After being unmasked by the Chang'an County Magistrate, Li Nuo found the subsequent interrogation exceptionally smooth.
The more than twenty officials, regardless of their official position and in which government office of the court they worked, were all very cooperative. Li Nuo would ask a question, and they'd respond with ten, surprisingly and unusually obliging. Out of consideration for Li Nuo, who was sitting, they all bent slightly as they replied.
Pei Zhe looked on with envy at this scene.
As the Chang'an County Magistrate, he often dealt with officials and nobles of Chang'an. When those people spoke to him, they would almost tilt their noses up to the sky, yet here before Li Nuo, a man without any official post, they didn't even dare to raise their heads.
After questioning the last official, Li Nuo stood up and said, "Thank you for your hard work, my lords. You may leave now."
"No trouble, no trouble."
"The trouble is on your side, Sir."
"Sir, you've endured hardship..."
"Your subordinate takes his leave..."
...
As soon as Li Nuo spoke, within ten seconds, the officials scrambled to leave, as if a moment's delay would mean being trapped there forever.
Li Nuo was inwardly slightly surprised; it seemed that the father he had yet to meet held considerable prestige at court, such that officials were all so polite to him.
After letting them go, Li Nuo said to the Chang'an County Magistrate, "These court officials have no motive for the crime. If they wanted to kill Assistant Minister Zheng, they wouldn't personally get their hands dirty…"
Actually, even without Li Nuo's explanation, Pei Zhe knew the murderer wasn't among these officials. He had intended to release them first, but after releasing more than twenty people, there were still nearly two hundred. He wondered what method Li Nuo had to find the murderer among these two hundred people by simply questioning them in less than four hours.
His heart was full of doubt, silently watching Li Nuo perform.
After releasing the twenty or so officials but still having nearly two hundred people left, Li Nuo, of course, couldn't question them one by one. He walked with his hands behind his back, made a round outside several prison cells, then pointed to one and said, "Open the cell door; the people in this cell can go now."
The prison chief glanced at the Chang'an County Magistrate. Pei Zhe nodded and said, "Do as the gentleman says."
Within one morning, he had learned all about the case. Continuing to hold these two hundred people was meaningless; they would have to be released eventually. In his view, this case would ultimately come to an unresolved end.
Not all murder cases could be solved. In fact, eight or nine out of ten murder cases in Daxia went unresolved, and cases where the murderer was caught were rare.
Li Nuo paced to the front of another cell and once more spoke up, "The people in this cell can also leave now."
After freeing the people in both cells, that left two cells: one held female family members from Zheng Mansion, including Assistant Minister Zheng's wives and concubines and a few female guests; the other held Assistant Minister Zheng's friends from the business world.
Li Nuo instructed the prison chief to open these two cells and said, "You all may go now."
Upon hearing this, Chang'an County Magistrate Pei Zhe was stunned. What was this man playing at, releasing everyone after all this fuss?
The people detained in the cells didn't care about any of that. Hearing they could leave, they were overjoyed and rushed out of the cells. Just as a handsome man was stepping joyfully through the cell doors, his shoulder was suddenly grabbed, and the following voice made his body jolt and his heart turn ice cold in an instant.
"They can go, but you stay."
Li Nuo's right hand rested on the handsome man's shoulder while his left hand seized a young woman's wrist. He spoke calmly, "You too."
The woman looked puzzled, while the handsome man's complexion turned pale, and he began to ask, "My lord, why?"
Indeed, why?
That's what the Chang'an County Magistrate was thinking. He couldn't understand any of Li Nuo's actions—among these more than two hundred people. Li Nuo had asked them nothing, so why leave only these two behind?
What made these two different?
Li Nuo gave the handsome man a slight smile, a very kind one, yet it sent a chilling sensation up the man's spine, as if all his secrets could not hide from Li Nuo's view.
Li Nuo offered no explanation, only ordering the prison chief to lock this man and woman in two separate cells at opposite ends of the prison, out of sight from each other, naturally unable to collude.
Throughout all this, Chang'an County Magistrate Pei Zhe's mind was engulfed in fog.
After Li Nuo had the pair separately detained, Pei Zhe finally couldn't help himself and asked, "Sir, why leave those two behind? Is there something wrong with them?"
Li Nuo was working backward from an answer looking for the question, which, of course, he found right away, but he couldn't just say it outright.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "Just now, everyone detained in the cells was anxious and restless, not knowing what would happen next. Most of them were lost in thought or paralyzed by uncertainty, their actions irregular. But in the brief time I questioned those officials, the man and woman locked in those two cells exchanged secret glances sixty-eight times. If they didn't have guilty consciences, how else could you explain it?"
The Chang'an County Magistrate stared blankly at Li Nuo as if looking at a monster. How could he have managed to divide his attention while questioning those officials and notice among the two hundred people in five cells that one man and one woman exchanged glances sixty-eight times?
Pei Zhe was a normal person; he couldn't imagine achieving such a feat.
But then again, thinking of whose son he was, it seemed acceptable that he could do this.
However, coming back to the point, if the pair really exchanged that many glances, then they definitely had issues.
Pei Zhe turned to a constable and ordered, "Check the identities of those two!"
Soon after, the constable returned, holding a dossier. Pei Zhe took a brief look and instantly thought of something, muttering, "Could it be…"
Li Nuo asked, "Lord Pei, what did you find?"
