"Su Yan, you must be mistaken. The puppet you're looking for might not even be here."
Exhausted, Xie Yu slumped in a chair, panting heavily.
Su Yan remained silent, her thoughts already drifting far away. She was still holding the wooden puppet she had found at Juxianju and didn't hear Xie Yu speaking to her at all.
Seeing that Su Yan was lost in thought, Xie Yu called her a few times without getting a response. He walked over and waved his hand in front of Su Yan's eyes. "Su Yan, it's broad daylight, don't scare me..."
Su Yan pushed Xie Yu's hand away with a look of disgust, "Stop shaking me, I'm not possessed."
Seeing that Su Yan was responding to him, Xie Yu breathed a sigh of relief and patted his still-shaken heart. "You scared me to death! What were you thinking just now...?"
“I’m thinking that even though Yan Shuo killed Meng Heng, a wooden puppet with the same facial features as Meng Heng was left at the crime scene, but after Yan Shuo died, the wooden puppet could not be found at the scene.”
Xie Yu took the wooden puppet from Su Yan and looked it over.
The puppets were exquisitely crafted, with lifelike facial features, indistinguishable from real people. Xie Yu had never seen such ingenious carving techniques before.
"In my opinion, these may be two separate cases that cannot be investigated together."
"But five days after Meng Heng died, Yan Shuo also died. The fact that they died one after the other makes it hard not to be suspicious."
Xie Yu felt that Su Yan's words made a lot of sense. There must be a motive for murder. The Surveillance Bureau had already investigated Meng Heng and Yan Shuo, and neither of them had any enemies except each other.
“This is indeed suspicious, as we’ve searched the entire attic, but we haven’t found the little wooden puppet you mentioned. Could it be that you’re mistaken?”
Su Yan shook her head firmly, "Impossible. I have a feeling there must be another puppet on the scene."
"Since they're not at the scene, could it be..."
Xie Yu hesitated, but his words were like a gavel, instantly reminding Su Yan.
Yes! Yan Shuo developed a high fever the night he left Juxianju.
In other words, the murderer committed the crime at Juxianju, which explains why the people of the Yan family couldn't find the reason for Yan Shuo's sudden critical illness.
Thinking of this, Su Yan decided to get up and leave, but after taking only a few steps, Xie Yu called her back.
"Are you going to Juxianju?"
Su Yan nodded. "Do you want to come along?"
Xie Yu looked at the wooden puppet in his hand. "This is a skill that most people don't possess. How about we split up? You go to Juxianju, and I'll investigate the origin of this puppet."
"No need. I've already investigated. The craft of puppetry has been lost. No one in Chang'an knows wood carving anymore. Apart from family traditions, we can't find the murderer based on this alone."
After hearing this, Xie Yu sighed deeply, "What a pity. Oh well, I'll go to Juxianju with you..."
Su Yan did not refuse Xie Yu's request.
Based on Leng Qiuling's reaction today, Su Yan knew that she recognized the puppet. The puppet had the same facial features as Meng Heng. Anyone would be unable to calmly face the person who had hurt them appearing in front of them.
But Leng Qiuling did indeed act as if she had never seen a puppet before, which was indeed suspicious.
However, these are all speculations without any real evidence, so Su Yan plans to find another puppet to confront Leng Qiuling.
Soon, Su Yan and Xie Yu arrived at the entrance of Juxianju. Because of Meng Heng, Juxianju had been ordered to close down. The entrance was sealed and guarded by soldiers, so everything inside remained as it was when the incident occurred.
Su Yan and Xie Yu showed their waist tokens to the guards for verification.
Upon recognizing them as members of the Surveillance Bureau, the guard immediately unlocked the door and let the two inside.
Upon entering, Juxianju was a mess, its former prosperity gone, and the huge house felt incredibly desolate.
Looking at the empty lobby, Xie Yu frowned and said, "This room is so big, where do we even begin searching?"
Su Yan looked up at the second floor, said nothing, and headed straight for the private room on the second floor.
Seeing Su Yan go upstairs, Xie Yu simply sat in the lobby, watching her receding figure, and grumbled, "Our people have searched that room several times. If the puppet was really in the room, it would have been found long ago."
Su Yan didn't answer, tore off the seal on the door, and pushed it open to go inside.
Because the windows hadn't been opened for ventilation for several days, Su Yan smelled a rotten odor lingering in the room, somewhat similar to the smell of rotting wood after rain.
Su Yan recalled that the book described a type of wood called ebony, which, in a sealed environment, could emit the smell of rotting pine needles after rain. If living people smelled it too much, it could cause hallucinations and mental instability. However, its resin was an excellent preservative material, which could be applied to the surface of a corpse and remain intact for thousands of years. The wood could also be made into coffins.
It takes at least several hundred years for a tree to grow, but petrified wood was favored by the powerful and wealthy, so it had already become extinct several hundred years ago.
Su Yan wasn't sure if the smell in the room was from ebony, so she opened the window to let in some fresh air.
Logically speaking, since she had already taken the puppet, there shouldn't be such a strong smell lingering in the room. Su Yan was overjoyed, certain that the other puppet was in the room.
But where could it be?
Without saying a word, Su Yan started searching. Just then, voices came from the doorway.
"Ugh, what's that smell in this room? It's so awful..."
Xie Yu stood at the door, covering her nose, her face full of disgust.
"Su Yan, you're really looking for it in this house?"
"Of course, didn't you smell something in the room? I think it's very likely ebony."
"Sunken wood? What is that?" Xie Yu asked, puzzled.
Su Yan was too lazy to explain to Xie Yu, so she threw the things she was holding over to him.
Xie Yu reached out and steadily caught what Su Yan threw at him. When he opened it, he was even more puzzled to find that it was a small wooden puppet.
Why are you giving me this?
"Smell the scent emanating from the puppet."
When Xie Yu heard Su Yan's request, although he was puzzled, he still chose to comply and put the puppet to his nose to smell it.
There was indeed a faint smell of decay, so faint that it was almost imperceptible.
"You mean the smell in the room is coming from another puppet?"
Su Yan nodded. "That's right. I guess the murderer had already placed the puppet in the house that day, but it wasn't found during the search."
"But the house has already been searched several times. If it were so easy to find, we wouldn't have waited until now."
Su Yan thought Xie Yu's words made a lot of sense, but she quickly came up with a solution.
Just because a human's nose is bad doesn't mean a dog's nose is bad.
Su Yan hurriedly left Juxianju, borrowed a white country hunting dog from the Chang'an County Government Office, and sniffed the wooden puppet under its nose.
Soon, the hound smelled the aroma and its whole body became restless, anxiously trying to rush into the house.
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