Compendio de hombres apuestos en el mundo de las artes marciales

Capítulo 16

Zhao Ting pointed to the table, gesturing for Song Qiao to look at the note. Song Qiao put down his book, picked up the note, his brow furrowing slightly, his smile growing increasingly bitter. After a long pause, Song Qiao finally spoke, saying softly, "It does resemble my handwriting. But it's definitely not mine."

Seeing that the three of them were staring at him silently, Song Qiao smiled wryly, put down his cup, got up and walked to the bookshelf to the side, casually took out a few books and handed them to the three of them.

Some say the best way to determine if something is a fake is to compare it to the genuine article. The three of them each held a book, comparing the handwriting Song Qiao had used in the blank spaces to the note. Sure enough, although the imitation was about 60-70% similar, there were unnatural pauses in the strokes, as if the writer was hesitating. Clearly, the person who wrote the note was imitating Song Qiao's handwriting; although they had practiced quite skillfully, they still wrote with some caution, seemingly lacking confidence.

"Is your handwriting so easy to obtain?" Zhan Yun frowned slightly.

Song Qiao smiled somewhat helplessly: "When I read, I'm used to making annotations in the margins, and sometimes, when the mood strikes, I'll even jot down my own thoughts. Many of the books in the elegant residence were brought directly from home by me. Later, I also took home and read some of the new books that the young ladies bought with their pooled money. So..."

Zhan Yun nodded in understanding. Zhao Ting, however, kept his thin lips pursed and stared at Song Qiao. Song Qiao didn't mind, picked up the teapot, poured herself another cup of tea, and slowly sipped it.

"Master Song, do you know that many young ladies in this elegant residence have secretly fallen for you and are scheming against each other behind your back? This incident was caused by someone imitating your handwriting to write a message inviting three young ladies to meet at the Broken Bridge at night, which is why they were able to assassinate you time and time again." Zhao Ting stared coldly at Song Qiao, a cruel smile playing on his lips.

Song Qiao put down her teacup, calmly looking at Zhao Ting. The smile on her lips gradually faded, and the wrinkles between her brows deepened. After a long while, Song Qiao sighed softly and said in a low voice, "I am just a down-on-his-luck scholar, while they are all young ladies from wealthy families. That so-called infatuation is nothing more than the naive feelings of a young girl. In time, they will marry or find men they like, and naturally they will forget about me. I have indeed noticed this, but I have never taken it to heart. In this life, I will never marry another woman."

Zhao Ting sneered, raising one of his sword-like eyebrows: "The man is dead, yet you speak so lightly, Layman! You didn't kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of you. This time, Layman, you are not entirely without responsibility. As for that 'Bamboo Fragrance Retreat,' I don't see any need to continue." With that, Zhao Ting got up, left the house, and strode out into the courtyard.

As Zhan Yun tidied up the books and papers on the table, he said gently, "We should also take these books back to the government office as evidence. We will send someone to return them to you in a couple of days."

Song Qiao nodded, indicating it was alright. Xiao Duan remained silent, his brows furrowed. Before leaving, he turned and stared intently at Song Qiao. Song Qiao was slightly taken aback by the gaze of those clear, cold phoenix eyes. Xiao Duan gave him another deep look, then turned and left with Zhan Yun.

Author's Note: Two more chapters and this case will be closed.

Has everyone guessed who the murderer is?

Squatting in the corner drawing circles, I'm just a tiny, insignificant snowflake.

JJ, please bless me! Xiaoxue Luo has tried so hard!

Her husband ran away from home, her best friend abandoned her, and Xiaoxue's life became tragic.

18

Chapter Thirteen: Inviting the Enemy into the Trap • Tacit Understanding...

The three parted ways at the crossroads in the north of the city. Zhan Yun was going to Li Weier and Zhu Qiaolian's residence, Zhao Ting was going back to the yamen to find someone, and Xiao Duan was going to the Qian residence first.

That evening, at 3:45 PM.

Broken Bridge Lakeside.

A woman in a pink dress stood motionless by the lake, holding a lantern, gazing at the dark surface. Behind her, someone approached stealthily. As the hand gripped a pair of scissors and plunged it into the woman's back, the woman in pink abruptly turned, releasing the lantern and grabbing the woman's wrist, which was about to strike. Her other arm tightened around the woman's waist, and a rough, unusual voice rang out in the quiet night: "Lord Zhan, Mr. Tao, we've caught him! We've caught him!"

