I Know Who The Killer Is

The sound of the rain falling on the roof was pleasant. There was a rhythm to the raindrops, but they weren’t noisy at all. They sounded more like a gentle nocturne.

Her surroundings were very quiet. Song Caitang put her whole heart and mind into the case amid the background rain music.

She started thinking about what the killer would be like.

Over the last few days, she had sorted out the stories and psychological state of everyone connected to the case. Some had a motive for killing the old man, some didn’t. But nothing was sufficient for them to point out as the killer and there was no solid evidence pointing them to a particular person. The investigation team could not agree on who it was.

This killer was very clever.

According to Lu Shen’s statement, he had captured his father in absolute secrecy. He dared not even hint at it in front of others and made sure that every detail had been kept a secret. It was impossible for anyone to know that he had Lu Guangzong trapped inside that house.

Zhao Zhi and Wen Yuansi had inspected that house too. Lu Guangzong had escaped by his own efforts. Nobody had helped him.

In short, the killer did not know where Lu Guangzong had gone and had not devised some grand plan to help him escape. The killer had merely happened to see Lu Guangzong at the pub, wanted to kill the old man and did it.

This person was a decisive one, a bold character, very meticulous, and very familiar with the area.

Throwing Lu Guangzong’s body into a pigsty was not to hide the body, since the body would be discovered very quickly if it were in such a place. Choosing such a place was likely to humiliate the victim more than anything else.

The killer hated Lu Guangzong very much.

Also, the killer had been wearing Pang Qian’s official robes.

Pang Qian had gone to entertain himself with courtesans, so he had many alibis. The killer had done this to frame Pang Qian.

But why?

Why Pang Qian and not someone else?

What was different about Pang Qian?

Song Caitang tilted her head as she recalled Pang Qian’s face.

Pang Qian was someone who had wanted the position of Pacification Commissioner badly and felt that Lu Guangzong had snatched this position from him, so he was very unhappy about it. No matter how good one’s reputation was, as long as you were an official rising the ranks, there would be rumors about you. Pang Qian hated Lu Guangzong, so it was only natural for him to keep tabs on the old man. He would eventually uncover Lu Guangzong’s true colors and he might have evidence on hand.

But nobody else knew about that.

The commoners and everyone else who wasn’t an official all thought that Lu Guangzong was a good, upright official.

As she thought about what happened after the murder, Song Caitang’s eyes suddenly flew open as they lit up. The killer wanted to use Pang Qian’s mouth to start the ball rolling, to start exposing Lu Guangzong and the barrage of insults that followed!

The killer wanted to peel off Lu Guangzong’s mask little by little!

In order to do that, the murderer even arranged everything like a dominoes sequence…

The killer not only wanted to kill Lu Guangzong, but also wanted to make sure the old man did not rest in peace as the killer destroyed the reputation he had built up over so many years.

That hatred ran really deep.

Who among the suspects would hate Lu Guangzong this much?

All of a sudden, there was a loud sound from something hitting the window frame.

A tiny stone slid down the wall, then rolled away.

The night was very quiet, so such sounds became especially loud and clear.

Song Caitang looked down with a sigh, then got up to open the window.

A bag was thrown at her before she could see anybody.

Song Caitang instinctively caught the bag, then opened it to reveal fragrant, braised peanuts.

She asked Zhao Zhi, “When did you come back?”

“Just.”

Zhao Zhi was wearing a raincoat and let the drizzle fall on him as he remained outside. He glanced into the room and noticed the papers on the table, “Thinking about the case?”

Song Caitang nodded as she looked down at the peanuts in her hands.

The peanuts came in a paper bag, but there wasn’t a single drop of water on it. It was quite warm too, but she wasn’t sure if it was his body heat, or because they were freshly made and were still warm.

Braised peanuts could kind of be classified along with braised meats since they were cooked the same way. As the smell hit her nostrils, she was suddenly reminded of Fourth Missy Gan.

