I assembled the strongest swordsman group

Upon learning that Usui planned to summon Aoto to personally listen to Aoto's "work report," Arima immediately volunteered, expressing his desire to be present and listen to how this previously unremarkable junior had suddenly become so assertive.

Similarly, Dongcheng and the two temporarily returned members of the group were also very curious after hearing that the simpleton Deng had suddenly made a great achievement, so they signed up to listen in on Qingdeng's "work report".

Upon entering the room, Qingdeng followed the proper etiquette, respectfully bowing and greeting the leaders inside.

"Hmm... Tachibana-kun." With a complicated expression, Usui had been scrutinizing Aoto with the same look he had been giving him since earlier, as if he were a stranger. "You did a good job today."

Whether it was Usui, Arima, or the others, they all wanted to hear how the usually incompetent Seito had solved the case today, which is why they hurriedly called Seito over to report on his work.

Therefore, after exchanging a few official and platitudes with Qing Deng and exchanging brief pleasantries, Bo Jing went straight to the point—questioning Qing Deng about how he had managed to find the culprit today.

—Of course, they couldn't possibly not ask me how I solved the case…

Having anticipated that the magistrate's office would ask him these questions, Qing Deng had already prepared his answer on the way to escort Xun Sanlang back to the Northern Frontier Office.

Qing Deng cleared his throat and then began his half-truthful report.

While drinking tea at a teahouse, I happened to hear about the incident in Mokuyanagi-cho and immediately rushed there to report this part of the story.

When asked why he went into Granny Ping's house, Qing Deng started making things up.

After all, you can't just openly say that "you're planning to steal the credit."

Although it's perfectly normal to take credit in this day and age, these kinds of things are generally not something that can be brought into the open or discussed publicly.

Qingdeng's reason for going inside was that he planned to check the crime scene before Tongxin, who was in charge of the case, arrived, to see if the scene had been damaged by the person who found Granny Ping's body.

"My original intention was simply to take a quick look at the crime scene and then leave."

"Generally speaking, there are only three types of home invasion murder cases, excluding extreme cases such as random killings."

"Kills of revenge, murders for money, murders of passion."

“The victim’s house was quite clean, with no signs of ransacking or looting, so robbery was ruled out first.”

"Of the two remaining options, revenge killing and crime of passion, I initially thought that Granny Ping must have died in a revenge killing."

"After all, Grandma Ping is quite old, nearly 70 years old, and doesn't seem like the type to be a victim of a crime of passion."

"But after I entered the house and inadvertently saw something at the crime scene, I realized that it seemed more likely to be a crime of passion than a revenge killing."

"Things? What things?" Bo Jing, who was already quite engrossed in listening, quickly asked.

“The candles were placed in a corner of the crime scene,” Qing Deng replied.

"Candles?" Usui was taken aback.

"Candles aren't something ordinary townspeople would casually take out and use," Qing Deng said calmly.

As if struck by lightning, Bo Jing and the others realized what was happening, and their expressions changed.

Due to various reasons such as insufficient manufacturing technology, candles were never cheap during the Edo period, and most households used lamp oil instead of candles!

"Although candles provide good light, they are quite expensive, and only wealthy families can afford to burn them without any worries."

"The vast majority of people could only afford lamp oil with poor lighting, but it was cheap. They would only use candles occasionally."

"For decades, the victim's family has been known far and wide as great philanthropists, generous and charitable. Because they often treated poor people for low or no cost, the family was certainly not very wealthy."

"The victim's clothes were patched in several places, and the home was furnished very simply, with only a few ordinary pieces of furniture and no luxury items."

"When I inspected the victim's home, I found that the victim had a large amount of lamp oil stored up, but only a few candles."

“These clues strongly prove that the victim’s family was not the kind of family that would casually take out candles to burn. In the past, they used lamp oil the most, and candles were only used on certain special occasions.”

“The victims were usually victims of lamp oil, but in the corner of the crime scene there was a candle that had burned down to a small stub—this seemed very unusual no matter how you looked at it.”

"The clumps of solidified wax at the base of the candle are quite fresh; they've only been solidified for a short time."

