Chapter 34: The Absent Murder Case (2)

  After calming down a bit, Lin Yuan continued: "If you want to fake the time of death, there are several simple ways," he paused and said: "Either feed someone anesthetic, tie them up on the balcony, and just wait for them to wake up and make a move to fall off. But this is not feasible, as the effect of fast-acting anesthetics usually lasts a long time, and they won't wake up quickly. The second method is coercion, but I couldn't think of anything that could be used to coerce my mother."

  Xia Zhu was stunned for a moment before reacting to Lin Yuan's calm tone, which was actually announcing his mother's death. His thoughts wandered aimlessly in a circle and finally condensed into two dry words: "Yuan, condolences."

  Lin Yuan's eyebrows and eyes sank, and after a while, he shook his head: "Nothing."

  Xia Zhu didn't know what he was talking about and could only follow him in silence.

  Lin Yuanxi drew on the board back and forth, suddenly opening his mouth to say: "If it's up to your intuition, who do you think is more suspicious?"

  Intuition? Xia Zhu furrowed her brow, asking somewhat puzzled: "Isn't intuition the most taboo in psychology?"

  Lin Yuanxiao smiled, his smile growing fainter, unable to discern any sincerity, but instead seemed more like mockery: "No..." His gaze fell far away: "Lin Husheng was right, even if it were me, it would be very difficult to maintain absolute neutrality in this case, so Xia Zhu."

  Xia Zhu raised her eyes and saw Lin Yuanxu rarely showing a few points of warmth, smiling slightly: "This time it depends on you."

  Xia Zhu was stunned for a long time, she had never seen Lin Yuanli reveal such an expression, warm and reliable, with a mesmerizing charm. Unknowingly, as if under the influence of his words, she didn't think much and simply nodded: "Mm, I understand."

  Lin Yuan nodded slightly and closed his eyes: "Wherever you go, remember to call me."

  This time, Xia Zhu didn't react in time to Lin Yuan's meaning, only staring blankly with a pair of bewildered eyes. Lin Yuan seemed to sense something and raised his head to look at her, saying calmly: "The murderer is still in this room, and you... may be his target."

  He didn't say the reason, but for some unknown reason, Xia Zhu suddenly felt a little uneasy, an intuition that made her heart beat faster. Why... might the murderer be unfavorable to himself? The simplest reason may be that she was the person closest to Lin Yuan's relationship.

  At least in this room, it's true.

  Thinking of this, Xia Zhu's face became even more determined: "I will work harder."

  "Don't run around alone."

  "Uh-huh, I knew it." Xia Zhu couldn't help but smile: "Thanks, Yuan Qi."

  Her soft and pleasant voice made Lin Yuan's eyebrows finally relax, and he reached out to gently hold her slender arm: "Let's go, where are we going?"

  Xia Zhu only then realized that Lin Yuan was indeed going to hand over the command, and all along she had been following him as a follower. But this time it was different, she had to work hard for Lin Yuan to solve this trouble, find out who killed his mother, all of which were things she had to do.

  "I think I'll go ask the housekeeper first." said Xia Zhu Ru.

  Lin Yuanxiao didn't say yes or no, he just walked alongside her, with a somewhat guardian-like demeanor.

  It was clear that such an idea would soon be personally pierced by the guardian of the flower.

  "Ah." He handed the written materials to Xia Zhu, and walked alongside with his hands behind his back. After a few steps, he suddenly remembered to ask: "Is it heavy?"

  Xia Zhu held a large pile of business reports in her hands and was on the verge of tears: "Still... still okay, I'm used to it, what is this?"

  "Lin's financial statement, just brought over by someone," Lin Yuan said lightly: "Take a look, might be of some help."

  Xia Zhu looked at him silently for a while, then couldn't help but ask pitifully: "Can I put it aside first?"

  Lin Yuanxi looked at her for a while and smiled with good intentions: "It's okay, lock it in my room."

