As for being “caught red-handed”, Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan had no reliable witnesses who could prove that they were indeed lured here by the killer. They could only follow Wei Lingshu to the Chancellor"s Manor.
On the way there, they had received many different looks – suspicion, hatred and even fear.
After having been put in a state of anguish by the killer over the past few months and finally having someone that they could blame for the killings, the people of the Spirit City rushed over the moment they received the news. They did not think that the killers would be Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan. They thought that truly, you could not judge a book by its cover; though they were so good-looking, they were full of deception.
For the people who were family of the deceased, some of them were crying uncontrollably, wanting Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan to compensate the people they lost with their lives. They had to endure the curses of everyone. Slowly, the number of people who started to curse them increased, and some of them even started throwing rocks at the two of them.
Before the rocks could reach Gu Lingzhi, they were crushed by Rong Yuan using his spiritual energy. He looked at the people who had thrown the rocks with disdain and they retreated a step back, intimidated. They suddenly realized that Rong Yuan had the cultivation of a DemiG.o.d and thus he could kill them very easily.
Realizing that something was off about Rong Yuan, Gu Lingzhi tugged on his sleeve and shook her head, “Stop scaring them any longer, they"re also being used by the people who came up with this scheme.”
“So what if we can"t prove our innocence? I"m not scared of them,” Rong Yuan huffed, but he did exactly as Gu Lingzhi told him to.
Upon witnessing this scene, Wei Lingshu laughed bitterly for a moment before he sped up their advance towards the Chancellor"s Manor.
No matter what other people thought, he did not believe that Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi were the killers. In the Heavenly Lands, both of them had taken good care of him. They were definitely trustworthy. He did not know how they had suddenly been accused of being killers, so he could only bring them back to the Chancellor"s Manor to interrogate them.
Deep in thought, they eventually reached the Chancellor"s Manor. After calming down the residents of the Spirit City that had been following them, Wei Lingshu brought Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi into the main hall.
Lin Chongyuan and his administrators had received the news a long time ago and were already waiting in the main hall. Upon seeing Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi, one of them asked curiously, “Wei Lingshu, where"s the killer?”
Wei Lingshu looked perplexed as he replied, “We haven"t caught the killer. An accident happened; the two Elders have been mistakenly accused of being the killers.”
“Sister Gu and Brother Rong have been accused of being the killers?” Lin Rong repeated his words in shock, “How could they be the killers?”
In the time that Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi had been in the Spirit City, Lin Rong enjoyed spending time at the Sanhe Courtyard with them. She even changed the way she addressed them, which made Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi fond of her.
With a helpless look on his face, Wei Lingshu merely smiled, “We"ll have to ask them to find out.”
Rong Yuan"s face was sour ever since he realized that he had fallen for someone"s trap. He pursed his lips before recounting the incident that happened earlier on.
Gu Lingzhi laughed internally when she saw the expression on Rong Yuan"s face, knowing that he must be fuming on the inside. He must be going crazy over how he had fallen for such a simple scheme.
On the other hand, everyone reacted differently to his words. For those that had gone to the Heavenly Lands with him knew that he was being wrongly accused. However, those who did not know him very well did not trust him. One of them was the Lord of the Hall of Order and Discipline, Gu Lifu. He questioned them, his tone full of suspicion, “You"re telling us that both of you were chasing after a silhouette, but who can prove that you aren"t lying?”
When Rong Yuan realized that he had fallen for such a trap, he had already known that there would be a portion of people who would not trust them. Thus, Gu Lifu"s questions did not surprise him. “We don"t have any witnesses, but the Recording Crystals would have recorded down everything that happened.”
That"s right, they still had the Recording Crystals! If they retrieved the footage, they would know what truly happened.
After receiving Lin Chongyuan"s approval, Gu Lifu deployed a few of his men whom he trusted to retrieve the Recording Crystals in the area that Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan patrolled, as well as that of Le Yao"s.
A minute later, Gu Lifu"s men returned. Their faces were filled with shame, “My Lord, the Recording Crystals… are gone.”
“Gone?” Gu Lifu frowned and looked suspiciously at Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan again. “Did the both of you remove the Recording Crystals beforehand?”
“No.” Why would they get rid of whatever evidence they had to prove their innocence?
“Only the few of you insiders from the Chancellor"s Manor know how the Recording Crystals work. If it wasn"t the both of you that have tampered with it, who else could it be?”
With this, the people who had remained neutral started to look at them suspiciously as well. For them who had lived together for so long, it was natural for them not to trust Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan whom they had only known for a while.
