"This slave is unjustly accused. I have followed Princess Lin for many years and am very loyal. If I hadn't happened to go out to get clothes, I'm afraid I would have been killed."
Wen Jinhe pointed at her and looked at the Minister of Punishment with an upright face, "Sir, my maidservant was tortured severely, and she should not be an exception."
Song Zhiyuan, the Minister of Justice, stood beside the high hall, looking towards Wen Jinhe with eyes full of admiration.
In the lobby, all the witnesses were there, Li Zhilin was still sitting beside him, and Wen Jinhe could still speak so forcefully.
There is no hint of cowardice, this Princess Che is indeed not simple.
The waiter nodded towards the Minister of Punishment, and then the maidservant was dragged down and tortured.
The yamen servant in the prison walked to the Minister of Punishment and whispered in the ear: "Those two maids didn't say anything."
He Shi ran to the palace and told Butler Li what had happened.
Butler Li immediately wrote a letter to be sent to Li Junche immediately, "The prince is in Yecheng and won't be able to come back for a while."
If I had known that such a big thing would happen, I would have rejected that post even if it offended people.
The third prince is taking advantage of the fact that the prince is not in the city to get rid of the princess!
Wen Jinhe stood in the lobby of the Criminal Department and faced off for an hour.
People from the Zhongshu Lingfu, Li Zhilin, and some so-called witnesses who were present at the time pressed forward step by step.
Wen Jinhe retorted sentence by sentence.
The Minister of Justice and the Attendant sitting in the high hall couldn't help having a headache.
When no one else enters the room, the murderer can only be the maid or Princess Che and her maid.
The three maidservants have been tortured to this day without saying a word, and they cannot torture Wen Jinhe.
The case is deadlocked here.
Li Zhilin, who was sitting on the chair, had a dark look in his eyes. He didn't expect Wen Jinhe to be so difficult and fickle.
"Sir, at the gate of the south city, the master thief Yan Nantian knocked a masked man to the ground. Yan Nantian said in front of everyone at the gate that he saw the masked man kill two women in Zhongshu Ling's Mansion."
A government servant ran in from outside sweating profusely, and his voice was panting as he spoke.
Yan Nantian, a famous thief.
He visited the residences of important court officials of Linyue Kingdom and Beidi Kingdom many times and successfully escaped.
The Minister of Punishment was shocked and quickly stood up, "Where is Yan Nantian?"
The yamen servant shook his head in frustration, "Yan Nantian ran away, but left this behind."
A white jade tiger statue was taken out from the arms of the government servant.
The waiter looked at Zhongshu Ling in surprise, "Isn't this the tiger shining in the sky that the emperor rewarded Zhongshu Ling last year? It seems that Yan Nantian sneaked into Zhongshu Ling's mansion just to steal this thing."
The Minister of Punishment continued to ask: "Where is the masked man?"
The yamen officer handed over his hand with a relaxed look on his face, "Already on the way to the Criminal Department."
The Minister of Punishment breathed a sigh of relief. He neither wanted to offend Li Junche nor be targeted by Zhongshu Ling.
Even if Princess Che really killed someone, she would still have the gold medal from the emperor to protect her from being beheaded for her crime.
It's best if there is another murderer in this case, otherwise it will be really difficult to solve.
Wen Jinhe looked at Li Zhilin. Was that masked man the real murderer of Princess Lin?
Was he arranged by Li Zhilin?
Standing in the lobby, Mr. He started to panic when she heard the masked killer, and looked at Zhongshu Ling several times.
About a quarter of an hour later, two city guards came in carrying a stretcher.
On the stretcher was a masked man who had been stabbed.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment took a photo of the gavel and asked, "Who here dares to sneak into Zhongshu Ling's Mansion and kill Princess Lin and her maid?"
The masked man lay on the ground, the blood from his chest flowing out, staining the floor of the lobby red, "I don't know what you are talking about? I didn't kill anyone."
"Bold, at the gate of Nancheng, many people heard it with their own ears. How can it be false? Yan Nantian broke into the house to steal, and happened to bump into you and kill someone. That's why you chased after him, trying to kill and silence him."