  You just went to great lengths to bring it! Xia Zhu cried with laughter and had no choice but to run up quickly.

  Lin Yuan stood still, watching Xia Zhu run up and down with a grandfatherly gaze.

  Lin Yuanfeng walked over and looked at Lin Yuanni with a smile: "Heh, you like her just because of this?"

  Lin Yuan's eyebrows slightly frowned: "What is it, big brother?"

  "There's nothing," Lin Yuanfeng extinguished the cigarette in his hand: "I'm just a little curious, what kind of evil has my dear third brother encountered?"

  Lin Yuanxi didn't say another word and asked towards upstairs: "Not better yet?"

  It had been a long time since there was no response, Lin Yuan's face changed slightly, and he rushed up.

  Xia Zhuo was sitting in Lin Yuan's house, chatting with someone. Lin Yuan pushed open the door and rushed in, his face looking even more unpleasant: "Didn't I tell you to wait for me before doing anything?"

  "The young master's temperament has changed a lot..." The butler turned his head and sighed, the old man had obviously cried, with a solemn expression, yet still forcing a smile: "Just met Miss Xia outside the door, just said a few words."

  Lin Yuanxi looked at the housekeeper and asked reluctantly: "Why didn't you wait for me?"

  Xia Zhu listened to his tone, which wasn't as cold as before, and only then did he stretch out his hand to gently shake Lin Yuanqi's fingers. It was only then that he realized Lin Yuanqi's fingertips were icy cold, and didn't know if it was because of the scare earlier. Originally thinking that Lin Yuanqi was making a big deal out of nothing, now turned into heartfelt remorse: "Misunderstanding this time, Yuanqi, won't happen again next time."

  "......uh-huh." Lin Yuanqi was a person who, at the end of the day, was like a small animal that liked to have its fur stroked in the right direction. Xia Zhu had fully grasped the "Lin Yuanqi Rearing Method", so she naturally felt no pressure.

  Although reluctant, Lin Yuanxi still stretched out his hand to pull over a stool for the housekeeper before sitting down: "Is there something you want to tell us, Uncle Lin?"

  Lin Shu's tone was somewhat hesitant, and after a long while, he said: "Just now I was talking to Miss Xia, actually these few years, the old master and madam's feelings aren't very good. You and the eldest young master don't often come, but the second miss comes more often."

  Lin Yuan's expression wasn't very good-looking: "When exactly did Lin Yuan go out this time?"

  "It seems that this is somewhat unexpected. The old man hesitated for a moment before saying, 'It will be at least an hour before you can leave, and you've just arrived.'"

  Lin Yuan furrowed his brow, this timing didn't add up at all. If they had gone out for an hour and just met, then where did they go in the middle? And Lin Yuanfeng's reaction just now was inexplicably discordant.

  Lin Yuanxi had been handling cases for so long, but this was his first time feeling that the case was full of loopholes from the very beginning.

  Xia Zhu's gentle voice sounded beside him: "Lin Shu, I'd like to ask you to recall as much as possible about all the things that happened today, from your perspective."

  "Okay," said Uncle Lin: "This morning, the second young lady arrived around 10 o'clock, and the big young master also returned. Later, the old man and his wife talked in the study room, probably about the company's mergers and acquisitions for the second half of the year. In the afternoon, the second young lady said she was feeling stuffy at home and wanted to go out for a walk, so Mr. Yang accompanied her out. At that time, it was exactly 2 o'clock, I happened to look up at the time, and you arrived around 3 o'clock. Then I went to the kitchen to check on tonight's dishes, until the wife had an accident and came out."

  Xia Zhu listened attentively, taking notes and nodding frequently.

  Until Lin Shu finished speaking, she raised her head and smiled quietly: "I'm very sorry to disturb you at this time, but there are some things I would like to understand."

  Lin Shu glanced at Lin Yuanxi and saw that he didn't say anything, so he smiled slightly, with a somewhat tired tone: "You speak."

