Chapter 266

"This..."

Yin Suqin widened his eyes and looked at the corpse.

Although the clothing was different from what he had seen before, it had only been a day since they last met, and he absolutely wouldn't recognize it wrong—it was the storyteller who had told them about Xue Bangzhu!

It was like this again!

Just as they followed the clues to find him, they could only see a corpse!

He had originally thought that this storyteller was the culprit behind all this, and that catching him would end the matter. But this corpse ruthlessly dispelled his idea—they were still far from touching the truth of this matter!

Cao Hanyan was the first to calm down, walking to Li Miao's side to observe the scene carefully.

Zheng Yi also walked over and mentioned the news he had gathered from the Yamen: "My lord, this person's name is Yan Fan, sixty-five years old, a local resident. His identity and history are very clear, and his ancestors were also locals, it doesn't look like a forgery."

"Moreover, there is one more thing—five years ago, the same year Xue Bangzhu went missing, he moved once."

"Before moving, he lived alone in a small courtyard, and there was nothing unusual. But the Prefect remembered that you had asked him to investigate the Xue Bangzhu matter, so he let the clerk check one step further, and discovered a key point."

Zheng Yi looked at the corpse and said in a deep voice.

"After Xue Bangzhu came to Kaifeng, she rented a small courtyard, and later got married and moved to her husband's house. This Yan Fan was exactly Xue Bangzhu's neighbor before she got married!"

"He knew Xue Bangzhu, and he told us about Xue Bangzhu's affairs, which was definitely not without purpose. He must have had some goal."

After Zheng Yi finished speaking, there was a moment of silence.

Yes, Xue Bangzhu was a member of the Penglai Sect, and Yan Fan had deliberately told them about this. These guesses were all verified, but so what?

In the end, they were still a step too slow; the dead could not tell them the truth.

Just at this moment, Cao Hanyan suddenly spoke up.

"No, my lord."

He turned his head to look at Li Miao.

"Was this person's death a suicide or a homicide?"

He pointed to the kang.

"I looked carefully, his clothes are neat and clean, and it doesn't look like there was any struggle. After we entered, he was already in rigor mortis, but he was sitting upright, which means he died while sitting perfectly well."

Cao Hanyan stepped forward and sniffed the teacup on the low table. Sure enough, the liquid inside also faintly emitted that strange fragrance.

"The Seven-Star Begonia you mentioned just now, should be the name of the poison, right? Could it be that he committed suicide by taking poison?"

"But since he told us about Xue Bangzhu, he should have been deliberately leading us to find out the truth, so why would he commit suicide at this juncture? Wouldn't it have been better to just tell us everything?"

He looked at Li Miao in confusion, expecting Li Miao's answer.

Li Miao said in a deep voice.

"There is one explanation."

"He was an insider, but not a participant. He wanted to tell us the truth because he himself did not have the ability to solve Xue Bangzhu's problem."

"He couldn't even dig up Xue Bangzhu's corpse to let her rest in peace."

Li Miao reached out and pinched the corpse's pulse, exhaling internal energy, and immediately sighed.

"Sure enough—he didn't know Wu Gong."

"What!?"

The three people present were all surprised in unison.

Zheng Yi said urgently: "How is this possible!"

"He knew so clearly about Xue Bangzhu's affairs, and took the initiative to come to us to tell us the clues, and the poison that killed him was the Seven-Star Begonia—to be involved in such a matter, even a heavenly being like Xue Bangzhu died silently, yet he didn't know Wu Gong?"

Li Miao shook his head, looked at Yan Fan's corpse, and after a long while, stepped forward and reached out to close his wide-open eyes, before turning to the three of them.

"Think about it, what did he do after Xue Bangzhu died?"

Before the three could answer, Li Miao continued.

"He spread the story of Xue Bangzhu, and spread the rumors of the ghost in the righteous cemetery. Seeing you come to inquire about things, he took the initiative to come forward and tell you the story of Xue Bangzhu."

"He was definitely not covering up the truth, but guiding others to seek the truth."

"But there is a problem here."

Li Miao held up a finger.

"Although I don't know why Xue Bangzhu appeared so weak in her later years, her bones had still been tempered. The person who could fold her bones like that must have had high Wu Gong."

"He handled Xue Bangzhu's corpse like that, certainly not wanting anyone to discover the truth—which means Yan Fan stood on the opposite side of the murderer."

