I’m The Killer

That night, Zhao Zhi sent men to surround the Liu family residence to make sure nobody made a run for it.

He didn’t sleep either. He spent the night getting all the documents ready so that he could present them to the courts first thing the next morning, got their stamp of approval, then brought his men to the Liu’s.

There were runners who worked for the court, runners who worked for the investigation team, and court soldiers. It was a huge group of people who attracted a lot of attention as they made their way to their destination.

It didn’t take long for all sorts of rumors to flood the streets. Rumor of a house search and arrests spread among the people, causing them to surround the house as well as they waited to watch a good show.

Of course, the higher courts were alarmed to hear about what was going on. Governor Zhang rushed out to follow the other men. Governor Li didn’t even have time to put his official hat on properly and just used a hand to keep it on his head as he ran out.

Liu Qinian was the pacification commissioner and an ally of the royal court! What was this Zhao Zhi trying to do now?

A revolt?!

The Lius quickly noticed what was going on, but they did not shy away. Liu Qinian even opened the main gate and stood there to wait for everyone to come. When he saw that Zhao Zhi had come, he straightened his official hat and folded his hands behind his back as he glared frostily at the younger man. “What’s going on now? You’re here to try and search my home again? Do you have evidence? Official documents? A search warrant? An imperial edict?”

Zhao Zhi smiled as he spoke with equal levels of sarcasm, “Don’t worry, sir. I’ve brought enough men today, so we’ll be able to search your entire house without any trouble.”

Immediately after he said that, all the soldiers took a step forward. They were all armed with swords and had stern expressions on their faces. They looked very menacing indeed.

“Zhao Zhi!” Liu Qinian flew into a rage. “You’d better back down while I’m still being nice! I work directly for the royal courts, so I’m not a person you can bully and humiliate as and when you like! I’ll be honest with you - I wrote a letter that was sent out last night to be delivered to the capital today. I’m sure His Majesty and Her Majesty will seek justice for me in no time!”

Zhao Zhi folded his arms, and instead of taking a step back, he took a few forward. “Have you heard of the saying, ‘those who haven’t done anything wrong wouldn’t be afraid of being haunted by ghosts in the night’? Are you overreacting because you’re feeling guilty and terrified about what could happen to you?”

Qi Yan had evidence now, so he was even more confident. “That’s right! You’ve committed murder, yet you still dare to walk around in broad daylight and remain as high profile as before! I’ve never seen someone as thick-skinned and shameless as you! Liu Qinian, if the emperor finds out what you’ve done, he’s not going to protect you! He’s going to give the command to execute you!”

“Great! Just great! One is from the royal family, and another is from an extremely prominent family! The two of you come from powerful backgrounds with loads of clout, so you think you can create evidence to frame me? Or stop my message from reaching the palace?” Liu Qinian took his official hat off and hugged it. “I did not come from such a background, so I went through the whole process of taking the public service examinations, faithfully served in every post I was given, and got this far entirely through my own hard work. It’s hard to fight against both of you and I might not get the justice I deserve, but for as long as the emperor does not issue any decree otherwise, I remain the pacification commissioner for Luanze, an official of the royal court! You are not to treat me in such a humiliating way!”

“Trying to forcibly search my house? Over my dead body!”

Liu Qinian was valiant and aggressive in his speech. He was trying to gain sympathy from the people watching and trying to use his argument to force Zhao Zhi to back off.

Qi Yan was speechless. Did this man think they were here empty handed again like the day before, so he thought the two of them were just trying to bully him into complying?

How stupid!

Also, why would THEY be stupid enough to do the same thing again today?!

After experiencing the high levels of intelligence displayed by Zhao Zhi, Wen Yuansi and Song Caitang, Qi Yan had already begun to think that he was really stupid. But now, he realized that there were plenty more who were dumber than himself!

His eye was twitching violently by the time Zhao Zhi finally slowly produced the official documents in his hands. “The official documents you were asking for.”

