Black Lotus Concubine's Case-solving Notes

At the entrance of the side hall, Yingchuan King Xu Huai's troops were arranging the ladies to go down the mountain one after another. There were corpses everywhere, and cries and shouts were heard continuously. The scene was chaotic for a while, and no one noticed the two people who suddenly appeared at the end of the team.

Feng Jia passed by the collapsed wooden beams of the temple, her fingers stained with black ash and smeared on her face. She crossed her arms and looked frightened and uneasy. One of her men recognized her and pointed to the front: "You are the ninth lady of the Xie Mansion, right? Please take that carriage!"

Feng Jia nodded, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and got into the car with the help of Song Huai.

The carriage moved slowly, and when it was bright, it finally returned to the post station on the official road to rest. Feng Jia was arranged to stay in a guest room in the corner of the post station, and the maid Song Huai served her.

After taking a bath, Feng Jia combed her long hair in front of the dressing table. It rained last night, and through the window paper she could see the sky outside, which was gray.

Feng Jia retracted his gaze and only looked at the pine and locust trees in the bronze mirror. His eyes were as clear as water, and he said in a calm voice, "Hand over the things."

Song Huai was slightly surprised. His first reaction was that Xie Lanzhao had heard his conversation with Shen Shi last night, but he didn't show it on his face: "I don't understand what you mean?"

"I know it is you."

Song Huai watched her walk towards him step by step. Feng Jia's black and white eyes carried a calm temperament that was not in line with her age, which was captivating. Song Huai felt as if he was being exposed and seen through.

She finally lowered her head in frustration: "When did you know? When you were fighting with that villain last night?"

"No, it started earlier than that, from the moment you lied to me."

Song Huai was secretly shocked. This Xie Lanzhao was too smart and too vigilant!

Feng Jia said, "Do you remember the shock on your face when you saw the fake Jingwu when we first went up the mountain? I guessed that you probably knew that monk, but I didn't know the relationship between the two of you at that time. After thinking hard all night, I finally figured it out."

"The complex emotions you couldn't hide in your eyes at that time were clearly hatred! But what deep hatred do you have? Of course, it is related to the tragic case of the extermination of the Li family that year!"

"I recalled the chat that a few people had had downstairs at the Tianhe Restaurant a few days ago. They said that eighteen murderers suddenly disappeared overnight. Combining the two, I was able to guess the truth. The eighteen people did not disappear, but survived by changing their identities!"

Song Huai didn't say anything, but a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "Go on."

Feng Jia: "This is just my guess. But when I asked you to chase Kufan ​​that day and you came back and told me that you lost him, I was sure that my guess was correct."

Song Huai raised the corner of his mouth slightly: "How did I make you doubt me?"

Feng Jia smiled, "We all saw it that day. Kufan's arms were thicker than those of ordinary people. It must be the result of years of practicing some kind of hand skills. Later, I looked through the Dali Temple case files and found out that it was an evil skill that required practicing since childhood to achieve that effect. So he should have had this feature ten years ago! The black totem on that man's shoulder and the white robe he wore made me conclude that he must be one of the eighteen people back then. You can remember Jingwu, who has no special features, so it is impossible for you to not remember Kufan. So, I know you lied to me!"

Songhuai smiled but said nothing.

"Then I thought, if my guess is correct, then the people in the original temple must have been massacred. If the bodies were sunk in a pond or burned on a large scale, the fishing village at the foot of the mountain would definitely notice it. Fake Jingwu is a cautious person, so he should choose to bury the bodies on the spot. But where are they buried?"

"I thought of the red elm tree that had come back to life after being withered, so I dug it up and found out..."

She paused, thinking of the scene she saw that night, countless bones piled together. Judging from the age of the bones, except for the abbot, the oldest was no more than twenty years old, and the youngest was only eight years old! A chill ran through her body. She couldn't imagine how much killing this Cheng'en Temple had endured that night ten years ago!

"So far, everything has verified my inference."

Song Huai: "What else do you know?"

"Also, apart from the first statue of fear that was made by the fake Jingwu, you were the one who killed the three people in the next two cases!"

Song Huai clenched his hands quietly in his sleeves: "I thought I did it perfectly... How did you find out?"

