Chapter 1268: Doubts and Clues

Doubts and Clues

The two cried across the window, neither making a sound.

Flode clearly saw that Lake had an answer; she lay weakly on the window sill, her crying expression more complex than Lake's.

She couldn't stop low-roaring and knocking on the table:

"Why, why treat me like this, why treat Maxford like this, why is it really the play!

I just love this art, what did I do wrong!

Why does fate have to punish me like this!"

Mrs. Flode cried heart-rendingly; she felt the kindness of her old employer and couldn't make a decision, yet she was unwilling to let Maxford die tragically.

Lake watched the other's struggle and entanglement in his eyes. After a long while, he took a deep breath, stopped his sadness, and said solemnly to Mrs. Flode word by word:

"Mrs. Flode...... saying this might be very selfish, but the play is my home, and it was once your home; it cannot fall...... at least it cannot fall because of Fite's mistakes and be nailed to the pillar of shame of circus art!"

Flode hated it to the extreme; she said savagely:

"Then what about Maxford, did he die in vain!?

What about Morning Joy?

What about those actors who worked hard and diligently to learn performances to pursue the peak of art!?

Do they deserve it!?"

Lake lowered his head and muttered:

"No, none of them deserve it; they deserve to win.

The play's failure was caused by Fite; he should bear everything, but the play is innocent.

Mrs. Flode, I have a way to solve all this, provided that...... please, really please, let the play go.

I cannot watch the play collapse like this; even if it loses to Morning Joy and only deserves to be second, it really cannot fall in shame!"

Hearing this, Flode sneered:

"Second? Morning Joy's jester is dead! It was your troupe leader who killed him with his own hands!

What qualifications does Morning Joy have to compete for first place? Does it still need me to come out of retirement and stand on the stage again?

Yes, I was once brilliant, but it is also a fact that I am not as good as you after being away from the stage for a long time.

Morning Joy is not the play; we cannot accept an unclear victory.

Even if you want to release water, I will not agree.

Maxford is already dead; I cannot let a second jester with persistence for art die on the stage again.

I will inform the royal family of all this; Fite deserves to pay with his life.

As for the play...... history will give the play an identity; whether it is good or bad, leave it to future generations to say. If you want to blame someone, blame you for choosing a good troupe leader who kills without blinking!"

As she spoke, Flode turned and left.

But Lake grabbed her and directly wrote the plea on his face. He begged:

"No, Morning Joy will win, and win fair and square.

Please listen to me finish.

Maxford was not wrong; he shouldn't have been absent from this circus feast. The wrong ones are Fite, the play, and...... me!

Fite can pay with his life, and I can too; I only ask that the play not collapse because of this.

Mrs. Flode, I have a plan that can let Maxford return to the stage, but the premise is to please let the play go."

"You can resurrect him!?" Flode was pleasantly surprised.

"Sorry, I can't......"

"You're playing with me!?"

"No, you misunderstood my meaning; my meaning is...... I will play Maxford and complete Morning Joy's final performance.

And Lake...... this coward will disappear because of fear of battle, causing the play to lose this performance.

Can a jester who has lost his reputation appease your anger and make you let the play go?"

"You!?" Mrs. Flode widened her eyes, disbelieving, "...... What did you say!?"

"Please, this is the last method I can think of.

I understand Fite; if the century-old play loses to Morning Joy, as the troupe leader, he will definitely commit suicide with his failure.

We will pay the price for Maxford's death......

Can you accept such an ending?"

Flode looked shocked and soon fell into a struggle.

Considering Morning Joy's honor and taking into account the origin of coming from the play, this seemed to be the best method; there was no better two-pronged strategy.

Fite's mistake really shouldn't be bought by the whole play.

After thinking for a long time, Flode's face changed several times, but she still agreed, both for the sake of the play and for Morning Joy.

"But in this way, your reputation......"

"Heh, I don't deserve any reputation; I misjudged the person, so naturally I should pay the price for it.

Please wait for me for a period of time, Mrs. Flode; after I say goodbye to this place, I will become Morning Joy's new jester......

The dead cannot be resurrected; if I can win this victory, perhaps it will be a comfort to Maxford.

I, am sorry to him."

That night, Lake and Flode made an agreement. The next day, to confirm the situation, Lake disguised himself as another actor, met Fite by chance, and mentioned the pair of boots burned by fire.

Fite laughed heartily, saying the boots were lost and probably stolen by tourists.

At that moment, Lake's heart was dead.

He looked at this friend who had accompanied him, encouraged him, and fought together for more than ten years, and the more he looked, the more like a stranger he became.

That night, he packed a few clothes and left this sad place.

Lake finished telling everything silently; no one expected it to be this kind of situation.

