You Are The Killer

Madam Ge’s heart trembled violently.

Both the sunshine and Song Caitang’s smile or sigh seemed especially glaring today.

Did she really think that she had committed the perfect crime and left absolutely no evidence behind at all?

Of course!

Why else would she have put in so much effort? Of course it was to make sure that she had an explanation for everything, give the authorities a killer to arrest, and get away scot-free!

And it was precisely because she had thought of everything and made sufficient preparations that she dared to stand so confidently here and smile in the face of the circumstances!

But for some reason, she felt a little afraid to look Song Caitang in the eye.

Little by little, she began to feel nervous, as though she could sense that something bad was about to happen and she didn’t want to stay here any longer. She wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

But Song Caitang wasn’t going to let her do that.

Madam Ge was proud and confident one moment, anxious and nervous the next. Her emotions kept heaving and switching, making her feel like her heart was about to burst. She felt so uneasy.

But she couldn’t allow anyone in the room to see how she really felt.

She used her palm to push against one of her hairpins and kept her expression calm, “Miss Song, I don’t understand what you mean when you say…”

Song Caitang didn’t let her finish and cut her off.

“Gao Zhuo helped you, but because he was so emotionally affected and insensitive to the things happening around him, he was the best candidate for a scapegoat. Because of your relationship with Yun Nianyao, he trusted you a lot. You didn’t even need to do too much. You just needed to mention certain people under certain circumstances and you’d make him lose control of his emotions very easily. If nothing had gone wrong, he would definitely have walked right into your trap and become the killer for this case.”

She stared straight at Madam Ge and took another step forward, “Mrs. Fu has a very pure sort of personality and she continues to think like a teenage girl despite her age. Her feelings are very raw and very clear for all to see, so she made a great scapegoat too. You wouldn’t pass up the chance. I’m sure you put in a lot of effort into making her look like the person who poisoned Yun Nianyao. Even if something didn’t go your way, this morning’s discovery would have ensured your safety.”

“The paintings and writings in Gao Zhuo’s room and the voodoo doll in Mrs. Fu’s room… you knew about those things, didn’t you? Mrs. Fu had suddenly stepped forward to take the rap for Gao Zhuo when it seemed certain that he was the killer. You were surprised, but going along with this new turn of events wasn’t too difficult, was it?”

“You needed to ensure that you were definitely safe, so you had to get rid of any hidden dangers around. My older sister didn’t even do anything, but because you happened to see her that night, she was almost silenced more than once! I just happened to know body examination techniques that other coroners don’t, and you put me on your hit list too. You felt that I was better off dead. That way, I wouldn’t be able to continue my involvement in this case.”

Song Caitang was very close to Madam Ge now. They were only two steps apart, which forced Madam Ge to look straight into her bright eyes, “But all of this is nothing compared to what happened to Yun Nianyao. She was a kindhearted and helpful person. When you were living in the capital, she had helped you numerous times and had never asked for anything in return. And you’ve already forgotten how kind she was to you? Why did you want to kill her? Because you asked her for help and she refused?”

Madam Ge subconsciously took a step back. Her eyes widened and her face was slightly red. It was unclear if she was getting angry or her nerves were giving way, but her voice was way louder than before now, “I said, I didn’t kill her!”

Song Caitang took yet another step forward, insisting on keeping this stressful distance between them. Her voice was as calm as the sea before a huge wave came crashing down, “You appear everywhere in this case. You’re magnanimous, gentle, understanding, constantly trying to counsel others. Everyone else seems guilty, but you don’t look suspicious at all. You thought we’d never catch you?”

“You thought that because Yun Nianyao’s already dead and can’t say a single word, it meant that any evidence of what you’ve done would have died with her. But you’re wrong. It is not true that answers can fly past without leaving a sound behind, or water can wet something and evaporate without leaving any traces behind¹. I know what you did to Yun Nianyao!”

“Everyone, please take a look.”

Song Caitang suddenly retrieved a folded handkerchief from her sleeve and unfolded it to reveal a long, thin, golden needle with blood on it.

This golden needle was different from ordinary golden needles. The first difference was the length. This needle was nearly three times the length of an ordinary golden needle. The second difference was its design. Ordinary golden needles had a sharp tip on one end and a small handle on the other end. The handle usually had screw lines etched into it to make it easier for the acupuncturist to insert, remove and rotate the needle. The length, thickness and actual design of the screw lines might differ from acupuncturist to acupuncturist, but they were always there.

This one, however, did not have any screw lines. The only thing carved into the metal was the emblem of the Lin family.

