The Mysterious Case of the Young Detective

  "Teacher Lin, may I ask you a few questions?" Gu Jie asked as soon as he entered the door and found Lin Jingran sitting in the corner.

  "Is it you?" Lin Jingran raised his head and smiled at everyone, "No problem, young detectives."

  "Lin's teacher's watch looks pretty good, where did you buy it?"

  "What are you talking about? Ouyang Xi's forehead was sweating profusely, and he glanced at Nan Ruoxuan beside him. The other person's expression was similar to his own, and he couldn't help but shake his head in dismay."

  Wait? A watch? It wasn't until Ou Yang Xiu thought about it again that he noticed Lin Jing Ran was wearing a relatively new watch on his wrist. However, one of the buckles on the watch strap had a slight scratch mark, and the strap also had the letters "2JR" written in black carbon pen.

  Finally, I've found the evidence! A smile from the heart appeared on Ouyang Xiu's face. So that's how it was. No wonder Zheng Hanfei found the answer and lost. I didn't expect that I wouldn't even notice such a subtle expression.

  "This watch," Lin Jingran lifted her wrist and looked at the watch, saying slowly, "was a gift from A Liang, but I didn't think he would..."

  Before she could finish speaking, Lin Jingran burst into loud sobs, her hands covering her eyes. The sound was heart-wrenching, as if she had fallen into a sea of sorrow and couldn't escape for a long time. Nan Ruoxuan's eyes also became moist, but Gu Zhe stared at the other person without any emotional fluctuations.

  "Sorry, I lost my composure." After a long while, Lin Jingran wiped away her tears, "Do you have anything else to ask?"

  "Hehe." Gu Jie chuckled a few times, "I should be the one apologizing, making you recall bitter memories again."

  "It doesn't matter." Lin Jingyan shook his head and smiled, but the sadness in his eyes didn't decrease at all.

  "Alright then, let me ask you another question. Do you have any sisters or brothers?"

  "No, I'm an only child, but I have a cousin who lives in the countryside far away. What does this have to do with the case?"

  "No." After saying that, Gu Jie turned around and walked out of the room, with Nan Ruoxuan and Ouyang Xiu following closely behind. The only one left in the room was Lin Jingran, whose face was gloomy, lost in thought...

  "I didn't expect Teacher Lin to cry so desperately, did we make a mistake? Is Li He the real culprit?" Nan Ruo Xuan suddenly spoke up on their way back, her moist eyes indicating that she was clearly moved by Lin Jingran's tears.

  "No! She must be the murderer!" Gu Jue and Ouyang Xiuzi chimed in unison, immediately followed by a burst of laughter as they exchanged a knowing glance.

  "Why are you so sure Lin Jingran is the murderer?" asked Ouyang Xiu.

  "It's because of her expression," Gu Ge said, "A husband has died, it's normal to be sad, but her sadness is a bit excessive."

  "What's so special about that? That's just the power of love." Nan Ruo Xun sneered, retorting.

  "Really?" Gu Jie raised an eyebrow, a hint of a playful smile at the corner of his mouth. "Then let me ask you, which one is more heart-wrenching, the death of your loved one or that of your biological parents?"

  "Of course it's more heartbreaking when biological parents die." Nan Ruo Xun said matter-of-factly.

  "Kerlin's grief was even more severe than the death of her biological parents, do you think this is also the power of love? Is that what you're trying to say, Gu Jie?" Ouyang Xiu suddenly spoke up.

  "That's right!" Gu Ge winked at him.

  "This..." Nan Ruo Xun was suddenly speechless, thinking hard for a while, but still couldn't think of a reason to refute the sentence, and could only hum in anger, no longer paying attention to the two.

  "I didn't expect Ouyang Xiu to be a psychologist too." Gu Jie ignored Nan Ruoxuan and asked Ouyang Xiu instead.

  "It's just that I've read it before, compared to you, it's just a drop in the ocean."

  "It's too much, too much." Gu Jie blushed and scratched his cheek, "By the way, I can ask you, why are you so sure that Lin Jingran is the murderer?"

  "Heh heh." Ou Yang Xi smiled mysteriously. "Because I already have evidence, evidence that proves she is the murderer."

  "What?!" Nan Ruo Xun exclaimed in surprise, "Have you solved the mystery of the secret room?"

  "It's almost done. Just need to verify two more things."

  As expected! We can't compare to him at all! Gu Jie looked at Ouyang Xiu, thinking in his heart that he was Xiao Fei's acknowledged opponent, and they didn't have a single chance of winning.

