Jin Fugui had disappeared?
The ten people poured out of the house, still shocked. “Where could Jin Fugui have gone?”
The servant hurriedly replied, “After master went to bed in his room, we waited outside. Since master usually has a habit of getting up early, we knocked on his door at the according time, but didn’t hear an answer. After we pushed open the door and entered, we found that he was not in the room. In fact, his blankets were cold.”
Yu Fenglin shouted, “Didn’t we say that there should be five per group? Why weren’t you all together in the same room?”
The servant said timidly, “We are all servants of the Jin family. How could we possibly live in the same room as master? Even if we wanted, master wouldn’t let us.”
Hearing this, Su Yunkai realized that he had been negligent. He hadn’t expected Jin Fugui to attach so much importance to status that he would even put his own life at risk. How idiotic.
One of them seemed to think of something and said, “Last night, the master kept on yelling about heading down the mountain and looking at the exit. After a couple yells, we thought he slept. My lord, do you think our master has gone down the mountain by himself?”
Su Yunkai had no way to determine the whereabouts of Jin Fugui. It wasn’t necessarily impossible for him to have gone to the exit. However, if he wanted to leave, why didn’t he bring his servants? Being alone in the middle of the night would likely bring more misfortune than fortune. “I’ll go to his room to have a look. Call other people to look for him. And…” He turned to Yu Fenglin and said, “Once you’ve summoned everyone, please check and see if any left their group.”
So far, Yu Fenglin didn’t mind being ordered around by Su Yunkai. Now that there was a homicide, he could only trust Su Yunkai. Furthermore, he wasn’t even sure if he could make it down the mountain alive. Who knew if he too had offended the murderer before?
“Leave it to me, Lord So. You can go ahead.”
Su Yunkai thought about it and said, “Ming Yue, Qin Fang, Bai Shui, come with me.”
The three already had the intention of following Su Yunkai. Hearing these words, they instantly went with him as he entered Jin Fugui’s room. Yu Fenglin led the others to go around and get more people to help find Jin Fugui.
Jin Fugui’s room was the same one he lived in the day before. The open window was still fixed firmly in front of the window with a hook. Judging by the turn of the blanket, Jin Fugui had naturally flipped them off.
Qin Fang circled around the room a couple more times and then said, “Brother-in-law, do you think he really went down the mountain?”
“Probably not . . . his luggage is still here.”
“For a rich man like him, leaving behind luggage is no big deal.”
Su Yunkai still doubted that Jin Fugui had gone to the exit passageway. Jin Fugui was not stupid. He knew that Bai Shui had said that the passageway was narrow and that it could only accommodate petite people. Moreover, why would he go there in the dark?
Ming Yue’s ability to investigate the scene was quite weak. After looking for a long time, she still couldn’t find any clues. However, she did see a slightly strange scratch on the bed column. “Was all the furniture here newly purchased?”
Qin Fang nodded. “Yes, that’s what Shen Wei said. Considering his background, it’s quite believable.”
“Then there shouldn’t be scratches here. I remember that when this type of furniture is bought, the shopkeeper will often use thick cloth or paper as packaging. That way, the furniture isn’t scratched during transportation. Furthermore, since this mountain is so high, the shopkeeper would probably take even greater care while wrapping.”
Su Yunkai also went to examine the scratch. The marks weren’t obvious, but what Ming Yue had said was reasonable. There were also hints of a silvery color in the dent. Su Yunkai rubbed off some and realized it was silver. But why would a bed pillar have traces of broken silver?
“My lord…” Panting, a man came running. His face was pale as he gasped, “We have found our master. He is indeed at the passage down the mountain.”
Su Yunkai paused. Had he guessed wrong?
*
Jin Fugui was dead.
The cold mountain wind whistled through the small passageway, blowing over Jin Fugui’s cold body.
He was still wearing his bedclothes, which were a mess. His uncombed hair was strewn about his face, covered with mud and moss. He looked ragged and unkempt, much different from his usual bright and tidy appearance.
He was lying on the ground, head facing the exit. It seemed as if he had tried to make his way to the exit in the moments before he died, expending the last of his energy while doing so. Ultimately, he had failed to reach the exit before dying. The onlookers despaired. All hope was gone and they could not bear to see any more of this.
