Ju Mu'er quickly continued, "Besides, I had already decided that once I left the yamen, I would come to find you..." As she said this, her face flushed, and she quickly changed the subject, "When that Mr. Zhu's wife was hitting me in the yamen, I smelled a greasy smell on her, like sesame oil or something. The murderer also had that smell."
Long Er pondered, the greasy smell of sesame oil? He remembered that Zhu Fu lived on Pingyang Street, and there was indeed a sesame oil shop on that street.
Ju Mu'er said, "That's about all I know. If the Prefect doesn't believe me, he can arrange for me to be tested again."
Long Er thought for a moment: "Did you say anything when you contacted the murderer?"
“I begged him to spare my life. I told him I was blind and couldn’t see anything, and begged him not to kill me. He threw me to the ground, came close to me, so close that I could feel his breath. I think he was confirming whether I was really blind. Then, I was hit on the head and passed out.”
Long Er said, "He wanted to frame you and disrupt the case, so he's quick-witted. But his method of harming you is absurd. Anyone who thinks about it carefully will know that you couldn't have killed him. The location and force of the dagger in Zhu Fu's death are not something you could have done. So the murderer is a clever person, but not very meticulous."
Ju Mu'er nodded, having finished speaking, and relaxed. Besides, she had been sitting for quite a while, and felt extremely dizzy. After thinking for a moment, she decided to simply lie down and go to sleep.
Startled, Long Er leaned over and pulled her aside: "What's wrong?"
"I'm done talking, it's time to sleep." Ju Mu'er really did close her eyes, looking like she was about to fall asleep.
This answer stunned Long Er, who then became angry: "Sleep? Get up, eat something, and take your medicine. Who falls asleep without saying a word? We're still talking!"
Ju Mu'er replied softly, "You didn't say anything when you changed seats, and we were talking at the time."
Long Er choked, ignoring her, and turned to shout at the maid at the door, "Where's the food? Where's the medicine? It's been so long, why isn't it here yet?"
The maid heard this at the door, hurriedly responded, and quickly ran off to urge him on.
Long Er then confidently pulled Ju Mu'er up, saying, "Don't sleep yet. It'll be even more uncomfortable if you fall asleep and then get up again. Hold on for a bit, eat something, and then drink your medicine."
"It would be better to leave me at home; I can get a good night's sleep there."
"You still say that at home, even if you fall asleep, your father is still there tending the charcoal stove to warm the medicine. He doesn't even check on you, how you got a fever, he didn't make you take your medicine on time, and he didn't let the doctor come to see you when you got seriously ill. If the medicine isn't right, you have to change it."
"If someone is seriously ill and isn't allowed to sleep, they'll die even faster."
"Nonsense." Long Er really wanted to poke her head, but seeing her pitiful appearance, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
That's enough.
He helped her sit up against the headboard and said, "I'll make sure you finish your meal and take your medicine before I leave."
"Oh," Ju Mu'er replied listlessly, keeping her eyes closed, since she could fall asleep leaning against her anyway.
Long Er felt even more frustrated by her behavior. Did she not want to talk to him or what? She was quite energetic when talking about the case, but now she doesn't want to talk to people anymore.
He insisted that she pay attention to him.
He gently nudged her, and she frowned. He pinched her cheek, and she slapped his hand away. Her childish, displeased expression made Long Er laugh. He said, "If you're energetic now and not so sleepy, I'll give you a gift."
“Okay, thank you, Second Master.” Ju Mu’er replied quickly, but her eyes remained closed. She pointed towards the chair and said, “Give me that chair.”
What do you need a chair for?
"If I get bored in the future, I'll talk to it. I'll give it a name: Erzi."
Long Er was stunned for a moment, and when he saw the smile on Ju Mu'er's lips, he finally realized that he had been mocked.
Master Long was displeased. He flicked his sleeve, didn't even utter a sound, and turned to leave.
That ungrateful woman!
Who said that Second Master Long is stingy? Look at her, she's the one who's stingy!
If he treats her well again, he will be, he will be, he will be Erzi!
The second master left with a gloomy expression, leaving the two maids who brought in the tray both surprised and suspicious. When had they ever seen the second master interact with a young lady like this? At first, he would purse his lips and wrinkle his face while a young lady was talking to him about whether his hair smelled bad, but a moment later he would be chatting and laughing heartily. When the food and medicine were served slowly, the second master even lost his temper, but they quickly brought the things. In just a short while, the second master had already quarreled with the young lady again.
