Chapter 24: CH 24

Chapter 24 Theif Fu

While interrogating a prisoner, if a hole is pried open, the next words will follow along. When Liang Bin revealed his schedule on the sixteenth day of the eleventh month, the itinerary was the same as before, but his mood was not as calm and relaxed.

Liang Bin went to a friend’s house, and while chatting with his friend, the friend spoke about military matters. Their family was similar to the Liang family. The first wife died early, and the second wife was favored. The father and the second son lived very well, however, the father died. After the first wife’s son inherited the family business, the treatment of the second wife and her children continued to decline. Later, the eldest son found an excuse to separate the family. The younger son was evicted from the original house, and only a small part of the private property was given to him. He was also suppressed by his elder brother in his career, and he could never find a good job. They had no money and no rights, and their days became more and more difficult. After only five years, they were far away from their family.

After the friend finished speaking, he also warned Liang Bin that he should move quickly. There were rumors that Liang Wen Shi wanted to unite the elders of the clan and pass the position of Thousand Households to Liang Bin. By means of this family matter, his friend reminded Liang Bin to speed up his actions. Taking advantage of Liang Wei’s residue power, he hurriedly settled the matter. The Imperial Guards Thousand Households was not a high-ranking position, but in the Baoding Mansion, it was enough to walk sideways. With real power in his hands, money, women, and status would continue to flow. Moreover, there was another difference in a military official family. In a government official family, even if the government official was the head auxiliary, if the children were not promising after retirement, they would be disregarded. In the future, they could only go back to their hometown to be a government official. However, as long as there were men in the family, military generals could pass their position from generation to generation, so there was no reason to worry about the failure of their children and grandchildren.

This was no longer the wealth of one generation, but the wealth of many generations. The friend meant well, but after their discussion, Liang Bin’s mood fell to the bottom.

Liang Wen Shi’s thoughts about the right to inherit were not just on a day or two. When Liang Wei was still alive, she kept persuading him, but in the end, Liang Wei did not leave the exact words. After Liang Wei’s death, Liang Wen Shi kept running, trying to win over the clan elders, and in the name of Liang Bin’s ability to be more outstanding, she placed the position of Thousand Households on Liang Bin. She even took the second Lu, the legendary figure in the capital, as an example.

But Lu Heng was an exception. Lu Song passed the command to Lu Heng, not only because of Lu Heng’s outstanding talents but also because of the instructions from above. Lu Heng and the emperor grew up together. The emperor wanted Lu Heng to stay. Lu Song finalized the decision, but he was just pushing the boat along the water. Where did Liang Bin have the confidence to compare with Lu Heng?

His friends don’t know his inner thoughts, but Liang Bin himself knew that the possibility of him inheriting by exception was slim. People in the military paid attention to order, and unless they encountered a situation where it really could not be inherited in succession, the guards tended to maintain tradition. Liang Bin had this in his heart, and when he got home, he didn’t even have an appetite for food, so he casually pushed around his food with two chopsticks and put them down. At night, he tossed and turned and couldn’t sleep. Seeing that the window opposite was still lit, he simply put on his clothes and went to Liang Rong.

Liang Bin didn’t know what he was going to do with Liang Rong, but this time, if he didn’t do anything, he would just suffocate himself to death. It was already dark at that time, the front yard was quiet, and no one was there. The servants were all warming themselves by the fire in their own rooms, and no one was willing to wait outside. Liang Bin didn’t meet anyone along the way. He didn’t bother to knock on the door, he pushed it in and found Liang Rong unexpectedly asleep.

Liang Rong was leaning on the couch, half of his legs resting on the couch and the other half on the ground, already asleep. There was a cup of tea on the low table in the middle of the couch, and a book was scattered beside it. It could be seen that Liang Rong was reading a book here just now, and unknowingly fell asleep.

Liang Bin stood at the door. Not knowing what had crossed his mind, he turned the door latch. He approached and called Liang Rong’s name softly, but Liang Rong didn’t answer.