Feng Jia said in a calm voice, "When Kufan ​​died, I didn't suspect you, but the other two people died by the river, and a cassock was left at the scene. Just like what the fake Jingwu said, if the murderer was really him, how could he leave such crucial pointing evidence, as if telling everyone that he killed the person!"

Song Huai snorted: "Perhaps, it's just Shen Shi's trick?"

"This trick is too crude, isn't it?" Feng Jia narrowed her eyes. "Then I thought, who else would have the motive to kill them besides the fake Jing Wu? It's only you."

"Of course, there are two other pieces of evidence pointing to you."

"First, you told me that day that you saw a man in black flying over the roof. You chased him into a secret room, and then saw the fake Jingwu kill him. The body was dragged to the side of the red elm wood and hung up. But when we arrived, Kufan ​​was not wearing a nightgown, but a white robe! Assuming that the fake Jingwu stripped off his nightgown, the white robe he wore inside should be spotless. But the white robe on Kufan's body was stained with blood. Judging from the shape of the blood plasma sprayed on the clothes, he was wearing this white robe when someone pierced his skull with an awl, so you are lying!"

"The truth should be that you discovered the secret room a long time ago. You hid on the road and waited for Kufan ​​to come and kill him. Then you dragged him in front of the red ash tree and put him in a weird posture."

Feng Jia took a sip of tea and said, "The second piece of evidence is the wounds on the heads of those three people. There is only one possibility that could cause such scars, that is, the murderer fell from the tree with a cone-shaped weapon and inserted it into the victim's skull." Feng Jia's eyes turned to Song Huai and said, "I have seen your martial arts. One of your moves is the sword technique of falling from the sky. It's just that you were afraid of exposing your identity, so you used a cone as a weapon!"

After a pause, Feng Jia sighed slightly: "Perhaps it can't be called an awl, but a cone-shaped weapon made of ice! That day I asked you to follow the little monk to fetch water, and you naturally saw an ice cellar next to the water source, so you sneaked into the fake Jingwu's room that day, stole his things, and took away the patchwork robes!"

"And the murder weapon that my second brother couldn't find anywhere was actually right in front of him! It was that patchwork cassock! You twisted the cassock into a stick, put it in the ice cellar, sharpened the bottom, and then dropped it from the tree to kill the victim! When the ice melts into water, you throw it into the river and use it to frame the fake Jingwu, killing two birds with one stone!"

"You killed them and disguised their bodies to look like strange Buddha statues, just to put all the evidence on the fake Jingwu!"

Feng Jia thought about the shock on Shen Shi's face when he saw Ku Fan's body under the red oak tree that night. It was not a disguise, but astonishment.

He probably guessed that there might be some members of the Li family who had escaped the net and came back for revenge.

"Unfortunately, there is still one person missing!" Song Huai did not deny that every step of her plan and arrangement was exactly the same as what the other party said. Her eyes sank: "That person is called Tu Xing, one of the Eighteen Tiger Generals. Ten years ago, he killed my adoptive father's family and then parted ways with the others. There has been no news in the past ten years..."

"The slaughter..."

Feng Jia murmured the name, and suddenly raised her eyebrows and smiled: "That was his previous name. His current name is Xiao Jun."

"Xiao Jun?" Song Huai's eyes widened. This name was extremely familiar. "Which Xiao Jun? Is it the one from Xie Mansion... Commander Xiao?"

Feng Jia nodded, "I discovered it by accident. Xiao Jun also has a black totem on his shoulder. He disappeared after he separated from Shen Shi because he entered the East Palace and served under the Crown Prince! Later, he followed the Crown Prince and hid in Xie Mansion."

"How can this be……"

Song Huai thought of Xiao Jun's face and found it unbelievable that she had worked with the murderer of her father for half a year without knowing it!

"I don't need to lie to you," Feng Jia finished the cup of tea, "and Xiao Jun has been in the palace for three years. Besides me, there must be other people who have seen the totem on his shoulder. You can go and ask."

Xie Lanzhao was so sure, which meant it was almost certain. Song Huai felt a sour feeling rising up in her nose, which she couldn't stop. She found it ridiculous and lamentable. Fate was so unpredictable!

The enemy she had been looking for was right under her nose! And after many twists and turns, her enemy had actually been killed by Xie Lanzhao!

Song Huai felt the pleasure of revenge. It had been ten years! She had been dreaming about this day for a single day!

After a while, Song Huai's clenched fists slowly loosened and he just asked, "Why?"