The more he spoke, the more outrageous it became.

After Troupe Master Tao finished speaking, he himself was scared to death.

His forehead and palms were covered in sweat.

After all, he was also considered a participant in this “story,” so as soon as he learned the female deceased was Zhao Zhuang’er, he immediately came to the yamen and recounted everything he knew about Wang Jun.

In his view, Wang Jun was Liang Sheng from the play!

Zhao Zhuang’er was Xiang Xin from the play!

Shui Yan was the fierce ghost wife Furong!

After Troupe Master Tao finished speaking, the hall fell into silence.

For a long time, not a single person made a sound.

The bailiffs on both sides exchanged glances with each other, not daring to breathe heavily, only feeling their backs turn cold and their hearts grow uneasy.

Suddenly—

Li Cheng waved his folding fan, his face full of interest: “Fascinating, truly fascinating! It seems this heir’s trip to Yiwu wasn’t in vain. This case is becoming more and more captivating!”

Captivating?

This was the first time anyone had heard someone use these four words to describe a case.

He completely looked like he was watching a performance.

Jingrong sat calmly to one side.

He knew clearly there were no ghosts or spirits in this world—everything was done by human hands.

So he spoke: “These are all superstitious supernatural tales. How can we believe them?”

Upon hearing this, Troupe Master Tao immediately raised his head to look at him, his face pale: “It’s not supernatural superstition! It must be Shui Yan, it must be Shui Yan! She’s the one who killed Wang Jun! She must have also killed Zhao Zhuang’er, which is why… two years ago Wang Jun said he saw a ghost. It must be this way, it must be this way…”

Utterly convinced.

“You keep insisting that Shui Yan is the ghost wife and that she’s the killer, but did you see it with your own eyes?” Jingrong stood up and asked.

“I…”

“Since you didn’t see it with your own eyes, why do you say such things?”

“…” Troupe Master Tao was rendered speechless by the questioning.

Li Cheng had originally thought the ghost theory was quite good, but now that Jingrong had poured cold water on it, he was naturally somewhat unhappy. He nudged Jingrong with his elbow and said sullenly: “You’re such a bore! As the saying goes, the world is vast and full of wonders. While ghost stories are superstitious, they’re not entirely unbelievable either. In this heir’s opinion, that ghost wife might really be transformed from Shui Yan, and the murderer is a ghost! When the time comes, we can stage a great ghost-catching show and catch that ghost red-handed. Just thinking about it seems fun.”

He laughed cheerfully.

His mind began to fantasize about scenes of catching ghosts!

So he was just doing this for fun!

Jingrong’s face turned dark, and he glanced at him coldly from the corner of his eye.

Utterly helpless.

He really didn’t want to waste words arguing with him.

At this moment, Ji Yunshu frowned slightly and said to Old Tao: “This play ‘The Ghost Wife Buries Her Husband’ is indeed very similar to Wang Jun’s experiences. Moreover, it’s quite coincidental that in the play, Liang Sheng’s white bones were buried in yellow earth, and now Wang Jun’s white bones are similarly buried in yellow earth. It’s truly suspicious and peculiar. It wouldn’t be strange to think it was done by ghosts. However, Troupe Master Tao, there are no ghosts in this world. What exists are only the ghosts in people’s hearts.”

There are no ghosts in this world. What exists are only the ghosts in people’s hearts.

After listening, Troupe Master Tao still couldn’t snap out of his fear.

But the terror in his heart did gradually diminish a bit.

After a long pause, he said: “If there are no ghosts, then… then who could it be?”

Ji Yunshu also couldn’t draw a conclusion right now.

Magistrate Zhuo on the side picked up the conversation: “Since this script was written by Song Zhi, this official believes the murderer is him!”

Troupe Master Tao immediately said tremblingly: “That’s impossible. When I received Mr. Song’s script, Wang Jun wasn’t dead yet.”

Did Song Zhi have prophetic abilities?

However, Magistrate Zhuo’s expression turned serious as he said with certainty: “It’s precisely because Wang Jun wasn’t dead at that time that it further proves this was all planned in advance by Song Zhi. He deliberately used this play to kill Wang Jun, then logically framed the murder on the non-existent ghost wife, thus clearing himself of guilt.”

Mm!

The analysis wasn’t without merit.

But—

Although Troupe Master Tao was still frightened, he also tried hard to explain for Song Zhi: “That’s impossible. Mr. Song didn’t know them at all, so where would the grudge come from? Besides, I’ve known Mr. Song for so many years. I know what kind of person he is—he wouldn’t kill anyone.”

“You can’t judge a person by their appearance! Moreover, perhaps he actually did know Wang Jun and Zhao Zhuang’er, but you just didn’t know about it.”

“This…” Troupe Master Tao was at a loss for words.

Magistrate Zhuo continued: “Also, since Wang Jun was already a male lead performer, why did he still seek out Wang Jun to commission a script, and late at night at that?”

Troupe Master Tao quickly said: “That’s because a few days ago, I arranged to talk with Wang Jun once.”

Hm?

“What did you discuss?”

“Wang Jun is already thirty years old. Although he still looks fairly refined, this profession relies on youth after all. I planned to have younger performers take over for him. At the time, he didn’t say anything and just left.”

Oh!

These words finally resolved the confusion in Ji Yunshu’s heart. She said: “So Wang Jun was worried about his position as male lead being replaced, and also worried about being discovered for bribing people. That’s why he went to find Song Zhi late at night to commission a script and gave him several sets of clothing.”

Magistrate Zhuo said: “But that bundle cannot be found at all. This point doesn’t make sense.”

“Perhaps the bundle really was stolen?”

“Then…” Magistrate Zhuo pondered, “If the murderer isn’t Song Zhi, who could it be?”

Ji Yunshu lowered her eyes and began analyzing: “If the murderer had no grudge against Wang Jun and only killed him unintentionally, then the murderer should have hidden his corpse well rather than placing his bones in the yellow earth on stage for people to discover. Therefore, this clearly wasn’t an accidental killing! Now if the murderer simply had a grudge against Wang Jun alone, then why, after killing him, would they go to such great lengths to mix in Zhao Zhuang’er’s bones? Wouldn’t that be superfluous! Then there’s only one possibility—the murderer is connected to both Wang Jun and Zhao Zhuang’er, or perhaps harbored such deep hatred for them that they would dig Zhao Zhuang’er’s bones out of the ground. Furthermore, the murderer deliberately pieced together the bones of these two people, then deliberately placed them in the yellow earth for people to discover. There must be a reason for this—perhaps they’re trying to tell us something? Or perhaps there’s some other meaning.”

Some other meaning?

The curious Li Cheng quickly asked: “What other meaning?”

Say it!

I’m waiting to hear!

Ji Yunshu fell silent for a moment, her expression grave as she slowly said: “There is a type of murderer who, when they hate someone to the extreme, will, after killing them, expose the deceased’s body to the world. They do this to display their achievement and also to vent the hatred in their hearts.”

Uh!

It made one’s hair stand on end just listening!

A cold wind seemed to have swept into the hall.

The bailiffs’ hearts grew flustered, their spines thoroughly chilled.

To think there were such twisted killers in this world. It was unimaginable how terrifying it must be.