The carriage traveled at a leisurely pace along the long streets of Shengjing. The wheels rolled over the bluestone slabs, emitting a rhythmic and muffled sound.
Inside the carriage, it was completely quiet.
It was as if it was separated from the noisy marketplace outside the window, forming two entirely different worlds.
Pei Cijing had his eyes closed. In his mind, faceless shadowy figures from 2D anime popped up one after another, deducing the possibilities of the locked-room murder case playing out like a movie reel.
Tightly shut doors and windows, a vertically plunged fatal short sword, a seemingly perfect locked room...
Suddenly.
A flash of inspiration cleaved through the fog like a sharp sword!
He snapped his eyes open, a sharp light flashing in their depths. In his heart, he could not help but recite the line carved deep into his soul: The truth is always just one!
He lowered his voice, yet his tone carried an unquestionable certainty: There is only one truth!
Shen Ninghuan had been leaning against the carriage window, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the possible layout of the crime scene on her lap. Hearing this, she suddenly looked up.
Her clear gaze fell upon his suddenly brightened face, carrying a trace of surprise and inquiry. Husband... are you saying you already know the truth of the case?
Yes. Pei Cijing sat up completely straight. His previous laziness and indolence were swept away, replaced by an almost sharp focus. He tapped his fingertips lightly on his knee in a clear rhythm, as if beating out the tempo of the facts. The deceased, Chen Qiming, was not murdered. It was suicide.
Suicide? Shen Ninghuan's pupils shrank slightly.
It was not that she hadn't considered this possibility; intuitively, she even leaned toward this answer the most. However, the numerous unreasonable aspects left her constantly undecided.
Hearing Pei Cijing's certainty at this moment, she couldn't help but lean forward slightly and ask, But the knife was thrust in from the back, buried right up to the hilt. How could that be suicide?
That is exactly the brilliant part of the murder... oh, no, the deceased's meticulous design. A light flickered in Pei Cijing's eyes. It was the excited gleam of a deduction enthusiast discovering a key clue, causing the corners of his mouth to curl up into a slight smile.
Ordinary people have a fixed mindset that a stab in the back must be the work of someone else. But if the deceased was determined to die, he only needed to find an object to firmly secure the short knife with the blade pointing upward, then turn his back to the tip and fall backward—
As he spoke, he gestured with his slender fingers, making a knife shape with his right hand and hovering his left hand in the air to simulate the securing action.
This way, the knife could pierce vertically into his back, and the direction of the wound would perfectly match the direction of his fall. The case file stated that the knife was submerged vertically, almost to the hilt. This perfectly matches the characteristics of securing the weapon and throwing oneself upon it. If someone else had committed the murder, it would be very difficult to control the angle and depth of force so precisely.
Shen Ninghuan thought deeply, her delicate brows furrowing slightly as if veiled by a light mist. But according to what my brother said, the scene was carefully investigated. The desk, the back of the chair, the bookshelf, and even the pillars—none had a suitable place to secure a short knife, nor were there any traces of ropes or hooks.
The smile on Pei Cijing's lips deepened, carrying a bit of the slyness of I knew you would ask that: It's not that there wasn't one, but the thing used to secure it... disappeared after completing its mission.
Disappeared? Shen Ninghuan was startled at first.
Immediately after.
It was as if a spark of lightning flashed through her mind!
She abruptly looked up, her gaze colliding right with Pei Cijing's smiling eyes, and a clear answer blurted out: It was ice!
My wife is indeed brilliant, understanding at the slightest hint! Pei Cijing couldn't help but clap his hands lightly, the admiration in his eyes almost overflowing. Exactly, it was ice!
Take a piece of ice of a suitable size, freeze the hilt of the short knife inside it, and place it where the deceased planned to fall. Once he resolutely fell backward and the knife pierced his body, the ice would gradually melt under the effects of his body temperature and flowing blood.
In just a short moment, it would turn into a puddle of water, mixing with the blood on the ground, naturally going unnoticed.
He paused, slowing his tone, which made it sound even clearer. As for the mystery of the locked room, that is easily solved as well. It was originally completed by the deceased himself from the inside.
He first bolted the door, locked the windows tight, arranged the ice and the knife, and then... calmly went to his death.
Delaying the time his body was discovered until the ice had completely melted created the illusion of murder. It's even possible... he wanted to direct suspicion toward someone.
Life ends, ice melts, the locked room is complete, Shen Ninghuan softly continued, her voice carrying a trace of chill after gaining insight. Going to such great lengths is definitely no ordinary suicide. As the commandery governor, why would he end his own life in such a complex and eerie manner? And why disguise it as a murder to draw an investigation?
Pei Cijing shrugged his shoulders like a little bear throwing up its hands.
I dunno! His shoulders relaxed again, and that lazy air returned to him, as if the sharp detective from a moment ago was just a flash in the pan. Well... that's not something our little married couple needs to delve into.
Perhaps someone had a hold over him that forced him to die, or perhaps he wanted to use his final death to frame an enemy, or maybe... beneath this layer of ice, an even more bone-chilling secret is hidden.
In short.
That is a headache for the Court of Judicature and Revision and your brother to deal with.
As soon as his voice fell, a crisp and pleasant Ding— sounded in his mind, audible only to him.
[Ding! Successfully consumed the gossip of the Commandery Governor's Locked-Room Suicide Mystery, Gossip Points +250]
Although it was not as lucrative as the massive marriage-swap gossip he had personally experienced before, Pei Cijing was already quite satisfied to have such a harvest from consuming gossip from afar, deducing the truth solely based on the case details relayed by his wife.
With a slight shift of his thoughts, a translucent light screen visible only to him appeared before his eyes:
[Host: Pei Cijing]
[Current Gossip Points: 649]
[Skills: Medical Sage, Martial Arts Master]
[Items: Fitness Pill x3, Antidote Pill x1, Premium Golden Wound Ointment x1, Beauty Preserving Pill x1]
Looking at the steadily growing, increasingly adorable numbers, a sense of security and happiness akin to my little treasury has been replenished again welled up spontaneously.
Pei Cijing couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth, a genuine smile rippling in his eyes, which made his gaze toward the person beside him a few degrees softer.
Shen Ninghuan had been quietly watching him the whole time.
Spending day and night together these past few days.
She had gradually figured out the peculiar secrets about her husband.
Aside from the words he occasionally muttered like transmigration and another world, which she only half-understood, he was indeed bound to a mysterious entity named Gossip Eater No. 1.
As long as her husband consumed those deep mansion secrets, political storms, or eye-catching gossip, he could obtain a mysterious thing called Gossip Points. These Gossip Points could be exchanged in that invisible Store for various incredible items.
The Beauty Preserving Pill her husband had gifted her.
Was clear proof of this.
After taking the Beauty Preserving Pill, although she didn't know if its effects could last for a hundred years, her skin had indeed become more delicate, tender, smooth, and radiant.
Although Shen Ninghuan had no idea what kind of entity this "system" was, nor why it had chosen to reside exclusively within her husband, she possessed a sharp and clever mind. She quickly figured out one crucial fact: if she could help her husband gorge on more juicy and valuable gossip, those tangible, infinitely useful rewards would fall into their hands much faster.
Her gaze flickered slightly.
A faint smile and a glimmer of calculation flashed through the depths of her clear eyes.
