A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 258 Case closed
Tang Wanhong stood beside the rockery, looking at Ruan Fengshan's back with deep eyes as he staggered away.

Shen Yanliu glanced at him and said, "Wanhong, it seems that this person is not him."

"If Ruan Fengshan is also from the Filthy Blood Sect, this case would be a big deal." Tang Wanhong said, "But Ruan Fengshan's great-grandfather was once an outer disciple of the Taiyi Sect, and he was a gentry for several generations. The possibility of him joining the Filthy Blood Sect with his identity is not high."

Shen Yanliu nodded. He looked at his iron hand. He had tried it himself, so he knew it very well. "Then let's close this case as we agreed."

The next day was the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month.

At daybreak, several clerks in the yamen posted notices of the closure of the case at the entrance of the yamen and next to the city gate.

Luan Jingfu and Wei Yutian were both followers of the Filthy Blood Cult, and their relatives and servants were all convicted of the same crime.

The notice omitted the part about Duan Rong's accusation and instead told of a spy deployed by Shen Yanliu who sneaked into Wei Yutian's residence to do odd jobs and secretly discovered Wei Yutian's identity as a member of the Filthy Blood Cult, which led to the exposure of this major Filthy Blood case.

This was Tang Wanhong's suggestion. In this way, all the credit for this case could be attributed to Shen Yanliu.

What was originally an accidental incident turned into a case where Shen Yanliu deployed spies and took the initiative to destroy an important stronghold of the Filthy Blood Cult. Although it was just a change in a detail, the nature of the entire case was completely different.

Another point in the notice was the special mention of Sun Huang.

Luan Jingfu was actually killed by Yu Lieting, the leader of the Jiuchong Branch, but in the notice, Luan Jingfu and Wei Yutian were both captured and killed by Shen Yanliu himself, which was naturally to further exaggerate Shen Yanliu's achievements.

Moreover, Luan Jingfu was killed in the wilderness and there were no witnesses. Who killed Luan Jingfu? Isn't it just a pen in the yamen?
However, after this treatment, there is still a loophole, which is the problem of Sun Huang.

In fact, Sun Huang was also killed by people from the Ninth Branch of the Filthy Blood Cult. However, since the credit for killing Luan Jingfu was attributed to Shen Yanliu, people from the Ninth Branch of the Filthy Blood Cult cannot appear in the case.

If Sun Huang is said to be Luan Jingfu's accomplice, there is obviously insufficient evidence. This case is serious, and according to convention, all cases related to the Filthy Blood Sect will be reviewed and examined by the sect's outer disciples. If Sun Huang is considered an accomplice of the Filthy Blood Sect, it is obviously a false accusation. It is not appropriate to handle it this way. If he is criticized by the reviewer for this, it will not be worth it.

This case is very important to Shen Yanliu's promotion and no mistakes can be made.

And this is what the notice said about Sun Huang.

Shen Yanliu forced Luan Jingfu to use the Dirty Blood Magic. Sun Huang recognized Luan Jingfu's identity as a member of the Dirty Blood Cult. He was willing to sacrifice his life for the greater good and immediately attacked Luan Jingfu together with Shen Yanliu. However, Sun Huang was killed by Luan Jingfu before his death!

It was the season in December when water freezes into ice. The bodies of Luan Jingfu, Wei Yutian, and Sun Huang were originally frozen into corpse ice in preparation for inspection by the clan's imperial envoy.

But now Sun Huang’s approach has changed!
Since Sun Huang was innocent and had made contributions, his body could not be handled in this way. This would be too inhumane.

The government office prepared the coffin that day, fused the corpse ice, and sewed up Sun Huang's body.

After Sun Huang's body was buried intact, Qin Shuban and the soldiers personally delivered it to Sun Huang's home.

When Liu Eying saw her husband's body, she felt like she was dreaming. A few days ago, he was still fine, but suddenly he was gone forever. Today was the Little New Year, and the neighbors were all celebrating the New Year, but her family had to suffer such a disaster. The more Liu Eying thought about it, the sadder she became. She held the coffin and cried in grief...

