Just a few hours after the murder of the first victim, another homicide case had occurred. The originally uneasy crowd now felt further unsettled.
Dozens of people sat on the floor of the lobby. Thinking that any of the people around them could be the murderer, everyone felt terrified. Some people even wanted to try the passageway, but Yu Fenglin didn’t allow them. The crowd was angry, but they didn’t dare express their displeasure.
Su Yunkai felt the tense atmosphere as soon as he entered the hall. If he didn’t find the murderer quickly, he was afraid that even the Marquis of Pingxi’s status couldn’t stabilize these terrified people whose only desire was simply to leave this place alive. Once things were out of control, the collective rush to the narrow exit would only allow the murderer to escape.
He had asked Bai Shui and Qin Fang to guard and block the passage to prevent the murderer from fleeing. However, this was not a long-term solution. The priority was still to find the killer.
More than seventy people were sitting in the lobby. If they were interrogated individually, it would take too much time. Fortunately, everyone was in groups of five, which would save a lot of time.
Su Yunkai discussed this briefly with Yu Fenglin. Then, Yu Fenglin ordered everyone to line up for interrogation in the yard.
The first group to head out for interrogation was a group of acrobats. As they walked, they noticed that many candles were lit on the stone table of the pavilion in the distance. Lanterns had been placed on the ceiling and on the ground. From a distance, the pavilion looked like a huge, blinding lighthouse.
Su Yunkai sat at his desk. Seeing that five people were coming and that there weren’t enough seats, he didn’t invite them to sit down. Su Yunkai asked, “Where were you all in the morning from 5 AM to 7 AM?”
“My lord, we were all in the room at that time.”
“Did anyone ever leave?”
“No. We even went to the restrooms together.”
“……”
Su Yunkai asked about seven or eight questions. Since nothing seemed strange about their responses, Su Yunkai let them go. The people who came later were also asked similar questions. Even after questioning six or seven groups of people, no one seemed suspicious.
When another group of people left, Ming Yue couldn’t help saying, “Doesn’t that person understand drugs? If he knocked out all the people in the room, wouldn’t the other four be unaware of his departure?”
“Right now, everyone feels threatened. If they had gotten drugged, they would have realized. If you suddenly fell asleep and woke up confused, wouldn’t you be suspicious?”
Ming Yue understood. “Indeed, I would. If such a thing had happened, I would immediately expose it and not hide it.”
Su Yunkai nodded. The most puzzling point was the reason behind why those two victims had been chosen.
And what the broken puppets meant.
The only thing he could think of now was that they were both Shen Wei’s friends and that Shen Wei had also invited everyone to gather in the villa.
After asking these people, Su Yunkai also had to go ask Shen Wei what these people could have done that might’ve incurred someone’s wrath.
At this time, there was another group of people: Chen Da, the leader of the shadow puppet troupe; Yu Fan and Yu Qing, two brothers from the acrobatic troupe; and two others from the shadow puppet troupe.
Su Yunkai asked the same question as he had earlier, but the five people did not answer as quickly and smoothly as the other groups had. They even looked shifty. Standing to the side, Yu Fenglin immediately realized something was not right and shouted, “Who left the group?!”
The Marquis had a dignified aura and his voice was loud and powerful. The two acrobat brothers could not bear it anymore, so they burst out, “Chen Da. Troupe leader Chen left.”
Hearing this, Chen Da fell to his knees. “I just went to the bathroom. I didn’t kill anyone.”
The two apprentices with him looked at each other and didn’t dare say anything. Yu Fenglin said angrily, “Why didn’t you go with him? I said that all five people should always be together. Are you his accomplices?”
The word “accomplice” was really frightening. Yu Fan and Yu Qing were startled. Both of them knelt, horrified that they might be implicated. They spoke in a rush. “Troupe leader Chen got up in the middle of the night and said that he had eaten something bad. He said he was afraid it would stink, so he insisted that we should not follow him. We thought that Chen Da didn’t look like a murderer, so we didn’t follow. Both of his apprentices followed him.”
The two disciples trembled. “We are not his accomplices and our teacher has not killed anyone.”
With Yu Fenglin there, Su Yunkai used a good cop bad cop interrogation strategy. He spoke slowly and with intention. “Chen Da, where did you go from 5 AM to 7 AM?”
Chen Da hesitated for a moment. Realizing that the situation could not be kept secret, Chen Da said, “We wanted to go down the mountain…so we went to the tunnel.”
Su Yunkai paused. “You mean you were in the passage from 5 to 7?”
“Yes…” Chen Da was experienced. Upon hearing Su Yunkai’s question, Chen Da already guessed what he was going to ask next. In order to remove himself from further suspicion, he could only say honestly, “In fact, after we sneaked over there, we s-saw the murderer.”
“Who is it?” Yu Fenglin spat.
