Chapter 491

"Logically speaking, he is your subordinate."

"Never heard of him, don't know him."

The key question came: "It's not your crime, who forced you to plead guilty?"

"The second day after I was thrown into jail, someone came in, bringing my son's toys to force me to plead guilty." Fu Songhua said. "I refused to plead guilty, and my son would surely die. That toy was made by my own hands, and I could recognize it at a glance."

He exhaled and said dejectedly, "Assassinating Zhang Guangyi in the past was already a capital crime; a few more charges wouldn't be a big deal. How many times can one life be divided? As long as they don't hurt my son."

He Lingchuan comforted him in time, "Your son is in my hands now, very safe."

Uh, why did this sound a bit wrong? Fu Songhua's face also twitched.

"This person is not Zhongsunmou?"

"No!" Fu Songhua shook his head. "I don't know him."

As expected.

"Then, this person went through the confession with me." He continued. "He said I was going to Lingxu City for trial, and the confession had to be memorized until I was fluent, and not a single mistake could be made."

"Was there anyone else in the jail at that time? A jailer or other cellmates?"

"No, that was a death row cell, only locking me alone. After I memorized the confession, that person left. I didn't hear him talking to anyone else, but the sound of keys came from the door, it was that kind of... the sound of a large bunch of keys shaking, someone should have opened the door for him; half a day later, I was taken by the Inspection Envoy to the inn for detention."

"This person wanted you to admit to being a spy and take the blame for attacking the messenger?"

"Yes, and he also fabricated various details for me." Fu Songhua smiled bitterly. "To tell the truth, if my memory were a little worse, I wouldn't have been able to memorize those confessions; they were too cumbersome."

He Lingchuan took out the paper and pen he had prepared from the storage ring. "Write down the confession."

He personally ground the ink for Fu Songhua.

By now, Fu Songhua didn't refuse and wrote like the wind.

After more than a quarter of an hour, he stopped his pen. "Written."

A full six large sheets of white paper, all filled with small characters.

"Write down your encounter these past few days again."

Fu Songhua wrote another half sheet of paper.

Then he bit his finger and pressed a blood seal on each sheet.

He Lingchuan gave a thumbs up. "Your memory is really good." He blew the ink dry and tucked the paper into his bosom. "Remember, don't say we did this."

He rented this room in advance just for this.

"In addition, you also know that I am here to handle the Lingxu City messenger murder case. You might not be related to that White-Shouldered Eagle, but you might have some intersection with the mastermind behind the scenes."

Fu Songhua's face changed slightly, and he sighed. "After saying so much, you still don't believe me."

"It's not about trust; this kind of intersection might not even be clear to yourself. Otherwise, with so many people hiding their identities in Baishajuan, why choose you?"

"I..."

"The intelligence we collected elsewhere also points directly to the northwest of Baishajuan. In other words, the true culprit might live around you."

Fu Songhua pondered the taste. "You mean, the true culprit also lives in the northwest of the city, but all the evidence was tailor-made for me?"

"They should have recognized you as a fugitive long ago, but didn't report it, just so that one day when the case broke, they could divert all the disaster to you and use you as a scapegoat!" He Lingchuan had also read Fu Songhua's confession; the tightness of the evidence given by the mastermind behind the scenes made even him feel terrified, and the final point was undoubtedly Fu Songhua.

If he hadn't been a witness to this event, he would have believed it just by looking at the confession.

Sending such a prisoner and physical evidence north together, the chief judge far away in the capital probably wouldn't find any flaws easily.

Besides, Fu Songhua already had a criminal record and a case file as a spy, so it was easy to nail him as the mastermind.

He Lingchuan knew very well that if you want a lie to look seamless, you might have to use a hundred lies to cover it up.

This was a systematic project, both time-consuming and labor-intensive, and might even cost lives.

So designating Fu Songhua as a scapegoat was definitely not a whim, but a deep-seated plan.

"Do you know all the powerful and wealthy people living in the northwest of the city?"

"I know." Fu Songhua was a fugitive, and recognizing the environment around him was a necessary homework. "There are seventeen powerful families, mainly retired officials of Chiyan, and also celebrities from other vassal demon countries and even Lingxu City; there are many more wealthy people, forty-seven families, scattered like stars. There are ordinary merchants like me, and also some big official merchants."

Where the "top-tier" were, local officials and merchants would also flock there, facilitating human relations and making things easier to handle.

Besides, being able to move into a wealthy area was a symbol of status in itself.

"There are too many suspects; can you help me filter out some?" He Lingchuan asked him. "Who do you think it could be?"

Fu Songhua thought for a long time and shook his head.

"I don't have deep communication with anyone."

"Fine, then..."

Fu Songhua suddenly remembered another detail. "But the person who came to collude with me had a square face, thick eyebrows, and was in his early thirties."

He Lingchuan said impolitely, "Half the people in Baishajuan look like that."

"That face is indeed ordinary, but I found some pollen on the brim of his hat. At that time, a mouse jumped in by the window and startled him, and he supported his hat, and a few grains of pollen fell to the ground, which I later picked up."

