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Chapter 83 There's Something Fishy
Seeing that they were getting closer to the embroidery building, Zhu Yu turned around and asked Cao Chenfeng, "When you first met Miss Zhuang, were you sailing on the river like this?"

When Cao Chenfeng looked at the embroidered building again, he no longer had any romantic feelings in his heart. He just felt terrified. But now Zhu Yu was the only person who had a chance to clear his name, so he could not neglect him in any way.

So he forced himself to nod, "Yes, the first time I saw her was about a little further forward, closer to the embroidery building.

That day she called me from the embroidery building, saying that her handkerchief had flown down and landed in the river, and asked me to help her find it..."

"You said you helped her pick up the handkerchief that day, and she was the one who called you first?" Zhu Yu interrupted him. "Didn't you happen to pass by the embroidery building on your boat and saw the handkerchief falling down?"

"No." Cao Chenfeng shook his head and denied it. "I just happened to pass by the embroidery building that day. I didn't know her at all. How could I ask the boatman to row the boat to the bottom of someone else's embroidery building!
She was the one calling me from upstairs, asking me for help, and I… in a moment of confusion, I asked the boatman to row over to help her find her handkerchief. I searched in the water for a long time before I found it.

Sure enough, Zhu Yu knew this would be the result.

The embroidery building is located on the bank of the river on the Jiangyang side. The river water is very bright under the sunlight. If a handkerchief falls into the water, it will not be easily discovered by passing ships unless it attracts the attention of the people on the ship first.

Zhu Yu stood at the bow of the boat and looked at the embroidered building. If Cao Chenfeng had not lied, he would have been in the middle of the river when he sailed through it that day, instead of staying close to the bank. The people upstairs asking him to row the boat over to retrieve the item would have been much more troublesome than asking his servants to jump into the river and swim to retrieve it.

And when you are in the middle of the river, can you really see at a glance from the embroidered building that the people on the boat are tall and handsome? Zhu Yu also has doubts.

However, these are not important now, and have no direct connection with whether Cao Chenfeng is the real murderer. There is no need to delve into it at this juncture.

Soon, the boat arrived below the embroidered building and gradually approached the shore.

The officials from Jingzhao Prefecture tore off the seal, opened the gate and invited Zhu Yu and others in. Zhuang Zhi followed behind, tears streaming down his face as he walked. It seemed that he saw the familiar embroidery building and remembered the tragic death of his daughter, which brought back the most painful memories in his heart.

The small courtyard of the embroidery building was not very big. After Zhu Yu walked in and looked around, he saw several small houses downstairs and a staircase leading directly to the upper floor.

"Boss Zhuang, don't be so quick to cry. What kind of people usually live in your embroidery building?" Zhu Yu asked Zhuang Zhi.

Zhuang Zhi could also tell that her tone when speaking to him did not seem particularly polite, and there was no sympathy for his dead daughter. In addition, she had just been trying to prove Cao Chenfeng's innocence, which made him extremely unhappy. Anger flashed in his red tearful eyes, but he did not dare to show it.

"Usually, there are only a few maids and servants here to take care of my daughter." He wiped his tears and replied, "My daughter Lanlan's boudoir is upstairs, and the maids and servants live downstairs, and the small kitchen and other things are also downstairs.

I originally wanted her to study needlework and virtue here peacefully so that she could find a good husband in the future, but I never expected...it would turn out like this..."

Zhuang Zhi answered with tears in his eyes, looked up at the embroidery building above, and covered his face with his sleeves and started crying again.

After Zhu Yu heard who originally lived in the embroidery building, he didn't say anything else. He let Zhuang Zhi cry with his face covered, and walked straight past him and went upstairs. After a few steps, he turned around and signaled to the yamen runner behind him: "Cao Chenfeng, don't go up, just stay downstairs.

"Boss Zhuang, don't go with him. There's no need to get emotionally upset." A Jingzhao Prefecture official hurriedly stopped Zhuang Zhi, who was about to follow. Zhuang Zhi was stunned and just happened to hear Zhu Yu's words. He could only nod and continue to stand aside sobbing.

There is an outer corridor above the embroidery building, from which you can overlook the river view. When you push open the bedroom door, it is quite spacious inside. It has all the items in an ordinary woman's boudoir, such as a painting table, embroidery frame, guqin and pipa.

It can be seen that Zhuang Zhi really wants to train his daughter to become a popular candidate for marriage, and he has really put in some effort.

There were two windows on the wall of the bedroom that formed an angle with the outer corridor. Zhu Yu went straight to the two windows as soon as he entered the room and pushed them both open.

Looking out the window, just like from the outer corridor, you can see the river flowing below.

Zhu Yu stood by the window and looked down, and happened to see the two boats on the riverside. One was the one they had just boarded, and the other had just docked, and someone was carefully helping Duke Yan down from the boat.

Although this old man usually looks smart and capable, when he was helped down from the boat, his posture and steps revealed a sense of old age.

Zhu Yu turned around and looked at everything in the room with the light coming through the window.

At first glance, the room was not at all messy. If it were not for the large ochre stain on the floor beside the bed, indicating that a murder had occurred here, the situation in the room would seem as if the young lady from the banker's family had just gone out and would come back to live at any time.

Zhu Yu walked straight to the bedside and leaned over to look at the pool of dried blood on the ground. The edges of the bloodstain were clean. It was obvious that Zhuang Lanlan did not struggle after she fell to the ground. She was killed by a single knife. The blood flowed from the knife edge to the ground and spread under her body until the blood in Zhuang Lanlan's body coagulated and stopped flowing.

As he watched, Zhu Yu suddenly walked a few steps to the side and squatted down.

"What's wrong?" Lu Qing followed her slowly and saw her squatting there with her head tilted, staring at a spot on the floor in the light. He moved closer and asked, making sure not to block her light.

Zhu Yu had seen it clearly by now. He stretched out his hand, carefully measuring the length with his middle finger and thumb without touching the ground. "Your Highness, there is a bloody footprint here."

Lu Qing also followed her example, leaning down and tilting his head. Sure enough, with the help of the dim light, he could vaguely see a footprint near the pool of dried blood, which was difficult to find and almost blended into the dark wooden floor.

"Come here, get a piece of paper and a bowl of water." Lu Qing turned around and said to the yamen runner standing by.

The yamen runner hurried to get it after receiving the order and brought it back quickly.

Lu Qing took the bowl of water, held a sip in his mouth, and waited until the water in his mouth became warm before spraying it on the inconspicuous footprint on the ground.

A layer of water mist was evenly sprinkled on the bloody footprints. Lu Qing then handed the paper to Zhu Yu. Zhu Yu hurriedly and carefully spread the paper on it. After a while, he finally made a clear rubbing of the footprints from the ground.

(End of this chapter)