Chapter 77: Poisonous Chaos
Yin Chuan and Lin Lang in the backstage could also see it clearly from the stage entrance. Yin Chuan hurriedly shouted to the director, "Push it back quickly! Push it back quickly!"
Sichang was also a little at a loss at this time. Looking at Lu Changhua, whose face was pale with fear, he knew that the head of the family must have a blank mind at the moment. He had to remind Zhang Dafang and Jingui to quickly close the walls of the water tank and pull it backstage.
"Everyone... I'm so sorry," Lu Changhua quickly recovered, suppressing his shock and anger. He forced a smile and clasped his fists to the audience, saying, "Something went wrong with today's performance, so we can't continue. I'm sorry to have spoiled everyone's fun. I'll arrange for a refund for your tickets right away. The Lu family's magic show will continue to rely on your support."
The Lu family troupe's servants understood the situation and began to arrange for the audience to leave and refund their tickets, which inevitably led to a lot of murmurs among the audience. After Lu Changhua sorted out the problems at the front desk, he returned backstage, his face extremely grim. By then, the backstage was already in chaos, but fortunately, his uncle Lu Tai was there to prevent further chaos.
After people opened the folding glass panel on the bottom of the glass water tank and drained the water in the tank, Lu Shuixian fell horizontally to the bottom of the tank.
Several disciples hurriedly carried the person out. At this time, Lu Shuixian was soaked, so they had to cover her with a sheet. When Yin Chuan went forward to take a look, he found that the person had been dead for a long time.
"What's going on?" Lu Changhua, who had just returned from the front desk, roared.
No one present answered. Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to respond to the head of the family.
"Hai Yifan! Hai Yifan?" Lu Changhua shouted again.
The eldest son-in-law Hai Yifan seemed to wake up from a dream. He quickly got out of the crowd and walked quickly to Lu Changhua.
"Father-in-law...you...you called me?" he said tremblingly.
"What's going on? Narcissus... Why is Narcissus in the water tank?"
"I...I don't know." Hai Yifan was speechless.
Yin Chuan, who was examining the body, asked him, "Mr. Hai, did you see your wife after you finished your performance?"
Hai Yifan shook his head, "No... I haven't seen it."
"When was the last time you saw her?"
"This..." Hai Yifan pursed his lips, thinking carefully for a moment before saying, "It was just a few minutes before my father-in-law came backstage. I had to rush to practice my first program alone, and I haven't seen her since then."
"Mr. Liu, Narcissus..." Lu Changhua asked with a glimmer of hope.
Yin Chuan lowered his eyelids and shook his head, "It's no use. Miss Lu is already dead."
Lu Changhua closed his eyes silently and sat on the chair with trembling lips.
"What was the cause of Narcissus's death?"
"She didn't drown, but was poisoned," Yin Chuan replied. "She was drooling, her pupils were dilated, and her lips and fingertips were blue—clearly signs of poison. Furthermore, there was a fishy odor about the body that didn't seem to be coming from a human body."
At this time, Du Yunzhang came from the front desk to the backstage, "Old Yin... uh... Old Liu, what's going on?" He almost let the cat out of the bag.
Yin Chuan looked up at Du Yunzhang and said, "Hurry back and call Bao Han. He should be more experienced in autopsies. Master Lu," he turned to Lu Changhua and said, "Please report this to the authorities right now and have the Linqing police station send officers to investigate."
Lü Changhua smiled wryly and said, "There's no need to report this to the police. The Linqing police chief was just here in the audience. He's sent someone to give me a message. He said the police station will definitely send someone to help if needed, but he also reminded me that this is an internal matter of the Lu family magic troupe, especially since they've caused such a scene in public today that it's impossible to resolve. If they send the police, it's uncertain whether the Lu family can still keep their Linqing brand. The implication is that they don't want to get involved in this mess. It's better to let the Lu family handle it internally."
"Hey! Someone's dead! These incompetent people are doing this!" Du Yunzhang cursed fiercely.
"In that case, Master Lu, if you trust us from the Cao Gang, we will help you investigate this case and find out the murderer of Miss Lu. At the same time, we will not let go of the matter of Lu Jiye and Feng Shijiu. What do you think?" Yin Chuan said.
Lu Changhua sighed sadly and said, "It's the only way. Thank you, Mr. Liu and Ms. Lin."
Before Yin Chuan could continue examining the body, he suddenly heard Jin Gui exclaim, "Ah! It's Feng Shijiu! It was Feng Shijiu who did it!"
Everyone present was confused as to why he said that. Lu Changhua asked, "Jin Gui, where did Feng Shijiu come from?"
"Look--" Jingui was still in the glass cabinet at this time, pointing at the inner wall and said.
Yin Chuan took a closer look and saw that he was pointing at two marks on the upper edge of the water tank. Only then did he realize that there were two water stains on the inner wall near the tank mouth that looked like fingerprints.
"Master Jingui, can you tell it's Feng Shijiu from these two hand prints?" Yin Chuan asked.
"There's no mistake. Look, these two palm prints only have nine fingers!" Jin Gui's voice almost trembled.
Yin Chuan looked carefully again and found that the palm print on the left had five fingers, but the palm print on the right had only four fingers, with the little finger missing.
"Mr. Liu, you may not know that the Flying Thief Feng Nineteen got his name because he was missing a finger. Every time he committed a crime, he would leave behind a palm print with a missing finger. Perhaps this was a special mark he left behind, fearing that others would not know his name."
Yin Chuan frowned. "If the 'Feng' in his name describes him as being as swift as the wind, then I don't quite understand. Since the Flying Thief is missing a finger, he could just be called Feng Jiu. Why is he simply called Feng Shijiu?"
"This..." Lu Changhua hesitated for a moment, "Maybe it's easier to call it that? Everyone calls it that."
"Brother Liu," Linlang said to Yin Chuan as she looked at Lv Shuixian's body. "There's a distinct fishy odor in the water tank and on the body. It seems the poison Miss Lv was poisoned with is more like an animal toxin. Furthermore, there are signs of poison not only in her mouth, but also in her nose, ears, and even... even her private parts."
"What?" Yin Chuan was shocked.
"That's right. It's as if... as if..." Linlang hesitated, "as if she were soaked in poisonous water."
The entire backstage crowd was in an uproar. Lu Changhua's face had turned pale, and his lips were trembling.
"Ah...ah..." At this time, Uncle Lu Tai stood up, raised the crutch in his hand and pointed it outwards at his son. Lu Tingen understood that he wanted him to leave with him.
"Everyone, my father is not feeling well, so I'll go back first." After saying that, without waiting for Lu Changhua to speak, he followed Lu Tai and left the backstage without looking back.
Lu Changhua watched his uncle and his son leave. Though deeply dissatisfied, as a junior, he couldn't say anything. He bowed to Yin Chuan and said, "Mr. Liu, no matter what, you must find the true culprit behind my daughter's murder and bring justice to the Lu family. On behalf of the entire Lu family, I beg you!" He bowed to the ground. His wife, Gao, followed suit.
"Master Lu, you don't have to be like this. We've already promised you that whether it's the incident involving the eldest daughter of the Lu family today, or the case involving Lu Jiye three years ago, and whether the Flying Thief Feng Shijiu is truly the culprit, we will get to the bottom of it and give the Lu family an explanation."
Linlang also nodded in agreement and comforted Lu Changhua and his wife with kind words.
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