Liang Bin finally knew what his vague thoughts were just now. No one knew that he had been here. He could take the opportunity to kill Liang Rong so that he could inherit the Thousand Households justifiably.

He took the pillow on the couch, slowly approached Liang Rong, and suddenly pressed it down when he saw Liang Rong’s face clearly. Liang Rong quickly woke up from his dream and struggled hard, but Liang Bin had the upper hand and pressed down on Liang Rong with his weight, never letting Liang Rong move at all.

Liang Rong couldn’t break free, his fingers buckled to the edge of the wooden couch, blue veins bursting out as he scratched the wood with his fingernails. During the struggle, he kicked his legs against the table, knocking over the tea cup, and liquid wet the pages and ran down the legs of the table.

The whole process seemed to happen in the blink of an eye, yet it seemed like a long time passed. Liang Rong’s eyes widened, appearing bloodshot, as he leaned on the couch and stared at his brother. Liang Bin didn’t dare to look at Liang Rong and stared hard at the pillow. For a long time, his body was fluttering, his brain was blank, and he didn’t know what he was doing.

Liang Rong’s struggle gradually weakened, and Liang Bin’s hands relaxed unconsciously because he was absent. At this time, there was a sudden knock on the door outside the house, and then Liang Fu’s voice sounded: “Eldest Brother, are you asleep?”

Liang Rong and Liang Bin were both startled. Liang Rong did not know where the strength came from as he struggled desperately. It became difficult for Liang Bin to even hold him. Liang Fu was still knocking on the door outside, she waited for a long time to no avail, and said: “Then I’ll come in?”

Liang Rong’s eyes burst with light, Liang Bin’s stomach spasmed reflexively, and he could barely hold down the pillow under him. At this moment, there was a soft click on the door, but it was stopped by the bolt. Liang Bin remembered that he locked the door before entering the door. His heart was determined, but Liang Rong’s eyes became nervous.

His nose and mouth were covered, so he could only make a whimpering sound. He wanted to tell Liang Fu that there was something wrong inside, so she would slam against the door hard, or go out to call someone. But Liang Fu didn’t hear Liang Rong’s voice, she just probed gently, wondering why the door couldn’t be opened.

Liang Bin was a person with little intelligence but no great wisdom. He couldn’t persevere in reading, but at this juncture, his brain reacted very quickly.

Liang Bin lowered his voice and said to the person outside the door: “I’m sleeping, come back tomorrow.”

Liang Rong’s eyes widened, and he silently begged Liang Fu not to leave, but Liang Fu did not insist again. Although she thought Elder Brother was being strange, she listened to his words obediently: “Okay, then I will come back tomorrow.”

The footsteps gradually faded away, and Liang Fu actually left. Liang Rong was completely desperate, and the strength of his struggle suddenly weakened. Liang Bin breathed a sigh of relief and pressed the pillow with all his strength. It didn’t take long for the person under him to stop moving.

Liang Bin’s aching arms did not feel like his own. He collapsed and fell to the ground, and it took a long time before he realized what he had done. Relying on a momentary motivation he had when he murdered, he became frightened after sobering up. He ran out in a panic and hurried to his mother for help.

Liang Wen Shi had already loosened her hair and was about to go to bed. She sent her maid to boil water, and Liang Bin was also lucky. He ran in all the way without bumping into anyone. After Liang Wen heard Liang Bin’s words, she was so scared that she was out of her mind. She asked Liang Bin to go back and guard the scene quickly, so as not to be discovered. She casually found an excuse to send the night watch maid away, pretending to sleep, but in fact, she changed her clothes and quietly went to Liang Rong’s house to clean up the aftermath.

