Chapter 35: Catch me? Don't beg me to come out then!

"When he was talking to our young lady, there was something wrong with his eyes. It was obvious at first glance that he was not a good person!"

"It must be him. He covets our young lady's beauty, so... wuwuwu..."

Everyone present was stunned. Xu Luo's words made them doubt whether they had misunderstood him. The prefect frowned, not knowing what to do.

"Your Majesty, please make the decision for us!" The Sun couple cried with tears and snot, causing the onlookers to shake their heads.

Xu Luo couldn't help but frown when he heard this. He knew there must be something fishy going on. Yesterday, the young lady from the Sun family came to him for fortune-telling with a smile on her face, but she disappeared mysteriously at night. Now the couple was throwing dirty water on him, saying that he had the intention to kill because of his lust for beauty.

"Humph, you really want to accuse someone of something, and you never lack excuses!" Xu Luo sneered, and then questioned: "Let me ask you, when your young lady went out yesterday, did she only talk to me?

Didn't those lips, as delicate as flower petals, ever step into a rouge and powder shop? Didn't they ever gently brush against the scenery in front of other stalls?
This prosperous Chang'an City is like a dream. Am I the only one who has the honor of having met your young lady? "

He paused and continued, "Just because I read her fortune, you regard me as a murderer. Isn't this ridiculous? Sir, if this kind of thing gets out, won't people laugh at you?"

As soon as Xu Luo finished speaking, the onlookers began to whisper to each other and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, how can we find him guilty based on this little evidence?"

"Isn't this obviously an attempt to force a confession?"

"The young lady of the Sun family had beautiful eyebrows and skin as white as snow. If she was really killed, how could she be easily framed by others?"

The people were talking and discussing, but Xu Luo just stood there quietly, waiting for the day when the truth would be revealed.

Among the crowd in Jingzhao Prefecture, there were two figures who were so angry that they were almost smoking. They were none other than Li Shimin and Li Junxian. As soon as they heard that Xu Luo was wrongly arrested, they hurried over, hiding their identities, wanting to witness it all with their own eyes.

The anger in my heart grew stronger as I heard more nonsense.

The Jingzhao prefect had no evidence at all, but he had already identified Xu Luo as the murderer. Wasn't this clearly an attempt to torture him into confessing? Li Shimin was furious.

At this moment, a carriage braked suddenly outside the Jingzhao government office, raising a cloud of dust. Li Shimin looked back and saw Zhangsun Wuji and Wei Zheng stepping out of the carriage. When they saw Li Shimin, their expressions changed slightly and they were about to salute, but Li Shimin spoke first.

"Hey, Lao Sun, Lao Wei, you two are here too?"

"This..." Wei Zheng was stunned, thinking: This name is really new. But then he thought, this is a public place, it is not appropriate to reveal one's identity.

Zhang Sun Wuji nodded in understanding: "Old Li, what's the situation?" Li Shimin shook his head helplessly and sighed: "What a confused prefect!"

Changsun Wuji immediately understood what he meant and stopped asking questions. He stood beside Li Shimin and peeked into the palace together.

Wei Zheng was so anxious that he almost vomited all his bitterness. Zhangsun Wuji, that kid, actually called the emperor "Lao Li" so carelessly. This was really outrageous! He was so confused that it was like a pot of boiling water. If this got out, wouldn't it become a joke in the world?
Just when Wei Zheng was getting anxious, a carriage rushed into the government office, and the person who jumped out of the carriage was Du Ruhui. Everyone smiled at each other, as if they had found a bit of fun in this tense atmosphere.

Du Ruhui hurriedly walked up to Li Shimin and was about to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of hurried horse hooves.

Looking back, Li Shimin and the others had crow's feet in their eyes from laughing. Cheng Yaojin, holding a lance in his hand, rode angrily on a tall horse, looking like a bull looking for a fight.

Li Shimin frowned slightly and quickly whispered, "Go quickly and cool down that Fatty Cheng. Don't let him make trouble at this critical moment!"

On the other hand, Xu Luo's logical trap made Jingzhao prefect stunned and speechless. Before Miss Sun disappeared, she went shopping with her maids, not just to Xu Luo's fortune-telling stall. Her cloud-like hair once left a scent when she passed by the rouge and powder shop; her jade-like skin once reflected an attractive luster in front of the roadside stall.

If we follow the prefect's logic, then everyone would be a suspect. This is obviously nonsense.

The prefect wanted to refute several times, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back. Insufficient evidence, he could only stare blankly, facing Xu Luo's questioning, without any ability to fight back.

"It seems that Miss Sun's disappearance is related to this Xu Luo!" The onlookers talked about it, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

At this moment, a young woman walked out of the crowd. She turned her head and glared at Xu Luo. Her eyes were so cold that they seemed to freeze the hot summer sun. She said to the prefect.

"Sir, he is still talking nonsense and refusing to admit it. But I have something here. I wonder if it can be used as key evidence?"

A hint of curiosity flashed in the eyes of the prefect, and he said, "Oh? Bring it up quickly, so that I can have a look!"

The woman bowed lightly, then slowly took out a handkerchief from her sleeve, walked to the table, and handed it to the prefect.

The prefect took the handkerchief and frowned, obviously not understanding what the handkerchief had to do with the case.

The woman smiled slightly, with a hint of sadness in her smile, "My sister was so infatuated with him that she secretly made a lifelong commitment to him, but she ended up meeting a heartless man.

This handkerchief was found by me accidentally in my sister's room.

She pointed at the word "Xiu" and the mandarin duck pattern on the handkerchief, and said with a hint of resentment in her voice, "Isn't this enough to explain the problem?"

Everyone followed her instructions and saw an exquisite word "Xiu" on the lower left corner of the handkerchief, and in the center was a pair of lifelike mandarin ducks playing in the water.

Such handkerchiefs are usually a token of love between an unmarried woman and her lover.

The prefect held his handkerchief in his hand, his eyes deep, as if he was re-examining the piece of evidence.

"The evidence is irrefutable. Let's see how you can still argue." The prefect waved the handkerchief in his hand, looking very proud.

"Come here, beat him hard until he confesses!"

Several yamen runners stepped forward in response, but Xu Luo was not in a hurry, with a sneer on his face.

"Sir, your IQ is really worrying!"

"You, you dare to openly insult an official of the imperial court?" The prefect was so angry that his face turned blue.

"Hmph, a corrupt official should not be insulted. Let me ask you, can the word 'Xiu' on the handkerchief prove that it is me? There are countless people with the same name in the world, how can you be sure it is me?"

"Besides, you guys insist that I have an affair with Miss Sun. Well, who can tell me something about us?"

"As long as you can tell me, I, Xu Luo, will confess my guilt immediately without saying anything!"

(End of this chapter)