On the fourth day, the news of the disappearance of Mu Zhengnan, the sixth prince of the Akane Kingdom, had spread, and the government and the opposition were talking about it, and the missions of other vassal states also came to inquire about the news, and Ishikawa Yoshi, Yang Fengyi and others became more and more anxious and kept sending more people to search for them.

After Lu Jing nodded, he went straight to Shuntianfu and told Wu Bingxuan his guess.

Wu Bingxuan felt that there was such a possibility, so he gave Lu Jing a part of his manpower and asked him to take it to investigate.

Lu Jing carefully inquired about what Mu Zhengnan did after entering Beijing, and learned that after entering Beijing, he only had conflicts with Guozijian, those scholars in Beijing, and Hanlin Academy, so he locked his eyes on those prisoners and scholars who were defeated by Mu Zhengnan, a total of ten people, because Shen Liang was with him that day, so he was excluded, and there were nine people left.

Then Lu Jing went to Guozijian first, found Shen Liang as an accompaniment, and asked Zhang Rong about his whereabouts on the night of November 20.

After Zhang Rong revealed his whereabouts that night, he asked with an ugly face: "Do you suspect that the students and others have something to do with the disappearance of the little prince?" ”

Lu Jing shook his head and said: "It's not a suspicion but a routine investigation, if it's really a suspicion, it's not the official who asked in private." ”

Zhang Rong's expression improved a lot after hearing this, and continued: "My lord, I don't have to ask Yu Sheng about them anymore, we were all together that day, and there were other classmates at that time, we were all drinking in Lijin Courtyard, and we were separated very late. ”

After hearing this, Shen Liang understood what it meant, so he whispered in Lu Jing's ear: "They all slept in the Lijin Courtyard that day. ”

Lu Jing nodded after hearing this, and after sending Zhang Rong away, he asked Shen Liang to find a few other people to verify, and found that it was indeed as Zhang Rong said, most of them rested in Lijin Courtyard that night, and left early the next morning, Zhang Rong and the four of them were like this, so they crossed off their suspicions.

It's just that he hasn't gone far from the country, and Shen Liang chased him out again.

Lu Jing waited for him to breathe evenly before asking, "Why are you in such a hurry?" ”

Shen Liang said: "Lord Sacrificial Wine invites my brother to go!" ”

Lu Jing asked, "What did he invite me for?" ”

Shen Liang hurriedly said: "The younger brother doesn't know, it is estimated that he is thanking the elder brother." ”

Lu Jing thought about it, and it didn't hurt to see Zheng Chen, so he asked Shen Liang to lead the way.

Walking to a small courtyard behind Guozijian, Shen Liang said: "Master Zheng's family lives here. ”

Lu Jing saw Zheng Chen standing at the door to greet him in person, hurriedly walked over, didn't dare to say anything, and said after giving a salute: "How can the student be virtuous, Master Zheng of labor went out to greet him." ”

Zheng Chen said with a smile on his face: "The old man wanted to invite you two days ago, and I just heard that they said that you are here, so I just took this opportunity to thank you." With that, he invited Lu Jing in.

Lu Jing didn't dare to say anything, and asked Zheng Chen to go first, and said modestly: "I don't want to be thanked by adults, it's all what students should do." ”

The three of them entered and sat down, and Zheng Chen ordered someone to serve tea.

Zheng Chen continued: "You can defeat Mu Zhengnan, it is a matter of course in the old man's eyes, and the old man wants to thank you for relieving Shen Liang and them, allowing them to come out of failure, and at the same time grow a lot. ”

Lu Jing shook his head and said: "This is even more worthy of thanks, Chengyu is my brother, and it is the duty of a student to explain him." ”

Zheng Chen smiled: "Huai Jin doesn't have to be modest, no matter what, the old man has to thank you for teaching them a lesson." ”

Lu Jing said with a smile: "Chengyu and they are still young after all, and they have not experienced many things, and after a few years of tempering, they will naturally be able to grow up." ”

A few people chatted a few more words, and Zheng Chen instructed the little servant who served the tea: "Please ask the prince to come out to meet the distinguished guests!" ”

Lu Jing hurriedly got up and said: "Don't dare to take the word honorable guest, I don't know your son's Nian Geng?" ”

Zheng Chen smiled: "Huai Jin doesn't have to be like this, he is younger than you, and he is only famous, far worse than you." ”

Lu Jing humbled himself and sat back down.

Before long, a handsome boy dressed in Confucian clothes walked out and saluted a few people: "Meet my father, I have seen Master Lu." ”

Lu Jing was about to return the salute, when he heard Zheng Chen say angrily: "What are you talking about, don't you retreat quickly and let your brother come." ”

After finishing speaking, he apologized to Lu Jing and said: "The little girl is messing around, which makes Huai Jin laugh!" ”

Lu Jing took a closer look, and sure enough, it was a woman, but the clothes she wore in winter were too thick and covered her neck, so it was difficult to distinguish, so she smiled and said that it was okay.

