Chapter 97 The Kleptomaniac Victim
Li Jin searched the entire house but couldn't find anywhere to hide the victim's body.
Instead, they discovered a lot of strange things.
A large pile of black earthenware pots for decocting medicine, several stacks of unopened Chinese medicine, calligraphy brushes engraved with various names, and even a large number of inkstones, several bags of jade, and several boxes of strange cups.
These items were all unique; Li Jin looked at them for a long time, but none of them could be paired together.
When Chen Xi returned, Jin Shu was still searching for a place to hide the body. She tapped on the wall and the bed board, trying to determine if there were any hollow compartments inside.
Chen Xi's gaze was drawn to the thumping sound and almost entirely fell on Jin Shu's back.
Until Li Jin suddenly stood between him and her, forcibly blocking his view.
"Have you found it, Lord Chen?"
The hint of displeasure on Li Jin's face startled Chen Xi.
"I found it." He bowed respectfully and handed the paper to Li Jin.
"This man is called Su Ziping. He is quite close to Su Hang, the son of the Grand Tutor, and can be considered a disciple of the Su family. Perhaps because they share the same surname, although they are not related by blood, they still address each other as brothers."
“Su Ziping was originally the son of a wealthy merchant in Luoyang, and he had been studying at the Imperial Academy for several years.” He paused here, “He has always been in poor health and has been taking medicine for many years.”
There was a long silence between them. Li Jin looked at the paper in her hand, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "That's it?"
"It's gone."
The information was so simple, clear, and exceptionally clean that it made Li Jin ponder for a moment.
He folded the paper in his hand in half, his fingertips gently tracing the edge of the paper: "Su Hang went to the Secretariat at the beginning of the year, so even I, the King, cannot disturb him."
He glanced at Chen Xi's face and asked again, "So, does Su Ziping have any other friends in the Imperial Academy?"
Originally, asking about the victim's interpersonal relationships would have been a simple question, but Chen Xi remained silent for a long time.
He had one hand behind his back and the other in front of him, his thumb tip digging into the knuckle of his index finger, leaving several pale crescent-shaped marks.
Li Jin watched his every move, and couldn't help but feel puzzled.
After a long while, Chen Xi seemed to have made up her mind before nodding and saying, "Me."
Li Jin paused.
Jin Shu, who heard the voice, was also stunned. She turned her head in surprise and looked at Chen Xi standing at the door.
He then cupped his hands and bowed deeply, saying, "...Chen Xi was worried about being implicated, so she did not speak of this matter immediately. Chen Xi is willing to accept punishment and begs Your Highness Jing for forgiveness."
In early summer, the sun shines brightly.
Under the sunlight, a wave of heat rises. But in places where the sun doesn't reach, it remains cold.
Li Jin watched Chen Xi in the shadows, the dividing line of time between them exceptionally clear.
"You can remain silent forever," Li Jinyun said calmly after a long silence.
“But being found out by the shadows of the Six Doors is different from me telling them myself, isn’t it?” Chen Xi raised her head, her feelings complicated.
Li Jin turned her head to the side, her gaze lingering on his cheek, her expression playful.
When Chen Xi said these words, it inevitably carried a hint of flattery.
As the eldest son of the Chen family, he had served as the Director of Studies at the Imperial Academy for five or six years. Knowing what to say and what not to say, and how to phrase what should be said in a roundabout way, was something that came naturally to him.
It must be that letter.
The contents of the letter made Chen Xi intentionally gravitate towards the Six Doors.
After a moment's thought, Li Jin decided to cut to the chase and asked directly, "How close were you to the victim?"
It seems like the question is about the relationship between Su Ziping and Chen Xi, but in reality, it's about the relationship between Chen Xi and the Grand Tutor.
Chen Xi smiled faintly and said in a low voice, "We're very familiar with each other. We often go to the same place, write poems, and chat together."
Chen Xi's answer was also clever; he was referring to himself and Su Ziping, but his words implied that he was talking about the Crown Prince's Fengxian Pavilion.
Li Jin chuckled softly.
Grand Tutor Su Yu, the murdered Su Ziping, and Chen Xi in front of us are all henchmen of the Crown Prince.
Li Jin really did stray deep into enemy territory without even realizing it.
“However,” Chen Xi smiled faintly, “a lot has happened at home recently, and from now on, Chen Xi wants to listen to her father and stop going.”
Outside, cicadas chirped incessantly.
Inside the room, Li Jin looked Chen Xi, who was the same age as him, up and down several times with a surprised gaze.
Listening to his father, could it be that the letter was really written to him by Chen An himself?
Could it be that Chen An told Chen Xi in advance in the letter that he would be silenced?
Li Jin remained silent for a while, then said meaningfully, "We still have to go, after all, there are other friends there."
Before Chen Xi could speak again, Li Jin changed the subject and asked, "Did the victim have any hobbies?" He paused, "For example, did he collect any items? Like cups?"
"Hobbies?" Chen Xi shook his head. "Our friendship is superficial and we don't have a deep connection. I really don't know anything about this."
Li Jin lowered her eyes and nodded.
After that, Li Jin instructed Zhou Zheng to bring back everything to the Six Doors, including Su Ziping's body, the strange items found in the house, and even Su Ziping's daily homework.
In the coroner's room, Jin Shu tied her hands, put on gloves and a face mask, and was at a loss.
The situation outside the coroner's room was not good either. Li Jin, along with Zhang Xin and Yun Fei, laid out all those strange items, none of which could be found to be the same, on the ground.
After a meow, the floor was littered with cups of different colors, inkstones, graphite, jade pendants, and even wolf-hair brushes of various shapes, probably more than the entire Six Doors.
The three people stood in the corner, looking at the courtyard, which was almost impossible to step in, and were filled with emotion.
“This scale must have been accumulated over many years,” Yunfei said. “I didn’t even know that teacups, inkstones, and calligraphy brushes in the capital could come in so many different styles.”
The scale is truly astonishing.
Looking at the scene before him, Li Jin asked, "Lord Zhang, this is not something an ordinary person could do, is it?"
As he spoke, Zhang Xin's tabby cat jumped down from his arms and swiftly and nimbly darted through the "collection" scattered on the ground, along a nearby tree, and onto the roof of the coroner's office.
“I tend to think it’s a morbid collecting obsession.” He laughed. “This person is well-fed and clothed, has plenty of money, and may even be quite successful. He appears glamorous in public and lives an upper-middle-class life. He seems cheerful, talkative, and enjoys making friends, and is even a source of pride for his family.”
He stroked his beard: "That's why the dark desires in my heart have always been suppressed, held back by that 'glamorous' version of me."
Zhang Xin squatted down, picked up two cups beside him, and said with a smile, "The more he suppressed it, the more unbearable the urge became. In the end, the way he released this repression became another kind of high-intensity stimulation."
"Exciting?" Li Jin raised an eyebrow.
"steal."
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