The daily life of a space tycoon raising children, doting on his husband, and farming.

Chapter 22 Feels Like I've Raised a Dumb Son
Lord An rushed over, his face ashen as he glared at Tian Sheng. "Tian Sheng, how dare you treat human life like dirt in public!"

Tian Sheng never expected Lord An to appear, and was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground with a thud.

"My lord, I am innocent! That woman committed the murder first. Such a vicious person, if not dealt with promptly, could endanger the people. I am also worried about the safety of the people! I beg you, my lord, to investigate thoroughly!"

"The common people?" Lord An was so angry at Tian Sheng's words that he laughed. "If you had even a shred of concern for the common people, why would you poison their official? Why would you make an innocent person take the blame?"

"My lord, I did not do it! I am innocent!" Tian Sheng cried out repeatedly.

"No? Hmph!" Lord An snorted coldly, flicked his wide sleeves, and took two steps to the side. "Look who this is!"

Tian Sheng looked up and met Lu Chengjing's unfathomable black eyes.

Sitting on a makeshift stretcher, Lu Chengjing coldly questioned, "Lord Tian, ​​I don't know what I did to offend you. Not only did you make me take the blame, but you also ordered someone to assassinate me on the way to the prefectural city. Can Lord Tian give me an explanation?"

"You're spouting nonsense!" Tian Sheng roared. "It's clearly you who harbored malicious intentions, resenting Lord Li for accepting Lu's eldest son as a disciple instead of you, which is why you poisoned him. Now you're trying to pin the poisoning on me! Lu Chengjing, you treacherous villain! Lord An is discerning and will certainly not let you have your way!"

Lu Chengjing sneered, "Lord Tian has a sharp tongue; he can easily distort the truth."

Shang Wan walked over and said, "It was clearly your dog that bit someone, yet you're blaming me, an outsider. Have you no shame?"

"you!"

"Shut up!" Lord An was too lazy to listen to Tian Sheng's continued sophistry. "Drag him away and throw him into prison. No one is allowed to visit him without my permission!"

Two constables stepped forward, gagged Tian Sheng, and dragged him away.

"Lord An, these two are Geng Hao and Niu Baoqing." Shang Wan pointed to the two quails huddled together.

Lord An waved his hand, "Take them all to the prison!"

Geng Hao looked at Shang Wan pitifully, wondering what happened to the promise to save his life.
Shang Wan couldn't understand his subtle expression, but considering that he had desperately protected Niu Baoqing, an important witness, she still pleaded for him in front of Lord An.

Lord An said he would consider the matter carefully and ordered his guards to fetch a doctor to treat Geng Hao's injuries.

The two were taken away.

The guards arrived with a large number of yamen runners and temporarily sealed off the Tian residence, prohibiting anyone from leaving.

Lord An went to pay his respects at Li Wenhua's memorial tablet. All of Li's family members came to pay their respects. Lord An comforted everyone and then stayed at an inn with three guards.

The court session will not begin until tomorrow, and Lu Chengjing is still under investigation and must return to prison. However, Lord An, understanding his injuries, has granted Shang Wan permission to accompany him and take care of him.

Shang Wan originally wanted to go back to Yushu Village, but thinking that only a day had passed and nothing serious should have happened, she reassured herself and took half of Lu Chengjing's straw mat.

In order to bring Lord An back as soon as possible, Shang Wan ran to the prefectural city at top speed and rode a horse back, which is how she managed to save Lu Chengjing in time.

Having barely slept for a day and a night, Shang Wan felt sleepy as soon as she relaxed, and fell asleep with her head slightly tilted to the side.

Lu Chengjing couldn't sleep, partly because his injuries were still aching, and partly because he felt uncomfortable with someone lying next to him.

With his left hand caressing the small porcelain bottle, Lu Chengjing stared at the wall for half the night before turning his head very quietly. In the dim moonlight streaming through the window, he quietly examined the familiar yet unfamiliar face of the person beside him.