  "These reports..." Xia Zhu held the things she had obtained from Lin Yuanke last time, and as expected, she saw Lin Shu's face change: "Is it because the Lin family has been declining recently?"

  "It's not a decline," said Lin Shu, rubbing his fingers together, seemingly very uneasy. After a long while, he finally made up his mind and said, "It's just that the situation has been pretty bad lately, you know."

  "What's Big Brother been up to lately?" Lin Yuan asked suddenly.

  In the Lin family, Lin Yuanfeng wanted to win over Lin's heart, and it was not necessary to hide at all. For this reason, Lin Hesheng had a big fire, and Lin Yuanfeng only reined in some, but also turned from overt action into covert article.

  "It's nothing, at least Master knows, it's nothing." The butler said.

  Xia Zhu saw that there was nothing else to ask about, so he asked the butler to leave.

  She sat opposite Lin Yuanxi, biting her pen tip with some distress, her movements somewhat dazed: "Hmm, the clues are still insufficient."

  "Don't worry." Lin Yuanxiao smiled somewhat mysteriously and reached out to ruffle her hair: "There's been a lot of progress already."

  Summer bamboo was stunned and shook her head very frankly: "Sorry, I didn't realize."

  "Linfu's narrative is problematic," Lin Yuan said calmly, his expression serene: "Obviously, even if he wasn't the murderer, he was an accomplice."

  "Right," Xia Zhu said with a nod, her tone still calm and soothing like a gentle stream, inexplicably making one feel at ease: "Most people's narrative pattern for an event is from big to small, rarely does anyone recount events in chronological order. Moreover, considering the butler's calm demeanor earlier, it doesn't match the emotional intensity of wailing."

  "That's right," Lin Yuanqi sighed, suddenly remembering the secret of finding a girlfriend that Zou Mianyuan had told him before. His expression became even more solemn and bitter: "I didn't know Uncle Lin would go to such lengths."

  Xia Zhu blinked her eyes, somewhat at a loss: "Huh?"

  Lin Yuan was blocked by the word "ah" for a moment, and his quick-witted brain immediately began to organize the next sentence. Unfortunately, Zou Mianyuan was quite deceitful and had not taught him any subsequent moves, so Lin Yuan could only improvise and continued in a mournful tone: "Yes, he has been with the Lin family for over twenty years and has deep feelings for this place. I never thought that one day he would..."

  Lin Yuanxu couldn't go on, he felt that this line was a bit silly.

  As expected, Xia Zhu patted his shoulder sympathetically and said with a somewhat helpless tone: "Hmm, actually... Lin Yuan doesn't need to take it too seriously," Lin Yuan's downcast eyes lit up slightly, and then Xia Zhu continued in a serious tone: "I know that things at your home have affected your judgment a bit, but we haven't confirmed that Uncle Lin has anything to do with this incident, really."

  Lin Yuanxi: ...It's all Zhou Muyuan's fault! The image of being so intelligent and wise was ruined in an instant, isn't it?! It's simply... worth beating up.

  At this moment, Zou Muyuan happened to push open the door——

  "I'm here."

  His tail sound was instantly swallowed when he saw the situation in the house, and he hurriedly covered his eyes and ran out: "Ahhhh I didn't see anything, don't split me!"

  Xia Zhú's eyes widened in shock, and her gaze dropped as she realized that one of her hands was resting on Lin Yuan's shoulder, while the tall man was leaning down in a very cooperative manner, his posture eerily resembling...

  A perfect kiss.

  Xia Zhu thought about it and her face suddenly turned red.

  Nothing has ever happened between us, not even a confession! Don't look at me with such a straightforward gaze, okay?!

  Author has something to say: Thanks for the comments and support from Ball Moss Pet and Yaogu! (╯3╰)

  Nothing has happened at all! Serious face... 233333333333.

  No update tomorrow, continue after tomorrow, one by one, muahahaha!

  Weakly catching bugs, anything before 9 PM is just catching bugs, covering face...