Other Victims

Zheng Fangquan had been very careful about this matter. Besides getting a loyal servant to build the house and clean it on a regular basis, he did not tell him anything else at all.

Zhao Zhi asked the servant several questions and couldn’t get any more information out of him. This was a truly loyal servant who was capable and curious, but was not one to pry into his master’s secrets.

The next step was to question the rest of the Zhengs’ servants as well as everyone involved in Madam Wang’s murder case.

But all of them, Jiang Shaoyuan, Ji Bo and the butler of Prince Ping’s residence, Zhao Zhong, all had alibis. Everyone had been very busy. The two top courtesans, Linglong and Ningyan, enjoyed a roaring business. They had customers every night, so they didn’t get any chance to leave the brothel at all.

Jiang Shaoyuan had even found the time to pull himself away after sleeping with Ningyan to spend time with Linglong for a few hours. He was truly an expert among the nightlife customers.

Only Marquess Anyang, Chen Jitong, had met with Zheng Fangquan before he died.

Even though he claimed to have met Zheng Fangquan in the afternoon, way before the man died, he was the only one out of all of them who had met with the older man that day, so Zhao Zhi had to ask him a few more questions. But these few more questions were enough to make the marquess angry. He felt that Zhao Zhi was suspecting him and slammed the table as he glared at Zhao Zhi. “I didn’t kill anybody! I was trying to befriend Zheng Fangquan only because of the salt business! It’s for money! For business! I have to feed the entire family, you know!”

“Why should I kill him? Would money fall from the sky if I did that?!”

Things got… a little unhappy.

But of course, only Marquess Anyang was unhappy. Zhao Zhi was perfectly fine.

As time passed and everyone was able to get everything out of that secret house, two very familiar looking pieces of paper were found stuck between a whole pile of letters, which drew the attention of the investigation team.

That was the design for that little box with hidden drawers!

The same blueprint that was connected to Lu Guangzong, Zeng Deyong, that secret organization and traitor to the country! Exactly the same!

Given that the gold bars had been shipped by sea via the salt shipping routes…

Everyone’s heart instantly sank and they became more wary. Could it be that this case was also related to that matter?

Zhao Zhi, in particular, was bothered. He had kept tabs on Zheng Fangquan because of this matter, but before he could find any useful information, the man was dead…

Was it to silence Zheng Fangquan?

But to commit a serial murder to silence a person sounded a little over the top.

Regardless of which direction the clues pointed them to, they had to return to the case they were working on first before they could decide where to go.

What they were now sure of was that they had four victims, three women and one man. Besides the fact that Madam Wang’s hands and legs were not bound, the rest had died pretty much the same way. The poison in each case was not necessarily the same, but each victim had been struck in the back of the head and dragged.

It was still part of this serial killer’s modus operandi.

How much did the killer understand about the effects of mercury? Was approaching the case from this angle correct?

The killer hated the victims deeply, making them smear filthy substances onto the victim’s private parts. Such humiliation was usually sexually related, but it didn’t look like an act motivated by sexual desire… Why didn’t the killer assault the victims?

Was it because the killer had great self-discipline, or they didn’t want to dirty themselves, or didn’t like having any form of bodily interaction?

But if they had great self-discipline, why did they not stop themselves from committing murder?

What was the killer’s motive? Where did it come from? How did they look for targets?

Zhao Zhi and his team discussed these matters and were eventually only able to agree on one thing. Since a male victim had appeared, it meant that this serial murder should not be limited to female victims anymore. They ought to check if there were other men who died similarly.

And after some checking…

There were really more victims!

Even though the authorities set a law that any person found dead in any place, whether it was in their own home or otherwise, had to be examined by an official coroner. The death had to be certified a natural death or accident before the body could be buried. But in reality, nobody really enforced that.

If a family gave the local authorities a bit of money or used a few connections, the whole process could be bypassed without much problem.

This was especially the case for victims who were not found in the most elegant of positions.

A victim found with their hands and feet bound, their pants stripped and their bodies smeared with filth would be considered very embarrassing. Their families would definitely try to hide this fact from others.

But if Zhao Zhi wanted to find out more about something, he could.

In no time, about five similar cases came to light. All the victims were men!