The crowd, who had been crouching silently behind the bushes, suddenly stood up and lined up. A dozen or so constables were the first to surround her. Some carefully removed the scissors from the woman's hand, others took out rope and tied her hands tightly behind her back, while still others stood to the side, laughing incessantly at Xiao Fang, who was dressed as a woman, patting Da Fang on the shoulder: "Hey Da Fang, your brother dressed as a young lady, he looks quite convincing! Miss Fang, would you do us the honor of having a drink with us to celebrate?"

The man in the pink dress blushed crimson and kicked the foul-mouthed constable. While chasing the man, he turned back to complain to Dafang, "Brother, he harassed me! Mr. Tao, this was your idea, you have to stand up for me!"

Old Tao chuckled as he wiped his mustache. Xiao Duan, who hadn't spoken until now, spoke up first: "Does anyone have a handkerchief? Quickly stuff it in her mouth."

He glanced casually at the pale-faced woman who remained silent with her eyes closed, then frowned slightly. "Isn't that necessary? She's just a girl; being tied up like this is already enough..."

"If she bites her tongue and commits suicide, will you take responsibility?" Xiao Duan interrupted Da Fang coldly, his phoenix eyes glaring coldly at the man in front of him.

Da Fang choked, glared at Xiao Duan with annoyance, and gestured for his friend to find a handkerchief to stuff into the woman's mouth.

Zhan Yun smiled but remained silent, thinking to himself that Duan was indeed a thoughtful person. Old Tao stroked his beard and nodded secretly, thinking, "This kid is reliable!"

The group escorted the woman back to the Hangzhou government office. Li Qinglan held court that very night and also had Lan Lan brought out of prison. Lan Lan's hair was disheveled, her large eyes were red and swollen from crying, and her tender red lips were covered in mottled blood from being bitten. She walked along, tears streaming down her face, looking pitiful and heartbreaking.

As soon as Lanlan entered the courtroom, she looked up and saw the woman kneeling on the ground with her hands tied behind her back. She ran forward in small steps, sat down next to the woman, hugged her, and sobbed, "Sister Leilei, how could you be so foolish!"

Wang Sulei's hands were tied, so she couldn't hug her back. Her mouth was stuffed with a handkerchief, so she couldn't say anything to comfort her. Her eyes were filled with tears, but her expression was serene.

Li Qinglan slapped the sandalwood boundary, and the constables standing on both sides, holding water-and-fire sticks, rhythmically tapped the ground under their feet while shouting in unison, "Majesty!" At the same time, someone brought out two wooden plaques with the words "Avoidance" and "Silence" and placed them at the entrance of the courtroom.

Although it was nearly midnight, the streets were still quite crowded. Hangzhou had no curfew, and there was a bustling night market in the east of the city. While not as prosperous as Bianjing, the people's nightlife was still quite vibrant. Just now, Zhan Yun and his group were escorting Wang Sulei, dressed in a dark dress, back to the government office. Although they had deliberately avoided crowded streets, they still attracted the attention of many passersby. After all, this case had dragged on for over a month, and the news had spread throughout Hangzhou. Seeing the constables of the government office, bound and leading a woman towards the office, accompanied by Registrar Tao, the common people gathered in small groups, whispering and pointing, following them at a distance towards the government office.

Before Li Qinglan could speak, Wang Sulei, who was kneeling below, spoke first. Lanlan carefully removed the handkerchief from her mouth. Wang Sulei moved her lips; her tongue felt slightly numb, but she couldn't care less about anything else at that moment. She looked up to meet Li Qinglan's gaze and shouted, "Lord Li, please understand! I killed them. All three of them. Lanlan has absolutely nothing to do with it! I beg you, Lord Li, to spare her!" As she spoke, she bent over with difficulty and kowtowed heavily.

Lanlan, kneeling to one side, was about to say something when Wang Sulei raised her head, glared at her warningly, and shook her head slightly. Lanlan bit her lip hard, tears streaming down her face like broken beads.

Li Qinglan frowned slightly, glanced at Xiao Duan and Zhan Yun standing to the side, and said in a deep voice, "Oh? Wang Sulei, you say you killed the person, but what proof do you have? I must tell you first, if what you say is even slightly false, even if you did not kill the person, you will still be punished with a beating."

Wang Sulei knelt upright, nodded heavily, her voice not trembling at all, her face calm and composed: "I understand. You can send someone to my house; the evidence is in a bundle under my bed."