"This means that the candle was taken out and used last night, and it was used for a long time, at least half an hour, to accumulate such a large amount of solidified candle wax."

“Candles are a luxury item, but besides holidays, there is another situation in which most people are happy to use them—when outsiders come to petition.”

"Therefore, based on all the clues above, I conclude that the perpetrator and the victim knew each other and had a rather unusual relationship, most likely being very close."

"The perpetrator visited the victim's home last night and was then invited inside by the victim."

"To entertain the perpetrator, the victim brought out candles that he wouldn't normally use."

"The candle burned for nearly half an hour, which means that the victim and the perpetrator were in the same room for a long time."

"Only someone with a very close relationship would receive such hospitality from a victim to be invited into their home late at night and to spend such a long time in the same room with them."

The Edo period was not like the modern era.

This era, still in ancient times, was not as modern or open as it is now.

A widow who has just lost her husband is willing to invite someone into her house late at night and spend such a long time alone with him... Just as Qing Deng just said, only people who are very close to each other can receive such warm hospitality.

“But this raises a new question,” Qingdeng continued his report. “If the victim and the perpetrator were truly very close… then why would she go to such lengths to bring out candles to entertain them?”

"If it is someone you are very close to, or someone who often visits your home, you will generally be more relaxed and won't make such a big fuss. You will just bring out the lamp oil as usual."

"Traces remain on the victim's mouth, indicating that the perpetrator forcefully pressed down on the victim's mouth to silence her."

"Based on the size of the pressure marks and the strength with which the perpetrator was able to hold the victim's mouth down with one hand and use the knife in the other, it can be determined that the perpetrator is male."

"The man was so close to the victim that he was invited into her home at night and spent a long time alone with her in a room, but the victim was not casual with him and very formally brought out candles to greet him."

"This shows that the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator must have been anything but ordinary."

"Although the relationship is close, there is still a certain distance between them."

"The two might be childhood sweethearts, or they might have had some special relationship in the past."

"Given this special relationship, it's more likely to be a crime of passion than a revenge killing."

"So, with this in mind, I went to inquire with the victim's neighbors and relatives and successfully identified the most suspicious suspect, namely, Xun Sanlang."

"After rushing to Xun Sanlang's address, we were very fortunate to catch him just before he was about to escape and successfully brought him to justice."

silence……

After Qing Deng finished his report, the office fell into a deathly silence.

Usui, Arima, and the others, their faces filled with astonishment and a variety of other emotions, looked at each other in bewilderment...

******

******

New book sets sail!

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As the author mentioned in a previous article, Granny Ping's case is based on a real-life story.

The author essentially copied Qing Deng's report entirely from the police's reasoning in the original case. So don't argue with me that Qing Deng's reasoning is unreasonable. In the original case, the police reasoned as follows: because the victim and the perpetrator spent an extended period of time together in a room late at night, they must have known each other. Compared to a revenge killing, it was more likely a crime of passion, which immediately narrowed down the search area.

The author has posted the real-life case that inspired the Ping Po Po murder case in the "Author's Note" below; those who are interested can take a look.

The author has noticed that some readers have already identified which case this case is based on.

The case of Granny Ping is based on a murder case that occurred in Shengzhou in 2017.

You can search for "Grandma Zhang from Shengzhou" to learn more.

The circumstances of this case are more serious than those of Granny Ping's case.

The perpetrator had been in love with the victim since he was young. Even after being rejected, he continued to harass her. He continued to harass her even after she got married, and only stopped after she gave him a beating.

The perpetrator waited for nearly 70 years, until both he and the victim were in their 90s, before the victim's husband finally passed away.

After waiting for more than 70 years, the perpetrator, feeling that he finally had another chance, went to see the victim one night. The victim, unaware of the perpetrator's intentions, thought it was an old friend visiting and invited him into the house. After chatting for a while, the perpetrator confessed his feelings again, but was rejected once more. Enraged, he cruelly murdered the poor old woman.

At first, the police mistakenly thought it was a revenge killing. After investigating for a long time, they still couldn't find out the truth. So they had to ask the detective known as "Zhou Gong" (Master Zhou) to help with the case.

