Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 188 Hanged in Prison
"Zhou Zhao, what are you doing?"

He Tingshi, who was listening in, was so startled by Zhou Zhao's sudden action that he jumped up. The old man was so abrupt that his blood rushed to his head and his vision went black.

Crazy crazy!

"Dai Changming's crimes are irrefutable; he should be executed at Caishikou. Why bother doing it yourself?"

He Tingshi's heart leaped into his throat!
Good heavens! How can those kids in the left courtyard be so troublesome!

Just as he rushed over to grab Zhou Zhao, the black coffin nail stopped at Dai Changming's neck, only lightly scratching the skin. Bright red blood flowed down his neck and into his clothes.

Dai Changming stared at Zhou Zhao in horror.

Zhou Zhao thought for a moment, then put away the coffin nails, and suddenly with a burst of force, pinched Dai Changming's face.

Seeing this, He Tingshi's legs went weak and he almost fell to the ground. He patted his chest, looked around, and saw that everyone looked like they had seen a ghost. He couldn't help but clear his throat, glared fiercely at Li Youdao, and signaled him to stop Zhou Zhao from acting recklessly.

Seeing this, Li Youdao yawned and said unhurriedly, "This villain in human skin stinks inside and out, what's the point of pinching him? If you like pinching people, why not pinch Chen Jiyuan? He's fair-skinned and won't fight back."

He Tingshi's mind went blank, and he looked at Li Youdao in disbelief.

"Shut up!"

The reputation of the Court of Justice is ruined!
Zhou Zhao ignored everyone and let go of their hands.

She looked into Dai Changming's eyes and said, "Stop fantasizing about skinning me, because I'll skin you."

A strange light flashed in Dai Changming's eyes. He turned his head and said, "The unauthorized minting of coins was done by me alone. No one else in the Dai family knew about it."

Zhou Zhao knew she wouldn't get anything more out of him.

It's okay, she'll check.

The case is now clear; the next step is to deal with the documents and Jingyi.

Seeing He Tingshi approaching with his rambling, quoting mouth, Zhou Zhao slipped and pulled Su Changying ahead of him, slipping out of the house.

Su Changying glanced at her wrist, which was being held, and said to Zhou Zhao, "Young Master Zhou, please come with me."

As he spoke, he took the lead, turning the tables and grabbing Zhou Zhao's wrist with a flick of his wrist.

He led Zhou Zhao around a corner, into the left courtyard, and then opened the door to the side room they had previously used for investigating the case.

The room was filled with sacks. Su Changying pointed to one at random, then turned to Zhou Zhao and said, "Open it and take a look."

Zhou Zhao's eyes flickered. "Are these all privately minted coins by Dai Changming?"

As she spoke, she pulled open the sack, which was indeed filled with half-ounce coins. Because they were new coins, each one looked shiny and smelled of money. When you touched them, you could almost feel their warmth.

There were sacks like these piled up all over the room.

Zhou Zhao took out a coin and tossed it in his hand: "Dai Changming is quite good at judging people by their appearance."

The previous emperor was incredibly wealthy; a half-ounce coin cost twelve zhu. Now, he's dirt poor, and he's even making a five-zhu half-ounce coin. Look at that round coin with such a large square hole—it's big enough to stick your head inside!
As Zhou Zhao spoke, she turned to look at Su Changying and pointed to her eyes, "Do you see my eyes are red?"

Her eyes were practically red with envy. Su Changying blinked. "Not as red as mine."

The two looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh.

Joking aside, Su Changying walked up to Zhou Zhao and lowered her voice, "You suspect that Dai Changming didn't use the private currency for his own purposes, and that he's one of the four people Gongzi Yu buried in Chang'an. To be honest, I've thought about that too. I already asked Chen Tao about it on the way here."

Rebellion is nothing more than money, soldiers, and weapons.

He said that Dai Changming would send someone to haul away the money every two weeks. They would first move the goods to the warehouse, and by the time they went back, the warehouse would be empty. He never saw who the people who came to haul away the money were.

Zhou Zhao shook his head with some regret, "Now we've alerted them. Even if those things were taken away by Gongzi Yu's men, they won't show up again."

As she spoke, a coffin nail slid out of her sleeve pocket, the tip of which was still stained with Dai Changming's blood.

"I tested Dai Changming before. He has some martial arts skills, but they are obviously very average. He wouldn't be a match for you, and he wouldn't last three moves against me. My attack was sudden, and even if he wanted to hide it, his subconscious reaction couldn't lie."

I also didn't find any signs of him disguising himself.

Su Changying recalled how Zhou Zhao had unexpectedly pulled his face in Tianying City to check if he had disguised himself, and couldn't help but smile slightly.

“There are four nails in total. Even if Dai Changming is not the murderer in the Shanming Changyang case, and is not that godfather, he could be one of the other people.”

As Su Changying spoke, she looked at Zhou Zhao and said, "You're not good at interrogation, so why don't you hand him over to me? The men we captured before, including Gongzi Yu's men, were all assassins, and they were hard to talk to. But Dai Changming is different."

Zhou Zhao's eyes flickered.

Dai Changming will definitely be sentenced to death. He is a vicious and wicked man. What's wrong with him suffering some hardship before he dies? That's only right.

She thought for a moment and nodded. "Let's go, but don't kill him. We'll have to send him to behead him anyway, but we'll have to keep his head so Chen Tao and Wu Qingshan can kick it around like a ball at the execution ground."

As they talked, the two put the money back. Zhou Zhao tied the sack, and the two of them went out and locked the door of the side room before heading towards the Tingwei Temple prison together.

Although today is a day off, the number of people in the Tingwei Temple has increased noticeably because of the horrific murder case where a human face was kicked out of a ball.

Zhou Zhao and Su Changying walked along, greeting many people along the way.

"Young Master Zhou is quite well-liked at the Court of Justice."

Hearing Su Changying's praise, Zhou Zhao looked over with amusement. "General Su, are you mocking me? I'm now a hated figure in the Court of Justice. Didn't you see how He Tingshi's heart almost jumped out of his throat just now? If you weren't there, he would have jumped up and said that I've completely disgraced the Court of Justice!"

Su Changying laughed out loud, "That's great, you've made his family members back home look ten years younger."

Zhou Zhao thought about how high He Tingshi had jumped and nodded in agreement. "General Su is right. I'll ask him for my reward in a bit. How much money do I need to be given for the rejuvenation?"

As the two were talking, they entered the Tingwei Temple prison. The jailer immediately came forward to greet them, "General Su, Lord Zhou, who are we going to see? Is it the lady who was imprisoned before or the new one surnamed Dai?"

“From Xin Guan,” Zhou Zhao said.

The jailer bowed and nodded. "Alright, Lord Han Ze just brought him here. The man seems quite obedient..."

As the jailer spoke, he stopped in his tracks, dropping the keys from his hand to the ground.

Zhou Zhao followed his gaze and saw Dai Changming hanging stiffly in the cell, swaying back and forth...