Chapter 69 Heavy

Ming Huashang finished the whole bowl of rice absent-mindedly. She always had a weird feeling in her heart, as if there was something on the table but she had ignored it.

Ming Huashang believed in her intuition and her inner feelings, so she decided to go back to the crime scene. Perhaps, she really had missed something.

Ming Huashang was carrying the name of Jiang'an Marquis Mansion, so no one dared to question her. After she came out of Guanghan Yueyuan, she walked around the lobby, and when she saw that no one was around, she went into the compartment of the east building and entered the crime scene through the secret door again.

This time, there was no one around, so she had to do everything by herself. Ming Huashang was able to immerse herself in the role of the murderer even more. Ming Huashang moved the shelf with some difficulty and pushed open the secret door.

The scene he saw was the same as before. Ming Huashang returned to the desk again and simply sat in the position where Zhang Ziyun died, switching to the perspective of the deceased.

Ming Huashang leaned against the desk and looked up at the beams. She felt it for a long time and felt something strange.

If she were Zhang Ziyun, what would she do sitting here? Ming Huashang looked around, trying to figure out what Zhang Ziyun was feeling at the time. She accidentally swept the paper on the ground and froze.

Why did these paintings look so strange? Why did she need to turn her head? She was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized.

Yes, such an obvious flaw, why didn't she notice it before! The manuscripts around were upside down, obviously not thrown from this direction. Zhang Ziyun couldn't look at the paintings sitting here, and there was no wine at hand, so he couldn't just look at the beams here, right?

This means that this is not the place where Zhang Ziyun fainted. He was suffocated to death and then dragged to the desk!

Ming Huashang rolled to her feet and tried to put herself in Zhang Ziyun's shoes, wondering where she should have been. Ming Huashang scanned the room and noticed the small tea table.

Looking at the manuscripts piled on the ground, Zhang Ziyun's paintings were getting worse and worse, and he was in a very irritable mood. In this situation, he might have drunk to relieve his sorrow, but he didn't expect that he would be knocked out by the dream powder halfway through drinking, and remained unconscious until the murderer came in.

Ming Huashang approached the tea table and saw a set of exquisite Western wine vessels on the table, a cup rolled on the ground, and a jar of unopened wine at the foot of the table. According to Yuehu, there should be another jar of wine here, half of which has been drunk.

Ming Huashang lay almost flat on the ground, searching for any suspicious traces. She had been lying there for so long that she felt a little dizzy when she stood up, and her elbow accidentally knocked something off her back.

The metal fell to the ground with a crisp sound. Ming Huashang was startled and hurriedly protected the wine pot with his hands. His whole body was stiff and he dared not move.

Fortunately, no one outside noticed the commotion. Ming Huashang slowly breathed a sigh of relief and put the wine bottle back on the small table. She couldn't help complaining, "Who put the wine bottle so close to the side? Aren't they afraid it will be knocked over?"

Just as she was about to put down the wine pot, Ming Huashang suddenly stopped. She stared at the tall cup with lotus pattern on the table, then looked at the narrow-necked wine pot with Capricorn pattern in her hand, and remained silent for a long time.

Ming Huashang didn't know much about Buddhism, but she at least recognized that the animal with a long nose and sharp teeth, a fish body and a fish tail on the wine pot was Capricorn, which is revered in Buddhism as the essence of river water and the source of life. The lotus pattern on the wine glass was the most traditional Central Plains pattern, but it was integrated with the Sogdian hammering technique.

A set of goldware is expensive, so the patterns must be matching. It doesn't make sense for the wine pot to have Buddhist patterns and the wine glass to have Central Plains patterns. Unless, this is not a set of goldware, and the wine pot originally placed here has been replaced.

Why did the murderer change the wine bottle? Is there any unspeakable secret in the wine bottle?

Ming Huashang suddenly had an idea and came up with a bold guess.

Could there be evidence of the murderer on the wine bottle? Once exposed, this evidence would directly point to him, with fatal consequences. But after the body was found, there was always someone in the room, and later the government came and sealed the door. The murderer could not destroy the murder weapon, so he could only take the risk of returning to the scene in the dead of night and take the wine bottle?

This wine was prepared by Yuqiong. Before the madam came, Yuqiong and Zhang Ziyun drank the wine and painted.

This idea was like a spark in the dark night, which spread like wildfire, and other mysteries that had troubled Ming Huashang for a long time were also solved. The light in Ming Huashang's eyes flickered, and a line gradually formed in her mind.

