“What are you looking at?” Lu Chang asked.
Having walked up to Ming Shu’s side, he and Song Qingzhao both bent down to look, but Ming Shu didn’t give them a chance to see clearly as she quickly gathered up the scattered pages one by one.
“I’m looking for other possibilities,” Ming Shu said without looking up.
“What possibilities?” Song Qingzhao asked curiously.
Ming Shu stood up, tucking the small booklet into her chest, and said with a grin: “I’ll tell you after I confirm it. Wait here for me.”
As she spoke, she walked toward the door. Lu Chang followed, but she pushed him back.
“Don’t follow me, wait here.” She ran out excitedly, then turned back to add, “Brother is clever, and I’m your sister, so I must be just as clever. Let’s see who finds the flaw first!”
Lu Chang had sparked Ming Shu’s competitive spirit, and she was eager to match wits with her brother.
Both Lu Chang and Song Qingzhao were stunned by her words, but Ming Shu had already disappeared. When they came to their senses, only the two of them remained in the room.
Without Ming Shu, Lu Chang and Song Qingzhao suddenly found themselves in an awkward situation, both seemingly at a loss for words. They exchanged glances before looking away. Song Qingzhao broke the silence: “Your sister’s personality is really…” He wanted to compliment Ming Shu but couldn’t find the right words once he started speaking. Thinking of her usual behavior, the corners of his lips curved slightly upward.
Lu Chang turned away without responding to Song Qingzhao’s comment.
He didn’t want to discuss Ming Shu with Song Qingzhao at all.
Lu Chang’s reticence wasn’t anything new, and Song Qingzhao didn’t mind. As a fellow outstanding individual, he viewed Lu Chang with both a competitive spirit and mutual appreciation. Moreover, being Ming Shu’s brother gave Song Qingzhao an inexplicable feeling of regarding him as an elder.
“Wonder what she discovered,” Song Qingzhao said.
“Whatever she discovered, we’ll continue our investigation,” Lu Chang returned to the corpse’s side and made a gesture mimicking the killer’s action with the sleeve arrow, saying, “If someone stabbed Yang Zishu’s neck twice with the sleeve arrow, blood should have sprayed out, and the killer’s clothes should be stained with Yang Zishu’s blood. Where did those bloodied clothes go?”
“Let’s have people search Tang Li and Xie Xi’s rooms and the surrounding areas for clues. Also, this location is on His Highness’s academy tour route, which was predetermined but not announced to everyone beforehand. Based on what we know, the killer choosing Huantao Hall for the crime couldn’t have been spontaneous but premeditated, though we don’t know the reason yet. We can start by investigating the servants who’ve been cleaning this area recently, maybe we’ll find something,” Song Qingzhao pondered.
Lu Chang approved of his thinking: “That makes sense. Let’s split up then. I’ll trouble Brother Song to question everyone while I look for the bloodied clothes.”
Song Qingzhao nodded and walked to the door, but remembered Ming Shu. Curious about her discovery, he wanted to wait for her return before investigating. He stopped at the doorway, about to speak to Lu Chang, who said: “It’s getting dark, and it won’t be easy to search then. Time is pressing, Brother Song should go quickly.”
At these words, Song Qingzhao couldn’t delay any longer. He could only nod in agreement and leave Huantao Hall. After walking a short distance, he belatedly realized that despite agreeing to investigate together, it seemed Lu Chang had sent him away.
Lu Chang watched Song Qingzhao leave, then walked another circuit around the room before stopping at the open window. As he bent down to check for clues on the windowsill, there was suddenly a rustling sound from the flower bushes below, as if something was moving through them toward the window. Lu Chang frowned as he looked down, and just as he was about to investigate, a pair of hands suddenly gripped the windowsill, and Ming Shu’s head appeared. She tried to climb through the window, nearly colliding with Lu Chang.
Their faces came close as Ming Shu grinned and called out “Brother,” but Lu Chang quickly stepped back.
“Give me a hand!” Ming Shu had already climbed halfway through the window and was asking Lu Chang for help while trying to climb down.
Lu Chang held her arm and helped her into the room. Seeing leaves stuck in her hair and clothes, and her breathless state from running, he couldn’t help but pick the leaves off her one by one, saying: “Were you playing thief?” As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized something.
She had left through the front door, and in the brief exchange between him and Song Qingzhao, she had run to the back of Huantao Hall.
Ming Shu looked somewhat proud as she held up a crumpled paper, but before she could speak, she noticed Song Qingzhao’s absence and asked: “Where’s Song Qingzhao?”
“He left,” Lu Chang said.
“Weren’t we supposed to investigate together? How disloyal of him!” Ming Shu frowned.
Lu Chang remained silent on this matter and only asked: “What’s that?”
Ming Shu’s attention shifted from Song Qingzhao to her discovery as she unfolded the item in her hands.
“Brother, look what I found!”
It was a crumpled piece of calligraphy.
The writing was bold and powerful, clearly the work of a master, but now stained with blood.
“This is the missing manuscript from Huantao Hall,” Ming Shu said proudly.
The desk in Huantao Hall had originally displayed an authentic manuscript by a great scholar for the Third Prince and Minister of Personnel to admire, but after the murder, that authentic piece had disappeared.
“This manuscript… where did you find it?” Lu Chang’s eyes sharpened, realizing Ming Shu had found a crucial breakthrough.
“Heh.” Ming Shu smiled like a smug little fox and mysteriously beckoned to him.
