Tang Dynasty Prison Administration

091: The Murder Case of the Buddha of Shazhou

Su Wen and Xu Ge hurriedly went to the military camp to find Zhang Yi.

At this moment, Zhang Yi was in a room of a restaurant in the outer city. Sitting across the table from him was none other than Shen Qiushui.

Shen Qiushui poured Zhang Yi a glass of wine and said, "General Zhang Yi, thank you so much for driving away those villains for me yesterday. I'd like to offer you a toast!"

Zhang Yi picked up his wine cup, took a sip, and said, "Madam Shen, there's no need for such politeness. This is merely my duty. But Madam Shen, with your beauty, why don't you marry sooner, lest you be constantly coveted by others!"

Shen Qiushui smiled slightly and said, "I already have someone I love, but he comes from a prestigious family, while I am merely the daughter of a merchant. How could I dare to hope that he would marry me?"

Zhang Yi said, "Although most people believe in the principle of 'the rich marry the rich, and the poor marry the poor,' our Great Tang can still accommodate those from wealthy families. Madam Shen, you are free to boldly seek true love, so why worry about such trivial matters!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Qiushui stared at Zhang Yi with wide eyes, looking at him with tender affection.

Seeing this, Zhang Yi turned his head slightly away. Shen Qiushui poured another cup of wine and said, "General Zhang Yi, come, let me toast you again!"

Zhang Yi took the glass and drank it down in one gulp.

At this moment, Shen Qiushui slowly rose to her feet and said, "General Zhang Yi, to repay your life-saving grace, let me perform a dance for you!"

As she spoke, Shen Qiushui began to dance. Zhang Yi was able to hold on at first, but as Shen Qiushui's dance moves quickened, Zhang Yi gradually began to feel dizzy and even had trouble opening his eyes!

"Why is this wine so intoxicating today!"

After saying that, Zhang Yi collapsed onto the table and fell into a deep sleep. Shen Qiushui hurriedly ran over and called softly, "General Zhang Yi, General Zhang Yi, how come you're so drunk?"

As Shen Qiushui spoke, she gently nudged Zhang Yi, and when she saw that Zhang Yi did not react at all.

Shen Qiushui then slowly left the room and closed the door.

After a moment, a drawer in the room was slowly opened, and a pair of hands reached out from the drawer, followed by a head. Then, he began to unleash his power.

With the sound of bones snapping and sputtering as they stretched and pieced themselves together, a person was now standing completely in the room.

The man picked up the Buddha statue from the table beside him and walked towards Zhang Yi.

Just as the man picked up the Buddha statue to smash it at Zhang Yi, Zhang Yi, who had been unconscious, suddenly opened his eyes, stood up, and kicked the man, sending him flying several meters away.

It only stopped when its back hit the cabinet.

Zhang Yi frowned and said, "Hmph, you think you can fool this general with a mere honey trap? You underestimate me far too much!"

As soon as the words were spoken, several soldiers, holding knives to Shen Qiushui's throat, carried her back to the room.

Zhang Yi sneered, "Hmph, Lu Yao, it's you. What, you're also a Tibetan?"

Just then, Xu Ge ran in first and saw this scene in the room: several soldiers were holding Shen Qiushui hostage and had a knife to her neck, while Lu Yao was standing to the side. Xu Ge was still a little confused and couldn't understand what was going on.

Su Wen rushed into the room, panting, and was quite shocked by what he saw. He then looked at Zhang Yi and said, "General Zhang Yi, did you already suspect that those two were the murderers?"

Upon hearing Su Wen's words, Zhang Yi was immediately bewildered. He looked at Su Wen with a puzzled expression and asked, "What murderer? This Shen Qiushui is a Tibetan. He tried to kill me, General Su. What are you doing here?"

Upon hearing Zhang Yi's explanation, Su Wen realized that Zhang Yi had indeed stumbled upon this by accident!

Su Wen looked at Zhang Yi and asked, "How did you know Shen Qiushui was Tibetan?"

Zhang Yi smiled and said, "To be honest, I never really saw her clearly before, because she immediately lowered her head and didn't dare to look at me when we met before. I even thought she liked me!"

Zhang Yi continued, with a hint of confidence, "But today in court, I took a good look at her, and in that one glance, I knew she wasn't from India, but from Tibet!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen was quite shocked: "How did you distinguish them? The appearances of Indians and Tibetans aren't actually that different!"

Zhang Yi said, "Imperial Envoy Su, I've dealt with the Tibetans for years, how could I not know what they look like? I guessed she was Tibetan at the time, and after severely torturing that Tibetan spy, I learned from him that he had been in contact with Lu Yao for many years, and Lu Yao often had contact with Shen Qiushui. I knew then that Lu Yao and Shen Qiushui were both Tibetan spies!"

"She invited me here for drinks today. Humph, I knew it was a trap the moment I heard it, and sure enough, it was! I caught her red-handed!" Zhang Yi looked at Shen Qiushui and said, "A mere honey trap could not possibly deceive this general. I am well-versed in military strategy and history; how could I not know about Goujian sending Xi Shi to Fuchai?"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen couldn't help but give Zhang Yi a thumbs up.

It should be noted that even Su Wen was almost captivated by Shen Qiushui's beauty. It is truly remarkable that Zhang Yi, a martial artist, could resist such temptation!

At this moment, Zhang Yi looked at Su Wen and said, "Hey, by the way, Imperial Envoy Su, you're here to arrest murderers? What, are those two murderers?"

Su Wen then looked at Lu Yao to the side and said, "Lu Yao, now that things have come to this, why don't you surrender?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yao sneered and said, "How do you know it's mine?"

Su Wen pointed to the tattoo on Lu Yao's wrist and said, "You should also be a member of Ningyue Pavilion, right? Everyone in Ningyue Pavilion has learned a kind of miscellaneous skill, a skill that Master Huineng taught you so you could support yourselves!"

"When I went to see it just now, I found that all the acrobatic performances were very impressive, especially the one about unraveling copper rings. When I saw that such a big girl could fold herself up to the size of a ball, I was immediately reminded of the holes used to transport tools in temples and the cabinets in the rooms of Tibetan envoys."

"I found a stain on the Tibetan envoy's collar. The Tibetan envoy was extremely clean, and someone as clean as him would never tolerate a stain on his collar. I smelled it; it smelled like garlic. And because you peel garlic all the time, your fingers are stained with garlic."

"I just went back and examined that cabinet again carefully. I could smell garlic along the edges of it, and that's when I knew it was you!"

"Tell me, why did you kill those nine?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yao smiled slightly and said, "She and I worked together to kill nine people in total. Nothing serious happened; we just wanted to kill, that's all!"

After saying that, Lu Yao pulled out a dagger from his sleeve, and without any hesitation, plunged it into his own throat and slashed it, cutting his own throat.

Su Wen was quite shocked. Just as he ran over to see Lu Yao, Shen Qiushui, who had been being escorted behind him, suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahaha... Su Wen, you're really clever. I just didn't expect you to arrive so quickly, catching us completely off guard. But it's alright, Buddha will avenge us!"

After saying that, Shen Qiushui suddenly slashed her neck against the knife that was held there, committing suicide on the spot by cutting her throat.

Seeing Shen Qiushui die, Su Wen was greatly shocked. Good heavens, what's going on with these two? They were so decisive and ruthless!