Chapter 607: Mysterious Case in Jinling (Part 3)
"Which one of you is Shuxuan and which one is Mu..."
"Erlang has already started the investigation? Why didn't anyone let me know?"
Sun Shaozong was just about to ask about the identities of the two maids, and then further inquire about which maid in the blue skirt on the left had come up with something strange.
Who knew that just when he was halfway through his words, Wang Ren and Xing Zhong came out from the back hall.
The three people at the table hurriedly stood up to greet them, but Xue Ke and Sun Shaoxu greeted Wang Ren, while Sun Shaozong bowed to Xing Zhong and called him "Uncle Xing".
Although they are not related by blood, Xing Zhong is Jia Yingchun's legitimate uncle. Sun Shaozong appears to respect him, but in fact he is doing so to save face for his "sister-in-law".
But this courtesy, which exceeded that of Wang Ren, made Xing Zhong feel quite uncomfortable - in all these years, had the wealthy relatives in Rongguo Mansion ever looked at him in the eye?
As a result, I was at a loss for a moment and forgot how to respond.
"Ji Lang, you don't have to..."
When he finally managed to find a topic to talk about, Wang Ren, who was sitting at the main seat, urged him: "Since Erlang has already started the trial, don't delay. Solve the case as soon as possible so that we can have a good chat at night!"
Xing Zhong's face turned red, but he didn't dare to complain. He just sat back in his seat dejectedly, putting on a harmless smile.
Seeing Xing Zhong's unpresentable face, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but shake his head inwardly. No wonder this uncle Xing, despite being a relative of the Rongguo Mansion, was so destitute that he had to go north to live with his relatives.
After everyone was seated, Sun Shaozong started asking the names of the two maids again. It turned out that the maid in the blue skirt was named Mu Qin, and the one in the white skirt next to her was Shu Xuan, who was a good painter.
"Do you two have anything to report?"
Sun Shaozong said "two people" but his eyes were fixed on Mu Qin.
Sure enough, Mu Qin immediately opened her mouth and was about to say something.
However, when the words came to her throat, she swallowed them back and asked hopefully, "If I tell you, will there be a reward ?"
Tsk~
I don't know if this girl is stupid or just obsessed with money - even if she wanted a reward, she shouldn't say it in front of her master.
Liu Changfeng and his son both looked a little unhappy, but they still promised in unison, saying that as long as she could remember something, she would naturally not lose any reward.
Namuqin was immediately overjoyed, but she never thought that this might be the last money she would receive from the Liu Mansion in her life.
Then she said in a crisp voice: "Your Excellency, after Shuxuan and I helped the young master into the house, we took out the fire starter and wanted to light the lamp, but we found that the shadow on the screen on the south wall seemed to be wrong, as if it was a little different from usual..."
"What?!"
When Liu Changfeng heard this, he almost jumped up from the ground in excitement. He turned around and angrily scolded Na Muqin: "Why didn't you tell me such an important thing earlier?!"
As he spoke, he knocked his head to the ground again and said excitedly: "My Lord, please understand. It is obvious that there was a thief hiding behind the screen, and after the maids left, he took the opportunity to kill my daughter-in-law!"
Pah~
"shut up!"
Sun Shaozong slapped the table and scolded, "Although this is not a court, it is not your turn to teach me how to judge a case. If you dare to be disrespectful again, I will not forgive you easily!"
The Jiangning County Magistrate was quite clever. As soon as he stopped talking, he called in several yamen runners and ordered them to line up on both sides.
Although the water and fire sticks and the hall's might were missing, the atmosphere in the hall was still much more solemn.
At first Liu Changfeng wanted to say a few words to explain, but when he met Sun Shaozong's cold eyes, he felt like he was hit by a wake-up call, and he quickly shrank back and lowered his body.
Sun Shaozong then asked Namuqin again: "What is the difference between that shadow?"
"this……"
Mu Qin was already a little timid when she saw that her master had eaten the first meal. When she heard Sun Shaozong's questioning, she became even more flustered.
Just as he was hesitating to speak, he heard Shuxuan beside him say loudly: "Sir, Muqin didn't see it clearly at the time, and her hand shook and extinguished the fire."
"Yes, yes, that's it!"
Mu Qin nodded her head like a pardoned person, and continued, "Just when I felt something was wrong, the fire started to go out. I didn't see it clearly, and I don't know if I saw it wrong. That's why I didn't dare to say anything when the officials asked me about it."
Didn't you see it carefully?
Sun Shaozong frowned and said, "Since you feel something is wrong, why don't you light the tinder to confirm it?"