They had died the same way as Madam Wang, the two women before her and Zheng Fangquan. And similar to the other victims, these victims were all on the older side. But this was a different group of people. All these men were of a certain standing in society. They were either rich or powerful, and included both merchants and officials. They were just not poor and not ordinary people.

Also, these victims were no longer a bunch of strangers. Since they had reached a certain standing and degree of wealth, even if they didn’t know each other personally, they would have run into each other on many occasions.

There were also anomalies.

Not all the men had messy love relationships, since a couple of them were faithful, responsible men who cared for their families. One of them was also very ugly… which didn’t seem to match the killer’s usual taste?

These discoveries seemed to overturn all their theories prior to this.

Song Caitang said, “The only common factor is their age, I suppose.”

Regardless of whether they were men or women, they were all on the older side.

Was the killer targeting people within a certain age range?

These people might have gone through something together or did something together, and this matter had caused great harm and trauma to the killer.

And because of the victims’ standing in society and networks, if such a thing happened, it wouldn’t be a small matter. It would be a major incident that must have attracted a lot of attention. Perhaps the female victims they found earlier were not the main cause of this serial murder. It might be the men instead.

Song Caitang’s guess threw the room into silence.

Right now, they had found as many as nine people who had fallen victim to this one killer. If they had to add on those who hadn’t been killed yet, or had been killed but not discovered yet, then how many people were involved in this big matter?

It was almost too frightening to even think about.

…

Everyone was working all day on the case. Whenever they had the chance, they would sit down to discuss what they found and attempt to find new perspectives and new ideas. Each time, they would also try to take the chance to have a meal together and enjoy a little tea together. One day, they had finished their tea and walked back out onto the streets when they ran into Lu Yuxue and the butler to Prince Ping’s residence, Zhao Zhong.

“Cousin—“ Lu Yuxue always had her attention on Zhao Zhi, so she immediately reacted when she saw him. She ran forward, then stopped suddenly, her cheeks flushed as she curtsied elegantly. “Greetings, Cousin.”

Zhao Zhi grunted in response without any expression on his face.

Lu Yuxue was a clever woman. She noticed Song Caitang next to Zhao Zhi, and that his expression had not changed even after she had greeted him. She immediately switched gears and went from being shy to being nervous. She started speaking very quickly and in a panicky way, which only made her intentions even more obvious, “Cousin, you’re busy with work? I see… In that case, I’ll…”

Despite her great acting and how much her eyes were darting about, her feet didn’t move at all, as though they were stuck to the ground. She left her sentence hanging midway and refused to finish it, as though she was trying to get him to ask her what was the matter with her.

But Zhao Zhi ignored her and looked ready to walk past her instead.

Her plan had failed.

“Cousin!” Of course Lu Yuxue wasn’t going to let him leave just like that. She ran ahead and stood in his way.

Everyone stared at her in shock and she knew she had embarrassed herself. But she simply had too few chances to talk to her cousin, so she had to cherish each one, even if she had to embarrass herself for it!

“Uncle Zhong and I are headed to Marquess Anyang’s residence. We couldn’t find a good gift to bring along, so I took one of the inkstones that you left in the storeroom at home…” Lu Yuxue stared at Zhao Zhi with reddened cheeks and watery eyes filled with longing for him. “You wouldn’t blame Xue’er for doing that, right?”

Since he wasn’t going to react to anything she did, she had to force a reaction out of him.

If he wasn’t going to ask her what was going on, she was going to tell him straight up.

After interacting with him for so many years, she knew what topics would make him sit up and pay attention. Zheng Fangquan and Madam Wang’s murder cases were a hot topic right now and Zhao Zhi was having a big headache trying to solve it, while Marquess Anyang was someone related to the case. She knew any mention of Marquess Anyang would definitely catch his attention.

As she had expected, Zhao Zhi asked, “Why are you going to Marquess Anyang’s residence?”

Lu Yuxue smiled. “Back at Mr. Zheng’s home, Marquess Anyang had taken good care of Uncle Zhong. After Mr. Zheng passed away, you questioned Marquess Anyang and your tone was a little harsh. Prince Ping’s residence has always been known to take good care of all matters, so…”

She was trying to claim credit now. Zhao Zhi had made the marquess furious, so she was helping to privately calm things down and appease the marquess so that their relationship would not be affected.

