Another Dead

A serial murder case was always complex and its difficulty must never be undermined. Many outward signs were actually hiding deep, dark secrets. Basic observations and analyses of the clues at hand might not reach the right conclusion. One had to think in various directions, be very meticulous and careful, capture every detail and combine everything in order to possibly crack the case.

So, when it came to the concept of protecting a loved one, Zhao Zhi did not just brush it off and immediately went to check on Linglong’s regulars.

It would take a while to look into the histories of her other customers, but the two men who were involved in the Zheng family cases, Jiang Shaoyuan and Ji Bo, were already on hand, which made things convenient.

And a quick look through turned up a few surprises.

Linglong, Ningyan, Jiang Shaoyuan and Ji Bo had actually gathered several times, and Zhao Zhi had seen them before too. As far as he could remember, Jiang Shaoyuan was always with Ningyan. Ningyan also put in efforts to serve him and make him like her. Jiang Shaoyuan enjoyed her attention very much and would embrace her from time to time. They were very sticky and extremely intimate around each other. On the night when Madam Wang was murdered, the two had a night of passionate sex and fell asleep from exhaustion.

Linglong was very pretty and did a good job of upkeep her looks, but as she grew older, she felt she wouldn’t be popular for much longer, so she had lost a lot of her confidence. But her loss of confidence did not hurt her charm. Instead, it made her seem pitiful and in great need of care. The more she held herself back, the more her customers were delighted. Ji Bo, for example, was always trying to find the chance to get close to her.

It was always Ningyan and Jiang Shaoyuan, and Linglong and Ji Bo. They seemed to form two very obvious couples. But the investigation into their histories together proved otherwise.

Ji Bo was indeed trying to gain Linglong’s favor, but everything he did was to get her to sleep with him. As a top courtesan known for being a little aloof, she wasn’t someone you could get just by paying her enough. There was a little process to go through. You had to be someone who had met her a certain number of times, given her a certain amount of money and gifts and developed a relationship of sorts with her before you could bed her. And since he hadn’t reached his goal yet, he continued to try gaining her favor. But the way he did it was nothing compared to Jiang Shaoyuan.

Jiang Shaoyuan looked like he was an old customer at the brothels and he was very calm around all these pretty women. He would sleep with them, but he had his principles too. He gave Ningyan a lot of attention now, but before that… he was actually a loyal customer of Linglong’s. He was a playboy who would ask for the newest girls whenever the brothel debuted one. But after a couple of months, he would definitely return to Linglong. He was very generous toward other women and spent lots of money on them. But when it came to Linglong, he was also thoughtful.

For example, he would take note of Linglong’s likes and dislikes, as well as her health. Instead of giving her accessories and jewelry, he would give her herbs and other things that were helpful to upkeep her looks. Only Linglong would receive such gifts from him. When it came to the other girls, he only gave them money and never bothered to think about what they really liked and all that. And that included Ningyan.

Also, he was very quiet about what he gave Linglong. He made a big show of giving money to the other women so that others would be envious of him, but when he gave things to Linglong, he always gave them in secret, like he didn’t want anyone else to know about it.

On the night Zheng Fangquan was killed, he had spent the evening in Ningyan’s room, but later went to Linglong’s. The fact that he still thought of Linglong in such a situation meant that he was really emotionally invested in Linglong.

Qi Yan tried to sound Jiang Shaoyuan out, but perhaps the older man felt embarrassed about it, so he didn’t say much and seemed unwilling to talk about it.

Zhao Zhi went to ask Linglong directly instead.

“Every human life is important and priority always goes to the deceased. If you came to ask about the case, I will tell you anything I know. But…” Linglong lowered her gaze and sighed quietly. “I might be a lowly person with very little backbone, but I still have some principles.”

In other words, she didn’t want to talk about her relationship with Jiang Shaoyuan.

She was already being fairly frank. Not wanting to talk about it was also a way of agreeing with what he said.

There was some relationship between her and Jiang Shaoyuan. And she didn’t want to say anything bad about him.

In that moment, Zhao Zhi saw a woman’s resilience and gentleness in the faint crease of her eyes.

