Qiao Xueying was stunned. “How could that be possible?” However, her face soon lit up in delight. “Isn’t that even better?” she replied. “You just have to speak the truth, and the villagers will all be cleared of suspicion!”

“How dumb do you have to be to actually say those words aloud?” Zu An looked at Qiao Xueying with scorn in his eyes. “Don’t you know the implications of speaking the truth? That’s basically affirming the fact that heaven has decreed the emperor’s death! There’s no way the emperor would let us off if we made such a report!”

“What do we do then?” exclaimed Qiao Xueying. “We can’t tell the truth, and the villagers here are innocent as well. We can’t possibly force one of them to be the scapegoat and confess, can we?”

“It won’t be easy to pull that off even if we wanted to do so,” replied Zu An, rather downcast. “The Qin Dynasty has extremely strict laws. Such grave disrespect to the emperor warrants the eradication of nine generations of the clan! Who would possibly admit to such a grievous crime, especially since they’re being wronged?”

“Doesn’t that mean that it’s impossible for us to find the murderer within a single day?” Qiao Xueying felt her heart sinking rapidly.

Zu An turned his gaze toward the villagers, his voice taking on a frosty edge. “There’s...