Decision

  Yuan Yi Qing turned around and saw Li Yan and Yan San Bai, so he bowed and said: "As a fellow student and good friend of Miao's, I was shocked to hear the news of his passing and couldn't help but rush over."

  "Yes, yes, I really can't think of why this would happen to Zhen. Your Highness, Yan Daxia, you must catch the murderer!" The others echoed in agreement, their expressions somber and shocked, without a hint of pretence.

  Yuan Yi Qing was able to call out Jia Le's courtesy name, and no one else found it strange, which showed that he really knew Jia Le well.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, please sit down and have a cup of tea first." Jia Qing sighed and said according to the previous agreement: "Meng Zhi's body was damaged too badly. I still want to clean him up and change into some clean clothes before taking everyone to see him."

  "Uncle's passing is a sad thing, but we can't be too hard on ourselves. You don't have to take it to heart." Yuan Yi Qing and the others all spoke up to comfort him, this time also just to show their respects, but in fact seeing him was also adding to his sorrow. Especially with Autumn Cicada still playing the pipa beside him, playing so mournfully that people almost wanted to cry.

  The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became very heavy, with some people's eyes reddening. Unable to bear it, they got up and bid farewell. The fellow students who came to visit also decided to leave, and Yuan Yiqing naturally followed suit.

  "Former prince, please wait a moment." Yan Sanbai called out to stop him.

  "Is there anything else, Young Master Yan? My father is still busy in the shop, and I need to go back and help." Yuan Yi Qing said.

  Yan Sanbai smiled and said, "A friend of the young master will arrive immediately. The young master may as well wait for a moment to chat with him about old times, wouldn't that be great?"

  "Friend?" Yuan Yi Qing slightly furrowed his brow, "May I ask who it is?"

  Yan Sanbai shook his head, "Young master will know soon."

  Yuan Yi's mind was clear and free from worries, but at this moment, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. Just then, Ling Ding had already walked to the door and said to the several scholars, "Gentlemen, please come this way."

  That Amun then walked up to Yuanyi Qing's face and said, "Hehe, don't be in a hurry, young master, please sit down for a while?"

  Yuanyi Qinglue Xian Wunai, Bian Zhihao Xian Zuoxia, Zhengge Ren De Qizhi Que Huan Wen Er Ya, Zuoxialai Ye Bu Jiao Bu Zuo, Bian Zheli Anjing De Dengzhe.

  Before long, Hui Neng arrived. The others did not recognize this young Sramanera, but Yuan Yi Qing was visibly startled when he saw Hui Neng.

  If he didn't guess wrong, Yan Sanbai's friend was none other than Huineng.

  Yan Sanbai sensed that the news he was waiting for would arrive soon, so he didn't let them wait any longer. He invited Li Ye to take a seat in the main position, then stood alone in the center of the hall, wearing white clothes as smooth as jade, with his eyebrows relaxed and calm, saying: "Today has been quite troublesome, wasting everyone's time. I'll tell you all a story to make up for it, how about that?"

  "Tell a story?" The autumn cicada stopped playing and leaned forward with interest, "What kind of story, young master? Do tell."

  Yan Sanbai slowly walked into the hall and began to tell the story in a gentle tone.

  The story begins on an early spring day, with a young girl who was born in a chaotic world, lonely and helpless. Due to her exceptionally beautiful appearance, she was coveted by others. As a result, she wandered aimlessly, clearly having done nothing wrong, yet unable to escape the fate of falling into the dust of society.

  She had been yearning for someone to rely on in her heart, but she met many men and found that they were not the ones she was destined to be with. She became increasingly lonely and sad, unable to extricate herself, so she went to the temple to seek solace from the Bodhisattva. It was then that she finally met the person she had been waiting for all along. He was a scholar who had just passed the imperial examination as a xiucai the year before and was in his prime.

  Yan Sanbai's tone was gentle and flat, with a sense of timelessness that quickly drew everyone into the story.

  The cicada couldn't help but taste a familiar flavor from the plot, and laughed as he interrupted, "Is this Butterfly Dream? Are you going to tell us about this?"

  Yan Sanbai smiled and didn't answer directly, instead asking back, "Do you really think I'm talking about a butterfly dream?"

  "What if not?" asked Qiū Chán with interest.

  "The old monk has died and become a new pagoda, the broken wall cannot see the old poem." Yan Sanbai said leisurely, "The girl saw this poem on the temple wall, and also saw the person who wrote this poem. This poem was written in Lingjue Temple outside the city, the one who saw this poem is Qin Sang, a young lady from Qianjiang Building, but who wrote it?"

  As he spoke, Yan Sanbai's gaze shifted to the right, passing over Yuan Yiqing and stopping on Hui Neng. "Yesterday, Master Hui Neng told me that Jia Le had been to the wall of the poem pavilion before, where he met Qin Sang. By this reasoning, it is highly likely that he wrote this poem."

  "Amitabha Buddha, I indeed said so." Hui Neng raised his palm in front of his chest and nodded.

  "Does a monk speak falsely?" asked Yan Sanbai.

  "A monk never speaks falsely." Hui Neng replied.