Duan Rong naturally also saw the notice. Although Sun Huang's death made him sigh, the case described in the notice did not mention his name, which made Duan Rong secretly relieved.

He was really afraid that he would be targeted by the Filthy Blood Cult because of this matter.

Duan Rong's biggest concern right now is Ruan Fengshan's movements, because he knows very well that Ruan Fengshan is the leader of the ancient branch of the Filthy Blood Sect. However, after meeting Shen Yanliu, Ruan Fengshan has been concentrating on recuperating from his injuries and has closed the door to visitors. Even Xiao Zongting was turned away when he went to visit him.

Duan Rong couldn't figure out Ruan Fengshan's thoughts for a moment.

At noon on the day when the government office posted the notice of case closure, Xie Daohan and Yang Zhen rode back to the city.

Xie Daohan's face was not dusty at all, but rather rosy. He took Yang Zhen with him, saying that he was going to the city on official business, but in fact, they were just going to have fun and eat at public expense. After finishing their business at the Censorate, the two of them actually stayed in the city for two days, visited several scenic spots, and ate at several restaurants.

On the way back, I treated myself very well and had the best food and accommodation.

Xie Daohan was also good at calculating. He had calculated the date so that he would come back on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month and spend the New Year's Eve at home.

The two men rode into the city gate. Xie Daohan saw at a glance that many people were surrounding the notice at the city gate, talking about something.

Xie Daohan and Yang Zhen immediately dismounted and looked at the notice.

Upon seeing this, Xie Daohan was shocked.

"The Filthy Blood Cult?"

"Wei Yutian? Luan Jingfu?"

After reading the case on the notice, Xie Daohan slapped his thigh in regret. He had been enjoying himself outside for a few days, but he didn't expect to miss such a big case. He was really gaining a sesame seed and losing a watermelon.

He was the chief constable of Xiangu County, but his name was not even on the closing notice of this bloody case.

Xie Daohan and Yang Zhen immediately rushed back to the yamen.

When Xie Daohan arrived at the yamen, he found out that early in the morning, the county magistrate Shen Yanliu had personally rushed to the provincial capital with the case-closing documents.

Xie Daohan was annoyed with himself, wondering why he didn't come back earlier. If he had come back two days earlier, maybe he could have followed behind and had some soup.

Now that's bad. For such a big case, I didn't get any credit at all. It's just that I have been a police chief in vain.

Xie Daohan returned to his office and found a lot of documents piled on his desk. The first one was the file of this bloody case.

Xie Daohan picked up the file, not even bothering to look at it, and handed it directly to Yang Zhen, saying, "Take it and file it."

Yang Zhen took the file and went to the file library to file it.

Xie Daohan flipped through the documents on his desk again and found that most of them were routine official documents, which made him feel bored.

He pulled out a document, which was the registration list for Taiyi Sect's selection of registered disciples in March next year.

Xie Daohan knew very well that Shen Yanliu left it to him to do the background check work.

"The registration fee is 60,000 silver coins. Anyone who can register is a child of aristocratic family. What is there to review?" Xie Daohan muttered, and threw the document aside.

If his nephew Jie Lei had not died, he also hoped that he could participate in this selection of registered disciples. Unfortunately, God did not give him long life, and his Jie family is about to be extinct.

After Yang Zhen finished filing the files, Xie Daohan handed the document to Yang Zhen and said, "This is the list of applicants for Taiyi Sect's selection of registered disciples in March next year. Please take some time to do a background check. It must be sent to the sect before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month."

After Xie Daohan finished his explanation, he left the yamen and went home.

Yang Zhen sat in front of the desk and began to look through the document in his hand. He planned to browse through the list first.

But when he had just read half of it, his body suddenly shook, with a look of surprise on his face, he actually saw Duan Rong's name.

(End of this chapter)