Shang Wan, ever vigilant, smacked her lips and said, "Why are you staring at me in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"

Lu Chengjing: "...You're not asleep?"

"She's asleep." Shang Wan turned her head, her left eye half-open. "But with you staring at her like that, even a dead person could come back to life."

She yawned sleepily. "Tell me, what are you thinking about instead of sleeping?"

Lu Chengjing remained silent.

Shang Wan clicked her tongue and opened her eyes. "Don't force me to deal with you in the middle of the night. Hurry up and tell me, I still want to sleep."

Lu Chengjing made an excuse, "I'm worried about the court hearing tomorrow." "Tomorrow is just a formality, what's there to worry about?" Shang Wan reached out and patted him like she was patting a round ball, "Go to sleep, sleep well, your injury will heal faster."

Lu Chengjing responded softly, closed his eyes, and, feeling the slight pressure from the bedding, drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

Hearing his breathing become even, Shang Wan withdrew her hand and sighed inwardly. Why did she suddenly feel like she had raised a fool?

The next day, a startled cry woke Shang Wan from her sleep.

She opened her sleepy eyes and asked, "Who died?"

"Tian Sheng." Lu Chengjing also woke up, or rather, he had been awake for a while, but had been lying down with his eyes closed, resting.

Shang Wan paused in her stretching, threw off the covers, got out of bed, and ran to watch.

Tian Sheng died by poisoning, just like Li Wenhua, bleeding from all seven orifices, a horrific death.

Was this a suicide out of fear of punishment?

Shang Wan stared at Tian Sheng's corpse, feeling that Tian Sheng didn't seem like the type to commit suicide, and that he had chosen such a painful way to die.

Lord An rushed over upon receiving the news. After examining Tian Sheng's body, the coroner discovered that there was poison on the nail of his left thumb. After scraping it off and examining it, it was confirmed to be the poison that Tian Sheng had been poisoned with.

Lord An's brows were furrowed so deeply they could trap a fly; Tian Sheng had been prepared for this all along.

As the saying goes, it's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death. Although death is inevitable either way, every extra day you can live is a blessing.

Furthermore, Tian Sheng didn't even have time to say goodbye to his family yesterday. Given his love for his children, even if he wanted to commit suicide, he should have done so after seeing his family one last time.

There is something strange about this matter.

"Take the body to the morgue first."

Two constables stepped forward and carried the body away.

Lord An turned to the guards and ordered, "Thoroughly investigate anyone who had contact with Tian Sheng in prison yesterday."

"Yes!"

Just as Shang Wan was about to leave after watching, Lord An called out to her, "Madam Shang has excellent hearing. Did you hear any strange noises last night?"

Shang Wan looked up at the sky for a moment, then shook her head. "Never."

In her mind, Tian Sheng was already a dead man, and there was no need to pay him any more attention.

Lord An was clearly disappointed. After asking a few questions about Lu Chengjing's situation, he left with his guards.

Although Tian Sheng is dead, the case still needs to be tried.

Yesterday, no poison was found in Tian's residence, so the physical evidence was somewhat lacking. However, Tian Sheng died by poisoning himself, and his manner of death was the same as Li Wenhua's, so the physical evidence is now available.

Xie Zhiqiang confessed to Tian Sheng instructing him and the squad leader to kill Lu Chengjing during the escort. Niu Baoqing also confessed to being forced by Yang Rang to poison Li Wenhua.

When Yang Rang learned that Tian Sheng was dead and that he himself was seriously injured and did not know how much longer he could live, he felt quite disheartened and honestly confessed.

Tian Sheng plotted to poison Li Wenhua for reasons that were exactly the same as Lu Chengjing's speculation: he was worried that Li Wenhua would expose his affair with Zhang and ruin his official career.

“My lord,” Lu Chengjing bowed to Lord An, “I have a question I would like to ask Yang Rang.”

Lord An nodded in agreement.

Lu Chengjing turned to look at Yang Rang, "How exactly did Tian Sheng find out that Li Wenhua already knew about his affair with Zhang?"

(End of this chapter)