Chapter 847: Public
A quarter of an hour later.
"My Lord, I have already asked clearly."
"The suspect's full name is Ma Yizhen. He became a disciple of Master Hongyuan when he was fourteen, and it has been nine years since then."
"This man relies on being the eldest disciple of Master Hongyuan and his nephew. He is always bossy and treats his fellow disciples like slaves. That's why he is very unpopular."
"The two Taoist priests who came with us are Zhao Yixiong, the third disciple of Master Hongyuan, and Liu Yiwei, the fifth disciple."
"Zhao Yixiong is the most outstanding disciple of Master Hongyuan. Master Hongyuan has said several times that Zhao Yixiong will be the one who will inherit his lineage in the future."
"Because of this, Zhao Yixiong and Ma Yizhen have always had a bad relationship, and it can even be said that they are incompatible."
"Liu Yiwei is the nephew of Master Hongyuan. Because of this identity, Ma Yizhen and Zhao Yixiong both look at him differently."
"However, Liu Yiwei is a dull and old-fashioned person. Apart from serving Master Hongyuan wholeheartedly, he usually doesn't speak politely to anyone, so his relationship with the two of them is quite ordinary."
"Ma Yizhen was tall and strong; Zhao Yixiong was of medium height; Liu Yiwei was short and dark."
Although he felt that it was unlikely that the three had committed the crime together and murdered Ma, Sun Shaozong still ordered Huang Bin to verify the relationship between the three with the Taoist priests.
Just from the investigation results, if those Taoist priests - including some Taoist children - did not lie collectively, these three people would be enough to be a part of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms!
If you say that they can cooperate sincerely and cover Ma Yizhen's sneaking into the capital to kill Ma, Ma Yizhen himself may not believe it!
As for the assumption that all three of them had an affair with Ma...
Based on a series of investigations just conducted by Sun Shaozong, it can be preliminarily determined that Ma is a woman with low psychological maturity, introverted, literary, and eager to be cared for.
Once such a woman is neglected, the chances of her cheating may be quite high, but it is unlikely that she would have sex with multiple lovers at the same time.
"Sir, look what this is!"
Sun Shaozong was rubbing his brow with his fist, trying to piece together the logical relationship again, when the bailiff, who had been busy searching the room, suddenly shouted.
Sun Shaozong turned his head and saw him squatting in front of the dressing table, holding a piece of paper scraps the size of a fingernail in his hands as if they were a treasure. The edge of the paper scraps had obvious signs of burning.
Sun Shaozong hurried forward to take a closer look, and when he saw that there was no dust on the paper, his eyes suddenly brightened.
This was obviously ignited not long ago!
He then carefully put the scraps of paper into his hands and asked, "Where did you find this?"
"It's right under the dressing table. I just dug it out with a broom!"
The bailiff was quite proud, for he had really run out of places to search and he did not dare to be lazy in front of Sun Shaozong, so he just took a broom and rummaged around under the bed and cabinets. He never thought that he actually found a clue!
Sun Shaozong looked at the dressing table, then turned back and asked, "Has there ever been a charcoal basin in this room?"
"some!"
Qiuhong immediately replied, "It has been going on since this morning. Later, my wife had to go out, and she was afraid that there would be no one to look after the house and the water would leak accidentally, so she moved it to another place."
As he spoke, he pointed to a corner and said, "It was originally placed here."
The place she pointed to was only three feet away from the dressing table. If Ma had thrown a whole piece of paper into the charcoal basin at that time, it would not be surprising that some scraps of paper would float under the dressing table.
"That's strange."
Sun Shaozong showed the scraps of paper to the two maids and said coldly, "There is no writing brush, inkstone, or any books in this room. You just said that no letters were sent in. Then what was burned?"
Although he questioned them, Sun Shaozong actually didn't doubt the two maids at all.
Because according to the investigation just now, they stayed in the backyard with Ma almost all day long, so if they wanted to pass on information, it had to go through someone else.
But who would dare to spread such a fatal scandal through so many people?
Otherwise, if any one of the links goes wrong, it will be a disaster for the adulterer!
"this……"
Xia He looked at the piece of paper in fear, and then looked at Qiu Hong with suspicion, obviously suspecting that Qiu Hong had done something behind her back.
Qiuhong did not respond to her suspicion, but instead frowned gradually, looking as if she was thinking about something and finding it unbelievable.
After a long while, she finally said hesitantly under Sun Shaozong's gaze: "Your Excellency, I really don't know where this thing came from, but..."
"But what?"
"But Xia He and I weren't the only ones who came to this dormitory today. There was also... and the master!"
Has Master Hongyuan been here too?
