Chapter 36 Birthday
"But if that's the case, how did the murderer plan the murder and frame Meng Lanxi? And how could he escape if the window was bolted from the inside?"
"Speaking of which, come and see." Ling Tianshui had just searched the room thoroughly and pointed to an ink mark on the corner of the cabinet. "It's unlikely that an inkstone would fall in this place, and the ink mark is still fresh. Based on the words Zheng Junshan left before his death, we can roughly infer the situation at the time—
"The killer struck Zheng Junshan on the back of the head with an inkstone. After he fell to the ground, the killer, believing him dead, discarded the inkstone. Zheng Junshan, however, managed to cling to his last vestiges of consciousness and used the blood-stained ink on the ground to write clues to the killer's whereabouts. The killer, who hadn't left yet, noticed this and picked up the inkstone again, striking him several more times, killing him completely. This is why we discovered multiple blow marks on the back of Zheng Junshan's head at the coffin cemetery."
But the ink and blood had dried by then, because the murderer stayed in the room for a while after the murder, and during that time, he must have been looking for something."
Cui Fufeng blurted out: "Zheng Junshan has the evidence that the murderer killed Yu Guangling!"
Qian Deng nodded in sudden realization: "No wonder he asked Shangluo to call us to the dormitory instead of coming to see us directly - because he has evidence here."
But Ling Tianshui raised a question: "There's only one thing that doesn't make sense. If the murderer had already discovered the writing and couldn't erase it, why would he just give up? After all, he had the inkstone, and Zheng Junshan was still bleeding. If he had mixed blood with ink and poured it directly on the inkstone, he could have completely covered up the evidence."
"This murderer must be related to the word 'Lan'. After discovering that the word 'Lan' couldn't be erased, he thought of framing it on Meng Lanxi who happened to be there." Qian Deng said, "Perhaps we can find out who else in the Imperial College is related to the word 'Lan' besides Meng Lanxi."
Cui Fufeng nodded and flipped through the contents of the file. "I will urge the Dali Temple to investigate further in this area. Of course, the few minor doubts we've explored so far aren't enough to overturn the entire case. Clearing the charges still requires solid evidence."
At present, Meng Lanxi is still the biggest suspect. He has all the motives, timing, witnesses and physical evidence. No wonder Gao Shaoqing wants to close the case and put the blame on him.
Without further ado, the three of them searched the scene separately, looking for where Zheng Junshan might have hidden the evidence.
The dormitory was simply furnished and there were not many things in it. Zheng Junshan, like other young students, did not like to take care of his residence. The clothes in the closet and the bedding on the bed were stuffed together in a ball, wrinkled and not tidied at all, and also emitted a suspicious smell.
Qiandeng tightened his mask, opened the closet and checked the clothes one by one. He was secretly glad that Aunt Xuanji was not there, otherwise if she saw her own county lady searching through the men's dirty clothes one by one, she would definitely be heartbroken and cry.
Finding nothing in the cabinet, she went to the side cabinet.
The room was narrow, and the wardrobe blocked the door when it was opened, forming a narrow angle behind it. Zheng Junshan naturally wouldn't leave this small space empty. High on the wall hung his tattered straw raincoat. If it weren't blocked by the wardrobe, it would look like a ghost stuck to the wall.
Qiandeng looked at the straw raincoat and felt a stir in his heart. A strange idea flashed through his mind, but before he could catch it, he heard a strange sound coming from behind.
She turned around and saw Ling Tianshui picking up the green ox porcelain pillow on the bed and shaking it to listen to the sound inside.
Then he looked through the hole in the porcelain pillow and put his finger in to take out the thing inside, but the hole was too small and the thing could not be taken out at once.
When Qiandeng was about to go over to help, he saw him swing the porcelain pillow and hit the head of the bed. The green ox's head immediately flew out and smashed to pieces on the ground.
Then he turned the porcelain pillow over and poured out a long and thin object inside.
Although they disagreed with his brutal method of destroying the crime scene, Cui Fufeng and Qian Deng still hurried over.
What fell out was a curved brown bamboo piece, one finger wide and about half a foot long. The tail end was neatly cut off, the bamboo body was straight, and the front was bent forward into a semi-circular arc. It was worn out and had some defects, giving it a strange shape.