What's wrong with Second Master? What's his relationship with this girl? All the maids are Granny Yu's people, so the little maid decided to go and deliver the message later.
When Granny Yu received the message and went to secretly observe Ju Mu'er, Long Er had already arrived at the government office. He sent someone to greet the prefect, and then went to the prison to visit Manager Lü.
Manager Lü was very excited to see Long Er, who reassured him not to worry, as the matter was progressing and he would surely be released without charge. With Long Er's assurance, Manager Lü felt much more at ease. Long Er then asked him to recall the events of that day in detail, and Manager Lü recounted the events once more.
Long Er asked, "When you arrived, were there lanterns on the porch? Were the lights on inside the house?"
“There was nothing there, it was pitch black, but the door was open. I came out at night looking for someone with a lantern in my hand, so I saw it as soon as I got there.”
Long Er nodded and asked him for details about his meeting with Zhu Fu to discuss the shop, which Lü Sixian answered carefully. Then Long Er comforted him and told him to wait a little longer, as the truth would soon come out.
After meeting with Manager Lü, Long Er went to pay his respects to Prefect Qiu Ruoming. Qiu Ruoming had been out investigating cases all day and had just returned. Upon hearing that Long Er was requesting an audience, he said, "Please come in."
The two exchanged a few pleasantries upon meeting, then immediately got to the case. Long Er explained Ju Mu'er's condition, saying that she was currently running a fever and was too weak to come see him, but would come to tell him what she knew once she felt better.
Qiu Ruoming was also a conscientious and good official. Although he knew Long Er's reputation and disliked his manners, upon hearing what he said, he hurriedly asked if Miss Ju had remembered anything. Long Er then recounted everything that Ju Mu'er had told him.
Qiu Ruoming was shocked and even somewhat disbelieving. He had never imagined that a blind girl could be so calm and meticulous in observing her surroundings and remembering everything in such a dangerous situation. She probably remembered more than a sighted person.
Qiu Ruoming fell silent, wondering if Long Er was exaggerating to protect Lü Sixian.
Long Er understood what Qiu Ruoming was thinking. If he hadn't fallen for Ju Mu'er's tricks time and time again, he wouldn't have believed that she could be so intelligent.
He wrote a guarantee for Ju Mu'er: "My lord, although this Miss Ju is blind, she is indeed exceptionally intelligent. I have known her for some time and dare to vouch for her in this matter. If you have any doubts, my lord, you can test her again once she is feeling better."
Qiu Ruoming thought for a moment and then nodded. Long Er continued, "According to what Miss Ju said, the scent of sesame oil on Zhu Chenshi's body is very similar to the smell on the murderer. What I saw in the yamen last night was that when Zhu Chenshi came in and saw Zhu Fu's corpse, she rushed over and cried bitterly. She didn't rush over to him, but rather to his side. If they were a loving couple, this would be a bit strange. Furthermore, when the magistrate was interrogating Manager Lü, she insisted that Manager Lü was the murderer and asked the magistrate to make the decision. But when the magistrate was interrogating Miss Ju, she accused Miss Ju of being the murderer and rushed forward to attack her. Although we can't say she has any clues, it does seem a bit odd."
Qiu Ruoming couldn't help but glance at Long Er a few more times. Although this Second Master had a bad reputation, he did have some observational skills. What he said did indeed make sense to Qiu Ruoming. So today, he went to the residence of Zhu Fu's two companions and also investigated Zhu Chenshi. However, after asking around, he still didn't find anything suspicious.
I was going to investigate further when we got back, but unexpectedly, Long Er came to our door with a clue.
The smell of sesame oil? There really is a sesame oil shop on Pingyang Street where the Zhu family residence is located. It seems I should go and take a look there.
16 suspects arrested, blind woman identifies murderer
Long Er and Qiu Ruoming discussed the matter for a while. Then Qiu Ruoming sent constables in disguise to secretly investigate the sesame oil shop and the Zhu residence to see if there was any connection between the two. Afterwards, she told Long Er to bring Ju Mu'er over as soon as possible.
Long Er readily agreed and took his leave.
With the case showing promise, Long Er breathed a sigh of relief. He first went to the teahouses to inspect the situation in each shop, and seeing that everyone was still doing their jobs steadily, he returned to the Long residence.
