, nor the Tang officials, such as Hou Junji, had any doubts about the two Bazhuo.

With two irrefutable pieces of evidence before them, they have no choice but to believe it!

"But if there really are two Leaf Guardians, how were the real and fake Leaf Guardians switched? And where did the fake Leaf Guardian go?"

Hou Junji asked the question that everyone had the biggest question right now.

Huril also said, "I've already searched the place, there's no one hiding here at all. That fake Yabgu, he can't really be able to switch places remotely, as I said, can he?"

"I don't know if anyone in this world can walk through walls, but I do know that a fake Ba Zhuo definitely can't do it."

Liu Shuyi calmly said, "As for where he is hiding, the real Ba Zhuo has already given us the answer."

"What? Ba Zhuo gave us the answer?"

Hou Junji was taken aback.

The others looked at each other, and all they saw in each other's eyes was bewilderment.

They subconsciously looked at Ba Zhuo on the bed, but even though they could almost remember how many moles Ba Zhuo had on his body, they couldn't find any clues about where Ba Zhuo had given them the answer.

Seeing this, Liu Shuyi prompted, "Please look at Ba Zhuo's inner garment."

"Underwear?"

Everyone quickly turned their attention to the white undergarment that Ba Zhuo had pulled open when Huli Le had just confirmed the arrow wound.

"What's on your undergarment?" Liu Shuyi asked.

What's on the undergarment...?

Just as everyone was taking a closer look, Du Gou's voice suddenly rang out: "Dust! There's a lot of dust on Bazhu's undergarment!"

"but……"

Du Gou's gaze swept over Ba Zhuo's blood-stained robes, and he said, "But apart from the bloodstains, his outer robes were spotless, without a speck of dirt or dust!"

"so……"

He looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "The dirt on the undergarment could only have been from when the fake Bazhu hid him! After the fake Bazhu killed the man, he took the real Bazhu out when no one was in the room, then took off his coat and put it on the real Bazhu, thus pinning the crime of murder on the real Bazhu completely!"

This……

Upon hearing this, everyone indeed saw obvious dirt and ash on Ba Zhuo's inner garment.

So……

They quickly looked at Liu Shuyi.

Liu Shuyi nodded: "When I first arrived here, I noticed that Ye Hu's outer robe was loose and messy... I think that when Jia Bazhuo was changing his clothes, he was afraid that it would take too long and be noticed by the guards outside the door, so in his haste, he just put the outer robe on casually."

"He hadn't even put on his outer robe properly, so he naturally overlooked the dust and dirt on his inner garment."

Everyone thought about what Hulile's robes looked like when he lifted the blanket, and it was indeed as Liu Shuyi said, so they all nodded in agreement.

Liu Shuyi smiled and continued, "Since that place could hide the real Ye Hu, after Ye Hu was brought out, the fake Ba Zhuo could naturally hide there as well."

"And in this room, there are places with this kind of dusty, earthy feeling..."

He glanced around the room, and finally tapped his toe on the soft carpet beneath his feet, saying, "I think this is the only place."

　There are still some secrets to be revealed. If I were to write it all in one chapter, it would be too long. So let's wait for the next chapter. The case will be closed tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)