I relied on a system to prolong my life in ancient times.

Chapter 122 Murder Case 5

As afternoon approached, the constables finally returned.

"So, have you found anything?" Xiao Qinian asked quickly.

"Sir, we are very lucky. The pastry shop in town hadn't been making date paste cakes for a while because they were out of red dates. They only started making date paste cakes again the day before yesterday morning. They sold only a few portions, and luckily, they remembered the people in the shop. Some of them were regular customers, and we checked with them one by one. They had no relation to the Zhu family. But on that day, Old Man Zhu happened to buy a portion of date paste cakes, and not just four pieces."

"We showed them the portrait, and it was indeed Old Man Zhu," the constable said happily. The case had finally made some progress.

"Okay, we'll go and hear the case now." Xiao Qinian finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After entering Zhu Chong's father's room, they found that he was already up.

"Old Master Zhu, why are you up?" Xiao Qinian asked.

"Greetings, sir. This old man is a little thirsty, so I've gotten up to have a glass of water. Is there anything else you need, sir?" Old Man Zhu's tone seemed a little impatient at this moment.

“Oh, we have two more questions for you. Did you buy any jujube paste cakes at the pastry shop in town the other day?” Xiao Qinian asked.

"I did buy jujube paste cake; my wife asked me to buy it," Old Man Zhu replied calmly.

"Oh? Did you know that we found poison on the jujube paste cake?" Xiao Qinian said.

“Impossible,” Old Man Zhu immediately retorted.

"Why not? We've found out."

“My son also ingested poison, how come he’s unharmed?” Old Man Zhu immediately said.

"You mean Zhu Chong also ate the pastries?" Xiao Qinian asked.

"Yes, I bought four pieces in total. Zhu Chong ate two pieces, and the old woman took the other two."

"Why didn't you eat?" Xiao Qinian asked.

"Such good stuff is not for me," Old Man Zhu said with a mocking smile.

"You rest, we'll be leaving now." Having not obtained any useful information, Xiao Qinian had no choice but to leave.

"Go and investigate whether Zhu Chong really ate the jujube paste cake," Xiao Qinian instructed the yamen runners.

Once back at the carriage, Xiao Qinian said, "Could it be that we've gone the wrong way? The murderer isn't a member of the Zhu family?"

"Sir, we found out that about fifteen minutes after Old Lady Zhu left home that day, Old Man Zhu also went to the back mountain." Just as Xiao Qinian was thinking about whether he should change the direction of the investigation, a yamen runner suddenly came to say this. These yamen runners were sent by Xiao Qinian to gather information.

"What? You mean Old Man Zhu went out?" Xiao Qinian was shocked.

"Yes, some people in the village saw it."

"Bring the person here quickly." Xiao Qinian was overjoyed; this was a major breakthrough.

"Sir, the person has been brought here."

Only then did Xiao Qinian notice the two people standing a few meters behind the yamen runners.

"You said you saw Zhu Chongdi when Old Lady Zhu had her accident?" Xiao Qinian asked.

"Yes, sir, we did see it," the two said timidly.

"Tell me about what happened at the time."

"That day, it was getting dark, and we had just come back from outside when we saw Old Man Zhu hurrying towards the back mountain. We tried to call out to him, but he seemed not to hear us at all."

"We were a little suspicious. Why would they go to the back mountain so late? There are wolves in the mountains. We were curious, so we secretly followed them. When we got to the back mountain, we found Granny Zhu there too. We couldn't hear what they were saying, so we went back. We don't know what happened after that. Sir, Granny Zhu's death has nothing to do with us!"

"Yes, we understand."

Xiao Siyue looked at the two people. She guessed that they had acted this way because they were afraid that the case would implicate them.

However, this case has finally seen a breakthrough.

Old Man Zhu went to the back mountain and even met with Old Woman Zhu, so why did he lie? Did he kill Old Woman Zhu?

One question after another popped into Xiao Siyue's mind. In his previous life, he was just an ordinary working man and had absolutely no talent for solving cases.

Let's see how her father plans to handle this.

"Go and bring Old Man Zhu here," Xiao Qinian instructed the yamen runners.

Hmm, is her dad going straight to the point? But the evidence isn't strong enough. What if she stubbornly refuses to admit it?

Not long after, Old Man Zhu arrived.

"Old Man Zhu, I'll ask you one more time, are you sure that after Old Woman Zhu went out that day, you didn't go out again?" Xiao Qinian stared intently at Old Man Zhu.

"Sir, I really didn't," Old Man Zhu replied calmly.

"Oh? Is that so? But someone saw you not only go out, but also go to the back mountain to see Granny Zhu." Xiao Qinian said in a cool voice.

Old Man Zhu panicked. How could this be? He made sure no one was watching before he went out; how could anyone have seen him?

No, he's definitely bluffing. I can't admit it, I absolutely can't admit it.

Xiao Siyue and the others were unaware of Old Man Zhu's thoughts, but their panicked appearance was clearly visible to everyone.

Old Man Zhu pinched his leg, forcing himself to calm down, and said, "Sir, I really didn't."

"Hmph, it doesn't matter if you don't admit it, bring witnesses." Xiao Qinian sneered. This old man Zhu still wouldn't admit it.

But so what?

"What?" Old Man Zhu was stunned and collapsed to the ground.

After the witnesses were brought up, Old Man Zhu recognized them; the two men were from his village.

“Say what you said before again,” Xiao Qinian said to the witness.

After the two finished speaking, the last glimmer of hope in Old Man Zhu's eyes was completely extinguished; he knew he was finished.

"Old Master Zhu, what else do you have to say?" Xiao Qinian said sternly.

Old Man Zhu kept his head down, lost in his own thoughts, and did not speak.

"Old Man Zhu, tell me why you killed Old Woman Zhu," Xiao Qinian asked again.

Old Man Zhu became somewhat agitated upon hearing this.

“I didn’t want to kill her. I just wanted her to have a stroke and be bedridden forever. But somehow, she just died.”

“You didn’t intend to kill Old Lady Zhu, but you even put poison on her jujube cake.”

"I didn't. I clearly put the sleep-inducing spell on her," Old Man Zhu said, somewhat dazed.

"How do you know that Li Mian can cause a stroke?" Xiao Qinian asked in confusion, as Li Mian is not a common poison.

At this moment, Zhu Chong and Chen Lan also arrived and overheard these words, so they immediately rushed over.

"I...I overheard it from someone by chance," Old Man Zhu said, glancing at his son and daughter-in-law rushing towards him before stepping aside.

However, he was still tackled by Zhu Chong.

"Father, why did you kill Mother?" The burly Zhu Chong shook his father.

“Yes, Father, why did you do this?” Chen Lan asked from the side.

Old Man Zhu glanced at his son and daughter-in-law.

"Why? Hehe, because I hate her! I hate Zhu Juan! I've never escaped her clutches in my entire life. She always beat and scolded me, making me live like a man. Haha, now she's finally dead, haha." Old Man Xiao was somewhat mad. He didn't know where the strength came from, but he pushed Zhu Chong away and tried to run away.

However, he was immediately arrested by the constables who were guarding the side.

"Alright, take them back," Xiao Qinian said.

The case has finally been solved, and Xiao Qinian plans to return to the yamen to handle the aftermath.

However, Xiao Siyue felt that something was wrong with this matter, but she couldn't figure out what it was.