The paper used was very white, and the words written on it were not small. It only took Liu Qinian one glance to see the words “a search can be conducted” as well as the bright red ink of the official stamp of the court.

Liu Qinian was too stunned to speak.

The courts did not simply approve any document that came their way. Something like that was approved only with sufficient evidence and a convincing argument. Zhao Zhi didn’t have enough evidence the day before, so he was only able to use his social standing to bully Liu Qinian into complying but couldn’t force Liu Qinian to do anything since he didn’t have the law on his side. But today…

Had he found new evidence?

Liu Qinian was like a duck whose neck was being squeezed. He couldn’t get any words out of his mouth. The tables had suddenly turned and the entire place fell silent.

The commoners watching the whole thing whispered among themselves and pointed fingers at Liu Qinian. The changes in their expressions were really fun to watch.

Liu Qinian seemed to have turned into a statue. He didn’t move at all.

Zhao Zhi raised an eyebrow. “Commissioner Liu, if you continue being stubborn and refuse to let us in, you’re leaving me with no choice but to arrest you for obstruction of justice.”

But Liu Qinian still did not budge.

Governor Zhang was the governor in charge around here, so he really didn’t want things to get nasty. He immediately walked over to try and mediate the situation, “Alright everyone, calm down, calm down…”

He looked at Liu Qinian and said, “The surveillance commissioner doesn’t have any ill intent, he’s just following investigation procedures. I’m sure you know that there are times when officials like ourselves have to carry out our duties regardless of how difficult things might be. It’s not too much trouble to ask you to cooperate for a bit, don’t you think so?”

Then he turned to Zhao Zhi, “Commissioner Zhao, why don’t you give Commissioner Liu some space? He needs some time to process things, so let’s give him the time he needs. He’ll just need a short while anyway…”

Liu Qinian finally got it now. He wasn’t going to get out of this today.

This Governor Zhang was on Zhao Zhi’s side.

He glanced at Governor Li, who was among the crowd. “You think the same way?”

Zhao Zhi seemed particularly menacing today, so Governor Li licked his dry lips and did not dare to take a side, “Well… there’s a search warrant…”

Liu Qinian let out a snort. “Excellent… just excellent!”

Just then, Liu Zhenghao came over and tugged at Liu Qinian’s sleeve. “Father.”

Liu Qinian frowned. “Why are you here? Go back inside!”

“Father,” Liu Zhenghao smiled. His smile was gentle, polite and extremely gentlemanly. “Why don’t you let them go in and take a look? It’ll be fine. We weren’t the ones who did anything, so what are you afraid of?”

He said these words very slowly and very calmly, and did not seem to be implying anything, if not for how he had glanced at Zhao Zhi once while speaking.

That glance seemed to be snickering, especially when he said “we weren’t the ones who did anything”. He seemed to have emphasized those words.

Others might not have caught it, but Zhao Zhi and Qi Yan did.

Qi Yan nearly started yelling, but Zhao Zhi stopped him.

Liu Zhenghao’s words did not seem to have convinced his father. Liu Qinian still had a nasty look in his eyes and he refused to say anything.

Liu Zhenghao continued trying to persuade him, “If the authorities are really here to search our house and frame us, you could block them once or twice, but you can’t stop them from doing this forever. Why not just let them search all they want and settle this matter once and for all?”

Liu Qinian finally let out a snort as he glared nastily at Zhao Zhi. “Fine! Search the house then! Go ahead! But I’m warning you, this will be the first and the last time I’m giving in to you! After today, regardless of whether you’ve found anything or not, you’re not allowed to come another time! Otherwise, I’ll head straight to the capital and bring my complaints to His Majesty!”

They were determined to search the house today, so it didn’t matter how much the Lius protested. Zhao Zhi raised his hand and the soldiers immediately rushed into the house to search the entire place.

Qi Yan tugged gently at Zhao Zhi’s sleeve and pointed fiercely at Liu Zhenghao. “He’s definitely the killer! He’s not going to get away with it!”