She finally knew what she had felt awkward about before. Ming Huazhang found the secret door at a glance by the light coming through the crack in the wall. However, looking at the scene, the murderer was obviously a very careful person. Why was he so careless when he left the scene and didn't even close the secret door?

Ming Huashang originally thought that the murderer was in a hurry and fled the scene in a hurry, so it was inevitable that he could not take care of everything. But what if it was because the murderer could not see when he left?

There was no light in Fengqing Siyuan, and the compartment was also dark, so he didn't know that the door gap was not aligned when he closed the door. But although it was dark when Zhang Ziyun was found dead, the candles in the compartment were burning brightly. It was also daylight when the mute slave sneaked up to the compartment this morning. The contrast between the light and dark inside and outside was so obvious that he should not have been able to see it.

The only time the condition of no light was met was last night, which coincided with the murderer's need to revisit the scene and destroy evidence. Therefore, the suspicion of the mute slave can be ruled out.

The brothel owner can also be ruled out. After all, she was the first person to discover the body. If she missed an important piece of evidence, she could have hidden the wine bottle in her sleeve when she called for help. Why would she come again in the middle of the night?

Ming Huachang's heartbeat quickened, and the blood began to rush through her body. In this case, there was only one person left who met the requirements - Yu Qiong, who seemed to have not left the house last night, but could actually jump from the air vent in the room into the stairs and then sneak into the secret door!

No wonder Ming Huashang felt that the whole house was naturally harmonious after entering the scene, and she didn't see any damage anywhere. This is exactly the killer's skill, everything is in place, even this set of wine utensils are all Western gold utensils of the same style, except for the different patterns on them.

Who else could notice such details except Ming Huashang, a little waste who came from a wealthy family and loved to eat and drink?

Ming Huashang became excited. She quickly put the wine bottle back in its place and ran out picking up her clothes.

Ming Huashang ran back to the west building breathlessly, not even caring about bumping into people on the way. She pushed open the door of Jiang Ling's room and said excitedly: "Brother...Prince, I know!"

Jiang Ling was about to go out to look for her when he saw the door opened. He was startled. He quickly pulled Ming Huashang into the house, closed the door and said, "Are you crazy? Did you forget to use the code before entering? There are people inside. What if someone outside sees you?"

Ming Huashang only then slowly remembered that Xuan Xiaowei had this rule. She was so happy that she actually forgot such an important procedure. Ming Huashang suppressed her excitement and whispered, "I know who the murderer is!"

Jiang Ling looked at the other three people who were busy in the inner room and said, "What a coincidence! Just before you pushed the door, Ming Huazhang also said he knew and asked me to come back immediately to find you. I hadn't even left the house when you came back on your own. Is the murderer you two guessed the same person?"

When Ming Huazhang heard that Ming Huashang had returned, he simply raised his eyes and glanced at her, then stretched out his hand to her indifferently: "Come here."

Ming Huashang jumped over, Ming Huazhang caught her hand and naturally pulled her to his side.

Ming Huashang looked forward curiously. Ren Yao was grinding ink, Xie Jichuan was painting, and Ming Huazhang was watching with his hands behind his back. This combination seemed magical no matter how you looked at it.

Ming Huashang looked at it for a while and slowly recognized it: "Brother Xie, is this the screen downstairs that you painted?"

"It's an imitation." Xie Jichuan corrected seriously.

"Oh, copying." Ming Huashang asked, "What do you want to copy?"

Xie Jichuan wrote quickly, and the mountains and rivers in ink soon materialized under his pen. Except for the reduced size, the rest of the details were exactly the same as the screen in the lobby. Hearing Ming Huashang's words, Xie Jichuan curled his lips and said sarcastically: "I also want to know what this is doing."

Ming Huazhang saw that he had finished drawing the first layer of mountains and stopped him immediately: "Draw the next mountain on another piece of paper. Ren Yao, get a pair of scissors and cut the painting along the ink marks."

Jiang Ling also came over to see the excitement. He was so obsessed with painting that he was shocked. He asked incredulously, "Ah? Such a beautiful painting, he cut it open?"

"Yes, cut it open." Ming Huazhang glanced at Xie Jichuan calmly and said, "The painter is very clear-headed and has high standards. He won't mind a copy of the work."

Xie Jichuan sneered, "You really know how to appreciate other people's generosity."

