CH 53.3

The local magistrate slowly walked to the hall, still yawning incessantly. Ordinary people’s life wasn’t worthy in the flourishing capital. He could already be considered fulfilling his duties by being willing to hear the case immediately today. However, before he got close to the front, the subordinate suddenly rushed to him and knelt. “My… My Lord!”

The local magistrate frowned. “Why are you so flustered and restless? It’s unbecoming.”

The subordinate was full of fear.”There is a carriage parked outside the yamen that seems to be…… the…… carriage from the prince regent’s residence!”

The prince regent?

The local magistrate’s knees went weak, and he couldn’t yawn anymore, his eyes staring incomparably straight.

–

Meng Huan stood with drooping eyelids in the capital administrative office’s hall, a bit silent.

The deceased’s family knelt on the ground, eyes red and swollen, tears pouring down.

And next to them, the dead man’s body was carried, covered with a white cloth. After a dry, hot night, the stench of the corpse could be vaguely smelled.

“Your… Your Highness!” Voices came from the back hall, and the local magistrate in the official green uniform hurried forward, holding the hem of his uniform in one hand and almost falling over.

But just as his voice roared into the front hall, an attendant shook his head haltingly and put a finger to his lips. “Hush.”

The local magistrate’s forehead was sweating. He was just about to kneel at the extremely tall man in the scarlet prince’s uniform among the crowd when the attendant helped him up. “Don’t, My Lord. You are the master in the county office. There is no need to kneel.”

Lin Bozhou nodded his head in his direction in greeting. He was covered with a white veil, obviously unable to see people. Someone brought a chair over, and he sat down, saying, “My Lord, you should hear the trial as you like. No need to care about this prince.”

The local magistrate’s heart thumped wildly in his chest, and he nodded hastily. He brought the plea paper to read word by word, re-read the cause of the murder, and then looked at the witnesses recorded.

“The record says that a witness saw the murderer’s appearance. Where is the witness?”

Meng Huan took a step forward. “Me.”

The local magistrate could barely calm down. “Please tell us the truth.”

Meng Huan said, “When I passed the murder site yesterday, I saw a strange person next to me, carrying a package in his hand, which was dripping blood. I heard that the group of foreigners dragged the boss outside the inn, laughing and joking while cutting his head, and then carried the head with teasing mockery, carrying it away.”

The brutality of the method made people’s backs numb. It was unable to tell that this group of foreigners had humanity.

“I saw the package that dripped blood and chased it. I saw the man’s face as he fled over the wall and picked up the deceased’s head.”

The relatives of the deceased cried miserably, “Begging Your Lordship to do something!”

The local magistrate was deep in thought. Ultimately, this was a brutal drunken murder without any twists and turns of injustice. Now, all that was needed was to go and get the murderers back.

The local magistrate gestured to the painter at the side. “Record the faces of the criminals. Witness, please state it.”

Meng Huan’s mind recalled that scene last night.

In the rainstorm, the middle-aged man’s features were instantly illuminated against the thunder and lightning. There were some hideous features, cold eyes, and indifference as if he was used to killing made people think of soldiers, not ordinary people.

The painter at the side was ready with ink and brush. In ancient times, this group of people painted portraits of wanted criminals. They might not have seen the real face, but the drawn paintings weren’t bad, except that the brush used thick ink lines and rougher.

Meng Huan stumbled to describe, and the drawing came out different from his impression. At this point, Meng Huan felt his lack of adjectives and couldn’t help but say, “Why don’t you let me draw?”

“Your Excellency knows how to draw?” The local magistrate sounded surprised.

The fresh and handsome-looking young man before him had fair skin, and his face had an aura that reminded one of a stream under a clear summer sky, so one could not help but want to protect his cleanliness and not dare to have any extravagant thoughts about him.

The local magistrate then secretly looked at the silent prince regent. This venerable deity was obviously accompanying the testimony, simply sitting aside to give him courage.

As expected, the young man before him was the male consort who caused a controversy in the capital not long ago and was promoted by the prince regent as his main wife.

After this matter was spread, everything was said.

“The prince regent has not been married, so it turns out he has this special hobby?”

“What kind of beautiful, intelligent, and talented man is that?”

“Hey, there is one more road to getting rich and wealthy. It’s just a pity that I was born unattractive……”

With all the talk, everyone from the hundred officials down to the people was curious about this male consort who conquered the prince regent. The local magistrate also could not help but look repeatedly until he heard the clear spirit’s voice. “Can you give me the brush?”

The local magistrate hurriedly returned to his senses. “Give the brush to the witness.”

Meng Huan changed to a brush with a finer stroke and traced up to the paper. The posture of his brush stroke differed from that of an ordinary painter, and it seemed that the starting strokes of the painting were strange, but the painter cast his eyes away and looked almost a little surprised.

“What a finely crafted painting style!”

Unlike the landscape paintings famous in  Great Zhong, the painting of the human body in front of him was standard. The pose had a sense of motion and looked close to a real person.

“Awesome, awesome!” The painter tutted in amazement.

With a painting like this, the murderer was apparent at a glance.

The more Meng Huan drew, the painter obviously recognized something, looking slightly gloomy.

As he drew further on, the tension began to spread, and the hall was quiet, with only the sound of Meng Huan’s brush.