He came here to play Maxford, actually out of disappointment with the play and compensation for Morning Joy?

The story developed reasonably, almost without any problems.

But it also depends on who is listening; at least in the ears of several swindlers, this story was full of loopholes.

First, the most obvious problem is, how did Maxford die?

Fite killed the jester of the opposite side?

Is it possible? It's not impossible; after all, none of the players present understand Fite. If Lake feels it's possible, it shows that Fite is not a purely good person.

The problem is, if Fite killed Maxford with his own hands, then why, when Lake disappeared, did he choose to contact the Golden House to find someone first, instead of directly suspecting that Morning Joy used the same method to "take away" the play's jester to counter the play?

Could it be that this troupe leader wanted to use the Golden House's hand to expose Morning Joy's dirty methods?

But how could he be so confident that the Golden House couldn't find out about his murder?

Try to imagine, when a murderer discovers that the opposite side suspectedly used the same method to "take away" the play's jester, shouldn't he immediately realize that his plan is very likely already exposed, attracting revenge, and thus becoming even more cautious?

How could he contact a third-party force and roast himself on the fire?

Also, even if Lake was impersonated by Long Jing, Fite's reaction to seeing Lake couldn't be fake; he only cared about where the other went, but didn't mention at all whether Lake's disappearance had anything to do with Morning Joy. This didn't look like a murderer's reaction at all.

Even if he wanted to deliberately avoid suspicion so as not to arouse suspicion, he shouldn't have had no probing at all, but he did nothing; this is completely illogical.

Thinking of this, Cheng Shi frowned slightly and asked:

"Where is Maxford's body?"

Lake shook his head: "I don't know...... it should have been secretly buried by Mrs. Flode, right? His death news cannot be known by the outside world."

"You haven't seen his body?"

"No...... but seeing or not seeing, what meaning does it have?"

A strange color flashed in Cheng Shi's eyes, and he curled his lips and smiled: "Of course it has meaning; without seeing it with your own eyes, how can you know how Morning Joy's jester died?"

Lake was stunned: "He was strangled by Fite."

"Oh? Is that so?

Then I ask you, if the perpetrator was you, after carefully erasing all traces inside and outside the room, would you choose to use a rope full of traces to strangle Maxford?

The other party was clearly already drunk and unconscious; since there was no resistance when making a move, why not choose a more secretive method?

Don't tell me that Fite, who can contact Black, couldn't even buy a bottle of colorless and odorless poison."

"I......" Lake was dumbfounded.

"Also, what was Maxford strangled with?

Although I said a rope, but what was the real murder weapon, do you know?"

"I......" Lake wasn't stupid. From Cheng Shi's tone, he thought of something, and his face suddenly turned pale, "...... I don't know, Mrs. Flode didn't say."

Hearing this, Zhang Jizu narrowed his eyes and said coldly:

"In other words, the truth of the crime you know is all told to you by Mrs. Flode; you neither saw the crime scene, nor saw the so-called murder weapon, and didn't even see the body, just purely believed the other party's one-sided words?"

"......"

These words directly shattered Lake's psychological defense. He really wanted to say that Mrs. Flode cried very sincerely; this couldn't be fake, right?

But he also knew this couldn't represent anything. He didn't feel it at the time, but thinking about it now, it was full of suspicious points.

However, Lake didn't dare to believe he had been deceived.

Even if he didn't know the murder weapon, what about the footprints? The footprints were Fite's, that was correct; he even threw away his shoes to cover up the traces.

Hearing this, the Grand Marshal started to sigh.

He shook his head repeatedly, sat on the chair, and laughed: "Although I don't have so many fancy tricks when killing, I also know that assassination emphasizes the word 'dark.' Since Fite knew to throw away his shoes afterward, why did he have to wear those 'obvious' shoes to commit the crime?

Even if he just grabbed a pair in Morning Joy, wouldn't he be able to clear himself?"

"......"

Indeed, this is simply full of loopholes!

Lake was stupid. He curled up in the corner, and for a time, countless expressions flashed on his face, either surprised, afraid, worried, or anxious. He didn't know what was in his confused brain; he only hoped that the experiences of these few days were a dream, and that this dream would wake up quickly.

However, the nightmare had only just begun for him.

The three swindlers on the scene sneered simultaneously, and Zhen Xin played the "most evil" villain.

She looked down at the jester, a meaningful smile curling on her face.

"If all this was told to you by Mrs. Flode, and you didn't see it with your own eyes, then how can you be sure Maxford is really dead?"

"!!??"

Lake trembled violently and fell down dejectedly.

He felt his world had really collapsed. ===== CHAPTER 1269 =====