These were golden needles specially made by the Lins for very special cases. The family did not allow non-family members to learn this technique, and even within the family, only those married to or born to the main line of descendants were allowed to learn. Madam Ge happened to be one of the family members who knew this technique.

Very few in the crowd were so ill that they needed this needle, but they had all seen it before and knew of its existence. They immediately recognized it when Song Caitang unfolded the handkerchief!

Madam Ge’s expression changed dramatically and her pupils constricted when she saw the needle, as though she was in shock!

“Yesterday, an idea struck me when I was discussing the case with the ones in charge, so I decided to take a look at the victim’s body again. I found this in her head.”

Song Caitang’s voice was as bright as her eyes, “The human body has many pressure points. For example, a pressure point on the foot might correspond to one’s internal organs, and the ones on the ear are connected to something else too. There are many, many pressure points on one’s ear. Not only do they correspond to vital organs like the heart, liver, spleen, stomach and kidneys, but they are also connected to our reproductive organs and can help one to look youthful for longer. But the pressure points in this area carry very high risks, so the patient must place their full trust in the doctor for these points to be used.”

“After examining Yun Nianyao’s body, I found that not only had she been poisoned, resulting in a breakdown of her circulatory system, but her heart had also stopped suddenly. She didn’t even have the time to react to it happening. I initially suspected that she had been shocked or agitated, but now, I realize that it’s this needle.”

“As long as this needle is inserted when the patient is relaxed and willing to let it be put into their head, then if the acupuncturist has ill intentions and inserts it just a little too far to the wrong side, the core of the brain will be affected, damaging the central nervous system and killing the patient immediately!”

“You thought that nobody would be able to find the needle if you inserted it deep enough into her head?”

Song Caitang stared steely at Madam Ge with a glint in her eye, “On the night of the 8th day of the 2nd month, the only person staying at Tianhua Temple who knew acupuncture and brought their needles around all the time was you!”

Madam Ge suddenly started shrieking, “Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!!”

Of course, Song Caitang wasn’t going to shut up. Her voice was even icier now, “You’re clever and steady, and good at pretending to be nice. You pretended to be nice by giving Yun Nianyao that bowl of sweet fermented rice balls. You pretended to be nice by offering to use your acupuncture skills to heal her morning sickness and keep her baby safe. Didn’t she thank you for doing that? She saw you as a friend, but you poisoned her in return! And as if that wasn’t enough, you actually killed her with this needle! Madam Ge, do you even have a conscience? Don’t you dream of the King of Hades every night? Would you dare to tell your husband what you’ve done? Would you dare to let your children find out your dirty deeds?!”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up! I said, SHUT UP!!”

Madam Ge flew into a rage as she suddenly drew a dagger from her sleeve and thrust it at Song Caitang!

The one thing that Madam Ge had not lied about was the fact that she didn’t know martial arts. But it was precisely the ones with no training who were more frightening when armed. It was too hard to predict which direction her dagger would go!

But in order to stress Madam Ge out, Song Caitang had to come very close to her.

The distance was too short and the dagger moved too quickly for Song Caitang to even see it properly. How was she going to dodge it?

“AHH!”

“Oh no!”

“Help!!”

Everyone immediately started screaming in horror, while Song Caitang remained stuck in her position. Her mind went blank and she didn’t know how to dodge this.

The sudden retaliation happened too quickly for her to react. Her only thought was that she wasn’t going to be able to dodge the attack, and whether she survived a stab would depend on the will of heaven…

In that instant, she heard the sound of wind.

It was moving at high speed and accompanied by the flapping noise of clothing. It came closer and closer and was right next to her ear in less than a second.

She saw a large hand suddenly appear in front of her. The index and middle finger of that hand caught the blade with ease, even though the tip of the blade was already less than an inch from her eyes.

A smell resembling pinewood hit her nostrils as well.

“You must be tired of living!”

This was a fairly familiar voice, except that it wasn’t as lazy or arrogant as it usually was. Instead, it sounded more like the low growl of a very, very angry animal.

“Zhao Zhi?” Song Caitang blinked.

Zhao Zhi glared at Song Caitang. She didn’t understand what he was trying to tell her, but she could vaguely tell that he was blaming her.

What?

Shouldn’t he be worried about her since she was facing an unprecedented danger? Why was he blaming her?

She couldn’t have predicted that Madam Ge would suddenly brandish a dagger!

Zhao Zhi stood in front of Madam Ge with a sinister smile on his face as he started throwing things on the floor in front of her.

Each time he threw an item, Madam Ge would tremble once.

