Chapter 24 Panic
More than twenty people had already gathered in the courtyard. The courtyard wasn't big, and with so many people, it looked like a flock of sheep in a pen.
The incident happened early, and some of the servants were woken up. They weren't dressed warmly enough, and their hands were red from the cold.
Some officials paced back and forth with their hands behind their backs, their faces ashen.
The servants stood near their masters, heads bowed, not daring to breathe.
"Chief! Bring me the entry and exit logs for the past two days!" Pei Lin's voice broke the silence.
The postmaster was holding a booklet with a cowhide cover. When he heard Pei Lin call his name, he was so startled that the booklet fell to the ground with a "thud".
"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry, sir!"
He hurriedly squatted down to pick it up, not noticing that his hand brushed against something dirty on the ground. He wiped the booklet with his hand, but instead made the cover even more smudged.
“This…this register is all here, from yesterday’s Mao hour to today’s Chen hour, every single entry and exit is recorded.”
“Read it from the beginning,” Pei Lin said in a low voice, but each word was clear.
“From the time Liu Mingyuan checked in at Shenshi (3-5 PM), everyone who entered the post station, everyone who left, when they left, and who they were with were all recorded in detail.”
The postmaster swallowed hard and cleared his tight throat.
"Shenzheng, Lord Liu Mingyuan and his servant Li Si have checked in and registered for the north room in the west wing."
At the second quarter of the third month, four officials from Xuzhou arrived: Magistrate Wang, Military Advisor Wang, Registrar Li, and County Lieutenant Zhao. They stayed in the main room and side rooms of the west wing.
At the beginning of the day (5-7 PM), the courier Chen Er went out to buy lamp oil and returned at the hour of You (5-7 PM). Li Si went out to buy stomach-soothing powder and returned at the hour of Xu (7-9 PM).
At three quarters past noon, a peddler came to deliver needles and thread from the street corner. Aunt Zhang, the cook, received him. The peddler did not enter the inner courtyard and left at five quarters past noon.
This was the last person to leave; after that, no one else left the post station, nor did anyone enter.
Pei Lin took the register, scanned the red annotations and the postman's fingerprints, and asked, "Where are the postmen on night duty? Did they hear anything unusual?"
Two couriers on night duty quickly stepped forward and reported, "Sir, apart from the sound of the wind, there was no other noise during the night."
We patrol the courtyard every hour. We even came to the west wing, but we saw that Lord Liu's room was still lit, so we didn't dare go near, afraid of disturbing his rest.
Pei Zhiwei stood under the corridor, gazing in the direction of Liu Mingyuan's room. No one came in, no one went out; the murderer must still be in this inn.
"Li Si, come out." Pei Lin's voice interrupted her thoughts.
A short while later, a man wearing a gray cloth shirt emerged from the crowd in the west courtyard, his shoulders hunched.
He was Li Si, Liu Mingyuan's servant. His eyes were red, as if he had been crying half the night or was frightened.
"Did you see Liu Mingyuan after you came back?" Pei Lin asked.
Li Si's voice trembled: "I saw it... I gave the medicine to the master, and he told me to go back to my room and rest first, and that he could brew the medicine himself."
The servant...the servant returned to the servants' quarters in the east courtyard and stayed with the other servants.
It wasn't until this morning, when the courier called us to the front yard, that we learned...that the master of the house was gone!
Pei Lin nodded, then proceeded to check the servants in the west courtyard. There were seven in total: handymen, postmen, and cooks.
He didn't ask them all in detail, but simply had the postmaster report their lodgings and whereabouts from the previous night.
Most of them rested in the servants' quarters, and occasionally some went to the kitchen to add fuel to the fire; there are witnesses to all of this.
When asked about Liu San, who delivers hot water, they specifically asked him to describe in detail what he saw when he delivered the water last night.
Liu San was a short, stout man with a dark complexion, and he was so nervous that he stammered when he spoke.
"Reporting to you, sir, yesterday at the beginning of Hai hour, I went to deliver hot water to Lord Liu. I knocked on the door, and Lord Liu responded with 'Come in,' so I carried the water inside."
At that time, Lord Liu was sitting at the table reading a book, and incense was still burning in the incense burner. I didn't dare to stay any longer, so I put down the water and left.
The incense...the incense was as long as I'd seen this morning, not much shorter.
Pei Zhiwei did some mental calculations.
The coroner just said that the time of death was about three hours ago. From the discovery of the body at 9 PM to the beginning of 3 AM, and then to the autopsy, more than three hours have passed.
