Cool breeze carries messages, autumn moon has no bounds

  "What? Could that young lady be the murderer? Was it a crime of passion?" Ling Ding rubbed his fists together, "Do you want me to continue investigating?"

  Yan Sanbai shook his head, "No need, that young lady won't be the murderer."

  "Huh? Why would the murderer use that young lady's handkerchief?"

  "That's evidence of the dead man's guilt." Yan Sanbai narrowed his eyes and turned around to continue walking towards the Shallow Crimson Building.

  Ling Ding rubbed his head in confusion, but curiosity got the better of him. He decided not to return to the Wang Manor and instead followed quickly after.

  When they arrived in front of the Shallow Red Building, Yan Sanbai suddenly stopped again, and Lin Ding almost crashed into his back.

  "What's wrong?" Ling asked.

  Yan Sanbai turned around seriously and said: "I'll enter from the second floor, you attract attention from the front door."

  As he spoke, he patted Ling's shoulder and ran off with a flicker of his sleeve. Ling stared at the fleeting figure that leapt up at the corner ahead, agape for a long while in silence - he had thought... only the young master of his household would treat him like this.

  Alas, never mind, anyway I'm used to being taken advantage of. With this thought in mind, Zero entered the Seiran building from the main entrance with a great sense of self-sacrifice for others.

  But nobody paid attention to him.

  Everyone is too familiar with this face of his, and it's not very distinctive. The little brother who was serving tea turned around and saw him, and just let out a "hey".

  Zero Ting: “………”

  Yan Sanbai successfully evaded everyone's line of sight and entered the building, silently making his way to the fourth floor. In the Shallow Red Building, the more popular a girl was, the higher she lived, with Qin Sang on the top floor and Qiu Chan just below her. It was said that many guests liked her sharp tongue.

  Yan San Bai thought, this is indeed a strange hobby.

  "Knock, knock."

  "Please come in." The room quickly responded, Yan Sanbai pushed the door and went in, and saw Qiuchan sitting alone at the table, with a plate of melon seeds and two cups of steaming tea on it.

  The autumn cicada smiled and looked over, stretching out her hand, "Young Master Yan, please sit down."

  Yan Sanbai sat down and looked at the tea cup pushed in front of him. "You knew I'd come?"

  "Yes, you suspect me, sooner or later you will come looking for me."

  "Ordinary murderers wouldn't be as calm and collected as you are."

  The cicada chuckled lightly, "Can't this dispel your doubts?"

  Yan Sanbai shook his head, "No way, Autumn Cicada young lady, if you're the murderer, then you wouldn't be an ordinary one."

  Upon hearing this, Autumn Cicada covered her mouth and laughed happily, "Young Master Yan, your words are indeed sweet. I'll take it as a compliment."

  "Miss Qiūzhī, can you recall whether anyone had contact with Miss Qínsāng in the month or so before her death?"

  "Within a month? That's the king's decree." Autumn Cicada replied without hesitation.

  "No, apart from Wang Ye, is there anyone else? Not directly in contact with her either." Yan Sanbai asked patiently.

  Autumn cicada furrowed her brow and thought for a moment, "Then there's only that good friend of Little Moon's left. He's come over a few times, but this guy has thin skin and doesn't dare enter this place of flowers and wine. They always meet at the back door. I think he's got a thief's heart but not a thief's courage, pretending to be upright."

  "Is there anyone else besides him? For example, Jia Le."

  "Huh, you're talking about Jiale? He didn't come early." Qiu Cui smiled and said: "Qin sister instructed not to let him in. The fallen flowers have a purpose, but the flowing water is ruthless. It's good that he didn't come. If he missed his imperial examination due to us, Governor Shi would still find us to settle the score."

  Yan Sanbai carefully observed her expression and asked: "Miss, can you martial arts?"

  Autumn Cicada blinked: "Yes, I'm good at lightness kung fu, Young Master Yan, do you want to compete with me?"