Pei Zhe handed the dossier to Li Nuo, then remembered that he couldn't read many characters and said, "The man is named Cui Ze, a newly affluent businessman of Chang'an. The woman is named Zhang Xiaoyun, the eighth concubine Assistant Minister Zheng took half a year ago… Cui Ze holds no grudge against Assistant Minister Zheng and has no motive for the crime. However, if he and Assistant Minister Zheng's concubine were having an illicit affair, it would make sense."
Passionate and revenge killings account for the majority of murder cases. Assistant Minister Zheng was known for his kindness and had no enemies. Thus, a crime of passion was very likely. He was over fifty and no longer in the prime of his youth, yet he had a multitude of wives and concubines at home, inevitably unable to satisfy them all.
The eighth concubine was in the bloom of her youth, an age that craved nurturing like plants need rain. Cui Ze, young and dashing, could easily spark a flame with a young woman by accident—it wouldn't be out of the ordinary.
Ninety percent of the cases were already cracked.
He had observed carefully before: when the two were separated, Cui Ze couldn't help but steal a glance at Zhang Xiaoyun, a panic in his eyes. Although it was natural for everyone to be released except for them, Pei Zhe, who had seen too many criminals, still discerned something unusual from his panicked gaze.
However, for Pei Zhe at the moment, none of these mattered.
No case had ever shocked him as much as Li Nuo had.
What was a natural talent for investigating cases?
This was it.
Without having to visit the crime scene or understand the specifics of the case, he didn't need to know anything. With just a pair of eyes, he could pick out the murderer from over two hundred suspects. What kind of heaven-defying ability was this?
Had he been born three hundred years earlier, Legalism might have had one more Saint.
Unfortunately, these were not the chaotic times of the Warring States. The philosophers had all gone to their rest, and Legalism had declined. Even if he was naturally gifted in case investigation, he wouldn't be able to go far on the path of Legalism. The full court of officials wouldn't allow the rise of a Legalist Saint. What a pity, such a pity.
With a sigh in his heart, he turned to Li Nuo and asked, "Young Master, what shall we do next?"
Without realizing it, he had come to see Li Nuo as his mainstay.
Chang'an County Government.
The prison.
Cui Ze leaned against the cold walls of the cell, his face deathly pale, his heart filled with incredible fear.
How could this be possible? They had been meticulous, so much so that even the servants of the Zheng Mansion hadn't noticed anything. The Chang'an County Magistrate had investigated all morning without suspecting them. How had that man known?
Thinking about that piercing gaze that seemed to see through everything, he was completely panicked.
If he didn't know they were the murderers, there was no reason to release everyone else and only keep the two of them.
What was even stranger was that nearly half a two-hour period had passed since he was detained, and no one had come to interrogate him. It was impossible to describe the agony of that time.
Steps approached the cell door; it was the prison guards delivering the meal.
From morning until now, nearly four two-hour periods with neither food nor drink, he was famished. The prison food provided by the Chang'an County Government was just ordinary cabbage and tofu with rice, and it had a slight stale taste, indicating it had been sitting for a while.
Cui Ze, who came from great wealth, used to dine on exquisite delicacies every day. Facing this bowl of spoiled food was beyond unpalatable.
Just then, he suddenly smelled the rich scent of cooked rice.
This fragrance was all too familiar to Cui Ze.
"Roast chicken, steamed fish, braised pork, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and this fragrance of rice… This is the top-quality fragrant rice from the northeast!"
Despite the impending disaster, anger surged in Cui Ze's heart. Why should he be fed spoiled cabbage and tofu mixed with rice when others received such fine food?
Two prison guards carrying delicious meals passed by Cui Ze's cell, chatting casually.
"Has that woman confessed yet?"
"Of course, why else would the lord spend so much? If it were me, I'd confess too. Those who confess later have only death awaiting them, while the first to confess may be sentenced to exile, but at least there's a slim chance of survival…"
What!
The words of the two prison guards echoed in Cui Ze's mind like thunder.
She had confessed?
Confessing first could spare her life, so why hadn't anyone told him?
Damn it, it was that bitch who seduced him first! She was the one who led to Assistant Minister Zheng's death and then plotted to seize his property. And in the end, it was he who was supposed to die? How the hell could he stand for that?
The figures of the two prison guards receded into the distance, while Cui Ze, clutching the bars of his cell, hollered with all his might, "Lord, I confess, I confess everything!"
At the same time.
On the other side of the prison.
"Is that man about to confess?"
"Of course, why else would the lord spend so much? If it were me, I'd confess too. Those who confess later have only death awaiting them, while the first to confess may be sentenced to exile, but at least there's a slim chance of survival…"
In a cell in the corner, a young woman listened to the guards' seemingly offhand words and glanced at the delicious food they were carrying. Though she said nothing, a sense of resignation couldn't help escaping her with a sigh.
Of course, she couldn't confess, but she knew Cui Ze well enough to realize that his mind wouldn't withstand such an obvious ploy to sow discord.
Sure enough, the next moment, she barely heard Cui Ze's shouts.
Although the prison was large and the two were held at opposite ends, nothing could completely muffle the shouts of a grown man exerting his full strength.
Beyond the resignation in her eyes, there was a deeper-hidden fear, as well as a sense of relief.