Chapter 57: Gathering Friends with Tea

  After hearing Lu Ming's words, Hua Lang smiled faintly: "You invited Yu Tingting to play at your tea house, so what is the relationship between your other friends and Yu Tingting?"

  Lu Ming was somewhat puzzled by Hualang's question and replied casually: "It's just sitting together to taste tea, what's the relationship?"

  Lu Ming finished speaking, and suddenly Hua Lang said coldly: "Is that so? In that case, the only person who could have killed Yu Tingting is you!"

  Being frightened by Hua Lang, Lu Ming suddenly understood that Yu Tingting had been raped and killed at night. It seemed that she was killed while having a secret meeting with someone, and the person who had a secret meeting with her must have had a good relationship with Yu Tingting.

  After understanding, Lu Ming hurriedly said: "No, no, there's another person who has a good relationship with Yu Tingting. The two of them chatted a lot while drinking tea."

  Hualang smiled faintly: "You wouldn't be afraid of being mistaken for the culprit and thus casually framing someone else, would you?"

  Lu Ming hastily shook his head: "No, no, I'm telling the truth. Among the friends I invited, there was a scholar named Nian Feng who loved tea and understood the art of tea very well. Every time I invited people over, I would ask him to explain the art of tea to everyone. One time when Nian Feng was explaining, Yu Tingting exchanged a few words with him. From those few sentences, I could tell that Nian Feng had feelings for Yu Tingting. Really, you have to believe me, it wasn't me who killed Yu Tingting."

  Lu Ming finished speaking and finally let out a sigh of relief. At this time, Hua Lang bowed to Bao Zheng and said: "Please ask Lord Bao to send someone to bring that scholar named Nian Feng here."

  This being natural, Bao Zheng immediately ordered people to go and capture Nian Feng.

  At this time, Bao Gong and Hualang arrived at the back hall. Bao Gong asked: "Brother Hua, do you think that Lu Ming doesn't seem like a murderer?"

  He smiled faintly: "I don't dare to be sure, but I just feel that this person doesn't seem like a murderer. The murderer's method of killing Yu Tingting was extremely cruel and also had a sense of venting anger. However, through my inquiry with Lu Ming, I didn't feel any resentment towards Yu Tingting from him. Moreover, for someone like him, a rich young master, he wouldn't even bother to get angry over a woman like Yu Tingting; if he didn't like her, he would just dump her directly."

  After listening to Hua Lang's words, Wen Meng somewhat disagreed and said: "It's not that easy for a woman to get rid of him. If Yu Tingting really had something with Lu Ming, with Yu Tingting's family background, it would be hard for Lu Ming to shake her off."

  Wen Meng finished speaking, and everyone expressed their agreement. However, at this time, Hua Lang shook his head: "Yu Tingting and Lu Mingmen are neighbors, if something really happened between them, I think Yu Tingting would definitely tell her parents about it and let them handle the matter. But Yu Fu and Qi Yanyan don't know anything about this, it seems that the man who secretly met with Yu Tingting has a lower social status and is not on equal terms with Yu Tingting's family, so Yu Tingting didn't dare to tell her parents and only secretly met with him."

  After Hwalarang said this, everyone felt that what he said was reasonable and they all agreed with his view.

  Bao Zheng saw that everyone thought Hualang's words made sense, so he didn't continue to ask questions and just waited for Nian Feng to be brought over, then he would know the truth.

  But the two bailiffs sent to capture Nian Feng had been gone for a long time, and still there was no news. Just as everyone was getting anxious, Bao Zheng wanted to send someone to investigate when the two bailiffs who were sent to capture Nian Feng returned with ash on their heads and dirt on their faces. After they returned, the two knelt down and begged for forgiveness: "Your Honor please forgive us, we are incompetent and failed to capture Nian Feng."

  Bao Zheng was greatly surprised by this remark. Could it be that Feng had failed to capture him that year?

  At this time, Yin Wuchuang was also very strange. How could two bailiffs not catch a scholar? Was the scholar's martial arts very high?

  Just as everyone was guessing, Hualang hastily asked: "What's going on here?"

  One of the yamen runners stole a glance at Bao Zheng, seeing that his face was as cold as ice and frost, with an urgent look wanting to know what had happened. He hastily replied: "We went to Nian Feng's house, but found that there was no one in his family, not even any belongings, it seems... Nian Feng already knew about the incident and fled in a hurry."

  It is heard that Nian Feng was afraid of punishment and escaped, Bao Zheng suddenly became very angry and said: "Send someone to capture Wen Shu, and bring Nian Feng back to the case."

  The official took orders and immediately went to make arrangements at this time.

  At this time, Hua Lang said to Wen Meng: "The county government's manpower is limited after all, and we can't do without the help of you Jianghu people. Please don't decline, Miss Wen."

  Wen Meng Ai sneered and said: "I knew it, you only call me Little Sister Wen when you need my help, how can you be so selfish?"

  Everyone knew that Wen Meng was joking, so after hearing it, they couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  At this time, Yin Wu said: "That year, Feng actually escaped privately. It seems that the person who killed Yu Tingting must be him. As long as we catch Year Feng, this case will be solved."

  Looking at the current situation, things are indeed so, but there is one thing that everyone does not understand. Since Yang Feng has a relationship with Yu Tingting, and Yu Tingting's family background is very good, why would this scholar want to kill Yu Tingting?

  What motive did he have for murder?

  This explanation doesn't make sense, and I'm afraid the case can't be closed yet. Fortunately, as long as we catch Year Feng, the motive will become clear.

  Everyone sat in the county government hall, Bao Gong suddenly thought of Yu Fu Yu's stolen case, and hurriedly said: "Will Yu Tingting's murder be related to Yu Fuyu's stolen case?"

  Everyone was puzzled as to how Bao Gong suddenly linked these two cases together, the theft of Ruyi and the murder of Yuting. What's the connection?

  It's possible that there is a connection, Hualang is very clear about the way to handle cases. Generally handling cases requires bold guessing and then careful verification. Guessing now won't hurt anything.

  Yu Fu's jade Ruyi was stolen by the inner thief. If it is connected to Yu Tingting's murder case, then there is a possibility that the jade Ruyi was stolen by Yu Tingting and given to Nian Feng. After Nian Feng got the jade Ruyi, he was afraid that Yu Tingting would ask for it back or tell Yu Fu about it, causing him to lose the jade Ruyi again. In order to get the jade Ruyi worth a city, Nian Feng ruthlessly killed Yu Tingting and escaped with the jade Ruyi.

  After Hualang's speculation, everyone felt reasonable, but after Hualang's speculation, his own eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and it wasn't until a long time had passed that he sighed and said: "This explanation may make sense of Nian Feng's escape, but it can't explain the twenty-one knife wounds on Yu Tingting's body. Even if Nian Feng was angry for the sake of Yu Ruyi, there was no need to slash twenty-one knives in anger!"