Chapter 17 Setting Forth Again

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At that moment, extreme fear robbed Zeng Su of all self-control, and his pants were wet in an instant.

But there he was, kneeling on the ground, kowtowing like pounding garlic, his forehead smeared with blood, while muttering over and over such nonsense as "I'm sorry for what I did to you," "Please forgive me."

Such a reaction was more than enough for Zhou, the arrest officer.

Zhou Wu believed that the case had already been cracked at this point, and the murderer found; making him confess was actually the easiest part.

It wouldn't matter whether it was Zeng Su or even Song Gongming—once on the public court, how many could withstand the boards coming down?

To cut a long story short, by the time Zeng Su realized what was going on, Mr. Zeng, Arrest Officer Zhou, along with Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai, were already seated in front of him.

The body of Second Madam had been temporarily laid on the couch in Zeng Su's room, and the crystal fish was still on the table.

As for the other house servants, they had been ordered to wait outside the room—after all, this was a family disgrace... not to be aired in public.

"Enough," Zhou Wu said with the authoritative air of an arrest officer, adopting a tone that blended kindness with severity, "We have a bit of a relationship, so I'll give you some friendly advice... A real man owns up to his actions. As long as you tell us what happened, giving me something to show the county yamen, I assure you that you won't suffer any unnecessary physical punishment; otherwise..."

He was merely mouthing platitudes, but they did make sense.

Many murderers, knowing that they would die once they confessed, would clutch at straws and stubbornly refuse to admit anything; in such cases, the local gentry seldom deigned to come down personally to persuade them, so it was usually up to someone like an arrest officer to go up and give the criminals a few words of "harsh truth."

The gist of this spiel was simple: if you resist, you'll be dragged out for trial daily, beaten until your wounds are freshly torn and seeping... suffering unbearable pain every day until you die of infection in the cell, a death both painful and unsightly.

But if you confess, at least you earn the reputation of being brave enough to take responsibility. After marking your confession and being taken into custody, you'll live comfortably in your cell; and when autumn comes and you have your "beheading meal," you can shout out, "In eighteen years, I'll be a man again!" Let the executioner grant you a swift end, and you'll die with dignity. As for us in the yamen, we can write a beautiful conclusion to the case, and the magistrate and officials will receive credit for their accomplishments.

This set of tacit rules accompanied the "torture for confession" within the judicial process of the Great Ming; while some steps were efficient, they also often led to miscarriages of justice.

Regrettably, this was considered the most advanced system at the time.

In that era, the so-called "sharp-eyed judgment" was nothing but the case-solving experience of the county magistrates, such as observing words and actions, etc. Sometimes, the verdict on some cases would even hinge on the magistrate's mood while reviewing the case...

Thus, the number of villains who got away scot-free and the wrongfully dead was not insignificant.

Fortunately, there were no such errors in Zeng Su's case.

Zeng Su, whose psychological defenses had totally collapsed, was not the kind to resist to the death...

After pondering for a while, he asked for a pot of wine, sat on the ground, and downed three cups in quick succession, then proceeded to spill every detail.

Mr. Zeng listened with an ashen, then ghastly green face, his body occasionally shaking, but he somehow managed to control his emotions without losing composure.

After Zeng Su had finished confessing, Zhou, the arrest officer, waited a few seconds before leaning over to Mr. Zeng's ear and asked, "Mr. Zeng... What do you think should be done with this?"

Zhou Wu was a smart man; indeed, this was a question for Mr. Zeng to answer.

Everyone in Lu Zhou City knew that in Lu Zhou, it was "county magistrates flow like water, but Mr. Zeng is immovable as iron"—ultimately, whatever verdict was reached for this matter, the magistrate's word was not final; Mr. Zeng's was.

After calming himself somewhat, Mr. Zeng finally spoke, "Murder for murder, just proceed with the official protocols..."

Zhou Wu knew there should be a "but" following that statement, so he did not reply, but waited.

