The Foolish People

"Ye Zi, that's a nice name," Zhou Hao praised with a smile, then continued, "Tell me, what do you want me to help you with!"

Ye Zi sniffled. Zhou Hao had already wiped away the snot, so the sound wasn't loud. Ye Zi immediately said, "Uncle Shi Po was poisoned to death. The killer definitely wasn't Uncle Heizi. Someone else poisoned Uncle Shi Po."

Zhou Hao sighed and asked, "Can you tell me the whole story in detail?"

It was too vague, he didn't have the full picture!

Ye Zi organized his thoughts and began, "It's like this..."

Just then, Ma Hongyun arrived. He cupped his hands towards Zhou Hao and said with a smile, "Sir, allow me to explain this matter. Ye Zi is just a child and can't explain it clearly."

Zhou Hao nodded slightly, patted Ye Zi's back, and said to Ma Hongyun, "Then you tell me."

As Ma Hongyun was about to speak, Xu Shan also arrived. However, he was tactful and respectfully greeted Zhou Hao.

"What's wrong?" Xu Shan asked, glancing at Ye Zi.

Ma Hongyun subtly glanced at Xu Shan and smiled, "Nothing, Sir just wants to understand the cause of Big Brother's death."

Xu Shan raised an eyebrow and curled his lip, "What's there to understand? It was poison from the Tiger Fiend Stockade. Isn't that already clear?"

Upon hearing this, a sharp glint flashed in Ma Hongyun's eyes. He said with feigned helplessness, "Since Sir wants to know, we'll explain it in detail!"

"There's nothing to say," Xu Shan waved his hand.

Then he beckoned Ye Zi, "Ye Zi, come with me."

Ye Zi looked at Zhou Hao, hesitated for a moment, then stepped towards Xu Shan.

"Wait a moment."

Zhou Hao held Ye Zi's hand and nodded to Ma Hongyun, "Tell me the whole story, in detail."

Xu Shan's attitude made him suspect there was more to Shi Po's death.

Ma Hongyun smiled and immediately recounted the whole story: "It happened like this. Two days ago, Big Brother, ah, that is Shi Po, died in his room. From observation, he died of poisoning, but we couldn't identify the type of poison.

Later, we investigated Big Brother's diet for the entire day and found a similar poison in some leftover food, which led us to target Heizi, the cook.

Big Brother's meals were all prepared by him, and he was the one who delivered them to Big Brother. He was the most suspicious.

Later, when we interrogated him, he admitted it. He said he administered the poison, that the Tiger Fiend Stockade ordered him to do it, and that they gave him a large sum of money.

Afterward, we did find a large sum of money in his room, a full thousand gold coins."

Gold coins? Zhou Hao paused. So this world used gold coins.

Although his thoughts had wandered, he had been listening to Ma Hongyun's narration.

"After confirming it was him," Ma Hongyun paused here and turned to look at Xu Shan, continuing, "Xu Shan immediately killed Heizi with a palm strike."

Xu Shan turned his head away, his eyes slightly evasive.

"Uncle Heizi didn't administer the poison," Ye Zi suddenly spoke up.

Zhou Hao patted his head and asked, "Why are you so sure it wasn't Uncle Heizi who administered the poison?"

Ye Zi's tears almost welled up again. He rubbed his eyes with his hand and said in a childish voice, "Uncle Heizi was very kind. He often gave me food and played with us. He couldn't have killed Uncle Shi Po. The killer must be someone else."

Xu Shan said with a dark expression, "Ye Zi, you can't judge a book by its cover. You're still young and don't understand."

Zhou Hao glanced at him and asked abruptly, "Could the real killer be you?"

Xu Shan's heart trembled. He chuckled and said, "How could that be? To avenge Big Brother, I was the first to propose going to war with the Tiger Fiend Stockade. For that, I almost fought with Third Brother."

Ma Hongyun suddenly interjected, "Actually, I also feel that Big Brother's death is full of suspicious points. Everyone knows Heizi is a simple and honest person; he wouldn't kill someone without reason."

"For money! Didn't the Tiger Fiend Stockade give him a lot of money?" Xu Shan's tone became a little aggressive.

Ma Hongyun shook his head, glanced at Xu Shan, and continued, "Actually, I suspected you of poisoning Big Brother from the beginning. But due to your honest and upright image in the stockade, and the fact that I had been showing signs of wanting to take over, even if I pointed out my suspicions, it would only lead to others suspecting me.

