Chapter 18: The Stunning Deduction That Shook Everyone! Pei Ji’s Unexpected Revelation! (Combined)

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“Really?”

“Where!?”

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi’s words, Cheng Chumo froze for a moment, then looked at him in astonishment and delight.

Du Ying’s amber eyes also revealed a trace of surprise.

On her way there, she had already heard Du Gou explain the circumstances of the case. She knew how difficult it was, and that all Liu Shuyi currently possessed were these two severed heads.

Even if she helped him examine the corpses, at most she could determine whether the wounds had been inflicted before or after death. There would be no other discoveries.

Could such scant assistance truly allow Liu Shuyi to locate the scene of the crime?

Was he really, as her elder brother had claimed, divinely gifted at solving cases?

Unable to suppress her curiosity, she turned her gaze toward him.

Liu Shuyi did not waste time. He asked directly, “Do you have a map of Chang’an?”

“Yes! I have been leading soldiers in the search for Prince Xi’s remains these past few days, so I have kept the map with me.”

As he spoke, Cheng Chumo slipped a hand beneath his armor and rummaged around before pulling out a crumpled piece of cloth.

When it was spread open, the map showed Chang’an’s wards and streets, along with the names of several important buildings.

Liu Shuyi took the map and laid it flat on another table.

Then he asked, “Where is Zhao Chengyi’s residence?”

Cheng Chumo hurriedly raised a hand and pointed to a courtyard on the eastern side of Xuanyang Ward. “Here.”

Looking at the location on the map, Liu Shuyi continued, “What time did you arrive at the Zhao residence last night? After discovering that Zhao Chengyi’s wife and son were missing, did you immediately order men to search the streets?”

Cheng Chumo replied, “After you exposed Zhao Chengyi, I first sent him to the Ministry of Justice’s prison. Then I went straight to his residence. I arrived at approximately the second watch of the night.”

“Once I discovered that his wife and son had disappeared, I immediately ordered men to pursue them along the streets. I thought that if they had not left long ago, we might still be able to catch up.”

Liu Shuyi nodded slightly. Everything Cheng Chumo had done was perfectly reasonable and entirely within his expectations.

And if he could anticipate it, then so could the murderer.

Thus…

His eyes grew deep as he studied the map. Suddenly, he reached out and pointed to several wards. “Wuben Ward, Chongyi Ward, Changxing Ward, Qinren Ward, and Anyi Ward. Are there any dilapidated temples or abandoned Taoist monasteries in these wards?”

“These wards?”

Cheng Chumo and the others looked at the map. The wards Liu Shuyi had named all bordered Xuanyang Ward.

Du Gou’s eyes flickered with thought. “You suspect the murderer brought Zhao Chengyi’s wife and son to one of these wards?”

Cheng Chumo hurriedly looked toward Liu Shuyi.

Du Ying’s clear, cool gaze also settled upon him.

Liu Shuyi did not conceal his reasoning. “Last night, I was apprehended by Zhou Mo at approximately the second watch and a quarter. Afterward, I ordered someone to summon the Ministry of Revenue officials who had already gone home after finishing work.”

“Considering the distance and the time involved, Zhao Chengyi would have learned that he was required to go to the Ministry of Revenue at roughly the second watch and five quarters.”

“In other words, even if he immediately ordered his wife and son to leave, they could not have departed before the second watch and five quarters.”

“And Commander Cheng arrived at the Zhao residence shortly before the third watch. By then, Zhao Chengyi’s wife and son had already vanished. At most, they had only one hour and three quarters in which to flee.”

“Afterward, Commander Cheng ordered men to search the streets. Under such circumstances, continuing to travel would have carried an enormous risk of exposure. And transporting a frail woman and a young child would only have made the danger greater.”

“The murderer would not wish to implicate himself. He would never take such a risk. With the Imperial Guards searching every street in Chang’an, the only way to remain safe would have been to hide in a fixed location and avoid moving about.”

“So all we need to do is estimate how far a weak woman carrying a child could have traveled in one hour and three quarters. That will allow us to narrow down the area in which they were hiding.”

“So that’s it!” Cheng Chumo exclaimed, looking enlightened.

But Du Gou frowned as he listened. “One hour and three quarters is not a short amount of time. If Zhao Chengyi’s wife kept moving without stopping, might she not have crossed the distance of two wards? Should we not expand the search to wards farther away?”

Cheng Chumo considered this and nodded as well. “That’s true. Wuben Ward and Chongyi Ward, for example, are not very large. If they walked without stopping for more than an hour, they could indeed have crossed them.”

Unexpectedly, Liu Shuyi merely asked them a淡 question. “The walking speed you speak of—that is the speed during the day, is it not?”

“During the day?”