"If he told everyone about this so clearly, I'm afraid he would soon attract the murderer's attention and be silenced. Therefore, he would consciously choose who to tell the truth to."

Li Miao turned to Cao Hanyan and Yin Suqin.

"What is the difference between you and others? Why did Yan Fan choose you?"

The two were suddenly stunned, looked at each other, and felt inexplicably shocked. The two had never met Xue Bangzhu, could it be that their ancestors had some relationship with Xue Bangzhu?

Li Miao shook his finger and pointed to the weapons worn at their waists: "Don't think too much, the reason he chose you is very simple—you are Wu Lin people."

"And Cao Hanyan is a local, and Yin Suqin's reputation is not small, it's possible Yan Fan recognized you. He felt you had the ability to dig out the truth."

"The reason is just that simple."

Li Miao turned again and looked at Yan Fan's corpse.

"He didn't know Wu Gong, there is no doubt about this. His meridians were blocked, his bones were weak, and his dantian hadn't even been opened—he had never practiced Wu Gong."

"Look at this room, all the utensils are in a single set, he lived here alone, and had lived like this for many years."

"Of the three unfilial acts, having no descendants is the greatest. Especially since his parents died early and he was the only son in the family, if he didn't carry on the family line, his lineage would be broken. What made him choose to live alone?"

"People rarely live to seventy, he is sixty-five, he doesn't have many years to live, why did he have to bother with this Xue Bangzhu matter?"

Li Miao scanned left and right, walked slowly to a wall, touched it, and sure enough, felt a protrusion.

He slowly pulled out a brick, revealing a hole. Li Miao reached in, took out a cloth bag from the hole, and threw it to Zheng Yi.

Zheng Yi caught the cloth bag and untied it in his palm.

Inside was a piece of beeswax.

In the center of the beeswax, a flower was sealed.

Five dark red petals were faintly transparent, the edges slightly curled, gathering toward the center. The center of the petals had a white cross pattern, like stars.

It's just that the edge of the beeswax was not round, as if a corner had been worn away, just wearing away a part of the petals.

"Seven-Star, Begonia..." Zheng Yi muttered.

Li Miao nodded.

"That's right. This flower should have seven petals, each with a cross pattern, like stars under the moonlight, hence the name Seven-Star Begonia. It is highly poisonous if untreated, but it is not easy to preserve."

"But now there are only five petals..." Zheng Yi said in confusion, but suddenly froze, turning to look at Yan Fan's corpse.

Li Miao had already laid out all the clues before them, and the truth of Yan Fan's death had also faintly surfaced.

Cao Hanyan let out a long sigh.

"So, that's how it is."

Yin Suqin looked at him and asked: "Brother Cao, have you guessed something?"

Cao Hanyan nodded.

"Actually, when I saw Yan Fan's death just now, I had some questions. The lord has already told us all the clues, so I have a guess."

He turned to look at Li Miao.

"My lord, let me share my thoughts, if there is anything wrong, please correct me."

Li Miao raised his chin, signaling him to speak.

Cao Hanyan then slowly said to the other two.

"According to my guess, this Yan Fan committed suicide, but it could also be considered homicide—in other words, death was his active choice, but dying today was the result of others forcing him."

Cao Hanyan walked a few steps and said in a deep voice.

"Let me start from the beginning."

"Xue Bangzhu came to Kaifeng forty-five years ago, and it was also then that she met Yan Fan. At that time, both were in their early twenties, one had fled alone to Dashuo, the other had lost both parents, their situations were similar."

"The two became neighbors, and both lived alone, so they must have interacted often. A lonely man and a lonely woman, young and admiring."

"I guess Yan Fan fell in love with Xue Bangzhu at that time."

He took the beeswax from Zheng Yi's hand, rubbed it a few times, and nodded.

"This beeswax is of excellent quality, and it must be at least a hundred years old. This should be a memento Xue Bangzhu brought out from Penglai, but it was in Yan Fan's hands."

"I guess Xue Bangzhu must have also been fond of him back then, and gave him this item brought from Penglai to show her heart. And Yan Fan, either because he didn't recognize the item, or because he was hesitant, didn't respond."

"So Xue Bangzhu thought he had no interest, and married someone else later."

"Yan Fan was unable to change anything, so he never married in his life, and just hid this matter in his heart."

Cao Hanyan looked at Li Miao, and seeing that he had no intention of interrupting, continued.

"If the matter ended here, it wouldn't be considered bad."

"But later, a disaster that wiped out the family changed everything."

