Mysteries of the Great Zhou Dynasty

Chapter 34 Another

On the return carriage, three people sat in the compartment. Rong Wanyin was a little depressed and leaned there without saying a word.

"Rong girl, what's wrong? Why aren't you talking?" Su Zhan wanted to liven up the atmosphere. He was almost suffocating. Why did these two suddenly stop talking?

Rong Wanyin smiled bitterly. "Nothing. I was just wondering why it's so hard for women to gain a foothold in this society. Look at Xiuniang... Now it seems that I was too well protected by my family before. I didn't have a direct experience with these things. What happened today really disgusted me."

Su Zhan curled his lips in embarrassment: "It's naturally harder for women to gain a foothold in society than for men. It has always been like this..."

Rong Wanyin leaned against the window frame and watched the passing cars: "But it has always been like this, does that mean it must be right?"

Yan Mingzhang opened the paper package and handed over a dragon beard candy. "It's always been this way, so it's not always right. Therefore, a gentleman should constantly strive for self-improvement and be virtuous. A gentleman should establish his mind for heaven and earth, his destiny for the people, carry on the lost knowledge of the sages, and bring peace to the world for all eternity. It's always been this way, and it's wrong. Let's start changing it from here."

Rong Wanyin took the candy and put it in her mouth, nodding in agreement. Her mouth felt sweet, and her mood didn't seem so bad, but she seemed to have forgotten something.

The old gray donkey lay in the stable of Yuexiang Tower, feeling hopeless and chewing hay intermittently: "..."
-
But bad things still happened.

Fifteen days later, a female corpse appeared in the center of the stage - it was an actress, and when she was found, she was hanging in the center of the stage.

Twenty-five days later, another female corpse appeared in the market - it was a remarried woman, who was found lying neatly on her steamed bun stall.

There have been three such incidents, and without exception, the faces were scratched, the hair covered the face, the shoes were embroidered with red peony soles, and - the bellyband disappeared.

"What on earth does the murderer want to do? Why does he have such malicious intentions towards the woman wearing red-bottomed peony-embroidered shoes?" Mo Yun leaned against the bookshelf and said angrily.

Su Zhan sat at his desk, his chin resting on his hand. "This murderer commits a crime every few days. We've stepped up patrols, but we still can't catch him!"

"It's not every few days." Yan Mingzhang held the scroll in his left hand and the brush in his right, circling the map. "Look, the time between these three cases is getting shorter and shorter, but have you noticed? He's getting more and more careless in disposing of the bodies. In the first case, he had plenty of time to hang the body on the chastity archway; in the second, he even had time to hang it in the center of the stage; but in the third, he had no choice but to hastily dump it in the market. This shows that with the intensified patrols, his time is getting tighter and tighter."

"Can we understand it this way, that the distance he transports the corpses is getting shorter and shorter?" Rong Wanyin suddenly had an idea.

"Yes, I think so too." Yan Mingzhang pointed to an area on the map. "Look, although the locations of these three cases are different, if you draw a circle with them as the center, the intersecting area is most likely the murderer's residence."

"Why should we throw it in public? If I were the murderer, I would hide the body." Su Zhan fiddled with the brush hanging on the desk.

"Who knows? If he was afraid of people finding out, he should have hidden the body. But he scratched the face of the body, as if he didn't want people to know who it was. He should have known it after the first incident. This is completely useless for us adults! Adults can restore the deceased's face in a moment, and know the identity with a portrait. It just takes some time. Isn't this a waste of effort!" Changfeng shook his head, very puzzled by the murderer's behavior.

"Thrown in a crowded place... Chastity arch... Stage... Market... Long hair covering face... Face scratched..." Yan Mingzhang suddenly muttered to himself, closing his eyes and carefully recalling these three cases in his mind. There must be something that has been overlooked. What do they have in common?
Everyone else suddenly fell silent. Rong Wanyin was puzzled. She tugged at Mo Yun's sleeve and unconsciously lowered her voice, "What is he doing?" Mo Yun covered his mouth with his hand and whispered in Rong Wanyin's ear, "The master is trying to recall some memories."

"Looking for memories?"

"Our master has a very good memory. He can almost remember everything he sees. He said that his mind is like a building. Each year is a room, and each room has twelve cabinets. Each cabinet has thirty drawers like the cabinets in a pharmacy, and each drawer contains his daily memories. If he needs, he can walk into each room and find the memory of that day." Mo Yun introduced proudly.

"Really? False?" Rong Wanyin looked at Mo Yun suspiciously, not quite believing it.

"Thrown in a crowded place... crowded... crowded..." The clues in Yan Mingzhang's mind gradually merged into one message. He suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze firm, "He is judging!"

"Trial?" Everyone was puzzled. What trial? They had checked and found that the three dead people had basically no connection.

"Hanging the body on a chastity arch, covering the face with long hair, scratching the face, this is all a form of venting anger and judgment - he thinks the deceased is unfaithful!" Yan Mingzhang tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

"Are these deceased people related to this murderer...?" Mo Yun asked a little embarrassedly. He originally wanted to say that they had an affair, but Rong Wanyin was here, so he didn't feel comfortable saying it.

"No, if it was related to him, he wouldn't dare to make it public. He felt that he was acting on behalf of heaven, so the selection of the deceased must have followed some rules." Yan Mingzhang thought for a moment, "Unfaithful to one's husband!"

"Ah?" Everyone was puzzled.

"Yes, they're unfaithful to women," Yan Mingzhang explained. "The murderer 'judged' women who, in his opinion, were unfaithful to women—Tofu Xishi, a widow who still worked in public, actresses, and the remarried woman who sold steamed buns. They were all like that. There's something wrong, but there's one missing."

"One missing?" After listening to Yan Mingzhang's analysis, everyone had just solved one doubt, but some of them were confused again.

"The first one was the first victim who provoked him to commit the crime. This person must have had a close relationship with him, so he hid the first victim." Yan Mingzhang said firmly, "Quick, get more people and search key areas, such as underground, dry wells, abandoned houses, etc."

"Sir, it's already midnight. The brothers have been on night patrol every day recently and are very tired. How about we do it tomorrow morning?" Changfeng suggested.

Yan Mingzhang didn't say yes or no. Time waits for no one. One more day might mean one more person is killed. However, everyone is tired after working non-stop for the past few days.

Before Yan Mingzhang could answer, this idea was confirmed.

Another dead person appeared!

(End of this chapter)