Could it be that he helped Ma Yizhen to meet Ma in the back garden and kill her?
This is really against common sense!
You know, he was cuckolded, and he probably wanted to cut the adulterer into pieces, so how could he...
etc!
Suddenly, an idea flashed in Sun Shaozong's mind.
Because of the traces in the back garden, especially the fact that the murderer couldn't bear to destroy Ma's remains, and the expression of all kinds of emotions on Ma's face, he had tacitly accepted in his heart that the murderer who killed Ma was her lover.
But what if it’s not the case?
What if Ma Yizhen killed Ma not because he was Ma's lover, but because he was instructed to kill Ma who was pregnant through adultery?
Further inference can be made that the three people sent to Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi seemed to be incompatible and there was basically no possibility of collusion.
But what if all this was instructed by Master Hongyuan?
The three conspired together...
No!
Just two people conspiring together is enough!
Because the other person is most likely the real adulterer!
After all, according to the current investigation, only a few disciples favored by Master Hongyuan have the possibility of coming into contact with the Ma family.
Since Master Hongyuan planned to kill his wife, would he let the adulterer go?
"Huang Bin!"
Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong immediately ordered: "Send someone back to the government office immediately to bring the headless corpse here so that everyone in the Tianshi Mansion can identify it!"
Without waiting for Huang Bin to accept the order, he motioned Huang Bin to come forward and whispered a few words to him.
Huang Bin nodded in understanding and hurried to the dormitory again.
…
Half an hour later
After searching Ma's residence inside and out three times, Sun Shaozong returned to the front hall with the maids and yamen runners.
In stark contrast to the previous situation where "one bird enters the forest and all the other birds drown out their noise", this time when Sun Shaozong entered the hall, the noise not only did not subside, but instead added fuel to the fire, one wave higher than the other.
Perhaps drawing strength from this, one of the young Taoists actually shouted at Sun Shaozong: "Sir, you keep questioning us endlessly. Are you treating us as murderers?!"
"yes!"
Someone immediately chimed in: "It's obvious that someone is targeting our Tianshi Mansion. Why don't you officers go arrest the murderer, but only bother with us, the victims?"
Seeing that there was a leader, the other Taoists also started to follow suit.
The crowd was outraged at the moment, and the yamen runners were in a panic. After all, the Taoists were in great demand recently, and if they really made a fuss, the court might not punish them.
Sun Shaozong turned a blind eye to it, standing in front of the altar as if nothing had happened, and ordered: "Go and bring Master Hongyuan here. I have a few questions, and I want Master Hongyuan to explain them to you in public."
Several yamen runners at the door rushed out as if they had been pardoned, and the hall became quiet.
Relying on the recent reputation of the Tianshi Mansion, the Taoists might dare to confront the court officials to a certain extent, but they would never dare to cause trouble in front of Master Hongyuan.
Not long after, Master Hong Yuan walked in from outside the door with his head held high, and a group of Taoists were busy addressing him respectfully as "Master, Uncle Master, and Uncle Master".
But Master Hong Yuan ignored him and walked to Sun Shaozong, staring at him for a long while before he spoke: "I heard that Sun Shaoqing has a few questions that he wants me to answer in person?"
"good."
Sun Shaozong nodded slightly, then got straight to the point and asked, "How tall is the Immortal's eldest disciple Ma Yizhen?"
"Over six feet."
"Are you familiar with the topography of this mansion?"
"Of course I am familiar with it."
"When I asked him about this, why did the Master insist that no one in the Tianshi Mansion was over six feet tall?"
"Ma Yizhen left Beijing more than ten days ago. How could he have done this? Since he is not a suspect, there is no need to mention it."
"I heard that the people traveling with him were the third and fifth disciples of the Immortal?"
"Exactly."
"How could the Immortal know that he would not conspire with his two junior brothers and lurk in the capital secretly..."
"Sun Shaoqing!"
Master Hong Yuan interrupted Sun Shaozong's words, staring fearlessly at him with his narrow eyes, and asked word by word: "Did you rely on these three words 'falsely accused' to solve cases in the past?"
Sun Shaozong stared at him in silence for a long while, then suddenly grinned: "What the master said is true. I just made a slip of the tongue. The three people traveling together were not on good terms with each other, so how could they be willing to work together? In fact, it was Ma Yizhen and Liu Yiwei who first conspired to murder Zhao Yixiong, and then..."
"Lord Sun!"
Master Hong Yuan interrupted Sun Shaozong again, and his words became more and more impolite: "Although I respect your reputation as an upright person, I cannot let you speak nonsense and tarnish my disciple's innocence!"
