There Will Always Be Protagonists With Delusions of Starting a Harem

Part 7.9

The Huzhou massacre case was quickly settled after Zou Lan was caught. The scattered Menghan poison, the corpse disguised as Zou Lan, and Zou Lan's concealed appearance in Luzhou all became the best evidence to prove that he was the murderer. Shen Tingwei arranged for soldiers to surround the wealthy merchant's mansion and searched it inch by inch. They finally found a ring belonging to Zou Lan at the site where the fire started. As the sky began to brighten, it was fortunate that they were able to find relevant clues that showed Zou Lan sent someone to a pharmacy to buy the medicinal ingredients for the Menghan poison. The soldiers continued to follow the clues and unexpectedly found out that the corpse dressed as Zou Lan was actually the person who helped him buy the materials. On the other hand, the coroner sent by Shen Tingwei also found some new evidence on the charred corpses.

All of Zou Lan's crimes up until now have been exposed, and there was no longer any chance of reversing the verdict for the Huzhou massacre case.

After getting the final verdict on the case at noon the next day, Shen Tingwei personally watched the Huzhou officials as they made a public announcement. Two days later, the news of this tragic massacre swept through the capital like a storm and Zou Lan's name began to be frequently mentioned by everyone.

Due to the case causing a huge commotion and being such a negative influence, the emperor directly gave Zou Lan the death penalty before the case was handed over to the capital's government by the Huzhou officials. For the sake of Zou Ming and Shen Tingwei, the emperor didn't blame the rest of the Zou family and ordered to have only Zou Lan beheaded. However, Zou Qing was still punished and scolded by the emperor and was forced to take a long vacation. Yang Dexuan was angry and unsatisfied with this decision, but he couldn't make the emperor change his mind. He could only put all of the Zou family into his blacklist with hatred in his heart.

The Huzhou massacre case stirred up the gossip circle in the capital. As Ye Zhizhou's business partner, Fei Jinchu wrote an urgent letter to him asking about his well being. After Ye Zhizhou received the letter, he was very touched and firmly decided to use the letter as part of his scheme. In his reply, Zou Lan was indirectly mentioned many times, which attracted Fei Jinchu's curiosity and he went out to understand Zou Lan's life story. The nails that had been buried in Mr. Storyteller were pulled out at this time. Various kinds of gossip about Zou Lan began to spread wildly, including ones about his evil mother, and his own arrogance and poisonous intentions.

[The probability of Fei Jinchu and the protagonist falling in love have dropped to 20%, may the host persist in his efforts.]

[The probability of Yang Qi and the protagonist falling in love has dropped to 0%. The second soul flag has been pulled out. Congratulations to the host, may the host persist in his efforts.]

Ye Zhizhou withdrew his gaze from the light screen and pulled on the leaning Shen Tingwei, "You still haven't caught Kang Run?"

"Don't worry. The mountain has already been sealed, we'll catch him sooner or later." Shen Tingwei put down the document of the final verdict sent by the Huzhou officials and put it together with the letter he wrote before giving it to the escort, telling him to hurry. He turned around and helped Ye Zhizhou pull up his cloak. "I'm sorry. Now that I'm so busy, I don't have time to accompany you."

"Your matters are more important," he leaned over and rubbed his lover's shoulder. He went through Kang Run's information in his mind and asked casually, "How many days will it take to wrap things up here?"

"Two days at most," Shen Tingwei embraced him, rubbed his hair and then pinched his earlobe. "What did father-in-law say?"

"He's still angry." His youngest son arrested his second son. The old-fashioned Zou Qing couldn't accept this story at all. He wrote several letters to scold him. At his angriest point, he even said that he wanted to break off all relationships with him... If he wants to scold him, sure. Right now, Zou Qing can only vent about him. He reckons that the atmosphere back at home with Old Madam Zou and Yuan Hui is very delicate.