Seeing that things were getting out of control, Lin Rong was visibly anxious. “Could the Recording Crystals have been taken by someone accidentally?”
“Second Mistress, you"re too naïve,” Gu Lifu shook his head, “Don"t you think that"s too much of a coincidence?”
It could be lost before or after this incident happened, but it just happened to be lost now. Furthermore, these Recording Crystals were the ones that were in their area. It was too much of a coincidence.
Lin Rong no longer knew how to retort. She could only look at her father anxiously and plead with him, “Father, you have to believe them. They are definitely not the bad people. They were my saviors in the Heavenly Lands!”
Gu Lifu shook his head once again, “Second Mistress, don"t you know that many bad people will always pretend to be the good ones in order to gain people"s trust?”
“You… I don"t care! I trust that Sister Gu is not the killer! There"s definitely something wrong with Le Yao!”
Not bad, Lin Rong was rather intelligent. Gu Lingzhi added, “If Le Yao did not stop me in my tracks, Rong Yuan and I could have caught the killer. I suspect that she has already found out who the killer is and is working in cahoots with him.”
“Nonsense! Do you really think that I"m so dumb as to work with someone that may kill me?” Le Yao"s voice suddenly sounded from the outside as she sashayed into the hall.
“Elder Gu, watch what you are saying! It"s unreasonable for you to push the blame onto me just because you want to clear your name. I"ve been patrolling my area to the best of my abilities, yet here you are accusing me of having other motives. It"s really upsetting.”
“How did you come in?” Wei Lingshu"s brows furrowed. He had not brought anyone into the Governor Mansion, how did she manage to get in here?
“I was the one who brought her here,” one of Gu Lifu"s men replied, “When I went to retrieve the Recording Crystals, she said she had something important to say, so I brought her inside.”
“Oh? What important things?” Gu Lifu asked, his eyes s.h.i.+ning as he looked at her. “According to what you"ve said, were you the one who first realized that there was something up with the two Elders here?”
“Yes,” Le Yao smiled slightly whilst rearranging her hair, “I was patrolling around my area as I usually do, but then I saw two silhouettes being sneaky and trespa.s.sing into my area. Alarmed, I chased after one of them. When I realized it was Elder Gu, I stopped her to ask about what she was up to. I didn"t think that Elder Gu would be so vicious to call me a meddler and even accuse me of working together with the killer. They"re the ones with vicious intentions, yet they"re still accusing the innocent. My Lord, you must uphold justice for me!”
“You"re spouting nonsense! Rong Yuan and I were chasing after the killer and unintentionally trespa.s.sed into your area. How were we being sneaky? Don"t go shooting your mouth off here.”
“You said you were chasing after the killer?” Le Yao said innocently as she crossed her arms, “Why did I clearly only see two silhouettes? I"m not blind, am I?”
Rong Yuan laughed coldly, “You"re not blind, but you"re blindly making groundless a.s.sumptions here.”
“You"re accusing me again!” Le Yao plastered a wronged expression on her face. “Even if I"ve seduced you before, causing you to fall out with Elder Gu, you don"t have to punish me like this, do you?”
Gu Lifu pursed his lips while Wei Lingshu looked away.
Everyone in the room knew about the incident where Le Yao had seduced Rong Yuan on purpose. She was extremely daring, taking the chance when both Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi were not around to sneak into the Sanhe Courtyard. There, she stripped herself naked in their bedroom. Then, she hired some men to hinder Gu Lingzhi so that Rong Yuan would return to the Sanhe Courtyard alone.
She never thought that Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi were inseparable. The men that she had sent to delay Gu Lingzhi"s return did not succeed, and Le Yao was caught red-handed by the both of them in their bedroom.
Fascinatingly, Le Yao was not at all embarra.s.sed when her plans had been foiled. She even extended the offer to Gu Lingzhi to engage in a threesome, which made both of them even angrier. They threw her out of the Sanhe Courtyard immediately, leaving her naked in front of the Chancellor"s Manor.
Being able to so openly talk about a shameless incident like this herself, the audience had a revelation about how brazen she truly was.
Without the Recording Crystals as evidence, Rong Yuan, Gu Lingzhi and Le Yao could not prove their innocence. Helpless, Lin Chongyuan could only throw all three of them into the dungeons, with Gu Lifu overseeing the procedures.
Lin Rong wanted to speak up for Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan once again, but she was interrupted by Gu Lifu, “Second Mistress, if you continue to behave like this, I might think that you have been bewitched by them.”