Chapter 118 Wheel Tracks, Footprints, and Horse Hoof Prints (Part )
Di Renjie took Zeng Tai all the way back to the body of the deceased in front of the tombstone.

"Look again, there are a few more different and deeper footprints here. These are left by the murderer." Di Renjie pointed to the very deep footprints.

Zeng Tai looked at the footprints that were completely different from those of the deceased and nodded.

Di Renjie added: "The footprints appeared out of nowhere and disappeared out of nowhere, which means the murderer got off the horse once and then got on again and left."

Zeng Tai asked innocently, "Why did the murderer get off his horse?"

Di Renjie shook his head and laughed, then asked, "Where are the head and left arm of the deceased?"

Zeng Tai suddenly realized, "Oh! He wanted to pick up the dead man's head, cut off the dead man's left arm and take it away?"

Di Renjie smiled and nodded, but then shook his head: "But there is another strange thing about this."

"What's so strange about that?" Zeng Tai asked puzzled.

"The murderer's footprints are a bit too deep." Di Renjie said in a deep voice.

"Too deep?"

Zeng Tai took a close look at the murderer's footprints, compared them with the deceased's footprints, and then looked at his own and Di Renjie's footprints. It seemed that neither was as deep as the deceased's.

Di Renjie spoke calmly, "It rained heavily last night, so the soil is indeed soft. But I have seen that even with his head chopped off, the deceased is still nearly six feet tall and has a sturdy build."

"He is considered big for an average person, but his footprints are only a finger deep. The murderer's footprints are nearly twice as deep as his. This is totally abnormal."

Zeng Tai compared Di Renjie's footprints with the murderer's, and then looked at his mentor's figure. He was deeply touched: "Yes, the murderer's footprints are indeed abnormally deep."

"Could it be that the murderer is a fat man?" Zeng Tai muttered to himself but didn't dare to say it out loud.

Di Renjie thought for a long time but could not come up with a reliable conclusion: "Let's go to the carriage and take a look."

So the two of them followed the horseshoe prints to the carriage.

Zeng Tai rushed to show off: "Master, you see there are deep footprints on this official road. They must have been left by the murderer when he killed someone, turned around and cut off the driver's head and left arm, and then prepared to paint the bleeding eagle."

Di Renjie stroked his beard and confirmed Zeng Tai's statement with a smile: "That's right, but the footprints are still so deep, it's really puzzling."

As the two were talking, they suddenly saw Li Yuanfang taking big strides on the official road in the distance, as if he was measuring something.

Li Yuanfang kept muttering to himself, his face full of confusion: "Impossible, absolutely impossible."

Di Renjie walked over and saw Li Yuanfang in such a strange state. He asked, "Yuanfang, did you find anything?"

"Sir, what do you think of these hoof prints?" Li Yuanfang asked in surprise.

Di Renjie took a look at the horseshoe prints and said, "From what I can see, these are the horseshoe prints left by the murderer's horse."

"Sir, forgive me for being frank, but this is not a horse!" Li Yuanfang said shockingly.

Di Renjie was stunned, a little confused: "If it's not a horse, what is it?"

Li Yuanfang swallowed his saliva and said, "Although I am not a master of horse appraisal, I know a thing or two. As far as I know, among our army's war horses there is a kind of Kangju horse, which is a Dayuan horse breed. This kind of horse is already a large horse."

"But the hoof prints on the official road are as big as a bowl, twice as big as the hooves of a Kangju horse. I just measured the distance between the hoof prints, and they are more than one and a half times that of a war horse. This is impossible!"

This seemed to touch upon Di Renjie's blind spot in knowledge, and he asked, "Then according to you, what was the murderer riding?"

Li Yuanfang shook his head and said, "I don't know, unless..."

"Unless what?" Di Renjie asked again.

"Unless it's a monster!"

"Demon beast?!" Zeng Tai was startled and frightened beside him.

The county magistrates, yamen runners, and constables around were all shocked and whispered to each other. At this time, a loud thunder flashed in the sky, and the thunder frightened everyone, including Zeng Tai and Li Yuanfang.

