Legend of Zhan Zhao

Chapter 11 The Murderer's Trick

"What are we doing here?"

Outside Mingguang Hall, Chen Xiuhan shrank back and asked somewhat fearfully, seeing monks holding sticks guarding the area.

Zhan Zhao was speechless.

I originally came here alone, but you just insisted on coming with me. Now you're scared?

Just as he was about to persuade his roommate to go back, a broad, plump figure appeared before him with extremely light steps; it was Jie Wen.

The man's dignified face showed obvious signs of fatigue, clearly bearing immense pressure. Upon seeing Zhan Zhao appear, he disregarded the need for secret telepathy and spoke directly, "Junior Brother, did you come here suddenly because you have new clues about the murderer?"

'As expected! The monks of the Ding generation call him Junior Uncle! Master Jiewen calls him Junior Brother! He just entered the temple, and he's already been designated a high-ranking monk of the Jie generation?'

Chen Xiuhan cried out in his heart, then lowered his head to hide the secret joy between his brows.

They've hooked up with a real big shot!

"There are indeed new leads."

Since the other party had asked this question, Zhan Zhao stopped speaking and said directly, "The murderer is more cunning than we thought. This person anticipated the direction of our search and devised a trick to escape."

Jie Wen's expression changed slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "Junior Brother, please explain in detail."

Zhan Zhao said, "My previous approach to solving the case was based on the timeline of the poisoning."

"Either the murderer waited until the victim received the tea before poisoning it, which would require the person to be present at the scene and in close proximity."

"Either the murderer poisoned the teacup beforehand, and to avoid accidentally taking the poisoned tea and suffering the consequences, this person was not among the novice monks in Mingguang Hall at the time."

Jie Wen said, "That makes a lot of sense."

Chen Xiuhan listened and nodded subconsciously.

Nothing wrong!

"Unfortunately, solving the case based on this line of thinking played right into the killer's trap!"

Zhan Zhao said in a deep voice: "The murderer achieved an extremely ideal effect through an extremely simple trick—even if the person was present at the scene and did not mark the bowl on which the poison was placed, they could still ensure that they would not be poisoned!"

Is that even possible?

"Have!"

Seeing the puzzled looks on Jie Wen and Chen Xiuhan's faces, Zhan Zhao began to explain:
"Let's assume that the poisoner was also in Mingguang Hall early the day before yesterday, and randomly took a bowl of tea from the table. Then there are two possibilities—"

"First, the tea in the murderer's hand was not poisoned; the poison was placed in the other two teacups."

"Secondly, the murderer might have happened to have a bowl of poisoned tea, but since there were two bowls poisoned, a novice monk might have gotten the other bowl of poisoned tea."

After saying this, Jie Wen and Chen Xiuhan's eyes flickered, and they realized what was going on.

Especially Chen Xiuhan, recalling what he had said not long ago, said in a trembling voice: "So next, the murderer only needs to..."

"Simply don't drink it."

Zhan Zhao said, "We had a misconception before, which was that the murderer would have to drink the tea immediately after getting it."

"But in reality, this tea has a pungent smell and tastes really bad, so many novices just hold it to warm their hands and drink it slowly, sip by sip, once they are seated."

"In such an environment, not drinking any water or tea will not seem particularly abrupt."

"However, the poisoning from 'Corrosion Marrow Elixir' has obvious symptoms when it occurs, such as unbearable abdominal pain, screaming and rolling around in agony, rather than a silent death."

"Therefore, the murderer only needed to sit in the Mingguang Hall and wait silently."

"When two people in the hall suddenly experienced abdominal pain, those unaware of the situation failed to realize it was poisoning. However, the murderer knew perfectly well that the tea in his hand was not poisoned. Before anyone could react, he drank the tea, thus perfectly clearing himself of suspicion."

"When only one person shows symptoms of poisoning, the murderer knows that either the other bowl of poisoned tea has also not been drunk, or the bowl of tea in their own hand is poisoned."

“Then he can choose to remain still and not touch the teacup again. After all, everyone else is screaming in agony, so it’s only natural that he doesn’t drink the tea.”

"After the incident, the temple began to examine everyone's teacups. If they found that someone's teacup contained a deadly poison, they could use luck as an excuse that they hadn't drunk the tea at the time, thus escaping the crime and being cleared of suspicion."

"After all, no one would suspect that the murderer would poison the tea he was drinking!"

