Chapter 34 Roof
How could such a coincidence happen in this world?
Now all the clues converge on Ji Linyou. The mark on the water pavilion, Shi Jingning's death, Xiao Fuyu's dying words, the "benefactor" who colluded with the soldiers and bandits...
There are so many signs, but only one person can connect them all and do it all.
The three of them looked at the knife, but no one spoke.
After a long moment, Qiandeng's gaze turned towards the men's quarters in the back, and he said, "Actually, after you left, I pondered over the suspicious points in this case again. For example, I've never been able to figure out who killed Meng Lanxi's rabbit. Also, where did the teacup in Jintang's hand go before he died?"
She repeated Sister Ying's words and sighed softly, "I went through the circumstances of the case from beginning to end. When Jin Tang's body was found, it was true that only Ji Linyou could make it disappear."
After the window was knocked open, he was the first to jump in, opened the door, and let everyone in to check the situation.
In the very short time when the door was opened and everyone went around from the back window to the front door, he was the only one beside Jintang's body.
Although the time was short, it was the simplest thing to take a cup from the deceased's hand and quickly hide it in the sleeve.
However, Qiandeng still refused to believe it.
He was a good young man sent by his family of generous soldiers. His whole family were her grandfather's old subordinates.
When the palace caught fire and he discovered that Shi Jingning might be trapped in the fire, he was the first to put on a wet mattress and rush over to save people.
She didn't believe that Ji Linyou was the mastermind who had been lurking by her side and deliberately committing numerous crimes.
"That reminds me of something..." Cui Fufeng said thoughtfully, "That night, Ji Linyou opened the door and left the room."
Ling Tianshui said, "But he only opened the door. I didn't hear him passing by my door later, and there was no way he could have knocked on the door of the Golden Hall."
Qian Deng nodded silently, speculating on the situation at that time: "He opened the door, but did not walk into the corridor in front of the room..."
As she spoke, she walked to the door and opened it.
I had clearly left the house, but there was no sound of footsteps...
Her eyes involuntarily followed the pillar in front of her, then turned upwards to look at the roof above.
Cui Fufeng saw her movements and suddenly realized what was going on. He blurted out, "He went over from above!"
Ling Tianshui raised his eyebrows slightly, immediately stood up, and took the lead to walk towards the courtyard next to him.
The courtyard where the gentlemen were accommodated that night belonged to Zhuangzi's side courtyard, and of course it was not as magnificent and neat as the one in the royal palace.
The house was just a bungalow with low columns. For someone who had practiced martial arts and was agile, it would not be difficult to flip from the corridor to the roof and then jump to the back wall.
They walked into the Jintang house and looked up.
The interior of each house is the same. There is no caisson or ceiling above, only neatly arranged wooden rafters and tiles.
The roof tiles directly above seemed not very dense, and were even a little translucent.
Qiandeng ordered Agui at the door to bring a ladder over. Ji Linyou, Xue Xiyang, Meng Lanxi and others heard the noise and came out of the house, looking at them in confusion.
Cui Fufeng and Ling Tianshui gestured for them to wait in the corridor, and they went up to the house to check. Soon, Qiandeng heard Cui Fufeng exclaim, which seemed to be in surprise.
She climbed up the ladder and looked at them on the roof.
The two of them were walking carefully on the roof. Cui Fufeng bent down and picked up something from the tiles. When he saw her appear, he picked up the thing and showed it to her.
It was a long, thin string with a small nail tied to the end.
It seems that this is the tool the murderer used to make the poison fall from the sky and take people's lives without entering the house.
"This thread is still very new. It was just dropped here not long ago."
Ling Tianshui checked the condition of the tiles and pointed at a few broken ones. "This side is near the back wall. It looks like someone did come from here, climbed onto the roof of the Golden Hall, and tampered with it."
"Hold on, I'll go get something and we'll try it later."
Qiandeng said as he got down the ladder and asked Agui to go to the kitchen to get a bamboo tube of water and bring it up. He then took a teapot from the side room that was similar to the one in the Jintang room, placed it on the table in the middle of the room, and shouted, "Try it!"
The sparse tiles above were gradually moved away. They uncovered a few tiles on top, estimated the distance, and then gestured at the distance, roughly above the table. They slowly lowered the thin wire tied with a nail in their hand, carefully adjusting the angle to let it enter the spout.
Cui Fufeng put his elbow into the small hole after the roof tiles were removed, and slowly pulled the thin rope to move. Finally, the nail on the thin rope slowly aligned with the spout of the pot and was inserted into the mouth.
The three of them held their breath and watched the bamboo tube in Cui Fufeng's other hand slowly tilt over, and the water inside slowly flowed down along the thin line.
The water flowed slowly along the thin line into the spout of the pot, without leaking a drop.
The three people inside and outside the house and the three people watching in the corridor all fell silent after they breathed a sigh of relief.
After a long while, Xue Xiyang slowly said "Oh" and glanced at Ji Linyou with a half-smile: "So that's how it is..."
Ji Linyou looked puzzled and asked Qian Deng, "County Lady, is this how Jin Tang was silently murdered last night? But it's broad daylight now, and the murderer must have committed the crime in the dead of night, right? If he used this method, would you have been able to see it?"
Qiandeng didn't answer, but just pointed to the oil lamp next to him.
The full oil lamp delivered last night is now empty and the wick has burned out.
"It seems that this lamp has been burning for most of the night, and the oil has burned out."
Jin Tang did not turn off the lights to sleep because of his worry and fear, which made it easier for the murderer to introduce poison into his pot spout and kill him silently.
After confirmation, Cui Fufeng put away the thin thread. The three of them took water to wash their hands repeatedly, and then took soap nuts to wash them repeatedly, because the thread was likely to be contaminated with aconite. If it was ingested, it would face the same fate as Jintang.
Meng Lanxi stood in the corridor, looking at Xue Xiyang and Ji Linyou with a hesitant look on her face.
Ji Linyou leaned against the pillar with his arms folded and asked, "So, who is the murderer?"
"What do you think?" Cui Fufeng wiped his hands carefully and looked at his waist.
Qiandeng looked over there.
The silver sachet with the inscription "Wind from the Tiger" that she personally gave to Ji Linyou was now worn around his waist.
In the hollow part of the sachet, there is a small dry and curled leaf, as inconspicuous as a brown fish scale the size of a little fingernail.
If you saw it normally, you would probably think it was just an ordinary dry blade of grass.
However, after climbing onto the roof for a detailed inspection, they knew at a glance that these were dead leaves of the japonica growing on the roof.
Qian Deng's gaze paused and turned to Ling Tianshui.
He just signaled her to remain calm and said to Ji Linyou, "Let's go inside and talk."
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