Cheng Chumo had yet to grasp the point of the question when Du Gou seemed to realize something. His expression suddenly changed.

“I actually overlooked that!”

His eyes shifted as though he were making calculations.

A moment later, he looked at Liu Shuyi, his face slightly pale. “Indeed. They could not have crossed Wuben Ward and Chongyi Ward to reach a more distant ward.”

“What?” Cheng Chumo was even more bewildered. “Why? Didn’t you just say it was possible? How did it suddenly become impossible?”

At this point, Du Ying, who had been listening quietly, spoke up. “Because the light is very dim at night, making the road difficult to see. People walk more slowly than they do during the day.”

“Moreover, there is a curfew at night. Patrols of Imperial Guards and night watchmen are also on the roads. They would not merely have needed to travel—they would have had to remain constantly alert for anyone who might appear, hiding whenever necessary to avoid discovery. They would have walked, stopped, and hidden repeatedly, making their progress even slower.”

“And after the curfew began, the gates of every ward would have been closed. Reaching another ward silently would not have been easy. Crossing one ward would already have been difficult; crossing a second would have been harder still, with the risk of exposure greatly increased.”

Hearing Du Ying’s clear and orderly explanation, Liu Shuyi could not help nodding in admiration. “Lady Du, you are remarkably perceptive.”

Du Ying, however, answered seriously, “I am still far inferior to you. Without your hints, I could not have thought of all this so quickly.”

Though the young woman’s temperament was somewhat cold, she was straightforward and candid.

Liu Shuyi smiled. “As Lady Du has said, the night imposes too many restrictions. We cannot use the walking speed of the day to calculate the distance one can cover at night.”

“And more importantly…”

He looked at the others. “We cannot calculate using one hour and three quarters at all. For Zhao Chengyi’s wife and son, the actual time available to them would have been even shorter. They may not even have had a full hour.”

“After all…”

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He spoke with profound meaning. “She did not know when her husband would be captured, and therefore could not know when someone would come after her.”

“So she could only hide in the place that she—or the murderer—believed to be safest, and she would have to reach it in the shortest possible time.”

“Calculated this way, the neighboring wards would already have been the furthest they could have reached.”

Cheng Chumo finally understood completely. “I see! No wonder you were so certain. You really have thought everything through.”

“However…”

His gaze moved to the map. “The Eastern Market and Pingkang Ward also border Xuanyang Ward. Why did you not consider them? And why are you certain they left Xuanyang Ward at all? What if they were hiding within Xuanyang Ward itself?”

Liu Shuyi was pleased that Cheng Chumo had begun to think things through as well. He explained, “The Eastern Market is crowded with merchants and filled with all kinds of people. It is far less peaceful than the other wards. Pingkang Ward is where the pleasure houses are concentrated, and it remains bustling at night, with many people still awake.”

“Going to either of those wards would mean either facing danger themselves or increasing the likelihood of being discovered. If you were in their place, would you choose them?”

“Well…”

Cheng Chumo thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Indeed, I would not.”

“As for why they could not be in Xuanyang Ward…”

Liu Shuyi said, “There are two reasons.”

“First, after discovering that they were missing, you would certainly search Xuanyang Ward first, and you would search it more thoroughly than anywhere else. The likelihood of finding them there would therefore be higher.”

“And second, I know that…”

His eyes flickered as he slowly continued, “Xuanyang Ward is filled entirely with the residences of high officials and noble families. There are no ruined or abandoned temples or Taoist monasteries there.”

“Ruined and abandoned temples or Taoist monasteries?”

Only then did Cheng Chumo recall Liu Shuyi’s first question. He asked in confusion, “Why are you looking for temples and Taoist monasteries? Do you mean that they hid in such a place last night?”

Du Gou and Du Ying also looked at Liu Shuyi curiously.

“Well…”

Liu Shuyi’s gaze fell upon Du Ying’s elegant, otherworldly face. “I must thank Lady Du for her assistance.”

“Me?” Du Ying raised an eyebrow, like a snow lotus stirred by the wind, ripples spreading across its icy surface.

Liu Shuyi nodded. “Lady Du told me that Madam Zhao suffered serious injuries before her death…”

Du Ying nodded. That was indeed what she had discovered during the examination.

“We need not speculate whether Madam Zhao sustained those injuries while struggling with the murderer or whether she was simply beaten. We only need to know one thing…”

His gaze met Du Ying’s. “She was not killed by a single blow. Before her death, she must have had an opportunity to make a sound.”

Liu Shuyi had previously surmised that Madam Zhao had sensed the murderer’s intent in advance, which explained the complex, resentment-filled expression on her face at the moment of death. But that had been no more than a hypothesis, unsupported by concrete evidence.

Now, with Du Ying’s examination results, he could finally be certain.