"Because I am... I am afraid."
Mu Qin's voice couldn't help but tremble: "At that time, Lu Yi was soaked in the well for a whole day and night before being fished out. At that time, she looked really... really..."
"After that, there was some unrest in the family. I heard that Lu Yi turned into a fierce ghost and wanted to... to take Young Madam's life!"
"So when the fire started to go out, I panicked. Shuxuan was also terrified. We discussed it and quickly went out to look for the young mistress."
When Sun Shaozong heard this, he was greatly disappointed.
I originally thought that this maid could provide first-hand evidence from the scene, but who would have thought that the clues were such vague.
The shadow of the south wall...
Sun Shaozong took out the bedroom layout and scanned it, then asked, "Where were you standing in the room when you lit the tinder?"
"It's... almost in the middle of the room."
According to the complaint, the screen is five feet high [about 1.55 meters] and seven feet long [about 2.17 meters]. If someone deliberately hides behind it and lights it from the front, there should be no shadow.
While he was considering this, he asked, "How thick is the screen? Can it let light in and reflect the figure behind it?"
"this……"
Mu Qin hesitated for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, "Ah! I remembered something was wrong. Normally, when you shine a light on that screen, it is slightly translucent. But it was pitch dark that day, so it looked very creepy, so I was surprised!"
Was it translucent before?
It just happened to be opaque before the incident?
Sun Shaozong's spirits lifted, as if he had gained something in his mind.
Just at this moment, Shuxuan suddenly interrupted and said, "It was pitch black. It was raining that day, and the young mistress didn't have anyone carry the tub out after she finished washing up in the afternoon. The tub was blocking the way, so it naturally looked pitch black."
Then, she shook her head speechlessly: "You couldn't explain it clearly at the time, and I really thought you saw something dirty, but it turned out to be..."
These words left Mu Qin speechless. She glanced at her master awkwardly, obviously worried that the "big reward" would disappear.
Everyone around, including Wang Ren, had originally thought that some major case was about to be revealed, but now they found out that it was all a misunderstanding, and they were all greatly disappointed.
But Sun Shaozong was not disappointed this time. His sharp eyes locked onto Shuxuan and he asked in a deep voice, "The confession recorded in Jiangning County only said that you two went together to look for Sun, but I don't know where you were before that? Who was serving Sun?"
Mu Qin: "I am in the small kitchen, supervising the cooks to prepare the cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Sister Shuxuan is serving the young mistress."
Shuxuan: "I was originally serving the young lady, but she was concerned about the small kitchen, so she sent me over to find out what was going on. Later, because there were some complications, we two couldn't make up our minds, so we decided to ask the young lady to make the decision."
It is true!
Once could be considered a coincidence, but twice in a row, Shuxuan denied Muqin's statement when everyone became suspicious.
This inevitably makes people feel a little weird.
Especially with what Liu Changfeng said before, everyone should know that if the claim that there was someone hiding behind the screen was true, it would undoubtedly be extremely beneficial to Liu Yiqing.
However, as the head maid of the Liu family, she repeatedly denied this possibility, which was really unreasonable.
In addition, she was originally serving Sun, so if she committed the crime in advance, she would have plenty of time!
As for why, didn’t Mu Qin find the body when she went in earlier…
Sun Shaozong suddenly bowed to Wang Ren and said, "Brother Wang, could you please have someone bring a few screens over? It would be best if they allow light to pass through. Oh, and please prepare a bathtub."
When Wang Ren heard this, he guessed that Sun Shaozong probably wanted to test something. It was not a difficult thing anyway, so he immediately gave an order and asked the servants to collect screens, bathtubs and other items according to Sun Shaozong's instructions.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Sun Shaozong asked Shuxuan and Muqin a few questions, such as where they went to look for Sun, whether they separated along the way, etc.
When he learned that Shuxuan had gone to the toilet to relieve herself on the way and it took her about half a cup of tea (three to five minutes), the balance in Sun Shaozong's heart tilted towards her again.
But not long after, several servants from the palace came carrying several screens of different sizes.
Sun Shaozong first asked Liu Yiqing and two maids to select two screens of slightly different sizes based on their memory of light transmittance.
Then he ordered people to move the bathtub to the corner and gradually turn off the nearby lights until the brightness was adjusted to be similar to that of the crime scene in the evening of that day, and then he placed the slightly smaller screen in front.
But all I saw was a pitch-black mass around there. Not to mention the bathtub behind, even the screen in front was only a vague outline.
"Muqin, stand at a distance similar to that day and try to light the tinder."
