The governntal officials from Jingzhao Mansion were swift, not leaving Zhuang Zhi much ti to cry before they quickly brought in the thief.
As soon as the thief appeared, everyone present, even those who had co later, including Lu Zhang who had heard Zhu Yu’s speculations, could not help but be shocked.
This person’s appearance was almost identical to Zhu Yu’s previous speculation. He was a short and thin man. Even though he had been caught and thrown into jail, and now brought forth with his hands tied behind him by the governntal officials, he still appeared to be sneaky, lightly tapping his heels on the ground when he walked.
The thief looked extrely frightened, his face full of tension, not the kind of tension of being caught stealing, but a fear that seed to emanate from deep within him.
Upon seeing the thief, Zhu Yu felt increasingly assured, knowing that her speculations had been confird.
She spoke kindly to the thief, "Don’t be afraid, I know you didn’t commit murder. I asked the officials to bring you here just to inquire about the events of that night. You only need to answer truthfully."
The thief probably didn’t expect her to be so straightforward and kind-hearted, so he nodded nervously.
"Why did you co to this embroidery tower that day?" Zhu Yu asked.
"Answering, answering my lady, I was just bewitched that day..." The thief feared that if he didn’t appear sincere enough, Zhu Yu wouldn’t believe him. "I had gone several days without knowing why I couldn’t even steal sothing as worthless as a copper coin, let alone sothing valuable. I was almost starving."
Before, when I was scavenging for items on this river, I had seen this embroidery tower several tis, thinking that a wealthy family might live there but didn’t seem to have many servants.
That day, I was fretting over my failure to make ends et when I happened to see soone hastily descending the tower to take a boat away.
Shortly after, the lights on the second floor went out, and not long after that, another person left.
I pondered whether everyone had left and it was my fortune to slip in and make a big score?
So... so I waited a while to make sure no one was coming back before sneaking over, slipping into the courtyard, and sneaking upstairs, thinking I’d just feel around in the dark for any valuable furnishings.
I hadn’t expected that before I could find anything of worth, I stepped on sothing sticky and slippery underfoot, all wet.
Feeling that sothing was off, I quickly reached down to touch it, brought it under my nose for a sniff, and caught a strong whiff of sothing fishy...
I panicked and looked down more carefully, only to find soone lying on the ground motionless, with a large pool of blood around.
I was so scared I could have lost my soul, so I ran out of there as fast as I could.
Not two days later, those officials caught . I was scared out of my wits, thinking they considered the murderer!
Later, I realized you didn’t seem to know about this incident, and I... I was afraid that if I explained, I wouldn’t be clear and then you might mistakenly accuse of murder... then I would have been wrongly blad as a thief!"
He looked pitifully at Zhu Yu while speaking.
Zhu Yu didn’t doubt the latter part of what he said, but showed interest in the earlier unintentional detail: "You said you saw soone hastily boarding a boat and leaving that day, and then the lights upstairs went out?"
"Yes, yes, precisely! I swear to heaven, it’s the truth!" The thief nodded repeatedly. "Not only did the lights go out later, but after that soone else left, which is why I thought no one was up there, so I dared to sneak up!
Otherwise, what if they just blew out the lights to sleep? I’d be walking right into a trap!
Normally, I steal the silver pouches of rchants on the water, and if discovered, I’d just jump off the boat and dive into the water.
I’m good at swimming, I can hold my breath and swim for a while without surfacing, but I couldn’t do that from the top of a tower! With my small stature, if trapped inside, I’d only end up beaten to death!
So I made sure no one was there before sneaking up."
"Oh? So when you went, weren’t there two boats docked by the riverbank below the embroidery tower?" Lu Qing asked the thief with interest.
The thief hurriedly waved his hands, "There was only one boat, the boatman was still waiting on it, otherwise why would I take such a risk to go up? I’d rather stay in the water waiting to steal sothing off the boat!"
His words drew a secretive glare from the boatman, who had been shivering on the side the whole ti, fearing being implicated.
"Only one boat, and the two people didn’t leave simultaneously? Did the second person jump into the river like you did?" Zhu Yu asked.
"He didn’t go into the water. After leaving the courtyard, he ran into the grove behind and never returned— perhaps... he fled after committing the murder!"
The thief’s words seed to bolster Cao Chenfeng, kicked down by Cao Tianbao and too scared to get up. He propped himself up and knelt.
Not just him, even the cowering boatman was reminded: "My lord! I rember too!
That night, when this young man hurriedly boarded my boat, asking to quickly leave, I didn’t know why, but obliged and rowed across the river in haste.
By the ti we reached the river’s center, I glanced back at the embroidery tower and saw a light in the second-floor window, but by the ti we got to the center, the light had gone out!"
Zhu Yu ignored him and continued questioning the thief: "When you saw the dead body on the ground, did you notice what kind of knife was stabbed into it?"
The thief looked confused: "Knife? What knife? When I saw it, there was no knife at all! Just a person lying there, blood everywhere!"
Saying this, he seed to rember sothing, and instinctively went to slap his forehead, forgetting his hands were tied behind his back, resulting in a strange twitch.
"I rember!" he said more assuredly, "That night, the second person who left the embroidery tower seed to have done sothing near the tower’s base. I heard so splashing sounds from the water before he headed to the grove.
If you’re looking for the knife, did he throw it into the river? I can swim, why not let help everyone and find the knife?
If I can redeem myself by helping retrieve the knife, I beg you to spare , I promise never to steal again!"
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