Chapter 1: Confrontation 2
Whenever Cheng Jue was not interested in a topic, he would use this sentence to get around it. Meng Fan had become accustomed to being hurt.
In the loft, six people talked about the bizarre cases they had handled, and then it was Zhou Zhenzhen's turn. She cleared her throat and was about to put on a show when the door was pushed open. Suddenly, several red lights illuminated the attic.
Cheng Jue stepped in and six people stood up immediately. Zhou Zhenzhen's eyes bent unconsciously and she stood up as well.
"I am Cheng Jue, the Minister of Dali Temple, in charge of the murder case of Yuechu, the courtesan of Yanliufang. Since you have come to this building, you are all interested in this case, or you want to go to Dali Temple. No matter what your purpose is, I, Cheng Jue, welcome you. Lord Meng..."
Meng Fan took the file from the person next to him and said, "This is all the clues we have found so far in the case of Miss Yuechu's murder. Please pass it around and read it."
As they were talking, the guards from the Dali Temple lit the candles on this floor and blew out the lanterns they were holding.
Cheng Jue walked to the window and stood with his hands behind his back, as if he was looking at the moonlight, or at the spring peach blossoms that had not yet bloomed.
Zhou Zhenzhen stared at Cheng Jue's back, and only looked away after a long while. She always felt that something was strange, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was.
At this time, the file was passed to her.
Yuechu died at 2:00 pm in her boudoir, which was the last room in the corridor on the third floor of this building. In the morning, the maid Cui'er went to wake Yuechu up and knocked on the door many times but no one answered. In desperation, she broke the door open and found Yuechu hanged in the room.
An autopsy by the coroner of the Dali Temple revealed that Yuechu died of suffocation.
The door of Yuechu's boudoir was locked, and all the windows were bolted from the inside. In other words, it was a secret room. All these circumstances showed that Yuechu committed suicide, but she was the least likely to commit suicide.
Gu Qing, the young master of Tianhong Bank, who was in love with her, had already paid to redeem her and would take her as a concubine at the end of this month. Yesterday, she even asked someone to measure her wedding dress. How could a person who wanted to commit suicide have the mind to do these things?
A murder case in a closed room is difficult to find clues, and in a place like Yanliufang, there are many people coming and going, and there are all kinds of people. If you check them one by one, it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Therefore, after the Dali Temple interrogated the people in Yanliufang and Gu Qing but did not get any useful clues, the progress of the case stagnated.
Zhou Zhenzhen handed the file to the next person, then glanced at Cheng Jue who was standing by the window. She frowned slightly, then relaxed.
After the seven people had read the case file, Cheng Jue turned back and said, "You all know the whole story of the case. Now let Lord Meng take you to the crime scene to have a look. Afterwards, I would like to hear your opinions."
Zhou Zhenzhen's feeling that something was wrong became stronger and stronger. By the time she stood outside Yuechu's door, the feeling had almost reached its peak.
"Except for this door being opened, the rest of the furnishings in the room have not been moved. It is exactly the same as when the crime happened. Please do not disturb the scene after you go in." Meng Fan said as he pushed the door open.
The room was very clean, with all kinds of items neatly arranged, even the rouge on the dressing table was arranged in order of color depth. There was only one chair lying on the floor in the middle of the room. Zhou Zhenzhen stepped over the threshold and slipped forward on something. She was nervous for a moment, grabbed the door to stand firm, and felt a sharp pain in her palm, which was pierced by the wooden thorns on the door. She held her finger between her lips and sucked it carefully, then moved her foot away. There was sawdust underneath.
There was a set of pajamas on the bed, and the lid of the makeup remover was opened and placed aside on the dressing table.
In the wooden barrel behind the carved screen, the water had already cooled down and rose petals were floating everywhere.
After a careful inspection, Meng Fan led the group of seven people downstairs. Cheng Jue picked an armchair to sit on, with a cup of hot tea at hand, which he brought to his mouth, but put down before drinking it: "Who wants to speak first?"
