No. 43 Frosty White 2

  Yi Chuan county's talented young man, Liu Danqing, was born into a poor family and his parents died early. Fortunately, he had his elder sister Liu Ruyun to take care of him as he grew up. From a young age, Liu was intelligent and studious, passing the imperial examination at the age of 12 and becoming a scholar at 20. What's more, this man had a handsome appearance and an elegant temperament, making him the object of admiration for many women.

  But such a talented young man as Liu, on a dark and windy night, attempted to commit a heinous crime but failed, then cruelly killed his lover, the second daughter of the Mei family.

  This has to start from the romance between Liu Danqing and Mei Er. A year ago, like all the clichéd love stories, they met at a temple fair and fell in love at first sight. It's said that Mei Er is also one of the beauties of our Yichuan County, captivating men with her beauty, but unfortunately I have never had the chance to see her.

  Like all the clichéd stories of talented men and beautiful women, Ryūsei was from a poor family, while Miss Ume's family was wealthy, and naturally they did not agree to this marriage. Miss Ume resisted for a while, but her parents took charge and betrothed her to someone else.

  But the ending is different from that of an ordinary talented young man and a beauty. Just three days before Miss Mei's wedding, Liu Danqing sneaked into the Mei residence at midnight and stabbed Miss Mei repeatedly with a sharp knife in her boudoir, leaving her seriously injured. Spring Orchid, Miss Mei's personal maid, was returning with water when she saw her mistress covered in blood, grabbed the door and ran out silently, fleeing to the courtyard, where she was frightened into stupidity. However, she was not the only one who was stunned, as Spring Orchid also saw Liu Danqing holding a sharp knife, his face pale, leaning motionless against the door.

  After reacting for half a minute (I guess it was about that long), Chunlan let out a loud shriek, threw the water basin to the ground and ran to Old Lady's room to call for help. At the same time, Liu Danqing's dagger also fell to the ground with a "clang", and Liu Sheng lifted his hem and chased after Miss in the direction she had escaped.

  As a result, Mei Er was found dead in a thicket beside a hidden pond, with all her clothes scattered around and her body completely naked. When the officials caught Liu Sheng, he was sitting stupidly in the backyard, speechless as if possessed by an evil spirit.

  Liu Danqing was taken to the government office, where he readily admitted to killing Mei Er's mistress. He explained how his love had turned to hatred, and how he had snuck into the Mei residence with a knife and stabbed Mei's mistress. He signed and fingerprinted the confession. The former county magistrate sentenced him to death by beheading, and he was put in prison to await execution after autumn.

  However, Liu Danqing admitted everything except for stripping off Miss Du's clothes. According to common sense, having already confessed to murder, these minor matters should be insignificant and there is no need to deny them. Nevertheless, it is possible that after committing the crime, Liu still stripped off the victim's clothes, intending to commit an indecent act on the corpse. After all, as a scholar, he might have thought this was too shameful.

  "Zhen Zhen, what do you think?" asked the Young Master of the Night after finishing his account.

  This question suddenly reminded me of the famous line from "Detective Dee" - "Yuan Fang, what do you think?" and I couldn't help but feel a lump in my throat.

  "What else can I do? Just talking about this, what can I see? Yagyu is holding a knife, someone saw it, and he himself admitted it. The evidence should be good, right?" I said impatiently. Since the case was brought to me, it shouldn't be so boring, if there's another situation, you'd better continue!

  The Young Master of the Night didn't have a bag, but somehow he produced a large stack of scrolls and pulled out a sharp dagger, placing it on the table. I looked him up and down, no matter how I thought about it, his body simply didn't have enough space to hold so many things. Truly worthy of being an ancient heroic thief, always exceeding expectations.

  "After reading the dossier, you will probably find some interesting things."

  Because it happened half a year ago, the body has long been buried and the original scene can no longer be seen, so the case files are all I can see.

  I opened the file and was shocked to find that, in addition to the criminal's confession, it also included on-site investigation records and autopsy records, which greatly exceeded my expectations. Moreover, as I read on, I became more and more surprised. Without mentioning the strange aspects of the case itself shown in the materials, this file itself also made me feel extremely surprised.