Masked man: "I am just an ordinary swordsman. When I saw Yan Nantian trying to capture him and asking for rewards from the government, I started fighting. The adults kept saying that I killed people, so I called Yan Nantian here to confront him."
The Minister of Punishment was very angry. If he could call the master thief Yan Nantian over, the government would still need to offer such a high reward to capture him!
Wen Jinhe, who was standing aside, looked at the masked man covered in blood, wondering in his heart, even if it was really this man who did it, how could he be so unlucky to bump into the master thief.
Shouldn't you run away immediately?
Why are they still fighting at the city gate?
Why is this case becoming more and more suspicious?
"Sir, there seems to be something in his arms." A government official suddenly rushed forward and held the masked man down, and took out a white bloody handkerchief from his arms.
It is embroidered with parallel lotus flowers and a small word "lin" embroidered in the lower right corner.
A female family member who was a witness covered her mouth and blurted out, "Isn't that Princess Lin's handkerchief?"
"Please see clearly, does it belong to Princess Lin?" the Minister of Punishment asked seriously.
The female family member was a little frightened and nodded, "When Princess Lin attended the flower viewing banquet today, I saw one that was exactly the same as this one. Moreover, only Princess Lin dared to embroider the word "Lin" on the handkerchief."
"Impossible, I didn't take anything when I killed someone. How could this handkerchief be on me?" The masked man stared at the handkerchief and muttered in disbelief.
He felt very puzzled, how could this thing appear on him?
The eyes of the Minister of Punishment shone, "Now the evidence is on your body, and you have personally admitted that you killed the man. I would like to ask you, who appointed you?"
Masked man: "No one assigned."
Li Zhilin's fingers on the chair shook slightly, and he clenched his fists and put them into his sleeves.
The masked man was bleeding more and more, and his breath was already a little unstable.
I saw his mouth moving a few times, and the corners of his mouth were bleeding.
"No, he's going to bite his tongue and commit suicide." The officer yelled and rushed to stop him.
It's a pity that it's too late, and the person has already bitten his tongue and died.
There was a hint of anger in Wen Jinhe's eyebrows. She saw the masked man secretly glance at Li Zhilin before he died.
He looked at the ground with his eyes wide open, obviously unable to accept this result.
"Sir, since this person killed Princess Lin and the maid, he could just run away. Why did he hide the murderous dagger in the next room?"
"And when I was changing my clothes, I clearly heard the voice of Princess Lin next door. Even if she was killed, it would be after I left the room with the maid."
"It's enough to kill the person in such a short period of time and then run away. Why do you need to hide the murder weapon and deliberately frame him?"
"There must be an accomplice in this case."
Having been framed in vain, with Man Qiu and Man Dong still in jail, Wen Jinhe had no intention of settling the matter and letting Li Zhilin go.
The Minister of Punishment speculated: "Perhaps he was hiding in the room before Princess Lin entered the room. After the murder, because there were all female relatives outside the house, it was easy to be discovered. Then he waited for you to leave, opened the inner door and hid in the next room. The murder weapon was He just landed at the bottom of the bed, and when the body was discovered and everyone's attention was focused on you, he secretly left. "
Wen Jinhe frowned and asked, "What about the blood stains on this princess's dress?"
Waiter: "Maybe it was dirty when I brought it over."
Wen Jinhe: "But Mrs. Zhongshu Ling said these are new clothes and no one has ever worn them."
Zhongshu Ling stood up and said: "I accidentally mixed it with other clothes when I was doing laundry. What happened today was that the humble widowed girl was so sad that she almost misunderstood Princess Che."
Wen Jinhe gritted his teeth and glanced at Zhong Shuling, He and Li Zhilin.
Then she raised her head and glanced at the Minister of Justice and the Attendant sitting in the high hall. These two people clearly wanted to settle the matter and hurriedly handed over their duties, not wanting to investigate further.
"Sir, Princess Lin's personal maid was called in. She said she was having an affair with her lover and was discovered by Princess Lin. Then she and her lover were killed and silenced. This is the crime she committed." The interrogating officer ran in with a piece of blood-stained paper.
The Minister of Punishment immediately arranged his official uniform and said, "Bring the person up."
The yamen servant said in embarrassment: "After hearing that her lover was dead, she died for love."
