Chapter 2 Candy Girl 2
Rather than going through so much trouble to seek death, it would be better to just slit your own throat. Zhou Zhenzhen realized this and finally felt the difficulty of this case.
She turned around and saw Cheng Jue with his eyes closed, gesturing subconsciously with his right hand, describing what he saw when he entered the crime scene, his voice clear and cold.
"The window was half open, and rain was blown in by the strong wind, wetting the ground. The blood from the wounds on Princess Jintai's chest, forehead and face mixed with the rain and flowed across half the room. Next to the princess was a blood-stained inkstone and a bent string..." His brows suddenly frowned, as if he was carefully recalling something, and his eyes suddenly opened. The gleam in his eyes made Zhou Zhenzhen's heart tremble.
Cheng Jue strode behind the glass screen and stared carefully at the endgame on the chessboard.
Zhou Zhenzhen followed him. She didn't know how to play chess. She only knew that there were more white pieces than black pieces, and she couldn't tell anything else. But Cheng Jue was so concerned... Could it be that the number was wrong?
She leaned forward, but someone pulled up the collar of her clothes behind her neck, and she was suddenly unable to move like a chick.
"Don't move."
Cheng Jue's voice was extremely cold. She shrank her neck and nodded quickly.
His hand was not in the right place, and when she shrank back, his hand suddenly touched a little skin on the back of her neck. Although it was only a quick touch, he still felt the smoothness.
Cheng Jue's eyes moved, and he dragged her and pushed her aside: "Stand still, don't touch me."
Zhou Zhenzhen listened to the lecture obediently, almost curling herself up into a ball and not moving at all.
She had heard that when Cheng Jue was concentrating on something, he would be immersed in his own world and could not be disturbed by others. Although it seemed a bit inhumane, when he closed his eyes and thought, or paced and frowned, every time she saw it, she could see the golden light behind him.
Today, Mr. Cheng is still wise and powerful.
Zhou Zhenzhen thought to herself, and her red lips unconsciously curled into a faint smile.
Cheng Jue came back to his senses and saw her grinning at him. There was a shallow dimple on her right cheek. Her almond-shaped eyes seemed to be looking at him, but not looking at him.
"What are you laughing at?"
He raised his hand and patted her head from above to bring her back to her senses. This height difference made this action perfect, without having to raise her too high or lower her head, and he felt very satisfied.
Zhou Zhenzhen was hit but didn't feel any pain. She blinked and said slowly, "Mr. Cheng was so serious when investigating a case that he forgot himself. I really admire him. As the saying goes, laughter comes from the heart. This is a smile of admiration."
Every time she praised him, it was so reasonable and justified. Who wouldn't love such praise? Besides, he always thought so.
Cheng Jue raised the corners of his eyes slightly and thought to himself, he is quite honest.
When we left Wangxing Pavilion, it was almost dusk.
The path leading to the corner gate was a winding gravel road. Cheng Jue took big steps, so Zhou Zhenzhen had to walk fast to keep up with him. Cheng Jue heard some heavy breathing behind him, and his eyebrows jumped, but his steps unconsciously slowed down.
It was as if an elusive gust of wind blew past the corner door, and the loose dust on the wall fell off, forming a thin layer.
Cheng Jue looked at the shadow that flashed by in the east, his eyes narrowed slightly, and his footsteps suddenly stopped. Zhou Zhenzhen, who had been following behind him and stepping on his shadow with her head down, was caught off guard and bumped into his back with her head. She cried out "Ouch", and then took a few steps back: "Master Cheng, did I hurt you?"
Cheng Jue turned around and saw that she couldn't hide her concern, so he didn't open his mouth to scold her, but just shook his head: "No."
Zhou Zhenzhen breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."
——Don’t you feel any pain? Cheng Jue’s thin lips moved, but he still didn’t say anything.
What does it have to do with him whether she feels pain or not?
Before the time for leaving the court was up, the two men returned to the Dali Temple first.
No one knew where Meng Fan had gone, and the seat was empty. Zhou Zhenzhen was bored and her mind was racing.
In the case of Princess Jintai, the breakthrough obviously lies in the other three princesses. If she could find a way to get close to them one by one, she would be sure to get the truth out of them. But they are princesses of the royal family after all, so it is not easy for her to get close to them, and she has to get close to three of them without alerting them...
