Chapter 24: Exposure! A Terrifying Scheme!

Hearing Liu Shuyi’s words, which were laden with profound meaning, the aggrieved expression on Miaoyin’er’s face involuntarily stiffened.

She wanted to say something more, but Liu Shuyi did not give her the chance.

He continued, "Whether there is anyone in this world who can fly, I do not know, but I do know that the murderer certainly cannot."

"Therefore..."

He looked toward Cheng Chumou and the others. "She utilized a special tool."

"A special tool?"

Cheng Chumou looked at Du Gou, only to see Du Gou also frowning in deep thought, clearly just as baffled as to what Liu Shuyi meant by a "special tool."

He simply asked, "What tool?"

Hearing this, Du Gou and the others also pricked up their ears.

Liu Shuyi looked at them and said, "I wonder if you noticed that on the path from the main gate of Wutong Temple to the sanctuary, in addition to the clear footprints of the Zhao family of three, there were some strange markings on the snow."

"Strange markings?"

Cheng Chumou blinked, bewildered. With his boorish nature, he had absolutely no recollection of such things.

Du Gou’s mind stirred, as if he had realized something. "Are you talking about those circle-like marks?"

"Circle-like marks?" Cheng Chumou was even more confused. Was there such a thing on the snow?

The cold and elegant forensic examiner glanced at the careless, dark-skinned man and reminded him, "They were right next to those footprints, though the distance between them wasn't small, and the marks themselves were not large."

"Is that so?" Cheng Chumou still couldn't recall.

Liu Shuyi smiled and nodded to Du Gou and his sister. "That’s right, those are the ones."

"At the time, I was very curious about how those marks appeared. After all, they were clearly not animal tracks. But if they weren't animal tracks, why would they appear in a deserted Taoist temple where only the Zhao mother and son and the murderer would visit?"

"I never solved this puzzle, until..." His gaze grew deep and dark. "Until I confirmed that Sun Zhouming was not the killer, did I finally have a sudden realization."

As he spoke, he looked at Cheng Chumou. "As you said, Commander Cheng, since the murderer wasn't Sun Zhouming, yet there were only the footprints of the three of them on the snow, and the murderer must have entered the sanctuary to kill..."

"Then there is only one possibility: the murderer used a special method to enter the sanctuary without leaving footprints. Connecting this to the only other special marks on the snow besides the footprints that linked the sanctuary to the gate, I understood everything."

Everyone leaned forward subconsciously as they heard Liu Shuyi say, "The murderer must have used a tool like stilts!"

"Stilts!?" Cheng Chumou was stunned.

His mind raced to identify what stilts were. Soon, his eyes widened. "Are those the stilts where a person stands on two wooden poles to walk and perform acrobatics?"

Stilts had been in circulation since before the Qin Dynasty, and by the Tang Dynasty, they were common props used by street performers. As a young troublemaker, Cheng Chumou had spent plenty of time on the streets and had naturally seen many.

Liu Shuyi nodded. "Exactly those."

"I see!" Du Gou felt a sudden clarity. "A person standing on stilts, walking across the snow—wouldn't that just leave the marks of the poles poking into the snow? And the taller the poles used for the stilts, the wider the stride, naturally leading to larger intervals."

Hearing Du Gou’s explanation, Cheng Chumou understood everything as well.

"That’s too devious, isn't it?" He couldn't help but exclaim. "Who in the hell would think that a murderer would use stilts to avoid leaving footprints? No wonder even someone as capable as you was almost misled. If it were me, I don't think I would have ever discovered the truth in this lifetime!"

Liu Shuyi smiled and turned his gaze back to Miaoyin’er, who stood beside the dry well. "When I left Miaoyin Pavilion, I specifically asked Miss Du to find out if you had ever walked on stilts, and as it turns out..."

"Miss Du discovered that during last year's Lantern Festival, you, the madam of Miaoyin Pavilion, had personally walked on stilts to lead the float for the pavilion..."

"Miaoyin’er, weren't you asking for a name?" Liu Shuyi stared intently at the beautiful woman, a half-smile on his face. "Now, you have your name. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Hearing Liu Shuyi’s words, everyone turned their eyes toward Miaoyin’er.

They saw her expression shift slightly; the aggrieved look on her delicate face was about to crumble entirely.

"Master Liu’s words are interesting." Miaoyin’er finally furrowed her beautiful brows. "There are many people who know how to walk on stilts. In the entire city of Chang'an, even if there aren't a thousand, there are surely eight hundred. I just happen to know how to use them as well. Is that a crime? I don't believe the Tang Code states that a courtesan cannot walk on stilts, does it?"

