Ma femme escalade le mur

Chapitre 124

After listening to Bi'er's account and asking the man some basic questions, the group kindly advised the couple to return home and rest, promising to inform them first of any news. However, the scholar-like man was unusually resolute, insisting he would wait there for his wife's return. He even knelt before Li Qinglan and the others, his eyes red with tears, begging for help. Clearly, he was also deeply worried about the murder rumors circulating and feared for Zhu Qiaolian's safety.

Li Qinglan then had someone take the two to a nearby room to wait. Jiang Cheng got up and closed the door, and Duan Chen then asked, "Has the interrogation been completed?"

Li Qinglan stroked his beard, his expression rather cold: "I haven't asked about the important matters yet. Xiao Tao went over last night to sound out those people. However, there is definitely something wrong with this opera troupe."

Tao Hanzhi pulled out a piece of paper from a stack of papers and handed it to the group. Jiang Cheng explained from the side, "When Dafang and the others came back last night, they brought back all the equipment from the Meiliu Class, including the eyebrow powder for makeup and that flag."

Three plum blossoms were printed on the paper, all with the same shape and style, but slightly different. Jiang Cheng stood up and handed over a small, dark-colored box: "And this too. These three plum blossoms were tracings taken from the flag, the deceased's chest, and the engraving on this box, respectively."

The group huddled together to look, and noticed that the latter two blossoms were clearly more similar. Zhao Ting took the small box, smoothed the plum blossom carvings on it, and then unscrewed the lid. Inside were some finely ground dark blue eyebrow powder and a small, dark red wooden stick.

Zhan Yun carefully compared the three plum blossoms, then took the box lid and looked at it: "If nothing unexpected happens, the person who carved the plum blossoms on this box is the real culprit."

Tao Hanzhi nodded in agreement: "I think so too. Even the plum blossoms on the flag that are most similar to it are still different in the curves of the petals and the threads of the stamens. The ones painted on the box are almost exactly the same as the marks on the corpse."

Even with identical scenery and painting techniques, different people will always have slight differences in the details of their brushstrokes and turns, because everyone's brushwork habits, pressure, and brushstrokes are not exactly the same. This is not difficult to discern for anyone with even a basic understanding of painting.

Duan Chen knew nothing about painting. After hearing Zhan Yun and Tao Hanzhi's words and carefully examining the three plum blossoms, he nodded slightly. He then turned to the latter and asked, "Mr. Tao, did you find out anything last night?"

Tao Hanzhi chuckled and stroked his beard with a hint of pride: "Little Duan, this time, I was the first to find the clue!"

Duan Chen remained expressionless, his eyes calm. He cupped his hands towards Tao Hanzhi, indicating that he was all ears. The others had varying expressions, clearly not believing him, which made Tao Hanzhi's lips twitch. Then, Li Qinglan sighed, patting the table, "Little Tao, how old are you? Why do you still insist on arguing with young people!"

Tao Hanzhi took two breaths, a hint of anger showing on her fair face: "Are you even listening to me?!"

Seeing that the old man was really anxious, everyone quickly responded, "Listen, listen." "Please speak, Mr. Tao."

Tao Hanzhi finally caught his breath, glanced at Li Qinglan, and gave a soft snort before speaking: "Last night, we brought back five people, three men and two women, and they were detained separately. I saw that the two girls addressed each other as sisters, and they are both the troupe leader's biological daughters. As for the three men, from their conversation, the youngest one is the troupe leader's youngest son, and the other two seem to be a son-in-law who married into the Plum Willow Troupe, and the other seems to be a handyman, calling one of them 'son-in-law'."

"The two girls, one was thirteen or fourteen years old, and the other was seventeen. I overheard them talking, and it seemed that the older one was going to marry the 'brother-in-law' they were talking about during the New Year, who was the slightly older man from before. The two girls were quite fond of that 'brother-in-law' and spent half the day worrying about him, saying that he was not in good health and that they were afraid he would not be able to withstand the bitter cold in the prison."

