It doesn't matter what the lord is.

He began to have difficulty seeing through Lid's intentions. Many of the doubts Lid raised were things he had never thought of. Although there was a lack of evidence, if he raised them all at once, it would be enough for the Lord's Mansion and the Prince's Mansion to take advantage of the situation and dismiss him as the Lord of Jinxiu City on the spot.

But Reed didn't do that, and Xiang Linglong couldn't help but ask herself what he really wanted.

After much deliberation, Xiang Linglong killed the person who had contacted Lide before, and asked the chief guard to go there in person and send Lide two cans of "good tea" again. This time, the silver notes in each can of tea were as high as 200,000 gold coins, which means that Lide had received bribes of up to 500,000 gold coins.

This did not seem to be a serious problem for Xiang Linglong and the forces behind him. Xiang Linglong did not even need to ask for any permission from his superiors. He just gave it to them.

In consideration of the two cans of good tea, Lid gave the captain of the guards a little advice:

"I have submitted this investigation report. Judging from the results, the prince will definitely not be satisfied. So he will investigate the case more strictly and may even come here to investigate in person. Will your city lord dare to kill the prince at that time? If not, he must make sure that the case is watertight. At present, we are still far from this goal."

"Even I can see through those people pretending to be villagers in Sai'an Village, let alone the prince. Have you heard of the prisoner's dilemma? If the prince separates them and interrogates them individually, it is inevitable that some people will choose to betray their companions under great psychological pressure. Whether it's them or the prince, you know better than me what people at the end of their rope can do."

Lid looked at the captain of the guards who bowed his head and listened to his orders, and finally revealed his true intentions:

"Tell Xiang Linglong to prepare a complete dossier and confession. I will personally help him forge it. Also, pack up. I'm going to the prison to see Jiang Yuesheng."

38. Two confessions

Xiang Linglong was playing chess with the housekeeper in the mansion. After listening to the report from the captain of the guards, he pondered for a long time on his move, and the chess piece on his fingertips was not dropped for a long time.

"Transcribe the confessions of the plaintiff and the defendant and send them over. Also, tell him that Jiang Yuesheng cannot be seen for the time being. The old general has become ill from worrying about his condition in the cell and is currently recuperating. He cannot see outsiders."

The chief guard lowered his head and said to Xiang Linglong:

"But……"

Xiang Linglong closed her eyes and said to the chief guard:

"It's just a few confessions. Giving them up won't affect the overall situation. It will be better for both you and me if we can get rid of this plague god as soon as possible."

The chess piece finally fell, but the trend on the chessboard was still confusing. After a moment of contemplation, the old butler also fell a piece, and the black and white chess pieces fought fiercely on this chessboard. Overall, Xiang Linglong was still able to control the entire situation, but as his layout became larger and larger, and the areas he controlled became more and more extensive, the continuous appearance of flaws made him a little overwhelmed, and the slightest mistake could lead to his death.

The captain of the guards personally copied two confessions and handed them to Lid.

Yuanye's family was killed, so naturally there was no confession left. Lide didn't even look at the confession of the prostitute Feng Lingzi, and put it aside. He picked up the confession written by Jiang Yuesheng, and naturally moved towards Zhehua, sat next to him, and silently read the words with him.

Contrary to Reed's expectations, the words in the confession did not feel sharp, but were full of fatigue.

"I have been retired for 20 years... I fought in many battles when I was young, and now I am covered in injuries. The only reason I want to stay alive is to see my granddaughter's wedding. I am no longer interested in power and wealth, and I don't want to compete with anyone..."

"It rains a lot in the south, and every time it rains I am often in great pain... The wounds seem to have healed, but the new muscles around them have long been deformed. The tumor at the base of my left leg is as big as a fist. I am tired. I have lived a life that is worthy of Southern Chu, but I am an absolute useless person to my family..."

"Now I have only one wish. I hope that the disaster will not affect my family, so that my wife and children can live a normal life... I have been a soldier all my life, and I have risked my life for Nanchu. I hope that you gentlemen will give my family a chance to live because of my past achievements..."

After reading it, Lid gave the letter to Xiang Zhehua. Because it was copied by someone else, it was impossible to tell what the old general's original handwriting looked like. But from the content, it is not difficult to imagine that he was probably desperate when he wrote this letter, and the handwriting of the original manuscript should be even more sloppy.