  "But there's one thing you didn't mention." Yan Sanbai said, without getting angry, but his gaze turned to Yuan Yiqing, "Young Master Yuan, your respected father's baozi shop sends several large boxes of vegetarian steamed buns to Lingjue Temple on the 15th of every month, is that true or not?"

  Yuanyi Qing's gentle expression finally solidified slightly, and he nodded.

  Yan Sanbai pressed on: "On that day when Qin Sang went to Ling Jue Temple, wasn't it exactly the fifteenth?"

  "Yes."

  "Was it you who delivered the package that day?"

  "Yes."

  "Was it Jia Lao who wrote poetry on the wall of the courtyard or was it you, Yuan Gongzi?"

  Yuanyi Qing was pressed by Yan Sanbai's continuous questioning, his heart had already been shaken greatly. Taking a deep breath, he finally nodded again, "......Yes. Is there anything else?"

  "No. I've read that poem, although it wasn't written by you, but the words look good, it must be a great work. This may have been something you wrote on a whim, but you wouldn't know how important this is to Qin Sang. She has always fantasized about Dong Lang from the book coming to find her, and perhaps such a man had indeed appeared in her life, and at that moment, your image overlapped with that man's. Qin Sang even personally admitted to Qiu Cui that her Dong Lang had finally come to find her, and that person was none other than you, Yuan Yi Qing. Hui Neng's words were half-hidden, which is a misdirection."

  Upon hearing this, Ling Ding and Jia Qing, who were watching from the side, couldn't help but reveal a look of astonishment. Even Hui Neng was slightly surprised.

  Autumn Cicada laughed and asked: "Young Master Yan, aren't you mistaken? Yuan Gongzi and Little Moon are the ones who are a match."

  Yan Sanbai didn't answer, but instead continued to ask: "Won't Young Master Yu give us an explanation?"

  Everyone looked at Yuan Yiqing, and Yuan Yiqing could no longer hide it. A hint of frankness appeared in his eyes as he said, "That's right, I did meet Qin Sang and Xiaoyue at the temple that day, and we had a pleasant conversation. However, every time we met after that, I was with Xiaoyue. Although she is just a maid and comes from a brothel, her demeanor and knowledge are in no way inferior to ours as scholars. I gradually developed admiration for her. So when Qin Sang showed interest in me not long ago, I flatly rejected her."

  He said, looking at Hui Neng again, "Hui Neng is my acquaintance, I don't want to make the two girls dislike each other because of this matter. Besides, Qin Sang is dead now, and spreading it out would be disadvantageous to Xiao Yue, so I asked him to keep it a secret for me. Please, Your Highness and Master Yan, do not blame him."

  "Tsk, tsk, you actually rejected the beautiful Qin sister and chose Little Moon instead. I don't know whether to praise you or...” Autumn Cicada trailed off, then suddenly thought of something else and asked with a hint of mockery: "Let me guess, are you afraid that Qin sister is unclean, or are you intimidated by the power of the Luoyang king?"

  Upon hearing this, Yuan Yiqing's expression changed in an instant. "A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated. Please, young lady, restrain yourself and do not speak rashly."

  The autumn cicada still smiled, "All crows under the sky are generally black, I've seen many people with a noble appearance, if Yuan Gongzi is upright and not afraid of his shadow being crooked, why should he be afraid of me, this worldly woman, speaking? As she spoke, she winked at Yan Sanbai again, "Of course, I'm not saying you, sir, you're still very white."

  "So you're referring to me?" Li Yan raised an eyebrow.

  "How could I dare? My humble home would never be so bold." Autumn Cicada said with a smile.

  That side, Yuan Yi Qing's complexion was still not very good-looking. He had always been careful with his reputation and indeed did not have any intention of looking down on Qin Sang. Being misunderstood by others for no reason, how could he feel good about it?

  He couldn't help but ask with a hint of anger: "Yan Gongzi, what exactly do you want to say?"

  Hui Neng saw his friend like this, and couldn't help but say: "Yan Gongzi, Yuan Xiong is absolutely not a vicious and evil person, he will never do anything that harms the heavens and violates reason."

  Yan Sanbai rubbed his nose, "But he didn't say that the murderer was Yuan Gongzi either."

  What's the point of saying all that?

  Everyone couldn't help but look at each other in dismay, and Yuan Yiqing was stunned, looking at Yan Sanbai in confusion. At this time, the news that Yan Sanbai had been waiting for finally arrived.

  An official hastily ran in, whispered a few words to him, and handed him a pen. Yan Sanbai took the pen in his hand, examined it carefully, and said, "Don't worry everyone, let's take a look at another issue first."

  "First of all, everyone must have already determined that Qin Sang's death was a homicide, not a suicide." Yan Sanbai said: "Actually, as I just mentioned, after waiting for so long, Dong Lang ruthlessly rejected her, and Qin Sang actually had every reason to commit suicide."

  "Ah... I see..." Ling Ding suddenly realized, "Qin Sang was rejected, and her love turned to hate, the curse and blood letter can be explained too. Could it be that she really committed suicide?"

