The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 461: The Truth is Being Revealed When the Shoes Are Removed

After listening to Sun Shaozong's seemingly simple yet mysterious inference, everyone's gaze fell on the feet of the two of them, Jie Chen and Jie Xiu.

Jie Chen was straightforward and firm, supporting the disciple beside him. With a few strokes, he removed his shoes and socks and lifted his pig's hoof with a sour and rotten odor.

“Look, look carefully! Look at my poor monk's feet and see if there are any marks on them.”

The people who were choking with the smell were all stunned, and even Sun Shaozong couldn't resist it. He covered his nose and briefly looked at him, then hurriedly asked him to wear it back.

Then, all eyes focused on Jie Xiu alone, but he turned pale and didn't make any movements for a long time.

Now everyone naturally became suspicious, and Monk Lechi angrily scolded, "Stop taking a break; quickly take off your shoes and socks!”

Jie Xiu gritted his teeth and bent down to remove his shoes and socks, revealing two feet with several red and swollen marks. However, amidst the exclamation of everyone, he loudly protested, "Even if there are marks on my feet, what can I do?! Don't forget, the night Jie Chi was killed, I was punished for kneeling in the hall until dawn; how could it be…”

“Your trick has already been exposed by our Lord.”

Qiu Yunfei disdainfully interrupted his words and sneered, "Monk Jie Nian is your accomplice. He killed Jie Chi that day, but afterward, you two had a disagreement, so you nailed Jie Nian to death outside the mountain gate.”

Most people in the Central Judicial Office were aware of this inference, but the monks in the hall heard it for the first time and immediately became heated.

“That's right, that's right. Jie Nian has always been obedient to Jie Xiu.”

“But after all, this is murder…”

“So what? When Jie Nian's temper rises, let alone killing at night, he even dares to kill you during the day.”

“Amitabha.”

Seeing the chaos in the main hall, Monk Lechi shouted a Buddhist name, suppressed everyone's discussion, and then narrowed his eyes to question Jie Xiu. "Jie Xiu, is what Lord Qiu just said the truth?”

Jie Xiu opened his mouth and deliberately continued to defend, but upon seeing Sun Shaozong's confident appearance across from him, he felt that no matter how cunning he was, it would no longer be helpful.

So he simply smashed the jar and roared in anger, "That's right, I killed them all! But so what?! I'm doing justice for heaven; I'm cleaning up the shameless scumbags of the Buddha who violated the rules.”

Speaking of this, he could no longer care about his superiority or inferiority. He gritted his teeth and pointed at Monk Lechi, saying, "I didn't want to kill them like this. It was you, you all, who were indiscriminate and secretly biased towards Jie Nian, that forced me to come up with this plan.”

“Shut up!”

“How bold!”

“Imprudent!”

“How dare you!”

Before he could finish speaking, several loyal monks guarding the Master jumped out of the room, shouting at him.

Upon hearing this, Monk Lechi naturally felt a bit gloomy, but he still managed to maintain the noble monk's demeanor. He put his palms together and calmly asked, "Jie Xiu, do you have any evidence that you claim to be practicing the law for the heavens and punishing the bad people of Buddhism?”

“Evidence?”

Jie Xiu sneered and said, "I've heard it with my ears; can there still be a fake?! More than a month ago, when Jie Nian and I were working in the city, we unexpectedly encountered...”

It turned out that more than a month ago, while they were going out, they accidentally met a young girl who was their childhood friend. The two were just waiting to chat, but the childhood friend turned her head in panic and ran away.

If this woman had run away, there wouldn't have been much to do afterward.

It was just so coincidental that she turned around and ran for a few steps before tripping over the hitching post and lying on the ground, covering her face and sobbing.

So Jie Xiu and Jie Nian quickly assisted her and repeatedly asked her what had happened.

After listening to the woman's crying, they realized that during the incense application last winter, she was unfortunately drugged and insulted by Monk Jie Xian. Later, she was ”recommended” to become the exclusive ”Mrs. Fan” of Monk Jie Xian.

The reason this woman became a pilgrim to Fayuan Temple was precisely because two companions of the same year became monks at Fayuan Temple.

Therefore, both of them were angry and ashamed, and when they returned, they quietly spread the news, intending to have the Discipline Academy investigate the matter thoroughly. However, as soon as Jie Chen started investigating, he was stopped by Jie Nian.

The monks were all silent when they heard this, but Jie Chen stomped his feet hastily and said, "Since you have a witness, you can call that woman to the disciplinary hall, but why must you...”

“Call the witness to the disciplinary hall?”

Jie Xiu sneered disdainfully and said, "Let's not talk about whether she would be willing to stand up and testify. There are a hundred pairs of eyes judging her up and down in this temple. How can you ensure that the incident of her falling victim to a thief will not be well-known to everyone?”

“She is also someone with a husband and children now. Once this matter is leaked, how do you let her and her family deal with it?”

“By then, no matter how big the world be at that time, I'm afraid there won't be any more place for her to go.”

“Instead of that, it would be better for me to personally remove these evils. Firstly, let them atone for their sins with death, and secondly, they can also protect her well.”

“Amitabha.”

At this point, he folded his palms and recited the Buddha's name, revealing a dignified aura of treasure. He said grandly, "The Buddha said, ”If I don't go to hell, who goes to hell?” I'm just doing what a monk should do.”

Intimidated by the piety on his face, all the monks were stunned and speechless.

At this moment, Sun Shaozong laughed and said, "So, if you eliminate your closest friends, you are also following the meaning of Buddha, am I right?”

Upon hearing him talk about this, Jie Xiu's face turned into a solemn and ferocious expression, and he raised his neck and hissed, "I don't want to; I didn’t want to kill him! But he... But he didn’t understand the principle of eliminating evil! He wanted to let go of Jie Nian, the mastermind behind the scenes, and pull me out of the Capital together.”

“Seeing that I refused to agree, he even threatened me with surrendering to the government.”

“I am also forced to do it, so I just...”

“So you killed him?”

Sun Shaozong said curiously, "But even if you want to kill him, there's no need to go to great lengths to pierce his heart with an iron chisel; is there any special significance in doing so?”

Seeing Sun Shaozong, he didn't care how he should defend himself but was curious about his killing techniques and what kind of mystery he was hiding.

Jie Xiu's aura couldn't help but weaken a bit, and he gritted his teeth and said, "I had made up my mind to write blood letters next to his body, taking the opportunity to lure suspicion toward Senior Jie Chen.”

“But I didn't expect... I didn't expect that when Jie Nian found out that I was about to kill him, he didn't even show any resistance at all, but instead looked like he was about to be released with ease.”

“So after I killed him, my heart became inexplicably flustered, and I forgot to write the bloody words.”

Damn~

No wonder Sun Shaozong pondered hard and couldn't even guess the purpose of Jie Xiu's actions. The emotional plan was only halfway through and ended in misstep!