Chen Da looked around warily. He was drenched in cold sweat. “We didn’t see him clearly, but we saw that he was a man. At the time, Jin Fugui had already been pushed down, but we didn’t know if Jin Fugui was dead or not. It was too far away, so we didn’t dare to go there. I vaguely heard the man say ‘Xiu Xiu’ or something before he left.”
“Did the killer say anything else?”
“No. Perhaps he did, but I was too scared, and it was too far, so I didn’t hear.” Chen Da’s face was already ghostly pale. He took two steps forward on his knees and said in a trembling voice, “After telling you this, the murderer might kill me to silence me. Marquis, please accept me into your group. Otherwise, I might die.”
Yu Fenglin was not in the mood to take care of this person’s life. He already felt disgusted enough that he had to stay with four big men in one room. He was even more disgusted at the idea of living with a person of such lowly status, so he ignored Chen Da.
Chen Da knew that his status was low; his face turned ashen as he realized that he could not convince Yu Fenglin. Chen Da regretted his own pleas. Su Yunkai said, “You can stay with me until we get down the mountain.
Chen Da was overjoyed. He hurriedly kowtowed and expressed his thanks.
Su Yunkai turned to Yu Fan and Yu Qing and said, “Chen Da and his apprentices have no alibi. Similarly, neither do the two of you. No one knows where you two went after they left.”
The brothers were stunned and said, “What do you mean, my lord? Do you suspect that we are murderers?”
Su Yunkai frowned. “As I said before, until we find the killer, everyone is a suspect, including me. Until we find the murderer, you two, like troupe leader Chen, should also stay with me.”
The Yu brothers wanted to reject the proposal, but Su Yunkai was right. They could only accept it before moving away to the side.
After a while, Cui Xiu’s group came. Su Yunkai glanced a couple more times at Cui Xiu. He was wary of the man who had picked up the puppet doll at the broken bridge.
The other four people in Cui Xiu’s group were the performance troupe’s musician Zhao Kang, singer Qin Qin, and dancers Duan Lin and Yue An.
Su Yunkai asked, “Where were you all from 5 AM to 7 AM?”
“In our room,” replied Cui Xiu.
“Asleep?”
Qin Qin replied, “We originally wanted to sleep, but we were all so afraid that we chatted throughout the night.” After she spoke, she realized the implication behind her words and hastily amended, “We didn’t all lie together. The men were outside the curtain and us women were on the bed. We were a wide distance apart.”
Zhao Kang couldn’t help smiling and said, “I’ve been your fellow and your musician for four or five years. Are you three afraid that I might eat you or something?”
Duan Lin glanced at him timidly. Yue An was straightforward and said, “We are afraid. You two men muttering the whole night was so disruptive that we couldn’t even sleep.”
Cui Xiu said, “Do you want the lord to redistribute groups?”
Yue An did want the groups to be redistributed, but Qin Qin looked over and shook her head. Although the men were noisy, they weren’t dangerous. If they had to stay with other people, things might get worse. Moreover, having a few men around was safer than having five girls.
Su Yunkai asked a few more questions, but he didn’t find anything unusual, so he asked them to step down.
After interrogating all the people in the villa, he found that there were three suspicious groups. Su Yunkai questioned all three groups again for more details. In the end, only Chen Da’s group remained suspicious.
In a flash, it was already day.
Shen Wei was bone-weary. Seeing that Su Yunkai had stopped his questioning, Shen Wei wanted to go back and take a rest. Before he could leave the pavilion, he was stopped by Su Yunkai. “What else can I do for you, my lord?” Shen Wei asked.
Su Yunkai said, “I heard that Troupe Leader Yu was an artist raised by Mr. Shen a long time ago?”
Shen Wei replied, “Yes, I have several such teams, but this time I only brought one puppet troupe.”
Su Yunkai was surprised, “The other groups were not raised by Mr. Shen?”
“No, some were recommended by others. Some were invited.”
Su Yunkai suddenly felt that this response merited further careful questioning. Perhaps he could really find more clues from Shen Wei. “Has Mr. Shen heard of a girl named Xiu Xiu?”
Without even thinking, Shen Wei said, “That’s such a common name. Seriously, even if I knew such a girl, I wouldn’t remember her. Besides, we are businessmen. It’s common for us to have meals and drinks. It’s inevitable for us to call on some girls to cheer us up. There are seven or eight girls at a table at a time. Quite a few have that name.”
Upon hearing this, Ming Yue could not help but whisper, “How obscene!”
Su Yunkai was nearby and heard it. He coughed and said, “Troupe Leader Yu and Mr. Jin are both old friends of Lord Shen? When did you become friends? Hae they ever offended anyone so much that could cause people to take revenge through murder?”
Shen Wei twisted his eyebrows and thought about it. Suddenly, he realized the deeper meaning of Su Yunkai’s words. Shen Wei took a step back in shock. “Is the lord saying that…I’m one of the murderer’s targets?!”
.
A Hint of Spring 