Li Mingzhou appeared a little anxious as he waited in the hall of the yamen. When Fang Mingshan brought the man from the backyard, he quickly went forward and hid the man behind himself. He seemed both protective yet deliberately hiding something! He said softly, “Ah Yuan, why did you run away? Didn’t I tell you to stay in your room? This is not our residence, what’re you doing here?”
The man crouched behind Li Mingzhou but did not listen to any of his words. He was merely repeating the same line over and over.
Li Mingzhou looked at everyone and bowed in gratitude. He cupped his hands and said, “I apologize on behalf of my younger brother for trespassing into the yamen and disturbing everyone. This humble one will leave with him now and will not cause further distress.” He was ready to bring his brother back to their residence, but was stopped by Ji Yunshu. “Please stay, Old Master Li. You can’t take him away just yet.”
Li Mingzhou turned around and inspected the thin-framed man in surprise. The man had refined features and seemed to be a sophisticated person. Especially that pair of bright, clear and deep eyes; they were unsettlingly perceptive and seemed to be able to read your deepest, darkest secrets if you looked into them for too long. “Is there anything else?”
“Old Master Li, this humble one only wishes to know more about your younger brother.”
He exhaled in relief and replied, “His name is Li Yuan and he’s my biological brother. He intruded the yamen and made a joke of himself due to his unsound mind. Why does teacher ask about this?”
“I was just interested. I wonder if Old Master Li could share more about him?”
“What does Teacher mean?”
“Old Master Li, please be honest.” Ji Yunshu left him no choice in the matter.
Li Mingzhou felt that something was amiss and started to put his guard up. It was obvious that Ji Yunshu would not let him go without telling the truth and there was no way he could avoid this as he was surrounded by people from yamen and Prince Rong’s subordinates. He felt as if he was being strangled by all the gazes that were staring right at him.
I must live by my principles! I will not tell what I don’t want to tell.
Hence, Li Mingzhou replied, “Teacher, Ah Yuan hurt his head in the past and this humble one does not wish to recite the sad story. It’s all in the past and I hope that Teacher can be understanding. It was an accident that Ah Yuan came here today. This humble one will leave now to avoid causing more trouble.” Immediately, he turned around and grabbed Li Yuan, all ready to leave.
Shi Ziran was a step ahead. He stood at attention in front of Li Mingzhou and blocked his way. He purposefully played with the sword in his hand. You can’t leave until my sword says it’s time for you to go!
Li Mingzhou did not panic. He had been through tougher situations than this. He turned around and looked at everyone else in the room, understanding their intentions. “So it seems that I won’t be leaving here without telling the truth.”
That’s right!
He intentionally tugged on Li Yuan to better shield him with his own body. Jing Rong smiled faintly when he saw Li Mingzhou’s reaction. He walked up to him with, releasing his Princely charisma, and said, “Li Mingzhou, since you know that we will not let you go before you tell us the truth, why are you still trying to hide it? You can’t sleep soundly when you have secrets on your mind either. If this Prince were you, I’d spill the beans to lighten the load on my heart.”
“This humble one is not hiding anything.”
“Oh? Then can you explain why Li Yuan said that the spirits were coming?”
“His mind is unsound. What he says is nonsense that no one should take seriously.”
“Why is there an ink stain on his sleeve that looks exactly like the one on Chang Shiliang’s shirt?”
Li Mingzhou immediately looked at Li Yuan’s sleeve the moment Jing Rong made the observation, confused. “What’s that?”
Ji Yunshu continued, “That’s from the ink mixed with false daisy. There was an identical ink stain on Old Master Chang’s shirt.”
“What can this prove? Are you suspecting that Ah Yuan is the killer? I was the suspect yesterday, and now it’s Ah Yuan’s turn? I told you that he did not kill anyone,” he said furiously with his nostrils flared. “Moreover, I have this ink in my Li Residence as well. It wouldn’t be odd for Ah Yuan to have accidentally spilled some on his shirt.”
“You’re lying!” Jing Rong refuted instantly.
“This Prince has sent people to your residence to investigate. There wasn’t a tiny bit of false daisy in your residence, not to mention, ink that was mixed with false daisy.” It was apparent that Li Mingzhou was starting to feel anxious as his lie was exposed.
Ji Yunshu looked at Jing Rong in surprise. Ah… You… Why didn’t you say so earlier if you’d already known?
Jing Rong pretended that he did not see Ji Yunshu’s scorching gaze directed at him, even though he could sense them.
Darling, you can punish me tonight!
He turned to Li Mingzhou and said, “Li Mingzhou, you might be able to prove that you are not the killer, but that doesn’t mean that Li Yuan did not kill the people.”
“He didn’t kill anyone!” Li Mingzhou shrieked with an unexpected outburst.
Ji Yunshu continued, “Old Master Li, even though these three cases don’t seem to have anything to do with you, all the evidence prove that you absolutely are related to the case. Regarding Li Yuan, first, he was talking about the vengeful spirits, on top of that, he has that ink stain on him. This shows that not only you, but also your brother, are both related to this case.”
“I said that we didn’t kill anyone.”
Ji Yunshu laughed at his statement, “The killer was very skillful as he knew that wearing the shoes of the deceased would make it look like they committed suicide. This isn’t something a normal person could do. It isn’t very logical to say that Li Yuan can carry out a thorough plan like that. However, is he really mad? Or, does he waver between sanity and insanity? We’ll find out later.” She looked at Mo Ruo as she said, “Fortunately, we have a legendary doctor here. After he examines Li Yuan and takes his pulse, we can know whether he’s really mad, or he’s just wavering between sanity and insanity.”
Mo Ruo nodded in reply and went forward to take Li Yuan’s pulse.
Unexpectedly…
Li Mingzhou blocked his way. “Thank you for your concern, Young Master. We don’t want to trouble you.”
Mo Ruo threw a lazy glance at the people who were standing behind him. He raised his brows as he asked, “Are you… feeling guilty?”
“I…” Before Li Mingzhou could finish his sentence, Mo Ruo pointed at Li Yuan with his index finger, then with his eyes squinted, he drew a circle in the mid air with the finger. As if his action was not confusing enough, he clicked his tongue. “Based on this Young Master’s many years of experience in the medical field, his forehead is darkened, his cheeks are sunken and his lips are sloped downward. Looks like disaster will befall him soon.”
Are you a fortune teller? Ji Yunshu rolled her eyes at him and said, “Speak human.”
“Li Yuan is not entirely crazy. He’s conscious most of the time. In short, he wavers between sanity and insanity.”
Ha! After hearing Mo Ruo’s diagnosis, Ji Yunshu concluded, “That means, he could actually have carried out the whole plan to murder the people when he’s sane.
If so…
Fang Mingshan said immediately, “Then he’s the murderer,” Pointing at Li Yuan.
At this moment, Li Yuan was still mumbling, “The vengeful spirits are seeking revenge,” his voice was getting softer but filled with more fear.
Facing a wall of hostility, Li Mingzhou comforted his brother as he said in exasperation, “Ah Yuan did not kill them.” Li Yuan was squatting on the floor. He covered his head and shivered uncontrollably. Li Mingzhou hurriedly took out a delicate bottle from his sleeve and stuffed it into Li Yuan’s mouth, forcing him to consume it.
…