When Zhou Xianren arrived, the first thing he did was check the electricity meter.

Based on the electricity usage in the victim's home, he deduced that there was a large amount of electricity used on the night of the murder. He then boldly deduced that the victim and the perpetrator knew each other and had been chatting together in the house for a long time that night, which explained the high electricity usage. He concluded that it was more like a crime of passion than a revenge killing, which quickly narrowed down the search area and led to the arrest of the perpetrator.

Chapter 38 Finding Shura!

After a long while, Usui's deep voice finally broke the silence:

"Tachibana-kun, I'm really... impressed with you."

A smile of admiration and satisfaction appeared on Bo Jing's lips.

"I never imagined... that someone as useless as you would have such a brilliant performance one day..."

"I dare not accept such praise," Qing Deng quickly replied. "I was just lucky."

Qing Deng's statement was not one of modesty.

He genuinely believed that he was lucky to have solved the case in such a short time.

If that Xun Saburo had been more astute and destroyed the candle before escaping Granny Ping's house, or if Qing Deng and the others had arrived a step later, allowing Xun Saburo to escape successfully, then today's case could not have ended so perfectly.

"...Tachibana-kun, I have a question for you."

A lazy voice suddenly rang out at this moment.

That's the voice from Dongcheng.

While scratching his large belly, Dongcheng asked Qingdeng with a meaningful smile:

"When you deduced who the culprit was, why didn't you tell Nishino, who was in charge of the case, immediately?"

“Nishino is, after all, Tongxin, who is in charge of this case.”

"You went to arrest the criminal alone without informing him... Can I interpret this as you deliberately trying to steal the credit?"

Dongcheng, in the most languid tone, posed the most pointed question.

Upon hearing Dongcheng's question, Qingdeng couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

This question is a huge trap; if you don't answer it well, you'll fall into it.

Fortunately, Qing Deng had already figured out how to answer such questions.

"It was only after leaving the crime scene that I realized the victim and the perpetrator must have had a very special relationship."

"My initial intention was also to notify Nishino-kun as soon as possible."

"You can tell Nishino-kun all my reasoning and persuade him to come with me to arrest the culprit. It will take some time."

“The perpetrator could escape at any time, and we must act quickly to capture him. If he escapes from Edo, it will be like finding a needle in a haystack to catch him later.”

"Time was of the essence, so I had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure and go alone to arrest the criminal without informing Mr. Nishino."

"In fact, my judgment was correct—when I arrived at the perpetrator's house, the perpetrator had already packed his bags and was preparing to flee Edo."

"If I had arrived even a fraction of a second later, the culprit would have escaped."

As soon as Qing Deng finished speaking, Bo Jing and the others couldn't help but reveal strange smiles.

At this moment, who among the people in this room wasn't a seasoned veteran who had been navigating the treacherous waters of officialdom for many years?

These seasoned veterans certainly wouldn't completely believe Qing Deng's explanation.

But neither Usui nor the others said much about this issue.

Everyone's long been used to the phenomenon of people vying for credit. The leaders are tacitly aware of this, and as long as it doesn't go too far, they'll turn a blind eye.

Especially for Bo Jing, it didn't matter who solved the case or whether he took credit, as long as the case could be solved.

Moreover, Qing Deng's explanation just now was logically sound and difficult to find any flaws.

He didn't inform Nishino, who was in charge of the case, in order to prevent the perpetrator from escaping. In this way, his actions were not considered as stealing credit, but rather as providing help and support to the case.

As long as Qing Deng insists that his explanation was true, it will indeed be difficult to accuse him of maliciously stealing credit.

"...That's incredible."

Dongcheng narrowed his eyes slightly. His gaze towards Qingdeng became intriguing.

"Tachibana-kun, your previous performances have never been particularly outstanding."

"But today, you suddenly seem like a different person, like a seasoned case-solving expert with considerable skill and experience."

"I'm quite curious, how did you do that?"

As soon as Dongcheng finished speaking, Usui, Arima, and the others quickly turned their attention back to Qing Deng.

Dongcheng's question brought out the question that they all shared.