Ming Yue brushed the hair from Jin Fugui’s face. His eyes were tightly closed, but the lines of his face weren’t strained. It seemed that he had died peacefully. Ming Yue frowned. That was very abnormal. She continued her usual perusal from head to toe. Once she reached the nose, she noticed that it was slightly moist. There was a light green liquid. Ming Yue frowned. She opened his mouth to take a look and saw the same thing.
Su Yunkai asked, “What is it?”
“I’m not sure. This liquid is in his mouth and nose, but not in other places. Moreover, he clearly died of a heavy fall, but his face was painless and even peaceful. I think…he was likely drugged.”
Hearing this, Su Yunkai immediately went to check Jin Fugui’s shoes. One of his shoes had fallen off. The other shoe was removed easily. He flipped them over to look at the soles and confirmed Ming Yue’s theory. “The terrain here is steep. Because there is water, there is moss. If he really walked all this way, the soles should be stained with moss, but the soles are clean.”
Mingyue pondered this for a moment. Then, she said, “His hands are also clean. If a person falls down, they will try to find something to grab onto. Their hands will definitely have stains, but his hands are very clean. In other words, he was not going down the mountain. Rather, he was carried here and pushed down while he was unconscious. This can explain why his clothes were messy, but his shoes and hands are clean.”
Su Yunkai agreed with this point and added, “Jin Fugui usually cares about whether his clothes are neat. Even when he heard about the homicide on the first day, he was not impatient and got dressed with care. If he really wanted to go down the mountain, he would never have been in such a hurry.”
Thus, Jin Fugui had been murdered as well. He was rendered unconscious and then brought here.
“But why did the murderer go to that much effort to bring him here?” Ming Yue’s eyebrows were still tightly wrung together. “The murderer is calm and intelligent. They should know that moving Jin Fugui here would take extra time and trouble. With so many flaws in the cover up, the murderer probably never had any intention of misleading us into thinking that this was an accidental death.”
Su Yunkai also didn’t know the answer. The murderer was cunning and clever. Even after two successive deaths, Su Yunkai still had no clues to the perpetrator’s identity. However, in such a small place, he should be able to find more flaws. Exactly how much planning had the murderer conducted to be able to erase all the evidence so effectively?
*
Yu Fenglin had gathered and counted all the people. Now, he sent someone to call Su Yunkai over.
Ming Yue was still performing the autopsy, so Su Yunkai let someone go to inform the others to wait for a moment. When Ming Yue flipped over Jin Fugui’s huge body, a puppet was also turned over. The sudden appearance of the human-like doll startled Ming Yue.
Su Yunkai hastily stepped forward to stabilize her. The puppet was covered in blood. Remembering the previous experience that involved the appearance of a puppet, Su Yunkai made sure to observe the surroundings carefully first. After making sure nothing was there, he picked up the puppet.
The puppet was still covered with blood. In the dark of night, its dazed features made it look like a real person who had died. As per usual, the limbs were all broken, as though someone had twisted them off.
Ming Yue whispered. “Is this the same puppet as last time?”
“No. The other one is still in my room and the clothes on its body are different.”
Thinking of clothes, Su Yunkai remembered that puppet’s robes last time had been made of a rough cloth that was a light yellow color. The robes seemed to have been made by an amateur. This time, the puppet was wearing a blue flower dress in a popular style amongst young women.
Su Yunkai didn’t speak. His gaze fell back to Jin Fugui. Suddenly, Su Yunkai stood abruptly. “Ming Yue, what was the troupe leader’s posture when he died?”
Ming Yue thought about it. Then, the color of her face instantly changed. She realized that Yu Xianghong’s posture at death had been nearly the exact same as Jin Fugui’s. Their heads were all facing the exit and they looked as if they were climbing to escape. Furthermore, they had died while expressing some semblance of hope.
Ming Yue was surprised. “The murderer is the same person? But the murderer was so cruel to the troupe leader. Compared to his death, this is much lighter.”
“The perpetrator probably didn’t have time. Now that everyone has to be in groups of five, the murderer will be more restricted.”
“But if there was no time, how come the murderer bothered to place him in such a position and even put another puppet here?”
“The murderer is filled with hatred and obsession. People like this usually don’t kill on impulse.” Based on his experience, Su Yunkai knew that the murderer hadn’t come for just one person. The murderer might even end up killing more people!
The small mountaintop contained a sharp-minded and level-headed murderer hiding in the shadows. Su Yunkai felt that there would be a third victim if he didn’t stop the murderer instantly.
“Ming Yue, let’s go back to the villa and see who left their group last night.”
.
A Hint of Spring 