Chapter 54 Painter

Everyone exchanged glances, and the eyes looking at Ming Huachang were still full of suspicion: "You handed over the wine yourself, and he died after drinking your wine. You said these things, most likely just to drag others into the water and confuse the public."

Ming Huashang was speechless and nodded, "Okay, if you don't believe me, you should at least believe the words of the dead. Jinniu, how did you feel when you died?"

Jiang Ling lay quietly, and said quietly: "Just now you told the corpse not to talk, and now you want me to steal the corpse?"

"Stop talking nonsense." Ming Huashang patted him unhappily, "Let's talk business."

Jiang Ling thought about it carefully and said, "I don't feel anything. I was confused and it happened very quickly."

Ming Huashang said: "So, before you died, you didn't know you were going to die."

"Isn't this nonsense?" Someone muttered, "Who can predict before death? Once they know, they will avoid it."

"These are two different things." Ming Huashang asked Jiang Ling, "Were you acting according to the general's instructions just now?"

Jiang Ling nodded. He didn't know when he would die, why he would die, or who would kill him. He was acting very well, but suddenly he was told that he was dead. It was a terrible experience.

"Then my guess is correct." Ming Huashang said, "Every action of a person reflects his inner heart. If one's mood is different, even if he is in a similar situation, his behavior will be completely different. At least at this banquet, the host was very relaxed and did not guard against people in the scene who might harm him, so his death was so unexpected. If there were people who did not get along with him at the scene, he would not have acted so relaxed."

Everyone thought Ming Huashang was talking nonsense: "So what? Isn't this obvious?"

Ming Huashang was not annoyed. Psychological portraits are always like this. No one notices it before the portrait is drawn. Once it is drawn, everyone becomes an afterthought. Ming Huashang said, "Since the master trusts everyone present, it means that everyone has no past hatred or personal grudges. This murderous intention is not directed at the master himself. General, in addition to the sudden death of the master, there must be something else that happened at this banquet, right?"

Han Jie looked mysterious and said with a half-smile, "Indeed. I didn't expect you to be able to find the hidden information. I underestimated you."

He said this with regret, but his tone was clearly very satisfied. Han Jie said, "Congratulations on finding the hidden clues and not being fooled by the surface. In that case, I might as well give you some more hints. The host of the banquet was a famous painter. Before playing the pipa, he showed his latest painting here, and then asked the servants to take the painting away. He and the guests and the singing girl continued to feast and have fun. Then the scene you acted out happened. Not long after the host died suddenly, the servants found the body of the servant who delivered the painting in the corner, and the painting was missing."

Minghua Zhang sat quietly below and asked calmly, "Is that painting valuable?"

Han Jie turned around, met Ming Huazhang's gaze, and smiled meaningfully: "It's very valuable."

"That's because they were tempted by the money," Xie Jichuan said. "Someone at the scene must have seen the painter's new work, became malicious, snatched the painting away, and killed the owner."

Everyone was talking to each other, and they believed it. Someone said loudly, "The murderer must be her. This painter is quite famous, and those who can be treated as guests by him must be famous scholars and talented people, and they will never be greedy for the money of a painting. Only these prostitutes, who know painting but are short of money, would take such a risk."

Ming Huashang said, "I don't agree with that. Even if the prostitutes are really greedy, they often go in and out of the mansions of powerful officials. It shouldn't be difficult for them to ask for gold and silver jewelry from their patrons. Why would they go to so much trouble to steal a painting and risk two lives for it?"

Each side held its own view, and the reasoning reached an impasse. Ming Huazhang looked at Han Jie and said, "General, what happened after the death?"

Han Jie said slowly, "After the master died, the banquet was naturally in chaos. In the chaos, it was the master's good friend Zhang San who stepped forward and ordered people to invite doctors, police chiefs, and monks. The housekeeper sent a carriage to pick up the people. Later, the government confirmed that the master was dead. Zhang San took care of the funeral for the master and asked the housekeeper to prepare candles and other items. He himself had a bad leg and worked on crutches until midnight, and was very grateful to the family. As for the other guests and the singing girl, they were invited to the private room when the murder happened, and were released after the government came and questioned them."

Ming Huazhang asked: "Have you checked their belongings?"

