Chapter 29

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Chapter 29:

Yan Qingze (Merchant), "The Dragon and Phoenix twins! It matches our clues!"

Pebble (Eunuch), "It seems these two cases are indeed related."

You Rurong (Coroner), "But the clue provided is just scratching the surface."

Zhong Zhiye (Cabinet Minister), "It feels like his main goal is to challenge the court’s ability to handle matters. Prime Minister Gu has been looking increasingly worried lately, repeatedly urging the Ministry of Justice to solve the cases."

Hongwu (Hanlin Academy Scholar), "Indeed, coupled with these highly provocative words, the emotions and curiosity of the common people will surely be stirred up. When that happens, unrest among the people and dissatisfaction with the court are inevitable."

Cheng Yingchu (Prostitute), "There’s one more thing. This person mentioned that some of the eighteen lives lost were prostitutes. That reminds me of a rumor that before Liu Yuming died, he had invited Li Chunzhou from the Spring Flowers Tower to his mansion. Li Chunzhou was the last person to see the deceased. I wonder if she knows anything?"

When Qi Leyuan saw that, he looked at Li Chunzhou.

Li Chunzhou innocently blinked her eyes and said, "I really don’t know. I’ve already told the authorities everything I can. I went to Shangshu Mansion because a prostitute who had left Spring Flowers Tower after turning over a new leaf died in a similar way to the headless corpse case. Minister Liu asked me to provide some clues for the case, so he invited me to his mansion, but then…"

Li Chunzhou looked down and said, "As soon as I arrived there, Liu Yuming started making advances towards me. So, I left shortly after. He was still alive when I left."

Qi Leyuan also thought that this case was obviously related to a murder and body dumping case from twenty years ago. Li Chunzhou wasn’t even born at that time, so how could she be involved in the case?

They continued reading on.

Kong Yangping (brothel security guard) said, "But she’s difficult to approach… Li Chunzhou’s status is a bit special. It seems like the madam never assigns anyone to watch her. In short, it’s very strange."

Young Master Bi said, "I tried to approach Li Chunzhou today, but I wasn’t successful. She is very cautious of others, and with the Second Prince backing her up, it’s probably difficult for us to do anything to her with our status."

Huang Yuanwu (merchant) asked, "Speaking of the Second Prince, how are things on your end? @Kong Jiao"

Kong Jiao (skinny horse) replied, "I haven’t been able to gather any information… This Second Prince is simply an unpredictable lunatic!"

Li Chunzhou squinted behind Qi Leyuan and thought to herself no wonder there are things happening around Liang Changfeng that I didn’t know about this time, it turns out the players are working together to place people next to Liang Changfeng.

Liang Jiayou (fisherman) said, "I have an idea, just a thought, no evidence, didn’t the killer just mention ‘to replace the identity of the deceased’? Is it possible that the person who was killed and dismembered in the past was not the student who went to the capital with Liu Yuming, but the real ‘Liu Yuming’? After the ‘student’ killed Liu Yuming, they switched identities and took over Liu Yuming’s position as an official…"

Gu Cai (merchant) responded, "Do you not find it funny to say these things? Apart from whether the two people look alike, wouldn’t their family recognize them?"

Liang Jiayou (fisherman) continued, "Wait, wait, didn’t the killer also mention that a year after the case happened, one of the twin girls drowned, and the wife died in a tragic accident, is it possible that they were silenced?"

Yan Qingze (merchant) asked, "Then where did the boy from the twins go?"

Liang Jiayou (fisherman) emphasized, "Here is the main point! My theory is that the boy hid for many years, finally avenged his father who was ungrateful and had abandoned his family for his future, he sought revenge for his mother and sister. Isn’t that reasonable?"

Gu Cai (merchant) questioned, "What about the motive? What was the purpose of the killer provoking the court in the letter? If you say the killer’s motive for murder back then was to become an official, how do you explain the numerous murders over the past twenty years? Addicted to killing? Furthermore, wouldn’t people around Liu Yuming notice if he was replaced?"

Shi Gu (beggar) chimed in, "Actually, I think Liang Jiayou’s speculation is plausible. This ‘Liu Yuming’ had a big reputation among the common people, mainly because the rumors related to the case spread widely, he could have continued to kill for self-promotion purposes, don’t be so quick to judge."

Zang Bing (Miss of the Zang family) suggested, "Could the first case involve three people? Liu Yuming and the student teamed up to kill another person, disguised the body as the ‘student’, then the real student went into hiding and secretly helped Liu Yuming gain notoriety by committing murders. Perhaps something went wrong between them, leading the killer to murder Liu Yuming and reveal his actions in recent years?"

Cheng Yingchu (prostitute), "Indeed, this killer knows too much about the case details. Even if he didn’t commit the murder, he must have a deeper connection to the matter than ordinary people."

Ji He (Ji family’s fifth young master), "Speaking of writing letters, since new letters appear every day, can’t we start investigating the sources of these letters?"

Zhong Zhiye (Cabinet Minister), "The strange thing about this is that the letters are delivered by pigeons every day, but these past two days, there are spies everywhere in Shengjing City, and no one keeps pigeons or releases them."

Lai Xiang (Queen), "What’s so strange about that?"

Linlang (maid), "The officials say the pigeons come from outside the capital city, but this person knows everything about what’s happening inside the city, such as the progress of the investigation and the thoughts of the people. How is that possible?"

Shi Gu (beggar), "It means either there’s a spy in the court, or this person’s mind is unfathomable, and they have predicted everyone’s reactions."

Hongwu (Hanlin Academy), "Wait, my thoughts are a bit scattered now. Can anyone summarize what we’ve just discussed?"

Wang Ruyu (Miss of the Wang family), "I got it! First, Li Chunzhou may know information related to the case; second, the whereabouts of the deceased’s son are unknown; third, the killer who murdered Liu Yuming could be the ‘deceased’ or the deceased’s son; fourth, the identity of the letter writer is mysterious."

Zhong Zhiye (Cabinet Minister), "Hold on, the files from Shunqing province have just been delivered. Since there are too many, I only glanced through the first scroll. There’s an interesting detail – Liu Yuming failed the imperial examination back then and did not pass, but the person ahead of him was the ‘deceased’ from twenty years ago! Because of a vacancy, Liu Yuming was added at the last minute."

Huang Yuanwu (merchant), "It really seems like Liu Yuming might be the murderer…"

Ying Rui (maid), "Help!"

A’ping (beggar), "What’s wrong, what’s wrong?"

Ying Rui (maid), "Someone has died in the palace…"

Shi Gu (beggar), "Just a person died, why make such a fuss? You young people are too easily panicked. No wonder there have been so many deaths in front of this Dungeon. They must all be inexperienced newcomers like you."

Ying Rui (maid), "The one who died is a player."

It was only at this moment that Qi Leyuan opened the member list and indeed saw that the number of people had already changed to 28.