Chapter 81: The Cowardly Third Son-in-Law
Soon, Hai Yifan led Yin Chuan and Lin Lang to the door of a room in the side courtyard of Lu's house. "You two, this is the residence of the Third Miss and her husband. I will not accompany you any longer. Please do as you please."
After saying that, without waiting for Yin Chuan to say anything else, he fled the yard in a flash, as if he didn't want to stay here for a moment.
Yin Chuan and Lin Lang exchanged a bewildered glance. They wondered why he didn't go to the Second Young Lady's family first, but instead came directly to the Third Young Lady and her husband. Perhaps it was because this place was the closest.
Linlang saw that the main door was closed and was about to go forward and knock on it, but Yin Chuan made a gesture to her to keep quiet and tiptoed towards the window. He must have heard someone talking inside.
"I really don't understand why Dad made such a decision?" The person who spoke was a young woman. No need to guess, it should be the third lady, Lu Shuiling.
"Isn't this...this also good?" This was a timid male voice, obviously the third son-in-law Yu Jintang.
"What's good about that? He told my eldest sister first, so why is he telling me and my second sister now? Isn't this partiality? Oh, you only told us after my eldest sister died. If she hadn't died, would you have never told us?"
"Shui Ling, you can't say that about our father." Yu Jintang advised humbly.
"I'm just so angry. Back then, he favored Jiye, but I didn't say anything. After all, Jiye and I are siblings born from the same mother, and we're different from the eldest and second sisters. But now that Jiye's gone, I've become the last one to be loved by my grandmother and uncle, and even have to be the last one to be taught the three unique skills!"
Although Lu Shuixian spoke in a low voice, her dissatisfaction was evident in her words.
"Don't think like that. Our mother is now Dad's first wife. And you are her own flesh and blood. How could you..."
"Speaking of our mother, I get even more furious! Dad has made up his mind and has already started teaching my eldest sister. How could she not know? But she never even mentioned it to me. Is she still my mother?"
"Maybe she has her own difficulties?"
"I hope she's in trouble, otherwise, I don't want to forgive her at all!"
After that, no one spoke in the room.
Yin Chuan then straightened his clothes and walked to the door with Lin Lang, knocking gently. "Excuse me, are the Third Miss and Third Uncle here?"
"Who is it?"
"We came to the mansion to investigate the case with the permission of the head of the family."
There was a moment's hesitation in the room, and then the door opened. Yu Jintang came forward with a smile and said, "So you are Mr. Liu and Miss Lin from the Cao Gang. Please come in."
The third young lady, Lu Shuiling, sat in the room without moving. From this detail, it can be seen that among the sons-in-law who married into the Lu family, not only Hai Yifan, but also the third uncle-in-law Yu Jintang had a low status.
Yin Chuan and Lin Lang walked into the room, and Yu Jintang greeted them warmly again, "Please take a seat, I'll go get some tea."
"What do you two want to investigate here?" Lu Shuiling spoke slowly at this time. She was wearing a fine cloth embroidered coat and her tone was quite disdainful.
"Miss Third, you are dressed differently from the people in the front hall?" Yin Chuan asked, implying that your parents both wore mourning clothes for your sister, so why are you so special?
"Mr. Liu, you're really nosy. This isn't a funeral hall. Do I really need to wear mourning clothes in my own room? Stop the small talk and get straight to the point. What do you want to ask me?"
Yin Chuan cleared his throat and said, "I heard that you, Miss Third, and Miss Eldest and Miss Second are not born of the same mother?"
"Yes. My elder and second sisters were born to my father's previous wife, Mrs. Yan. The late Jiye and I are the children of my father's current wife, Mrs. Gao."
"I see." Yin Chuan nodded. "So, how is your relationship with your elder and second sisters?"
"Of course we are as close as family, is there any need to explain that?"
Yin Chuan frowned slightly. "Oh... so. When your brother Jiye was alive, how did he treat those two sisters? Was he the same as you?"
"Of course it's the same. Hey? Mr. Liu, what do you mean by asking this? Are you suspecting there's some rift between us sisters? If you try to sow discord among our Lu family members, I'll go to my father and complain about you! I'll make you get out of the Lu family immediately!"
Linlang quickly came out to defend herself, "Miss Third, we absolutely didn't mean that. Your eldest sister suddenly suffered a misfortune, and your brother suffered a tragedy three years ago. Since we want to solve these mysteries, we have no choice but to ask more detailed questions about the Lu family. Please forgive me if my questions are inappropriate."
"Let me tell you, Shuiling has been incredibly kind to her older sisters," said Yu Jintang, the third uncle, as he brought the tea tray to the table. "Father-in-law often neglects Shuiling. This was true when Jiye was alive, and even more so after his passing. But Shuiling is usually very polite to her older sisters..."