Inside the living room of the Liu’s, Zhao Zhi, Qi Yan, Liu Qinian, Liu Zhenghao as well as Governor Zhang and Governor Li took a seat.

Nobody said anything and the entire living room remained silent, except for the occasional sound of a teacup lid touching a teacup.

Liu Qinian was scowling while his son was smiling. Their facial expressions were different, but they both seemed calm and unaffected.

Governor Zhang had read the case notes and knew what it was about, and what Zhao Zhi’s suspicions were. But the calm demeanor of this father and son confused him.

He looked at Zhao Zhi, who lowered his gaze as he sipped his tea. This guy was even calmer than the father and son.

There was clearly something wrong here. Yet, Zhao Zhi was still able to sit here and sip his tea?

Qi Yan was about to spring up from his chair!

Governor Zhang couldn’t do anything about the case, and couldn’t do anything about the people here either, so he could only sigh quietly as he picked up his teacup to slowly sip from it.

Governor Li was a little nervous, wondering if Zhao Zhi would win this round or if the pacification commissioner would win, and how he ought to respond depending on who won… his expression kept changing as he thought about every possible scenario, so he was kept very busy.

Some of them felt that the search was taking a long time, while others didn’t think the same way. Everyone’s emotions were a little different, but either way, it was hard to wait for the results.

But Zhao Zhi had brought a lot of people, so it didn’t take long for a voice to ring out amidst the noise outside, “Found it!”

Qi Yan immediately leaped out of his chair and ran out excitedly like a monkey, “Where was it? Show it to me!”

And just seconds later, he came hopping back to present the item to Zhao Zhi like he was presenting a piece of treasure. “Brother Zhi, look!”

A pair of earrings with round, green inlaid beads lay in his palm. Both the design and the materials of the earrings matched the hairpins on Yuetao!

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes. “Where were these found?”

The soldier who found them came in to answer his question, “Inside Young Master Liu’s closet in his room. Everyone who went into the room saw it.”

Zhao Zhi tapped the table lightly as he shot Liu Zhenghao a stare, “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Liu Zhenghao shrugged and put on an innocent expression. “I don’t know anything about that.”

“Bullshit!” Qi Yan was a more impatient character and snapped immediately. He gnashed his teeth and glared fiercely at Liu Zhenghao, “It was in YOUR room, YOUR closet, and you dare to say that you don’t know?”

“I’m not the only one with access to my room and my closet,” said Liu Zhenghao with a faint smile. “Mr. Qi, I have a lot of servants, you know.”

Qi Yan was hopping mad. “Stop trying to wriggle your way out of this! You’re the killer!”

Liu Zhenghao had a faint smile and a calm expression on his face. “You say that I’m the killer. So, tell me, why did I commit murder, how did I do it, what was my motive and where’s the evidence? You don’t have answers to any of those questions, yet you boldly accuse me based on these trinkets? I’m not convinced.”

“Because you’re a psycho! You’ve been one from a young age! You’ve committed murder over more than ten years and you only pick courtesans! The number of skeletons in the Qingling River are enough to make a mountain! You’re cruel, bloodthirsty, addicted to abusing others! You like girls who wear butterfly hairpins in their hair! After you kill them, you remove their earrings, then put them on your next victim! If Wenxiang and Yuetao hadn’t been clever enough and left sufficient evidence behind, we wouldn’t have found you!”

“Those pearls, gold and silver beads, seashells and turquoises are what you use for paints! The killer can’t be anyone else!”

By the time Qi Yan was done berating Liu Zhenghao, his eyes were bulging and were reddening, as though he wished he could kill this animal in front of him right away!

Liu Zhenghao had kept a calm smile on his face the whole way, but his gaze flickered slightly when Yuetao was mentioned. A hateful little flicker.

The change in his gaze had been very slight and it disappeared in a flash.

But Zhao Zhi had noticed it.