Just as Li Qinglan was about to give the order, a cold voice came from outside the hall: "Lord Li, the item has been found, no need to trouble yourself." As he spoke, Zhao Ting had already walked to Xiao Duan and Zhan Yun's side. His dark eyes were like black jade, shining brightly. There was no sign of fatigue between his brows, and his thin lips were slightly curved, indicating that he was in a very good mood. However, his hair was slightly disheveled, the hem of his dark robe was stained with some mud, and his pair of gray satin cloud-patterned boots were also covered in dust.

Seeing Xiao Duan lower her eyes, seemingly staring at her shoes, Zhao Ting took a breath and explained helplessly, "I spent the whole afternoon leading those people to search on that hillside behind. We finally found the place, but the item had already been taken. While you were out arresting the person, I took them to the Prince's mansion. Sure enough, the item was in her room."

The constable who followed Zhao Ting in handed the reddish-brown bundle to Li Qinglan, and Mr. Tao, who was sitting not far away, also got up and came over. Opening the bundle, they saw it contained jewelry such as bracelets and pendants, as well as three thin, soft undergarments worn close to the skin by women, stained with bloodstains, some of which had turned dark brown. Tao Hanzhi turned back to his table, picked up a few pages of paper, and returned to carefully compare them, his expression growing increasingly serious, nodding slightly to Li Qinglan as he did so.

Li Qinglan picked up two pale yellow sheets of paper from her side and handed them to Tao Hanzhi. Old Tao put down the paper in his hand, took the sheets of paper, and walked up to Wang Sulei: "Did you write these too?" One of the sheets of paper was what Zhan Yun had accidentally found in the book "Collection of Flowers" that day, and the other was what someone had put in an envelope early this morning and asked the gatekeeper of the Li residence to give to Li Weier.

Wang Sulei replied in a deep voice, "Yes. The note was written in imitation of the handwriting of the Buddhist monk Meng Lian, inviting the three of them to meet by the Broken Bridge. Then I held their heads down and drowned them. Finally, I took the hairpins from their heads, slashed their faces, removed all their jewelry, and even stripped them of their clothes and took their undergarments."

"What was your motive? Why did you kill those three people?" Xiao Duan had been quietly watching Wang Sulei's eyes, and after she finished explaining the details of the crime, he asked her.

Wang Sulei gritted her teeth, glanced at Lan Lan, and her eyes gradually filled with tears: "Because they bullied Lan Lan."

"Is it really that simple?" Li Qinglan, sitting in the hall, asked with a frown.

“That… simple…” Wang Sulei repeated each word carefully, as if squeezing them out from between her teeth. After saying the last word, she chuckled softly: “That simple? Ha! Go try it and you’ll see if it’s really that simple! Those women are ruthless killers! Back then, Han Jinglian was such a good girl, but they bullied her so much that she didn’t dare to leave her house. In the end, she couldn’t bear it and drowned herself in the lake. Lanlan is prettier than them, smarter than them, more talented than them, better than them in every way! But just because her family is poor, she’s ordered around in the elegant house every day, doing this and that. She has to come early in the morning to make tea and prepare snacks for them, and put out the books. They won’t let her go home even when it’s dark, insisting that the bookshelves on the third floor of the attic need to be organized…”

Wang Sulei gritted her teeth as she recounted the crimes of those men, drawing gasps of dismay from the crowd outside the yamen. "So all the girls in the elegant residence are this unruly! Who would have thought… Miss Zhou usually speaks softly and seems so gentle and refined, but in Miss Wang's words, she's practically a female tyrant!"

“A few days ago, Lanlan found a little white rabbit with an injured leg on the back mountain and took it back to the cottage to raise it. After a few days, the rabbit's leg injury was mostly healed, and it could walk with a limp. But one afternoon, when Lanlan and I arrived at the cottage, we found them all gathered around the wooden box. The little rabbit was dead. It was that gentle and refined Miss Zhang you all talk about who strangled the rabbit with a broken zither string!” Wang Sulei said, her smile becoming increasingly sarcastic, her eyes filled with hatred and disgust. “When we asked her why, she said that Lanlan had clearly agreed to come early today to prepare the books for everyone, because the layman would be lecturing on Yuefu poetry later. Since Lanlan didn't take everyone's words to heart and even arrived later than everyone else, this is called making an example of her, to see if she learns her lesson!”

The conversation had drifted to a rabbit, which puzzled everyone present. But after hearing Wang Sulei's words, even the constables standing to the side couldn't stand it anymore. One constable muttered under his breath, "What kind of young lady is this! A talented woman, my foot! She's a shrew! Whoever marries her is doomed..."