"We checked," Han Jie said. "The yamen runners searched them and found no scrolls on them."

"How big is that painting?"

"When rolled up, it should be three feet long."

Ming Huashang tried to measure the size and said, "Three feet is not small. It's not easy to take it out."

"That's strange," Xie Jichuan said, clasping his hands. "If the murderer's target was the painting, he would have found a way to get it out of the mansion. Why didn't anyone find the three-foot-tall scroll?"

Jiang Ling felt that the topic had gone too far and said, "Putting aside the painting, I died at the banquet, and I think it is better to focus on the scene of death. Before that, everyone was drinking and having fun, and then the butler brought a jug of new wine, Li Si poured a glass for me to toast, and the wine girl helped me to add more wine. I died after drinking this glass of wine."

Jiang Ling looked at the three people who played the butler, Li Si, and the drunkard, and said, "No matter what, the murderer must be among you three."

The rest of the people nodded slowly, their expressions very much in agreement. As the only person who handled this glass of wine, Ming Huashang was undoubtedly the most suspicious.

Ming Huashang felt it was necessary to defend herself, and said, "Let's use the process of elimination. First, it's not me; second, it's not Li Si; third, it's not the housekeeper. Then it can only be Zhang San."

Jiang Ling's expression was hard to describe: "I just want to hear your words. What nonsense are you talking about?"

"My reasoning is very reasonable." Ming Huashang explained seriously, "I was also surprised when he died. If I were a prostitute, I would never poison the wine I passed out. Anyway, I was sitting next to him, and I could poison him anytime. Why would I get myself into trouble? The same logic applies to Li Si. But the host died suddenly when he was toasting. If he was the murderer, there was no need for him to expose himself like this and confess."

Su Xingzhi, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly asked, "What if the murderer anticipated the government's intentions and deliberately did the opposite?"

"I don't rule out this possibility," Ming Huashang said, "but I still think Li Si didn't lie. When he toasted the host, he recited poems and composed verses non-stop, and his words were full of rhetoric. It didn't sound like he was lying, but more like he was showing off his talent."

This time many people did not understand, so Su Xingzhi asked: "The rhetoric in his words has nothing to do with whether he is lying or not?"

Ming Huashang pursed her lips, not knowing how to explain: "I can't really explain it, it's just a feeling. If I put myself in his shoes, if I wanted to assassinate someone, when I stood in front of him, all my attention would be on observing his expression and movements, and I would not have the energy to speak long paragraphs of metaphors. So, my intuition tells me that the murderer is not Li Si."

This time it was Ming Huazhang who asked: "Then why isn't he the housekeeper?"

"He didn't have to." Ming Huashang said, "If the butler wanted to steal the painting, he could just sneak into the master's study in the dead of night and steal it. Why did he kill the master? The master can continue to paint as long as he is alive, providing him with a steady supply of thefts. There is really no need for the butler to kill the goose to get the eggs."

"That makes sense." Xie Jichuan asked with an interested smile, "Then why do you suspect Zhang San? He is a good friend of the master and helped the master with his funeral. It doesn't seem like he would have the intention to kill his best friend."

Ming Huashang said slowly, "I haven't met Zhang San yet, so I don't know what he thinks, but the current clues can only point to him. We may have fallen into a misunderstanding. The master did die after drinking, but the poison may not have been in the wine."

Ming Huashang pointed to the Hu bed. In the scene, there should be a golden table with a lot of food and snacks on it, between the host and Zhang San. Ming Huashang said: "The poison may have been put in the food. The host was unconsciously inhaled when listening to the pipa, and the poison took effect when Li Si toasted."

The student who played Li Si blinked his eyes and said belatedly, "You mean..."

"We were all used as scapegoats by him." Ming Huashang sighed, "I remember you were originally standing next to the screen, and Zhang San said something to you, so you came back to toast."

The student nodded: "Yes, he said that I have great ambitions but little talent. I finally met a famous person in Chang'an, but I didn't want to learn from him and only knew how to hang out with women. I was so angry that I took the initiative to toast them and let them see my talent."

"That's right." Ming Huashang said, "He seems to know your personality very well and deliberately calculated the time to wait for you."