Liang Wen Shi and Liang Bin had lived alongside Liang Wei these years, and they had seen a lot of Imperial Guard methods of handling cases. They were much more mature than ordinary people in dealing with corpses. Liang Rong had no trauma on his body, so as long as they pretended that he died unexpectedly, it would be good. The bad thing was that he was bumped into by Liang Fu tonight. Liang Wen Shi didn’t know if Liang Fu was suspicious, so she discussed it with Liang Bin. It was agreed that he would wear Liang Rong’s clothes and go out tomorrow, pretending that Liang Rong was still alive, in order to dispel Liang Fu’s suspicion. When someone asks in the future, Liang Bin can also use this forged timeline to clear himself.

Therefore, the top priority was to erase the traces of Liang Rong’s murder. Liang Wen Shi and Liang Bin wiped the tea on the table and hurriedly returned the book. After that, the two of them worked together to lift Liang Rong’s body onto the carriage. Now that the sky was cold and the ground was freezing, it was unrealistic to die in the water, so they could only find a way to fake Liang Rong’s fall.

As a pampered wife of a Thousand Households, Liang Wen Shi seldom did such heavy physical work, and the pearl shoes custom-made for womenfolk were not made to carry things. The bead on the toe of the shoe fell off when Liang Wen Shi was moving the body. It was dark at the time, and Liang Wenshi was nervous, so she didn’t notice this little detail at all.

After they did all this, no one found out at all. Liang Wenshi breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that everything was fine, but unexpectedly, Liang Fu, a troublemaker, appeared again.

She picked up the pearl from Liang Wen Shi’s shoe and bumped into Liang Bin who was coming back from outside. When Liang Fu asked Liang Bin about the beads, God knew how panicked Liang Bin was. As soon as Liang Fu left, Liang Bin hurriedly told Liang Wen Shi about it. Both mother and son decided that Liang Fu could not stay.

They went to dispose of the body first, and deliberately found Mancheng, a remote hillside with few people, and pushed Liang Rong down. After returning, Liang Wen Shi felt guilty, and quietly cleaned the study room and burned the pillows and shoes used in the crime. All finishing actions went smoothly, except for Liang Fu.

Liang Wen Shi searched for many ways, but Liang Fu didn’t go out, and she was surrounded by maids all the time. Liang Wen Shi couldn’t find a chance to start. When Liang Wen Shi was patrolling the garden, she coincidentally saw the tree in front of Liang Fu’s window, and she had a plan.

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Feng Liu had a very bad reputation in Baoding Mansion, and the Imperial Guards had long disliked him. No one would doubt that he was being frivolous with a young lady of a good family, and no one would believe him even if he complained. Liang Wen Shi asked Liang Bin to steal Feng Liu’s most conspicuous clothes. She took the opportunity to distract the people around Liang Fu and let Liang Bin pretend to be Feng Liu in the embroidery building. Then she would appear at the right time. It was customary for Liang Fu to take a nap, and everyone in the backyard knew when Liang Fu went to bed and when she woke up.

Everything was a great success, and no one found anything unusual, they just had to wait for the government’s decision. Liang Wen Shi painstakingly worked at it for a long time. She didn’t expect that a bizarre attack occurred in the western suburbs of the capital in the early days of the twelfth month. The Marquis of Zhenyuan’s adoptive sister disappeared, and the folded case of Liang Fu’s adultery was sent to the capital. Where it happened to be seen by Lu Heng, the commander of the Imperial Guards.

The lies they carefully piled up collapsed.

After Liang Bin confessed, the Imperial Guards were accustomed to the rest, and Wang Yanqing no longer needed to be involved. Lu Heng handed the finishing touches to the people under him and sent Wang Yanqing back to the room by himself.

Wang Yanqing stayed in the cell for a long time, even if she took all measures to keep warm, the cold air would inevitably seep into her. After coming out, her abdomen began to hurt again. Wang Yanqing endured the whole way, but Lu Heng noticed that she was extremely silent. When he saw her face, he understood: “It started to hurt again?”

