Chapter 57: You Are the Murderer (2)

A black shadow flashed by, quickly disappearing into the mottled tree shadows cast by the moonlight. The figure was so fast that one might think the shadow was just an illusion.

A silver light streaked across the night sky, and only a muffled groan was heard as the guarding guard fell to the ground. The guard who had been resting his eyes heard the strange sound and had just opened them; before he could see the black shadow in front of him, he felt a sharp pain in his neck and went black, losing consciousness.

The person in black neatly dragged the two unconscious men into the yard, gently closed the door, and quickly leaped into the house, starting to search. Not a single corner was spared, and the room was turned into a mess. The person in black didn't seem to find what they were looking for. Their eyes turned cold, and they actually picked up an iron hoe from the corner of the wall and started digging at the stove, the corners of the walls, and other places.

In a short while, dust was flying all over the room...

"They aren't planning to tear down the wall, are they?!" A female voice, sounding both puzzled and teasing, rang out faintly.

Another clear female voice chuckled, "Very likely."

In the dark, empty house, leisurely teasing voices suddenly rang out, which sounded somewhat eerie no matter how one listened. The black shadow was shocked, turning around abruptly. Their cold eyes narrowed, staring at the position where the sound came from. The iron hoe in their hand was thrown aside, and the long sword at their waist was already unsheathed, the silver-white cold light looking particularly dazzling in the moonlight.

The small house, which had been pitch black, was suddenly illuminated by torches lit from all sides, and everything in the room had nowhere to hide. Around the small tiled house, dozens of guards were lying in ambush, and in the center of the courtyard stood a group of people, exactly Dan Yulan, Gu Yun, and the others.

After the initial panic, the person in black saw the dangerous situation of being surrounded and instead calmed down. A pair of cold eyes stared guardedly at the group outside the door, the long sword gripped tightly in their hand.

"Madam Yang, surrender; you have nowhere to escape." Gu Yun walked forward slowly but was blocked by Dan Yulan. Gu Yun waved her hand and walked into the house with an indifferent expression.

Dan Yulan's face sank. He knew she was very good at investigating cases, but if she were captured by the criminal and used as a threat, it would be terrible.

Just as he was about to step forward to stop her, his sleeve was suddenly pulled. Dan Yulan turned his head and saw Zhuo Qing shaking her head at him, signaling him to be patient. Since even she told him not to be anxious, perhaps Qing Mo had her own plans. He signaled to the archers lying in ambush around them, and long arrows were immediately aimed at the person in black inside the house. As long as she made any move, they would immediately shoot her into a hedgehog.

Gu Yun entered the house unarmed, looking at the person inside with ease. The person in black was stunned for a moment, and a while later, they neatly pulled off the face mask. A hibiscus face was revealed under the torchlight, looking even a bit pale. The owner of this face was none other than the Madam Yang who claimed to be weak and sickly!

Staring coldly at Gu Yun, Madam Yang asked in a cold voice, "How did you know it was me?"

It had to be said that Madam Yang's acting skills were already considered superb. In her daily life, she was gentle and soft; who would have thought that after removing her makeup, she would be so murderous. Compared to her impatience, Gu Yun appeared exceptionally relaxed and smiled, "The second time I went to the Yang house, I discovered you were lying. Your expression told me that you knew very well why Yang Lu had so much money, and you also showed extreme hatred. I originally thought you had an affair with Li Zhi and conspired to kill Yang Lu to frame Qian Jing, but I denied this speculation after I met Li Zhi."

There were at least a dozen archers outside, and not everyone was a master marksman; if one or two missed, she would become a porcupine. Complaining inwardly, Gu Yun moved her body to the side, leaning against the narrow wall by the door, and continued, "Among the people present that day, if Li Zhi and Qian Jing were excluded, the most likely person to commit the crime was you. But how could a 'weak woman' like you kill someone? So I suspected you had an accomplice. This accomplice killed Yang Lu, you helped him take away the flying dagger, and then hid it in Li Zhi's house. After he was caught, you were worried that he had so-called evidence to prove he didn't kill anyone, so you simply poisoned him to death."