Cao Hanyan sighed.

"Twenty years ago, until Xue Bangzhu died, we still have no clues about the events in between, and I dare not make any assertions."

"But five years ago, at the same time Xue Bangzhu went missing, Yan Fan also moved here, this cannot be a coincidence. I guess Xue Bangzhu was harmed at that time, and Yan Fan also knew the truth."

"But he didn't know Wu Gong, he simply didn't have the ability to participate in this matter, he couldn't even dig up Xue Bangzhu's corpse to bury it—because that would alert the murderer and silence him, the last witness."

"So he chose another path."

"He moved to this village, far away from the righteous cemetery and Kaifeng Prefecture, avoiding the murderer's sight. At the same time, he transformed into a storyteller, turning the events of the righteous cemetery into ghost stories to tell others."

"He must have been trying to attract others to investigate, to make a big deal out of it, to force the murderer away, and then he could dig up Xue Bangzhu's corpse to bury it."

Yin Suqin frowned and raised a question.

"No, Brother Cao, there is one point here that doesn't make sense."

"If he told people this story every day, wouldn't it also attract the murderer's attention?"

"And when you and I were gathering information, not many people knew about this, if Yan Fan told people this story every day, shouldn't everyone know about it?"

Cao Hanyan shook his head and sighed.

"Brother Yin is right, but he ignored one point."

"Do you remember the missing caravan? Do you remember what the lord said just now about why Yan Fan chose us?"

Yin Suqin was stunned.

Cao Hanyan continued.

"Yan Fan certainly couldn't tell the whole story, that would soon attract the murderer. So the story he made up must have been edited quite a bit, mentioning it vaguely, which is why it didn't attract the murderer."

"But he would choose some people to tell more."

"Like you and me, like that caravan."

Cao Hanyan pursed his lips and said.

"Traveling merchants usually hire Wu Lin people as guards, otherwise they wouldn't get very far before being robbed by bandits. Which means there must have been Wu Lin people in that caravan that disappeared in the righteous cemetery."

"I think they didn't accidentally wander into the righteous cemetery, but knew some information from Yan Fan and went to investigate on purpose."

"The basis is this flower."

Cao Hanyan held up the beeswax in his hand.

"This Seven-Star Begonia petal is missing two petals."

"It just corresponds to that caravan and our two groups of people."

He said slowly.

"Yan Fan was just an ordinary commoner, he had never experienced Wu Lin matters, and he had no way to judge whether the people in front of him had the ability to find out the truth."

"So over the years, he only told this matter to two groups of people."

"I guess every time he told others about the matter, he would take out this love token Xue Bangzhu gave him, grind off a petal, and soak it in tea."

"Just now the lord said this Seven-Star Begonia is not easy to preserve, but it was preserved in this beeswax. After he changed his clothes and washed clean, he would sit on this kang and sit with this cup of poisonous tea all night."

"If someone could get close to the truth, the murderer would come to kill him, and he would drink this cup of poisonous tea before the murderer could act."

"At the same time, the scent emitted from his body would also cover up the scent of the Seven-Star Begonia in the beeswax."

"When the person who discovered the truth realized something was wrong and turned back to find him, they would discover this piece of beeswax—which is the clue he left behind with his own life."

"If we didn't know about Yingzhou and Penglai, by following this Seven-Star Begonia, we could trace Xue Bangzhu's origin."

Yin Suqin frowned.

"This is too unstable."

"What if the murderer caught the person who went to investigate and forced them? What if the person who came didn't notice this beeswax at all?"

"Besides, people from Yingzhou also have this Seven-Star Begonia, right? If the person who came traced it to Yingzhou, wouldn't that be walking into a tiger's den?"

Cao Hanyan shook his head.

"No, Brother Yin, we are people who practice martial arts, and we stand by Lord Li, so of course we can talk without feeling the pain."

"But we cannot demand more from Yan Fan."

He looked at the corpse lying on the kang and sighed.

"After all, he didn't marry Xue Bangzhu, Xue Bangzhu wouldn't tell him everything, he probably only heard a few words about these things."

"He didn't know Wu Gong, he had no way to judge who was stronger, the murderer or us. He was just an ordinary person who knew the truth but was powerless to resist, who knew where his lover's corpse was hidden, but didn't dare to get close."

"As an ordinary commoner, as an old man who didn't know Wu Gong, as a person who had never walked the Wu Lin..."

"He had no right to hope for stability."