If Li Si wasn't lying, then he should be the last person besides the murderer to see Liu Mingyuan.
By this time, the sun had already climbed above the eaves. Four officials stood at the front, their faces increasingly grim.
Pei Lin cleared his throat, about to speak, when he was interrupted by a tall man.
That was Wang Chengsi, the magistrate of a county in Xuzhou. He was a seventh-rank official with an impatient temperament.
"Lord Pei!" Wang Chengsi stepped forward, his voice so loud that Pei Zhiwei subconsciously touched his ear.
"We've been investigating all morning, have we found anything yet?"
We are all officials appointed by the imperial court and transferred to Jiangnan to take up our posts. We are not here to be suspected!
"We're all grieving over Liu Mingyuan's death, but we can't all be trapped here, can we?"
As soon as he said this, Wang Jingzong, the military advisor in charge of grain storage, immediately chimed in.
Wang Jingzong was a thin-faced man with a goatee. He spoke slowly, but every word he uttered was sharp and cutting.
"Magistrate Wang, please don't be impatient. Lord Pei is simply following the proper procedures. However..."
He paused slightly, then turned to Xiao Yunzhan and Pei Zhiwei, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
“This official post station isn’t just for local officials like us. Weren’t those distinguished guests from yesterday also staying here?”
Logically, they should all be questioned together. We can't just investigate our side, can we?
The registrar, Cui Xiaozhong, came from a collateral branch of the Cui clan of Boling. Although his official rank was only eighth grade, he always prided himself on his family background.
Unable to contain himself any longer, his tone remained restrained, but his words carried a sharp edge.
He didn't address Xiao Yunzhan directly, but only spoke to Pei Lin:
“Lord Pei, my Cui family has a century-old reputation for integrity. Even if I, Cui Xiaozhong, am incompetent, I would never stoop to such a heinous act of murder and robbery!”
If Your Excellency continues to detain and interrogate us without any evidence, I will have no choice but to submit a memorial to His Majesty, accusing you of abusing your power and detaining court officials!
The youngest county lieutenant, Zhao Yan, also spoke up, his voice tight, but he spoke quickly.
"Yes, Lord Pei... Someone has died here. Who wouldn't want to leave as soon as possible? No one can bear the responsibility of missing their post!"
Besides, Lord Liu died in the west wing, while we've always lived in the south wing, which is separated by several rooms. How could it be related to us?
Pei Zhiwei stood quietly to one side, listening to their back-and-forth conversation. To them, a human life seemed to be nothing more than a nuisance.
Wang Chengsi seemed to get more and more anxious, his face turning redder and redder, and he could barely speak coherently. Wang Jingzong remained silent, but his eyes darted around, and it was clear without even looking that he wouldn't come up with anything good.
Cui Xiaozhong, relying on his family background, was aggressive and domineering. Zhao Yan, being the youngest, trembled in fear and begged to leave as soon as possible.
None of the four looked like the murderer, but their tense expressions and hurried speech revealed something unusual.
She quietly moved closer to Xiao Yunzhan and whispered, "Does Your Highness think... they're panicking a little too much?"
Even if they were worried about missing the trip, there was no need for them to be so eager to explain themselves; it was more like they were afraid we would find fault with them.
Xiao Yunzhan didn't turn around, but glanced at the four officials, speaking so softly that only she could hear him.
"It's normal to panic; it's either because you feel guilty or you're genuinely afraid of getting into trouble. Let's wait and see, don't rush."
Cui Xiaozhong spoke up again: "Besides, who knows if Lord Liu has offended someone and that's why they've followed him here to seek revenge!"
What does this have to do with us? We don't even know him!
“That’s right!” Wang Chengsi shouted in agreement.
"Lord Pei, you should be investigating Lord Liu's old grudges, not keeping us trapped here! If we don't leave soon and delay His Majesty's mission, can you bear the consequences?"
"You are all officials appointed by the imperial court, and you should know that investigations must be conducted according to procedure. If anyone is truly innocent, what is there to fear about waiting an extra half day?" Xiao Yunzhan's voice suddenly rang out.
Cui Xiaozhong was about to speak when he met Xiao Yunzhan's gaze, and he swallowed his words back.
Wang Jingzong didn't stir up any more trouble. He just lowered his head, twirling his beard with his fingers, lost in thought.
Pei Lin seized the opportunity to speak: "Don't worry, everyone, I will definitely give you an explanation before sunset today."
"Now, the four of you, please come with me to the East Courtyard for questioning one by one. The rest of you, please stay where you are and do not move around."