Fourth Missy Gan sold her braised meats nearby, and they were very well received…

The two stood across from one another, one outside the window and the other in the room. The air was mixed in with the smell of tree leaves and the fragrance of the flowers, and it slowly wafted into the room.

After a long time, Zhao Zhi finally asked, “What’s going through your mind?”

Song Caitang snapped out of her thoughts. When she looked into Zhao Zhi’s bright eyes, for some reason, she suddenly remembered something.

This thought had entered her mind when she rescued Fourth Missy Gan, but it escaped her until now.

“Don’t you find this particular thing very strange…”

Song Caitang’s eyes were clear and bright, “Niu Xingzu’s case. When Fourth Missy Gan spoke about her past, most of it didn’t involve her son.”

Zhao Zhi paused to think, then nodded, “And so?”

“Fourth Missy Gan has spent her life working hard to protect her son. She’s worked hard to earn enough for him to live comfortably, and she had been willing to drown herself to take the rap for him when she mistakenly thought he was a murderer. So, could this also be a way to protect her son?”

Song Caitang spoke very slowly, as though she was still thinking while speaking, and was trying to help Zhao Zhi understand her line of logic, “Don’t you think Gan Zhixuan features too little in this part of her story?”

An anomaly was usually a problem.

Zhao Zhi immediately understood what she was trying to say, “You think that the one who poisoned Niu Xingzu back then was actually Gan Zhixuan?”

Perhaps it wasn’t unintentional at all. Perhaps Gan Zhixuan had tricked Niu Xingzu into eating something he knew was poisoned.

Song Caitang nodded, her eyes shining even brighter, “Gan Zhixuan has always wanted a father, but he wants one with money and power, with the ability to protect him and give him a good life, so he definitely didn’t like Niu Xingzu.”

But as she spoke, she became hesitant, “But… this happened something like ten years ago. Gan Zhixuan would only have been four or five back then.”

Zhao Zhi snorted, “So, where do you think Gan Zhixuan would get these ideas from? You think Fourth Missy Gan would have taught him these things?”

Song Caitang shook her head.

That wasn’t possible.

Fourth Missy Gan had worked very hard to hide this secret. She didn’t want Gan Zhixuan to know who his biological father was, and she wasn’t the type to change her mind on a decision easily. She focused on making sure they could live well even without his biological father, working hard to earn enough for the family. She couldn’t have taught her son such things.

Zhao Zhi snapped his fingers, “Someone else has been misleading and influencing the young boy again and again.”

“Fourth Missy Gan had to work long hours to earn enough for the family and has spent very little time with her son, never mind teaching him.”

It was hard for a widow to survive with a young child in tow. She had to work long hours, so before Gan Zhixuan started school, she would have paid a neighbor or some other auntie to take care of him while she wasn’t at home.

Such women might not watch their words, and since Fourth Missy Gan did not get along well with other women, it wasn’t hard to imagine what these women might have said to Gan Zhixuan.

Zhao Zhi lowered his gaze and tried to recall, “I remember Madam Gan had mentioned Gan Zhixuan in passing…”

But Song Caitang remembered the widow’s account very clearly and said, “She said that she and Niu Xingzu were doing well in their relationship, but she did think of backing out because one, Niu Baoshan disapproved of them, and two, her son would kick up a big fuss.”

Zhao Zhi rested an arm on the windowsill and asked, “Why would Gan Zhixuan kick up a big fuss?”

Was it just to get his mother’s attention?

This was something that could affect his mother’s decision, so it wasn’t going to be that simple.

Gan Zhixuan must have disliked Niu Xingzu very much and did not want him near his mother.

“Don’t look down on little children – they’re very smart and sensitive. If their environment is problematic, it will have an early impact on their minds,” Zhao Zhi had a rather icy look in his eyes, “Their sense of right and wrong has not been established yet, so they don’t know how frightening the consequences of their actions can be, but they are bold enough to do a lot of things.”