  Yan Sanbai smiled and cupped his hands together, "There's no need for that, I still have business to attend to, so I'll take my leave."

  The cicada saw him off at the gate, leaning against the door and laughing, "You're also too lacking in sentiment, young master."

  Yan Sanbai could only rub his nose.

  Ling Ding waited at the door, and when Yan Sanbai came out, he hurried to greet him. His attitude was more diligent than his master's. Since childhood, his dream had been to become a heroic swordsman like Yan Sanbai, so he insisted on calling Yan Sanbai "Yan the Great Hero".

  "Yan Dashao, where are we going now?"

  "Do you know the local green skin?" Yan Sanbai suddenly asked.

  Ling Dian was taken aback and said: "Of course, when the king first came to Luoyang, he had a big falling out with them. Now they all call the king 'Great God'."

  "Great God?" Yan San's rare expression of confusion appeared.

  "Originally, it was called Grandfather, but if so, wouldn't they have taken advantage of the imperial family for nothing?" Ling Ding said: "Yan Daxia, if you have something to do with them, just report our King Wang's name."

  Yan Sanbai suppressed a smile, "It's also good this way, you help me with something. Ask them to find Jia Le secretly, but don't make any noise after finding him. By the way, while searching, let them spread the news that Jia Le has also been killed."

  "Are you going to set up another trap like last time with Lu Ling?"

  "The formation is not even worth mentioning, it's just looking for a breakthrough point, this is called 'a soldier never tires of deceit'."

  Ling Ding tilted his head, thinking for a moment, this sentence is so familiar, it seems to have been heard somewhere before. However, he couldn't think of it for the time being and didn't think about it anymore. He said excitedly: "Then I'll go and do it right away!"

  The local rascals are the ones who can penetrate deepest into every nook and cranny of the streets, they can turn into tiny droplets of water and seep into this great river of Luoyang.

  The street vendors were still shouting and sharing the latest gossip, while the guests in the teahouse were engaged in lively discussions, having moved on from the death of the courtesan to the current state of the imperial court. However, as soon as a leaf fell from the trees by the street, eyes met, shoulders brushed, and new rumors began to spread.

  Yan Sanbai returned to the Wang Mansion, washed up and went to sleep. Whether lies can be exposed by other lies will perhaps be revealed after the sun rises tomorrow.

  Returning to the Wang Fu, Ah Meng was standing at the door waiting, with his hands tucked into his sleeves like an old public official. "Yan Gongzi, you've finally returned, come in quickly, the Wang Ye has already bathed and changed clothes, and is just waiting for you to have dinner together."

  Take a bath and change clothes? Yan Sanbai followed him in, winding around a large front yard, before entering the hall where meals were served. At first glance, when he saw the person standing inside, Yan Sanbai almost didn't recognize them.

  That man was very tall, with a slender build, wearing a perfectly tailored black suit, with bright red piping, and his waist-length black hair fell down and scattered over his shoulders, looking damp. He was examining the dishes on the table, with one hand behind his back and the other holding a white ceramic spoon to scoop up the soup, and the hand holding the spoon, adorned with a black jade ring, was even whiter than the porcelain.

  Suddenly, he heard footsteps and turned around to ask with a smile: "Why don't you come in?"

  Yan Sanbai still saw Li Ye wear something other than a big red for the first time, black couldn't cover his elegant demeanor, but also highlighted a few points of dignity.

  "I really can't bear it anymore, so I'll go take a bath first. Brother Yan won't mind if I join you for dinner like this, will he?" Li Ye asked.

  "Please, Your Highness, do as you like." As a guest, Yan Sanbai wouldn't mind whether Li Ye was disheveled or not, and... to be honest, with her hair down and the temples slightly damp, she truly lived up to the title of "beauty", no wonder those paintings sold so well.