Wang Yanqing was embarrassed, this kind of thing was even private between mother, daughter, and sisters. How could Lu Heng bring it up in such a natural and familiar tone? She lowered her eyes, shook her head, and said: “It’s okay.”

How could Lu Heng believe that. After returning to the room, Lu Heng untied Wang Yanqing’s cloak and immediately asked her to lie on the couch. He took Wang Yanqing’s heater and replaced it with a new piece of charcoal. Wang Yanqing struggled to sit up when she saw Lu Heng’s movements: “Second Brother, let me do it. How can I let you do this kind of thing?”

Lu Heng pressed Wang Yanqing’s shoulders and sat back on the soft couch with her. He sat sideways on the couch, putting the burning heater on Wang Yanqing’s lower abdomen, and slowly kneaded Wang Yanqing’s waist with his palms. Lu Heng’s hands were warm and powerful, and it was very comfortable with him pressing on the acupoints. Wang Yanqing moved for a while without breaking free and then gave up.

She was lying on her side in a soft slump, her legs curled up like a baby, her hands on the stove, as she leaned weakly against the pillow. Lu Heng pressed it for a while and said: “Bear with me, don’t sleep yet, I’ll send someone to make a concoction for you. Wait a while to drink the medicine before going to bed.”

Hearing these words, Wang Yanqing was both moved and embarrassed: “Second Brother, you don’t need to go through so much trouble. I do this every month. I’m used to it.”

“There is only getting used to good things. How can there be people who are used to pain?” Lu Heng glanced at Wang Yanqing, his palm covered Wang Yanqing’s lower abdomen, and the palm of his hand continued to provide heat like a stove: “Although your problem is not a serious one, you can’t be sloppy. In the future, you are not allowed to abuse your body anymore. When those few days are approaching, you should pay more attention. Don’t run and jump, and don’t touch anything that is cold.”

Wang Yanqing was slumped on the pillow, weakly nodding. She was thinking that between her and Second Brother, she was the woman, but unexpectedly he was the one teaching her a lesson in this matter. Because she had to wait for the medicine, Lu Heng didn’t want Wang Yanqing to sleep, so he talked to her: “Qing Qing, how did you do it just now?”

Wang Yanqing let out a weak sigh, not surprised at all: “Did you see it all?”

Lu Heng was not shy and nodded with a light smile: “Yes.”

Wang Yanqing knew that they had their own intelligence system inside the Imperial Guards, and there were many methods. She didn’t ask how Lu Heng saw and said lightly: “It was actually very simple. I could see from Liang’s house that Liang Bin was very dependent on his mother. After he committed murder, his first reaction was to find his mother. Liang Wen Shi instructed him to do all the finishing work later, which showed the status of his mother in his heart. At this time, his mother suddenly committed suicide, and he must have felt frightened and guilty. The more that he was like this, the more they shouldn’t torture him. If they tortured him, his guilt would lighten and he would seal his lips to death, refusing to confess. Only when he feels the strongest guilt until it can defeat his line of defense, make him lose his mind, and tell everything impulsively, will he tell the truth.”

Lu Heng nodded slowly: “Makes sense. Fortunately, Qing Qing was there, otherwise, it would have been bad if he was allowed to be punished.”

Wang Yanqing spoke: “Second Brother has flattered me, even if I wasn’t here, you would still be able to get a testimony.”

“But it certainly wouldn’t have been so easy, so quick.” Lu Heng took care of the stray hair by Wang Yanqing’s ear and asked, “What else?”

