Holding a lantern, guiding souls across, Lady Hou comes from the underworld.

Wang's slap was extremely forceful, leaving a clear handprint on Lu Xian's left cheek instantly.

He knelt on the ground, covering his face, but leaned closer to Ren Fengjue's feet: "Lord Ren, everything I said is true, I would never dare to lie!"

Ren Fengjue glanced at Yu Lang beside him.

The other party immediately understood and said to the maid who was standing there dumbfounded, "What are you all standing there for? If the prefect's wife gets sick from anger, can you bear the responsibility?"

Upon hearing this, the maids had no choice but to step forward together, help Wang Shi up, and pull her to sit down on a chair.

Ren Fengjue calmly picked up the hot tea on the table, took a sip, and lightly tapped the table with his other hand: "I presume Mr. Lu is aware of the circumstances surrounding the murder of the Liu family mother and son in Yan County."

"Tell me, why did Prefect Zheng target these three?"

Lu Xian waited for him to ask, and eagerly revealed the truth: "This story begins a year ago..."

A year ago, when Zheng Daoyuan was drinking at a banquet in Zuihualou, he was suddenly captivated by the woman of a pastry shop on the street across the street.

Every smile and frown of the other person resembled his first wife, Liu, who had passed away more than ten years ago.

Indeed, the current Wang woman is his second wife, whom he married after entering officialdom.

The moment Zheng Daoyuan saw that smiling face, it lingered in his mind. After sending someone to inquire about the other person's identity, he was even more surprised.

The other party also had the surname Liu.

He believed this was a blessing from heaven, a special opportunity to make up for the regrets in his heart.

Therefore, even though he knew that Liu had already married someone else, Zheng Daoyuan still used some means to let the other party know of his existence.

He concealed his identity and would always sneak into the shop when no one was around, posing as a customer and buying one serving of every pastry available.

He then took the opportunity to exchange a few words with Madam Liu.

After a while, they became regular customers.

Because he was much older, Liu treated him as an elder, calling him "Master" and then "Uncle Zheng".

She always spoke in a kind tone and had a radiant smile.

For a moment, the high-ranking prefect seemed to return to the days when he was studying hard and his first wife was comforting him.

Gradually, he became dissatisfied with this.

He desperately wanted to bring this gentle and virtuous woman home and keep her hidden in the inner quarters.

However, "forcibly taking a man's wife" was something a fourth-rank official could not do. Moreover, in the eyes of the people, he was a good official with an upright character.

So, after learning that Liu had taken her children back to her parents' home in Yan County to visit relatives, he devised a plan and bribed Li Ada, the Zhou family's coachman.

On the way back to Beijing, Ada used sleeping powder to knock out the mother and her two children, and then took them directly to the house that Zheng Daoyuan had prepared in advance.

He originally intended to cut off all contact between Liu and the outside world first, and then slowly keep her like a "canary" in captivity.

As time went on, she enjoyed wealth and luxury, and realized that she was "deeply in love," so she naturally submitted to him.

Despite this plan, he was far too impatient and could hardly wait a moment longer.

That very evening, Zheng Daoyuan couldn't wait to reveal his identity and intentions as the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture to Lady Liu.

However, upon learning this, Lady Liu not only refused, but also repeatedly declared that she would only recognize Zhou Zigui as her husband for the rest of her life…

This made Zheng Daoyuan feel extremely frustrated and angry!

How could a dignified prefect be rejected by a commoner woman?

At that moment, I no longer cared about etiquette, and I forgot about any so-called plans.

He had only one thing on his mind—he wanted to have her!

However, he ultimately underestimated Lady Liu's chastity and her feelings for her husband, Zhou Zigui.

So, when Zheng Daoyuan pressed her relentlessly, she grabbed her two children and jumped out of the window to escape.

But she didn't know that there was a lake outside the window.

To prevent her from escaping, Zheng Daoyuan deliberately arranged for her to stay in a lakeside pavilion.

The lake water was icy cold and bottomless in winter, and it was also dark at night. People who jumped in were quickly drowned before they could be retrieved.

After the three bodies were retrieved, Zheng Daoyuan felt a chill run through him.

Since a grave mistake has been made, we might as well just go with the flow.

He ordered his men to change the body into clean clothes and instructed the driver, Ada, to throw the body off a cliff on the way back to Beijing from Yan County in the middle of the night.

After that, everything fell into place.

After Zhou Zigui reported the incident to the authorities, the body was found, and the coachman Ada was arrested and imprisoned.

The officials in Yan County had already made arrangements, and the coroner in charge of the autopsy received a large sum of money. Naturally, he also used Ada's testimony to deceive the public.

I thought that this way I could get away with it without leaving a trace.

But who would have thought that the closed case would be brought up again?

Zheng Daoyuan probably wouldn't understand until his death who leaked the secret...

After Lu Xian recounted the entire case, the expressions on the faces of everyone in the hall varied.

Only Wang was so dismayed that her respected husband would do such a thing that she fainted on the spot and had to be helped away by her maids.

Ren Fengjue's expression was also unpleasant, and he was also angry.

Such a case, occurring right under the nose of the capital, and caused by a mere fourth-rank official, is a disgrace to the imperial court.

"What you just said will be used as evidence and included in the case file. If there is any falsehood or concealment, you should know the consequences."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xian immediately understood and knelt down, kowtowing deeply. "Every word I have said is true. If there is any falsehood or concealment, I will accept whatever punishment you may give me!"

Ren Fengjue then asked, "So you really knew nothing about Zheng Daoyuan's sudden death in his study that night?"

Lu Xian replied, "I was ordered to go out on business around 7 PM and did not return to the mansion until this morning. The gatekeeper and servants can all testify to this."

Ren Fengjue glanced at the servants beside him: "Who was on duty in the study last night?"

A servant boy stepped forward tremblingly. "Reporting to you, sir, it is... me."

"You said the body was discovered around midnight. Before that, were you aware of the situation around the study?"

The servant immediately knelt on the ground and explained, "The prefect usually doesn't allow us to serve in his study. He is also very considerate of his servants, saying that on such a cold day, we can just wait in the small room next door and only come forward when he hears any noise."

"I... only went to the outhouse once in between, and never left the room."

"According to the prefect's habit, he usually only requests tea once every half hour or so."

"But last night, after Mr. Lu left, there was no sound from the study."

Ren Fengjue paused for a moment, then asked the steward, "Is everyone in the manor present? Is anyone still missing?"

The steward hesitated for a moment before replying, "All the servants are here, but... our young master... I'm afraid he cannot receive guests."

Everyone knows that Zheng Daoyuan has a mentally challenged son who is born with intellectual disabilities and is still like a child even though he is over twenty years old.

Ren Fengjue nodded without asking any further questions. He got up and was about to head to the study when he heard a commotion outside the hall.

It seemed that someone had ignored the attempts to stop them and forced their way in.

"Who are you? This is a Ministry of Justice case; unauthorized personnel are not allowed inside."

"Take one more step forward, or don't blame us for being impolite—"

The admonition was left unfinished, and for some unknown reason, it abruptly ended.

Everyone looked on in surprise and saw a young woman walking slowly towards them, followed by a Taoist priest.

Xia Ximo's gaze swept across the hall before finally settling on Ren Fengjue.

"This case is probably not man-made; you alone might not be able to solve it."