"And I don't understand, Master Liu, why you must fixate on me? Why, after thinking of stilts, was your first thought to investigate me?"

This time, Miaoyin’er’s confusion was genuine. She truly didn't understand why Liu Shuyi had suspected her first upon learning the true time of death of the Zhao mother and son, nor why he had specifically had Du Ying investigate her in secret.

What exactly had triggered Liu Shuyi’s suspicion?

Not just her; hearing her question, Du Gou and the others also looked at Liu Shuyi with equal bewilderment.

Even Du Ying, who had conducted the secret investigation for Liu Shuyi, had a look of confusion in her cold, clear eyes. Although she had provided much of the information to Liu Shuyi, she did not know why he had asked her to do these things, nor why he was so convinced that the murderer was in Miaoyin Pavilion and that it was Miaoyin’er.

"Why I only focused on you..." Liu Shuyi met Miaoyin’er’s gaze and said calmly, "I have you to thank for the two clues you left behind specifically to deceive me."

"Two clues?" Miaoyin’er’s eyes flickered.

"The first clue was the medicinal powder scattered on the floor of the sanctuary and left under the fingernails of the Zhao woman."

"Medicinal powder?"

Liu Shuyi said slowly, "I must admit, you are truly clever."

"You knew that if you scattered all the powder on the floor without cleaning it up, I would definitely suspect that it was left intentionally by the murderer."

"So, you first scattered the powder on the floor and then carefully cleaned it up, leaving only those traces that would be impossible to notice without close observation."

"At the same time, in order to let me verify the origin of this powder from other angles, after you killed the Zhao woman, you specifically sprinkled some powder on her fingernails and cleaned it up again, covering it with dust to disguise it as if you had meticulously cleaned the scene."

"Finally, coupled with the beating marks on her body..." Liu Shuyi shook his head. "Even if I searched with the most critical eye, I would not find any flaws, and thus, just as you intended, I would logically infer that the powder was the most crucial clue brought by the murderer, scratched off by the victim, and then cleaned up by the murderer!"

"But how was I to know..." He sighed. "When I truly reached that conclusion, I stepped right into your trap. I was just a hair's breadth away from falling into ruin!"

Listening to Liu Shuyi, Cheng Chumou couldn't help but gulp. Miaoyin’er’s scheme was truly too meticulous. She had considered everything with absolute thoroughness. Even looking back now, he still felt the logic was clear and the evidence was solid.

Cheng Chumou thought to himself that if Liu Shuyi hadn't helped him solve the case this time, his future would likely have been destroyed because of it. The lingering fear made his back soak with sweat. But then he thought, even such a formidable Miaoyin’er had her true colors exposed by Liu Shuyi in the end. Liu Shuyi was truly the superior one! He had made the right choice in Liu Shuyi!

"Therefore, you could say that the powder was the most important clue that led me to Sun Zhouming." Liu Shuyi looked at the increasingly cold-faced madam. "After all, without the powder, I never would have found Miaoyin Pavilion; without finding Miaoyin Pavilion, I never would have known of Sun Zhouming, and naturally, I wouldn't have been able to verify the footprints."

"And this implies that there was one premise that had to be guaranteed, which is..." Liu Shuyi said in a low voice, "Sun Zhouming must have obtained the sachet!"

Must have obtained the sachet? Everyone thought about it and nodded. Indeed, if Sun Zhouming hadn't obtained the sachet beforehand, he couldn't have been framed. But... was there anything worth discussing about that?

Cheng Chumou asked, puzzled, "Sun Zhouming getting a sachet—isn't that a very common thing? How could that make you suspect the madam?"

The others nodded in agreement.

"Common?" Liu Shuyi raised an eyebrow. "Why would Commander Cheng think this is a common thing? Do you assume in your heart that Sun Zhouming should have received a sachet?"

"Of course!" Cheng Chumou didn't understand Liu Shuyi’s point. "Didn't Assistant Minister Du say that brothels give sachets to officials or wealthy merchants in hopes of their return? With Sun Zhouming’s status, it’s normal for him to receive one, right?"

"Normal?" Liu Shuyi shook his head, his tone profound. "Commander Cheng seems to have forgotten two things."

"What?"

"First, you forgot that when Sun Zhouming went to Miaoyin Pavilion, he never revealed his identity. So, how would the girl Xiangxiang have known he was a high-ranking official who needed to be flattered?"

