That wretched vixen has disguised herself as my wife!

Besides her commotion, a night watchman passed by below the pavilion, striking his horn.

"At midnight—all is well—"

Jiang Jingming was slightly taken aback when he heard the clear sound of the watchman's drum, not expecting that it was already midnight.

The hustle and bustle of the long street has long since subsided, leaving only the desolate sound of the wind after the hustle and bustle has faded away.

As they drank that cup of wine, it seemed everyone forgot the time.

After all, the discussion ranged from old stories of the previous dynasty to the current case of the massacre of an entire family, and there were mysteries everywhere. No matter how long the discussion went on, there was no conclusion.

The moment the watchman's drum stopped, Chen Sha suddenly shouted:

"Don't move!!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he spun around and unleashed a gust of wind from his palm.

Jiang Jingming instinctively ducked to avoid the light, and in an instant, all the candles in the pavilion went out, plunging the surroundings into darkness.

He quickly raised his hand and gripped the hilt of the sword. Wujiu trembled slightly in its sheath, poised to strike.

There was no murderous intent in the air.

Chen Sha made no further move; he simply stood in the pavilion, his brows furrowed.

The candlelight went out, and the moon, which had just disappeared behind the clouds, reappeared, with a few rays of moonlight falling into the pavilion.

It landed on three people exactly.

Jiang Jingming was somewhat confused, his gaze sweeping over the three of them one by one.

Xie Yunqi was startled and huddled beside Jiang Jingming. The moonlight made her face pale, and she was completely different from her fearless demeanor just now.

Aqing crouched down, like a wary cat.

The knife in her sleeve was drawn, and she was coldly staring at Chen Sha in the center of the pavilion. The moonlight reflected in her eyes, which were as cold as frost.

Fang Zhiyi remained motionless, seemingly unaffected by Chen Sha's sudden outburst.

She leaned against the railing, draped in moonlight as if nothing was amiss, her silhouette outlined in a soft glow, her eyes tinged with a slight hint of intoxication.

Jiang Jingming looked around but found nothing unusual, and couldn't understand Chen Sha's intentions.

The only slightly strange thing was that at that moment, the moon happened to illuminate the three of them.

As the moon moved and the clouds dispersed, Fang Zhiyi remained standing by the railing, but we'll leave that aside for now.

However, a corner of the eaves in the pavilion split the moonlight in two, and it fell precisely on Xie Yunqi and A Qing.

"What is Vice Envoy Chen doing? I thought there were more assassins..."

Wen Fuxiao patted her chest and coughed.

"My body is really too weak to be frightened by you."

Jiang Jingming really wanted to say that when you were assassinated by the dancer last time, you didn't act this panicked. You were all drunk and arrogant.

Chen Sha ignored the old man's joke; his expression remained serious.

Finally, Jiang Jingming walked up to him with a knife in his hand.

"..."

Just as he had just sensed, there was no murderous intent in Chen Sha's eyes; Jiang Jingming only saw shock and anxiety.

But why is that?

"Vice Envoy Chen!"

Jiang Jingming took a deep breath and raised his voice.

Chen Sha snapped out of his daze, took a step back, and pressed his hand to his forehead.

"What happened?"

Jiang Jingming caught up with him and supported his arm.

Chen Sha lowered his head and remained silent for a moment, then slid a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to him.

Jiang Jingming unfolded the folded letter in the moonlight.

"At the third quarter of midnight, where the moonlight shines, the murderer is among the three."

"!!!"

Jiang Jingming was startled and looked up at Chen Sha.

"After the Rain Festival ended, I returned to the carriage and told my driver that I would come here to meet you. A broken chopstick flew through the air and inserted this piece of letter into the window frame."

Chen Sha sat on the ground, supporting his forehead with one hand.

"I didn't read the contents, but got off the carriage and followed the sound. Right in front of the carriage was a noodle shop, and the chopsticks were made of the same material, but the noodle shop was empty except for the waiter and the owner."

"Then I returned to the carriage and examined the contents of the letter. The murderer was undoubtedly the one who had murdered the entire family, but the first two conditions seemed utterly absurd no matter how you looked at them."

“I didn’t take it to heart and went up to the pavilion to meet you as planned. I had almost forgotten about the letter until I heard the watchman striking the gong just now.”

At this point, Chen Sha raised his eyes, his expression solemn.

"At the third quarter of midnight, where the moonlight shone, the murderer was among the three. Isn't that a coincidence? Just then, the moonlight illuminated all three of them."

"..."

Jiang Jingming twirled the letter paper between his fingers. It was made of the most ordinary and roughest material, probably just some toilet paper he had casually torn off from the roadside. The way he delivered the letter was by throwing out a half-broken chopstick from a roadside noodle shop.

This suggests that the person who sent the letter did not prepare in advance and it was more like a spur-of-the-moment decision.

The content on the trustworthy paper doesn't seem like something someone could do on a whim.