After Xiang Zhehua finished reading, her cold face showed a bit of sadness. She stared blankly at the letter in her hand and whispered:

"how so……"

Lid smiled and replied:

"That's it. Isn't this the trend in Nanchu? With the prevalence of aristocratic families, personal interests have become insignificant, and everyone's existence is to serve the forces behind them. Whether it's you or Xiang Linglong, you grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth, learned both literary and martial arts, but you always live under the control of others. Your grandfather would rather pack you up and send you to me than let you go out and explore freely, because all of you are the same. In the eyes of the higher-ups, you are all just pawns. I think Jiang Yuesheng is more normal. He risked his life to protect his real family after all."

Xiang Zhehua clenched the letter in his hand tightly, but was unable to make any response.

Although I was very angry, I couldn't find any reason to refute.

After thinking about it, Xiang Zhehua decided to change the angle and asked with a cold face:

"So? Now that you've read the confession, what have you gained after all the effort?"

Lid stroked his chin and replied:

"Yes. First of all, we have to make sure that Jiang Yuesheng is indeed innocent. From his own account, let alone killing 32 people in one breath, it is probably difficult for him to act normally now. Xiang Linglong did not let us see him, probably for this reason. I almost understand why the first seven investigation teams died. As long as they see Jiang Yuesheng, the case can almost be said to be self-defeating, so they can't hand Jiang Yuesheng over to the Lord's Mansion, nor can they let those who have seen Jiang Yuesheng go back alive."

Xiang Zhehua shuddered suddenly and said in a lost voice:

"Then let's..."

Lide casually threw the confession copied by others onto the candle flame, and in an instant the flames devoured the hard-earned confession. Xiang Zhehua screamed, but quickly closed her mouth. For some reason, she felt relieved. Lide still sat in the chair calmly, smiling and said:

"It would be much easier to pretend that nothing happened, but you can't forget the words that have entered your mind. Someone is suffering in prison, and that person has made great contributions to your Nanchu. Of course, you can choose to turn a blind eye, because you have the peace faction behind you."

Xiang Zhehua clenched his fists, wanting to punch this poisonous guy twice, but he felt that he couldn't beat him.

Lid took the confession of the prostitute Feng Lingzi, yawned, and continued:

"But I will continue to investigate. After all, I am a person with good luck. Those who gamble their lives with me usually lose."

Different from Jiang Yuesheng's confession, Feng Lingzi's confession revealed a strong desire to survive.

She answered every question, and each answer was so long that it was boring. It contained many meaningless memories and repeated apologies, just to make everything seem more real. In this apology letter, she did not look like an ordinary prostitute, but more like a nun kneeling in front of a statue, constantly confessing her sins.

Lid wanted to laugh. He could imagine the situation: several big men with various torture instruments surrounded a little girl, and kept asking her questions with guiding questions such as "You did xxx at that time, right?" Maybe they also persuaded her with "Tell the truth and I will let you go." The little girl, who had never seen such a scene, naturally answered all the questions and confessed in accordance with the other party's thoughts. Then, after recording the confession, she was forced to commit suicide in prison. The last witness died.

There is no use in compromising.

After reading it, Lid placed Feng Lingzi's confession on the table. However, after thinking about it for a while, he suddenly frowned again, picked up the confession again, and read it carefully again. Finally, he asked Xiang Zhehua to bring a pen, leaned over the table, spread out the thick confession page by page, circled and marked as he read, and finally let out a long breath and showed a satisfied smile.

39. Disappearing Evidence

"Correction: Feng Lingzi was a smart person in this bureau, but unfortunately he is dead."

Lid turned around and said to Zhehua:

"No, it should be said that it's a good thing she died, otherwise we probably wouldn't have seen this confession. If you think about it carefully, Feng Lingzi is a prostitute, so she should be very familiar with the ways of the world. She may have forced herself to believe the promises made by those people, but in her heart, she probably guessed her own ending from the beginning."

Lid's pen stopped at a monologue in Feng Lingzi's confession:

"In this world, everyone says that women are the root of trouble and love to cheat. But don't men do less despicable things? They cheat for money and sex, and they will do anything to get what they want. Yuanye is a millionaire, but he is unwilling to spend a penny on me. He promised me a price, but he canceled it the next moment. He has such a cruel heart...!"

Such words appeared several times in the confession, all expressing regret that he should not have believed Yuanye.

If the original confession could be obtained, more information could be inferred from her handwriting, such as which word was written slightly different from the others, which paragraph was marked at the end with ink, etc. However, because the confession was copied by someone else, many clues could not be obtained smoothly, but it did not prevent Lid from making some bold guesses.

If we assume that Feng Lingzi left something in this confession, many of the words would be intriguing. Her criticism of Yuanye has risen to a heavy blow to men. We can guess that at this time she has gradually begun to distrust those who forced her to confess, and do not believe their promises such as "Answer me and I will let you go." But a weak woman in prison can't see anything, so she can only choose to follow the other party's plan and die indifferently, but she left clues in her confession that would backfire.