Ming Huazhang ignored Xie Jichuan. Seeing Ren Yao's embarrassed expression, he asked, "What's wrong? Can't you bear it?"

"Not really." Ren Yao said sincerely, "There are no scissors."

The air was briefly stagnant for a moment, and Ming Huazhang said calmly, "Use a knife to carve. Remember to cut the edges carefully, completely along the ink marks, and no white edges can be left."

Ming Huachang was silent as he watched Ren Yao and Jiang Ling, each holding a sharp knife, laying on the drawing paper and drawing vigorously. Ming Huazhang saw that both drawing and cutting took time, so he asked Ming Huachang, "What did you say you knew when you ran in just now?"

"Oh." Ming Huashang remembered and said, "Second brother, I searched the scene again and found that the wine utensils on the Fengqing Siyuan tea table had been replaced."

Ming Huazhang listened seriously and pointed with his fingers: "Is it the wine utensils over here?"

Ming Huashang nodded and pointed to Ming Huazhang's hand, "There are wine altars and wine vessels here. I checked the wine vessels and found that the wine pot has a Capricorn pattern, and the four wine glasses have lotus patterns. Since Tianxianglou can afford to buy a full set of gold wine utensils, there is no reason for them to match the cups and cups. So I suspect that the wine pot has been replaced. Going back to the crime scene at this time shows that there is evidence that is unfavorable to the murderer. Going back to clean up after the crime is incompatible with the calmness and meticulousness shown by the murderer when setting up the secret room. So I suspect that something went wrong with Zhang Ziyun's death. Someone interfered in the middle, causing the murderer's original plan to fail, resulting in him having to make up for it later."

Ming Huazhang listened carefully, nodding in response from time to time. Jiang Ling was not as skillful as Ren Yao in using the knife, so she pushed him away in disdain. Jiang Ling had nothing to do, so after listening to the second half of Ming Huachang's words, he asked, "If you say so, then the murderer is not..."

Ming Huashang, Ming Huazhang, and Xie Jichuan, who was writing at the desk, said almost at the same time: "Yuqiong."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xie Jichuan finished drawing the last stroke of the mountain. He put down the brush, relaxed his wrist, and said with a smile: "Second sister, you win."

He prided himself on his intelligence, and even when Ming Huazhang asked him to copy Yuqiong's painting, his views were not shaken. However, with Ming Huachang's return, the wine pot that revealed the scene had been replaced, and the mountains stood up in his painting, and his thoughts were like a boat crossing the clouds, revealing the sun.

He prepared carefully, but lost to the intuition of a little girl. The murderer was not the madam, but Yuqiong.

Jiang Ling seemed to understand what he heard, and asked, "That's impossible. Yuqiong has been in the West Building since the hour of Xu, and she never went to the East Building until Zhang Ziyun was found. How did she do it?"

"This is the purpose of these paintings." Ming Huazhang looked at Ren Yao, "Is it ready?"

Ren Yao put down a cut-out green mountain, pinched his fingers and said, "There's one left."

"You don't need to cut this one, just do a rough sketch." Ming Huazhang put away all the paintings and said, "Xie Jichuan, Jiangling, Renyao, you three stand farther away. Second Mother, come to the opposite side and take this."

Ming Huashang helped Ming Huazhang to arrange the pages, and then held the edge of the drawing paper upright. Ming Huazhang asked, "What did you see?"

Xie Jichuan folded his arms and remained silent. Jiang Ling shrugged and said, "A picture with many mountains in it."

"And now?"

Jiang Ling tilted his head, very confused: "Isn't this still a painting?"

"Now?"

Jiang Ling was silent and stopped talking. The shadow on the ground had already told them the truth. Xie Jichuan sighed slightly, put down his arm, and said, "She can come up with this method. Her painting skills are superb and her ideas are ingenious. I have never seen such a method before."

Ming Huazhang gestured to put the things away, and Ming Huashang lowered his head and looked at his fingertips.

She held several layers of paper between her fingers, and when Ming Huazhang spoke, she quietly moved the layers away. However, Jiang Ling looked at it from a distance and thought it was a painting. He only saw it after they moved it twice.

Ming Huashang sighed secretly. She thought, now she knew how Yuqiong killed people in public.

Tianxiang Tower had a special layout, and everyone felt that if they wanted to get from the west building to the east building, they had to go through the lobby, including Ming Huashang, unless they used magic to pass through the painting.

Who could have known that Yuqiong actually traveled through the world in the painting.