“Last night, I questioned these two women for a while.” Tao Hanzhi spoke in a very organized manner, focusing on the relevant parts of the case, making it very clear to listen to: “One thing they mentioned made me suddenly realize what all the victims in this case had in common.”

As Tao Hanzhi spoke, he narrowed his eyes and smiled slyly, "Xiao Duan, can you guess what it is?" In cases like this, there's always a common thread among the victims, which is why the killer chooses these people as targets. Until now, everyone had been completely stumped, but upon hearing Tao Hanzhi's words, they all immediately perked up.

Duan Chen had been listening quietly. When Tao Hanzhi suddenly asked a question, Duan Chen was slightly taken aback. After a moment of silence, he replied softly, "I do have some guesses, but I haven't confronted these people face to face yet, so I'm afraid there might be some issues..."

Seeing that Duan Chen looked rather hesitant, and that her last glance at him held a hint of emotion, Zhan Yun was a little confused. However, she smiled and looked back, indicating that he could speak freely.

Tao Hanzhi puffed out his cheeks, narrowed his long, thin eyes, and waved his hand while clicking his tongue: "It's alright, just say it!" He didn't believe that this kid could guess the same thing as him!

The others listened intently. Duan Chen nodded slightly and continued, "According to what Mr. Tao just said, that man's wife, who is also the two girls' older sister, should have passed away some time ago. When we were watching the opera at the teahouse, we heard people around us say that several of the opera excerpts that the troupe often performed were written by this man. Coincidentally, the one we heard last night was one of his best performances..."

As Duan Chen spoke, he glanced at Zhao Ting and Zhan Yun. Zhao Ting frowned, thinking to himself that Duan Chen had never seemed so hesitant or indecisive when analyzing cases before. Zhan Yun, following Duan Chen's words, suddenly recalled Zhu Qiaolian's account of the play last night and exclaimed, "Ah! You mean..."

Duan Chen frowned slightly, also appearing somewhat uneasy: "I'm just speculating. We'll have to wait until the real culprit is brought to justice and gives a detailed account before we can be certain of the truth."

Zhou Yufei, who was listening from the side, was confused and asked in a hoarse voice, "What kind of riddle are you talking about?"

Zhan Yun quickly turned to the side and bowed to Li and Tao, saying, "It's like this. Among the women who were murdered in Suzhou, one of them was my mother's cousin."

Before Li Qinglan could react, Tao Hanzhi slammed his hand on the table, seemingly annoyed but actually smiling: "You little rascal! Hurry up and tell me, how did you guess?"

Seeing that Zhan Yun didn't seem to care much, Duan Chen felt a little relieved and then said softly, "Last night at the teahouse, I initially just thought that the play was quite strange. I also saw that Boss Zhu was very moved by it, so I asked her why she was crying. Her answer was that the play expressed what she was thinking."

Of everyone in the room, except for Zhao Ting and Zhan Yun, none of the others had heard of the Mei Liu Class's stories. Therefore, when Duan Chen started speaking, Zhan Yun interjected, briefly recounting Zhu Qiaolian's words from the previous night. Duan Chen then explained, "This morning I heard news of Boss Zhu's disappearance, and combined with the details Mr. Tao mentioned earlier, it basically confirms my previous suspicions."

"The murderer in this case can be identified within the Meiliu Troupe. The reason for his crime is not hard to understand. As the play goes, he hated the betrayal of the woman he loved back then. He strangled those women because of hatred, and painted their eyebrows after their deaths because of love."

"I think those women who were murdered must have expressed some dissatisfaction with their current marriages before they died. Although we don't know exactly how the murderer knew about these things, it is certain that some of the complaints these women made provoked the murderer and touched on his past emotional wounds, which is why he committed the crime of killing people one after another."