The seven people looked at each other, and then Lin Qian, who talked about the "Mr.'s Hiding of Gold Bars" case, stood up and said, "According to the circumstances at the crime scene, we can infer that Miss Yuechu died after removing her makeup and jewelry and preparing to take a bath. The medicated oil used to remove makeup and the pajamas she had not yet put on can prove this. At the time of Miss Yuechu's death, the only person who could enter and leave her boudoir was Cui'er, her maid. She is a big suspect, and Cui'er was the first person to discover Yuechu's death. If the door was not locked from the inside, and Cui'er was just lying and used a knife or something to scrape off a layer of sawdust from the threshold to pretend that it was knocked down by a bang on the door, then this secret room does not exist."
"I agree with what Brother Lin said." Fang Yu, who is slightly younger than Lin Qian, said with a strong Northwestern accent, "I asked around before I came here. It was said that Cui'er was interested in Gu Qing, the young master of Tianhong Bank. She killed someone out of jealousy, so she has a motive for the crime."
As soon as these words were spoken, several people nodded in agreement.
Cheng Jue stared at Zhou Zhenzhen without saying anything, his fingers rubbing the rim of the teacup. Suddenly, he remembered something and raised his eyebrows. He looked at Zhou Zhenzhen, who was too silent compared to before: "Why don't you say anything? Is it because you have been telling stories for too long before and your throat is dry and you can't open your mouth?"
Zhou Zhenzhen still held her right index finger in her mouth, and she quickly put it down after hearing what he said. Her lips were pink and tender, with a spot in the middle stained red by blood. Her delicate appearance actually revealed a bit of beauty under the light, like an innocent little demon that had just transformed and come down from the mountain. Cheng Jue looked at her twice more. She nodded obediently, and pretended to have a hoarse voice and said, "Master Cheng, please give me some water..."
It was the first time that Cheng Jue met such a person who took advantage of the situation. He casually handed over the teacup. Zhou Zhenzhen took the teacup and drank it in one gulp. After taking a breath, he said, "Master Cheng is really considerate and thoughtful."
She said it sincerely, with a gleam in her eyes.
Meng Fan's hand shook as he went to take the empty teacup, and he almost dropped the cup.
Adults are so considerate. When did this girl go blind?
Cheng Jue raised his eyebrows higher after hearing her words: "Put aside the compliments on me, otherwise tonight will be over. You drank my tea, so what you said must be worthy of this cup of tea."
Zhou Zhenzhen turned to look at Lin Qian and said, "Brother Lin has said almost everything that needs to be said. I just have one doubt, which is the time of death at the beginning of the month. The notice from the Dali Temple said it was 2:00 pm, which means very early in the morning, not before going to bed. So Brother Lin's speculation, which is reasonable in every other way, is completely unreasonable at this time."
Lin Qian frowned, "Maybe Miss Yuechu went to bed late because she was about to get married, and she likes cleanliness very much, so she asked Cui'er to boil water for bathing at this time."
Zhou Zhenzhen didn't respond. After a moment, she turned back and pointed at Meng Fan, who was standing calmly beside her. She said, "I want to talk to Lord Meng alone . After the talk, everything will be clear. I hope Lord Cheng will allow it."
"Me?" Meng Fan looked very innocent, "What does this have to do with me?"
Zhou Zhenzhen looked at Cheng Jue without blinking, her pointed chin tense and her expression determined: "Please allow me, Master Cheng."
Cheng made up his mind, smiled and said, "As you wish."
Meng Fan opened his mouth, then closed it again, and resigned himself to taking a few steps forward: "There's no one on the second floor now, let's go and talk!"
Zhou Zhenzhen followed Meng Fan, and the two of them disappeared at the stairs.
The two men didn't come down for the next half hour. Cheng Jue listened to the analysis of several others. They only had a few guesses over and over again, and there was nothing new. He felt a little sleepy, but his eyes couldn't help but glance at the stairs frequently.
He was vaguely curious about the girl, wondering what she could accomplish.