Jiang Ling rubbed his chin and said with a click of the tongue: "You two are singing the same tune, are you playing double entendre to deliberately clear each other of suspicion?"

Ming Huashang glared at Jiang Ling angrily, and was so angry that she wanted to strangle him to death: "Believe it or not."

Everyone was talking about this. Han Jie slowly scanned the crowd and said, "Okay, go back. I'll give you another stick of incense to think about who the murderer is. When you've figured it out, write it down on a piece of paper and I'll check it out alone."

Many students returned to their seats one after another. Su Yuji put down her pipa and glanced at Ming Huashang unexpectedly when she passed by her.

I'm afraid no one would have expected that Ming Huashang, who looked like the most useless person, could talk so clearly about the murder case.

Xie Jichuan walked over and asked Ming Huazhang: "Who do you think it is?"

Ming Huazhang had already written a name on the paper and said coldly, "I remember it was you who took the initiative to propose the bet."

Xie Jichuan gave Ming Huazhang a gloomy look: "How boring. Many people suspect that she is a drunkard, what do you think?"

"Not her."

Xie Jichuan raised his eyebrows: "Why?"

Ming Huazhang folded the paper, put the pen and ink back in place, and said calmly, "Because she said it wasn't her."

Xie Jichuan was not expecting this answer and was stunned for a moment. He paused for a moment and chuckled: "You are really wise."

Ming Huazhang accepted Xie Jichuan's evaluation very calmly.

People around were whispering to each other, discussing who the murderer was. Ming Huazhang had already written down the answer. He waited for an incense stick, and Han Jie came over to take the note.

This was the first classroom test, and everyone was very curious about the result. They couldn't help but ask, "General, who is the murderer?"

Han Jie flipped through everyone's papers, still with that expressionless look on his face, and closed them and asked, "Some people's answers are different from everyone else's. Shuangbi, what do you think?"

Han Jie was talking to Ming Huazhang, and the "twin jades" he mentioned were obviously referring to him. Ming Huazhang said, "She has already made her ideas very clear. I am ashamed of myself and can only add a few details. The maid played by Qi Sha and the talented scholar Li Si from Yangzhou are actually from Xuan Xiaowei."

His tone was calm, but it was like a thunderbolt exploding in everyone's ears. Ren Yao pursed her lips, and Jiang Ling looked at her in astonishment: "What?"

Han Jie smiled and asked, "Why do you think so?"

"Guess." Ming Huazhang said calmly, "As a maid, Qi Sha probably doesn't have many opportunities to listen to the pipa, but she has no interest in the talented scholar and courtesan in the hall. Instead, she walked behind the screen, contrary to her usual behavior. At that time, Li Si was also leaning against the screen to listen to the music. They didn't seem to be communicating, but I happened to notice that the maid was tapping Li Si's palm lightly through the screen."

Ming Huashang didn't notice these things at all, and looked at Ren Yao in surprise. They had just finished the secret language class not long ago, and she certainly understood that tapping on the palms was not only flirting, but more likely to convey information.

This maid turned out to be the spy planted by Xuan Xiaowei in the painter's house? Ming Huachang suddenly became extremely curious about the identity of the deceased. Being monitored by Xuan Xiaowei, it seemed that this painter was not only a skilled painter.

Han Jie smiled and didn't comment: "Is that all?"

"The murderer should be Zhang San, the painter's long-time friend." Ming Huazhang glanced at the props and said, "As for the missing painting, it should be hidden in Zhang San's cane that he never leaves behind."

There was another groan in the classroom. Xie Jichuan snorted very lightly and said unhappily, "Just as I guessed, boring. I knew I couldn't count on him. Sigh, who will help me take notes?"

"Is this true?" The students were skeptical and shouted, "General, what is the truth?"

Han Jie stood up and said, "Your ideas are all very interesting. These papers all have different opinions, and some even think that the murderer is Biwa Oiran. Go back and think about it carefully, and write an analysis tomorrow. Class is dismissed."

"What?" Ren Yao complained softly, "You are the one who hates keeping things in suspense. Who is the murderer? Can't you tell us today?"

Ming Huashang raised her eyebrows secretly but said nothing. Han Jie arranged such a big drama but did not give an answer. Is it possible that there is no answer?