Suishui County Yamen rear courtyard study.

“You’re from Budong Manor?” Although Li Si had mentally prepared himself, he still couldn’t help but show a shocked expression. Li Si said suspiciously, “Even if you didn’t die from the Miao Borderland Ghost Woman’s piercing steel needles, how could you possibly have escaped from the great fire that burned down the entire manor? Moreover, there were also constables guarding outside the manor.”

“It’s very simple. Because when that catastrophic tragedy occurred, I wasn’t in the manor. I am Lou Ao’s cousin. After my father died of illness when I was three, my stepmother began beating, scolding, and abusing me day and night. I remember once I fell gravely ill, and not only did my stepmother not treat my illness, she kicked me out of the house. I begged my way to Suishui City and happened to encounter my cousin Lou Ao. I was already at death’s door from the serious illness, and everyone said there was no saving me, but my cousin didn’t give up. He resolutely carried me on his back seeking physicians and medicines, and finally saved my life. Cousin Lou Ao was equivalent to my second set of parents. After I came of age, my cousin sent me to study at Tianyuan Prefecture and encouraged me to obtain an official position through the examinations. I constantly remembered my cousin’s teachings and studied diligently day and night, finally achieving success in the examinations. But when I joyfully returned to Suishui City, I heard the terrible news—Budong Manor was gone, and my cousin was dead!” Meng Xiu looked toward Li Si. “Then I made inquiries and learned clearly that it was the Second Young Master Lou Tianming’s mother, the Miao Borderland Ghost Woman, who orchestrated a series of murder plots, and both Lou Ao and his son perished in them. In the end, Lou Tianming and his mother also died in the manor fire.”

“Brother Li worked tirelessly to solve the Budong Manor murder case. Why would you still oppose Brother Li?” Xiao Ning couldn’t understand.

A trace of resentment flashed through Meng Xiu’s eyes. “It was precisely because of Li Si’s appearance that the Miao Borderland Ghost Woman ruthlessly killed everyone in the entire manor. And because Li Si exposed the truth, Lou Tianming ultimately chose to self-immolate with his mother. You severed my cousin’s family bloodline of over a hundred years! How could I let you go!”

“I understand your motive now,” Li Si nodded. “Then why did you imitate the murder scenes from the Qingcheng case, Tianlan City case, and Jindao Shape Master case? And how did you learn the details?”

“Hmph. Great World God-Catcher Li Si, it was only after you solved the Budong Manor case that your title as Great World God-Catcher began to resound. So I wanted to challenge you, this so-called god-catcher. Thus I imitated cases you had solved to set up my scheme and sent out the miniature carved walnuts to issue you a challenge.” Meng Xiu exhaled a long breath. “As for the murder scenes and details of the cases, I spent large sums of money to buy and obtain them from various yamens. In this world, as long as you have money, there’s nothing you can’t inquire about or learn clearly.”

“Why did you target Zheng Hounian, Shang Yun, and Tao Nan?” Li Si continued asking.

“They brought it upon themselves, and it’s their bad luck. To challenge you, there had to be murder cases. Among these three, Zheng Hounian and Shang Yun once came to drink tea with me together. The two of them spoke carelessly about the Budong Manor case. They contemptuously said the people in Budong Manor were slaughtered like stupid pigs. I naturally wouldn’t ignore this, so I killed the two of them. As for Tao Nan, he wanted to write a dance drama adapted from the Budong Manor case for people’s entertainment. I wouldn’t let my cousin’s family’s murder case become after-dinner gossip for others, so I killed him too.” Meng Xiu spoke out the secrets hidden in his heart with a melancholy tone, feeling an indescribable sense of relief.

“Since the walnuts were sent by you, why did you repeatedly go to spy on my side room?”

“I was always insecure, worried the walnuts would reveal traces, and afraid you’d discover some other clues, so I couldn’t resist sneaking over to spy.” Meng Xiu sighed. Li Si paused for a moment, staring into Meng Xiu’s eyes and asked, “Speaking of the miniature carved walnuts, who exactly made them?”

“The miniature carved walnuts were carved by a miniature carving master I hired at great cost. After the walnuts were finished, I gave him a thousand taels of gold and had him go into hiding. Where he is now, I can’t say clearly.” Meng Xiu explained the miniature carved walnuts clearly. Xiao Ning rubbed his eyes and said, “Then in the three cases of Zheng Hounian, Shang Yun, and Tao Nan, how do you explain the suspicious iron filings, pearl, and magnetite?”

Meng Xiu laughed loudly twice, then turned to look at Li Si. “Because my opponent is the Great World God-Catcher, I wanted to increase the challenge difficulty a bit. So I added some things to each case that were completely unrelated to the case, creating false clues to confuse your judgment direction.”

“That move was indeed clever,” Gao Ling sneered coldly.

“Is it that simple?” Li Si suddenly asked. Meng Xiu countered, “Lord Li thinks it’s not simple?”

Li Si smiled faintly and didn’t continue this topic.

Meng Xiu confessed everything. Meng Fanchuan ran out disheartened. Meng Xiu guiltily said to Gao Ling, “Young Hero Gao, Fanchuan is too stubborn. I’m worried he’ll do something rash and foolish. You are the person he respects most. I’d like to ask you to help him.”

Gao Ling’s sharp gaze softened as he spoke, “I will.” Gao Ling pulled open the door and also walked out.

Xiao Ning asked the chief clerk to prepare a confession statement for Meng Xiu to sign. After all, Meng Xiu was a county magistrate and needed to be reported to the Regional Inspector’s Office for review before awaiting a decision.

