After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

"A corpse?"

The old woman frowned in confusion and thought for a moment.

After hesitating for a moment, the woman shook her head and said she couldn't remember.

The funeral was held quickly. Li He buried his two sons on the back mountain and would visit them every year to burn some paper money and pull weeds from their graves.

Upon hearing this, Ning Nan remembered it.

No wonder my mother would bring a basket of eggs to visit Li He's family every Qingming Festival. She must feel guilty, after all, Li He's two sons died because of her parents.

Ning Nan didn't say much.

Li He is currently in Nanjing. His home is close to the village head's house, and after Li Baoxin's incident, he was one of the first villagers to arrive at the scene, making him a key witness recognized by the county government.

That night, it was Li He who led the constables to find me at Er Lai's house and identified me.

Li Baoxin's daughter, Li Yi, caused a disturbance in Beijing with her entourage, and Li He was with them.

Therefore, he still sent Xing Ge'er to keep watch, just to protect the witness.

After seeing Uncle Bo, I hurried to see Li He.

He led the white horse out of the manger, and together with three strong men and more than twenty imperial guards, he left the mansion with Ning Fu, intending to go to his uncle's house.

On the bustling street.

The white horse beneath him snorted, raised its hooves, and proudly shook its mane.

Ning Nan, on horseback, had a furrowed brow.

The Ning family of the capital.

Marquis of Jingbei.

These were high-ranking nobles; even if they found out something, punishing them would be an incredibly difficult task. His heart sank, but a hint of the ruthlessness he'd shown back in the countryside resurfaced on his face… If his grandparents' deaths were truly related to the Ning family of the capital, or even the Marquis of Jingbei… He composed himself… then he had to avenge his mother no matter what!

There were many pedestrians on the road, making it impossible for horses to gallop, but when the pedestrians saw so many horses coming, they naturally made way for them.

They flipped the ice to both sides like an icebreaker.

Ning Nan would occasionally snap out of her reverie and look up at the streets to see which one she was on, so she could remember the way.

But after walking for a while...

His expression gradually changed.

……

……

Li Yanting rushed from Bailu Academy to Jiangning County Government Office in tears. When he arrived outside the county government office, he felt as if he had been hit in the chest with a hammer, and he felt so suffocated.

My uncle is dead.

When he received the news from the villagers who came to the academy to report the death, his vision went black, and the book in his hand fell to the ground with a thud.

Even though the grand imperial examination was just two months away, he resolutely bid farewell to his teacher and rushed home to arrange his uncle's funeral.

"Tingwa—"

When Aunt Li Yi, his great-uncle's daughter, saw him arrive, her body went limp, and she burst into tears, clutching his sleeve, crying, "You must get justice for your great-uncle!"

Li Yanting's eyes reddened, and he nodded hoarsely, saying, "Auntie, don't worry." Then he looked at his uncle's granddaughter, who was standing weakly beside his aunt, and gritted his teeth, saying, "Auntie, sister, don't worry. Even if I have to beat the heavenly drum, I will get justice for my uncle!"

My uncle's body was placed in the underground mortuary of the county government office.

The ground was cold and damp. He saw his uncle lying on the wooden platform. Lifting the straw mat, he saw his uncle's tightly closed eyes. Shifting his gaze, he saw the shocking wound on his uncle's chest. Overwhelmed with grief, Li Yanting trembled all over.

"Wen Zhao... don't be too sad. He's gone now," County Magistrate Lin Tao sighed and said to him with a sigh, "Wen Zhao should continue to work hard and strive to enter the court through this special examination, serve the emperor and father, protect the people, and display the sage's skills... so that if my great-uncle knew in the afterlife, he would be comforted in his life."

Li Yanting slowly nodded, withdrew his hand from his uncle's wound, sniffed, and held back his tears.

"Thank you, senior brother." He bowed and clasped his hands in thanks to the official in the green robe.

Lin Tao smiled and said, "It's alright. This is an important place. The reason I didn't let your aunt and sister in before was because I was worried that they might offend your uncle in their haste."