Di Renjie was calm and did not agree with Li Yuanfang's answer. He smiled and questioned: "But I see that the horse hoof prints clearly have the shape of horseshoes. Could it be that some monster also needs horseshoes?"

"This... might be some kind of demon horse!" Li Yuanfang uttered another outrageous statement.

Di Renjie was amused by Li Yuanfang's answer and said jokingly, "Then the person riding on this monster horse must be a monster, right?"

Zeng Tai's face turned grim upon hearing this. He pulled Di Renjie's sleeve and said, "Master, do you still remember the unusually deep footprints you just mentioned? Could that really be a demon?"

"There is also the centenarian Jiang Xiaolang, and the Bleeding Eagle tragedy that occurred in many counties and prefectures across the country. It seems that they are beyond human control!" Zeng Tai said tremblingly.

Suddenly, there was another thunder in the sky, with lightning and thunder, and the county magistrate and the yamen runners began to talk again.

Under such circumstances, Di Renjie's expression also became strange.

After a long while, Di Renjie shook his head and said firmly: "No, I believe everything has its reasons, but it won't be some monster or beast."

However, these words could not dispel Li Yuanfang and Zeng Tai's doubts, and they still looked nervous.

Seeing this, Di Renjie said helplessly: "Yuan Fang, take a copy of the horse hoof print, return to Shendu with my name card, and ask the master of horse in the palace to take a look. I believe this is definitely not a monster or a monster horse."

"Zeng Tai, send someone to Jiangjiazhuang to look for Jiang Xiaolang or his relatives to see if there is anything you can find. As long as you are down-to-earth, you will definitely be able to solve the case without having to find some weird excuses."

"And, in fact, you all overlooked a very obvious clue." Di Renjie smiled mysteriously.
-
Zeng Tai and Li Yuanfang were scaring themselves, and Wu Zetian was also scaring herself.

In Shangyang Palace, Princess Taiping was accompanying Wu Zetian, and the two of them were talking nonsense about the ghost of Li Xian.

Just as he was talking about this, the eunuch came in to report: "His Royal Highness Prince Liang heard that the emperor was unwell, and came to ask how he was."

Wu Zetian sneered: "What a well-informed news!"

Princess Taiping stood up and said, "I will take shelter for a while."

Wu Zetian shook her head and said, "You stay here. I will go to the outer hall to meet him."

With the help of the palace maids, Wu Zetian forced herself to stay awake and sat upright at the desk in the outer hall, and then summoned Wu Sansi.

Wu Sansi came in and first took a look at Wu Zetian's complexion, and then paid his respects.

Wu Zetian stared at Wu Sansi and said coldly: "You see, I am in good health. I am just a little tired from the recent state affairs, so I want to rest for a while."

Wu Sansi seemed to be relieved: "Your Majesty is fine, I am relieved, I just hope Your Majesty can take care of your health, your health is the foundation of our Great Zhou."

Wu Zetian did not comment: "If you really want to do this, you should share some of the state affairs with me. Don't harbor evil intentions and only bother with Di Renjie and other old ministers, which gives me a headache."

Wu Sansi bowed and said, "I will follow your majesty's instructions."

Wu Zetian waved her hand and said, "Okay, I'm tired, you go!"

Wu Sansi slowly retreated, feeling strange in his heart.

His eyes rolled around, thinking to himself, "If I had entered the palace to test the waters in the past, I would have been scolded. But today, he is unusually gentle. It seems that the emperor is really in poor health. We must make plans early."

Princess Taiping had already come to Wu Zetian's side in the palace.

Wu Zetian's face turned very bad: "I haven't died yet, but some people have already started to plan for the future, saying 'take care of your health'. On the surface, they pretend to be extremely humble, but in fact they are secretly plotting to disobey! Humph, their hearts are really damnable!"

"If my guess is correct, Li Xian will also come later. I will not see him. You can send him back for me."

After saying this, Wu Zetian turned away.

(End of this chapter)