He had been watching Liu Zhenghao’s expression all this time and quickly understood that Liu Zhenghao was probably very angry that Yuetao had made him slip up.

And even after Qi Yan had said all that, he remained calm and just shrugged again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about at all. Why was the victim’s earrings in my room? Maybe it’s because she had something for me after we slept together that night, and she secretly hid her earrings in my clothes as a memento? I didn’t notice them when I got changed, and they landed somewhere else in the closet? As for those pearls and stuff you mentioned, they’re just standard jewelry that most well-to-do families would own, right? How could you be so sure that those are definitely mine?”

Qi Yan was not stupid. He immediately retorted, “If we only had one incriminating piece of evidence, we wouldn’t suspect you. But everything we’ve found points to you! If you’re not the killer, then who is?”

Liu Zhenghao shrugged again and continued pretending to be innocent. “Mr. Qi, you’re mistaken. It really wasn’t me.”

Qi Yan looked at Zhao Zhi. “He’s still trying to deny it even after all I’ve said! Brother Zhi, throw him into jail and cane him! I’m sure he’ll ‘fess up!”

But Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes as he rubbed his fingertips together. He suddenly had a feeling that this matter wasn’t going to be settled so easily.

And just as he had expected, when Qi Yan and Liu Zhenghao were about to start arguing again, a man walked in.

“It was not Young Master. It was me.”

“I was the one who killed the two girls. I’m the one behind all the other murders too.”

This was a man whom both Zhao Zhi and Qi Yan had seen before. He was Liu Sui, the servant designated as Liu Zhenghao’s personal assistant. Liu Sui was a few years older than Liu Zhenghao, so he was nearly thirty. He also looked reliable and steady, was of a similar build to Liu Zhenghao and was a very efficient and capable man, so he left a deep impression on anybody who had met him before.

Liu Sui brought a dagger over as well. “This was the weapon I used to kill them. You can get the coroner to compare it to the wounds on the victims.”

He remained fairly calm even as he pointed at the earrings in Qi Yan’s hand, “Those are mine too. After I kill a girl, I want to keep something that belonged to her, so that I can use it on my next victim. But it’s too difficult to hide something like this in my own room, so I put it in Young Master’s closet. He doesn’t really open the closet anyway, since the servants are the ones who retrieve everything for him.”

Qi Yan stared at Liu Zhenghao, then stared at Liu Sui. He was in utter disbelief. How could this be?!

But Zhao Zhi remained calm too. He tapped the table with his fingers and asked, “When did you start these murders and how many did you kill? Tell us exactly how the murders happened in detail.”

“The first time I committed murder was 11 years ago. I like anywhere with water, and I came to Luanze with Young Master that year. When I saw one of the courtesans, I felt the urge to kill her, so I did. Who would have guessed that I would continue to be so addicted to killing the girls, that I would keep doing it for another decade? To date I have killed…”

He used his fingers to count, then frowned, “I don’t really remember exactly how many it’s been. Around 45 or 46 girls?”

“As for how I committed these murders… Well, when I see a courtesan I like, I would go over and chat her up. My young master is very generous, so us servants have plenty of money and we can afford to visit brothels. Everyone knows that courtesans are shameless sluts who will follow you anywhere as long as you’ve got money. It doesn’t take much to get them to do what you want.”

Liu Sui put his hands together in front and looked up at Zhao Zhi. “After that… you’ve been investigating this case for a while now, so you should know what happens next. I would tie them up with rope, have sex with them, then beat them up and finally kill them with this dagger.”

He looked at the dagger in his hand, “After using the dagger, I would carefully pull it out again, wipe it clean with a white linen cloth and keep it properly. I would change the bedlinen and keep the old ones, then burn them secretly when I get the chance to do so. If blood gets on the bedframe… blood is a little more troublesome and I have to make sure I clean everything properly. Sometimes, I have to use some herbs and ash to remove everything properly.”

“The courtesans are pretty and I’m a man with some conscience, so I would dress them properly again before throwing them into the river.”