Chapter 21 Double Mystery (Part 1) Another one died. ...
After two days of rain, the half-moon appeared exceptionally bright. Jiuli took the lantern and shone it on Rouge, and saw that she was indeed wearing a bright red dress, with a pair of small golden lotus feet and red embroidered shoes. Wasn't she just right to pretend to be an infant spirit?
She knew Rouge's temper; if she were caught red-handed, she would definitely be furious and throw a tantrum. Therefore, she just smiled and remained silent.
Rouge glared at her with hatred, "I told you to catch me red-handed, and now look what you've done! Just hand me over to the night patrol officers, and the authorities will surely give you a big credit!"
Jiuli stuck out her tongue. "I didn't say I had to hand my sister over to the yamen runners. How about this: tomorrow we'll say that you just happened to be passing by here that night and were seen by Sister Lu, who mistook you for a ghost. As long as we clear up the ghost story, that's fine."
Rouge patted her sleeves, somewhat reluctantly, afraid of losing face. "I only pretended to be a ghost twice. This Li family's garden has always been haunted. Are you saying it's all my fault?"
Jiuli blurted out, "Knowing it's haunted, you still dare to hide here alone and scare Sister Lu? It's just for a man, is it really worth it?"
Even how did she know? Rouge suddenly raised her eyes, not knowing how she had guessed, but she was right, that much was undeniable. She just sneered and said forcefully, "Little brat, what do you know? Why don't you go and ask around? In the Quzhong area, if I, Rouge, am second, no one dares to claim first. Whether I'm a man or not doesn't matter, what matters is that no woman has ever dared to challenge my strength!"
Du Zhong, disapproving of her impulsive temper, chimed in, "You're really unreasonable. Let me tell you, the murderer who killed Lin Mo hasn't been caught yet. You're just playing tricks on me. It's lucky that Yu'er and I caught you. If those constables had caught you, they would have arrested you as the murderer!"
Seeing the panic on Rouge's face, but still speaking in a firm tone, she said, "Stop accusing me! Murder has nothing to do with me! I was just trying to scare that Lu family daughter-in-law and tell her to get lost as soon as possible."
Jiuli blurted out, "Even if the Lu family's daughter-in-law is gone, there will be the Zhang family's daughter-in-law and the Li family's daughter-in-law. I don't think Guan Zhan cares about you, sister. It's no use for you to drive anyone away."
Rouge felt that what she said had hit the nail on the head, and became even angrier. "He doesn't care about me, but I care about him? It's just a game, who takes it seriously?!"
"So you're not being sincere? That's fine, look, we've been arguing here for a while, and he hasn't even come out to check on us." Jiu Li didn't believe she wasn't sincere, so she turned around, raised the lantern slightly, and handed it forward, deliberately laughing, "I wonder which wife he's having a little fun with in his house right now."
Looking down from this hillside, a dim light could be seen in the east wing of the courtyard. Rouge was also a little unsure. She hadn't been lying in ambush here for very long, and who knew if a woman had entered Guan Zhan's room before her? Otherwise, he wouldn't have missed their commotion, and if no one was holding him back, he would have had to come out and check.
She was furious and snatched Jiu Li's lantern, heading down the slope. Jiu Li and Du Zhong saw that she was heading towards the cave entrance and, fearing that she might accidentally break into something and start a fight, hurriedly followed her.
Upon entering the cave, she found it eerily quiet. Since Lin Mo's death, the main house had been uninhabited, and even the two lanterns under the eaves were unlit; only the lights in front of the door and inside were on. Rouge held her breath, listening intently. No one spoke or laughed inside. Thinking that she could finally regain some face in front of the two of them, she smugly turned to glance at Jiu Li, then walked along the corridor to knock on the door.
The door wasn't closed properly; after a few light knocks, it creaked open halfway, but no one answered. This was strange; could it be that Guan Zhan wasn't in the house?
The three pushed open the door and entered. On the table against the wall, there was a half-eaten silver lamp and a teacup. Immediately, a strong smell of blood wafted over. Jiuli glanced to the side and saw a dark shadow behind the screen on the right. It looked like someone had fallen there. She held up her lantern and shone it in that direction, then suddenly cried out in surprise, "Ah!"
Rouge and Du Zhong turned around and saw a man lying inside the screen, covered in a pool of dark blood. Rouge screamed in fright, grabbed the lantern and ran over. She shone it on the man and saw that it was Guan Zhan! She was so frightened that her legs went weak and she collapsed to the ground, momentarily losing her voice.
Even Jiu Li and Du Zhong were shocked. After a moment of stunned silence, Jiu Li hurriedly went to the table to get a silver lamp and walked to Guan Zhan's side. He first checked under Guan Zhan's nose and found that he was no longer breathing. Then he grabbed Guan Zhan's wrist to check his pulse and found that it had stopped. He turned Guan Zhan over and saw that he was covered in blood, all of which was gushing out from his neck!
Jiu Li's hands were covered in blood, which was still warm, so he guessed that it must have happened recently. He quickly called to Du Zhong, "Go and call someone!"
Du Zhong snapped her out of her daze and ran outside. But when he reached the corridor, he suddenly realized something was wrong and ran back to pull her away. "Come with me! What if the murderer hasn't gone far and comes back to run into us? Wouldn't that be dangerous!"
That's true. Jiuli hurriedly tried to pull Rouge, but Rouge's limbs were already weak and she couldn't be pulled up no matter what. She could only push Duzhong, "You should go and call for help first! The murderer has already killed people, he shouldn't be coming back if he can't run away."
Du Zhong thought it made sense, so he left the two of them and ran out the door. As soon as he left the courtyard, he started shouting and ran into the small bamboo grove. A night patrol officer was running towards him when he heard the noise. "What are you shouting for?!"