  "I recall that I seemed to have given Zheng Hanfei two chances to hint at you, but he only used one, right?" Ou Yang Xiu suddenly said, as if remembering something.

  "What's it to you?" Nan Ruo Xun said with a huff.

  "Alright then, I'll give you a hint. Don't thank me too much!"

  "We don't need your charity!"

  "Don't be too proud of yourselves!" Ouyang Xiuzheng said in a loud voice, "You've done very well! This isn't your fault, but the murderer is too cunning. So, accepting some hints is just to point you in the right direction. As for the path, it's still up to you to walk it yourself. How about it? Do you want my hint or not? There's still half of the allotted time left, so think carefully!"

  "We accept!"

  "What? Why did you agree!" Nan Ruo Xun accused Gu Zhe, saying angrily, "This is humiliating yourself to others!"

  "Xiao Xun! Ouyang Xiucheng once said that this is not a test, but a real life and death case. He changed it to a test because of Mian Huan's face, so let's solve it as soon as possible."

  Nan Ruo Xun fell silent for a moment, and finally, she compromised, just as Gu Zhe said. For the sake of Qu Meng Huan's face, she had to do so, otherwise, the newly established good relationship might shatter again.

  "I'll only tell you this, Lin Jingran's watch strap has 2JR written on it, and the buckle has a slight scratch mark." With that, Ouyang Xiu quickly walked away from them to investigate what he had just said.

  "JR? Is it an abbreviation of Lin's teacher name? But what does the '2' in front mean? Does it represent two people or two JR...?" Nan Ruo Xun muttered to herself.

  Two JR? Could it be... At this time, Kujou thought of a possibility and hastily asked: "Kasumi, did Lin-sensei appear after we discovered the body?"

  "Yes." Nan Ruo Xun replied, thinking to herself isn't this a case of asking what one already knows?

  "Was it at that time when Ouyang Xiu, Wan'er and Teacher Li went upstairs?"

  "Really... Are you saying that?" At this, Nan Ruo Xun stared at Gu Zhe with wide eyes and said in a disbelieving tone, "Impossible, it's impossible. Who would use such a foolish method? The risk is too great!"

  "It's because we're stupid that we didn't think of it!" Gu Zhe said with a loud voice, "We've all been deceived! How hateful, we had solved this trick before, but I didn't expect to forget so quickly!"

  "In that case, what Ouyang Xiū needs to investigate..."

  "That's right, it's evidence! We've already cracked the mystery of the locked room, all we need now is proof that Lin teacher is the murderer."

  "I think she's roughly forgotten about that." Nan Ruo Xun pinched her chin, "Zhou Zheng Tan said before, the other party was an impulsive crime, the murderer must have forgotten this point in the midst of tension, and she should have also forgotten this point."

  "Yes! Let's go verify it." After finishing speaking, Gu Jie and Nan Ruoxuan quickly ran to Zhou Zheng's face, asked two questions. To this, Zhou Zheng was only slightly surprised, then said out the answers they wanted.

  After hearing Zhou Zheng's words, the two of them exchanged a glance, and it seemed that the evidence they wanted had appeared, and all that was left was to reveal the truth.

  ……

  Huh? Where am I?

  Zheng Hanfei slowly opened his eyes, the white ceiling, brown walls matched with exquisite windows, immediately made him understand where he was.

  "I didn't think you'd actually bring me back to the detective agency." Zheng Hanfei said with some helplessness.

  "What should we do?" Qu Menghan said, "Are you going to abandon him there and ignore him?"

  "But will it be in time?" Zheng Hanfei glanced at the clock. "I don't know how Ou Yangxiu, Xiao Jie and Xiao Xun are doing."

  "Don't worry. Xiū just told me a moment ago that he has found the real culprit, and he treated this murder case as the third test for Xiao Jie and Xiao Xī, and they both found the answer."

  "Really." Qu Menghan's words seemed like a reassurance, and Zheng Hanfei let out a sigh of relief.

  "By the way, how did you find out who the murderer was before Ou Yang Xiu? I heard his tone, it sounded very defeated, as if he had given up." Chu Meng Huan was extremely curious about this point, after all, making Ou Yang Xiu admit defeat voluntarily wasn't an easy thing to do.

  "It's just luck," Zheng Hanfei said. "If I hadn't personally experienced it before, I might have been fooled by the murderer like him."

  "Is it because the murderer was too cunning?"

  "It can be said that way. But the main thing is that we thought the secret room was too complicated." As he spoke, Zheng Hanfei looked out the window and thought to himself, The reasoning show on the other side should have started by now, right?