"Second..." Liu Shuyi looked at Cheng Chumou. "It’s also something you said... when you saw the portrait, you told me that Sun Zhouming was a man who was both stingy and greedy for money and women. If even a straightforward person like you could see his stinginess and greed, then I think his stinginess must be quite obvious."

"Therefore, Commander Cheng, do you think he would be willing to spend lavishly when visiting a brothel?"

"This..." Cheng Chumou thought for a brief moment and then shook his head vigorously. "With his stinginess—going to drink, always faking intoxication, and never willing to part with a single copper—how could he possibly be willing to spend money in a brothel?"

Liu Shuyi smiled. "Exactly! He wouldn't be willing to spend money! That makes it very strange... He didn't reveal his status as an official, and he was stingy to the extreme. According to brothel rules, a parting gift—a sachet—is only given to distinguished officials or generous merchants. He occupied neither, so why would Xiangxiang give him a sachet?"

"Eh?" Hearing Liu Shuyi’s words, Cheng Chumou finally reacted.

"That's right!"

"Miaoyin Pavilion truly had no reason to give that expensive sachet mixed with gold dust to Sun Zhouming. That is indeed very strange!"

Du Gou frowned. "I actually overlooked this point."

Liu Shuyi said with deep meaning, "Therefore, how this Sun Zhouming managed to obtain the sachet is very much worth scrutinizing."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Liu Shuyi smiled and looked back at Miaoyin’er by the dry well. Seeing the increasingly icy expression on her face, he chuckled, "Does it feel like you've lifted a rock only to drop it on your own feet?"

"If it weren't for your sachet, I might not have been able to find Miaoyin Pavilion, nor would I have known that the killer was related to your establishment. After all, only if you gave it to Sun Zhouming would it not seem strange."

Miaoyin’er’s beautiful brows were tightly knit; she did not answer.

"But..." Cheng Chumou was becoming a fountain of questions. He asked, puzzled, "Miaoyin Pavilion is full of women, and Miaoyin’er is a woman. When the Zhao woman died, wasn't she raped? How could Miaoyin’er have raped her?"

Hearing this, even Cheng Yaojin, who was sitting on the wall quietly watching the drama, leaned forward slightly. He loved listening to these kinds of topics! Even the calm and collected Du Ruhui shifted his body slightly to turn his ear toward Liu Shuyi.

Liu Shuyi looked at the burning curiosity in everyone’s eyes and smiled. "This is what I wanted to talk about—the second clue Miaoyin’er left for me!"

"At the same time, it is also the second piece of news that Miss Du brought me, which is what I just referred to as 'overturning a conclusion'."

A second clue? An overturned conclusion? Cheng Chumou, the most impatient of them all, asked directly, "What do you mean?"

Liu Shuyi looked at the cold and elegant forensic examiner. "This is news Miss Du brought me. Let Miss Du explain it herself."

Du Ying wondered if it was her imagination, but she felt as if Liu Shuyi was intentionally giving her a chance to shine. She looked deeply at Liu Shuyi and then said, "While examining the corpse of the Zhao woman at Wutong Temple, I found her clothes to be very disheveled, with some parts directly torn, which made me suspect she had been raped."

"So, I removed her clothes to inspect her."

"As a result, I found redness and obvious abrasions. All of this matched the characteristics of being raped. Therefore, I gave Master Liu the judgment that the Zhao woman had been raped by the killer before she died."

Cheng Chumou and Du Gou nodded. Although they hadn't seen the wounds themselves, they had seen the disheveled and torn state of the clothes with their own eyes, so they completely agreed with Du Ying.

But to their shock, Du Ying’s next words stunned them.

"After returning to the Ministry of Justice, while dissecting the Zhao woman's stomach, I recalled my judgment of rape. Although I didn't think there was any problem with my assessment, as a physician with a responsibility to the patient, I felt it necessary to further verify my conclusion."

"So, I used a knife to dissect the area of the wounds..."

"And that dissection left me frozen on the spot!"

"Because I discovered..." Du Ying took a deep breath. "There were only injuries inside—injuries left by the impact of a hard object—and there was no residue left behind from a rape..."

"And this made me realize..." She looked at everyone, her cold voice tinged with the fear of having been deceived. "I was wrong! The Zhao woman was never raped at all! I gave Master Liu completely incorrect information!"

"Because of this, I immediately rushed to Miaoyin Pavilion to find Master Liu, because I feared my mistake would affect his investigation and lead to an irreversible result!"