So, after you shifted the suspicion of the mastermind to the Tiger Fiend Stockade, I went along with it and let the stockade members place the blame on the Tiger Fiend Stockade.

If I'm not mistaken, Heizi must have been threatened by you, right? You captured his mother?"

Ma Hongyun's gaze was fixed on Xu Shan.

Xu Shan opened his mouth, then coldly snorted, "These are all just your speculations. Do you have any evidence?"

"I've already sent people to Heizi's hometown. They should be back today, and then we'll have evidence," Ma Hongyun said, looking at Zhou Hao. "With an adult like you here to preside today, I dared to speak out in advance."

Zhou Hao felt a bit awkward. It seemed like he didn't really have a role to play here. Ma Hongyun had already explained most of it; he could just watch the show.

Xu Shan coldly snorted, "Don't make baseless accusations. Maybe you're the one crying wolf. You killed Big Brother."

Good heavens, he's trying to turn the tables! Zhou Hao thought as he watched the unfolding drama.

"We'll know when the evidence comes back," Ma Hongyun said confidently.

Their argument also attracted the attention of the stockade members.

These stockade brothers couldn't tell who was right or wrong, but by instinct, they would definitely choose to believe Xu Shan. However, what Ma Hongyun said also made sense; it was logical and seemed to be true.

Neither side could clearly discern the truth, so their minds were a bit confused.

Ma Hongyun listened to the surrounding discussions and sighed inwardly, "As expected, more people are willing to believe Xu Shan. After all, Xu Shan's image of being honest, upright, and loyal is deeply ingrained."

His decision earlier was not wrong. If he had raised the issue then and Xu Shan had retaliated, it would have been truly difficult for him to clear his name.

But today, with Zhou Hao in charge and the evidence about to be returned, he decided to seize this opportunity to expose Xu Shan.

He believed that any clear-sighted person could see that Xu Shan was problematic, it was just that the people in the stockade were unwilling to think in that direction.

Zhou Hao, who was indeed clear-sighted, saw that Xu Shan was problematic. What he couldn't understand was why, with something so obvious, the people in this stockade still chose to believe Xu Shan.

From the surrounding discussions, Zhou Hao could tell that Xu Shan was more popular.

What kind of baffling behavior was this? He felt quite speechless.

He lowered his head and glanced at Ye Zi, then thought for a moment before softly asking, "Ye Zi, between these two, who do you think is more like the murderer?"

Ye Zi was taken aback, thought for a moment, and then raised a hand to point at Xu Shan.

"Uncle Xu Shan."

Zhou Hao smiled helplessly. Well, even a child could see it, but these adults watching couldn't.

Upon hearing this, Xu Shan immediately roared, "Ye Zi, don't talk nonsense."

Ye Zi, startled, hugged Zhou Hao's leg and hid behind him.

A sharp glint flashed in Zhou Hao's eyes, and he flicked his hand, unleashing a surge of Metamorphosis Power.

Xu Shan's face turned ashen with shock, but the Metamorphosis Power was fast. The next moment, he was struck.

However, after a moment, he felt no pain. He looked down at his body, felt around, and found no injuries anywhere.

Three black lines ran down Zhou Hao's forehead. Uh... he forgot. He was cultivating the "Metamorphosis Incantation," and the Metamorphosis Power had no offensive capabilities.

To avoid further embarrassment, he suddenly took a step forward, instantly appearing before Xu Shan.

Xu Shan was still congratulating himself on not being injured. Suddenly, he sensed something, looked up, and found Zhou Hao already in front of him.

"Bang~"

Zhou Hao kicked Xu Shan in the stomach.

Xu Shan flew high into the air, landing on his knees and gouging two deep tracks in the ground before finally collapsing.

Zhou Hao patted the dust off his feet and returned to Ye Zi's side.

Ma Hongyun swallowed hard, feeling fortunate that he hadn't provoked Zhou Hao earlier.

Zhou Hao asked, "When will the evidence be back?"

"It will arrive tonight," Ma Hongyun replied.

Zhou Hao nodded and waved his hand, saying, "You two can confront each other tonight. For now, everyone disperse!"

"Yes." Ma Hongyun didn't dare to disagree, especially after seeing Xu Shan lying on the ground.

After that, everyone dispersed, with the confrontation to continue that night.