A flash of contempt crossed Madam Yang's face. Gu Yun confirmed her speculation once again and smiled, "All these inferences were overturned again after I saw you this afternoon. Because I discovered that you didn't need an accomplice; you yourself are a master hiding your true strength."

Madam Yang frowned, "How so?" She shouldn't have revealed any flaws today, right?!

Gu Yun smiled leisurely, "Remember the beautiful flower shelf in your house? The flower shelf has four layers: eight pots on the first layer, seven on the second, six on the third, and nine on the fourth, totaling thirty pots of flowers. When Qing Ling bumped into the flower shelf, you supported her, and then you went into the house. I felt something was wrong at the time, because at that moment, there was one less pot on the fourth layer of the flower shelf and one more on the second."

Hearing her words, Madam Yang's face changed, but Dan Yulan outside the door didn't understand the mystery and asked, "What can this prove?" It could only prove that Qing Mo had a good memory.

"When Qing Ling bumped into the flower shelf, the flowerpot on the edge of the fourth layer fell off. You are a person who loves flowers very much, so you reached out to catch the falling flowerpot; and because you were afraid Qing Ling would bump into your flowers again, you supported her with your other hand. And because you were worried that I would see this scene, after you caught the flowerpot, you casually placed it on the second layer of the flower shelf closest to you, right?"

The clear female voice said every word, and Madam Yang only felt her hands trembling uncontrollably. This person was so sharp. She remembered that in the afternoon, Qing Mo had almost never looked directly at her flower shelf, yet she could describe the number of flowerpots on each layer so detailed and accurately. Before she put the fallen flowerpot back, she clearly saw Qing Mo had just turned around. She shouldn't have seen her actions, but she actually said it without a single error?!

Her breathing had begun to become chaotic. Madam Yang took a deep breath and pretended to be calm, saying, "A very brilliant speculation, but all of this is your guess. What evidence do you have to prove that I am the murderer? Even if I know martial arts, appearing in Li Zhi's house in the middle of the night, can that prove that I am the true murderer who killed Yang Lu?"

Nodding seriously, Gu Yun replied, "These alone indeed cannot prove that you are the murderer who killed Yang Lu."

Madam Yang had just secretly breathed a sigh of relief when Gu Yun's calm voice sounded again: "But can you explain why you appeared in Li Zhi's house in the middle of the night wearing night clothes and holding a long sword? You came to find something, right, Madam Yang? No, I should call you—Qu Xin."

As soon as the two words "Qu Xin" were spoken, Madam Yang's eyes were full of astonishment, and her blood seemed to freeze at this moment. A while later, she suddenly burst into laughter: "I thought I had hidden it very well; I didn't expect to have been seen through long ago."

Dan Yulan sighed secretly; it turned out that Qing Mo asked him for Qu Ze's information just to investigate this.

With things said to this point, the people in the courtyard could probably guess the whole story of the case. Ye Mei and Ao Tian looked at each other, both finding appreciation for the woman who was talking eloquently in each other's eyes. Her observation and reasoning abilities were so strong that they had never seen anything like it.

Inside the house, Gu Yun discovered that the hand Qu Xin was holding the sword with was no longer tense, so she took another step forward, but still didn't dare to take it lightly, continuing to talk to her: "Actually, after I knew you knew martial arts, I guessed that the murderer was you. But I could never find out what your motive for doing this was. If you were for Yang Lu's money, he was already dead; why did you have to do so many things to frame Li Zhi? Until I discovered that Qu Ze actually had a younger sister, and because he was convicted of colluding with rebels and stealing treasury silver, his only relative, his sister Qu Xin, which is you, has been wanted."

Qu Xin didn't seem to notice Gu Yun's approach, or perhaps she had noticed but didn't want to hurt her. Sighing, Qu Xin nodded and admitted, "I am Qu Xin."