Jie Wen muttered to himself, "That's why they used two doses of poison..."

"Not bad!"

Zhan Zhao said decisively, "The murderer poisoned the two bowls of tea not to kill the two people, but as a precaution to prevent himself from accidentally drinking the poisoned soup while he was at the scene."

"hiss!"

Jie Wen and Chen Xiuhan gasped in shock.

To be frank, the operation is not complicated.

It was extremely simple, yet it highlighted the killer's cold-bloodedness and cruelty.

Because this is pure, indiscriminate killing.

Silently queuing among the crowd, he picked up the potentially deadly tea as usual, sat on the futon, and silently recited scriptures.

then.

I don't drink it myself.

Calmly watch at least one person die.

"Amitabha! This fiend must be captured as soon as possible!"

After a moment of silence, Jiewen put his hands together in prayer.

The previous investigation of the novices in Mingguang Hall was based on an analysis of their motives, but it yielded no results.

This not only ruled out a revenge killing motive, but also broadened the range of suspects.

In retrospect, the investigation was misguided and misled by the murderer.

The murderer was among the group of people at the scene!

The scope of the investigation has been narrowed down again, and there are now more specific screening methods!
“Those who haven’t drunk the tea are now prime suspects!”

This time, Chen Xiuhan was no longer afraid. He drank slowly, but the one who had drunk it at the beginning frowned again: "But that was the morning before yesterday. Two days have passed. How can we know the details of the tea drinking back then?"

Zhan Zhao also frowned slightly.

At the time, the murderer's trick could not be directly exposed. Now, when we go back to investigate, we have to question each of the novice monks and the people around them about their tea-drinking habits, and then have them provide evidence to each other.

This inevitably leads to memory discrepancies.

But it seems there is no better way.

"It doesn't matter!"

Jiewen remained calm and waved to the two monks who walked out of Mingguang Hall not far away.

The two men were Dinghai, a disciple of Jiewen, and Dingjue, a monk who preached the Dharma. After bowing to them, they heard Jiewen succinctly explain his new ideas and were both astonished: "Is that so?"

Jiewen told them all this, but the main point was the next order. He said to his disciple Dinghai, "Go and summon Dingyi."

"Yes!"

Dinghai accepted the order and left.

The preaching monk Dingjue asked in surprise, "Dingyi?"

Isn't that the Dharma name that the half-mad novice monk secretly gave himself?

Why did Jiewen, the abbot of Guanyin Temple, approve of this?
Jiewen explained, "In fact, Dingyi had already entered the monastic community, but he was a leisurely person who disliked other duties, so he quietly supervised and recorded the performance of the novices."

"what?"

Dingjue was stunned, Chen Xiuhan's eyes widened, and even Zhan Zhao's thick eyebrows twitched.

The novices whispered among themselves that Dingyi had gone mad after being denied monastic status for twenty years.

Some say that "Dingyi" is someone who went astray while practicing a divine skill and is waiting to recover.

There are many different opinions.

But most of them were bad ideas.

To everyone's surprise, this guy turned out to be a full-fledged monk, mingling among the novices and quietly observing everyone's reactions.

Is Xiangguo Temple's scheme really that sophisticated?
Jiewen looked at the group and instructed them, "This matter must not be leaked."

Dingjue clasped his hands together, Zhan Zhao nodded, and Chen Xiuhan quickly declared, "This disciple will absolutely keep his mouth shut!"

As they were talking, Dinghai led the tall novice monk over.

Ding Yi maintained his composed demeanor, exuding a self-satisfied ease, and clasped his hands together, saying, "Greetings, Uncle-Master Jiewen! Greetings, my three junior brothers!"

Jiewen asked directly, "During the poisoning incident at Mingguang Hall the day before yesterday, how many of the novice monks you saw simply held the tea in their hands without taking a single sip?"

After a moment's thought, Dingyi said firmly, "Six people."

Ding Hai and Chen Xiuhan both glanced at him sideways.

Even if this person observed silently, how could they still remember it clearly two days later?
Is what you said accurate?
"Only six people? Good! Good! The murderer is finally about to slip up!"

Jie Wen, however, was extremely reassured by Ding Yi's memory. His eyes lit up, and he asked urgently, "Among these six people, when Cheng Ruoshui and Hu Xiba were suffering from severe abdominal pain and screaming in agony, did anyone take the opportunity to drink the tea they were carrying?"

(End of this chapter)