But the investigation had to continue. If she didn’t want to talk and Jiang Shaoyuan was uncooperative, he would have to find some other way to get information out of them…

For example, if he put them together and the chance was right, would they talk about something they normally wouldn’t tell others?

But before he could execute that plan, a more frightening piece of news came their way. Another one was dead!

This one was closely tied to Zhao Zhi too. It was the butler of Prince Ping’s residence, Zhao Zhong!

When they got the news, everyone rushed to the scene of the crime with quick footsteps and grim looks on their faces.

Just like all the other victims in the case, Zhao Zhong’s body was found the same way. He had been poisoned in some way such that he could not struggle or defend himself, then the back of his head was struck, his pants were removed, his hands and legs were bound and his body was forced into a kneeling stance.

Clearly, this was the work of the same killer.

Even Qi Yan was angry enough to kick walls this time. “I can’t believe the killer’s just going around killing people under our noses?! Is he looking down on our ability to solve the crime?!”

After they found out it was a serial murder, the investigation team embarked on a vigorous investigation, so the killer definitely knew what was going on. Yet, the killer continued to take more lives, and this time, they killed the butler of Prince Ping’s residence.

Was the killer trying to challenge them? Or show their disdain? Was the killer laughing at them for being unable to crack the case and arrest the killer?!

Zhao Zhi had a hot temper, but he was able to keep his temper in check at such times. He observed the scene of the crime in an orderly fashion and went to look for any persons who might be connected to the case. At the end of the day, the case was the most important. As long as he found even the slightest clue, he had to quickly get someone to investigate further.

Qi Yan and Wen Yuansi were quickly given things to do and they left to carry out their work. Zhao Zhi remained at the scene of the crime to examine the body with Song Caitang.

Zhao Zhong’s time of death and place was very unique. He had died in the middle of the night at the end of a very secluded alley. Most people would not come by at this hour, so why did Zhao Zhong do such a thing? As the butler of the house, he had the greatest authority among the servants and it would be easy for him to sneak out for a while. The problem was, why would he do that?

As a person of concern in the Zhengs’ murder case, plus the fact that Zhao Zhong had not been very forthcoming with Zhao Zhi, Zhao Zhi sent someone to check on him and he now had a file on the butler.

The previous Prince Ping had passed away early and Consort Ping, now widowed, was the only one holding up the family and it was not appropriate for her to leave the home sometimes. As a trusted and loyal butler, Zhao Zhong’s position became a very special and important one. Any matters, both big and small, sensitive or not, had to pass through his hands. He traveled extensively and had a huge network. He had gotten a lot done over the past years.

What made Zhao Zhi become very wary was this part about salt shipping.

The Salt Department gave out shipping licenses every year and the criteria was very stringent, but getting one meant gaining great wealth. A lot of people were fighting tooth and nail to get one of these, but you needed capability on top of having money to get one of them.

Zhao Zhi had always thought that his stepmother was just hoping to give it a shot for fun. To his surprise, she already had a piece of the pie for a while now. The family had now been in the salt business for five years, and business was actually getting better!

There was a limited number of licenses given out every year. If more went to Consort Ping, then others would get less. It wasn’t hard to imagine how many jealous and angry people there would be out there…

Zhao Zhi’s eyes reddened in anger as he clenched his fists. Consort Ping!

He found it harder and harder to understand the woman living in the main bedroom of the inner house of his own estate. Her face seemed to belong to a stranger now.

It had only been twenty odd years, but Zhao Zhi had experienced a lot in life. His experience had taught him one thing. The more dangerous it was, the more he had to remain calm and only act after giving it a lot of thought. Rash attempts to resolve the situation would do nothing.

And so he got Wen Yuansi to question Consort Ping and Lu Yuxue while he continued to dig deeper into Zhao Zhong’s history.

He knew Consort Ping and Lu Yuxue wouldn’t be very cooperative, so it didn’t matter who he sent. But Wen Yuansi was often like a warm blanket with a needle hidden in it. He might be able to get something out of them that he couldn’t.

In the end, Wen Yuansi’s questioning did not go very well. Consort Ping and Lu Yuxue said they didn’t know anything about Zhao Zhong’s death and had not expected it either. As far as they could remember, the butler was a capable man who could read the room very well. He was very careful and very astute, so they were really surprised that he would die just like that.