Du Ying finished speaking. But the entire desolate courtyard was, at this moment, silent—eerily silent.

Everyone was shocked by Du Ying’s words. They hadn't expected that the rape, which they had deemed the least likely to be wrong, was also a fake!

Cheng Chumou couldn't help but gasp. "Is this a method a normal person could think of? Even the rape was forged!"

He couldn't help but look at Miaoyin’er by the dry well. "I don't even know if *you* are real anymore!"

Liu Shuyi smiled. "As Miss Du said, the rape of the Zhao woman was fake!"

"And this, clearly, was also left by the killer specifically for me!"

"But this leads to a problem."

A problem? Everyone looked at Liu Shuyi.

"What problem?" Du Gou didn't understand.

Liu Shuyi said, "Why would the killer forge such a thing?"

"Why forge it?" A spark of realization flashed through Du Gou’s mind, as if he understood something.

"Why else?" Cheng Chumou didn't think as deeply as Du Gou, but upon hearing Liu Shuyi’s words, he said directly, "Of course, to frame Sun Zhouming! Since Sun Zhouming is greedy and lustful, he is perfectly capable of doing such a thing. Isn't that the same as the powder and footprints earlier?"

"The same? No, it's not!" Liu Shuyi shook his head. "The powder and the footprints—one led me to find Sun Zhouming, the other helped me confirm his identity. They had reasons to exist."

"But forging a rape... there is no necessary reason for it to exist."

"Even without the rape, the powder and footprints were already enough to be ironclad proof. Sun Zhouming still wouldn't have been able to escape... therefore, they are different."

"Not to mention, for a killer with limited time, forging such a thing is not easy. After all, she had to do it while the Zhao woman was alive, and the woman wouldn't have let her do it without resistance... But she still did it, which means the killer must have had a reason!"

"That does seem to be the logic." Cheng Chumou scratched his head, feeling as if his brain was going to explode. He had thought more this night than in the entire past month, to the point where he felt his brain was about to revolt.

"Then why did she do it?" Cheng Chumou gave up on thinking. Everyone else also looked puzzled.

Liu Shuyi did not keep them in suspense. He said slowly, "As I just said, to frame Sun Zhouming, one does not need to forge a rape."

"Then, there is only one possibility for why the killer would do this..."

Cheng Chumou and the others stared intently at Liu Shuyi, only to hear him say, "For her own sake!"

"For herself?" Everyone was startled.

Liu Shuyi nodded. "From the killer’s layout, one can see that her caution and intelligence are in no way inferior to Zhao Chengyi’s!"

"So, if Zhao Chengyi could prepare a backup plan in case he failed, do you think the killer wouldn't consider a backup plan for herself?"

"Would she not consider... if she failed to deceive me, failed to frame Sun Zhouming successfully, how would she keep herself from being exposed? How would she ensure she remained in an invincible position?"

"This..." Cheng Chumou’s bell-like eyes widened uncontrollably, his pupils trembling violently. He stared blankly at Liu Shuyi, raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, and said, "So, what you mean is?"

Liu Shuyi nodded. "Correct!"

"The purpose of the killer doing this was to let us know that the Zhao woman had been raped, and the person who could rape her must be a man!"

"Therefore, no matter how we investigate, we would never look at a woman!"

"It was precisely because of this that the moment I received Miss Du’s autopsy report, I knew..." Liu Shuyi took a deep breath, his gaze fixed on Miaoyin’er, whose graceful figure now possessed no trace of a smile. "The killer, who is as clever as a demon and set such a grand trap for me... is a woman!"

"And the sachets from your Miaoyin Pavilion, because they contain gold dust, are very expensive and are kept entirely in your custody. For your girls to give them to anyone, they need your approval!"

"In other words, without your permission, Xiangxiang could not have given the sachet to Sun Zhouming!"

"When I asked about Sun Zhouming, you said you didn't know his identity, but from his words and actions, he seemed like a nobleman... A man who is stingy to the extreme, won't part with a single copper, and is lecherous—you said his behavior seemed noble?"

"Even Xiangxiang disliked his lecherous ways, and even a simple-minded person like Commander Cheng could see Sun Zhouming was a miser. You, a madam with rich experience in running a brothel, actually made such a mistake! You actually nodded and agreed to give him the precious sachet..."

"Miaoyin’er, you ask why I specifically suspected you?"

"Tell me..." Liu Shuyi took a sudden step forward, his eyes sharp, his aura imposing. "How could I *not* suspect you?"