There was paper and pen on the table. She dipped the ink and sketched out the approximate layout of Wangxing Pavilion at the time of the crime. She stared at it for a while, and it inexplicably reminded her of the attic where she died at the beginning of the month, except that there was an open window.
She pursed her lips, and Meng Fan hurried back and shouted, "Zhou Zhenzhen, come out for a moment."
Zhou Zhenzhen sighed and followed him out. Meng Fan's face was gloomy. He took her to a deserted place before saying, "Something happened."
Just an hour ago, Gu Qing, the young master of Tianhong Money House, committed suicide by jumping into the river.
Because the so-called "morning month death case" had not been resolved, some enthusiastic people thought that Gu Qing's death might be related to the case at the beginning of the month, so they reported the matter to the Dali Temple. At that time, Cheng Jue was not in the government office, so Meng Fan took people to Gu's house to take a look.
Only after seeing this did we know that something was wrong with Gu Qing after he died at the beginning of the month. Once, the maid Yuan, who took care of his daily life, came back from the night and was almost strangled to death by him. After that, he stopped hurting others, but began to have nightmares and talk nonsense: "I'm sorry for you, I'm sorry for you...but it's not me, it's not me, don't come to me..."
At first, Gu's family thought that his lover had passed away, which caused him to be emotionally traumatized, which led to his strange behavior. They thought that he would be fine after he got over this period. But unexpectedly, his nightmare symptoms became more and more serious, and he even banged his head against the wall, showing signs of suicide.
The servants of the Gu Mansion took turns watching him, but they were still careless. That night, Gu Qing somehow got rid of the servants, slipped to the lotus pond, and then dived into it, never to come out again.
"A Yuan said that Gu Qing wanted to kill her that night, but then he suddenly let go for some reason and kept muttering about red plums... I guess he was really crazy. Where did the red plums come from in the spring?"
Zhou Zhenzhen's steps suddenly stopped, and those two words pierced her ears like sharp thorns. Meng Fan didn't notice her abnormality and continued to speak: "His death was so creepy, as if he had seen a beautiful woman, with a smile of expectation and longing on his face..." He touched his goose bumps, "I have been in Dali Temple for so long, but this is the first time I have seen a drowned person with this expression."
As they were talking, the two arrived at the Dali Temple's prison. As soon as they entered the door, they were greeted by a chilly chill. Meng Fan was worried that the little girl would be scared, so he kept muttering, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Our Dali Temple is a serious government office. There are no wronged souls in the prison. You..."
Zhou Zhenzhen took a big step forward without waiting for Meng Fan to finish speaking, looking brave and fearless.
Meng Fan touched his nose. This feeling of being hurt was very familiar.
The innermost separate cell secretly held Cui'er, the real murderer of the death in Yanliufang at the beginning of the month. Cheng Jue had been standing at the door for a while. When he heard the footsteps of two people coming over, he nodded to Zhou Zhenzhen.
Zhou Zhenzhen understood, took the key from Meng Fan, opened the cell door and walked in.
This cell had no windows and was even darker than outside the cell. Cui'er was huddled in a corner, looking at her warily.
Zhou Zhenzhen had never seen Yuechu, so she had no idea how stunningly beautiful the legendary courtesan in Yanliufang was. But since even the maidservants around her looked like delicate and graceful ladies, she could probably imagine what she was like.
Zhou Zhenzhen took off the silver chain around her neck, held it in her hand, and squatted in front of Cui'er.
"Gu Qing is dead."
Cui'er's eyes suddenly opened wide, her face turned pale, and her bloodless lips trembled: "How could it be, how could Gu Lang..."
The most effective method of rapid hypnosis is to disrupt the mind first, so that there will be a breakthrough in emotions. Seeing Cui'er's confusion after learning about Gu Qing's death, Zhou Zhenzhen held the silver chain in front of her.
The circle within the square, and the square within the circle, glowed strangely in the candlelight in the dark room, and swayed into Cui'er's already dull eyes.
"Are you tired?" The woman's voice was like a gurgling stream, pouring down from the sky and flowing into Cui'er's heart.
Tears rolled down Cui'er's wide-open eyes like beads that had broken off the string.
…
Cheng Jue waited outside for half an hour.
Since entering the Dali Temple, he had hardly ever waited for anything like this. Even Meng Fan, who was standing next to him, was shocked. He was so shocked that he stared at his own Master Cheng's almost unblinking eyes until his eyes were sore and he was about to cry. Finally, he rubbed his eyes in defeat.
