Chapter 26 It Can Only Be You
Wang Chengsi, clutching the newly written record of his whereabouts, was about to touch Pei Lin's sleeve when he was stopped by a clear female voice.
"My lords, please don't leave yet."
Pei Zhiwei stood up from the stone table and gently shook the leather-bound register in her hand. "The people who killed Liu Mingyuan and Li Si haven't left this courtyard yet."
"What do you mean by that, Madam Pei?" the postmaster asked, looking surprised.
Pei Zhiwei didn't answer directly. Instead, she turned to the four officials who were in a hurry to leave, her tone calm:
"Magistrate Wang just said he was worried about delaying his appointment, but if the real culprit isn't caught, even if he gets to Jiangnan, will he be able to sleep soundly at night thinking about the two lives lost at the inn?"
Wang Chengsi's face flushed red again, and he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Are you doubting us? Lord Pei hasn't even spoken yet, and you, a young lady..."
“I have no doubts about you gentlemen,” Pei Zhiwei interrupted him, turning to look at the postmaster.
"I suspect the postmaster; it was you who killed Liu Mingyuan and Li Si."
"Nonsense!" the postmaster roared, rolling up his sleeves to argue.
"I am the postmaster appointed by the government, in charge of all affairs of the post station. How could I have killed someone?"
Liu Mingyuan just brought Li Si here yesterday. I don't know them at all. What reason do I have to kill someone?
He adopted a stance that he would argue to the bitter end if Pei Zhiwei didn't make things clear.
The surrounding couriers echoed their sentiments, and one young courier couldn't help but speak up.
“Madam Pei, the postmaster is always kind and generous. Lord Liu’s official rank is not high, so he didn’t need to be given so much charcoal. But the postmaster still specially added charcoal for Lord Liu. How could he be the murderer?”
Pei Zhiwei ignored the voices and stood in front of the postmaster.
“You are the postmaster, so you know every room and every road in this post station better than anyone else.”
Her voice wasn't loud, but everyone could hear her clearly.
"You know that the courier on night duty patrols the courtyard every hour."
"Just go find Liu Mingyuan during the gap between them, and the courier won't notice."
"As for Li Si, he only came here with Liu Mingyuan yesterday, and he probably doesn't even know the way from the backyard to the west yard."
How could they possibly find that remote, abandoned house accurately when there were courier guards watching over it?
"Unless someone took him there." Pei Zhiwei stared directly at him.
"And that person can only be you."
You can ask him questions under the pretext of asking him something, or ask him to wait in the backyard; he won't suspect anything.
He was Liu Mingyuan's servant, and possibly the last person to see Liu Mingyuan, so no one would find it strange that you asked him to go out alone.
"Nonsense!" The postmaster's face suddenly darkened, and he turned to question Pei Lin.
"Lord Pei, she has no evidence whatsoever. She's accusing me of murder based solely on these guesses? If word gets out, what will become of the post station's reputation and my own face?"
When his reputation and face were mentioned, Cui Xiaozhong immediately nodded in agreement, his tone impatient.
"Madam Pei, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want."
Although the postmaster is not an official appointed by the imperial court, even as the daughter of Pei Shaoqing, you cannot slander people so casually.
Wang Jingzong slowly replied, "Yes, Madam Pei, you said the postmaster took Li Si to the backyard, but who saw it? That claim doesn't hold water."
Zhao Yan hid behind Cui Xiaozhong, secretly glancing at the postmaster before quickly lowering his head, as if afraid of being dragged into it, trying his best to minimize his presence.
"Of course there is evidence."
Pei Zhiwei calmly took out a neatly folded white silk handkerchief from the brocade bag.
She spread the handkerchief in her hand and then held up the register. The cover was dirty and messy, and even the ink on the three characters "Registration Book" had blurred into large patches.
"This morning, when Lord Pei asked you to read the register, you accidentally dropped it on the ground."
As you picked it up, you wiped the cover, transferring the dirt from your hands onto it. This only made the originally clean cover dirtier, blurring the once clear ink and leaving this stain.
As she spoke, she pointed to the dark, fine particles wrapped in the handkerchief, and upon closer inspection, one could see traces of black staining.
"This was scraped off from the hilt of the dagger next to Li Si."
I've compared them; the color and texture of these fragments are exactly the same as those on the register cover—they're all mud mixed with ink from the west courtyard floor.
She paused briefly and gestured with her chin toward the postmaster's sleeve.
“When you rolled up your sleeves just now, I noticed the dark clods of dirt on your cuffs, and they’re the same kind as the ones in this handkerchief and on the register.”
Wang Chengsi opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word. The anxiety on his face gradually faded, replaced by utter astonishment.
Cui Xiaozhong's hand, which was wiping sweat, froze in mid-air. He swallowed back the words he had originally intended to say in defense of the postmaster. The Cui family's century-old reputation could not be associated with the "murderer."
Wang Jingzong frowned, sized up the postmaster, and said nothing more.
Zhao Yan instinctively wanted to hide, but fearing being noticed, he froze in place.
The postmaster stood there, motionless and silent for a long time.
He didn't deny it, but sighed deeply, slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the people in the courtyard, finally landing on Pei Zhiwei, his voice full of exhaustion:
"You're right, I killed both Liu Mingyuan and Li Si."
"You...you really killed someone?" The old courier turned around abruptly, his face full of disbelief.
