Judge Dee's Mystery Episode 28 Recap, Plot

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At once, everyone in Lanfang felt unsafe, scrambling to tattoo themselves with the Black Flame mark, fearing death at his hands. Because the small wooden sword and the Black Flame mark appeared at the same time, Hong Liang chose to confess to Di Renjie that his elder brother was Black Flame, and the character "Ying" carved on the wooden sword represented the eldest young master, Di Ying. Soon two more dead bodies appeared on the street.

The wounds on their bodies varied in size and were not caused by the same weapon, thus leading to suspicion that the murderer was someone else. As expected, Di Renjie locked down suspicion on four men of different identities and professions. The reason they killed was that the deceased wanted to leave the city, and the announcement had stated that if one person left the city without permission, Black Flame would randomly slaughter a household.

So, in order to survive and protect the safety of their families, the four men struck first against the deceased. They felt they were not wrong, and even the onlookers agreed, which Di Renjie found quite absurd. He angrily slammed the gavel and countered, asking the scholar if he had ever considered that if Black Flame announced he would kill his entire family to save the people of the whole county, would he then commit suicide with his family?

The scholar was stunned for a moment, then angrily accused Di Renjie of being incapable of catching Black Flame, causing the people of Lanfang to be in danger. Lin Fan officially stayed at the Ming residence. Di Renjie, with Hong Liang and others, patrolled the streets, finding the whole street deserted, shops closed, and occasional pedestrians hurrying by. On both sides, flags of Black Flame were planted for protection.

Originally, Hong Liang advocated for requesting aid from the prefect to send troops to suppress, but seeing the current situation, he finally understood why Di Renjie had rejected that proposal. Not to mention implicating innocent people, it was likely that the entire county office prison couldn't hold these people. It was precisely for this reason that Di Renjie stayed in the morgue to deduce the case, believing that the Xiao Chunyu case was the beginning of this series of events.

He needed to seize the initiative and could no longer be led by the nose by Black Flame. Di Renjie sought out Lady Lang to inquire about Xiao Chunyu. Lady Lang confessed that she was very fond of Xiao Chunyu, saying she was a beautiful and skilled young woman. However, after marrying into the Lang family, she never smiled again, and had never consummated her marriage with her husband.

In her heart, she always remembered Chu Lei, with whom she had secretly betrothed herself. But no matter how angry Lady Lang was, she did not choose to annul the marriage. Instead, she considered that the Lang family was a prominent household in Tongkang Village and could not afford to lose face. Furthermore, in Lady Lang's view, the Lang family had been faultless from beginning to end.

It was entirely due to Shopkeeper Xiao's meddling that he ruined things for Xiao Chunyu and Chu Lei. Even if retribution was due, it should fall upon Shopkeeper Xiao. Little did she expect such a thing to happen in Tongkang Village. Di Renjie sighed, saying if Lady Lang had allowed the lovers to be together earlier, perhaps her son would not have died so tragically. Upon hearing this, Lady Lang was filled with deep regret.

Now, Di Renjie had an answer for the entire case. To confirm his judgment, he first went to test Shopkeeper Xiao's attitude. Shopkeeper Xiao admitted that he knew his daughter had not consummated her marriage with the Lang family's son. That night, Di Renjie summoned Lin Fan, Shopkeeper Xiao, and others, and reconstructed the events of the case and the truth for them.

It turned out that Xiao Chunyu originally intended to use visiting her parents as an excuse to go home, pack her belongings, and elope with Chu Lei. It just so happened that Long San saw Chu Lei climb through the window. To protect Xiao Chunyu's reputation, Chu Lei deliberately took away the paper effigy Xiao Chunyu had made, making people mistakenly believe that Xiao Chunyu had been kidnapped by Chu Lei. However, Long San had already conceived greedy intentions.

He planned to drag Xiao Chunyu back to his shop, occupy and kill her, seize all her treasures, and furthermore, report Chu Lei to the county office, achieving three goals with one stone. However, Long San, despite all his calculations, did not anticipate that he would face retribution ten years later. Because he was illiterate, he kept Xiao Chunyu's bundle cloth to wrap meat and wipe his knife, leaving behind a clue that proved he was the real murderer.

On the other hand, Shopkeeper Xiao, despite knowing that his daughter was very likely eloping, still acted as an enabler when Long San reported Chu Lei, in order to save face. Due to his selfish desires, he harmed his daughter and also harmed Chu Lei, causing Chu Lei to be wronged for many years. Shopkeeper Xiao, upon learning the truth, wept profusely, confessed on the spot, and was taken back to the yamen by Hong Liang and others.

To address the people's fear of Black Flame, the county office issued armbands printed with the Black Flame pattern to everyone. Only Di Renjie himself did not wear one, aiming to lure Black Flame to him. Cao An was in a fretful mood and played the zither to relieve it. Hearing a sound outside the door, she chased after it and saw Lin Fan's figure. She immediately stopped him and asked him to take her to see Black Flame. Di Renjie saw Cao An's note and went to find Lin Fan immediately as well, following him alone to meet Black Flame.

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