To accurately predict this, he needed to deduce the angle of the moonlight's movement, the positions of everyone at midnight, and all possible interfering factors.

Is it a coincidence?

That seems even less likely.

Jiang Jingming suddenly understood why Chen Sha looked like he was having a migraine attack; he was now also experiencing waves of pain in his head.

No, that's not right.

By reverse reasoning, if this is not a coincidence, then the contents of the letter are true.

The three people illuminated by the moonlight are Fang Zhiyi, A Qing, and Xie Yunqi.

Is the murderer in the family massacre one of these three women?

Jiang Jingming looked up, feeling a jumble of thoughts.

"What? Let me see!"

Xie Yunqi scrambled to his feet and reached out to snatch the letter from his hand.

Although Chen Sha had already read the contents aloud, she hadn't paid much attention and didn't understand why the two people were making such serious expressions.

Ah Qing was clearly listening intently. She had already put away her knife and stood quietly in the moonlight.

Fang Zhiyi heard it too, so she smiled and didn't seem panicked at all because she was a candidate for the murderer.

Jiang Jingming felt that this guy was born with a sense of indifference, as if nothing was going to happen to him, and was very good at watching from the sidelines.

......

“Vice Envoy Chen, do you want to believe what’s written on this letter? Even if this coincidence is hard to believe, I still think it’s nonsense.”

Jiang Jingming pondered for a moment, then lowered his eyes to meet Chen Sha's gaze.

"I'm the one handling the case; I only believe in evidence."

Chen Sha recovered from his shock, rubbing his temples, his tone resolute:

"Besides, this person even included Miss Xie as a suspected murderer, which shows that he has no real skills."

"Exactly."

Jiang Jingming nodded in agreement with a serious expression.

Xie Yunqi, who had finally managed to snatch the letter from him, had just finished reading its contents when he heard the two of them say this, and he was so angry that he almost fainted.

"Hey! Why do you guys look down on people like that?!"

Xie Yunqi waved his arms, clearly unhappy that he was the first to be cleared of suspicion:

"I want to confess! I am the murderer!"

Jiang Jingming and Chen Sha tacitly ignored her protest and continued their discussion with Wen Fuxiao:

"This person sent the message to Vice Envoy Chen in this manner, probably because he anticipated that the Vice Envoy would join us and wanted to use this to sow discord and affect the next step of the investigation."

Wen Fuxiao stroked his beard, squinted his eyes, and said:

"As for the matter of moonlight casting shadows mentioned in the letter, it's not too difficult for this person to fabricate such a seemingly frightening piece of information, as long as they have been to this pavilion, understand its structure, know the angle of the moonlight's movement, and have a little bit of luck."

"So, from whose perspective is this person doing this?"

Chen Sha asked in a deep voice.

Jiang Jingming remained silent and did not respond.

But he had a vague feeling that something was wrong; the man's style of doing things seemed very familiar to him.

It reminds one of the strange head of Shulan City and the mysterious sorcerer who created cannibalistic demons.

These sorcerers have always been one step ahead of everyone else. As soon as they entered Fengling City, they were greeted with an assassination drama presented by dancers and musicians.

Now, it seems it's time for him to take the next step.

However, he could not reveal this matter to Master Wen and Chen Sha, because these people knew his identity as the young master of the Duyue Sect.

As Jiang Jingming was thinking this, Chen Sha stood up and flicked his sleeve to relight the lamp that had just been extinguished.

"Based on the current situation, I believe he might be part of the murderer's faction, or he might be the emperor..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Jiang Jingming, who was standing opposite him, suddenly turn serious.

Almost at the same time, Xie Yunqi also covered his mouth and let out a gasp.

Chen Sha quickly turned around and looked back.

On the wall behind them, written in bright red blood:

"Three days later, at Tingpu Manor, I will reveal the murderer's identity to the world."

Aqing quickly stepped forward, lightly touched the ground with her fingertips, and brought it to her nose to smell.

"It's not blood, it's just fruit wine."

She shook her head.

Upon hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, such a bloody scene would make anyone think that an unlucky guy had died tragically in some unknown place.

When did he write it?

Lu Zhao stepped forward and asked in confusion.

"The handwriting is still wet; it must have just happened."

Aqing turned around, exchanged a glance with Jiang Jingming, and nodded slightly.

"In full view of everyone?"

Lu Zhao frowned deeply.

Jiang Jingming patiently explained:

"The candles went out just now, and the moonlight was extremely dim, with only the area where the three of them were located having light. If someone had taken the opportunity to sneak in and leave this message on the wall, it wouldn't have been too difficult."

The look Ah Qing gave him just now was a confirmation of his idea, because Ah Qing was confident that she could do it.

The most basic training goal in the art of stealth and assassination is to completely conceal one's presence.

If Aqing can do it, then other experts can do it too.

"No, no, that's not the point!"

Xie Yunqi tried to bring everyone's attention back to them:

"The key point is that this guy said he would announce the murderer's identity to the world at Tingpu Manor in three days!"