TWWDS - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Investigating the case was part of her duties, so Han Sihe promised, "I will do my utmost."

Her thoughts were unsettled. The constables had only just examined the body and determined that, by the time the men from the county office arrived, Eldest Son Liu was already completely rigid. Given the limits of forensic science in this age, they could do little more than estimate that he had probably been killed the previous night, sometime between eleven at night and three in the morning. The killing also resembled Shanxiao's methods in previous cases.

Wang He had recovered somewhat and forced herself to ask, "Deputy Magistrate, if we send word to that... what did you call it... the Wulin Alliance, when might we hear back?"

Han Sihe offered a word of reassurance. "Do not fret." She shook her head. "The situation is still unclear. We cannot yet determine whether we need to send an official document to the Wulin Alliance."

Just then, a mountain breeze heavy with moisture swept past, and Han Sihe suddenly felt a chill.

Chao Qingxiu, who had been chatting with Xia Jiaxin, turned and swept her gaze over Deputy Magistrate Han.

Wang He was now far from yesterday's composure. With her brows tightly furrowed, she pressed, "What do you want us to do at this point? Please tell us plainly, Deputy Magistrate, so that we can cooperate with you."

"Sister Wang, there is no need to rush."

Chao Qingxiu stepped forward and said gently, "Deputy Magistrate Han means that we cannot yet confirm that anyone from the martial world is involved. And judging by the condition of Eldest Son Liu... the eldest son of the Liu family, it does not look like Shanxiao's handiwork."

Shen Lao had been holding his tongue, but seeing a new hired worker voluntarily speak to the magistrate, he could contain himself no longer. He snapped, "Do you even know what you are saying!" Then he shook his head. "If it was not Shanxiao, why would he have gone to the trouble of hanging Eldest Son Liu's body from a tree?"

Wang He guessed, "This place has never had a curfew, and yesterday there were fewer people about. Could passing bandits have heard that the eldest son had only recently returned home and then come here to kill him?"

Chao Qingxiu sidestepped Shen Lao's question and answered Wang He first. "If bandits were responsible, there would be signs that the small valuables in Eldest Son Liu's room had been rummaged through."

Han Sihe nodded inwardly. The girl's reasoning, she felt, was very sound.

Normally, the authorities should not allow a stranger to interfere in an investigation. But Chao Qingxiu's words suited Han Sihe's thinking, and Han Sihe also wished to take the opportunity to observe everyone else's reactions, so she held her tongue.

Chao Qingxiu had watched events unfold, but after noticing Han Sihe's attitude, she had formed an idea, so she ventured to speak. "This morning, when I went to call Eldest Son Liu to get up, I saw strands of hair tangled on his pillow."

Later, she reasoned that most people in this world of martial heroes had never been exposed to detective fiction, and perhaps the murderer simply lacked experience. His methods were so crude that he had failed to think through every logical detail.

The others listened, still bewildered. Most farm households used woven straw pillows, and it was perfectly ordinary for a few strands of hair to be caught in one.

"The bedding and pillows in the room had all been replaced recently," Chao Qingxiu said. "Traces of hair left on them prove that Eldest Son Liu went back to his room and slept there the previous night."

The reminder struck Han Sihe, and her expression turned thoughtful.

If the attacker had been Shanxiao, there was indeed something strange about Liu Youde's conduct.

Shen Lao remained puzzled. "What does it matter that Eldest Son Liu went back to sleep last night?" He thought for a moment and added, "What if, what if that so-and-so Owl made him get up and then killed him?"

People of the martial world acted differently from ordinary folk. To put it kindly, they were unconstrained. To put it less kindly, they were full of fickle, spur-of-the-moment creativity. It was not impossible that Shanxiao had suddenly become courteous and asked Liu Youde to put on his outer robe before going off to die.

At this, Chao Qingxiu looked at Shen Lao, her gaze as clear as a mirror. It made his heart jolt without knowing why.

"By the time the morning water was brought in, the quilt had already been folded," Chao Qingxiu said, slowly shaking her head. "If Shanxiao really had called Eldest Son Liu to get up, would he have given him enough time to straighten the bedding?"

"...I am not Shanxiao. How would I know what Shanxiao intended?" Shen Lao said.

Chao Qingxiu did not press him. Instead, she followed his line of reasoning. "Very well. Suppose Shanxiao had a sudden whim and was in no hurry to take Eldest Son Liu's life. But the fact that the bedding was folded proves that Eldest Son Liu still had some time. Since he had time and knew he was about to die, what would he have done?"

Zhou Fu considered. "He would probably... leave his family a few words?"

"You are quite right. I think so too," Chao Qingxiu said. "There were writing materials in the room, but no sign that they had been used. If Eldest Son Liu really had time to straighten the bedding, why did he not take the chance to leave his family a few final instructions?"

Han Sihe chose this moment to ask, "What do you think, young lady...?"

"Deputy Magistrate, can you now determine when Eldest Son Liu died?"

She had lived in the information age after all, and knew a little about the way a body stiffens after death. By asking Han Sihe, she was chiefly seeking the backing of the local authorities.