Xiang Zhehua probably understood the whole story and said with a bad feeling in her heart:

"Why do you want to involve innocent people like this..."

Lid glanced at her with a half-smile:

"Innocent people are implicated? It's obvious from the investigation of the case to this point that the so-called rage for the beauty was just a trap set by someone in advance. Feng Lingzi chose to participate in the plot, and she probably received a lot of benefits from others. Wasn't she the one who disguised herself as a good woman and shouted for help that day? She is innocent at all. At most, she did something bad and was silenced. Before she died, she wanted to take the other person to die with her out of revenge."

Xiang Zhehua thought about it and realized that this was indeed the truth, so he said:

"Anyway, because of her, the case can be investigated further..."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xiang Zhehua suddenly remembered that her grandfather was the main suspect at the moment, so she immediately shut up. Sometimes she couldn't help but put herself into the role of the investigation team, and often after she said something, she remembered that what she should do now was to work without putting in any effort.

Lid connected all the information about time, place, and people in Feng Lingzi's confession, and then said to Zhehua:

"I will go out for a while tonight at midnight. You stay in the house. I have a difficult task for you."

Xiang Zhehua immediately became alert and asked:

"What mission?"

Lid looked as if he couldn't let the secret slip, and whispered in her ear. Xiang Zhehua blushed, and reached out to slap Lid, but Lid grabbed her wrist with his backhand, and with his other hand, he gently patted her back, and said in a gentle tone:

"Be good and listen to me. For your own sake and for the sake of your family."

The corner of Xiang Zhehua's mouth twitched, but in the end he said nothing.

That night, the spy sent by the City Lord's Mansion was still on standby outside, and suddenly saw the light in the house suddenly dim. Then came the deliberately low voice of Xiang Zhehua:

"what are you doing……"

“Don’t be like this… um…”

"First, take a shower..."

Then the sound of water splashing could be heard in the room. A hazy figure of a young girl was reflected on the curtain. She slowly took off her clothes, tiptoed to check the hot water in the wooden barrel, tested the temperature, and then walked in. Lid walked all the way to the window, looked out of the window for a few times, and his eyes stopped at the eyeline of the City Lord's Mansion, and frowned slightly.

The spies from the City Lord's Mansion quickly looked away and hid in another place.

After a while, the beautiful lady Xiang Zhehua came out of the bath, as if she was pulled directly to the bed by a hand. She staggered and the bath towel slipped to the ground. Not long after, a whimper was heard from the room, followed by a long moan that sounded like resentment, longing, and sobbing. Several spies from the City Lord's Mansion looked at each other, and one of them said in a low voice:

"Fuck, that's awesome."

In the room, Xiang Zhehua was sitting alone on the quilt, twisting her waist and staring at the pillow embroidered with mandarin ducks with murderous eyes.

In the middle of the night, Lid returned to the house in disguise. At this time, Xiang Zhehua's voice was a little hoarse from shouting. She glared at Lid, and Lid deliberately raised his voice and said:

"No, no! Good man, please give me a chance to live, my waist is almost broken!!"

Then he made a gesture to Zhehua to keep quiet, slowly moved to the bed, and placed an iron box between the two of them. Zhehua stared at the box hesitantly. Lid did not light a candle, but opened the box lightly with the faint light coming in through the gap in the curtains.

Inside were some dazzling jewels and a thin account book.

"Most girls in brothels will save some money privately... maybe it's the tips from patrons, or maybe it's the money saved from frugality, they will save it carefully. Because everyone knows that they are young and everyone will grow old. If they can't be redeemed in their youth, then they must save enough wealth when they are young to guarantee their second half of life. Many brothel madams know about this, but it's already an unwritten rule."

Lid did not look at the jewels, but reached out to the account book and continued:

"Feng Lingzi is no exception. Following the clues she left in her confession, I went to the brothel in disguise and asked a few prostitutes she was familiar with, and determined where she hid her things. Feng Lingzi is a cautious person, and she might leave some clues in private..."

Lid opened the account book. At the front was the record of the rewards from various patrons. He flipped through it quickly and looked directly at the last page.

The panic in the text is overwhelming.

"Yesterday, two masked men broke into my room and asked me to act out a scene with them. I was very scared..."

"They paid me a lot of money and asked me not to tell anyone. I don't know what their background is, and what they asked me to do was not difficult... But one day, one of them seemed to have taken a fancy to me, and after having sex with me all night, I fell into a deep sleep and talked in my sleep..."

