At this moment, at the back mountain!
Ji Yunshu stood beside the well, looking at the ring of protruding circular objects around the well’s opening. Her almond-shaped, limpid eyes deepened by a few degrees. Then, she gently aligned the small indentation on the skull in her hands with the protruding circular object at the edge of the well opening.
“So that’s how it is.”
She understood now!
When everyone rushed over, they saw her holding that skull and muttering something to herself.
They couldn’t hear what she was saying!
Lu Hu and the others looked at her in confusion, while Lin Shu, who was being held by the bailiffs, stared at her with an even paler face.
He was now like meat on a chopping block, liable to be minced into paste at any moment. Although he didn’t like Ji Yunshu and detested her no matter what, at this moment, he had no choice but to place all his hopes on her.
Those eyes, filled with bloodshot threads, were brimming with an intense will to survive!
Ji Yunshu walked toward him holding the skull, asking him very seriously, “Do you still remember how long you were gone that night? Think carefully, then answer me accurately.”
Although Lin Shu didn’t understand why, he was like an ant on a hot pan. His only option was to cooperate fully to avoid being “burned alive.” He tried hard to recall and calculate in his mind.
“Altogether… it should have been no more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.”
“Are you certain?”
“That’s correct.”
Fu Yuansheng, who was his fellow student, also said, “At that time, I was sitting with him. He went out to use the privy, and going there and back was indeed the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.”
Another person said, “That’s right. I still remember I was discussing academic matters with him at the time. He went out once and came back, and it was indeed the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.”
Ji Yunshu nodded, understanding clearly in her heart.
In Lu Hu’s bean-sized eyes, a gleam of light flashed. His face was as fierce and menacing as Yama of the underworld. He couldn’t tolerate others repeatedly going against his wishes, and Ji Yunshu had obstructed him time and again, having long ago worn away what little patience he had.
The hand gripping the knife handle tightened secretly.
“What exactly are you trying to do?”
“Investigate the case!”
“The case is already closed. You don’t need to waste any more time looking for evidence. You helped the yamen solve this case, and when I return, I will naturally report the truth to Magistrate Huang. At that time, he will definitely reward you. But if you continue to obstruct the yamen’s work, what would have been a reward will become a punishment.”
Reward or not!
Punishment or not!
She didn’t care about these things!
Otherwise, she would have become a wealthy person long ago.
Her clear eyes tightened slightly, and she parted her lips to say, “Constable Lu, I said just now that not all evidence can serve as proof. Sometimes, evidence is dead, but the truth is alive. Whether it’s the tung wood beads, the blood on the wine bottle, or the time that letter was written, these can only be said to be clues to finding the murderer. The real truth requires continued unraveling to obtain.”
“Then what is the real truth?”
“The truth is, although all the evidence I found pointed to Lin Shu as the murderer, I had been mistaken in my direction all along. Because the murderer is not him.”
The last five words fell with decisive certainty, firm and without doubt.
Whoosh!
Everyone present was shocked!
The murderer wasn’t Lin Shu?
Lin Shu’s face, which had been ashen as death, now rekindled with life, as if someone had thrown him a lifeline when he was in the depths of an abyss.
But Lu Hu sneered coldly, speaking in a rough voice, “Master Ji, as I understand it, previously you said he was the murderer. Now you’re saying he’s not the murderer. So does that mean that in a little while, you’ll be saying the deceased fell to his own death?”
“That’s correct. The deceased fell to his own death.” Definitive.
Eh!
The crowd exclaimed in shock.
Ji Yunshu lifted the skull in her hands slightly upward, explaining clearly and word by word, “The deceased had a total of five wounds on his body, but this wound on the back of his skull is different from the other four. This wound is about an inch deep and looks similar to a wound caused by a fist, but the fracturing is not obvious, and the perimeter of the indentation is very smooth. It can be seen that it was caused by striking the protruding circular object on this well’s rim, penetrating the brain and bone. Moreover, it was a fatal wound—death was instantaneous!”
She forcefully swept her sleeve and pointed at the well.
After everyone heard her explanation, their gazes wandered between the well and the skull in her hands. As she said, it was indeed the case.
Lu Hu also followed the line of sight and looked around.
Doubt still remained in his heart.
Ji Yunshu began to circle around the well, continuing to speak, “The situation that day should have been like this: after Lin Shu beat Guo He and left, Guo He got up from the ground, took the bottle that had fallen on the ground with half of the wine still remaining, and staggered to this spot at the back mountain. I remember that on June 11th of last year, it rained all night in the north and only stopped on the morning of the 12th. The back mountain here was muddy and uneven, the road surface slippery. At that time, Guo He was already thoroughly drunk, and since it was nighttime, he couldn’t see the road surface clearly at all. His feet slipped, his entire body fell backward, and the back of his head struck heavily on that protruding circular object at the well’s opening. The force was very great—he died on the spot, and his whole body fell directly into the well.”
A commotion arose!
Everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
But Lu Hu didn’t believe her words at all and even found them quite ridiculous. He snorted coldly, “Simply nonsense. Why don’t you say that Lin Shu pushed him down?”
“That’s impossible!” she said. “Constable Lu, why don’t you calculate, or better yet, walk it yourself—from the school hall to this well at the back mountain and back, how much time would it take?”
Lu Hu’s heart beat uneasily.
She had already calculated the time. “Even if it were a person walking extremely fast, or even running, it would still take the time to drink two cups of tea. I ask you, in the time it takes to drink one cup of tea, how could Lin Shu have done all these things?”
Lu Hu was struck speechless by her question, unable to refute. That piercing and unsettling gaze of his hooked sharply as he said, “I don’t care which of your statements is true or false. In any case, I must take this person away. Whether or not he’s the murderer, once we get to the yamen’s court, Magistrate Huang will naturally make the determination.”
As expected, he was absolutely determined!
He ordered, “Take him away.”
The bailiffs held Lin Shu and were about to take him away.
“It’s already been proven that I’m not the murderer. On what grounds are you still arresting me? Let go.”
“Shut up!”
“You government officials are distorting right and wrong. I didn’t kill anyone…”
Those people didn’t care about any of this!
Ji Yunshu stepped forward to block them, “He’s not the murderer. You cannot take him away.”
“Move aside.”
“Constable Lu, your yamen conducts its affairs so blindly. If you really take Lin Shu away, he’ll either be tortured to death by you or coerced by you into signing a confession. In any case, you cannot take him.”
Her expression stood solemn, and in her eyes, there seemed to burst forth a flame like volcanic lava that could not be touched, sweeping up and fiercely scorching those bailiffs.
And then, the students of the academy also stood behind Ji Yunshu one after another, like chopsticks bound together, each one righteous and upstanding.
“You cannot take Lin Shu away. He didn’t kill anyone.”
“That’s right. Since it’s already been proven that he didn’t kill anyone, we won’t let you take him away.”
“Release Lin Shu…”
…
It was like a denunciation.