Chapter 35 Complexity
Amidst the hustle and bustle, not a single cent of the Jin family's reward money was distributed. Instead, everyone talked about a lot of trivial matters with great relish, which lifted their spirits and dispelled their fatigue from studying.
Cui Fufeng listened and suddenly turned to ask, "Although it seems a bit ridiculous, Yu Guangling's wound was very deep and high up, and the opponent used a blunt knife. If the opponent was a master of knife throwing, could he have caused such a wound?"
Ling Tianshui said, "Flying knife wounds require a combination of skill and strength. Yu Guangling's wounds were so accurate and fierce, unless there is a strongman among these students who can hit the target every time."
"I don't think it makes sense either." Qian Deng pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "Yu Guangling fell face down in a pool of blood, and the murder weapon was found by an officer in the puddle. If he killed someone with a flying knife, why would the knife be in the puddle?"
Cui Fufeng pondered and nodded: "Yes, since the murderer chose to use the murder weapon to frame Jin Tang, why did he pull the knife from the corpse and then discard it in the puddle?"
Having said that, he looked at Ling Tianshui again: "Are you sure the murder weapon and the wound match?"
Ling Tianshui thought without hesitation: "Although the wound is already decayed, the blade is relatively blunt. Even the tiny tear left by the fire thorn is still visible. It matches perfectly."
Another possibility was overturned. The three of them remained silent and continued to listen to the movement over there.
Despite the generous reward, there was still something to be gained. The next words from one of the students shocked everyone:
"I was washing my hands by the ditch this morning and noticed many water taro plants were missing leaves. The cut ends were fresh and neat, indicating they had been picked a few days ago. Butler Jin, this proves Meng Lanxi is lying! On the day of the incident, he said he was picking herbs, and the medicine basket only contained perilla and artemisia, but in fact, he was picking poisonous taro. He must have bad intentions!"
When Butler Jin heard that this was evidence of Meng Lanxi's evil deeds, he immediately perked up: "Really? Go and take a look with this student. If it's true, come back and collect a hundred taels of silver. We will record it immediately and report it to the Dali Temple!"
Ling Tianshui looked at Qiandeng and raised his eyebrows slightly.
Qian Deng nodded to him and lowered his voice: "Meng Lanxi confessed to me in the Dali Temple prison."
Ling Tianshui's face showed a rare hint of surprise. He asked, "Yinyu? He also wants to murder Yu Guangling?"
"He later poured out the poison." Cui Fufeng briefly repeated what Meng Lanxi had said that day.
Ling Tianshui leaned against the tree with his arms folded, lost in thought: "Oh... I thought he was just a weak and innocent little pitiful thing."
Qian Deng thought, I never thought that this poor little thing would show off his skills and give us a warning when we first met - just like you, the legendary weak little white rabbit.
The crowd was bustling, but there was no clue worth paying attention to, so the three of them entered the Imperial College and walked towards the library.
As a result, before they reached the alley, they saw a crowd of people ahead, and they immediately felt uneasy.
Some students were seen scooping water, some were touching the walls, and more were shaking out the old garbage in the alley, as if they wanted to dig three feet into the ground to find clues.
Seeing the scene completely destroyed, the three immediately stepped forward to stop them. Cui Fufeng saw the teacher nearby and told him to send the students away and not to disrupt the alley again.
By the time the students were dismissed, the puddles in the alley had dried up, leaving only potholes in the broken brick floor and old garbage scattered everywhere.
However, the library alley was small and secluded, with few people passing through, and it became a filthy place due to the careless discarding of garbage. It was full of broken bricks and tiles, and there was nothing worth noting.
They walked a few steps inside, and Qiandeng thought of Gao Shaoqing, so he asked Cui Fufeng, "Gao Shaoqing tripped here earlier and knocked out the last tooth in his mouth. I wonder if he can eat and drink easily now?"
Cui Fufeng was slightly surprised: "So Gao Shaoqing's last tooth didn't fall out here?"
"Yes, when we walked here, the water on the ground was still deep..." As he said this, Qiandeng looked down at the puddle under his feet.