"He said he was going to report to the city lord that the attempt to frame the Zhuhe faction was already underway."

Outside the house, dark clouds covered the sky and a flash of lightning streaked across the sky.

40. Surprise inspection

After seeing the contents recorded in the account book, the first person to breathe a sigh of relief was Xiang Zhehua who was sitting quietly at the side. At least from the record hidden by Feng Lingzi, the case has become clear: the pro-war faction set up a trap to trap Jiang Yuesheng, and put the blame on the pro-peace faction, wanting to suppress this faction that is naturally hostile to them. In order to prevent others from seeing through it, this group of people set up many tricks to make the water more and more muddy.

But Reed's frown did not relax.

He first carefully compared the handwriting on the account book and found that although the handwriting on the last page was a little sloppy, it was obviously written by the same person as the previous pages and was not a forgery. Then he checked the other items recorded in the account book, that is, the income that Feng Lingzi usually received from customers, and did not find anything unusual.

But something was wrong.

Lid sat at the head of the bed, feeling as if he had entered sage mode. Seeing his stern expression, Zhehua asked in a low voice:

"Is there a problem with the account book?"

Reed shook his head:

"I can't see any problems at the moment, but I don't think it's that simple. There are still many doubts about the whole incident. I always feel that the situation is more complicated than I imagined."

Because there were spies outside, the two spoke in low voices. But speaking in low voices meant that if you wanted to hear what was said, you had to be very close, so Xiang Zhehua could only sit next to Lid with a blanket on. Lid glanced at her and continued:

"First of all, whether the war faction is willing to frame Jiang Yuesheng is a question. Jiang Yuesheng himself was once a representative figure of the war faction. His imprisonment will bring a considerable blow to the war faction. If this matter is exposed later, the leader of the war faction, Xiang Jiqing, will likely be attacked by thousands of people and ruined."

He whispered to Zhehua:

"What if... Jiang Yuesheng is willing?"

Lidd continued:

"This may be an explanation, but there are still many doubts. For example, who killed the seven investigation teams before? If the pro-war faction wanted to kill Jiang Yuesheng and frame the pro-peace faction, then they should not attack the investigation team, but should happily take over the investigation team and then produce a false investigation result as quickly as possible to deal a fatal blow to the pro-peace faction as soon as possible. The pro-peace faction should also control or kill Jiang Yuesheng as soon as possible to avoid being bitten by him."

Xiang Zhehua also frowned, and the previous joy slowly faded away.

Indeed, if Jiang Yuesheng was imprisoned, the outside world would be unfavorable to the peace faction, and her grandfather should be able to react immediately and realize that he was framed. At this time, he should hurry up and send someone to kidnap Jiang Yuesheng. Only by controlling this core figure in the first place can there be hope of turning the tables.

But in fact, Jinxiu City is too peaceful now.

Perhaps there are all kinds of undercurrents surging in places they cannot see, and various forces are secretly countering each other's moves, but at least for now, no large-scale battles have broken out in Jinxiu City, and no large-scale prison breaks have occurred in so many days.

Xiang Zhehua was thinking quietly, but even though she had been praised for her talent since she was a child, this was the first time she was involved in such a case. The etiquette, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics she had learned in the past were completely useless in this situation. Xiang Zhehua felt a little unwilling and asked in a low voice:

"But you just said that there is nothing wrong with the account book..."

Lid nodded and said:

"There is really nothing wrong with it. This is what Feng Lingzi wrote down personally, and the content mentioned above is also what Feng Lingzi experienced personally. But it may not be true. I asked the brothel, and Feng Lingzi herself is not a peerless beauty, and there is a big gap between her and you. And you have met Xiang Linglong, he is a very cautious person, it is hard to imagine that he would send a few impatient guys to negotiate with Feng Lingzi, and even talk in his sleep during the negotiation and expose his identity."

Xiang Zhehua nodded at first, but suddenly realized that when Lide said Feng Lingzi was not as pretty as she was, didn't that mean that she was also ugly? Thinking of this, Xiang Zhehua clenched her fist and hit Lide's back hard, but perhaps in the eyes of others, this action was more of an intimate gesture.

Xiang Zhehua looked through Feng Lingzi's account book again and asked Lid:

"In other words, maybe Xiang Linglong is still a peace advocate, and he is framing the war advocates in this way? But this is also unreasonable. If this is really the case, he should have given us Feng Lingzi's confession as soon as possible, guided us to find the iron box buried by Feng Lingzi, and then let us help him clear his name. But from the moment he entered Jinxiu City, he has never cooperated with us."