Du Zhong pointed his finger back and shouted, "Kill! Kill! Kill! Murder! Guan Zhan has been killed!"
The constable, knife in hand, ran into the courtyard to investigate. Soon, constables patrolling the area all came running, disturbing the lights in several wards. Some daring and curious individuals also gathered in groups to watch the spectacle. Since it was late and Xu Bai was not at Liyuan Garden, Zhang Da was at a loss. Remembering that Yu Qi had examined Lin Mo's body earlier, he had no choice but to send someone to fetch him.
When Yu Qi arrived, he saw that the courtyard was already brightly lit, and the onlookers were being herded out by the yamen runners. "Go away! What are you doing watching this so late at night? There's nothing to see, go back to your rooms and sleep! If you don't leave, we'll arrest you all and question you!" The crowd could only look around and discuss as they walked out of the courtyard gate. "They still say it's not a ghost, but if it's not a ghost, how come the young master died? I think it's because this courtyard is too close to this small bamboo grove."
"I think so too! Think about it, the ghost of Miss Li is in this little bamboo grove. If she's going to come out and cause trouble, she'll definitely target the people who are closest to her first!"
"Hey, did you see that? Master Guan and Master Lin died in the same way—snap! Their throats were slit!"
After everyone left, it became much quieter, leaving Jiu Li and the other two sitting on the Wu King's chair outside. Yu Qi stepped into the corridor and saw Jiu Li covered in blood. His heart tightened, and he grabbed her wrist, pulling her close. "Are you hurt?"
Jiuli quickly shook her head, "This isn't my blood, it's Guan Zhan's."
Yu Qi released her wrist, his brows relaxed, and he walked to the door. Zhang Daqia came out of the house to greet him, bowing and saying, "Lord Qi has gone home. Should we immediately call the coroner to examine the body?"
Thinking that the coroner had failed to verify Lin Mo's body last time, and that it would be even more difficult for the coroner to verify it in the dark, Yu Qi shook his head and said, "If you trust me, I will examine it."
Zhang Da hurriedly smiled and bowed, "That would be perfect. I'll have someone carry the body to the other room and clean it up."
As they carried Guan Zhan's body out, Rouge didn't do anything. She just watched coldly as Guan Zhan was carried past her, then slapped her eyes a few times before turning away.
Seeing that she was calm, but the glint of tears in her eyes could not be hidden from her, Jiu Li thought that it must be tiring for her to put on a brave face in front of others, so she said to Du Zhong, "You take Sister Rouge back first."
Du Zhong helped Rouge up, "And what about you?"
“I’m waiting for my uncle to go back together; the yamen must have some questions for us.”
After seeing the two out of the cave, she turned back. Yu Qi was looking around the room when he saw the teacup on the table by the wall. He looked at the teapot and then turned to call her in, "Was this the room like when you came in?"
Jiuli nodded, "Oh, right, there was half a candle burning on the table when we came in. It was around 1:30 in the morning, so it looks like it was lit when it got dark."
Zhang Da turned around from under the screen and said, "Mr. Yu, it looks like there was a fight going on in this room."
Yu Qi smiled at him, "That's not true."
Zhang Da frowned and pointed to a plum blossom stool lying overturned in front of the round table. "Look at this stool."
Yu Qi shook his head with a smile, "Look at how neatly everything is arranged in this room, except for that round stool that's upside down. It must have been tripped over by the three of them when they went to check on the body."
The round table stood in the middle of the room, directly opposite the screen door in the inner room. Jiuli remembered that Du Zhong had tripped over the plum blossom stool when he ran over. She went over and picked up the stool, giving Zhang Da an embarrassed smile, "Uncle is right, it's all that coward Du Zhong's fault!"
Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the stool, along with the other four and the round table, formed a set. The panel beneath the round table was even carved with delicate floral patterns. She circled the table and exclaimed in surprise, "Guan Zhanshi's furniture is truly exquisite. No wonder people say he's very wealthy."
“More than just generous, the Guan family is one of the most prominent wealthy families in Nanjing.” Zhang Da walked out from under the screen with a smile. “Miss Yu’er is new to Nanjing, so she probably hasn’t heard much about the Guan family yet. Every local in Nanjing knows them. Compared to the Guan family, the Lin family is nothing. The Guan family’s business has even expanded to the West.”
"Then why is Lin Mo living in the main room while Guan Zhan lives in the east wing? Did Lin Mo come in earlier?"
“Come and see.” Zhang Da led her inside the screen and opened the window on the couch, where she could see several lush green banana trees in the courtyard. “He did it for this view.”
Jiuli nodded, then turned to see Yu Qi squatting under the screen, looking at the four-poster bed in the direction the body had fallen. She went over and squatted down next to Yu Qi to look as well. "What is Uncle looking at?"
Yu Qi turned to look at her. The night breeze blew in from outside the door. He noticed that the hem of her skirt was almost hanging in the pool of blood. He casually gathered it up for her, frowned, and stood up. "It's late. Go back to your room to change your clothes and rest. I still need to examine the body."
She stood up and said, "I'm not sleepy, I'll go with you."
He sighed, "You're covered in blood, aren't you dirty and cold?"
At first, she was terrified and didn't realize it, but now the wind was blowing and it was a bit cold. However, the dirt and cold were nothing compared to her curiosity. She just smiled and shook her head, "I'm not cold, I'm dressed warmly!"
She had loved looking pretty since she was a child, and even in the dead of winter, she would wear as few layers as possible, dreading looking bulky. In spring, she refused to wear thick clothes even more. Yu Qi knew she was just being polite, so he took off his dark blue cloak and draped it over her shoulders.
A note from the author:
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Thank you for reading.
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