He Lingchuan waited, knowing he wouldn't shoot without a target.

"That was oleander pollen." Fu Songhua said slowly. "There are quite a few oleanders in Baishajuan, but they all grow on the east bank of Blue Lake."

"Is Blue Lake in the northwest corner of Baishajuan?"

"Yes."

He Lingchuan nodded. "Write down the powerful families living on the east side of the lake for me, and it's best to draw a map for identification."

Fu Songhua did as he was told.

His drawing skills were on par with He Lingchuan's, and both were soul painters; the so-called "Blue Lake" was a flat circle under his pen, with a corner missing in the upper left, and the mansions living around it were just circles, with surnames marked inside.

The important thing was the orientation, orientation; don't care about those details.

"Not bad, more than sixty suspects, it's very likely that twenty-two will be left all at once." He Lingchuan laughed. "You really saved me effort."

"Twenty-two is not a small number; how are you going to investigate?"

"We'll see."

Fu Songhua put down his pen and said, "My son, he..."

He Lingchuan comforted him, "After your spy charge is cleared, you will be able to see him."

Fu Songhua doubted, "You defied the Inspection Envoy, not just to help me clear my name, right?"

"Of course not." He Lingchuan patted his shoulder. "Don't be sentimental."

"By the way. Why did you assassinate Zhang Guangyi back then?" At least this major crime was confirmed, and Fu Songhua didn't deny it.

"When he was an official in our area, he caused the death of the whole village, including my parents, uncles, and aunts. I didn't expect such a person to be promoted all the way; heaven didn't take him, so I came to take him!" Speaking of this, Fu Songhua's expression was complex. "I originally thought I could run for a day, but I didn't know the government never chased me, but General Hong Chenglue was implicated by me. Later, I accidentally had a son, sigh..."

He looked at He Lingchuan, also a bit curious. "How did you find my son?"

"You often went to Shalun Town under the pretext of purchasing lacquer, and always stayed at the same inn, so I sent people to inquire around the inn to see if there was a widow within a mile or two who was beautiful, wealthy, and had a boy under nine years old. Well, you weren't married when you started fleeing."

"With such specific conditions, it can be filtered out very quickly."

Fu Songhua wondered, "How did you know the child's mother was beautiful and a widow?"

"If she weren't beautiful, would you want her? Besides, wealthy women are generally not ugly."

"..."

"Would you tolerate her taking your cub, spending your money, and sleeping with another man?" He Lingchuan laughed. "That must be a widow, at least on the surface."

"... Why must she be wealthy?"

"What is the situation of a young, poor widow in a small town, and what kind of dirty things will she encounter? You grew up in the countryside; you wouldn't not know, right?" He Lingchuan raised his eyebrows. "Money is the best and simplest barrier."

Fu Songhua was stunned for a long time before sighing low. "Impressive... I did hire a few demons to guard her, but they could only block the rough men in the town, but couldn't stop you people with intentions."

￥￥￥￥￥

The Chiyan Kingdom Special Envoy had already gone with the wind, and General Lu also cupped his hands to Zhongsunmou and said, "Offended, we are also on official business."

Afterward, he left the inn with the Chiyan soldiers and rushed to the county office in a hurry.

The Baishajuan county magistrate didn't dare to stay and left with them.

The courtyard was suddenly empty, except for the broken doors, mud, and branches trampled all over the ground, and the other guests poking their heads out outside.

Zhongsunmou's face was livid, and the anger in his eyes was almost about to spray out.

Where did Fu Shanyue find such a subordinate, messing around and actually disrupting the whole plan.

He ordered the guards to guard the door, entered the inner room himself, closed the doors and windows, walked to the washbasin stand, and threw a light blue crystal into the wash water.

This thing dissolved upon entering the water, dyeing the whole basin of water blue.

Zhongsunmou chanted a few words and reached out to stir the water.

When the water surface calmed down again, the water body also turned colorless again, but the reflection in the basin was not Zhongsunmou.

That was another human face.

This kind of Water Mirror Technique could allow Zhongsunmou to talk to others within ten miles for a short time; although there were various restrictions and the duration was only thirty breaths, it was safe and secret.

A goshawk was perched on a high branch far outside, staring at this place, but Zhongsunmou didn't even go out the door.

He said to the person in the mirror, "A Crown Prince's Special Envoy came halfway, persuaded Fu Songhua to turn back and retract his confession, and took this person away. Now he is sending him to the county office for retrial, wanting to investigate the messenger case to the end."

Time was precious, and he spoke very fast.

The person in the mirror was shocked. "How could you let him!"

"He mobilized the nearby army. This matter is not so easy to handle."

If it were in Lingxu City, Zhongsunmou could let that little brat die a hundred times; but in Baishajuan, he only had a dozen guards beside him, and in terms of fists, he really wasn't as hard as the other party.

As for the identity of the Inspection Envoy, if the other party was willing to be skinned after the fact, what if he didn't recognize it?

(End of chapter)