The fierce wind didn’t abate. Li Si and Xiao Ning hurried back to the Xiao residence. The strong wind blew yellow sand into Li Si’s eyes, and Li Si stopped to clear away the sand. Xiao Ning sighed deeply at his side and said with emotion, “I really didn’t expect the mastermind murderer would be Lord Meng. It truly fulfills the old saying—you can paint a tiger’s skin but not its bones; you may know a person’s face but not their heart.”

“The world is unpredictable. How can matters of the human world be easily anticipated?” Li Si said.

The two returned to the Xiao residence. Li Si invited Xiao Ning to his side room and said thoughtfully, “Xiao Ning, do you think the murderer is Meng Xiu?”

Xiao Ning was startled, then after pondering said, “Besides Meng Xiu I can’t think of anyone else, and all the evidence points to him.”

“Something about what he said earlier doesn’t feel quite right to me.” Li Si placed the miniature carved walnuts on the table. Xiao Ning inquired, “What part?”

“The iron filings, pearl, and magnetite—are they really just to confuse our attention and completely useless?” Li Si picked up a walnut. “And these exquisitely carved walnuts, are they merely props Meng Xiu sent out to challenge me? It seems not.”

“Xiao Ning, Meng Xiu must be carefully watched in the prison. If there are more changes to this matter, we cannot let him become dead evidence.” Li Si instructed Xiao Ning, who quickly nodded in agreement. Li Si pressed his forehead and said, “Go back to your room and rest. Everyone is tired tonight.”

“Indeed tired,” Xiao Ning also said.

In a secluded dense forest within Suishui City, a person was madly swinging his sword and slashing at tree trunks. His eyes seemed possessed, staring fixedly at the ground.

“Stop!” Someone blocked him. He woodenly looked up and saw clearly the person blocking him—it was his senior brother.

Meng Fanchuan’s eyes unknowingly moistened as he shook his head and said, “Senior Brother, it’s impossible… I don’t believe the person who killed them was my father. Since childhood, Father instructed me not to bully others by relying on power, not to oppress others using martial arts. How could he possibly have killed so many innocent people? I don’t believe it!”

“Calm down a bit.”

“How can I calm down… Right now it’s my father being treated as a murderer. How can I calm down!” Meng Fanchuan swung his sword again at the tree trunk, viciously splitting it again and again. Suddenly there was a crisp “slap” sound—a clapping sound. Gao Ling slapped Meng Fanchuan’s face.

Meng Fanchuan looked at Gao Ling in shock and finally gradually calmed down.

“If your father is truly innocent, will acting like a madman here wildly chopping and slashing help him? Can it prove his innocence?” Gao Ling’s words rushed into Meng Fanchuan’s heart. Meng Fanchuan fell to his knees with a thud.

“Truth and falsehood, right and wrong are inherently difficult to distinguish clearly. False can also be right, true can also be wrong.” Gao Ling’s firm gaze fell on Meng Fanchuan’s back. Meng Fanchuan raised his head in confusion.

The next day at three quarters past the hour of Mao, Suishui County Yamen.

Li Si had been bent over the table for half an hour already. On the table were only three things—iron filings, a pearl, and magnetite.

Xiao Ning brought breakfast to Li Si. Li Si ate breakfast and continued staring blankly at the three things.

The adhesive feeling on the pearl’s surface still remained. Li Si felt like he was standing before a closed door, wanting to enter but unable to find the door handle. Xiao Ning quietly opened the door wanting to leave, and the fierce cold wind outside immediately poured in.

The pearl was blown by the wind and rolled twice, pressing onto the iron filings. Li Si saw the back of the pearl had become covered with quite a few iron filings. Li Si’s eyes flashed with brilliance as he said, “Could it be…”

Xiao Ning noticed Li Si’s strange expression and turned back into the room. Li Si was bringing the magnetite close to the iron filings. The iron filings were quickly attracted and stuck to the magnetite—this was normal. Then Li Si placed the pearl with a small amount of iron filings stuck to it on the table and used the magnetite to approach the pearl. The result was that the iron filings pulled the pearl slowly toward the magnetite.

Li Si gazed at the moving pearl, his eyes shooting out bright light. Li Si said loudly, “I understand! I finally understand the significance of the three things!”

“What is it?” Xiao Ning was infected by Li Si’s excitement and also appeared very animated.

Li Si stared at the pearl and said in a deep voice, “When a person in the mountains hears the sound of dripping water, they associate it with a mountain spring. When they hear waterfall sounds, they associate it with a pool. This is a kind of connection between all things in heaven and earth. But if exploited, it becomes an inescapable misconception. The murderer left iron filings, a pearl, and magnetite in the three murder cases. We naturally linked the three objects together with the three murder cases in our thinking. In doing so, we entered the misconception set up by the murderer, unable to turn back.”

Xiao Ning listened somewhat confusedly and tentatively said, “Is Brother Li saying the three things have no connection to the murder cases… But then wouldn’t that be consistent with what Meng Xiu said?”

“Not so. The mastermind murderer not only set up one misconception for us but also employed a method of using objects as metaphors for objects.” Li Si explained to Xiao Ning, “Although the iron filings, pearl, and magnetite have no relation to the murder cases, they have an inseparable connection with another thing.”

“Another thing? What is it?” Xiao Ning asked full of doubt.

Li Si stared at Xiao Ning’s eyes and spoke the answer: “Walnuts.”