Chapter 44
After walking around the room, Zhang Xiaotian had a feeling that something was wrong.
The man and woman's belongings often appeared together in the room. For example, the husband's personal seal was placed in the jewelry box, business documents were placed on the dressing table, and women's long skirts and men's shirts were placed next to each other in the wardrobe. All these signs made people think that the man and woman in this house were very close. But something was wrong.
Zhang Xiaotian couldn't figure it out, so he picked up the paper on the table and looked at it while hitting his head hard.
"How is this guest?" the butler warned. "If you stay too long, my master might be unhappy."
"Wait a little longer."
Zhang Xiaotian carefully examined the papers in his hand. It was a prescription for treating tuberculosis, with detailed instructions for everything from the herbs to the specific container required. Zhang Xiaotian remembered that Casper looked ill in the portrait in Colin's hand, and after discovering the prescription, he guessed it was prepared for Casper. In that era, tuberculosis was considered a terminal illness. No wonder, in a society dominated by men, Casper couldn't become the head of the family.
Although Caspar has no say in this family, in the eyes of outsiders, Caspar is still a man of importance. This can be seen from the fact that although Caspar is suffering from a terminal illness, he still attends the completion ceremony of the church renovation in a formal dress and stands in the center of the painting.
A powerful and healthy woman, in the eyes of the world, her status is actually lower than that of a sick and useless man; a person who has the final say at home has to live in the shadow of another person who is not as good as her outside, just because she is a woman, and that person is her husband.
Power fed her ambition day after day. Did she never think of breaking the shackles that bound her? This was impossible. She must have done something.
Zhang Xiaotian suddenly had some bold ideas: What if she planned all this herself?
What if she was afraid of rumors that she was a woman in power, so she used Casper as a shield; what if she was not satisfied with only being able to wear long skirts and play the role of a good wife in front of others, so she prepared men's clothes of the same size for herself to satisfy her inner desire; what if even Casper's illness was caused by her?
At that moment, Zhang Xiaotian suddenly understood something. He rushed to the wardrobe and carefully searched the pockets of every piece of men's clothing.
Even couples keep some things separate. Why are all the things with different gender labels mixed up in this room? That's because these things are not used by two people at all, but by Colin's sister alone!
Zhang Xiaotian had just been looking for clues about Sister Colin's real name, and had only looked at things related to women's products. But if everything in this room belonged to Sister Colin, then he should pay attention to them as well!
If he didn't find it in his pockets, he would search the drawers. The objects he searched for ranged from seals and brooches to land deeds and documents. Zhang Xiaotian turned everything upside down, but still found nothing.
Was he wrong? Zhang Xiaotian was at a loss when he suddenly noticed that the painting on the wall seemed a little crooked.
He approached the painting, which was a double portrait of Caspar and Colin's sister. Zhang Xiaotian admitted that he knew nothing about history or art, but normally the man stood while the woman sat, but in this painting, Caspar was sitting.
When a painting hangs on a wall for a long time, the wall behind it will develop color differences. If someone moves the painting, even slightly, careful observation will reveal it, as it did in this painting. Zhang Xiaotian took down the painting and found a thin bill behind it. Zhang Xiaotian had just found the Solemn family account book. All the expenditure records in it were stamped with the Solemn family seal, but this bill did not have a stamp, but a handwritten signature.
It was a bill for special metal cups. The customization requirements were exactly the same as those written on Caspar's prescription, with an additional note: "For viewing only, do not use to hold food to avoid affecting your health." The signature was an abbreviation of a name, CS.
Only abbreviations? Zhang Xiaotian didn't believe it and flipped through the account book again and again.
"Sir, it's time." The butler ordered him to leave, and Zhang Xiaotian had to leave the room with him.
Seeing Zhang Xiaotian coming out, Lu Bai hurried over to greet him. He wanted to ask Zhang Xiaotian about his achievements, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back and could only look at Zhang Xiaotian with his mouth half open, a little silly.
