The late night in the small town was so quiet that only the low murmur of the flowing water in front of the door could be heard. When someone in the Qi family shouted "Murder!", the neighbors on both sides of the street were the first to be alarmed.
Yao Huang had read many storybooks, but tonight was the first time a murder had occurred near her, and the dead person was the kind-hearted old squire.
Zhao Sui had already sat up.
With his legs crippled, Zhao Sui would look clumsy when putting on and taking off his pants. Therefore, after getting married, every time he came to the Princess's place, he would first take a bath in the front yard and come over only wearing his inner garments, saving the step of taking off his outer garments and changing into his inner garments.
If there was no need for intimacy, Zhao Sui could lie down in his inner garments and leave directly in his wheelchair early the next morning. If he was in the mood, at first, Zhao Sui would even take off his inner pants behind the Princess's back. When they became familiar with each other, he changed to taking off his pants with one hand while the Princess was fascinated, and then quickly putting them on after the event when the Princess was weak and had no time to notice him.
This resulted in Zhao Sui having to go to the front yard to change into his outer garments first before he could rush to the Qi family.
Zhao Sui looked out the window; Qingai and Feiquan should be arriving soon.
Yao Huang also recovered from her shock and sat up.
Thinking that the Princess was only seventeen years old and might be frightened by this matter, Zhao Sui held her hand and said, "I'll go take a look, and I'll call Aji over to accompany you later."
Yao Huang subconsciously said, "I'll go too!"
It wasn't the kind of wanting to go in a hurry to watch the excitement. It was because she didn't understand how Squire Qi had died. Such an old squire with whom she had interacted. Even though Yao Huang felt that he was incompetent in managing his household, causing his family to be in chaos, that was the Qi family's own business. To them, Squire Qi truly appreciated Prince Hui's paintings and treated her amiably. In Yao Huang's heart, Squire Qi had formed a good affinity with them, the married couple.
Yao Huang wanted to know what exactly had happened to Squire Qi. Being so close, and Prince Hui had also gone, why should she wait at home?
Yao Huang quickly got out of bed and lit the lamp. When she grabbed her outer garments to put them on, her gaze swept over the figure of Prince Hui sitting quietly on the bed. Yao Huang reacted, first went to the wardrobe to take out a set of outer garments and trousers that she had always prepared for him on her side, hurriedly put them on the wheelchair, and then walked out of the bed curtains to continue putting on her own.
Before putting them on, she had to take off her inner garments. Zhao Sui lowered his eyes when the Princess exposed her shoulders and back, and silently took off and changed his own pants. Out of the corner of his eye, the Princess kept her back to him the whole time, confidently changing into her dress and skirt as if she was certain he wouldn't peek.
When Yao Huang tied her skirt strings and turned around, Prince Hui had also changed into his long gown.
Qingai and Feiquan finally arrived.
Yao Huang quickly helped Prince Hui tie up his long hair to ensure that Prince Hui was dressed neatly. She casually grabbed a hairpin from the dressing table and pushed the wheelchair out.
Letting Qingai take over the wheelchair, Yao Huang followed along while combing her hair with her fingers and then fixing it with the hairpin.
Coming to the west yard, Wang Dong, who had specially waited here, explained in a low voice, "Uncle Liao took Zhang Yue over first."
Zhao Sui: "Before this, was there any unusual movement from the Qi family?"
Others were sleeping, but ever since they moved into the small town, Zhang Yue and Wang Dong had always taken turns guarding the first and second halves of the night.
Wang Dong said, "No one was walking on the street. The murderer either came from the Qi family or from the Deng family to the west of the Qi family."
If someone had jumped over the wall from the Deng family into the Qi family's yard, as long as their movements were not particularly clumsy, Wang Dong would hardly be able to hear it at such a distance.
Zhao Sui understood, sat in his wheelchair and was pushed by Qingai, and then took the Princess, Feiquan, and Wang Dong to the Qi family.
The Qi family's main door was wide open. The people of the Qi family and some male neighbors who had rushed over wearing only their inner garments or even bare-chested were all gathered in front of the door of the main room in the east wing. Madam Lu, the three brothers including Eldest Qi, the three daughters-in-law, and several grandchildren who had not gone to the academy to study were crying and howling. Zhang Yue blocked the neighbors who wanted to squeeze in, raising his voice to explain that they had to wait for the government officials to come and inspect the scene of the murder, and they couldn't damage the evidence inside.
There were too many neighbors, and Prince Hui couldn't get past. Feiquan used his eyes to ask the prince if he should reveal his identity.
Zhao Sui shook his head.
Seeing this, Wang Dong squeezed out a path in front and said loudly, "My Second Master is learned and experienced. Everyone, please make way. After the Second Master has inspected the situation inside, he might be able to find some clues."
