Grudge Breaker

Chapter 271 Motive for murder
-
"The government officials were unaware of Xiao An's death and were looking for her everywhere."

"She was the one who was in charge of cleaning the fence of the pond in the Venerable Mansion today, but she got into big trouble."

Ding Heran reported the information he had just received one by one.

The pond of the Venerable Mansion and the water street are mainly connected by two ditches. The entrance of the ditch is high and the outlet is low, with a water control valve on each side.

Before cleaning, you need to close the inlet valve first, then open the outlet valve to drain three feet of water in the pond. After the water level drops, the iron fence will leak out, and the rotten leaves or other debris deposited in the pond will hang on the fence wall. After cleaning, close the valve and then open the inlet valve to restore the water level.

"At 9:00 p.m. today, Xiao An received the valve and fence key from the mansion steward and never returned it. Since the princess lived in the mansion, it was inconvenient to go and investigate. It was not until she and Concubine Ruan went to the pleasure boat for a banquet that the mansion steward dared to send someone to check."

"It was almost 3 p.m. when we got there, we found that the valves on both sides of the entrance and exit were not closed, the fence was wide open, and the goldfish in the pond and the newly sprouted water lilies were all washed away by the water. The housekeeper was very upset and looked for Xiao An everywhere but couldn't find her. He could only go back urgently to get the spare key and close the valve on the fence, and clean up the mess before the princess returned home."

……

Mo Tingfeng nodded as he listened. Ding Heran's words completely verified Song Weichen's reasoning. The ditch exit must be the first scene of the case.

The exit was one meter square, and with the fence wide open, it was no problem for someone to get out.

At this point, the scene can basically be restored: the murderer placed the frozen and dying Xiao Eucalyptus at the exit first - she most likely drowned at this time, then went upstream to open the inlet valve, and then returned downstream to open the outlet valve, using the water force to flush Xiao Eucalyptus into the waters of Shuijie.

It was almost dark at that time, and the lanterns on the water street were not yet lit. It would not be difficult to use the turbulent water force to push the small eucalyptus downstream under the water column of the pleasure boat - and then the murderer could easily escape.

So the question now is, why did the murderer target a nameless little maid, and what was his motive for murder? .
"Mr. Xu, there is nothing for you to do here. Go back."

"Go back and examine Xiao'an's body carefully. If you find anything new, report it immediately."

"Yes!"

Coroner Xu bowed to Mo Tingfeng, then turned and bowed solemnly to Song Weichen.

"Miss Sang, I apologize for offending you today. I hope I can have another chance to consult you in the future. Please don't bother me."

Song Weichen also returned the greeting.

"Mr. Xu, you are too kind. We can discuss this anytime. Xiao'an... please take care of her."

……

When Coroner Xu left, it was almost the hour of Yin and there were no outsiders in the meeting hall. Mo Tingfeng could no longer hide the pain on his face and reached out to pull Song Weichen.

"Weiwei, it's almost dawn, you have to go back and rest."

He then turned to look at Zhuang Yuheng, "Yuheng, would you like to stay for a while? Things seem to be going badly these past few days, so you can take care of them."

"Okay, I'm worried about Weiwei's health. Even if you didn't mention it, I would have stayed for a few days."

Zhuang Yuheng responded and stood up from her seat, but Song Weichen did not move. She still sat there, staring at the map of Sichen Mansion without blinking.

Xiao'an's death had a great impact on her - who on earth would deliberately murder a harmless little maid who had no sense of existence?
Could it be that she was discovered when she sneaked out in the morning to talk to herself and Guyu, and the other party thought she had leaked some secret, so they wanted to keep her mouth shut?
If so, will Guyu also be in danger?

After all, the murderer must be someone who was in the Venerable Mansion at the time. Who is it?
……

Song Weichen naturally suspected Ruan Mianmian first, especially Bai Lu's sudden leave made him even more suspicious, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was not true.

Although Lao Longjing is selfish and reckless, her desire to marry Mo Tingfeng and become the mistress of the Sichen Mansion is too strong. Just based on this point, no matter how bad Ruan Mianmian is and how much she regards human life as worthless, she will never commit a crime under Mo Tingfeng's nose before achieving her goal.

So the murderer is most likely someone else.

Song Weichen was a little panicked, not because of herself, but because she was worried about Guyu. Lao Longjing had been asking about Guyu, and no one knew what evil intentions she had. If she was involved in Xiao'an's murder case again, she would be in great danger.

No, no! As long as she was still alive, she had to find out the truth and protect Guyu.

……

"He Ran, please check one thing. I want a list of all the people who entered and left the Venerable's Mansion today, as well as the time they entered and left. This includes the people brought by the Princess and Ruan Mianmian."

"We'll focus on three situations: first, whether someone has left the house and has not returned; second, whether someone left the house with everyone else but returned alone; third, whether someone had no record of leaving the house but returned alone after 3 p.m."

Ding Heran responded and stepped back.

Mo Tingfeng and Zhuang Yuheng looked at each other. They already understood why Song Weichen did this. They both couldn't help but look at this little girl with a different eye. Since the autopsy today, she had shown calmness, organization, and meticulous reasoning ability, which had impressed and surprised everyone.

"Weiwei has grown up, and is becoming more and more like a white-robed venerable."

Zhuang Yuheng couldn't help but praise.

Song Weichen smiled faintly, but weakness and fatigue could not be concealed in his eyes.

"You didn't even ask me why I asked for this, which shows that you have already thought of what I thought of."

Her logic is simple.