"It was sometime between eleven at night and three in the morning," Han Sihe said.

"That is no ordinary time to get up," Chao Qingxiu said. "Even if Eldest Son Liu had suddenly awakened and wanted to go out, he would have returned to bed and fallen asleep again. There would have been no reason to fold the quilt. This shows that he did not fold it himself; the killer did. The killer probably did not want anyone to realize that Eldest Son Liu had slept there. The light may have been dim, or the killer may have been nervous, so he failed to think of everything."

Even as she spoke, Chao Qingxiu's gaze continued to sweep the group. Given her station, a hired hand should not have stood at the front and discoursed at length on the case. Yet Chao Qingxiu spoke with such quiet authority that the others were unconsciously overawed and tacitly allowed her to carry on with the analysis.

"After dinner yesterday, Eldest Son Liu returned to his room to rest. Someone entered his room..."

Wang He could not help interrupting. "Eldest Son Liu is a light sleeper. If anyone entered the room at night, he would have noticed." She then murmured, "Unless that person was a true martial expert."

Chao Qingxiu smiled. "If the visitor was someone he knew, there would have been no harm even if Eldest Son Liu noticed him." She continued in a softer voice. "In the middle of the night, Eldest Son Liu was called out and went to the vicinity of the stables. He was murdered there. The killer choked him until his neck broke, then hung his body from a tree to fake the signs of an attack by Shanxiao and throw the truth into confusion."

"You think the killer was someone from the manor?" Shen Lao demanded angrily.

Lao Zhou muttered, "Shocking news, shocking news..."

Wang He added, "Last night, we all slept in the communal quarters."

Zhou Fu, the only one who lived alone, explained, "I stay in the side courtyard. I am not familiar with Eldest Son Liu, and all I normally do is bury myself in my studies. Even if I wanted to harm him, I had neither the strength nor the ability."

"Yesterday, everyone did indeed stay under the same roof, and all the doors were locked," Chao Qingxiu said. "But the keys were in the rooms, so no one was truly trapped. Besides, after working all day, you were all sleeping so deeply that no one would have noticed if someone beside them got up in the middle of the night." Even as she spoke, her gaze settled on one person nearby. "When we came yesterday, the people who normally lived at the estate, Granny Sun, Sister Wang, and Old Master Zhou, were all here. Only Brother Shen was absent. He did not turn up until after we had begun work, so he must have gone out on some business. I remembered that Old Master Zhou had said the tenant farmers were sent home the day before because they had not been able to borrow enough plowing oxen. Oxen are valuable, so someone had to escort them back and explain the situation at the estate. Brother Shen is a regular farmhand here, and since you alone were away, the person who took the oxen back could only have been you."

Hearing this, the others looked confused, and Shen Lao shouted, "What if I was? What of it?"

Chao Qingxiu nodded. "But Old Master Zhou also said yesterday that those who had left would come back the next day. It is already late morning now, yet neither the oxen nor the tenant farmers have appeared." She paused and smiled at Shen Lao. "When you took the oxen back, did you truly tell them to bring them over again the next day? Or did you already know that something would happen at the manor today, that no one would be able to plow, and make no arrangements at all?"

"..."

As Chao Qingxiu spoke, everyone's gaze involuntarily converged on Shen Lao. His face had gone white. He opened his mouth several times, but no words came out.

Wang He rushed straight over, raising her hand to strike him, and cried, "Why did you harm Eldest Son Liu?"

Shen Lao said urgently, "Sister Wang, do not listen to that person's lies. I have worked for the Liu family for years. Why would I harm Eldest Son Liu?"

On hearing his question, Chao Qingxiu nodded as well. "I am curious too. Why did you want to harm Eldest Son Liu?" She turned to look at another person among the crowd. "Does Second Son Liu know the reason for this?"

Liu Youcai looked no better than Shen Lao. At Chao Qingxiu's question, he immediately cried, "How would I know anything about it?"

"Then we will start by finding out what Second Son Liu knows," Chao Qingxiu said.

As she spoke, she suddenly stepped forward, seized Liu Youcai by the wrist, and lifted his hand high into the air.

In purely physical terms, Liu Youcai might have been able to shake off Chao Qingxiu, who for days had been subsisting on coarse gruel from relief supplies. But as the truth was revealed bit by bit, terror had overwhelmed him, and he went half limp.

Shen Lao, unexpectedly, was still steady. He demanded, "What are you doing grabbing Second Son Liu?"

Chao Qingxiu ignored him and gestured to Han Sihe to look at Liu Youcai's palm.

His palm bore a few fresh scrapes left by rubbing.

"Second Son Liu, how did you come by the wound on your hand?" Chao Qingxiu asked.

She always spoke unhurriedly, and her tone was very gentle, yet to Liu Youcai it was like thunder on a clear day.

Liu Youcai was too stunned for words. He had taken great care to conceal it, letting no one see. How had the girl before him known about the wound on his palm?

The onlookers were just as astonished, especially Han Sihe. She had merely meant to use Chao Qingxiu's speaking to test the others' reactions. She had not expected that the young woman would keep probing until she had exposed the true murderer...

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