"How's your search going?" Zhang Xiaotian asked first, noticing Lu Bai remained silent. He was only able to find an abbreviation, which he wasn't entirely satisfied with, but he didn't want to show his frustration in front of Lu Bai.
"...I won't tell you." Lu Bai turned his head and said after a while, "It's just some land deeds, documents, maps and the like, and an account book, but it seems to be missing a few pages."
"A few pages are missing?" Zhang Xiaotian was stunned.
"Yes, there are pages missing from the spine, and the dates don't match in a few places."
Zhang Xiaotian didn't show it on his face, but he felt a little disappointed. He had only found one page. If he had found the others, perhaps he could have pieced together the complete name.
Just as the four of them gathered, the radio began to crackle again: "Please reveal the truth about the head of the Solemn family."
"What did you find?" Zhang Xiaotian asked Han Chengcheng and Yin Li.
Yin Li didn't say anything. Han Chengcheng said, "I found basically the same thing as Lu Bai."
"Everyone, please share all the clues you've found." Lu Bai said to everyone, "The most urgent thing is to open the door."
After saying that, he looked at Han Chengcheng.
Han Chengcheng nodded. "Then I'll go first. There wasn't much in the room that could provide identification information. Most of the places that required signatures were replaced with seals, but Lu Bai and I found an account book."
"After Han Cheng found the account book, she originally wanted to look for clues in it, but she didn't find any clues. Instead, she made an unexpected discovery." Lu Bai took over Han Chengcheng's words and continued, "There were several places in the account book where the dates didn't match up. So, Han Cheng thought those missing pages must contain important information. So when it was my turn to go in and search for evidence, Han Cheng asked me to focus on finding those missing pages, and I did find two of them."
Zhang Xiaotian felt nervous when he heard this.
He actually found two. Could the one he just found be among them? Although the current clues didn't threaten him, ever since he entered this door, he and Lu Bai had become a subtle opposition. Regardless of whether Lu Bai knew about the one he found, Zhang Xiaotian knew that he no longer had any advantage in terms of intelligence.
However, someone else is more nervous now.
"What did you find?" Yin Li asked.
"A record of clothing purchases." Lu Bai said to Han Chengcheng, "Han Cheng, tell everyone."
Han Chengcheng shook his head: "You found it, tell me."
"That's fine," Lu Bai said seriously. "This record states that the Solemn family purchased equal quantities of men's and women's clothing from different clothing stores. Notably, the sizes of these two batches of clothing are identical. Judging from the clues we've gathered so far, aside from the servants, there are no men or women in the Solemn family with similar figures. Therefore, Han Cheng believes that someone in the Solemn family has a long-term need for clothing changes. Furthermore, this record is stamped with a private seal, different from the Solemn family crest; it's a plant-like design."
"There's another one," Lu Bai continued, "but that one isn't a bill. It's a poem, a poem describing the holly tree."
"The poem basically says that even when covered in ice and snow, the holly still grows sharp leaves and eye-catching blood-red fruits that break through obstacles. It goes on to say that since you bear such a name, you must be that kind of person, even if it requires a little concealment, and still grow sharp and sharp." Han Chengcheng said as concisely as possible. "And the seal on the purchase record is very similar to the holly described in the poem. It's very likely that Sister Kelin's name is related to this plant called holly."
"Holly...does anyone know what holly means in English?" Lu Bai asked. No one could answer; it was clearly beyond the vocabulary of an average high school student.
"Yin Li, don't be silent anymore." Lu Bai looked a little annoyed again. He tapped the ground with his toes, making a few "tapping" sounds. "You don't need to tell me, I know you must have a hidden mission. Cheng Cheng also has a hidden mission, but she didn't say anything when she went to the previous door. You're too cowardly."
"You're the coward. And, was it you who called Chengcheng?" Yin Li curled her lips. "I don't have any hidden quests, but I do have some clues to share."