The neighbors knew that the Second Master of the Liao family was a scholar, and his painting skills were so good that he should have real skills in other aspects as well, so they cooperatively made way.
Scholar He, who arrived a step late, heard these words and looked at his son, the provincial graduate beside him.
He Wenbin studied to pass the imperial examination and become an official, and becoming an official meant dealing with government affairs and trying cases, so he also wanted to step forward and give it a try.
Madam Zhu grabbed her son, looking at Zhang Yue and Wang Dong with lingering fear. These two door gods intended to show off the skills of the Liao family's scholar. If her son went to steal the limelight, what if they retaliated?
With Madam Zhu's reminder, the family of three followed the other neighbors and stood in the outer circle.
Qingai pushed Prince Hui forward. Zhao Sui turned his head and found that the Princess was still following behind, her eyes brightened by the lamplight, ignorant and fearless.
Zhao Sui looked at Doctor Liao, who was also guarding the door, and asked, "How is the state of the corpse? Do we need to disperse the children?"
Doctor Liao sighed and nodded.
When the neighbors who were close heard this, they all drove the children who had run over outwards.
Zhao Sui looked at his Princess again.
Yao Huang understood what he meant, but she wasn't a child, was she?
Simply squeezing Qingai away, Yao Huang pushed the wheelchair a few quick steps to the outside of the door of the main room and looked up inside.
The east wing of the Qi family was divided into three rooms. The south room was the children's study, where they could read and do homework when they returned home. The main room had a table and chairs and could be considered a small hall. The door of the north room was locked, and it was Squire Qi's study.
At this time, the main room was still relatively tidy, with only a chair that had been knocked over by someone. The door of the north room was open. From Yao Huang's angle, she could see a pair of half-old cloth shoes and a section of trouser leg, which was Squire Qi's corpse.
Yao Huang felt a chill on her body, but looking at the top of Prince Hui's head and thinking that everyone was the same, if the Prince dared to look, why shouldn't she?
With the assistance of Zhang Yue, Qingai, and Doctor Liao, the four of them lifted the wheelchair into the main room together.
A few more steps and they were outside the door of the north room.
Yao Huang finally saw Squire Qi's whole corpse. The old squire was lying prone on the ground facing inside, the back of his head smashed open by a heavy object, bleeding all over the floor.
Yao Huang's expression changed slightly, but she had seen how butchers killed pigs in the town of her maternal grandfather's family, and she had seen basins of steaming pig's blood. The state of Squire Qi's death before her eyes was not as terrifying and unbearable as she had expected.
In order to check whether Squire Qi could still be saved, Doctor Liao was the only outsider who had gone in. Pointing to a bloody inkstone not far from Squire Qi's body, he said, "The inkstone should be the murder weapon. Looking at the degree of blood coagulation, Old Qi has been dead for half an hour."
Zhao Sui looked at Squire Qi's right hand stretched out in front and asked, "Are there words there?"
Doctor Liao had noticed it when taking Squire Qi's pulse and said in a low voice, "Yes, it looks like Old Qi left it before he died. He only wrote half of it."
As he spoke, Doctor Liao wrote that half a word in the air with his finger.
Yao Huang recognized that it was the upper half of the word "Fen".
This month, Madam Lu and Eldest Qi's wife often cursed at each other. The neighbors all knew that Eldest Qi's wife was named Tian Fen, and for this, Madam Lu had even given Eldest Qi's wife the foul name "Tian Dung-ball".
Yao Huang looked at the people kneeling and crying outside the door. Eldest Qi's wife was wailing at the top of her lungs just like Madam Lu. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were identical in their tearful, snotty displays of genuine emotion.
However, the bloody characters left by Squire Qi seemed to be telling everyone that the murderer was his eldest daughter-in-law, no matter how one looked at it.
Was it because Squire Qi didn't want to divide the family property, causing Eldest Qi's wife to harbor resentment?
Yao Huang had just thought of this when she suddenly heard Prince Hui say, Let's go. You and Zhang Yue will continue to guard this place until the authorities arrive. Do not reveal anything else to the neighbors.
After leaving the main hall, Prince Hui did not answer the barrage of questions from the Qi family or the neighbors, heading straight back to the east courtyard.
Prince Hui ordered everyone to disperse and rest.
Yao Huang pushed him back to the east room. Even though Prince Hui hadn't touched anything, she habitually wet a towel and handed it to him to wipe his hands.
Zhao Sui looked at the princess consort in front of him and asked, Were you scared just now?
Yao Huang shook her head and asked expectantly, Did Second Master figure it out? He wouldn't tell the neighbors, but surely he could tell her?
