"Forget it," Yan Tongshu shook his head. "Thinking too much won't help."
In any case, whether they were under suspicion or not, the movements and behaviors of everyone connected to the case, as well as any irregularities, and changes in bank account records, all had to be investigated.
After all, one couldn't simply take confessions at face value and believe everything they said.
Having instructed the constables to investigate the Qiao and Ma families, as well as everyone who had come into contact with Ma Tianci and Qiao Qingqing, Yan Tongshu picked up his brush and jotted down the key points of the elopement case.
No matter how the Qiao and Ma families tried to defend themselves, the sequence of events could still be pieced together.
Qiao Qingqing and Ma Tianci met at a calligraphy and painting gathering, saw each other in private, and continued to have chance encounters, eventually falling in love. When their parents discovered the secret affair, they were torn apart and placed under house arrest to reflect on their actions. After being released, the Qiao family imposed a curfew, allowing Qiao Qingqing to leave home for only one hour each day. The Hongwen Temple tradition was an exception and was not subject to this restriction.
Upon reuniting at the temple, Qiao Qingqing and Ma Tianci rekindled their romance until it was discovered once again. Qiao Qingqing was placed under house arrest by the Qiao family. Ma Tianci used knockout drops to drug the Qiao servants and took Qiao Qingqing away. On the third day of their elopement, Qiao Qingqing's father discovered their hiding place, bought poison, and demanded that Qiao Qingqing take her own life to preserve the family's honor. Five days later, Qiao Qingqing was strangled to death. Four days after her death, Ma Tianci also died of poisoning.
Pearl placed a bowl of rock sugar pear soup on the table. "Young Master, you've been interrogating for half the day now. Take a break and moisten your throat."
Yan Tongshu picked up the white porcelain bowl. "Pearl, don't you think this case is rather strange?"
Pearl immediately replied, "Oh, absolutely, Young Master."
Yan Tongshu looked at her in surprise. Had little Pearl gotten clever all of a sudden?
Pearl put her hands on her hips. "Young Master, those Qiao and Ma families are utterly heartless. Here were two people, a talented man and a beautiful woman, in love with each other, and the families had to drive them apart! And that Qiao merchant—just to protect his reputation, he bought poison to make his own daughter kill herself. He's worse than a beast. I say he's the one who drove her to death."
Yan Tongshu chuckled at Pearl's outburst. She gave Pearl an amused look. "But what about the conflicting statements? Both the Qiao and Ma families claim their children said those things voluntarily."
Pearl snorted. "That's simple. The parents were strict all along, so Miss Qiao and Master Ma were afraid of them. They just made up stories to appease them."
Yan Tongshu stirred the pear pieces in her bowl with a spoon. "That's possible."
The real problem was the lack of key evidence to tie everything together.
As she finished half the pear soup, Zhou Zheng, who was on duty that day with Xu Qiu, returned from the Qiao and Ma homes.
Zhou Zheng presented the clothes that Qiao Qingqing and Ma Tianci had been wearing before their deaths. "Lord Yan, on the way back, I checked. The alibis provided by both families are genuine."
Yan Tongshu examined the garments. Qiao Qingqing's was a soft pink dress, with a few traces of blood on the collar.
She had likely scratched her own face while pulling at the rope from behind as she was being strangled, and the blood had stained the collar.
Yan Tongshu set Qiao Qingqing's clothes aside and began inspecting Ma Tianci's. True to his wealthy young master habits, he had been wearing a dark blue round-collar robe on the day he died, embroidered with silver threads depicting white cranes. His belt...
The belt was the same color, but a shade darker, and purely plain.
Yan Tongshu held up the belt alone. It wasn't made of silk but ordinary fabric, even showing signs of wear and fading from repeated washing.
Yan Tongshu asked Zhou Zheng, "Where is the belt that matches Ma Tianci's robe?"
Zhou Zheng was taken aback. "Isn't this it?"
Yan Tongshu replied, "No."
Zhou Zheng shook his head. "Then I don't know. This is everything the Ma family gave us. They also said that when Ma Tianci ran away from home, he secretly took a hundred and fifty-three taels of silver. By the time they found him, he only had three taels left. They suspect the money was all spent on Qiao Qingqing. One more odd thing."
Yan Tongshu said, "What is it?"
Zhou Zheng continued, "When I went to both families to collect items, the parents said they couldn't find the gifts Qiao Qingqing and Ma Tianci had exchanged—neither those returned to each other before the affair was discovered, nor those they had given each other after they rekindled."
Yan Tongshu frowned in thought for a moment. "Alright, I understand."
She set the belt aside and looked at another tray containing the painting "Listening to the Rain at Pine Mountain," which symbolized the couple's love, along with a piece of embroidered bellyband whose origin was unclear, and their exchanged letters.
The letters were filled with passionate words, impossibly entwined.
The love poems they had written to each other became increasingly sincere.
Ma Tianci's calligraphy was upright but stiff, lacking personal style and rather formulaic—far from outstanding. Qiao Qingqing was known as a minor literary talent, and her handwriting was elegant and graceful, but overly fickle, reflecting some impulsiveness. It was on par with Ma Tianci's work—neither very impressive.
"Good heavens," Pearl said, rubbing her arms. "Is this how scholars get when they're in love? So cringey. I'm getting goosebumps."