At Sun Shaozong's instruction, Namuqin stood about six feet [about 1.86 meters] away from the screen and carefully lit the tinder.
But the fire lit up, and the center of the screen was still pitch black, but some light could be seen from the two sides.
Sun Shaozong asked at the right time: "Is this what you saw that day?"
Mu Qin shook her head without hesitation. Just as she was about to say something, Shu Xuan beside her couldn't help but interrupt and said, "Sir, she only took a glance at that time, how could she remember..."
"shut up!"
Sun Shaozong scolded him, and then encouraged Mu Qin: "You just need to tell the truth, not only will your master reward you, but my Sun family will not treat you unfairly!"
Namuqin was a little hesitant at first after hearing what Shuxuan said, but when she heard that the reward would be doubled, she immediately shook her head and said, "That's not the case. When I looked behind the screen, it was clearly pitch black, with no light coming through on either side!"
Upon hearing this, Sun Shaozong immediately ordered the slightly larger screen to be brought in and placed in front of the previous screen, about one foot [31.1 cm] away.
Now, without Mu Qin saying anything, everyone immediately noticed the difference - the places on both sides that were originally translucent had become dark.
Although if you look closely, there is still some difference in the degree of darkening in the middle, but at first glance, it can be said to be completely black.
"Yes, yes, that's it, that's how it was at that time!"
While Namuqin was shouting with joy, Wang Ren couldn't help but be curious and asked, "Erlang, what's going on? You had people setting it up for so long, what did you find out?"
Sun Shaozong smiled slightly and pointed at the two screens, saying, "Just now I heard someone say that there was a bathtub behind the screen, so the light was blocked. I thought it was a bit strange. Since the screen is prepared for bathing, it must be much larger than the bathtub. Otherwise, how can it cover the bathtub behind it?"
"Similarly, because the bathtub is much smaller than the screen and is oval in shape, it is almost impossible to block all the light leaking from the screen!"
"So I assumed that there might be something behind or behind the screen - for example, another screen!"
"If my guess is correct, when the two maids entered the room that day, there were two screens in the room - as for the purpose, I'm afraid it was not to hide the living, but to cover up the body of my niece!"
"What?!"
Wang Ren was shocked and said in disbelief: "You mean, when Liu Yiqing returned home, Sun was already dead?!"
"This... This is impossible?!"
Sun Shaoxu was dumbfounded and asked, "Who is the murderer? Why would he... do such a thing?"
Sun Shaozong smiled slightly: "The murderer came up with this trick, of course, to create an alibi and put the blame on Liu Yiqing."
As he spoke, he slowly turned around, fixed his eyes on Shuxuan, and sneered, "Miss Shuxuan, I wonder if there is anything wrong with my inference?"
There was not much light around at this time, only the fire starter in Mu Qin's hand reflected Shu Xuan's pale and bloodless face.
She was obviously panicking, but she forced a smile and shook her head, saying, "What do you mean, Master? I really don't understand."
"Don't understand?"
Sun Shaozong snorted and said, "If my inference is correct, the only person who had the opportunity to kill Sun in advance and then remove the trap and expose Sun's body is probably you, the personal maid!"
"Master!"
Shuxuan knelt down and cried out in injustice: "I am the maidservant who came with the Young Madam as a dowry. I have always been favored by the Young Madam and the Young Master. How could I...how could I do such a treasonous thing?!"
Sun Shaozong spread his hands and said, "Indeed, I still haven't figured out your motives, but it should be related to the matter of Lu Yi."
Seeing that Sun Shaozong still believed that she was the murderer, Shuxuan suddenly raised her head and asked through gritted teeth: "Sir, you said that only I could have committed this crime, but I don't know where I found the second screen, and how I moved it to another place afterwards?!"
"You must know that I am just a weak woman, not a fierce general like you. Not to mention that I don't have enough time, even if I had enough time, I'm afraid it would be difficult for me to carry the screen to another place by myself!"
Everyone had already followed Sun Shaozong's lead and started to doubt Shuxuan.
But after hearing her rebuttal, he couldn't help but waver.
Maybe there is a way to do it by moving the screen over there.
But afterwards, Shuxuan stayed with Muqin the whole time and only left for half a cup of tea. How could she have the chance to move the screen?
As everyone was suspicious, they heard Sun Shaozong sneer and said, "If it is a real screen, it will be difficult to move, but what if it is an incomplete screen?"
As he spoke , he strode to the round table in the middle, held the topographic maps in his hands, and showed them to everyone: "Don't forget, our Miss Shuxuan is the best at fine brushwork!"