Everyone listened attentively. Yin Li cleared her throat and said, "After I entered the room, the butler NPC filled me in on Casper's memories, including the fact that Casper was indeed married into the Solemn family. He had been sick and frail since childhood, so he rarely appeared in public. He wasn't valued at home and was 'married' here like a woman."
"Sure enough, he's marrying into the family..." Lu Bai muttered, and was hit on the head by Yin Li's knife.
"I'm not a fool like you. I can hear you!" Yin Li finished cleaning up Lu Bai and continued, "Because I've been sick and underdeveloped since childhood, my wife and I have similar figures. This explains why we buy the same size men's and women's clothing. My wife is kind-hearted. She didn't neglect me because of my frailty. Instead, she shared the family business with me. Because I was weak, I couldn't even sign my name when reviewing some documents. To protect my dignity, she didn't sign for me or write her own name. Instead, she used a seal with the family crest."
"After explaining so much, it still has nothing to do with your wife's name." Lu Bai rubbed his head and interrupted, "So what is your clue?"
"That's exactly what I was going to say!" Yin Li continued, "My wife once shared a childhood story with me. She said that when Kelin was little, he loved her name and begged her to teach him how to write it. He even wanted to embroider her name on a handkerchief as a gift, but he never finished it."
The unfinished handkerchief! They all thought of the same thing in an instant, and quickly took out Viretta's wooden box again, and found the half-embroidered handkerchief inside.
The handkerchief was decorated with emerald green holly leaves and bright red berries, and an English word was embroidered halfway across it. Lu Bai picked it up and examined it for a long time.
"Uh... what is this?"
"Are you waiting to be beaten by Lao Zhang? You don't even recognize the English letters?" Yin Li laughed at him.
Han Chengcheng took the handkerchief from his hand and looked at it, then turned it over and showed it to everyone.
Perhaps it was because of her childish nature that when Colin embroidered the handkerchief, she embroidered the name from the back to the front, so only the last three letters of her sister's name could be seen, which were l, y, and n.
"It also sounds like something like 'Lin'," Yin Li tried to read it.
There seemed to be a glimmer of hope, but in the blink of an eye, it was a dead end.
"What should we do now?" Lu Bai asked again.
Seeing the three of them remain silent, Zhang Xiaotian blinked: "You didn't even ask me if I had any clues."
"Oh yes, and Tian'er!" Lu Bai stood up again, "What does Tian'er want to say?"
"I also found a page of the account book you mentioned just now." Zhang Xiaotian told everyone the abbreviation he found, and everyone analyzed it again.
"CS?" Lu Bai asked, "But isn't the last letter n?"
"You've wasted all those years studying English. You don't even know common sense," Yin Li said. "That abbreviation must be a combination of her given name and surname. Her last name is Solemn, so they took the first letter."
Lu Bai said "Oh" twice, and then asked, "That's not all."
"There must be other places where this name appears." Han Chengcheng bit her lip and fell into deep thought, "Where..."
Suddenly, her eyes became stern and she quickly exchanged glances with Zhang Xiaotian.
"Visitor Record!"
They thought of the same thing. Lu Bai quickly took the visitor list from the diary on the altar. They searched together and soon found the most similar name in the corner: Serin Solemn.
"This is it!" Lu Bai hurried to find the housekeeper to verify, but just as he took a step, he was stopped by Zhang Xiaotian again.
"What's wrong?" Lu Bai turned around and asked him.
What's wrong? Of course there's more to the truth than that.
Zhang Xiaotian recalled Yin Li's statement, which clearly contradicted his previous analysis. Yin Li had claimed that Kasper and his wife had a relationship of mutual respect and love, but a wife who loved her husband wouldn't customize a cup that was harmful to his health and make him drink medicine with it daily. Coupled with the unusual positioning of the portraits in the room, Zhang Xiaotian was almost certain Yin Li was lying. But why was she lying?