Wang Yanqing was not usually a person who interrupted others, but when she entered the cell for interrogation, her behavior was very different from usual. Wang Yanqing’s body gradually warmed up, and her lower abdomen was no longer as painful as before. She turned around gently and said: “When he first saw me, he was most vigilant in his heart. At this time, even if I was being interrogated, I wouldn’t tell the truth. So, I didn’t talk about the main topic but chatted with him. I started from his childhood and asked him a question regarding time. I found that his eyes floated to the top right when he recalled the real time. After that, I asked him about the first article he learned and remembered the state of his eyes when he recalled the text. These things had nothing to do with the case, so there was no need to lie. The small actions he showed at this time were the real ones. Only by knowing his normal state can I judge whether he is lying later. When I mentioned his father, I noticed that his eyes were avoidant, the corners of his mouth were down, and he picked himself up with his arms. This is clearly a shrinking posture, indicating that he felt guilty in his heart. Only after I realized this, did I use guilt to defeat his rational thought.”

Lu Heng’s eyes were thoughtful, and after Wang Yanqing changed from lying on her side to lying flat, Lu Heng’s hands placed better. He pressed her abdominal acupoints one after another, and asked: “After that?”

“I got Liang Bin’s baseline for recalling real events, so then I could ask about the case. I asked him to repeat the schedule of the day of the murder and interrupted him frequently, causing him to become restless and review the testimony over and over again to check if he was wrong. In order not to show his flaws, he deliberately suppressed the expression on his face. When I asked him when Liang Rong died and the books he read before his death, there was no movement in his eyes. It was completely different from the way he recalled his childhood and his writing. He was obviously lying. He probably also realized that I could see it, and the string in his heart became tighter and tighter. The more nervous someone is, the easier it is to make mistakes. The moment I was waiting for had finally come. I forced him to recall the scene when he killed Liang Rong, and then secretly shifted his emotions toward Liang Wen Shi, so he would have the illusion that the person he killed that day was Liang Wen Shi. He was ashamed in his heart, and I kept reinforcing this point, finally pressuring him with his most beloved father. Once he was overwhelmed by his emotions, he would answer whatever I asked.”

Lu Heng nodded secretly, quite approving in his heart. When a person is emotionally overwhelmed, he will do many things that he cannot understand when he is awake. However, there is no turning back, the testimony has been recorded. Even if Liang Bin calms down and regrets it in the future, there is nothing he can do.

Lu Heng didn’t know what to think, so he sighed slowly: “Qing Qing’s insight into the smallest details completed the full scheme. You really are a master at decoding people’s hearts.”

Wang Yanqing lay on the pillow, clutching the heater in her hand. She raised her eyes and glanced at Lu Heng quietly: “I’m just a small part flowing down the river, there is no difference if I am more or less. Second Brother is the master at decoding people’s hearts.”

Unfailingly favored beside the emperor and trusted by the emperor at the same time. Can this be achieved by ordinary people? Lu Heng’s smile deepened, and he said with a slight grievance: “Qing Qing has judged me wrongly. In front of those old people, I have to be calculative. In front of Qing Qing, I have always been sincere.”

Wang Yanqing looked at Lu Heng’s sparkling eyes and his twitched lips, and asked: “Really?”

“Seriously.” Lu Heng took the heater from Wang Yanqing’s hand and wrapped it around her with his own hands and said: “Just before you woke up, I was afraid of burdening you, so I never told you about the capital. Now that you have almost recovered, it’s time to tell you about the grievances of the Lu family.”

Wang Yanqing became serious when she heard this and wanted to sit up but was stopped by Lu Heng. Holding her palm, Lu Heng sat opposite Wang Yanqing and said slowly: “The Lu family’s interpersonal relationship in the capital is very simple. They don’t have any friends, basically, everyone is a personal enemy. Thought one of them is the worst.”

Wang Yanqing stared at Lu Heng seriously with light shining in her pupils, it was clear to the bottom, shining like a star: “Who is it?”

“The Zhenyuan Marquis Mansion’s Fu Tingzhou.” Lu Heng’s eyes were originally light in color, but now he as he looked down at her, it became more and more like a lake, with thousands of waves hidden under the calm surface: “He is also the one who made you lose your memory. You don’t like him very much. You used to call him Thief Fu in private.”

|| Author’s Note:

Fu Tingzhou: You don’t do anything that involves people.

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