He had stayed at the post station with the postmaster for five years and had never seen the postmaster lose his temper, let alone kill anyone.
"Killing Liu Mingyuan was for revenge." The postmaster looked at Liu Mingyuan's room, his eyes gradually filled with intense hatred.
“He’s a member of the ‘Holy Lotus Cult.’ Ten years ago, that cult swindled all my family’s wealth and killed my wife and daughter.”
"The Holy Lotus Sect?" Pei Lin was slightly taken aback.
He remembered this sect, which was wiped out by the imperial court ten years ago for bewitching the people, extorting money and killing people. Many members were arrested that year, but he didn't expect that some had escaped.
"It was this cult! Back then, they said my wife was cursed and that I had to donate all my assets to the cult to avert it."
I believed them, but after they took the money, they locked my wife and daughter in the woodshed and let them starve to death!
I went to confront them, but they said my wife and daughter were 'evil creatures' and deserved to die!
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down: "The imperial court banned the cult, and I thought those damned cults had finally gotten their comeuppance."
But yesterday, when Liu Mingyuan moved in, I accidentally saw a stick of incense stick sticking out of the incense burner in his room.
That was a unique ritual performed by a minor leader of the 'Holy Lotus Cult'; I recognized it immediately.
Pei Zhiwei asked, "But there were no signs of struggle on the bodies of Liu Mingyuan and Li Si."
Liu Mingyuan was a civil official, perhaps too weak to resist, but Li Si was a household servant, hardworking and strong; how could he have lost his life without a struggle?
Everyone looked at the postmaster, even the four officials forgot they were leaving and waited for his answer.
The postmaster did not deny it, saying, "I poisoned them."
That substance is colorless and odorless. If mixed with water and ingested, it will paralyze a person's entire body within fifteen minutes. They will remain conscious but unable to move a single finger, and will be unable to even utter a sound.
"Pufferfish poison?" Wang Chengsi exclaimed suddenly, his eyes wide. "Wasn't this stuff banned a long time ago? Possessing pufferfish poison is a capital offense, how dare you..."
"What wouldn't I dare to do?" the postmaster interrupted him, his tone tinged with self-deprecation.
"I should have died ten years ago when my wife and daughter died."
He looked at Pei Zhiwei and continued, "At night, I went to Liu Mingyuan's room to ask him if he needed anything else, and then poured him a cup of hot tea, putting the poison in it."
Caught off guard, he drank it in one gulp. I deliberately started chatting with him, and he said he would exorcise evil spirits for me, kneeling in front of the incense burner and chanting those evil scriptures.
In less than fifteen minutes, he was frozen in place, unable to move. I took out a dagger and plunged it into his chest; he couldn't even dodge.
"What about Li Si?" Pei Zhiwei pressed. "He was just Liu Mingyuan's servant, you had no grudge against him, why did you kill him?"
"He serves Liu Mingyuan, what good could he be?" The postmaster's voice was without the slightest hesitation.
"Nobody knows that I went to see Liu Mingyuan."
If Li Si 'committed suicide out of fear of punishment,' everyone would assume that he killed Liu Mingyuan.
That way the case can be closed quickly, and no one will suspect me.
He paused for a moment, recalling the situation at the time.
"When I found Li Si, he was squatting in a corner."
I told him that Lord Pei was looking for him and wanted him to identify something in the backyard. He didn't suspect anything and followed me to that abandoned house.
On the way, I handed him the poisoned water to drink. His master had just died, and he was in a panic, so he took it and drank it.
When we got to the empty house, he soon became unable to move. I plunged a dagger into his chest and forged his suicide note.
I knew he wasn't very literate, so I deliberately wrote his characters crookedly, making it seem like he was writing in a panic.
"Aren't you afraid of being discovered?" Cui Xiaozhong frowned, his tone filled with disgust. "To kill someone with poison and then frame an innocent person, how insidious..."
"Afraid?" The postmaster smiled, his smile filled with sorrow. "I stopped feeling afraid when my wife and daughter died. I just didn't expect you to see through my disguise."
He looked at Pei Zhiwei, his eyes filled with complex emotions: "You are very smart, smarter than many officials I have ever met."
"If it weren't for you, this case would probably have ended with 'a servant killing his master and then committing suicide.'"
Pei Lin's voice was solemn: "Postmaster Wu Po, in order to avenge your personal grudge, you not only killed an official of the court, but also framed an innocent person for the crime."
This has already violated the laws of my Great Liang. Now, in my capacity as the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, I am arresting you according to the law.
Two couriers hurriedly took out iron chains and were about to step forward to lock him up, but he raised his hand to stop them.
He forcefully brushed the clods of dirt mixed with ink off his cuffs, then straightened his collar, his movements unhurried.
"You don't need to lift a finger, I'll go myself. I have no regrets about killing Liu Mingyuan. I've avenged my wife and daughter, and even if I die, I can close my eyes in peace."
After saying that, he turned and walked out of the inn, his steps steady and without the slightest hint of panic.
The people in the courtyard stared at his retreating figure, remaining silent for a long while.
The group silently returned to their rooms, grabbed their belongings, and hurriedly embarked on their journey to their new posts.
Zhao Yan was the last to finish packing. Just as he was about to leave the room, he looked up and found that Pei Zhiwei had blocked his way.
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