That was why young children needed parents to watch them and guide them at all times.

Fourth Missy Gan thought that her son had poisoned Niu Xingzu. Even though he would have been too young to be blamed or convicted for it, she didn’t want him to carry such a label at such a young age, so she claimed that she had done it…

And that was how everything else unfolded.

Especially her guilt toward Niu Baoshan.

When she decided to drown herself in order to take the rap for her son, it had been because she had met with someone and found out something.

And when it turned out that she had tried to drown herself for nothing, she should have been very angry with this person and exposed their identity, but she didn’t.

Why?

Because she was tormented by her guilt. She felt that this was her retribution, and this was going to happen to her sooner or later.

“So… I think I know who this person is.”

Song Caitang gave Zhao Zhi a knowing look.

Zhao Zhi nodded as a gleam glinted in his eyes. He knew who she was talking about.

Song Caitang talked to Zhao Zhi about her analysis of the case notes and special characteristics of the murderer.

Zhao Zhi agreed with her.

“The killer definitely hated Lu Guangzong very deeply. He wanted Lu Guangzong to die in humiliation and peel off Lu Guangzong’s mask so that everyone who used to praise him would curse him instead,” he narrowed his eyes slightly and fell into deep thought, “That’s not easy.”

Song Caitang nodded, “This is not just about killing a man. This is a much bigger plan.”

“Firstly, the killer needs time.”

Zhao Zhi held up one finger, “You need a lot of time and energy to follow an official around, understand his network, find out if he’s offended anyone and investigate his crimes and gather evidence.”

“Secondly,” Song Caitang raised two fingers, “the killer is very good at pretending. Regardless of what they do or where they appear, nobody would notice them. And even if they did, nobody would think they had ill intentions.”

Zhao Zhi raised three fingers, “This person is constantly keeping tabs on the case. Every detail, every direction we take, we’ll find traces of this person.”

Song Caitang stuck a fourth finger up, “This person is also very confident and unhurried. This plan has been in the making for a long, long time.”

The two of them continued speaking and thinking in tandem, delving deeper and deeper into the case. They did not talk loudly, and their voices with the rain actually created a rather calming atmosphere.

But the atmosphere their words created was not calming at all.

As they analyzed the killer, their gazes burned brighter and their emotions grew more excited.

They could guess who the killer was!

Song Caitang remembered what her grandmother said earlier in the day and bent her head slightly as she chuckled, “Zhao Zhi, do you think it’s easy for a clever person to act stupid?”

The rain poured down outside, and sometimes the water would reflect the light.

Her profile was illuminated by the candlelight, which made her face glow and her smile as cheery as spring.

A long time passed before Zhao Zhi answered her, “Their cleverness would only delay how long the authorities would find them by a little. It would not be enough for them to get away.”

“Indeed. It is hard to escape the long arm of the law. If you’ve committed a crime, you’d have to pay the price sooner or later.” But Song Caitang still sighed heavily, “It’s too bad that we don’t have enough clues or concrete evidence. If only we could dissect the body. We’d definitely get something from there.”

Zhao Zhi said, “I’ll go to that person’s house and do a thorough check.”

“Since you’re back…” Song Caitang tilted her head slightly and smiled at Zhao Zhi, “that means I’ve got someone to fall back on if anything happens. I want to visit Lu Shen in jail. I want to see if I can persuade him to let me dissect his father’s body.”

Zhao Zhi smiled back with a gentle look in his eyes, “Sure.”

It rained the whole night, but stopped at daybreak. The sun rose high in the sky and the skies were clear all morning.

Zhao Zhi did not send any message to her.

Song Caitang didn’t know how things were on his side, but she went to visit Lu Shen as planned.

She thought it would take her a lot of effort to get Lu Shen to agree, but the heavens decided to give her a big surprise.

This case could be cracked real soon!