Chapter 287: Is the Killer Really the Nine Thousand Years?

"Your Highness, I have a question I'd like to ask, Grandfather Yao."

"Your Highness, please speak." The Nine Thousand Years smiled warmly.

"In the imperial garden, someone was killed and the body buried, then you came here—does fifteen minutes suffice?" Gu Rongjin asked.

He fixed his gaze on the Nine Thousand Years' expression and changes in his eyes, missing no clue.

He saw the Nine Thousand Years' pupils indeed flicker, but not from panic, rather from doubt.

Doubt about what?

Doubt that he guessed it?

However, the Nine Thousand Years' eyes soon returned to calm, he kept smiling and said: "No matter how you think, it's highly unlikely."

"Your Highness also thinks so, so I'm especially curious—how did you manage it, Nine Thousand Years?" Gu Rongjin's words were laced with provocation.

He thought he really had learned bad habits from Pei Di, why does he love asking pointless questions in front of others?

The Nine Thousand Years restrained his smile and said: "Please watch your words, Your Highness."

"What should I watch? The bloody smell on you is so strong, shouldn't you cover it up?" Gu Rongjin pointed out directly.

The Nine Thousand Years showed no panic, instead he sniffed his left and right sleeves, then said: "Looks like I really got the smell on me."

He said this with a rather helpless expression.

Gu Rongjin raised an eyebrow: "You admitted it?"

"Admitted what? Admitted that I accidentally killed a serious criminal while interrogating him just now?" The Nine Thousand Years seemed somewhat embarrassed, "There's nothing we can do; His Majesty said we must get results quickly, and serious criminals are extremely evil—if we can't get anything out of them, dying is fine, right?"

Gu Rongjin frowned, really?

Then all we can say is that this Nine Thousand Years is a pervert who disregards human life, not the serial killer.

Gu Rongjin snorted: "So it seems the Nine Thousand Years' authority is indeed great—he can even disregard human life."

"Doesn't Your Highness Jin also have lives on his conscience?" The Nine Thousand Years retorted sharply.

Gu Rongjin couldn't refute; although he said those he killed deserved it, they hadn't been sentenced to death through legal procedure.

"We're the same kind of people, Your Highness, why must you be so pushy?" The Nine Thousand Years raised an eyebrow.

Gu Rongjin: "What same kind? Don't drag me in, I think you're a dangerous element."

"If Your Highness has nothing else, please return; I still have matters to attend to." The Nine Thousand Years said.

Attend to? Attend to what? The corpse?

Of course, he currently has no excuse to enter the palace gates, and having been discovered by the Nine Thousand Years, sneaking in is unlikely.

Thus, Gu Rongjin had no choice but to give up.

Tomorrow, news should come, if someone really died tonight.

But if it really happened in the imperial garden, the news might not get out.

"Farewell."

Gu Rongjin turned and left.

The Nine Thousand Years saw Gu Rongjin leave, hurried his steps toward the imperial garden.

While Gu Rongjin returned to the companion palace, Mu Yuanzhi was still awake, she worried about him, thus also couldn't sleep; seeing his expression upon return, she knew for certain he had found nothing.

"How did it go, Rongjin?" Mu Yuanzhi asked.

Gu Rongjin shook his head: "I couldn't catch the killer at the drum tower, so I went to the palace gate, hesitated about sneaking in, and then saw the Nine Thousand Years."

"Then?"

Thus Gu Rongjin recounted the whole situation to Mu Yuanzhi; Mu Yuanzhi listened, her brows knitting tightly: "According to that, it's indeed hard to judge whether it's the Nine Thousand Years, after all killing someone and cleaning up then coming out—fifteen minutes is nowhere near enough."

Gu Rongjin sat down to pour himself tea, saying: "Let's sleep first, see how tomorrow goes."

"Mm, sleep, it's late."

The next day, Pei Di inquired and got news from the palace: someone really died in the imperial garden, a eunuch, but it was kept tightly under wraps, not leaked to the outside; it was told to him by an old lady he knew well in the palace.

"But that old lady also didn't see the eunuch's corpse, the exact cause of death—whether it was a silver needle to the throat—is unknown." Pei Di said.

Mu Yuanzhi: "I think we don't need to doubt anymore; it's definitely the serial killer, the time and place match."

"Is the killer really the Nine Thousand Years?" Gu Rongjin still doubted, "How did he do it?"

Qi Shihuai: "I think it's someone else."

Mu Yuanzhi: "How so?"

"You analyzed before, didn't you? The serial killer wouldn't easily give up his method and weapon, plus what Gu Rongjin said—the Nine Thousand Years simply couldn't have killed someone, cleaned up, and reached the palace gate in such a short time."

Mu Yuanzhi nodded: "That's what I thought, but this killer is likely very familiar with the Nine Thousand Years—you noticed, when Gu Rongjin probed him, his eyes were doubtful, and he didn't rush to the imperial garden to check; that's unreasonable."

"Exactly, someone like him, finding someone daring to commit murder under his nose, should be furious." Gu Rongjin agreed with Mu Yuanzhi's thought.

Qi Shihuai: "With this analysis, the Nine Thousand Years even knows who the killer is."

"Then why would he imitate the killer and kill our three guards?" Pei Di puzzled.

Mu Yuanzhi also couldn't figure it out; Gu Rongjin and Qi Shihuai exchanged a glance, clearly also baffled.

"Or maybe he just wanted to sneak into the mountain villa secretly, but unfortunately was discovered?" Madame Pei said.

Gu Rongjin: "With his martial skill, he shouldn't be so easily spotted by the guards… or perhaps he initially didn't know the killer used a silver needle different from his own?"

Pei Di: "The Nine Thousand Years wouldn't be that foolish, not even checking."

Gu Rongjin: "Indeed, I was just saying that."

"If the killer kills according to the five elements, what is he trying to achieve? An altar? Some human sacrifice?" Qi Shihuai looked at them.

"You ask such a question—only Xiao Yang can answer." Gu Rongjin shrugged.

Mu Yuanzhi: "There's another person who can."

"Monk Yuan Yan!" Gu Rongjin continued.

"Yes."

"His arrival will also take a long time; when is the next wood time?" Gu Rongjin asked.

Mu Yuanzhi took out the ten-thousand-year calendar and flipped through it, saying: "The time most associated with wood is the Mao hour fifteen days from now."

Fifteen days, that is, the Mao hour half a month later; I hope that by then the monk will have arrived!

In the following days, indeed everything was calm and peaceful; the Nine Thousand Years had not come here; Pei devoted herself to recuperating, her complexion now looked no different from that of an ordinary person, and she could even go out for a half-day stroll.

Pei Di was delighted; he wanted to quickly return to the Great Zhou with his mother consort, who ought to be the motherly exemplar of the world, and not let another woman find an opening!

On the morning of the thirteenth day, Mu Yuanzhi rose early; she was about to go out for breakfast when she heard a palace attendant report: "Princess, someone outside is looking for you."

"Looking for me? Who is it?" Mu Yuanzhi wondered.