  After dinner, Yan Sanbai was about to go to sleep. He didn't sleep well this morning and wasn't feeling great at the moment. However, Li Ye stopped him, her starry eyes looking at him, "Will you keep me company for a few drinks?"

  Yan Sanbai is a typical person who doesn't know how to refuse, and by the time he turns around, it's already too late. So when he wants to sternly refuse, he has already sat down with Li Yan in the pavilion on the lake, drinking and admiring the moon.

  Of course, Yan Sanbai still refused to drink, and Li Yan didn't force him. He was a man who enjoyed wine and music, and with beautiful women by his side, life was truly enjoyable.

  Li Yan casually picked up a tune, following his mood, but the carefree sound of the piano from back then also had a hint of melancholy tonight. The melody was incomplete, just some fragmented notes, like shooting stars flashing through Li Yan's mind, and then without any embellishment, flowed out from his fingertips. Just as he was still grieving over the loss of a friend, he remained himself, still carefree, but it seemed like something was stuck in his heart, unexpressed, unrelieved.

  He suddenly stopped and gently pressed the strings to calm down, saying: "Ling Ding said you asked him to find Qingpi, but did he get any clues?"

  "It's not a clue, just some speculation." Yan Sanbai said: "Your Highness, have you ever thought that although Qin Sang's top floor is not often stepped on, if there is any movement, the people downstairs must be able to hear it. But until she fell from the building and died, no one in the building found anything wrong, and Qin Sang didn't make any cry for help, and those 108 candles, burning them would take a considerable amount of time, so it can be seen——"

  "The person who killed her is likely to be someone she knew."

  Yan Sanbai nodded, "So I let Qingpi spread the false news of Jiale's death to see how the murderer would react. As you said, Jiale is a sentimental person, although he had contact with Qin Sang girl, but shouldn't be classified as a heartless man. The murderer heard that someone was dead, but it wasn't his own doing, and couldn't help but make wild guesses."

  Li Yan stroked his chin and asked: "Won't the murderer kill Jia Le as well?"

  Yan Sanbai shook his head, "Let's not talk about whether he can find Jia Le or not, he has no reason to kill him."

  "Why?" Li Yan didn't think that such a ruthless and sinister culprit would spare a life.

  "There is no evidence." Yan Sanbai's tone was very certain, "He is now following the curse written in the script, killing the scoundrel, taking his heart, if he killed Jia Le who wasn't a scoundrel, wouldn't that be hitting his own foot with the stone he picked up?"

  "Is Cheng Rui's handkerchief his evidence of guilt?"

  "Hmm, actually his crime is the same as Li Qian's. He is on good terms with Qin Sang, but also secretly communicates with a young lady from another family. Just like Li Qian appears to be an honest man, yet he associates with courtesans and has a wife at home. For ordinary courtesan girls, this wouldn't be anything unusual, but Qin Sang is different. Her infatuation with Dong Lang has already reached the bone marrow. She yearns for a man who values emotions and righteousness like in books, so she is extremely disappointed in Cheng Rui and Li Qian."

  "Indeed, if it were Qin Sang, even in death, she would not share a man with another woman." Li Yan smiled again and spoke to Yan Sanbai in a slow and gentle tone that could calm the anxiety in one's heart.

  He stood up, "It's late too, go back to sleep."

  Yan Sanbai was indeed tired, just about to get up, but unexpectedly Yan Sanbai walked over and suddenly had a strange idea, reached out and touched his head, "Do a good job investigating the case, catch the murderer, and I'll invite you to Yanyang Building for a good meal."

  Yan San Bai: "......"

  Actually, I'm not greedy at all.

  The author has something to say: I'm used to writing articles that are as smooth as a piece of watermelon rind, but when it comes to writing detective stories, I still get stuck...

  PS: As this is a reasoning article, I always don't know how to respond to comments, afraid that accidentally revealing something. After all, the masses' eyes are sharp. So, for comments, let's wait until the mystery is solved before responding, and keep some suspense.

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