Tang Dynasty Prison Administration

029: The Nightmare Chases the Murderer

Su Wen said, "By the way, Miss Cui, I would like to ask you to shorten the distance between his eyebrows slightly and raise his hairline a little!"

After thinking for a moment, Cui Lingyu said, "Okay!"

As Cui Lingyu returned to the house, Su Wen stood quietly by the wall and waited. He had no power now and could only rely on these clues to piece things together bit by bit. He even thought of using the method of pretending to be a ghost to deceive Yuan Tianfang.

But Su Wen rejected this idea in an instant.

Yuan Tianfang is a master of feng shui architecture. As feng shui masters, they may believe in ghosts and gods, but they will not believe them completely. In fact, Yuan Tianfang would certainly not believe them. Therefore, this method of pretending to be a ghost is almost no different from using a public divination.

Once the cards are revealed, and Yuan Tianfang becomes wary, then trying to solve the case will be nothing short of a pipe dream.

Therefore, Su Wen is now in a dilemma; without power, he can hardly move an inch.

A short while later, Cui Lingyu came out with a drawing and handed it to Su Wen, saying, "Dr. Su, this is the revised version based on what you said. Please take a look!"

Su Wen unrolled the scroll. The Yuan Tianfang depicted in the painting was almost identical to the Yuan Tianfang he had seen in his dream. Looking at the scroll, Su Wen turned to Cui Lingyu with delight and said, "Miss Cui, your painting skills have reached such a level! Amazing!"

Cui Lingyu smiled and said, "As long as this painting can help you, that's enough!"

Su Wen said to Cui Lingyu again, "Thank you, Miss Cui!"

After saying this, Su Wen turned and left the Cui residence. After watching Su Wen leave, Cui Lingyu closed the door and went home.

Su Wen returned to the tavern and then found a writer, wanting him to fabricate a half-book. Since he had no authority, he could only use the news of the missing part and the picture to trick Yuan Tianfang.

Upon arriving at the tavern, Su Wen saw seven or eight constables standing there. He frowned slightly. When he returned to the tavern, he saw Magistrate Cui Ziyan among them, with a man standing next to him who was over eight feet tall. Su Wen felt that he was at least two meters tall. He was broad-shouldered and burly, with a handsome face and an extremely imposing appearance!

As soon as Su Wen met Cui Ziyan, Cui Ziyan stepped forward and bowed to Su Wen, saying, "Congratulations, Dr. Su!"

Su Wen was still somewhat puzzled when he saw the burly man beside him step forward and stand next to Cui Ziyan. Cui Ziyan then introduced him, "This is Su Wen!"

After bowing to Su Wen, the burly man took out an imperial edict from his robes and handed it to Su Wen, saying, "I am Li Xingguo, the Grand General of the Left Golden Guard. By imperial decree, I will be fully responsible for protecting Dr. Su... Oh, Chief Su!"

Su Wen opened the imperial edict and saw that it was an imperial decree from the Secretariat, the Ministry of Justice, and the Chief Justice of the Ministry of Justice, who was authorized to investigate all case files and supervise all cases. All localities were required to cooperate as if the emperor were personally present!

Upon seeing the imperial edict, Su Wen was momentarily dazed, and even couldn't help but tentatively pinch his thigh.

It really hurts!

He was actually promoted! Although it seems like only a seventh-rank official position, the power he wields is boundless. In particular, he is now in charge of overseeing all cases, and all localities must cooperate, as if the Emperor himself were present. Those four words are incredibly powerful!

Su Wen never dreamed that Li Longji would value him so much.

Suppressing his excitement, Su Wen quickly bowed to Li Xingguo and said, "General Li is the Grand General of the Left Golden Guard. Isn't it a bit of an overestimation of your talents to come and protect me?"

Li Xingguo simply smiled and said, "Chief Su is someone highly valued by the Sage. The Sage said: Most cases involving criminals are committed by vicious and wicked individuals, and there are inevitably some with ulterior motives. Therefore, he specially sent me here to prevent any unforeseen circumstances!"

Su Wen bowed to Li Xingguo again. It should be noted that the General of the Left Golden Guard was a third-rank official, a high-ranking position that Su Wen could not possibly attain.

However, Su Wen was not blinded by excitement. He immediately looked at Cui Ziyan beside him and said, "Magistrate Cui, I think I can retrieve the case files now, right?"

Cui Ziyan replied, "Okay!"

"Alright, bring me all the case files from forty-six years ago concerning the Liu family, the Ming family, and the Liu family members who were sentenced to imprisonment!"

"good!"

Su Wen paused for a moment, then said, "Magistrate Cui, may I borrow a few more men?"

Cui Ziyan said, "Director Su can now use the servants at will!"

Su Wen said, "Someone go to Youzhou City and invite the assassin Ji Ming here. Tell him I have a patient here and would like him to treat him!"

Su Wen paused for a moment, then continued, "Also, spread the word that I've arrived, and also spread the word that I found a corpse beneath the main hall of Qingfeng Temple!"

At this point, Su Wen breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Next, I'm going to make a big show of things to scare the snake. I want to see if it will react!"

Upon hearing this, Cui Ziyan was quite astonished. He hadn't expected that Su Wen had actually found clues in the past few days. Thinking of this, Cui Ziyan sighed inwardly.

Having served as an official in Ningshui County for two or three decades, could it be that Yuan Tianfang really has a problem?

Not only was he unaware of it, but he had even asked Yuan Tianfang to look at the feng shui for him. Thinking of this, Cui Ziyan couldn't help but sigh and thought: I'm really getting old, it's time to retire!

......

Disguised, Su Wen arrived at Yuan Tianfang's residence and handed a letter to a servant, saying, "Have your master come to the mountainside of Qingfeng Temple at 7:15 PM today. Tell him I'm leaving and that he should bring the second half of the book and two hundred taels of silver. Otherwise, I will tell Chief Su about his affair!"

After saying that, Su Wen turned and left without pausing or hesitating!

That evening, after Su Wen had disguised himself, he waited quietly halfway up the mountain at Qingfeng Temple.

In fact, Su Wen was also gambling that Yuan Tianfang would come to exchange the missing book with him after hearing the news, or even kill him. Of course, he might also give money directly to exchange for the book, and then leave Youzhou City, change his name and identity, and go to other places or other countries.

These are all speculations by Su Wen. However, solving cases is based on experience. According to thousands of years of criminal investigation experience, most murderers would have heard that someone had dug up the body in the main hall of Qingfeng Temple, and that there was a capable detective named Su Da Si, a divine doctor who could cure the mentally challenged Amu, and even a fellow disciple of Yuan Tianfang who said he would leak the secret to Su Da Si if he didn't get the book and money.

Upon hearing these reports, no murderer would sit idly by and wait to die. They would either flee immediately or make a deal to buy themselves some time before leaving safely.

Most people would choose the latter.

Of course, the most important point is that these messages were released at almost the same time, which means that Yuan Tianfang would receive these messages at almost the same time, and then the transaction would have to be completed immediately that night, which left Yuan Tianfang with no time to think it through.

This is the fatal move in solving a case, putting immense pressure on the murderer. The time pressure leaves the murderer no time to think and only able to act on their first instinct!