"Ah——" A scream suddenly came from the silence of the room, echoing faintly in this lonely building where someone had died not long ago, it was extremely creepy. Everyone's expression was stern, and the Dali Temple guards drew their swords and headed towards the staircase where the sound came from. Cheng Jue stood up and cast a heavy gaze over there. Just as he was looking at it, the sound of footsteps came from above, and a pretty girl appeared in his sight. She walked like a breeze, looking very bright.
She showed no fear in front of the cold blades, she just stood there without saying a word. After a while, there were stumbling footsteps coming from the stairs, Cheng Jue frowned, and saw Meng Fan staggering down with half of his body supported on the handrail of the stairs. Meng Fan's face was pale, and he looked very panicked.
Meng Fan felt embarrassed when he saw this scene, so he quickly stopped and took a few breaths before he calmed down.
Cheng Jue's eyes scanned Zhou Zhenzhen's face. With a wave of his hand, the guards withdrew to both sides. Meng Fan quickly walked to Cheng Jue and whispered in his ear.
The gleam in Cheng Jue's eyes became sharper and sharper, but Zhou Zhenzhen, who was being stared at by him, seemed to be unaware of it and continued to smile with her lips pursed. After a while, Cheng Jue stood up, stood with his hands behind his back and said, "That's it for tonight. Someone will write down your names and addresses later. I will discuss with my colleagues in the Dali Temple and notify you of the candidates who will be joining the Dali Temple this time."
Someone led Zhou Zhenzhen and her group to another place to record the files. For a while, Cheng Jue and Meng Fan were the only two people left in the building.
Meng Fan's face became redder and redder, and he felt extremely guilty. "I don't know what happened. The little girl took a chain and dangled it in front of my eyes. It made me dizzy in a short while. When I woke up, I...had told everything."
Cheng Jue was usually a cold person, and now his face was gloomy, which made people shudder. Meng Fan felt that it would be difficult for him to get promoted while Cheng Jue was still the boss of the Dali Temple.
After a while, someone brought the recorded list over. Cheng Jue pointed to the last name with his slender finger. He paused for a moment and read out the name word by word in a cold and clear voice: "Zhou...Zhen...Zhen."
Zhou Zhenzhen couldn't sleep after she went back home. The next day, she was so sleepy that her head was nodding and she almost fell into the pot. Wang Da saw this and scolded her again: "Zhou Zhenzhen, what are you doing? Be careful or I'll fire you!"
"Even if you don't fire me, I won't stay here for long. Someone from the Dali Temple will come to pick me up this afternoon at the latest." Zhou Zhenzhen sniffed. It was a bit cold last night. After tossing and turning for most of the night, she caught a cold and spoke in a muffled voice.
Wang Da's heart softened, and he took back his hand that was about to pat her on the head, but he still said unhappily, "What are you dreaming about in broad daylight? Hurry up and give the refreshments to Master Chen outside. If you keep lingering here, I'll chase you out to the street."
"I know, I know." Zhou Zhenzhen shook her dizzy head and came out of the kitchen with tea and snacks after she sobered up a little. There were many customers in the teahouse in the morning, and she was busy in the lobby for more than an hour before she had time to rest.
When I returned to the kitchen, I saw a few more medicine packets on the table, with the words "relieve wind and cold" written on them.
Zhou Zhenzhen felt warm in her heart and smiled: "My shopkeeper has a sharp tongue but a soft heart."
If Wang Da hadn't taken her in, she wouldn't have lived so happily in Chang'an City. Before, everyone said that it was impossible to survive in a place like Chang'an City if it wasn't bad, but now it seems that's not entirely true.
There are still many good people in this world, some of whom may say they dislike you but are honest with their bodies.
She drank the medicine and broke into a sweat. Her cold was almost cured. She calculated the time and the people from the Dali Temple should be arriving soon. She looked at the door hundreds of times a day, but she waited until the sun set and still no one from the Dali Temple came.
“This shouldn’t be the case…”
