HLnovel Chapter 089 Substituting one thing for another
Chapter 089 Substituting one thing for another
Suppressed laughter reached his ears, and the servant knew he had been misunderstood, so he quickly explained.
The paper wasn't found inside; it was on a haystack outside, clean and unused.
The Xie family was wealthy and generous to their servants, but Xie Yu'an and his wife strictly forbade extravagance within the household. The presence of toilet paper on the grass could only mean one thing: Xie San was murdered while using the toilet.
Next to the latrine was a small hut used for storing odds and ends. The hut wasn't locked, and the servants in the mansion never bothered to look inside unless necessary; it was a perfect place to hide a corpse. Pushing open the door, one could indeed see dried bloodstains and obvious drag marks on the ground.
Captain Ma squatted there, rubbing his chin, unable to fathom what the murderer was up to.
The manager of Grain Shop No. 8 arrived; Xie San was his shop assistant. Upon hearing that Xie San was dead, and had died in the owner's courtyard, the manager looked incredulous. He told Xie Yu'an that Xie San had been busy at the shop all afternoon, only leaving after closing time.
Xie Yu'an then had the butler bring Xie San's family members over.
Xie San was unmarried and had only a blind old mother. The old mother told Xie Yu'an that Xie San hadn't been home for two days. Fearing that the master of the house might misunderstand, she added that Xie San had sent a message home through a friend, saying that he was busy at the shop and would return home after these few days.
The old shopkeeper shook his head and said the shop was the same as always.
Xie San's mother asked the old shopkeeper where Xie San was. The old shopkeeper looked at Xie San's body on the ground and didn't know how to answer. Xie Yu'an gave the steward a look, and the steward led the old shopkeeper and Xie San's mother to the front yard.
Soon after, they heard Xie San's mother sobbing.
Telling the elderly the truth is cruel, but how can you hide something as simple as life and death?
Xie Chaoyun witnessed this scene upon entering the mansion. After inquiring with the steward, he learned that a shop assistant had died. His elder brother was lazy, too lazy to name his shops; they were all named with numbers. Grain Shop No. 8, located near the city gate, sold grain of poor quality or old, stale grain. The prices were extremely low, sold only to the poor.
Xie Chaoyun had never met Xie San, but had heard Physician Jiang mention him.
He used to be a street urchin, nicknamed Six-Fingers. When the eldest brother met him, he was only fourteen, surrounded by a group of much older thugs, looking as fierce as a little wolf cub. They took off his shoes and mocked him, so he cut off his extra finger right in front of them. Luckily, he met the eldest brother and Doctor Jiang, who saved his life.
The gang of thugs respected him and, regardless of age, all called him Sixth Brother. Grateful for his elder brother's life-saving grace, he became a clerk at Grain Shop No. 8.
This person died silently outside the latrine.
Lu Zhiyuan was woken up by the noise and hooked her arm around Lu Yun's neck, saying, "Carry me to see."
Her intuition told her that this matter was related to the ghost village.
Upon seeing Lu Zhiyuan, Commander Ma breathed a sigh of relief, then noticed her pale complexion and large patches of blood on her body. Learning that they had been tricked into the ghost village by the Southern Chu people, Commander Ma was enraged: "These Southern Chu people, I'll skin them alive!"
“The lives of the Southern Chu people are not important; what matters is their conspiracy.” Lu Zhiyuan patted Lu Yun, signaling him to put her down.
Xie San was strangled to death, and his face was deliberately mutilated by the murderer. The bloodstains in the hut were from his face. The body was initially kept in the hut by the murderer, and then moved to the pond after nightfall.
Why after nightfall?
Because the wooden door of the hut was knocked askew.
There are many people around during the day, so the murderer wouldn't be so careless. Nighttime is quiet, especially late at night; no one would come to this place. The murderer needed to move the body, and if it were just one person, they wouldn't have carried a lantern; they would have moved it under the moonlight.
The wooden door was old and dilapidated, covered with splinters and bloodstains. Initially, Lu Zhiyuan suspected the bloodstains belonged to the deceased, but after examining the deceased's hands and feet, she determined that the bloodstains belonged to the murderer who moved the body.
Anyone still active at the Xie family residence after nightfall must be a member of the Xie family, and someone familiar with their modus operandi. He knew the Xie family would clean the pond before the Mid-Autumn Festival, and that the pond wouldn't be used until next year. He threw the body into the pond, using the smell of the rotting mud to mask the stench of decay. He wasn't worried about Xie San's body being discovered, because the Southern Chu people's plan would definitely be completed before next spring.
"Does Miss know who this person is?"
“I don’t know, but the steward in my uncle’s mansion must know.” Lu Zhiyuan snapped her fingers: “He’s not an old member of the Xie family, he’s been in the mansion for more than half a year, and he can freely have his own affairs within the mansion. He has a separate room, and his private actions won’t attract attention. He’s of average height and appearance. I’ve seen him, I know his name, but I can’t remember what he looks like.”
The servants below began to whisper among themselves, and even Xie Yu'an frowned.
Lu Zhiyuan continued.
“His appearance is average, but there are subtle changes every day. Ordinary people would not notice these changes because he is not particularly good-looking. But if you were to ask a painter to paint his portrait, you would find that the portrait he painted when he entered the mansion is completely different from the portrait he painted when he left the mansion.”
"Yuan'er, how do you know these things?" Xie Yu'an looked at her. "Judging from your description, these are not things that ordinary people would do."
"Disguise, it looks like it was done by spies." Commandant Ma snapped his fingers like Lu Zhiyuan: "Southern Chu spies, it must be Southern Chu spies."
Lu Zhiyuan touched her nose, thinking to herself that this was exactly what spies from Southern Chu would do.
She understood because she herself was an assassin. Being a modern assassin is far more difficult than being one in ancient times; it requires not only the work of an assassin but also that of a spy. Of the 360 professions, while one may not be an expert in every one, one should at least have some understanding of them.
It was the same servant from before, who stammered, "The person Miss mentioned seems to be Uncle Chen from our household."
"Who is Uncle Chen?" Lu Zhiyuan asked the servant, her eyes fixed on him. "Do you know where he is?"
Uncle Chen is the gardener in the manor. He joined the manor six months ago and is in charge of managing all the flowers and plants. The lady loves flowers, so they are planted in every nook and cranny of the manor. Wherever there are flowers, Uncle Chen is there. In Lu Zhiyuan's words, he can go anywhere.
Uncle Chen had an ordinary appearance, so ordinary that you could sit and chat with him face to face for half an hour, and then turn your head and forget what he looked like. But the next time you saw him, you would still remember that he was Uncle Chen. It wasn't his face that you remembered, but his clothes, which were always wrinkled and covered in yellow mud.
Because he was always doing dirty and tiring work, no one in the mansion wanted to live with him, so the steward arranged for him to stay at the east side gate.
Xie Yu'an sent someone to look for Uncle Chen, but Uncle Chen was nowhere to be found. All that was found was a peeled-off face mask on his small bed where he was sleeping.
“This man is not Chen Bo, but a spy from Southern Chu. The real Chen Bo is probably already dead.” Lu Zhiyuan clenched her fist. “Captain Ma, I need to see the garrison commander. Something is about to happen in the capital.”
Before he could finish speaking, the butler rushed over, saying that something strange had happened on the street. The soldiers on patrol had been bitten by a group of strange people who had appeared out of nowhere, and the strange people were heading towards the Xie family.