Seeing that Zhang Qinghu had agreed, Master Wei didn't say anything more and said to Li Lianhua, "In that case, thank you for your trouble. Men, take him away." He ordered his men to throw Ge Pan away and lock him up. Several guards came forward and took Ge Pan away.
The rest of the people went back to where they came from, and the whole matter was left to Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing to handle.
Once everyone was sure they had left, Li Lianhua turned to Fang Duobing and teased, "With so many detectives from the Hundred Rivers Academy crowding into Wei Zhuang's place, how come the detectives from your Hundred Rivers Academy have become like cabbages sold on the street?"
It's not so bad that they sneaked in, the problem is that they were discovered. The people in Baichuan Academy are really getting worse and worse.
"By the way, do you know that Ge Pan?" Li Lianhua asked, recalling Fang Duobing's behavior back then.
Fang Duobing smiled awkwardly, "I haven't practiced martial arts at Baichuan Academy, so I'm not sure, but this sword does belong to our Baichuan Academy, so I had no choice but to save Ge Pan. Thank you for coming to my rescue earlier, thank you."
He'd taken the exam for so many years, but because of his mother, they'd always made excuses to get past him. He'd only ever been to the front courtyard of the Hyakusawain Academy so far. If it weren't for seeing that Ge Pan's sword did indeed resemble the Hyakusawain Academy's, he wouldn't have even been there.
He wouldn't be so nervous as to risk exposure by calling out to save someone.
"You haven't even become a formal detective yet, and you're already so new. I'm afraid your future path won't be easy." Li Lianhua smiled at him, but Fang Duobing felt that there was something strange about the way Li Lianhua looked at him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Being kind-hearted is certainly a good thing, but in the world of martial arts, being kind-hearted and soft-hearted is not a good thing.
"Let's put that aside for now. Looking at the hole in the front gate and the back wall, there doesn't seem to be any other entrance. Could it really have been done by a child?" Fang Duobing looked around. They said it was a child who killed someone, and even though he didn't believe it, the facts were right in front of him.
There are only two entrances to the house. One is through the front door, but Zhang Qinghu couldn't possibly not see the two Zhang brothers in the same room. The second is this ventilation opening, but it's only wide enough for a child to pass through, and adults can't get in at all.
These facts were laid bare before him, yet Fang Duobing still felt something was amiss. That child's martial arts were so high; if he wanted to kill, he could have done so openly. This was Wei Manor, and he was a relative of the Manor Lord. From what the Manor Lord said, the child was key to entering the First-Rank Tomb.
Even if he did kill someone, Master Wei would definitely help cover it up to get into the First-Class Tomb. Besides, how old is this child? It's impossible for him to kill someone over a verbal argument. If that's the case, it just shows how petty he is.
Li Lianhua rolled his eyes at the person in front of him. He really had a good apprentice. He had encountered this many times before and he was at his wit's end. "Let me ask you, if you were that child, trying to climb over the back wall to get into the house, what would you do?"
Upon hearing Li Lianhua's question, Fang Duobing thought for a moment before giving his answer: "First, chisel open the hole; second, crawl inside; third, kill the person."
He spoke very logically, but Li Lianhua rejected it the next second, saying, "The murderer's steps are different from what you described."
Fang Duobing: ?
Looking in the direction Li Lianhua indicated, he saw bloodstains on the bricks of the ventilation opening! He hadn't noticed them at the time.
Li Lianxin skipped over to Li Lianhua, nuzzled her, and then turned back. She couldn't be bothered to watch them investigate; if she hadn't known the plot, she probably would have followed them the whole way.
But things are different now. She knows why she's still staying here.
Li Lianhua felt a few rubs between his legs. Although he didn't hear Lianxin's thoughts, he immediately understood that the little fox wanted to go back.
Li Lianhua continued discussing the case with Fang Duobing without showing any change in expression. After learning who the murderer was, he had almost figured out the whole story about Zhang Qingshi pretending to be his younger brother.
"They must have knocked down the bricks first, then climbed in to kill the person. That way, the blood wouldn't have gotten on the bricks. The fact that there's blood on the bricks means the murderer killed the person first, then knocked down the bricks." After hearing Li Lianhua's analysis, Fang Duobing suddenly understood.
"Oh right, how come he didn't think of that?" He looked at Li Lianhua and his eyes lit up. Sure enough, he really needed to see and listen more. A plan quietly popped into his head.
"The murderer wanted to frame the child for this, right?"
Li Lianhua nodded at Fang Duobing's expectant gaze. Fang Duobing was secretly pleased; this case was exactly the same as the one that had happened a few days ago—both were unsolved cases. Did this mean there was a connection between the two?
"The seven thieves' corpses look the same as Zhang Qingshi, so they must be related. But the murderer didn't leave any clues at the time, and now he's trying to frame someone else. It doesn't make sense."
Li Lianhua, with her hands behind her back and adopting the demeanor of an elder, asked, "Does that mean that every time a headless corpse appears in this place, it's the same person who did it?"
"These two cases are not related?" Fang Duobing was taken aback.
"I don't know if there's a connection. I only know that the blood on Zhang Qingshi's clothes seeped down layer by layer, rather than gushing out. The blood splattered on one side, but there wasn't a trace behind him."
Fang Duobing understood these straightforward words: "Was this person killed and then beheaded? But since the person was already dead, why would the murderer go to the trouble of cutting off their head?"
Fang Duo didn't understand why someone would hide their head when they were already dead. Was it some kind of fetish? But wasn't that fetish a bit too extreme?
“The head is a very strange thing. The murderer cut off the head simply to hide his identity. Why do you think that is?” Li Lianhua didn’t continue speaking and turned to Fang Duobing to ask.
Fang Duobing paused for a moment, then uttered a very foolish question, "Why?"
"Wait! Wait! I know someone must not want people to know that Zhang Qingshi is the one who died, but the key issue is that we all know Zhang Qingshi's identity."
Wasn't his action redundant? Fang Duobing had barely finished speaking when Li Lianhua, before she could utter any words of disdain,
He quickly regained his composure and hurriedly spoke.
Those words were spoken without thinking.
"continue"
Seeing that people were urging him to continue, Fang Duobing explained all his thoughts: "The murderer left bloodstains on the bricks intentionally, but if he didn't go this way, the only way out was through the main gate..."
But that doesn't explain why Zhang Qinghu didn't notice the murderer entering through the front door. He didn't seem to have been drugged either.
Furthermore, if the murderer had used a sleeping potion, there would have been no way he would have woken up in such a short time. According to Zhang Qinghu, he got up to relieve himself and returned to find Zhang Qingshi in trouble.
There's simply not enough time to kill someone and cut off their head in such a short period of time.
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