Chapter 84: Shadow of a Thief
At this time, Lu Enting from next door, the eldest son-in-law Hai Yifan from the front yard, the second daughter Lu Shuiqing and the second son-in-law Gu Yan rushed to the side yard together as if they had discussed it beforehand.
"Junior Brother Jingui, did you also see the thief coming?" Lu Enting asked.
Jingui nodded, then asked the others who had arrived: "Did everyone find out?"
Everyone admitted it.
"I saw him heading towards the training ground!" Hai Yifan pointed to the south.
"Let's go and take a look!" Second uncle Gui called out.
As he was speaking, Zhang Dafang rubbed his eyes and asked dazedly in the room: "Junior brother, is it the second uncle who called us? What's the matter?"
"It's okay, brother, go to sleep. I'll be back soon."
After sending Zhang Dafang away, everyone rushed to the training ground. It was pitch black, but a faint light suddenly shone through the cracks in the roof of the innermost training room, suggesting someone was still inside.
Everyone looked at each other, wondering who was still inside so late at night? Could it be the flying thief Feng Shijiu?
"Second Miss, you stand guard at the door, and we'll go in and catch them!" Jin Gui said.
Lu Shuiqing nodded, "You must be careful!"
"Don't worry, we four old men, why should we be afraid of Feng Shijiu, a thief?" Gu Yan boasted courageously.
Jin Gui was the first to open the door, followed by Lu Enting, Hai Yifan, and Gu Yan, while Lu Shuiqing stood guard at the door. However, apart from a still-burning oil lamp, the room was completely empty.
"Strange, why is there no one here?" Hai Yifan wondered.
"Everyone, search it. Maybe he is hiding somewhere in the room." Lu Enting said, pointing to the cabinets, boxes, wooden shelves and other miscellaneous items piled up in the corners of the room.
Everyone split up and searched carefully for places where people could hide. Just as everyone was concentrating on the search, they suddenly heard a cry of "Ouch!" and saw Lu Enting, who was searching the northeast corner, holding his arm with a painful expression.
"What's wrong, Enting?" Jin Gui was about to step forward to ask, and Gu Yan followed him.
"Don't come over! It seems like something bit me!" Lu Enting frowned and came to the two of them and said reluctantly.
"Let me see!" Hai Yifan leaned over and asked him to release his hand, exposing his upper arm. Sure enough, there were two small wounds on the outside of his wrist. Although there wasn't much blood, they were already swollen. "It's snake venom!"
"ah!"
Before Hai Yifan could continue, Gu Yan sat down on the ground and said, "Something bit my foot!"
Everyone was shocked. At this time, Hai Yifan also realized that something was wrong. He felt a tingling sensation on his calf. Could it be that he was also bitten by a snake?
"Gu Yan! What's wrong with you?" At this time, Lu Shuiqing rushed into the house from outside. Seeing her husband's pale face, she hurried forward to support him.
"Don't come over! There's a poisonous snake!" Hai Yifan hurried to stop her, but it was too late. As soon as Lu Shuiqing touched Gu Yan's shoulder, she suddenly groaned, "Hmm..." Needless to say, she had also been bitten by a snake.
"Everyone, get out! We can't stay in this room!" Jin Gui, who hadn't been bitten yet, shouted sternly. Everyone supported each other and fled the room. Hai Yifan told Jin Gui to go to his room and get the medicine box from the cabinet. Jin Gui agreed and rushed to Hai Yifan's room. After finally finding the medicine box, she returned to find Gu Yan gradually falling into a coma. Hai Yifan and Lu Enting were still holding on.
"Here's the medicine box."
"There is a bottle of light blue medicine in it. Use a syringe to draw it out and inject one tube into each of us." Hai Yifan said with a struggle.
Jin Gui agreed. Fortunately, he had seen Western doctors inject drugs, so he knew a little bit about it. With Hai Yifan's simple instructions, he injected the drugs into everyone one by one. But after he finished injecting Lu Enting, he suddenly realized that the second lady Lu Shuiqing had disappeared.
"Where is the second young lady?" asked Jin Gui.
Hai Yifan glanced around at everyone, and sure enough, Lü Shuiqing was nowhere to be found. "Second uncle?" he called out, but Gu Yan was still unconscious.
"Didn't she come out?" Jin Gui was a little flustered.
"Who was the last one to leave the door?" Hai Yifan asked.
"I helped my second uncle out," Lu Enting said. "Because I didn't see the second young lady in front, I thought she should be following us closely. Plus, she was poisoned, so I didn't pay any attention to her."
After hearing this, Jin Gui hurried to the training room, and Lu Enting followed closely behind him. However, Hai Yifan had to concentrate on taking care of his second uncle Gu Yan, so he did not follow.
As they pushed the door open again, Jin Gui felt something blocking it. With a strong push of both hands, she managed to force the door open. Once inside, they found Second Miss Lü Shuiqing sprawled on the ground, foaming at the mouth and dead.
"That's what happened." Jin Gui told Yin Chuan and Lin Lang what happened in the second half of the night. "The Second Young Lady was in this position at the time. Afterwards, I told the two people outside about it. After discussion, everyone agreed not to make it public for now, so as to avoid another chaos in the Lu residence in the middle of the night. As for what to do after daybreak, we'll discuss it then."
Yin Chuan nodded slightly, "Did you four find out where Feng Shijiu was later?"
The four of them shook their heads at the same time, indicating that they had never seen Feng Shijiu again.
"It seems that the second young lady did die of poisoning. But just in case, Miss Lin, please go back to the Cao Gang and ask Baohan to perform an autopsy." Yin Chuan said to Linlang.
Linlang agreed, got up and returned to the Cao Gang.
"Four of you, I have a few more questions to ask you." Yin Chuan then said to Hai Yifan, Gu Yan, Lu Enting and Jin Gui.
"Mr. Liu, please feel free to ask any questions you have," Hai Yifan replied. "My father-in-law has something to say. We must do our best to cooperate with your investigation."
Yin Chuan glanced at the four of them from left to right. Every time his eyes fell on someone, he felt uncomfortable all over, as if he was being stared at by a venomous snake that appeared and disappeared mysteriously.
"Everyone, who among you first discovered Feng Shijiu's whereabouts?" Yin Chuan suddenly spoke.
The four of them looked at each other, hesitating for a long moment before Hai Yifan spoke first. "If you're asking who discovered Feng Shijiu first...it's hard to say. But I was probably the first one out of the room. Late at night, I came back from the mourning hall in the front yard and was about to go to sleep when I saw someone leap from the roof. That's when I left. There was no one outside at that time."
"Okay, I understand. Then who was the last one to go out?" Yin Chuan asked.
"It should be me," Jin Gui took over. "I found Feng Shijiu, who had put on his clothes and left the house. By then, the eldest and second uncles-in-law, along with the second young lady and Uncle Enting, had already arrived in the backyard. Then we all rushed to the training room together."
"Were the lights on in the training room at that time?"
"Yes, but it's just a small oil lamp."
"And the door? Is it open or closed?"
"It's closed." Jingui replied.
Yin Chuan raised his eyebrows slightly. "That's strange. I've been to this training room before. It's where Lü Jiye's body was found three years ago. There's only one door here, no other exits—including side doors, windows, etc. Why were you so sure Feng Shijiu was in the room last night?"
This question left everyone present at a loss for an answer, and the scene fell into silence for a long time.
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