  After finishing the case files, an hour had passed. During this time, Ye didn't say a word, and when I looked up, he was quietly staring at me beside him. I took a closer look and found that a plate of honey cakes had been eaten by him.

  "Do you like sweets?" I suddenly felt very ridiculous.

  "Is it impossible?" the hero said.

  "Nothing much, I'll make various desserts, consider yourself lucky."

  "The corner of Ye's mouth twitched: 'Then I'd better come more often.'"

  "Seriously speaking, who made this dossier? The person who did the recording is absolutely talented. You should find an opportunity to mention it to Nie Qiuyuan and promote this person to work by your side."

  This recorder, in this era without cameras, is quite unimaginable. Because his records, the parts that can be seen with the naked eye are all described in detail, and even where he himself feels it's not right, he consciously adds boldness. The parts that are difficult to describe with language are also drawn with pictures.

  Half a year ago, if it weren't for this file being remembered clearly, an unjust case might have been confirmed.

  He sipped his tea quietly at night: "This person, Autumn has already brought him to his side as a close assistant. He's a relatively young guy, only 19 years old this year, and he's a promising talent with a bright future. I suppose you'll be seeing him soon."

  Nie Qiuyuan's idea coincided with mine, and I didn't feel particularly surprised. After all, after spending some time together, I gradually came to understand him and found that his mind and abilities were indeed as excellent as I had imagined.

  As I didn't say much, the Young Master of the Night continued: "You also saw it, Volume. The places that don't add up are like this. First, when Liu Danqing was caught, he was wearing white clothes, and there wasn't much blood on them. If it were as shown at the scene, stabbing so many times, killing someone, then chasing after to strip off the victim's clothes and commit a crime of passion, how could there be so little blood on his body?"

  I nodded in agreement, indeed, if the scene was as described in the file, it would be almost impossible to kill someone without getting stained with a large amount of blood.

  "The second doubt is that Liu Danqing is a bookworm with no martial arts skills. If he brought a knife and sneaked into the Mei mansion at midnight, the main gate of the Mei mansion was tightly locked, and the guards were also closely watching. Without an insider, how could he get in? Could it be that he climbed over the wall? However, if you have seen Liu Danqing himself and looked at the walls of the Mei mansion, it is hard to believe this point."

  "Thirdly, after Autumn Far looked at the case files, he had interrogated Liu Danqing once. This person was expressionless and had no intention of seeking survival. Autumn Far showed him over a dozen knives and asked him to identify the murder weapon, which was this one." Ye pointed to the knife on the table, "However, this is not the one from the crime scene. Moreover, look at this part of the case files."

  The file also uniquely depicts the location, shape and size of all wounds on the deceased's body, which is another reason why I particularly appreciate the recorder. This has replaced the function of taking photos.

  The shape of the wound is triangular, that is to say, one angle is blunt and the other is sharp, which is a typical characteristic of a single-edged sharp instrument being stabbed in. Take another look at the dagger pointed by Liu Danqing, it's a double-edged dagger, and the blade width is obviously larger than those wounds, it can't be stabbed into the shape on the picture at all.

  So, although Liu Danqing was holding the knife at the scene, he couldn't remember what the knife looked like, which means it wasn't as he claimed, and it was a knife brought from his own home.

  "The fourth doubt, the deceased not only had stab wounds but also had his neck artery cut. However, when reviewing the case of Liu Danqing, it can be clearly seen that he is not left-handed."

  What the Duke of Night said makes sense to me, because the cut on the neck is on the right carotid artery. For a normal person who is used to using their right hand, the most normal way to hold a knife would be to make the wound on the left side of the neck. To make it on the right side, either the grip of the knife or the direction of force would have to be very awkward.

  "So, under what circumstances would it be cut on the right? Since the witness didn't see anyone else at the scene, the most likely possibility is..."

  "Suicide!" we both exclaimed in unison.