Gu Xin examined the bodies of the two old women whom Lord Xu had marked. Like the wet nurse, they were lying on the bed, seemingly asleep. However, there was a large amount of blood on the bed, clearly indicating that both women had wounds.
"Your Highness, these two old women have no wounds. They only have bloodstains on their backs, but their undergarments are clean. At the time, I didn't think much of it, assuming they were injured on their backs. I had someone carefully change their clothes so that the wounds wouldn't be disturbed. Later, they said that the two old women had no wounds, only their clothes were stained with blood," Lord Xu reminded Gu Xin, seeing her looking at the ropes on the bed.
"What? Neither of them were injured?" Gu Xin exclaimed in surprise, muttering to herself, "If they weren't injured, then why are there so many bloodstains on the bed? It doesn't seem like the murderer brought it in while injured, otherwise there would be blood on the floor too."
Lord Xu remained silent, for he himself was also unaware of the situation.
Gu Xin put down the incense burner and went to the bedside. There were scratches and half a footprint near the window. Judging from the size of the footprint, it should be a man's footprint.
The windows in this room are so large that an adult male could easily enter through them without even touching the window.
However, it was chilly at night, and the two old women, who were older than Lord Wang and his wife, couldn't possibly sleep with the windows open.
It rained at Hongyuan Temple last night, but there were muddy footprints only on the windows of the house; there were none elsewhere.
footprint?
Gu Xin suddenly remembered that there were no footprints in the two rooms she had just visited.
The rain had stopped in the early morning. As Lord Xu just said, apart from the table in the servant's room being bumped when the body was moved, everything else was untouched and remained exactly as it was.
The murderer broke into the house at night and killed someone in the pouring rain, leaving no trace. Did he clean up the traces he left behind after the murder?
If that's the case, why weren't the marks on the windows of this old woman's room cleaned up?
The window isn't in a corner; it's actually quite conspicuous. If he entered through the window, there should be marks underneath it. He cleaned up the marks under the window, so why didn't he clean up the marks on the window itself?
Gu Xin entered the room next door, Mrs. Wang's room, through a door made in the wall between the two rooms. Mrs. Wang's room was slightly larger and had more furnishings. There were cushions on the chairs, and the bed was softer.
Strangely, the way Lord Xu had the old lady Wang's body marked for death was not in bed, but in a chair.
Lord Xu stepped forward to explain: "When I saw the old lady, she was sitting upright in her chair, just like an ordinary old woman taking a nap. Her head was not even tilted to the side. She was holding a string of prayer beads, and the corners of her mouth were curved up. She had a smile on her face, just like a child dreaming of something good. I really didn't think the old lady had been murdered at the time."
Gu Xin asked, "Her head wasn't tilted? That's impossible. Even when an elderly woman is dozing off, her head will tilt to the sides or back and forth."
Lord Xu: "Isn't that right? That's why I find it extremely strange."
Gu Xin walked up to the chair, looked up at the roof beam, and then easily jumped up. There were marks on the roof beam where ropes had been used to tighten the ropes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com