When the eyes see things, they automatically process distance and size, thus creating landscape paintings. When the ups and downs, rugged terrain, and thousands of miles of space are condensed on a thin piece of paper, who wouldn't praise the painter's ingenuity and naturalness?

Yuqiong used the human eye's assumptions in reverse to create a visual illusion. She carefully adjusted the size of the mountains so that each mountain existed on an independent page. When the layers were spread out, the mountains looked green and overlapping from the front, and the viewer would subconsciously think that this was a two-dimensional painting. But from the side, you can see that the mountains are three-dimensional, with long and narrow passages between the layers.

When the stage was being set up that day, the curtains on both sides were lowered. Yuqiong bribed the maid to dismantle the screen on the back wall of the hall in advance and placed it in layers, leaving a gap in the middle that was just enough for her to pass through.

The most valuable gemstones are used to color the mountain. They will not decay or fade for thousands of years, and the coloring effect is excellent. If a woman walks by from behind with her waist bent, she cannot be noticed if you don't pay attention.

The audience sitting directly opposite was deceived by their own eyes and naturally thought that the background was a flat painting and did not pay much attention to it; the audience members sitting on the side, such as Yuehu, were blocked from view by the curtain, and everyone's attention was on the central stage, so no one cared about the background board.

Yuqiong walked through the painting in front of many guests in the lobby, killed someone, and then walked back out leisurely.

Ming Huashang then remembered more details. The landscape screen in the lobby was carefully painted by Yuqiong in a month. With her ability, if it was just an ordinary landscape, it shouldn't take so long. The mountains were freely painted, layered, and the edges of the mountains were painted with rich malachite. Ming Huashang originally thought it was outline, but now she thought that she was actually using thick gemstone powder to cover the gaps between the layers.

The fine wood seams on the screen base are not a workmanship error, but a deliberate one. If the base is disassembled, these woods can be separated into independent wooden bases like mortise and tenon joints, each section supporting a layer of pictures, allowing the mountain to stand independently, and then it can be folded up like a house, restoring it to a flat surface again.

Today, when she was looking at a landscape screen downstairs, the maid proudly said that they didn't understand the painting at all. Ming Huashang thought the maid was satirizing those pretentious literati, but she didn't know that she was also one of those who couldn't understand it.

Judging from the maid's expression, she must know the inside story of the screen. Most likely, she was the one who helped Yuqiong to arrange the screen that day. This kind of thing is easy to confirm. Just ask the maid about her whereabouts and you will know.

Ming Huashang thought of the incense burner fairyland painting placed at the murder scene, with smoke lingering around the window panes, full of reality. She should have thought of it long ago, Yuqiong was quite talented in painting, and was very good at handling spatial and three-dimensional senses. The Thousand Layers of Mountains and Rivers screen was a joke she played on the audience right under their noses.

Unfortunately, there was not a single soulmate among the guests; they were all completely blind.

After discovering the secret of the screen, the whole secret room was finally solved. Ming Huashang was convinced and asked, "Who came up with this idea?"

Ren Yao and the others didn't say anything, but looked at Ming Huazhang. Ming Huachang turned around and asked seriously, "Second brother, how did you come up with such an outrageous thing?"

Ming Huazhang said: "Actually, it's all thanks to Jiang Ling. If he hadn't reminded me, I wouldn't have thought about it this way."

Ming Huashang looked at Jiang Ling. Jiang Ling himself was confused and pointed at himself doubtfully: "Me?"

"It is said that seeing is believing and hearing is not. Who could have known that eyes can also deceive people? Just like an ice crack porcelain plate, it is full of cracks. Even if there is a real crack, the eyes will automatically ignore it. After Jiang Ling reminded me, I realized that eyes may not be trustworthy."

Ming Huazhang was somewhat emotional and sighed, "It is really sad that such a talented woman ended up in a brothel and had to rely on selling smiles to please her patrons. If nothing had happened to her family, with her talent, she would have become famous in Chang'an and become the next national painter after Yan Youxiang."

Ming Huashang felt heavy-hearted after hearing this, and Ren Yao was even more sad. Jiang Ling saw that everyone was very sad, scratched his head, and couldn't help asking: "Then why did she change the wine pot? Why did the madam give Zhang Ziyun drugs?"

"You'll have to ask Yuqiong about these things." Ming Huazhang quickly pulled himself out of his sadness, his eyes dark and bright, still the calm, rational, and decisive captain, "And, our goal of this trip, the Daming Palace Map."