The students had already scooped out most of the dirty water, revealing the jagged layers of broken stones and bricks beneath. Add to that torn paper, rotten tiles, broken wood, and a broken broom, and it was a truly filthy mess. No wonder Gao Shaoqing tripped and fell.
Qian Deng carefully stepped over the raised rocks, gesturing to indicate the distance, and recounted the scene to the two men: "Yu Guangling collapsed right here. It was raining heavily, and when we saw the body in a pool of blood, we couldn't tell if it was Yu Guangling. Later, Jian Anting went in and turned the body over, and we saw it was indeed him. He had been dead for a long time, and his body was stiff because all the blood had drained out. His skin was extremely pale from being soaked in the water. It looked... very scary."
When she said this, her voice trembled slightly, and she was unable to continue when she thought of the tragic scene at that time.
Ling Tianshui looked down, as if he wanted to see if Gao Shaoqing's tooth was in the mud, but the small tooth had naturally been buried by all kinds of messy garbage.
He raised his foot and used the tip of his boot to poke at the broom sticks floating on the muddy water, hoping to see if there was anything else worth noting. However, anything slightly unusual had already been looted by the students. Now, apart from a scattered broken broom, there was nothing larger to be found in the alley.
Seeing that there was nothing unusual to be found in the alley, and the puddle was full of maggots, mosquitoes and flies crawling around Qiandeng's feet, Cui Fufeng suggested going to the dormitory first to check the scene of Zheng Junshan's accident.
After tearing off the seal of the Dali Temple, the three of them stepped into Zheng Junshan's dormitory.
The bloodstains had dried up long ago, but the remaining smell of blood mixed with the musty smell hit them in the face, causing Qiandeng and Cui Fufeng to subconsciously cover their noses and turn their heads away.
Ling Tianshui casually gave them two more masks. However, after experiencing the charity cemetery, Qiandeng felt a little numb. After putting on the mask, he quickly adapted to the smell and followed them in.
The things inside were still in their original state, except that Zheng Junshan's body had been sent to the charity cemetery, and everything was exactly the same as when the incident happened.
After the body was removed, the word "Lan" stood out next to the blood and ink stains on the ground.
The room was dim, so Qiandeng pushed open the windows to let in light and allow air to circulate inside.
Ling Tianshui walked around the room and his eyes fell on the word "Lan" written in a mixture of blood and ink. He half-knelt down, carefully examined the handwriting, then opened the drawer and looked for Zheng Junshan's handwriting.
The students naturally had their past homework in the house. If they took it out and compared it, they could see that the writing structure of the word "Lan" was exactly the same as his daily one. There was no doubt that it was written by him before his death.
Qian Deng was flipping through his homework when he saw Ling Tianshui pointing at the writing on the ground and said, "This word, was it rubbed by the sole of a shoe?"
Cui Fufeng looked carefully and found that there were indeed traces of sand and soil friction on several strokes, but the ink was half dry when he wiped it, so it was of no use.
Qian Deng had seen it before and replied, "This character was pressed under Zheng Junshan's body. The coroner discovered it when he carried his body away. The blood and ink had already dried, and it looked like this."
"I remember the county lady saying that Meng Lanxi had just slipped into the room when you came over, and he hadn't even put down the murder weapon when you entered. So, there are two possibilities for Meng Lanxi appearing at the door. One is that you just happened to witness him entering and killing someone—but, it had been some time since the deceased left his last words. It only took you a moment to get from Room A to Room B. There was definitely not enough time for Meng Lanxi to kill, Zheng Junshan to leave the bloody words and have them dry, Meng Lanxi to wipe them off unsuccessfully, and then return to the door with the murder weapon."
Ling Tianshui raised a second finger as he spoke. "There's another possibility. That's that when Meng Lanxi was discovered, he was actually trying to flee after killing someone. He only hid inside when he saw everyone approaching. However, you were quite far away, and he was only a few steps away from the window. He could have easily escaped through the window instead of standing there with the murder weapon and being caught red-handed."
Qian Deng recalled the situation at that time and subconsciously asked, "In other words, the person who had the opportunity to try to erase the word 'Lan' should have appeared here before Meng Lanxi and discovered the word left by Zheng Junshan before his death."
Ling Tianshui asserted: "Yes, and this person is very likely the real murderer."
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