Yan Tongshu laughed. "You find it cringey now, but just wait until you fall in love. People in love say the most cloying things. Sometimes, even they can't believe the words they spoke when they look back."
Pearl snorted confidently. "I would never be that cheesy, Young Master."
Yan Tongshu had Zhou Zheng put all the items into the evidence storage and took the belt to compare it with Qiao Qingqing's body. As expected, the belt was indeed the 'murder weapon' that had strangled Qiao Qingqing.
Yan Tongshu stood up and rubbed her lower back. "Let's go to the crime scene and have a look."
Xu Qiu replied, "Yes, sir."
Jin Bao drove the carriage, with Yan Tongshu and Pearl inside, followed by a contingent of constables on foot.
The group quickly arrived at the scene of the crime.
It was located at Bixi Alley on the west side of the city, a remote area far from the bustling main roads. The house where Ma Tianci and Qiao Qingqing had rented a room was even more isolated, tucked away at the very end of the alley.
Xu Qiu ordered the gate to be pushed open, revealing a courtyard surrounded by two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a woodshed.
As he led the way, Xu Qiu explained, "Qiao Qingqing's body was found hidden in Ma Tianci's room. Ma Tianci's body was discovered in his room as well. We've checked—this house was rented two days before they eloped by a man named Wenzheng."
Yan Tongshu followed Xu Qiu to Ma Tianci's room first.
Just as Xu Qiu had said, the scene had been severely compromised.
The floor was covered in countless footprints, making it impossible to distinguish one person's from another's.
Tables and chairs had all been knocked over by the people who moved the bodies.
The bedding on the bed had been torn up by someone.
The cup that Ma Tianci had used to drink the poisoned wine had been shattered into four pieces, though traces of poison could still be detected from the fragments.
Yan Tongshu went to examine the cabinet where Qiao Qingqing's body had been hidden.
The cabinet was open, containing only a set of Ma Tianci's clothes, made of silk and lined with thin cotton, adorned with orchid patterns woven in silver thread. The accompanying belt was made of the same fabric but with a cloud motif.
Xu Qiu added, "I asked the Ma family servants. Ma Tianci left in a hurry and only brought one change of clothes and some banknotes."
Yan Tongshu gave a slight nod, his fingertips gently brushing over the wooden grain inside the cabinet. "It was the thief who first discovered the body. Did you find any clues about the thief during your search of the scene?"
Xu Qiu produced a piece of paper with a rubbing on it. "This is a shoe print taken from the top of the back courtyard wall. When the Qiao and Ma families came to retrieve the bodies, they did not step into the back courtyard. The marks on the wall are still fresh, and there is more than one. Based on the direction of the footprints, someone climbed over the wall into the courtyard and then used the exterior wall of the woodshed to get onto the roof."
He paused briefly before adding, "Thus, I deduce that these traces were left by that thief."
Trying to catch someone from just a few footprints was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
While inspecting the inside of the cabinet, Yan Tongshu said, "A thief this agile is usually a habitual offender. Habitual thieves have their own territories; crossing the line invites trouble. So, during patrols recently, have the men in the department pay extra attention to those with prior records."
Xu Qiu responded solemnly, "Understood."
Yan Tongshu examined the interior of the cabinet. There was some blood inside, but apart from that, no other clues.
However...
This wardrobe seemed to be of poor quality, already showing signs of cracking.
After finishing his inspection of Ma Tianci’s room, Yan Tongshu went to Qiao Qingqing’s. Her room had the same layout as Ma Tianci’s: a bed, a wardrobe beside it, and a table with two chairs not far in front of the wardrobe.
Ma Tianci’s wardrobe contained only one set of clothes, while Qiao Qingqing’s had several more.
And Qiao Qingqing’s wardrobe, made of the same material, was well preserved.
Xu Qiu said, "Qiao Qingqing ran away from home and didn’t have time to prepare, so she didn’t bring any valuables, let alone a change of clothes. I interviewed the nearby shopkeepers, who said they saw Ma Tianci buying women’s dresses."
Yan Tongshu nodded and walked over to the table, where a medicine bowl and a medicine pot sat. There were leftover dregs in the pot. Yan Tongshu picked up some of the dregs and put them under his nose. "Ephedra, cassia twig, schizonepeta, saposhnikovia—it’s for a cold caused by wind-chill."
Xu Qiu said in surprise, "Lord Yan, you understand medicine too?"
After a brief exclamation, he immediately added, "As you judge, when Qiao Qingqing and Ma Tianci eloped, it was during a seasonal temperature shift, and they fled at night. So Qiao Qingqing came down with a fever on the very day she moved in. Before dawn that day, Ma Tianci went to the Huihe Hall pharmacy to call for a doctor. After that, Qiao Qingqing was taking medicine and recuperating."
Having checked the wardrobe and the table, Yan Tongshu approached Qiao Qingqing’s bed. He lifted the blanket and the pillow, and found several torn and crumpled pieces of paper beneath the pillow.
Yan Tongshu flattened the pieces of paper and pieced them together. They formed a painting with immature brushwork, like a child just learning to draw, scribbling for fun.
After inspecting the two main rooms, Yan Tongshu went to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, there was half a sack of rice, some bowls and chopsticks, and half a bowl of uneaten food that had gone moldy.
Next to the stove, inside a cabinet, were two unfinished doses of medicine.
