"The Master wants our Second Master to inherit the family property, and the Eldest Young Master has always been dissatisfied with this!"
"Concubine Zhang is the biological mother of the Eldest Young Master. What can't she do for the sake of her son?"
"Our Eldest Young Master recently prepared to find a serious job. Now it's time he had to rely on the Master's connections and power. How is it possible for him to kill the Master so viciously?! But the Third Master... When there was a plague, the Master simply forced Concubine Liu [Ge Xiaoyi's biological mother] to serve Concubine Chen [Ge Xiaoxian's biological mother] who was infected with the disease. As a result, Concubine Chen didn't survive, and Concubine Liu also died..."
"Housekeeper Xu has always wanted his son to take over his position, but the Master has always looked down on his two sons of the Xu family. Housekeeper Xu has always complained a lot privately..."
In the Ge Mansion courtyard at the Flower Parlor in the east, Sun Shaozong and Jia Yucun sat opposite of each other. They were looking at the newly released interrogation record in his hand, but his face seemed a little dignified.
According to repeated verification and statistics, when the body was found by breaking into the door at that time, there were a total of 16 people on the scene, including Vice President Ge’s concubine, Zhang, the old housekeeper, Xu Ren, seven servant boys, three maids, and one nanny, as well as Vice President Ge's three sons, Ge Xiaorui, Ge Xiaoxian, and Ge Xiaoyi.
As for Vice President Ge's youngest son, Ge Xiaowen, although he also appeared at the scene of the crime, considering that he was only nine years old now, he didn’t have the possibility of committing a crime independently, so he directly ruled it out.
After nearly half an hour of shock interrogation, Zhou Da and Zhao Wuwei led the officials of the Criminal Justice Department and found out a lot of motives for the murder.
But…
These people have a clear alibi, which could prove that they were not in the study room when the murderer started barking!
And it was not just people with strong motives. In fact, all the people who were interrogated in isolation could show a clear alibi!
So the case fell into a heavy fog for a while.
"Shaozong."
Jia Yucun put the file on the tea table, patted it a few times, and asked, "What do you think of this confession?"
Tch!
Having to sell off Di Renjie's strength and brain, but also has to guest star in Li Yuanfang's work!
Sun Shaozong was ridiculed in his heart and also threw the file on the tea table. He said flatly, "Housekeeper Xu, Ge Xiaorui, and Concubine Zhang—these three people—because they received too much attention, almost all of them unanimously confirmed that they were outside the door before breaking the door. So, the suspicion of committing a crime in person could basically be ruled out, but the suspicion of buying a murderer can’t be ruled out."
"Vice President Ge's three personal young servant men and two servant girls have been waiting in the Pavilion in the East Wing. The chances of buying five people at the same time are too low, so we can rule out their suspicion."
"The only people who are directly suspected of committing the crime are Concubine Zhang’s servant girl and nanny, the two servant boys beside Ge Xiaorui, and the two brothers Ge Xiaoxian and Ge Xiaoyi, who came alone."
"Six people..."
Jia Yucun processed Sun Shaozong's analysis several times before putting forward his idea, "Although it is possible to hire a murderer and kill someone, the risk is too high. Second, in the matter of eating a heart, I'm afraid they can't do it without deep hatred. So, I think Ge Xiaoyi should be the most suspect at present!"
Sun Shaozong shook his head and said, "From the perspective of motivation, it is natural that Ge Xiaoyi is the most suspected, but the motivation may not be explicit. With Vice President Ge being so secretive, there must be something we don't know. If we don't mention the motivation, I think the Second Master Ge Xiaoxian is very suspicious."
"Ge Xiaoxian?"
Jia Yucun was stunned and frowned. "However, the confession shows that this Second Young Master is the most adored in the family, and he even fought with his eldest brother and third brother because Vice President Ge spoiled him. As a result, after Vice President Ge's death, he might be jointly excluded by his brothers rather than receiving any benefit.
Saying this, he shook his head again and said, "In this case, I really can't see his reason to kill Vice President Ge.”
"That's why I said not to mention the motive."
"His alibi is provided by the maid in name, a concubine in reality around him," Sun Shaozong chuckled. "Brother Yucun should know that women with this identity are the best to buy, and they are more able to keep secrets than others."
Although Jia Yucun didn’t agree with this last analysis, he didn’t continue to refute it.
So the two men agreed to temporarily identify Ge Xiaoxian and Ge Xiaoyi brothers as important suspects and to give priority to understanding their situation. As for the other four suspected servants, they simply took them back to the Central Judicial Office and carefully threatened and interrogated them.
After discussing the details, it was already bright outside.
Jia Yucun strongly invited Sun Shaozong to have breakfast at his home, and this was when he heard Zhou Da hurriedly reported that the Old Second Master of the Rongguo Mansion had arrived and specifically pointed out that he wanted to see the Prefectural Magistrate.
Once he heard that Jia Zheng wanted to see him, how dare Jia Yucun neglect it?
He hurriedly called Sun Shaozong and greeted him all the way from the East Wing room.
When they arrived in the front yard, they saw that the hastily arranged mourning hall was bustling inside and out and was already crowded with officials who had come to mourn on hearing the news. Among the crowd, two people took up half of the mourning hall…
One of them was Jia Zheng, and the other was a man with five willows and a long beard, a person who was dignified and introverted. Although his appearance was peaceful, his dignity naturally appeared. He was far above Jia Zheng in terms of momentum and temperament.
Seeing this, Jia Yucun hurriedly rushed forward a few steps and said with an arched hand, "Jia Yucun, the Prefectural Magistrate of the Central Judicial Office, greetings to Minister Wang."
Then he saluted Jia Zheng with a deep bow and asked, "May I know what your instructions are for summoning me, Uncle?"
It turned out that Wang Yan, the Minister of Public Works, had arrived!
Sun Shaozong followed closely and hurriedly walked forward with a salute. He was about to speak his full name, but he saw that Wang Yan's eyes were sharp and asked, "Are you the Assistant Prefectural Magistrate Sun, who has recently become famous? Have you found any clues for this case?"
Shit!
The old thing seemed to have no good intentions!
At first glance, there was nothing strange about his words, but according to the hidden rules of officialdom, Jia Yucun, the Prefectural Magistrate, was present. Whether Sun Shaozong answered yes or no, there was a suspicion of overstepping the moment and asking for credit!
Fortunately, although Sun Shaozong was born young with an honest and straightforward face, he was not abrupt. He immediately realized what he was trying to do, so he only calmly replied, "Report back to the Minister. All the affairs of this case are supervised by Prefectural Magistrate Jia himself. Without the consent of the Prefectural Magistrate, I dare not easily disclose the details of the case."
Hearing Sun Shaozong's response so appropriately, Wang Yan was a little surprised. Instead, Jia Zheng didn't notice the different attitudes under different circumstances and causally ordered, "Nephew, Minister Wang is Vice President Ge's immediate boss, and he's not an outsider. You can say it anyway!"
When Jia Yucun saw him speak, he was busy and echoed his words.
Therefore, Sun Shaozong told the story of Jia Yucun's “investigation together” with himself and only hid the identities of a few key suspects.
Many of the reasoning details were heard by Wang Yan and Jia Zheng.
"Assistant Prefectural Magistrate Sun really deserves the name “Divine Judgement!”
Finally, Wang Yan first praised him and then discussed the matter with Jia Zheng, "Brother Cunzhou, the unexpected death of Vice President Ge is a great misfortune for our Ministry of Public Work. Since all the people handling the case are your nephews, how about you stay and supervise the case on behalf of our Ministry of Public Work?"