"Stop talking too much! Just pour your water." Lu Shuiling glared at Yu Jintang, and Yu Jintang immediately stopped talking. He poured two cups of tea and handed them to Yin Chuan and Linlang.
"Please have some tea, both of you."
After the two thanked him, Yin Chuan turned to Yu Jintang and asked, "Third uncle, I heard that you are not from the magic business?"
"Oh, I'm a middle school teacher at the Girls' Middle School in Linqing."
"Then how did you marry into the Lu family?"
"Well……"
Before he could answer, Lu Shuiling interrupted, "Does this have anything to do with yesterday's case?"
"Don't worry, we are just collecting some information about the Lu family so that we can use it as a reference for the direction of subsequent investigation. You can rest assured that we will never spread it outside. This is the basic quality of a detective." Linlang hurriedly tried to smooth things over.
"Actually, Shui Ling was a student at a girls' middle school back then..." Yu Jintang couldn't help but say.
"No one will think you are dumb if you don't speak! Idiot!" Lu Shuiling had a ferocious look on her face and cursed Yu Jintang fiercely.
Yu Jintang was so frightened by the roar that he lowered his head and dared not say another word.
Judging from the situation, the third son-in-law, Yu Jintang, has even less say in the Lu family than the eldest son-in-law, Hai Yifan. And although Lu Shuiling is only nineteen, she has a temper as fiery as a hot pepper. Yin Chuan couldn't help but secretly speculate that if he asked any more questions about the three Lu sisters, she might immediately order him to leave, without any regard for her father, Lu Changhua.
"Well, Miss Third, let me ask you another question about your brother, Lü Jiye." Yin Chuan thought for a moment and asked, "When your brother was murdered, did you personally see the Flying Thief Feng Shijiu appear at the scene of his death?"
"Well... I didn't see Feng Shijiu. I was quite far from the training room where the crime happened, so I didn't arrive until I heard about it. By then, a lot of people had already gathered. I didn't even see my brother's body. Mom told me it was best not to see it, as the scene was said to be extremely horrific. So I only saw someone carrying the blanket wrapped around the body out, and the blood was still oozing out of the blanket! I was so scared that day!"
"Then do you think Feng Shijiu was responsible for your brother's murder?" "Although I didn't see Feng Shijiu with my own eyes that day, at least my eldest brother-in-law and my uncle's two disciples all said they saw Feng Shijiu. It was mainly because they were practicing night exercises at the time that they had the opportunity to discover the thief. I think that since so many people saw it with their own eyes, the murderer must be Feng Shijiu without a doubt."
"That's right..." Yin Chuan nodded, then changed the subject, "Speaking of training, Third Miss, in the Lu family magic troupe, besides your father, who do you think has the best magic skills?"
"The best... definitely my eldest brother-in-law, Hai Yifan. But Dad doesn't approve of his Western magic, thinking it's not legitimate. So, if we only consider the Lu family's magic skills... well, Jingui is still the best."
"Is that the master who played with the carpet yesterday?" Linlang asked.
"Yes, but Jingui's problem is more serious than Hai Yifan's." Lv Shuiling seemed to have touched upon a taboo topic. "You should ask him directly about the specific situation."
There's something else in this sentence! Yin Chuan muttered to himself.
After asking a few more trivial questions, Yin Chuan Linlang was about to leave. Yin Chuan stood up and said, "Thank you for your cooperation, Miss San. Excuse me, where can we find Master Jingui?"
"He should be in the training ground at this hour. He is very serious and hardworking in inheriting the Lu family's magic skills."
After Yin Chuan asked about the location of the training ground, he and Linlang thanked her and left.
After the two left, Yu Jintang closed the door and muttered quietly, "Shui Ling, I remember you said that you saw Jiye's body back then. Why did you tell them that you didn't see it?"
"What do you know? When they asked me that just now, I understood. That Liu guy seems to suspect that Jiye wasn't murdered by Feng Shijiu. If I say I saw Feng Shijiu, he might shift his suspicion back to Feng Shijiu. Wouldn't that make this case unsolved again? I don't believe there's anyone in the Lu family who doesn't want to kill Jiye. Plus, my eldest sister died inexplicably yesterday. I want to see if this Liu guy can find out who the real murderer is!"
"You mean... it was done by someone inside the Lu family?" Yu Jintang took a breath.
"I didn't say that. Don't twist my meaning." Lu Shuiling rolled her eyes at her husband. "Anyway, it's the same thing. Dad treats us three sisters in different levels and always puts me last. Now that my eldest sister is dead, my status will at least rise a little bit."
Yu Jintang shook his head helplessly, "Shui Ling, you're a bit gloating. After all, they are half sisters with the same father. What you said is not very humane."
"I don't care. Apart from my biological brother Jiye, I don't have any close relationship with the other two. If my second sister dies, won't I be the only one to inherit the Lu family?" Lu Shuiling said, with a smile from the heart on the corner of her mouth.
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