Her actions didn’t seem wrong. Lu Yuxue had spent most of her years at Prince Ping’s residence doing such things anyway.

But now, the fact that she had come forward to say that she was doing these things in the middle of a busy street and at a time when the case was still under investigation, everyone couldn’t help but wonder: why is this woman everywhere?

Zhao Zhi was especially displeased and narrowed his eyes. “Are you blaming me for doing the wrong thing?”

Lu Yuxue’s face reddened even more. “No, that’s not what I meant…”

Zhao Zhong noticed that the passersby on the street were purposely slowing down to watch the show and quickly smiled as he attempted to make peace, “That’s really not what Miss Xue meant. There are a lot of people on the street, I hope Your Highness doesn’t get angry.”

“Why, you want to teach me how to behave and what to do too?” Zhao Zhi glared fiercely at Zhao Zhong as he suddenly flew into a rage and demanded, “Who’s the person in charge of you? Consort Ping?”

That was a question that was difficult for Zhao Zhong to answer, so he just smiled back awkwardly.

Lu Yuxue pursed her lips. “Cousin, don’t be like this. Uncle Zhong is just doing this for your sake…”

But based on how red her face was, she wasn’t just talking about Zhao Zhong, but also talking about herself.

I’m doing this for your sake too, so won’t you take even a second look at me?

“No need for that.” Zhao Zhi’s glare was icy. “Lu Yuxue, I hope you remember what I’ve said to you before. Remember it well and do not make the same mistake.”

Lu Yuxue bit her lip and looked like she was about to cry. “Cousin, you’ve changed. You’ve become harsher with words and you’ve become less inclined to make peace with others. If you continue like this… you will have no friends to help you in the future. You’d lose out and your life will become tougher, do you know that? Others…”

She glanced at Song Caitang when she said the word “others”, so it was obvious who she was really talking about, “Others wouldn’t worry so much or put in so much effort for you. I’m just doing what I can and I’m not asking for anything in return, so why won’t you accept it?”

Song Caitang felt that this topic was going further and further off course, so she had to step in.

But she didn’t want to get into a meaningless argument with Lu Yuxue either, so she looked at Zhao Zhi and said, “Since she’s worked so hard and done so much for you, why don’t you thank her?”

She said those words with a smile on her face and a gentle and friendly look in her eyes, but Zhao Zhi knew that if he really thanked Lu Yuxue, he was going to get it from her.

He couldn’t be bothered to talk to Lu Yuxue anymore, so he pushed her aside and walked toward Zhao Zhong with a warning look in his eyes. “This murder case is no simple case. If there is anything else you haven’t told me yet, I’d advise you to come clean.”

Zhao Zhong kept his hands folded in front of his abdomen like a good servant and smiled politely, “Thank you for the concern, Your Highness. Her Highness knows everything concerning myself, so there is no problem at all.”

In other words, he was not going to cooperate.

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes. “What a loyal servant.”

Zhao Zhong replied, “Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness.”

Since he wasn’t willing to talk and Zhao Zhi didn’t have any incriminating evidence, he couldn’t possibly force the butler to say anything, so he scoffed and walked away.

Song Caitang felt that everyone living in Prince Ping’s residence was very strange.

They were definitely hiding a secret, or perhaps more than one secret. Zhao Zhi tolerated it and did not turn the whole place upside down probably because… he didn’t have the full picture yet. If he wanted to find out the full truth of the matter, he couldn’t just go hard on them and make them wary of him. He needed a chance to get in and dig more out.

Of course, Qi Yan and Wen Yuansi hurried after Zhao Zhi.

Wen Yuansi was worried inside about Song Caitang, but he wasn’t going to poke his nose into others’ business. Not even comment on it. So, he chose to simply walk away.

But not Qi Yan. He purposely sauntered past Lu Yuxue and rolled his eyes at her.

Trying to throw dirt on Song Caitang in front of Zhao Zhi? What a lousy move!

To him, a stupid woman always focused on fighting another woman. A clever woman would know how to win over her man, who would ensure that her path ahead was clear and smooth. Lu Yuxue’s intelligence was all wasted on her!

But Lu Yuxue was still indignant and called out to Zhao Zhi even as he walked away, “Have you found out who’s the killer in this case? I heard it’s a serial murder case! Cousin, no matter how busy you are, you have to take care of your health…”