"What is this?" Cui Fufeng picked it up and examined it, wondering, "This bamboo has been split into long strips. Could it be used to make bamboo slips? But it looks thinner than bamboo slips, and it's also curved... Besides, in this day and age, why would someone use heavy bamboo slips instead of paper? Are they admiring the old ways?"
Ling Tianshui said, "Smell it."
Hidden within the porcelain pillow, the bamboo slip was damp and filthy, stained with mud. Cui Fufeng, a man of exceptional prudence, sniffed it briefly before frowning and setting it aside, his fingertips smelt of blood and mud.
"I'm afraid this was picked up from the alley. Moreover, it should have been obtained after Yu Guangling was murdered."
Otherwise, there would be no such smell on it.
Ling Tianshui took the bamboo slip and flipped it over, tossing it back and forth. "But, Zheng Junshan specifically picked it up and hid it in his pillow. This proves that it's not just ordinary trash."
After searching the entire room and finding nothing else, Ling Tianshui said, "Let's go to the alley and see if this thing came from there."
The three of them searched the aisles of the library, but although there were a lot of messy things inside, they did not find the bamboo slips.
They could only put away the bamboo strip and prepare to take it back for research.
Just as I walked out of the alley, I suddenly heard an old roar.
"You little bastards, how dare you come here and steal my homework? You're totally disrespectful! You're insulting the saints!"
Qiandeng looked up and saw an old man with white hair and beard waving a cane in his hand, beating several students so hard that they ran away in panic.
Cui Fufeng had also studied at the Imperial College before, and recognized the old man as Master Liu, who had taught him mathematics. Seeing him staggering and almost falling, he immediately stepped forward to greet him and supported him.
"Why is the teacher so enraged that he chases and beats the students in public?"
Master Liu turned around and saw him. Recognizing him as his most prized student, he calmed down a bit and glared, "These worthless brats, just for the Jin family's reward, actually came to my place and stole Zheng Junshan's homework! They're such bastards!"
"Zheng Junshan's homework?" Cui Fufeng asked, puzzled. "Why did they steal it?"
"Who knows? Well, blame me! The day before Zheng Junshan was murdered, I scolded him in class for scribbling on his homework and ruining the paper!" The old man sighed again as he spoke of the murdered student. "Now that he's dead, the Jin family is looking for clues, and the students are actually stealing his homework!"
Cui Fufeng turned to look at the students next to him and asked, "What's going on?"
Seeing the Dali Temple's Shaoqing questioning, everyone held their heads in their hands and dared not speak. Only the leader stammered, "That day...that day, the teacher scolded Zheng Junshan in class and then left. Zheng Junshan didn't take it seriously at all. He just shook his homework and smiled, 'I see, I see!'
Cui Fufeng exchanged a glance with Qian Deng and Ling Tianshui, and immediately asked, "Where is his homework?"
The leading student pursed his lips and reluctantly pulled out a crumpled piece of homework from his pocket and handed it to him, saying, "He handed it in after class. We remembered this, so we just went to the teacher's room to borrow it... to take a look."
Dr. Liu tapped him on the back with his cane and shouted angrily, "Asshole! Taking something without permission is called stealing!"
Cui Fufeng unfolded the homework and looked at it.
There was only a scribbled homework on it, which showed that the work was done absentmindedly and perfunctorily. On the back of the homework, there was a line of corrections.
The writing was illegible but clear, indicating the end of September, tenth day of the tenth month, the second year of Zhide, which should be a birth date.
The mouth was exactly where the date had been erased, but even without the date, the eight characters were still familiar. She thought about it for a moment and blurted out, "The end of the month of the 13th day of the 9th month in the second year of Zhide—this is Yu Guangling's birth date."
Because Si Tiantai repeatedly said that he had a good fate, Qiandeng had paid attention to this day. When he saw it, he immediately remembered it.
But for some reason, Zheng Junshan only crossed out the "three" on the date.
Cui Fufeng, who had been in charge of the selection process, naturally remembered, "It's indeed his birthday. I wonder what Zheng Junshan discovered about it that led him to conclude, 'So that's it.'"
"What I find strange," Ling Tianshui said, "is that fate is only used to predict events that happened before one's death. Since Yu Guangling was already dead at the time, what's the point of calculating his birth date?"
Yeah, what's the point?
Qiandeng looked at the string of numbers and pondered for a long time.
Could it be that there is really something here that is worth exploring?
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