Cheng Da Ren is worthy of being Cheng Da Ren. He is better than Meng Fan in every aspect. At this moment, the chain made a "clattering" sound, and Cheng Jue's eyes finally moved.
Zhou Zhenzhen walked over with her head down: "I've already asked clearly."
Cheng Jue said "hmm", but Meng Fan heard something wrong: "Why are you crying?"
She wasn't crying. Even with her head down, one could vaguely see the tip of her nose was red from crying. Cheng Jue interrupted Meng Fan's further concern, glanced at Zhou Zhenzhen, and said, "Let's talk over there."
The words that Gu Qing said when he was mad were all about how sorry he was to Yuechu. Also, although he didn't kill Yuechu, he knew about her death.
But there was no mention of this in Cui'er's confession. It was obvious that Cui'er concealed part of the facts, a fact that she would rather die than tell.
It was only under Zhou Zhenzhen's hypnosis that Cui'er's mouth was finally pried open.
The hateful yet pitiful girl had a pale face and kept crying under hypnosis: "It's all my fault, I seduced him... I'm sorry, miss, I know I was wrong, but I can only keep making mistakes..."
Gu Qing changed his mind, but Yuechu held the evidence against him, so he could only pretend nothing happened and wait for the wedding date. He told Cui'er that Yuechu held the evidence that could cost him his life, so he could only let her down.
"Unless she dies, I'm afraid I'll be ruined by her in this life."
That night, Gu Qing came to look for Cui'er, but Yuechu found him somehow and dragged him to her room. When it was almost dawn, Yuechu called Cui'er to boil some water and brought it in. In front of Cui'er, he was intimate with Gu Qing and cursed her with harsh words while pointing at her nose.
Gu Qing couldn't bear to listen any longer, so he pushed Yuechu away and left in a hurry.
Gu Qing's inaction and Yuechu's insult made Cui'er feel jealous and embarrassed. She was trembling all over, and Gu Qing's words kept echoing in her ears: "Unless she dies..."
Yes, if you die at the beginning of the month, everything will be fine.
Cui Er took advantage of Yuechu's back and approached with the belt to strangle him. Yuechu didn't expect Cui Er to do this, so he didn't struggle much, and his body went limp, letting Cui Er strangle him tighter and tighter.
Gu Qing had already left, but was afraid that Yuechu would get angry and tell others about him, so he came back reluctantly to comfort them, but he saw Cui'er who was in a state of disarray and Yuechu who was already dead.
"Gu Qing arranged all the arrangements in the attic for Cui'er. He asked Cui'er to pretend to accidentally discover Yuechu's death, and then reported the case to the Dali Temple. Cui'er felt that Gu Qing was helping her and was sincere to her, so she did not mention Gu Qing's involvement in the entire investigation." Zhou Zhenzhen paused here and sighed, "But she didn't expect that Gu Qing would not be able to escape in the end..."
This case was originally thought to be not complicated and was just used to cover up the princess case, but it turned out to be a case with a deeper story.
Meng Fan thought about it for a moment, then gnashed his teeth in anger: "Gu Qing is such a bastard! This is obviously his plan to lure Cui'er into killing someone so that he can get away with it. He even pretends to be a romantic. It's disgusting. Right, Master Cheng."
Cheng Jue nodded: "It's actually like this."
The voice was smooth, without any ups and downs.
Meng Fan: ...Okay, you’re just trying to fool me again.
Cheng Jue glanced at Zhou Zhenzhen and frowned: "Why are you crying?"
Zhou Zhenzhen wiped the tears from her eyes. Her eyes, nose, and cheeks were all red. She sniffed and shook her head: "It's nothing. It's just that when you are hypnotized, you will usually put yourself in the shoes of the person being hypnotized. I don't want to cry, but I...but I..." But she couldn't control herself!
"I have something else to do." Cheng Jue pursed his lips and called Meng Fan, "Come with me."
Zhou Zhenzhen covered her face and tried to hold back her tears while struggling to scratch her hair. After a while, Cheng Jue, who had just left, came back in and stood beside her.
Zhou Zhenzhen suppressed her emotions and forced a smile to face him: "Master Cheng, is there anything else? Oh, Master must be curious about the leverage Yuechu has on Gu Qing. Cui'er doesn't know about it either, she..."
"for you."