After a pause, he continued, "Besides, Yizhen is my nephew, and Yiwei is my cousin. How could they betray their master and ancestors and kill my wife without any moral reason?!"
"For no reason?"
Sun Shaozong sneered, casually took out a small booklet from his sleeve, handed it to Master Hongyuan, and said, "Whether it is without reason or not, Master Hongyuan knows it clearly, and I am not confused either."
Master Hong Yuan's eyes fell on the blue booklet, and he unconsciously became a little sinister, but his mouth remained calm: "What is this?"
Sun Shaozong raised the booklet and said, "Of course it is the autopsy record of your wife."
Master Hongyuan also subconsciously raised his left hand, but it was still far away from the booklet, so he froze in mid-air.
Then, he simply dropped his hand, shook his head and said, "Master Sun, if you have anything to say, just say it."
This was unexpected for Sun Shaozong. He was stunned for a moment, and seeing that Master Hongyuan had no intention of changing his mind, he simply flipped open the autopsy report and read a paragraph: "There were spots of varying depths on the breasts, abdomen, and buttocks of the corpse. According to the judgment of several midwives who were temporarily invited, the deceased was already pregnant before her death, and the pregnancy was more than three months."
At this point, Sun Shaozong closed the booklet again, raised it to Master Hongyuan, and said, "Master, this can't be something that is 'groundless', right? Or should we ask the coroner to take out the evidence and have you personally look at it before you believe it?"
Master Hong Yuan's face had turned completely gloomy, and even a few people in the crowd looked shocked and doubtful.
But more people were puzzled, and some even couldn't help shouting, "What does this mean? Master's aunt is pregnant, what does it have to do with Senior Brother Ma and the others?"
In fact, Sun Shaozong had not originally planned to reveal this matter in front of everyone.
But Master Hongyuan refused to accept the challenge, so he had no choice but to make it public.
Now that the matter has been started, it would only make him look insecure if he continued to hide it. Therefore, when Sun Shaozong heard someone questioning him, he smiled and said , "It is difficult to say what the relationship is with Ma Yizhen and others, but this child has nothing to do with Master Hongyuan!"
This really caused an uproar in the audience.
"Ridiculous! How dare you slander my uncle like this!"
"Master's wife has been in Beijing for five months. What's so strange about her being three or four months pregnant?!"
"Master and his wife have always been in love..."
"My uncle is a real person appointed by His Majesty. How dare you..."
"Of course I dare to make the conclusion!"
Sun Shaozong first shouted, interrupting all the doubts, then looked around the room and sneered, "Otherwise, Master Hongyuan would be guilty of deceiving the emperor, and everyone in the Tianshi Mansion would also be implicated!"
After a pause, he added, "Because Master Hong Yuan once said personally that when refining elixirs for Your Majesty, you cannot get close to women."
This time the uproar in the hall was even louder.
But soon, it fell into a deathly slump again.
Those who were cunning looked at each other with their eyes and their noses, and looked at their hearts; while more people looked at Master Hong Yuan in disbelief.
"Alas~"
In this dead silence, Master Hong Yuan suddenly sighed, "I just thought about her past and had expected this, but I never thought... never thought..."
As he said this, he suddenly raised his head and laughed: "Hahahaha... I, Liu Hongyuan, have always been proud of myself and have lived up to my expectations, but I never thought, never thought... Hahahaha..."
The laughter was sad and bleak, and his tall and thin body seemed to be shaky, which made everyone who saw him sigh in regret.
Only Sun Shaozong cursed inwardly "drama queen" and then frowned.
According to the existing clues, Ma Yizhen and Liu Yiwei must have been instigated by Master Hongyuan to kill Zhao Yixiong and Ma.
As long as one of Ma Yizhen and Liu Yiwei is caught and confesses the truth, no matter how hard he tries to cover it up, it will just be a last-ditch struggle.
But Master Hongyuan's behavior at this time made Sun Shaozong think of another possibility - what if Ma Yizhen and Liu Yiwei refused to confess, or were "unable" to confess?
At that time, it seemed that he had no evidence to identify Master Hongyuan as the mastermind behind the incident.
If you think more deeply, although Master Hongyuan had lost a lot of face at this time, he neglected his own wife in order to make elixir for the emperor, and was eventually cuckolded.
As long as he is not involved in this case, the emperor will surely be comforted...
Tsk~
Could it be that this guy had been prepared from the beginning to make his cuckold identity public?
"My Lord, my Lord!"
At this moment, a bailiff came running over and reported loudly: "The body has been delivered, and I am waiting..."
"Let Huang Bin come in and talk first!"
Sun Shaozong hurriedly interrupted his report and said without further ado, "Leave the bodies and other things outside for now!"