“She had an opportunity to cry out. Having witnessed her own son being killed, it would have been impossible for her to remain completely silent and conceal the sound for the murderer. She must have screamed. If they had been hiding near the residences of ordinary people, there was no way no one would have heard.”

“The murderer could not have failed to consider the risk of exposure. Therefore, their hiding place must have been far from any homes.”

“As for why it would have been a ruined Taoist monastery or temple…”

He looked at Du Ying again and smiled. “That, too, was thanks to Lady Du’s hint.”

Du Ying was taken aback. Had she really helped Liu Shuyi so much?

But she soon understood.

“Incense ash?”

Liu Shuyi nodded. “I found gray and blue powder in Madam Zhao’s hair.”

As he spoke, he picked up some of the powder between his fingers. “The gray is dust. The blue, as Lady Zhao said, is incense ash.”

“Now let us examine Zhao Chengyi’s son again.”

Liu Shuyi guided everyone’s attention toward the other head. “Zhao Chengyi’s son still wears a child’s topknot, and his hair is hardly disordered. There is only a little dust in it. His condition is entirely different from that of his mother, whose hair is loose and covered in dust and incense ash. What does this…”

He looked at the others, his voice suddenly sinking lower. “What does this tell us?”

“What?” Cheng Chumo asked instinctively, his heart tightening.

Du Gou’s brows drew together. He seemed to understand something, yet the key point remained indistinct and just beyond his grasp.

Liu Shuyi did not keep them in suspense. He took a deep breath and said, “It tells us that the substances in Madam Zhao’s hair adhered to it at the place where they were killed…”

“If they had been killed, decapitated, and then taken through some other filthy, disorderly place before their heads reached us, it would not be only Madam Zhao’s hair that was covered in grime while her son’s remained clean. The murderer would have had no reason to treat the two severed heads differently.”

“Therefore, the only place where the two could have differed was the location where they were killed.”

“And from the wounds on Madam Zhao’s face, we know that the sole difference between her and her son was that he was killed instantly, while she either struggled with the murderer or was beaten.”

“Thus, judging from what she endured, we can essentially conclude that the dust and incense ash in her hair came from her struggling with the murderer or being beaten by him, during which she accidentally struck something resembling an incense burner and became stained with incense ash. As for the dust… even the child, who was killed instantly, had some on him. Therefore, the place where they were held must have contained a great deal of dust—a thick layer of it. From this, we can also infer that no one lived there and that it had not been cleaned for many years.”

“Consequently, when we combine the dust and incense ash with the requirement that the place be far from human dwellings, the only locations that fit…”

He looked at them and slowly concluded, “are ruined temples or abandoned Taoist monasteries.”

As Liu Shuyi’s voice faded, the examination room fell silent.

Everyone stared at him in a daze.

Du Gou had also considered what the incense ash and dust might signify, but he had not been able to reason it out with Liu Shuyi’s precision and clarity, taking every aspect into account and allowing each conclusion to confirm the others.

He had suspected a Taoist monastery or temple merely because of the superficial clue provided by the incense ash, gambling on a fortunate guess.

Liu Shuyi, however, was entirely different.

He had peeled away the superficial clues layer by layer until he reached their true core, linking his deductions seamlessly with the results of the examination. Under such circumstances, it was impossible for him to be wrong.

Du Gou could not help sighing. “I am no match for you.”

When Du Ying looked at Liu Shuyi, admiration also flashed through her eyes.

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Earlier, when listening to her brother describe Liu Shuyi’s performance the previous night, she had still harbored some doubts as to whether he had exaggerated Liu Shuyi’s abilities.

Now it seemed that she had been narrow-minded.

This young, handsome man before her was truly extraordinary.

She had never seen such an ability to strip away layers of confusion and arrive at the truth in anyone else.

Cheng Chumo nodded vigorously. He finally understood everything. “Director Liu, you really are clever. You figured all of this out in an instant! If I had possessed your mind last night, perhaps the murderer would not have had time to kill anyone!”

Du Gou and Du Ying exchanged a glance, then nodded as well.

Indeed, given Liu Shuyi’s abilities, if he had been the one searching last night, perhaps the two lives represented by the heads on the table before them might still have had a chance of being saved.

Unfortunately, there were no ifs in this world.

Liu Shuyi disliked dwelling on hypothetical regrets. He simply picked up the map and turned to leave. “Rather than regretting what has already happened, we should hurry and find the murderer!”

Cheng Chumo nodded emphatically and followed him. “Exactly. Catching the murderer is what matters most!”

Du Gou also caught up with Liu Shuyi. After some thought, he said, “Of all these wards, only two contain places that fit your conditions.”