Although the officials were unwilling, they dared not resist any further.
Wang Chengsi walked at the front, muttering "delaying things" incessantly, while Cui Xiaozhong held his head high.
Wang Jingzong and Zhao Yan followed behind, occasionally exchanging glances so quickly they were almost impossible to catch.
Upon entering the east courtyard, the charcoal fire in the main room was burning brightly.
The first person to enter was Wang Chengsi, who immediately slammed his hand on the table as soon as he sat down.
"Lord Pei, I really didn't kill Liu Mingyuan! I only chatted with him briefly on the boat yesterday. I know he's going to Jiangnan to take up his post, but I don't know anything else!"
He became more and more anxious as he spoke, his face turning bright red. He recounted his whereabouts from the previous day in great detail, even remembering how many bowls of rice he had eaten.
Pei Zhiwei noticed that he said he was writing official documents in the house at the beginning of Hai hour, and two couriers testified to that, so it didn't seem like he was lying.
The second was Wang Jingzong. He was calmer than Wang Chengsi. After sitting down, he even took a sip of tea before slowly speaking.
“From the beginning of Hai (9-11 PM) to the beginning of Zi (11 PM-1 AM) yesterday, I was reading in my room. There’s a wall between me and County Magistrate Zhao. If I had opened the door, he should have been able to hear me. You can ask him if you don’t believe me.”
"Then why did you say 'we should ask a few important people'?" Pei Zhiwei suddenly asked, staring straight at him.
Wang Jingzong paused for a moment, then smiled, but his eyes looked unnatural.
"That's a good question, Madam Pei. I just feel that investigations should be fair, and we can't just be investigated as minor officials."
These are several distinguished guests, yet they are staying at the inn. Shouldn't they be cleared of suspicion?
Pei Zhiwei didn't ask any more questions, only feeling that this person seemed calm, but in fact, every sentence he said avoided the important points.
The third was Cui Xiaozhong. As soon as he sat down, he put on the airs of a great clan, took out a jade pendant engraved with the Cui clan emblem from his sleeve, and slammed it on the table.
“Lord Pei, the rules of my Cui family are that a life for a life. How could I have made such a mistake? Since the beginning of Hai hour yesterday, I have been practicing calligraphy in my room. If you don’t believe me, you can check.”
Have you ever had any dealings with Liu Mingyuan?
"No!" Cui Xiaozhong said firmly.
"I only met him once yesterday on the ship, we didn't speak. He's just a low-ranking official of the ninth grade, I have nothing to say to him."
Finally, it was Zhao Yan's turn. He was just over thirty, and his breathing trembled as he sat down.
“Yesterday…after the beginning of Hai hour yesterday, I was sleeping in the room, sleeping very soundly, and I didn’t hear anything.”
Wang Canjun lives next door and hasn't left his room before the beginning of the 11 PM - 3 AM. I can testify to that... It's true, I'm not lying!
Pei Zhiwei looked at him, remembering that he had been hiding behind Cui Xiaozhong, and suddenly asked, "Did you see Liu Mingyuan go out yesterday? For example, after 9 PM?"
"No...I haven't seen it. I've been inside the house the whole time, I haven't gone out."
The questioning ended as the sun began to set.
The four officials' statements seemed flawless, but Pei Zhiwei still felt that something was amiss.
The servants in the front yard were still whispering among themselves, the cook Aunt Zhang was secretly wiping away tears in a corner, and the handymen huddled together, muttering, "Will we be next?"
Xiao Yunzhan walked over and handed over the scene photos: "So? What did you see?"
Pei Zhiwei shook her head. "They all told me such detailed stories, but I just don't feel like something's right."
Wang Jingzong downplayed the seriousness of the matter, while Zhao Yan panicked...
And Li Si said that Liu Mingyuan brewed the medicine himself, but there was no trace of it being brewed in the room.
Xiao Yunzhan pondered for a moment, then pointed to the incense burner in the picture.
"Liu San said that when he delivered hot water at the beginning of the day, the incense was this long and short, and when he found it this morning, the incense was still the same."
Did Liu Mingyuan extinguish the incense himself? Why? Or... had something already happened to him by then?
Pei Zhiwei crossed her arms and pondered, "So, could the 'Liu Mingyuan' that Liu San saw be someone else in disguise?"
But Liu San had met Liu Mingyuan before; shouldn't he admit his mistake?
Just then, a courier rushed in, "Sir! Something terrible has happened! Li Si... Li Si is missing!"
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