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Chapter 280 Painter
Zhu Yu asked the two Jia brothers almost the same questions he had asked Jia's wife.

Jia Hui, the second son of the Jia family, seemed to have abandoned all worldly desires and needs. The food held no appeal for him, and the simple prison did not arouse any resentment or anger in him. He remained composed and answered questions with humility and humility.

Jia Bin, the third son of the Jia family, remained silent, only managing to squeeze out a single answer after three questions, stammering and stammering, his body trembling as if he were a leaf.

His answer was exactly the same as his second brother's.

The two brothers spoke eloquently about Jia Jun's daily life and diet, but never mentioned deer blood wine. Zhu Yu also deliberately avoided mentioning this matter.

Jia Hui was much calmer than Jia Bin. During Zhu Yu's questioning, he was even able to ask Zhu Yu if he disagreed with the coroner's conclusion, otherwise why would they all be imprisoned? He was very worried about his elderly parents and young nephew at home.

Zhu Yu ignored all of his questions and turned a deaf ear to them. Having asked the questions he wanted and received the answers he needed, he got up and left, acting as if he were just going through the motions.

Left Chief Secretary Wen Qiming's account remained unchanged. According to the jailer, after being brought to the prison, he was the only one who was interrogated. Regardless of coercion or bribery, he still insisted that he did not kill anyone and that he was innocent. When he entered the study, he only saw a large painting and did not see Jia Jun's corpse hanging from the beam. If he had seen it, he would have run to report it to the authorities long ago. Why would he have waited foolishly in there for so long?

Zhu Yu put the food back on the table. She certainly wasn't very interested in the food in the prison, but it was easy to see from Jia's wife's reaction that even in such an environment, people still couldn't resist the hunger in their bones. They might be able to endure it, but if they saw food at this time, they would inevitably be attracted.

However, if someone is extremely tense, constantly on edge, and anxious because they have ulterior motives, then that's a different story.

Even Wen Qiming couldn't help but swallow hard, but the two Jia brothers really didn't have any appetite at all.

How nervous must they be...?

Lu Qing summoned the jailer and said to him, "Take your men and lock the Left Chief Secretary Wen Qiming and the two Jia brothers in two separate torture chambers. Let them suffer some physical pain, but don't break their bones. Just let them suffer superficially and see if they will confess."

"This..." The jailer was somewhat puzzled, "The Left Chief Secretary... and the Jia brothers... were all subjected to torture?"

"Just go when I tell you to, stop with all the nonsense." Zhu Yu glared at him from the side, thinking that if her father could really pull himself together, there would be so many places in Shuo that would need to re-establish rules.

The jailer realized he had talked too much and hurriedly went to call his brothers to get moving. Just as he was about to leave, Lu Qing called him back.

"If they still won't confess after all this, then get some instruments of torture and set them up for a bit, make a show of it, and see how they react. Don't actually use them on those few people," he instructed the jailer.

The jailer immediately obeyed the order and went down to carry out the task with the others.

Lu Qing and Zhu Yu sat at the table waiting. After a while, the jailer still hadn't returned with news. Instead, one of Zhu Cheng's guards came—one of the guards who had been sent out to find the canvas.

The guard told them that they had asked every cloth shop in the city, but none of them had ever sold such a large piece of cloth, and they had never even heard of it.

So, following Zhu Yu's earlier advice, they went to inquire about the painter again, and this time they actually made a discovery. In the capital, there was a down-on-his-luck painter who could only sell his paintings at a street stall, but he couldn't sell much.

During the few days that Zhu Cheng led his men on the border patrol, one day someone approached the down-on-his-luck painter and asked if he could complete a huge painting in a day and a night. There were no particularly detailed requirements, and a considerable reward was offered.

The down-on-his-luck painter was starving, so when he heard about this windfall, he naturally didn't refuse and quickly agreed. He was then led through the back door of the Pang family's house and put into a side room where he was put to work.

The artist worked tirelessly to earn that generous reward, barely eating or sleeping, and finished the painting in just over a day.

The Pang family's servants came over to take a look and confirmed that it was a complete painting. They didn't seem to care about what was painted on it. They brought some food to the painter, told him to eat his fill, and then sent him away.

The painter only knew that he had made a good amount of money, but he had no idea why the Pang family wanted such a large but crude painting.

After the guards told them about it, they prepared to leave.

Zhu Yu stopped him and asked if he had also informed Zhu Cheng about this matter, to which he received an affirmative answer.

"His Highness said that the two of you are free to decide how to deal with the murderer imprisoned in the dungeon," the guard said.

Zhu Yu then waved his hand, signaling the guards to leave.

"That makes sense!" Zhu Yu was quite satisfied with the result. "Since this painting is so big and takes so long to finish, it must be quite difficult to work with the whole canvas."

No one in the Jia family could find any trace of the painting being destroyed, so the canvas probably wasn't even in the Jia family's possession.

After Wen Qiming left, someone untied the pre-prepared rope knot, quickly rolled up the canvas, and sent it to the back door or a side door, where someone waiting there would take it and secretly send it back to the Pang family. Whether it was destroyed or hidden is currently unknown.

In any case, our previous speculations have been confirmed.

"Let's wait and see what the jailer has to say." Lu Qing remained calm and composed about everything, as if it were all expected.

After a while, the jailer ran back and told them that just now, the men had tortured the three men at the request of the two men, causing them some physical pain. However, the three men remained tight-lipped. Although they were terrified when they saw the instruments of torture, none of them were willing to talk.

"Since that's the case, then don't force it any further. Put away the instruments of torture." Lu Qing said to the jailer, "I've heard that many men in Shuo Kingdom like to drink deer blood wine to improve their health?"

These guys have suffered a bit in jail, and they probably need some nourishment right now. Have someone go out and buy a small jar of it, and give each of them a big bowl. That will make up for what they've lost these past two days.”