Lu Chang obligingly leaned in, and warm breath brushed his ear as Ming Shu’s soft voice entered, like silk weaving a web.
A simple sentence completely overturned all their daytime deductions.
“This manuscript is the real evidence left behind by the killer on their escape route. Looking at the scene, Yang Zishu entered this room voluntarily, not under coercion. Perhaps because he was confined to his room and couldn’t meet the Third Prince and Lord Lu, he resorted to this measure, knowing His Highness would certainly enter Huantao Hall. He secretly snuck in with the poem ghostwritten by Tang Li, planning to present it to His Highness to gain attention. After entering, he removed this manuscript meant for His Highness’s viewing and replaced it with his prepared poem, though he didn’t put the manuscript far away, probably keeping it on the table. After the murder, the killer’s hands were bloodied and they needed to flee quickly, so they grabbed this manuscript to wipe off the blood, then couldn’t destroy it in time and hastily discarded it in a hidden spot along their escape route.”
Lu Chang followed Ming Shu’s discovery and slowly reasoned: “The killer must have told Yang Zishu that Huantao Hall would be suitable for presenting the poem to His Highness. Yang Zishu believed them and entered. If everything was premeditated, the killer must have surveyed the scene beforehand and learned about His Highness’s tour route to finally determine this crime route. Recently, because of His Highness’s visit, Madam He assigned people to thoroughly clean these halls. We should question these people to see if we can discover any clues.”
“Song Qingzhao already went,” Lu Chang said very reluctantly.
Ming Shu’s big eyes sparkled: “He’s so clever!”
Lu Chang immediately felt like he’d shot himself in the foot. He remained silent. Ming Shu observed his expression and felt she might have said something wrong, quickly adding: “Of course, not as clever as Brother and me!”
“Flatterer!” Lu Chang lightly scolded.
Ming Shu tugged at his sleeve: “Come on, let’s go find Song Qingzhao and see what he’s learned.”
“What’s your hurry? Let him investigate his part, we have other matters to check. Working separately will be faster,” Lu Chang calmly reasoned as he left the room with Ming Shu.
“Check what?” Ming Shu asked.
“According to our deductions, the killer has an alibi. How will you break that alibi? Or how will you prove that they killed someone in Huantao Hall while in plain sight?”
Lu Chang presented Ming Shu with a major challenge.
Ming Shu was stumped by his question and furrowed her brow.
Yes, she had just gone from the front of Huantao Hall, along the Third Prince’s route, found the dark alley between two buildings, then circled to the back of Huantao Hall and climbed in through the window. But this morning, everyone on this route was concentrated around the Third Prince. How could someone have slipped away alone?
“Ming Shu, someone’s behind you!” Lu Chang suddenly said while she was thinking.
Ming Shu jumped in fright and quickly turned around.
There was no one behind her.
She clutched her chest in annoyance: “Brother, why are you scaring me?”
Lu Chang smiled faintly without speaking, but as Ming Shu remained annoyed, seeing his smile, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind like lightning.
Behind… behind…
“Brother, if I remember correctly, the academy has seventy-three students. Besides Tang Li, Xie Xi, and Yang Zishu, the other seventy accompanied the Third Prince and Lord Lu on the tour. They were arranged in groups of three, so with seventy people, that’s twenty-three complete rows plus one person. The one standing at the very back…”
The person standing at the very back was everyone’s blind spot.
————
With a theory in mind, they just needed to verify it.
Ming Shu eagerly pulled Lu Chang along to find the steward in charge of arranging the students’ positions and quickly obtained a list. She then dragged Lu Chang to where the students were gathered to cross-check.
Fortunately, because the Third Prince was overseeing the investigation, no one dared leave, and all the students were still sitting in the courtyard of Chongming Hall in their daytime formation. Having been worn out all day, the students were all exhausted, sitting listlessly—some dozing off, others whispering among themselves.
Ming Shu and Lu Chang stood in the corridor, quickly checking the list of positions from afar.
The students’ positions matched the arrangement on the list exactly.
That last person sat alone, staring blankly at the ground, with no one talking to him.
“So it’s him…” Ming Shu murmured.
“What are you doing here?” Song Qingzhao’s voice suddenly came from behind them.
Ming Shu turned around, and seeing it was Song Qingzhao, hurriedly wanted to ask about his progress.
“Let’s talk outside,” Lu Chang stopped them.
The three of them left Chongming Hall and found a secluded spot to talk.
Night had fallen deeply, and the mountain wind filled their chests, making people feel cold, but Ming Shu felt her blood boiling. Her eyes reflected the lamplight as she gazed brightly at Song Qingzhao. Even someone as reserved as Song Qingzhao showed some excitement in his eyes as he said: “I found something. I questioned the servants who’ve been cleaning and organizing this area recently, and based on their descriptions, there was one name that kept coming up among the people they encountered recently, that person is…”
“Wait!” Ming Shu interrupted him, saying, “We also have a discovery and a suspect. Shall I count to three, and we all say it together?”
She asked Lu Chang and Song Qingzhao with bright, sparkling eyes.
This childish behavior carried a hint of innocence. Usually, given Lu Chang and Song Qingzhao’s personalities, they would certainly not want to play along, but tonight was different. Her eyes, expression, and words carried an irresistible infectious quality.
It was as if in the monotonous adult world, being childish for a moment was a refreshing and pleasant thing.
Neither Lu Chang nor Song Qingzhao refused.
Their silence meant agreement, so Ming Shu held up three fingers and counted down: “Three, two, one…”
Three voices rang out simultaneously.
“Zhang Song!”