Li Yanting blushed slightly and apologized, saying that his aunt had put the county magistrate and his senior brother in a difficult position earlier. He explained that he was just worried and confused. His aunt had no elder brother and was just a woman. His uncle couldn't bear to say anything, and then he saw that Ning Nan had inexplicably been released from prison and was swaggering in and out of the county government office. In his panic, he knelt down at the county government office and begged his senior brother and the magistrate to do justice for them... Yanting had already persuaded them to leave.

Lin Tao waved his hand and said with a smile, "It's alright, it's alright. The county government will handle this case impartially, and the magistrate will hold a hearing tomorrow. If Ning Nan is indeed the mastermind, even if he is guilty of treason and is currently being interrogated by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, this case will be combined with that case and tried together. We will not let this traitor escape the law!" His tone turned stern.

Li Yanting nodded slightly and remained silent.

Previously, when his aunt and the others knelt in the county government office, begging the upright official to make a decision, the constables of the county government were annoyed and came to drive them away. They even planned to arrest a few of the most troublesome ones and put them in jail. Only when Li Yanting revealed his identity as a student of Bailu Academy did they become a little wary of him.

Furthermore, the county magistrate, Lord Lin, was also a graduate of Bailu Academy. After exchanging greetings, Lin Tao inquired and discovered that the two had the same mentor, Zhang Jian and Zhang Tantai.

From then on, Li Yanting naturally treated him as his senior brother.

With him there, and seeing that the county magistrate addressed him as his junior brother, his aunt and the others finally felt relieved and agreed to leave the county office temporarily.

The weapon used to kill his uncle was a sharp knife used for slaughtering pigs and bleeding them out.

The blade was gleaming, flashing a white light in the dim underground environment.

This is Li Erlai's knife... Li Yanting lowered his eyes slightly.

Li Erlai is the son of Uncle Donghu, who slaughters pigs.

After slaughtering a pig or even a chicken, Li Erlai would sharpen his knife in his backyard. It seemed to be his habit and hobby.

His house was next to the stone bridge, and as soon as you passed by, you could hear the sharpening sound of knives.

Li Yanting withdrew his gaze from the murder weapon, thanked the coroner, looked at his senior brother, and expressed his desire to go to the prison to see the murderer.

Sixty years ago, the first Zhenguo Marquis carried out sweeping reforms, merging the powers and responsibilities of the county magistrate, registrar, and clerk into one, and introducing the title of county lieutenant, elevating the county lieutenant's power to a level that was almost on par with the county magistrate.

It even added a clause that if the Northern Dynasty were to attack in the future, the county magistrate would have the right to execute any county magistrate who intended to surrender without prior approval.

In this way, if the Northern Dynasty does not come, the county magistrate will be in charge; if the Northern Dynasty does come, the county magistrate and the county commandant will check and balance each other.

The county constable has the power to kill the county magistrate, so it's unlikely that the entire county would surrender just because the magistrate surrendered.

Even if the magistrate wanted to surrender, it would be extremely difficult to win over the county constable, because they could hardly trust each other. He might just be testing the constable's intentions and lose his head.

My senior brother's official position may seem small, and he wears a green official robe, but in reality, only officials who are highly trusted by the court can serve as county lieutenants. Who knows, one day my senior brother might rise to great heights.

Lin Tao readily agreed to the request of his junior brother, who was no more than twenty years old.

He was quite satisfied with this junior apprentice; he was neither arrogant nor servile, knew how to conduct himself appropriately, was grateful to his uncle, and was deeply trusted by his uncle's widow, which spoke volumes about his character. If he were to enter the imperial court in the future, he would undoubtedly become another asset to their lineage.

In the dark and gloomy prison.

Li Yanting looked at Li Erlai, who was wearing prison clothes and looked somewhat disheveled, behind the iron bars, squatted down, and said in a deep voice, "Li Erlai, why did you kill your uncle?" This was a question that he couldn't understand.

He still couldn't believe that Ning Nan and Li Erlai would murder his uncle.

Erlai sat cross-legged on the ground, head bowed, silent.