Zhang Xiaotian didn't know what Yin Li was lying about, nor did he know if exposing her would affect his mission. But the four of them were now in a state of disarray: Lu Bai, who hadn't yet hidden his mission, and Han Chengcheng, whose mission had already failed, had become allies. Yin Li's position was unclear, and if Zhang Xiaotian didn't want to fight alone in the rest of the game, he had to win her over.
"Tian'er?" Lu Bai looked at Zhang Xiaotian's slightly solemn expression and asked, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"
"No..." Zhang Xiaotian felt Yin Li looking at him. He hesitated for a moment, then finally let go.
"There is indeed a problem." Han Chengcheng suddenly said. She turned to Yin Li and asked:
"Yin Li, did you know that Selin wears a wig?"
"What..." Yin Li didn't react. While speaking, she seemed to remember something and her expression suddenly changed.
"Han Cheng, what are you talking about?" Lu Bai asked, "What wig? We've found the name. The most urgent thing is to open the door. We can analyze the rest later!"
"That's right, Chengcheng, open the door quickly." Yin Li also said.
"No, we need to figure this out now." Han Chengcheng asked everyone, "Do you still remember what the mission was given on the radio?"
"...Find out the name of the bride's sister?" Lu Bai asked.
"It's about finding the truth about the Solemn family's master," Han Chengcheng explained. "That's a very vague statement, so I think it's going to take more than just finding a name to open this door."
Lu Bai asked again: "What does that have to do with the wig you just mentioned?"
"Yin Li just said that Serin wanted to buy clothes of the same size because she and Casper have similar builds, but I found a wig in the room that looks exactly like Serin's hair. How do you explain that?"
Han Chengcheng tilted her head and gave a playful smile: "Tell me, who is this wig for?"
Casper undoubtedly had short hair, as confirmed by all the portraits they had seen. Serin was also depicted with his long hair tied up in a bun. Wigs were only necessary for disguise, but neither Yin Li's "sickly Casper" nor Zhang Xiaotian's "poisoned Casper" seemed capable of such disguise. Therefore, the wig's owner was immediately apparent.
"You mean, Serin wears a wig?" Lu Bai said in disbelief. "She doesn't have any hair? Why would she wear a wig?"
"I guess so..."
"It's to prevent anyone from noticing anything unusual," Zhang Xiaotian continued. "Let's say she needs to dress up as Casper more often for some reason, so she cuts her hair the same short as Casper's and buys men's clothes in the same size. When she needs to transform back into Serin, she prepares a wig that matches her hair to prevent anyone from noticing she's had a haircut."
"This..." Lu Bai hesitated, "That makes sense, but why did Serin dress up as Casper?"
"Do you remember me telling you that the painting on the wall was problematic?" Han Chengcheng reminded him, "Think about the movies, TV series, and anime you've watched in the past that were set in the same era."
"Oh, yes. Usually men stand and women sit..." Lu Bai suddenly understood. "Oh, I get it. Women had too little power in that era, so Serin needed to pretend to be a man in order to gain more power. And Casper, her sickly husband, was the most suitable candidate for her!"
In order to better control Caspar, Serin even poisoned Caspar.
Zhang Xiaotian was still hesitating whether to tell Lu Bai and the others all his clues, but now it seems unnecessary.
"You two are too fanciful... Why can't Casper wear the wig? Maybe this is just their hobby." Yin Li argued cunningly.
"That's just wishful thinking." Lu Bai shook his head. "Then let me ask you again, Yin Li. You just said that Casper was so weak after marriage that he couldn't even write. Would a professional detective like me use a medicine bottle as a witness?"
"This..." Yin Li was momentarily stumped, then quickly continued, "That's the problem with the author of this book. How do I know why Casper was brought here as a witness?"
Lu Bai tsk-tsk twice: "Stop being so stubborn."
"Why am I being so stubborn?" Yin Li said unconvincedly. "I haven't even said anything about you yet, you're so easily persuaded!"
"I call this a transition from darkness to light." Lu Bai was very proud. He came over and put his arm around Yin Li's shoulders, like they were brothers. "Just admit it. You're not Casper, you're Serin."
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