Chapter 87 If you want to find fault, you can always find a pretext.
“I do have evidence.”
The theater owner, with a mysterious air, pointed to Mr. Ren, who was particularly inconspicuous in the crowd, and wiped his mouth: "This Mr. Ren is actually a woman."
He said, "Besides, I have a grudge against this Miss Liu!"
As expected of the theater owner, the expression on his face at this moment was as exaggerated as if he were acting.
With one hand propped on the table and the other covering half of his face, he leaned forward and said in a serious tone, "This Mr. Ren and the leading lady in our opera troupe, Liu Mingze, are childhood sweethearts, inseparable since they were little."
"Originally, Liu Mingze was a character in all of Mr. Ren's plays in the opera troupe. It was she who propelled him to his current level." At this point, the shopkeeper snorted. "As a result, the man got arrogant after gaining some status and hooked up with this Miss Liu."
"Although the Liu family isn't considered extremely wealthy in the capital, they are still quite rich," the shopkeeper said with disdain. "Even if Liu Mingze is handsome and knows how to charm young girls, he's still just an actor at heart."
"What status do actors have? So what if they're famous? Liu Mingze abandoned his childhood sweetheart for that money and got together with this Miss Liu."
Li Jin looked at the steam rising from the teacup in his hand, nodded knowingly, and gestured for him to continue.
The shopkeeper, as if he had opened a floodgate, began to ramble on and on: "I was originally going to replace a group of people after the New Year this year. I was thinking of replacing Liu Mingze, and oh, and that Qingyi from earlier. She was disobedient, always talking nonsense, and her acting was just so-so."
“But Mr. Ren is truly talented. His play scripts are truly brilliant. I would rather support Liu Mingze than not keep Mr. Ren.” He sighed softly. “It’s a pity that Mr. Ren used one-third of his monthly salary to supplement Liu Mingze’s income to save him. In the end, he benefited others.”
This melodramatic love triangle gave Li Jin a headache: "So what exactly is the shopkeeper's evidence?"
To his surprise, the shopkeeper looked at him in disbelief: "Huh?! What I said isn't even evidence?"
After a long silence in the private room, Li Jin coughed lightly: "Next."
The three or five people in the middle all gave similar accounts to the shopkeeper, offering no new clues. Li Jin raised his hand, pinched the bridge of his nose, and let out a long sigh.
Now it was finally Mr. Ren's turn.
The tea in her hand had gone cold. Li Jin frowned and waved her fan as she looked at Mr. Ren, who was dressed as a man and had an exceptionally calm expression.
"You can probably guess what they were talking about."
Ren Jing paused for a moment, then looked up and met Li Jin's gaze.
Then, he glanced at the thin, small constable in black robes behind him.
The contours of her face, her posture, and her figure made Ren Jing pause for a moment.
Based on her woman's intuition, she instinctively felt that the constable in front of her also seemed like a woman.
Li Jin saw through her surprise, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said with a faint smile, "What, Mr. Ren, are you somewhat interested in the coroners of my Six Doors?"
It turns out he was a coroner.
Ren Jing looked away in surprise, dismissing the idea that it was a woman.
Even if she had written so many scripts, she would never believe that there was a female coroner in the Six Doors.
"Aren't you going to defend yourself?" Li Jin's smile deepened as he gazed at her face, drawing her thoughts back to the case.
The bright sunlight streamed in through the carved windows.
Inside the private room, there are white walls and black pillars, calligraphy and paintings by famous artists, hydroponic green plants, a small sandalwood table, and a long couch.
With his back to the light, Li Jin appeared as a black silhouette in Ren Jing's eyes.
She couldn't see his expression, but her heart pounded nervously with each beat of the fan in his hand.
After a long pause, she chuckled softly: "If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext. Even if you try to explain, it will only seem weak and feeble."
Li Jin's hand paused for a moment, and the fan in her hand came to an abrupt stop.
She's certainly a strong-willed woman.
He squinted and nodded, acknowledging her statement.
“The shopkeeper killed the man.” After a long pause, she said, “He destroys what he can’t have; that’s the kind of person the shopkeeper is.”
Ren Jing looked up at Li Jin, then at Jin Shu: "I won't defend myself, but I'll also throw mud at him and give him a taste of his own medicine. He must be spreading rumors everywhere that I was jealous of Miss Liu and that's why I killed her."
Ren Jing laughed disdainfully: "Naive. Why should I dirty my promising future for a scumbag and a scumbag?"
Looking at the composed and unassuming "Mr. Ren" in front of him, Li Jin felt a sense of admiration.
Whether it's the act of dressing up as a man itself, or her current untroubled and exceptionally dashing appearance, she commands respect.
However, this did not affect Li Jin's judgment; on the contrary, it deepened his suspicions about her.
He watched Ren Jing silently, observing her unusually calm demeanor.
The calmer you are, the more problems there are.
Ordinary women, even strangers, would be terrified and find it extremely difficult to remain calm in such a horrific scene.
The "Mr. Ren" in front of me, whose rival in love died a violent death, showed no grief or joy, no fear or surprise. Just now outside, he didn't even seem to be discussing anything, he was so detached from human presence, it was too abrupt.
There's a problem.
"You just said that if you can't have it, you'll destroy it?" After a long while, Li Jin asked calmly.
“It’s not the first or second time the shopkeeper has been showing interest in Miss Liu. I’m not the only one who saw it,” she said. “Miss Liu is a regular customer. She’s young and beautiful, and the shopkeeper has long had designs on her.”
She sneered, "He even told Miss Liu that he wanted her to marry him and become the young proprietress of this theater. Have you all forgotten that?!"
When she said this, Ren Jing deliberately raised her voice so that it could be heard clearly outside.
"Even if the shopkeeper forced himself on Miss Liu, and she resisted to the death and was poisoned, that's not surprising!" she sneered. "Those who accuse me of murder, don't they think I have the ability to hide someone so high up?"
These words echoed throughout the main hall of the theater. The manager stood outside, his face turning green. If Li Jin hadn't been there and dared not act rashly, he probably would have stormed in long ago.
Inside the room, Jin Shu looked at Li Jinqian's smiling face and glanced at Miss Liu's indignant expression, her doubts deepening.
She asked with some curiosity, "Don't you hate Miss Liu?"
Ren Jing paused for a moment, pursed her lips, and remained silent.
"I'm also curious, don't you hate Miss Liu? Don't you hate Liu Mingze? Don't you hate them for betraying you? Instead, you hate the shopkeeper who spoke ill of you behind your back even more?"
Li Jin's smile deepened: "Why is that?"
Is it because you already knew that both of them were dead, and all the hatred was released in that instant?
But Li Jin didn't receive a reply from Ren Jing.
A commotion broke out outside the private room.
Zhou Zheng leaned forward and lifted the crystal beaded curtain, glancing at Li Jin and Jin Shu: "They've been brought down."
After saying that, his gaze fell on Miss Ren's back: "They said that the one who died was Liu Zeming, who played a female role in an opera troupe."
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