The reason Duan Chen remained tight-lipped about the case was because of the familial relationship between Yang Xiaoru and Zhan Yun. After all, she was already married, and to be murdered unjustly was tragic enough; to be branded with the stigma of adultery after death would be too cruel and damage the reputation of both families. However, for the sake of the case, Duan Chen couldn't remain silent, hence his hesitation when Tao Han asked him about it.

Tao Hanzhi nodded repeatedly, stroking his mustache and laughing, "Now I'll tell you what those two girls told me, and that's enough to prove your guess was right."

"Three years ago, their older sister did indeed fall in love with a wealthy young man and wanted to divorce him. However, the man refused to agree no matter what, and neither did their father, brother, or the two girls themselves. In the end, the girl couldn't bear it and hanged herself."

Everyone gasped in surprise. Just as they were chatting animatedly, there was a knock at the door. When they opened it, Da Fang stood there panting, bowing to the crowd as he said, "Sir, Mr. Tao, gentlemen, the troupe leader who ran away earlier has come to turn himself in at our yamen gate!"

Author's Note: I have exams this weekend, and the finale will be posted next Tuesday. Please offer your blessings, thank you.

109

Chapter Thirteen: Restraint and Reincarnation...

Two constables escorted the man to a side hall, where everyone was already seated.

The old man, who had been so energetic last night, now looked haggard and ragged after a restless night, his hair now streaked with gray. He knelt down, and before anyone could ask a question, he spoke first: "Those previous cases were all committed by me alone. I know my crimes are unforgivable and I deserve to be executed. Your Honors, please have a clear conscience and do not make things difficult for my family. My children are still young; I beg you to spare them."

As he spoke, he bent down and kowtowed more than ten times. Finally, he straightened up, his forehead stained with blood. His slightly cloudy eyes stared straight at Li Qinglan, and his dry, upturned lips trembled.

Duan Chen sat down near the old man, his face indifferent and his voice cold: "Master, you don't need to waste your time. He has already confessed everything." Meeting the old man's surprised and uncertain gaze, Duan Chen said coldly, word by word: "If the master doesn't want to implicate others any more, then tell us where Boss Zhu is hiding. Murderers pay with their lives, that's the law. Apart from that, we will not make things difficult for anyone else."

The old man stared at Duan Chen for a long time. His already ashen face darkened further. He slowly shifted his gaze to the other people in the room and saw that they all had cold and solemn expressions. Just as he hesitated, he heard a "snap" sound from directly in front of him. His body trembled involuntarily, and the veins on his forehead twitched twice.

Turning around, he saw Li Qinglan rebuking him with a stern face: "You audacious scoundrel, harboring murderers, abducting innocent women, and now you dare to come to my door and threaten me with lives! Guards, drag him away and give him twenty strokes of the cane!"

Although it wasn't a courtroom setting, all the constables had already been dispatched to search for the person, leaving only two constables standing on either side of the entrance inside the government office. Inside, everyone sat upright, their faces solemn. Although it was against protocol, it genuinely frightened the old man, who kept his mouth tightly shut and didn't utter a sound, but his body couldn't help but tremble.

Two constables made a move to twist the old man's arms behind his back and take him away, but Zhan Yun hurriedly said, "Wait a minute," and then cupped his hands to Li Qinglan, slowly advising, "Sir, this man certainly deserves punishment, but the most urgent matter is to rescue Boss Zhu. If he really takes those twenty strokes of the cane, he might lose half his life, and things will become very difficult..." The last sentence was like a murmur, but everyone in the room heard it clearly, including the old man kneeling on the ground.

The old man gasped for breath, his throat growing weaker, but a strange smile gradually appeared on his face. He said in a trembling voice, "What good would it do to save a woman who doesn't uphold traditional virtues? I might as well take her away on behalf of Heaven, and the world would be spared another scourge!"

Tao Hanzhi narrowed his eyes, about to speak, when Duan Chen spoke first: "So you did that kind of thing three years ago?"