She hadn't used this name for three years. Since her brother died, she had been immersed in the pain of avenging him. Looking at the woman in front of her who seemed to be able to see through everything, Qu Xin finally took a deep breath and said coldly, "You are right; it was I who killed Yang Lu. At first, I framed Qian Jing because if it weren't for him back then, my brother could have escaped, so he should also suffer a prison term. And as a bounty hunter, he must have many friends who would help him clear his name, and sure enough, he found you. This was within my expectations, but you are actually so powerful, which was beyond my expectations."

Sure enough, actually, Gu Yun really didn't have a solid chain of evidence to prove she killed someone, but fortunately, the tactic of attacking the psychological defense line worked. Qu Xin herself was a wanted criminal; once her true identity was exposed, she was very likely to plead guilty.

Gu Yun continued to lure her, saying, "There is one more thing beyond your expectations, and that is Li Zhi's death. You put the flying dagger in Li Zhi's house to frame him for murder, in order to drive him to a dead end. To prove that he had no motive for murder, he had to tell the truth about the Golden Case from back then. In this way, the truth of the matter would definitely be exposed, and it could prove that your brother was innocent."

Qu Xin nodded slowly and smiled bitterly, "Yes, I didn't expect Li Zhi to die; this must have been done by the mastermind behind the scenes. You deliberately left clues that Li Zhi had evidence to lure me into the trap. I did so much just to find the mastermind behind the scenes and avenge my brother, so even if I had a premonition that this was a trap, I had to jump into it!" She had long since had no way out, right?

Gu Yun, who had already walked to her side, took advantage of her distraction to suddenly lean forward, grab her wrist holding the sword, and use a very fast and ruthless grappling technique. Qu Xin felt pain, and the long sword fell to the ground. Qu Xin tried to use a backhand to control Gu Yun's throat, but Gu Yun had long been prepared. Adopting close-quarters combat tactics, she lowered her body, grabbed Qu Xin's belt with her right hand, and used her shoulder to push against her abdomen. With a force, Qu Xin was thrown out of the house.

Everything happened too fast; except for Zhuo Qing, no one expected that such a petite woman could throw someone out just like that.

Coming back to their senses, the guards standing by the side hurriedly stepped forward and pressed Qu Xin firmly to the ground.

Her beautiful face was twisted because of unwillingness. Gu Yun walked to her side and said calmly, "Trying to clear Qu Ze's name shouldn't be done in this way. You were originally a victim, but now you have made yourself a murderer."

"The two of them deserved to die! Winners are kings and losers are bandits; I lost, and there's nothing to complain about, it's just a pity that I couldn't find the mastermind behind the scenes! I will die with my eyes open!" Qu Xin twisted her body forcefully, roaring and shouting as if she couldn't feel the pain, echoing in the night sky.

With ropes tied around her body, that thin figure appeared even more fragile under the escort of a group of guards. What awaited her was the result of paying for a life with a life.

Thinking of the woman's gentle eyes, that tranquility in front of the flowers and plants, the sadness when telling the past, and the ferocity just now, Zhuo Qing didn't know whether the feeling in her heart was sour or astringent. Looking up at the exceptionally clear full moon tonight, Zhuo Qing sighed, "Behind every case, there is a story, a reason. Some people are even pathetic, pitiful. I think I am more suitable for autopsy, facing only cold corpses, and only needing to record the process of their death truthfully."

Gu Yun, who was walking in front, paused slightly, stopped, and replied in a deep voice, "If everyone thinks they are righteous and can reward good and punish evil according to their own wishes, this world will lose true justice. Since rules have been established, everyone should abide by them; if they violate them, they must be punished, no matter how much helplessness and bitterness they have behind them."

The calm voice didn't sound impassioned, but every word was so firm. Zhuo Qing smiled and shook her head, replying, "You are always so black and white."

Gu Yun didn't say anything more, and the two walked side by side in this strange night, their thoughts different.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 58 =====