Upon entering the mansion, he handed the horse to the gatekeeper and wanted to check if that smelly blind girl was asleep. However, before he even reached the courtyard, he saw Fengwu happily running in that direction with her five-year-old daughter, Bao'er.
"Quick, quick, before your second uncle comes back."
Long Er was fuming, already figuring out what was going on. He followed behind the mother and daughter, watching them excitedly meet up with Granny Yu, who had been secretly watching Ju Mu'er from outside the window.
"Granny, Granny, we just got back. What happened?" Feng Wu and Bao'er squatted down by the window.
Granny Yu waved her hand, and the maid next to her quickly handed over two small stools. Granny Yu pulled Fengwu and Bao'er to sit down: "She's asleep."
Feng Wu craned her neck to look through the window and asked, "Asleep? What are we doing here then?"
"Keep an eye on her. She probably won't get much sleep during the day. She can check on her when she gets up, and maybe even chat with her to see what's going on. Second Master actually brought a proper girl home to stay overnight. This is a big deal."
"A proper girl? You mean you used to take care of some improper ones?" Feng Wu's eyes lit up, and she asked with a gossipy spirit, "Granny, tell me what happened? Did you catch them? Well, this doesn't count as letting them stay overnight, does it? It's broad daylight, it only counts after nightfall, right?"
Long Er couldn't listen to it any longer. He emerged from behind the tree and coughed heavily twice.
The maid, the nanny, Fengwu, and Bao'er all looked at him. The maid's face showed obvious surprise. The nanny and Fengwu exchanged a glance and began to say that the weather was really nice today, perfect for chatting in the courtyard. Only Bao'er, with a normal expression, rushed over and hugged Long Er's leg, sweetly calling out, "Second Uncle."
Long Er picked up Bao'er and lifted her high, making her giggle. Long Er carried her to Granny Yu, sighing inwardly, and said, "Granny, what do you mean by 'bringing a proper girl home to stay overnight'? I've never brought a girl home to stay overnight, okay?"
Granny Yu looked embarrassed: "That's exactly what I meant. I mean, the Second Master has never brought a young lady back to stay overnight before. And when he finally did, she turned out to be a proper young lady..."
Long Er's face twitched involuntarily. He put Bao'er down on the ground, waved his hand, and sighed, "Granny, the weather is so nice. You and Fengfeng should go take the children. What about Xiao Qiao'er? That child is too young. She can't be without an adult around. Go quickly." Long Qiao was Long San and Feng Wu's second child. She had just learned to call out "father" and "mother." Granny Yu loved to tease her.
But at this moment, Granny Yu looked at Ju Mu'er's room with great reluctance, and Long Er sighed again: "Granny, I can't find the list of auspicious wedding dates for next year that you gave me last time. Can you help me pick a date?"
Granny Yu gasped, her mouth agape in shock, and stammered, "This, this, is it marriage or being married off?"
Long Er was truly embarrassed, so Feng Wu quickly came to his rescue: "Granny is overjoyed. She just wants to confirm whether it's Second Uncle who's getting married, or if she's asking on behalf of someone else?"
Granny Yu nodded quickly; yes, that was exactly what she meant. She stared at Long Er with such anticipation that she felt she would vomit blood if he said he was asking on behalf of someone else.
Fortunately, Long Er said, "I will marry her, and she will marry me." As he said this, he pointed to Ju Mu'er's room.
Granny Yu almost burst into tears on the spot; this was such exciting and wonderful news. She stammered, "I have to go tell the master and madam, oh no, I should go pick a date first; there are still so many things to prepare. Oh, I'll wait here a little longer so I can check on the young lady when she wakes up."
Long Er couldn't hold back any longer and raised his voice: "Granny!"
Granny Yu was startled, but finally calmed down a bit: "Alright, alright, I'll go pick a date first, and then I'll take the date to tell the master and madam that I'll come to see her again after she wakes up."
Long Er nodded and waved, "Anyway, just hurry up and take Fengfeng and Bao'er away."
This time, Granny Yu didn't disappoint him. She happily led Fengwu and Bao'er away. Long Er had just breathed a sigh of relief when Granny Yu rushed back like a whirlwind and asked, "Second Master, Second Master, what's this young lady's name?"
"Ju Mu'er".
"Good, good, what a nice name. I'll go tell the master and mistress." After saying that, Granny Yu ran off again.
Long Er rubbed his forehead. Granny Yu's health was truly too good. Look at how agile she was. It was both a joy and a worry for him.