Zhao Sui first wiped his hands, then lay back on the bed. Only then did he embrace his wife who leaned over, saying, The heel of Squire Qi's right palm and the side of his little finger had no blood on them. Think about it. If you were on your deathbed and wanted to dip your hand in your own blood to leave a clue, would you lift your hand and only use your fingertips to touch the blood, or would you drag your entire hand flat across to get the blood?
Yao Huang imagined the scene and frowned, saying, Having lost so much blood, and with the character only half-written, it means I would be taking my last breath. I definitely wouldn't be able to lift my arm when trying to touch the blood. Of course, I'd slide my whole hand over... Ah, I understand now! Those words weren't written by Squire Qi. Someone lifted his hand after he died to dip it in the blood, deliberately framing Dalang's mother!
Zhao Sui: ...You don't need to be so loud.
Unable to suppress her excitement, Yao Huang sat up, grabbed his hand, and asked, How are you so amazing, Second Master? I really suspected Dalang's mother at the time, but you actually spotted the inconsistency at a single glance!
Perhaps given enough time, she could have also noticed this clue, but Prince Hui had only cast a few glances from the doorway and immediately grasped the key point.
Zhao Sui: ...It's a matter of experience. If you read more storybooks about solving crimes, you would also be able to see through this murderer's clumsy trick.
Just one point had earned him excessively high praise from the princess consort, so Zhao Sui didn't bother adding other clues. For instance, the blood flowing from Squire Qi's head perfectly matched his current prone posture. However, if Squire Qi had truly regained consciousness after losing so much blood to dip his fingers and leave a message, his body, or at least his head, should have moved, deviating from the bloodstains on the ground.
Thus, it was evident that Squire Qi must have been killed by a single fatal blow, and he hadn't struggled at all after his blood flowed onto the floor.
The murderer had a bit of cleverness but lacked rational calmness, which was why they left so many flaws.
Therefore, Zhao Sui wasn't being modest; the princess consort was truly overpraising him.
Having read so many Ministry of Justice case files, judging solely by the murderer's methods, Squire Qi's case was not even worth mentioning among them.
Yao Huang: I don't care, Your Highness is just amazing!
Zhao Sui caught the princess consort as she pounced on him, smiling helplessly.
.
At dawn, Magistrate Xu of Lingshan County arrived with his constables. According to the Laws of Great Qi, whenever there was a murder case, the magistrate had to personally visit the scene.
Prince Hui didn't want to go out again. Yao Huang took Aji and squeezed into the Qi family compound, standing on her tiptoes to peer inside. She found that this Magistrate Xu was only about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with a slightly dark complexion and handsome, upright features.
Magistrate Xu stayed in the north room for about half an hour before coming out. He looked at the Qi family members with falcon-like eyes, making the several members of the Qi household panic. Only then did Magistrate Xu speak: I found half a bloody character under Old Qi's hand. Among you, does anyone have a name with the grass radical?
As soon as these words came out, Madam Lu was the first to lunge at Eldest Qi's wife. Eldest Qi's wife was stunned for a moment, then forcefully threw Madam Lu off and loudly cried out her innocence.
The neighbors' suspicions and accusations also reached a peak at this moment, buzzing so loudly that Yao Huang's ears rang. Just as she was secretly worrying about Magistrate Xu's investigative abilities, Magistrate Xu shouted for everyone to be quiet. Staring at Eldest Qi's wife, he extended his left hand. Besides the bloody character, I also found an earring in Old Qi's left hand. Is it yours?
Everyone turned to look at Eldest Qi's wife, but they all simultaneously noticed Madam Lu, who had been thrown to the ground, panicking and reaching up to touch her own earlobe.
Looking back at Magistrate Xu's open palm, it was clearly completely empty.
Magistrate Xu's gaze had already fallen on Madam Lu's face, and he sternly shouted, Audacious and wicked woman! If you didn't have a guilty conscience, why would you check your own earring? Old Qi's hand was clearly lifted by someone to write the bloody character, which is why only his fingertips were stained with blood while his palm remained clean. Did you really think this official wouldn't be able to see through such a clumsy trick!
Blood? His palm wasn't stained with blood?
Madam Lu felt as if a clap of thunder had exploded in her mind. Looking at the Magistrate who resembled the God of Thunder incarnate, and at the surrounding neighbors who had already concluded she was the murderer, Madam Lu became terrified. She knelt on the ground and began to wail bitterly, I am wronged! I didn't kill the master. He didn't sleep in the middle of the night and went to the study to prepare the property division list. I wanted a bit more silver, but he refused. As we were struggling over it, he fell to the ground himself...
She truly hadn't killed the master. It was just that the master had died, and she was afraid the blame would fall on her head, so she tried to frame Eldest Qi's wife...