“One is Qinren Ward, south of Xuanyang Ward. There is a ruined temple there. Last May, it was suddenly ravaged by fire, killing many monks. Because so many people died there, the surrounding residents believe the place is heavy with resentment, and few people go there anymore.”

“The other is Chongyi Ward to the west. There is a small Taoist monastery there. After the Xuanwu Gate incident, floods and droughts struck in succession. The Taoists there took advantage of the disasters to spread superstitious nonsense and stir up the people. His Majesty was enraged and had them all arrested. Since then, the monastery has stood deserted.”

Listening to Du Gou, Cheng Chumo looked toward Liu Shuyi and asked, “Where should we go first?”

Du Ying’s long lashes fluttered lightly as she, too, turned toward Liu Shuyi.

Without looking back, he said, “A place that suffered a fire could not be free of soot. Yet neither of these two heads—not even Madam Zhao’s—bears any sign of soot, only dust and incense ash.”

“So…”

“We are going to Chongyi Ward—to the Taoist monastery!”

……

The Sikong Residence.

Inside an extravagantly decorated study.

Thick carpets covered the floor, while underfloor heating continuously radiated warmth. Thus, even though the spring chill lingered outside and ice bound the land for thousands of miles, the study remained comfortably warm.

Pei Ji wore only a single robe. Holding a book in one hand, he said to Zhou Mo, who had just arrived with the cold still clinging to him, “I heard that Liu Shuyi has taken up the case concerning the murder of Zhao Chengyi’s wife and son. Do you know how the investigation is progressing?”

Facing the only Sikong in the imperial court—a man whose thoughts were unfathomable—Zhou Mo did not dare delay. He quickly replied, “Our people in the Ministry of Justice sent word that the ministry’s most experienced coroner was driven out. According to him, the two heads had been frozen solid, making it impossible to determine anything. Even the time of death could not be established because of the ice.”

As he spoke, he glanced at Pei Ji ingratiatingly. “Lord Pei, Liu Shuyi is certain to stumble this time. Even if he truly possesses some ability in investigating cases, he cannot conjure clues out of thin air!”

“The bodies of Zhao Chengyi’s wife and son have not been found, and the coroner can provide no assistance with the only two heads we have… This case is far more difficult than the previous one!”

“If you ask me, Liu Shuyi made the worst possible decision by choosing to help Cheng Chumo. There is no way he can solve this case!”

Only then did Pei Ji lift his gaze from the book.

“You think Cheng Chumo asked Liu Shuyi to help him?” he inquired indifferently.

“Was it not so?” Zhou Mo was startled.

Pei Ji gave a cold laugh. “Had you ever seen the ability Liu Shuyi displayed yesterday?”

“It is obvious that he had been concealing his talents all along.”

“By choosing to reveal his edge yesterday, whether he was forced into it or did so of his own accord, he demonstrated that he could no longer be ignored as before.”

“And after offending me so thoroughly yesterday, do you think he is not afraid? Do you think he would not be desperate to seize every opportunity to climb upward, lest I crush him casually beneath my heel?”

Zhou Mo’s heart stirred. “So Cheng Chumo did not ask him for help… Rather, Liu Shuyi wants to use this case to earn merit? He was the one who approached Cheng Chumo and demanded the case?”

“No wonder!”

Zhou Mo slapped his palm. “No wonder Cheng Chumo immediately said that Liu Shuyi would cooperate with him! So that was the reason!”

“However…”

He suddenly looked at Pei Ji, a mocking smile appearing on his face. “Liu Shuyi probably never imagined that the case he chose to use in earning merit would be this difficult, did he?”

“There are no clues at all, and His Majesty has personally ordered the case solved within three days…”

“If he fails, forget about receiving a promotion. He may not even be able to keep that little ninth-rank official’s robe on his back!”

“Lord Pei, would you say that Liu Shuyi has lifted a stone only to drop it on his own foot? Based on the merit he earned last night, along with Du Ruhui’s regard for him, he might have had a promising future if he simply endured for a while.”

“But now? He was so eager to climb upward… We will not even need to act. He will fall into the abyss all by himself!”

Pei Ji set down his book, leisurely picked up the cup beside him, and took a light sip. His tone was calm and unconcerned.

“He has brought this upon himself, and no one can save him.”

“I even thought he might become the next Liu Wenjing. But now…”

He shook his head in disappointment. “It seems I thought too highly of him.”

Knock, knock, knock!

At that moment, a knock suddenly sounded at the door.

A voice came from outside.

“The Ministry of Justice has sent word. Liu Shuyi has deduced where Zhao Chengyi’s wife and son were murdered and has already taken men there to investigate…”

“What!?”

Zhou Mo’s eyes widened.

Pei Ji’s hand, still holding the cup, abruptly stopped. The disappointment on his face froze in an instant.

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