Zheng Qingying pursed her lips coquettishly, bowed to Lu Jingfu, and then reluctantly withdrew.

It didn't take long for the genuine Zheng Gongzi to arrive, and after a few people chatted for a while, Lu Jing said goodbye and left.

After Lu Jing left, Zheng Chen sent Zheng Qingying to her, reprimanded her, and then asked, "Why haven't you seen your cousin come over these days?" ”

Zheng Qingying snorted unhappily: "Don't mention Jiang Yanyi's coward, he has no face when I say it." ”

Zheng Chen said unhappily: "How did the old man educate you, as a woman, you must abide by etiquette, you see that you have a little bit of a woman's appearance, it is your mother who spoils you." ”

Zheng Qingying said unhappily: "Who let Daddy suffer so much grievance, that person wouldn't dare to stand up for Daddy, if it weren't for Master Lu defeating that prince, Daddy and Guozijian don't know how much criticism they would have to suffer." ”

When Zheng Chen heard her say this, he said helplessly: "Okay, okay, you can step down!" ”

After seeing his daughter leave, Zheng Chen thought about his daughter's temperament, and it was better to set her marriage as soon as possible, so he wrote a letter to Jiang Ming to discuss the marriage of the two families.

After Lu Jing left the Guozi Prison, he investigated the other five people, and found that they all went to drink and celebrate, and they were all accompanied by friends, and they had no time to commit the crime, and they also crossed out their suspicions.

Seeing that this train of thought didn't make sense, Lu Jing couldn't help but ponder, who kidnapped Mu Zhengnan, or Mu Zhengnan hid by himself, whether the emperor, Wang Ziteng, and Ishikawa Yoshishi were lying, and why couldn't they find any traces.

After pondering for a long time, Lu Jing still chose to believe the words of the emperor and Wang Ziteng, and as for Ishikawa Yoshi, he temporarily retained his trust.

At the same time, I thought that if there were witnesses, but they were killed, it was possible that someone was disguised as an accident.

So in the afternoon of the same day, Lu Jing came to Shuntian Mansion again to borrow from Wu Bingxuan the files of the case in Beijing on November 20, 21, and 22.

After carefully looking through for an hour, he picked out a fire case in Xicheng on the night of the 21st and two murders in the north city on the 22nd for investigation.

I first went to investigate the two murders in Beicheng, and found that there was no suspicion of murder, so I went to investigate the large-scale fire case that burned five people to death and burned three people.

According to the case file, the fire started from Zhang Daomei's house, and then spread to the neighbors, in addition to Zhang Daomei, the neighbors on the left burned all three of them, and the neighbors on the right burned one person to death and burned three people.

Zhang Daomei was nearly eighteen years old, his parents died early, he was the only one in the family, guarding a few acres of thin fields to study, and he had already been admitted to show his fame, after his death, the neighbors were resentful, and they did not raise money for burial, so they let the officials carry his body to the yamen.

Lu Jing carefully inquired about the fire and the speed of its spread, and noticed that the fire was unusual, as if someone was deliberately arson, so he immediately returned to Shuntian Mansion and came to the morgue.

After the arrival of the charred corpse, he took a ruler in one hand and a stick in the other, measured it from his feet with a ruler, and reported loudly while examining the autopsy: "A charred corpse, five feet five inches and eight minutes long, three bone lacerations on the head, one fatal wound from the sun's depression, one broken right arm bone, and none of the rest." ”

The recruitment is based on the report and recorded one by one.

When Lu Jing heard this, he confirmed his guess even more, this person's death was really unusual, so he asked him to check his mouth and respiratory tract.

He first probed into the mouth with a silver needle, pulled it out and saw that it did not change color, and then pried open the upper and lower lips of the corpse to take a closer look, and there was no smoke and dust on the gums and mouthpiece, so he drank the report according to the truth.

Lu Jing nodded secretly after hearing this, Zhang Daomei was really killed first, and then burned again, so he asked the accompanying warden Wu Hui: "What about the other corpses that were burned?" ”

Wu Hui hurriedly replied: "At first, I only thought it was an accidental fire, and their bodies were all collected by their families, Zhang Xiucai was the only one in his family, and he didn't hear of any relatives, and because the fire was started by the Zhang family, the neighbors all suffered, so no one buried them, so they were put here." ”

Lu Jing sighed and said, "Go and invite your eldest master over." ”

After Wu Hui heard this, he hurriedly took the order and left.