Qiao'er hunched her shoulders and shrunk in on herself as she finished speaking. She hurriedly added, "Everyone said that the cat had eaten the rat poison by mistake, then the dog bit it to death afterwards. Teacher Ji, you must keep a close watch on that cat of yours and never bring it outside. Otherwise, it would be terrible if it accidentally ate rat poison!"
Cat? A cat again!
Qiao Zihua fears cats, the ladies at the Zhichun Court love cats, and that cripple hates cats!
When Ye’er died, there was a cat in the room. And cats were constantly dying in Xian city.
Ah! Ji Yunshu suddenly lifted her head and picked up the case file that Zuo Rao had given her. She looked through it again and flipped to the page about Ye’er’s death. The file clearly recorded the state she was found: Mouth filled with white foam, bubbles of blood-coloured sticky fluid flowing from the nostrils, bloated abdomen. It was clearly Ludan poison.
Aside from Ludan poison, these symptoms could also be attributed to a type of… rat poison!
“Teacher, what is it? Do you know who the murderer is now?” s.h.i.+ Zijin asked frantically.
She narrowed her eyes in contemplation. "Wait a while more!"
Wait? Must one wait to investigate? s.h.i.+ Zijin didn't really understand what she meant.
Two days later.
Ji Yunshu took out the bag of pebbles she had soaked in soy sauce. She sent all the maids away from the room, leaving only s.h.i.+ Zijin.
She wrapped the pebbles carefully in linen, and gently rubbed them over Ye'er's bones.
After around 15 minutes, several obvious black marks suddenly appeared on the originally dark grey wrist bones and cheekbones. These black marks appeared long and thin, unlike anything that could be inflicted by a person's hands.
Instead, it was as if the long and thin marks had been left behind by a skeletal hand pressing on Ye'er's wrist and both cheeks.
Finally, all her questions and doubts have been dispelled!
That open window, that fallen screen, the cup by the bed, and the dead cat.
Her lips quirked upwards. "So now we know that, there wasn't only Ye'er, Qiao Zihua, and the person who escaped from the window. There was once a fourth person in that room."
A fourth person?
She instructed s.h.i.+ Zijin, "Now, if you complete this task for me, we'll… solve the case."
……
In Zhichun Court, Liang Da had just put down a bundle in the kitchen and was about to go take a break when the chef came over to shove him. He then barked at him, "Liang Da, quickly go to Butcher Rong and get a basket of pork. The kitchen is out of stock, so come back quickly.”
Liang Da nodded without speaking. He retrieved a small basket and put it on his back before leaving from the back door. He limped and hobbled down the street until he reached Butcher Rong’s stall.
“Collecting the pork!” He called out curtly.
Butcher Rong’s shoulders were bared, revealing thick and firm muscles all over his upper body. His hands wielded a wickedly sharp cleaver expertly, precisely slicing into the meat for his customers. He clearly didn’t hear what Liang Da had said. Butcher Rong only turned towards Liang Da after the two customers in front of him had left.
“What do you want?”
Liang Da said softly, “Collecting pork for Zhichun Court.”
“What?” Butcher Rong hollered. Speak louder! I can’t hear you!
Liang Da suddenly lifted his head, fringe parting to reveal a pair of eyes so dark there was barely any white visible around the pupils. There seemed to be a thick net of dark broken blood vessels in the whites of his eyes. It looked so terrifying it sent chills down one’s back.
Butcher Rong’s knife hand trembled, completely taken aback by that visage.
“It...it’s for Zhichun Court?”
Liang Da nodded and bent his head once again, hiding that terrifying pair of eyes under a curtain of hair.
Butcher Rong swallowed and quickly brought out that hunk of fresh pork that Zhichun Court had ordered.
With that, Liang Da shouldered the basketful of meat and left. He only used a single arm; his right hand had been injured by the fire and hung at his side, unmoving and idle.
Behind him, Butcher Rong was left still slightly fearful. He only managed to calm down again when his next customer came forward.
The way back to Zhichun Court was bustling with people. Liang Da walked with his head lowered and accidentally b.u.mped into someone. He lost his balance and fell to the ground along with the basket of meat in his hands.
The shrill and thin voice of a young lady rang out. “Don’t you look where you’re walking? d.a.m.ned cripple, you’ve dirtied this lady’s clothes! Can you afford to pay for it?”
Liang Da paid no attention to her and only squatted down to pick up the scattered pieces of meat to put back into the basket.
The woman turned red in anger when she realised that she was being ignored. She tugged at the dirtied corner of her clothes. “Did you not hear me speak? Truly a base existence.”
Just as she finished speaking, the cat suddenly let out a yowl.
Liang Da’s hands froze where they were still picking up the meat. He slowly raised his head to look at the furious woman standing in front of him, then s.h.i.+fted his gaze to that pure white cat in her arms. His expression turned savage in the blink of an eye.
The woman was shocked pale when she saw the knotted scars that had been seared onto his face. In her surprise, she lost her grip and the cat jumped down in fright, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Liang Da bent down again to continue picking up the meat.
The woman also had lost all desire to make a fuss and lifted her skirts to get away as fast as possible. That face had scared her half out of her wits.
Once he had finished arranging the meat, Liang Da shouldered the basket and headed towards Zhichun Court.
A light drizzle started 15 minutes later. Uneven footsteps echoed in an isolated little alley. In that small s.p.a.ce, the alternating heavy and light thuds sounded like the harbinger of death.
A skinny figure wearing a straw rain-cape and large bamboo hat hobbled down the alley. In his hands was a white cat, frantically trying to twist out of his grasp.
Finally, Liang Da stopped at the corner. He used some rope to tie the cat’s four limbs together, then slammed it to the ground. Bam!
“Meow~” That cat’s bright round eyes stared at the cruel face in front of it with fear.
“Don’t be afraid, it’ll be quick.”
The white cat cried out again, as it wanted to flee but its legs were securely bound together.
Liang Da took out a packet and roughly stuffed it into the cat’s mouth. Next, he reached out with the right arm that had always been hidden in his sleeves, but… instead of a hand, he had a prosthetic arm made from steel!
In place of fingers were steel claws honed to a slender, sharp edge. They looked just like Zhu Bajie's nine-toothed rake! [1]
He first used his normal left hand to roughly choke the cat around its neck. Next, he reached out with his false arm and prepared to stab towards its stomach. He wanted to slice it open while it was still alive!
At the last moment, s.h.i.+ Zijin leapt down and kicked savagely towards Liang Da’s head. He fell backwards and landed heavily on the ground. He loosened his grasp on the cat, and his bamboo hat also fell, revealing his face.
s.h.i.+ Zijin lifted a leg and stomped on his chest. “Heartless and s.a.d.i.s.tic scoundrel!”
The rain fell on that hideous-looking face. Ji Yunshu carried an umbrella and walked into the alley. Her clothes had been soaked through by the fine drizzle. She walked in front of Liang Da, eyes filled with disgust. “Why did you do that?”
Sprawled on the ground, Liang Da finally understood. He smiled and spoke in a low, hoa.r.s.e and weary voice, “You all deserve to die.”
[1] Aka Pigsy from Journey to the West, a well-known story. He's a humanoid pig known for his greed and carries a nine-toothed iron rake.