Sure enough, after a brief pause, Mr. Zeng continued, "I just... I don't want my Zeng family's affairs to stir up a storm in the city, known by every passerby..."

"In that case..." Zhou Wu thought for a moment before suggesting, "About those recent murders, we'll handle them according to the original 'hauntings' explanation; we'll put the death of He Da squarely on Zeng Su's shoulders, claiming they were already on bad terms, and with He Da pestering Zeng Su for more money after leaving the manor, Zeng Su was moved to murder and poisoned him... What do you think, sir?"

After listening, Mr. Zeng pondered the suggestion and deeming it satisfactorily plausible for those unaware of the full story, nodded, "Alright, then I leave it in the hands of Arrest Officer Zhou." He paused, "I will draft a letter shortly, informing the County Magistrate of the matter, and I would be grateful if you could deliver it, Zhou Wu."

"Of course," Zhou Wu agreed.

After they finished speaking, Mr. Zeng cast a piercing glare at Zeng Su, "Hmph... In the end, I'm leaving you with a good reputation. Isn't that good of me?"

Zeng Su hastily switched from sitting to kneeling and kowtowed to Mr. Zeng, though he couldn't utter a word in reply.

"By the way..." At that moment, Zhou Wu remembered something and reminded Mr. Zeng, "That personal maid of the Second Madam knows a lot about the inside story; if you do not wish for the information to leak..."

This single sentence revealed Zhou Wu's malicious side.

In truth, even without this mention, Mr. Zeng was well aware of what needed to be done and would have disposed of the maid in due course. But by saying it outright, he was openly reminding Mr. Zeng to nip the problem in the bud quickly.

Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai, who were listening from the side, couldn't help feeling startled, thinking... it's lucky we're old hands who haven't gotten too entangled with him, or we might not even know if we were sold out one day.

After hearing Zhou Wu's words, Mr. Zeng also snorted coldly as if he had come to some decision.

He then stood up and called several house servants who were standing by outside to bring the maid to him.

Unexpectedly, after a few minutes, a servant came scrambling back to report that the maid had hung herself in her room.

Another life had been lost.

But to Mr. Zeng, this death was of little concern since, had she not hanged herself, she would have faced a brutal beating to death anyway.

That very night, Zhou Wu called several night-duty subordinates from the yamen and moved the body of the Second Madam back to the temple, also taking the occasion to collect the maid's body... To him, this case was now concluded; he had found a "murderer," sufficient for him to report to his superiors and claim merit, and he had also done a favor for Mr. Zeng.

However, for Mr. Zeng, there was still a significant mystery in the case—the identity of the "woman without a face" and her motives for manipulating Zeng Su from the shadows.

Before unraveling this mystery, Mr. Zeng could not fully put to rest his concerns over the matter, and that night... he had already decided to swiftly start investigating this woman through the pawnshop shopkeeper...

...

The next morning.

Mr. Zeng came in person to see Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai off.

By then, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai were no longer disguised as Daoists; after the case was cracked last night, they had revealed their true identities to Mr. Zeng as well as the reasons for their disguise.

Mr. Zeng was profusely thankful to the two young heroes who had stepped in to help, and upon learning that they were to travel far to Luoyang, Mr. Zeng, without another word, instructed his servants to pick two fine horses from the stables as gifts.

Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai did not refuse much because their previously bought tickets from the High-speed Train Gang were now void, and they had intended to buy horses anyway; accepting them made sense, and spared Mr. Zeng's dignity.

At the start of 9 a.m., Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai rode out of Lu Zhou City, continuing their journey to the northwest towards Yingzhou.

Zhou Wu... did not come to see them off.

Although the arrest officer had indeed heard when they planned to leave, clearly his relationship with the two "brothers" was not close enough to warrant a farewell.

Nor did Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai mind; after all, they both seemed more mature than their ages suggested, and they had seen through what kind of person Zhou Wu was the previous night. Becoming close with such a person would have invited trouble.

And so, the two left Lu Zhou, riding hard, bound straight for their next destination—Yingzhou.

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