If the murderer committed manslaughter, he would certainly try his best to do the thing secretly. How could he deliberately make a big deal out of it and deliberately put the body on the houseboat for everyone to know?

Therefore, the murderer must have intended to kill and deliberately attracted attention.

If this is the case, then before achieving his goal, the murderer will not escape even if he has the chance, and will definitely return to Si Chen Mansion - and will most likely commit a crime again.

After a murder, the whole place was in a state of panic. If the murderer sneaked around or used magic to hide back to the mansion, he would be discovered immediately. Therefore, it was highly likely that the murderer would pretend that nothing had happened and return to Si Chen's mansion with others in a dignified manner to conceal the truth.

But he must have controlled Xiao'an's corpse to leave the house through the canal, and he definitely did not register his departure. That's why Song Weichen asked Ding Heran to find out if there is anyone who "only has a record of entering the house, but no record of leaving the house." And this person must be a major suspect.
.
"……slight"

Mo Tingfeng saw her sitting in the chair in a daze, obviously still thinking about Xiao'an's case. He was proud of her dedication, but also couldn't hide his heartache.

"Let's go back and rest first, okay? We can discuss it after you wake up. The suspect must be in the mansion. He won't run away for a while - he can't run away."

"I have asked He Ran to communicate privately with the commander of the Princess's guards to increase the security level of the Venerable's Mansion, but don't alert the enemy, because we cannot rule out the possibility that the murderer has a gang behind the scenes. Before the motive for the murder and their deeper purpose are clear, we will take a wait-and-see approach for now."

Song Weichen nodded. She thought that after daybreak, she would take the opportunity to greet the eldest princess and carefully look for any suspicious people in the Venerable's mansion.

"Okay, let's go back."

Just as he was about to get up, his heart suddenly trembled and ached. Song Weichen subconsciously covered his hand and dared not move. His face turned even worse. Zhuang Yuheng hurried over to take care of him.

She had already taken several pills made from Huangquan Sun Grass today. If she took more, she might develop stubborn drug resistance, so Zhuang Yuheng didn't dare to feed her anymore. He could only inject his own magic power into silver needles and apply them on several key acupuncture points on her in the hope of relieving the symptoms.

For a moment, Song Weichen felt as if her soul had left her body - because she was clearly floating in the air from a third-person perspective, watching Zhuang Yuheng giving her acupuncture.

However, this feeling only lasted for a moment, and this soul-leaving experience made her think of a question.

"By the way, why don't we use magic to summon Xiao'an's spirit back to ask questions?"

"Wouldn't it be clear if we just asked her who killed her?"

Song Weichen seemed to have a new way of thinking. Yes, this is the "mysterious" world of sleep. Why bother to perform autopsies and look for evidence in such a place? Why not just ask the person involved directly?
Before Mo Tingfeng opened his mouth, Zhuang Yuheng took the lead in speaking.

"Weiwei, worrying too much can damage your mind. Try not to think about anything now and let your mind rest."

"Regarding your question, let alone a mortal body, even a high-powered sorcerer, once the soul leaves the body, everything in life disappears. This is what is called 'passing clouds and smoke'."

"Even if you summon the spirit, you can only see the shadow of a mindless and unconscious corpse, and you won't get any information."

"That's it..."

Song Weichen could not hide his disappointment.

"There are only two exceptions," Mo Tingfeng added.

"One is that the deceased is proficient in the mystical arts, and the magical artifacts he often used during his lifetime may leave a 'memory afterimage'. Using special methods, we can replay the scenes of the last period of his life."

"For example, the medium from the Hidden Mist Village who was killed by a demon husband, I can use my magic to borrow her magical artifacts to trace back her last moments before her death."

"There is another situation where the deceased's obsessions during his lifetime are hard to get rid of and he eventually becomes a chaotic soul. You are already very familiar with this situation, but... the ending of a chaotic soul is so cruel."

"Xiao Eucalyptus obviously does not belong to the latter two situations, so it would be meaningless even if we recalled his soul."

"Ugh."

Song Weichen sighed and closed his eyes. The spirit that he had just worked hard to muster up weakened again. It seemed that he could only rely on his real ability to catch the murderer.

……

After a moment, Zhuang Yuheng finished the acupuncture and nodded to Mo Tingfeng, who then returned to Song Weichen and gently held her hand.

"Can you walk? Can I hold you?"

Song Weichen did not refuse. She nodded slightly and let Mo Tingfeng carry her out of the meeting hall.

She really couldn't take even a single step. After her mind was pulled away from the case, Song Weichen felt extremely tired. Not only could she not walk, but her whole body felt stiff and cold, like a dying ember.

Perhaps it was the first time she had such close contact with a "dead person" - even the mask of the Lord of the Corpses, the threat of the death curse, and the hell swamp did not make her feel so real about death. Instead, it was Xiao'an's corpse that made her feel that death was really close to her.

Suddenly, she had the illusion that it was herself lying on the wooden bed in the Ice House Cemetery.

"I'm afraid."

Song Weichen rested his forehead on Mo Tingfeng's neck and snuggled into his arms.

"I... don't want to die."

Mo Tingfeng's eyes became hot and he hugged the little person in his arms tighter.

"Don't say stupid things."

"Yu Heng has found a way to remove the love-cutting restriction. Once I remove the restriction, I can help you remove the mark of your past life. You will not die, absolutely not."

……

"Mo Tingfeng."

"Weiwei, I'm here, always here."

Song Weichen felt sad for no reason.

"If one day, if I really am gone, you must promise me that you will not give up on yourself or seek death. After the love-severing restriction is lifted, do not set any weird restrictions on yourself and live freely."

"Just...live my share of it."