Granny Yu left, Feng Wu left, and Bao'er left too. Now everything was quiet. Long Er glared at the maid guarding the door. The maid trembled and reported that Miss Mu'er had taken her medicine, eaten a bowl of porridge, and then slept until now.
Long Er glared at her, and the maid knew she was being reprimanded for tipping off Granny Yu, so she trembled even more. Fortunately, Long Er didn't say anything more and turned to go inside.
Inside the room, Ju Mu'er was fast asleep, wrapped in a blanket. Long Er touched her forehead; it wasn't hot anymore. Her little face was rosy from sleeping, and there were some sweat stains on her neck. She must have sweated from sleeping so much that the heat had gone down.
Long Er looked again at the bandage wrapped around her head. There was no blood left, so he figured the bleeding from the wound had stopped. Seeing her sleeping so soundly, perhaps the pain wasn't so bad anymore?
Long Er moved a chair to the bedside and sat with her for a while. Seeing that she really didn't seem to be awake, he felt somewhat relieved. Granny Yu and the others were quite noisy earlier, yet they hadn't woken her up? That was good; it saved her from overhearing something about him bringing a girl back and having wild thoughts.
Long Er sat quietly for a while, then remembered that the chair he was sitting on was called "Erzi" (meaning "Second Son"), and he couldn't help but get angry with Ju Mu'er again. He poked her cheek; this naughty girl, she always managed to make him angry.
Ju Mu'er didn't react when Long Er poked her face. She poked it again, pouted, frowned, scratched the spot where she was poked, turned over, and continued to sleep.
Long Er pursed his lips, feeling displeased again. Was this girl a sleeping pig? She wouldn't wake up even now. He was just being a fool, watching over her while she slept. He decided to leave her alone; he had plenty of official business to attend to at the library.
With that thought in mind, Long Er really left. He instructed the maid to guard the door and not let anyone disturb the young lady's rest. She told her to inform him first when the young lady woke up. He didn't want him to find out that someone knew the young lady was awake before him and came to disturb her.
The maid had been caught once before and was already terrified, so she quickly and earnestly agreed, repeatedly saying that she would never dare to do it again.
Long Er returned to the study satisfied. As was his custom, he would have a snack every afternoon when he was home. The servant, having asked his opinion, brought up a basket of shrimp dumplings. Long Er ate them, but then thought about what would happen if that sleepy fellow woke up; wouldn't he be hungry too? Just porridge wouldn't be enough. He sent someone to instruct the kitchen to steam some more snacks.
After finishing his meal, Long Er reviewed some documents. He waited a long time, but no one came to report that Ju Mu'er had woken up. Long Er wanted to go see her himself, but he didn't want the servants to think he cared about her. Since he didn't think much of her, he decided to wait for someone to report.
After waiting for a long time, Li Ke returned.
Li Ke was ordered to lead his spies to investigate Manager Lü's case, and he brought back some news. It turned out that Long Er had ordered them to keep a close eye on Zhu Chenshi, but they hadn't found anything at first. This was because Zhu Chenshi had remained secluded after returning from the yamen, refusing to see anyone. Just as the spies were getting bored, they saw some yamen constables dressed in plain clothes go to the sesame oil shop under the pretense of buying oil to gather information.
Originally, nothing was wrong, but after the constables had only exchanged a few words, a customer who came to buy sesame oil recognized the constable and asked him, "Aren't you on duty today? Why are you buying sesame oil?" This immediately exposed the constable's identity.
After the constables said a few awkward words, they left. The spies noticed that the owner of the sesame oil shop seemed uneasy. After waiting for a long time, he left the shop in the care of his employee, changed his clothes, and ran out of the back door of the shop to look for Zhu Chenshi.
Li Ke knew there was something fishy going on, so he sent a scout to secretly report to the constable, while he led his men into the Zhu family's house to eavesdrop on what the two men were saying.
The owner of the sesame oil shop was Ren Baoqing, a strong man in his thirties. Originally, Zhu Chenshi did not want to see him, but seeing his anxious face, she pulled him into the house. The two of them hid in the house furtively. Zhu Chenshi said, "Why did you come? We shouldn't have met at this critical moment."
Ren Baoqing said, "You still dare to say that? Did you say something to the yamen? They all came to me today!"
Madam Zhu was taken aback and jumped up in fright: "What? How could this be? What did the yamen ask you?"