  When he said that, Jia Qing and Hui Neng also nodded involuntarily. This made sense, so they looked at Yan Sanbai with inquiring eyes.

  Yan Sanbai said, "I once discussed with the prince that it's possible that the person who killed Qin Sang was someone close to her. And just now, an official told me that a few days ago, someone in Shallow Red Building bought several boxes of fish glue."

  "Fish glue?" Qi Che replied, "A few days ago, Jiuniang said that the couplets in the building had faded and re-pasted some new ones. Indeed, fish glue was used. What's strange about that?"

  "The blood characters outside the shallow red building were written with fish glue." Li Yan handed a cup of tea to Yan Sanbai and replied on his behalf: "Fish glue is transparent, and when written on the ground, it's not obvious. The place where Qin Sang fell from the building is also a place where people usually don't pass by, so no one noticed. And when Qin Sang fell from the building, the blood splattered everywhere, the fish glue stuck to the blood color, and the blood characters naturally appeared. That day was also rainy, and before long, the blood characters naturally disappeared without leaving any traces. If it weren't for our Yan Xia's keen sense of smell, we really wouldn't have noticed."

  "Who would have thought...?" Zero's mouth was agape. "I really thought it was a curse manifesting."

  The cicada's eyes lit up, "So it seems that Sister Qin didn't commit suicide, but was killed by someone in our building."

  "Qin Sang's daughter did not commit suicide." Yan Sanbai still insisted on this initial conclusion, "However, the blood characters and candles were all from her hands."

  What? Everyone looked at each other in dismay, confused by him once again. It wasn't a suicide, but he had lit candles and written with blood, was he waiting for someone to come and kill him?

  "Ling Ding, you can try to follow your previous conclusion and push it a bit further." Yan Sanbai suddenly looked at Ling Ding.

  Zero Ding was taken aback at first, then suddenly delighted, cleared his throat, and secretly clenched his fists, "My previous argument... Qin Sang loved to live with hatred?"

  "Not bad." Yan Sanbai nodded.

  Ling Dong scratched his chin and thought for a moment, suddenly enlightened, "Could it be like this! She loves to hate, isn't it either you die or I perish? She didn't commit suicide, then she must want to kill someone else!"

  At this one word, four seats were shocked, Huineng couldn't help but put his palms together and said "Amitabha".

  Qin Sang, who has always appeared as a victim, had actually harbored murderous intentions?!

  Everyone couldn't help but look at Yuan Yiqing, if Qin Sang wanted to kill someone, it was either him or Xiaoyue.

  However, Qiū Jiān raised an objection, "Why are you certain that the candle and blood letter were both done by Qín Jiě herself? The murderer could have used fish glue to write the words at night, then bound Qín Jiě when Xiǎo Yuè went out, not letting her make any sound, and then lit the candle.

  Yan Sanbai asked back: "The one who lights candles and uses fish glue to write words, is it the same person, right?"

  The autumn cicada nodded slightly, neither affirming nor denying.

  "That's it." Yan Sanbai took out the official pen that had been brought over, "This was found in Qin Sang's makeup box, and the tip of the pen has fish glue on it. Moreover, there are lip rouge marks on the pen body, which must have been accidentally stained while writing. The marks are intact, showing that this pen was not touched by anyone after finishing writing. And this lip rouge, I'd like to ask Your Highness to take a look."

  As he spoke, Yan Sanbai walked up to Li Ya and handed the pen over. But Li Ya didn't take it, instead leaned in close to sniff, his hair falling down and brushing against Yan Sanbai's wrist, tickling him.

  Li Yan quickly gave an answer, tapping his hand with a folding fan, saying: "Zi Xiang Tang, exclusively supplied to the royal family."

  Yan Sanbai finally withdrew his hand and scratched his wrist quietly, it was really a bit itchy.

  Zero Ding scratched his head, "Zi Xiang Tang?" Listening to it feels quite familiar. Li Yan looked at him and couldn't help but give him a folded fan, "Stupid, wasn't the Cheng Rui who was killed yesterday the young master of Zi Xiang Tang?"

  "Ah!" Ling Ding suddenly realized, "That's right! The royal lip color must have been given to her by Cheng Rui when he was on good terms with Qin Sang. No one else could get it!"

  Ammon let out another ambiguous "heh heh" and turned his head towards Yuan Yiqing.

  Yuan Yiqing had been silent all along, but his face changed completely at this moment. The whiteness was entirely different from Yan Sanbai's whiteness. His eyes also flashed a hint of pain and he began to dodge the gazes cast by others.

  Yan Sanbai looked straight into his eyes and took a few steps forward, "Prince Yuan, please tell me, Qin Sang who originally wanted to kill you, why did he end up dead? Was the murderer you or Xiaoyue, give me a choice."

  A fork in the road suddenly unfolded before Yuan Yi Qing's face.

  No one knows whether Yan Sanbai has any evidence to prove who the murderer is. How will Yuan Yiqing choose?

  The cicada on the side looked at it, and the smile on its face became more and more obvious - this play was really good to watch.

  The author has something to say: Haha, is it okay? Some details will be added later~

  And this case is far from over ~ everyone can continue to wildly guess ~

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