Since he wasn’t getting anywhere with the questions, Wen Yuansi sought permission from Consort Ping to search Zhao Zhong’s room. He combed every inch of the room and… discovered something.

There was a piece of paper with just half a picture on it.

But because Wen Yuansi was so familiar with this picture, he recognized it even though it was incomplete. This was the pattern for that box that Lu Guangzong and Zeng Deyong had!

Wen Yuansi was too taken aback and couldn’t help but widen his eyes for a moment.

This Zhao Zhong… had ties to the traitor they were looking for too?

This matter was too big for him to make any decisions on his own. He quickly returned and told Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang what he had found.

Both of them fell into deep thought as well. They were surprised too.

Just then, Zhao Zhi received another piece of information. Zhao Zhong and Marquess Anyang, Chen Jitong, were not just mere acquaintances. They had started working together on the salt business as early as four years ago…

The fact that they both appeared at Zheng Fangquan’s gathering was no accident, it seemed.

Based on the timeline given, Marquess Anyang had gotten drunk, Zhao Zhong helped him back to a room to rest, then both of them started talking about the past and got excited, so they called for more wine and kept drinking.

According to both of them then, they had also fallen asleep for a while after that.

It seemed like they were able to be each other’s alibis, but just like Ningyan and Jiang Shaoyuan, it was hard to say if both of them were really sleeping or just pretending.

Was someone just pretending to be drunk and fell asleep but was secretly wide awake?

The case was getting more and more complicated and the implications were far reaching, but they still had insufficient clues. Unlike the past cases, sitting down to analyze the clues got nowhere, so they had no choice but to continue keeping an eye on the people involved in the case.

The killer could very well be among this group. If they watched them closely enough, they might discover something.

But all murderers would have a motive, including a serial murderer. If their line of thought was correct, then these victims should have either gone through something similar, or they were hiding the same secret. But what could it be?

And because the box pattern and the shipping of gold were connected to salt shipping, the team began to wonder if this case would eventually lead them back to the person who was betraying the country.

Zhao Zhi was a decisive man. He immediately sent his men to search the victims’ possessions, especially anything related to this box pattern or to salt shipping.

In the end, they did find a few victims with some relation to these things. They couldn’t confirm the rest, but all of them had been secretly followed and investigated before.

They had been followed in a very secretive manner, and those people were also looking for similar clues.

The method used by this other group of people might not be familiar to most, but Zhao Zhi recognized it. It was the Eagle Guards.

Because this was a big matter, the emperor had told Zhao Zhi a little about the Eagle Guards. It wasn’t hard to reach a conclusion on this – the Eagle Guards were investigating these people and had begun suspecting them some time ago already.

But they probably didn’t manage to get any hard evidence and confirm their suspicions. Otherwise, the emperor would have done something by now.

The Eagle Guards were highly classified and were the emperor’s closest and most trusted group. Even the crown prince knew very little about them, never mind Zhao Zhi. Zhao Zhi could only make guesses.

If there was someone actually betraying the country, there must be someone in the royal court coordinating the whole thing. The emperor was definitely investigating in secret, while allowing Zhao Zhi to investigate more openly so that both grounds were covered.

The Eagle Guards might know what Zhao Zhi was doing, but Zhao Zhi would not know about them.

It was too hard to understand what the emperor might be thinking about and he didn’t want to dwell on it either. He just wanted to crack this case.

“I suddenly… remember something.”

Zhao Zhi looked at Song Caitang as they sat beneath the moonlight.

“What is it?”

“I was lucky to meet you again and after my thoughts were triggered, my memory came back, but not all of it. There’s still a portion that I cannot recall,” said Zhao Zhi very slowly as he continued to think. “And I feel like Zhao Zhong is part of this portion.”

Song Caitang was rather surprised. “Zhao Zhong? A butler?”

Her memories were not complete either and she sensed that the more important, or more dangerous and threatening the memory was, the deeper it was locked away in her subconscious. It was very hard to get it out.

Zhao Zhi had gone through a dangerous but important thing, but the person he remembered was not Consort Ping or Prince Ping, but a butler of all people?

If that was the case, this butler was no ordinary character.

And he must have been doing something that wasn’t ordinary either.