The first item was a jade token. It was dark green, delicately carved, smooth and bright. It was clear that this had been made from jade with high translucency. It was about the same size and shape as the piece that Madam Ge had showed Song Caitang earlier, but this piece was clearly of a much better grade.

This piece was obviously the one stolen from Yun Nianyao’s room.

After that was a small bag of oval seeds with a hard skin that had a black, white and brown pattern on it. These were castor beans.

Song Caitang had found about ten odd seeds in Madam Ji’s room in Tianhua temple, but there was a whole bag here. There had to be at least 30 of them in here!

The next item was a bow and arrow.

Then he dragged a person from the crowd and pushed them to the front.

The person was a middle aged woman who was dressed in a more fitting top and pants instead of a blouse and skirt. Her brows were slightly raised and she exuded a different aura from most people. Her steps were also filled with energy…

This woman practiced martial arts.

Song Caitang narrowed her eyes slightly. This woman was probably Madam Ge’s secret helper!

The one moving around in the night to find out more information, set up traps and shot an arrow at her was probably this woman!

How did Zhao Zhi manage to catch her?

It didn’t take a genius to understand what was going on, given Madam Ge’s reaction to Zhao Zhi’s actions. Everyone now stared at Madam Ge with shock, contempt and utter disbelief.

Zhao Zhi said calmly, “These were all found in your house, Madam Ge. You’re still not going to admit to your guilt?”

But despite his calm voice, Song Caitang could see that his fist was clenched and his gaze was murderous.

If Madam Ge refused to own up, he was going to teach her a lesson!

She frowned and took a step forward to stand next to Zhao Zhi. That way, she could try to block him even if he burst into a rage.

Actually, Madam Ge was already having trouble holding it together from the moment Song Caitang revealed the golden needle she had used. After Zhao Zhi caught her dagger and started revealing the jade token, castor beans and more, she could no longer keep it together. She couldn’t remain calm anymore.

And when she scanned the faces in the room, she could see the look in their eyes. The people here included the other married women in the network she maintained, her friends, her enemies, the people she had to butter up to, the people who buttered up to her – all of them had the same look on their faces.

Her family, her in-laws, her husband, her sisters-in-law, her children were in the crowd too.

They were all looking at her with disappointed and hurt faces.

She was starting to break down.

Zhao Zhi was getting impatient. His expression darkened when she remained silent for too long, so he turned his fingers to send the dagger flying right back at her.

He could control the direction and strength of the dagger with his fingers, so the dagger did not fly at a place that could kill Madam Ge. It flew toward her head but was targeted at her hair.

Ding! The blade sent a hair pin flying and cut some of her hair. Her hairstyle immediately fell apart and she looked deranged now.

The terrifying feeling of watching a knife come flying at you was difficult to describe. Madam Ge thought that Zhao Zhi was trying to kill her, so she shrieked and broke down completely.

“AHHHHH!!! Yes, yes! Yes! I killed Yun Nianyao! I did that! So what?!! That’s not my fault! It’s HER fault!”

Madam Ge clutched her loose hair with a crazed look in her eyes, “From the moment she arrived in Luanze, I went to give her regular check ups to make sure her baby was doing fine. I did my best! I didn’t do anything wrong! My husband’s family ran into trouble, so I asked her for help and she agreed to help. But even after Gao Zhuo had helped us, she still hadn’t done anything! She knew well that this was very urgent! She knew that my entire family could go down anytime! Yet, she continued to take her time and didn’t do a single thing!”

“I gave her those castor beans, but I didn’t mean to kill her. I just wanted to give her some health issues, then cure her of it so that she would be grateful to me and do something fast, but when I brought her the rice balls that night to check on the effects of the castor beans on her, she told me outright that she wasn’t going to help me!”

“It was just a bowl of soup, but I remembered her and brought it to her! But what did she do? She went back on her word and refused to do what she promised! And she even put on a sad face and said she can’t help me! How could that be?! She’s the daughter of a duke! Her husband is from an ex-military family! She knows SO many people in the capital! She’s got so much clout! She just didn’t want to help me!!”

“Lu Guangzong came to visit her in the afternoon and I heard their conversation. Lu Guangzong gave her something that she could use to access his network, so I asked if I could borrow it. I just needed some people to say a few words for my family and once I was done using it, I’d return it to her. But she refused to give it to me! She’s a hypocrite! A cheat! Why can’t I kill someone like her?!”

“She even put that jade token on the little table with three legs. I know that she always puts the items most important to her on that table. But when I brought that jade token to Lu Guangzong, it turned out to be the wrong thing! She did that on purpose! She tricked me! She purposely did that to mislead me!”

“She got me in trouble when she was alive, and got me into trouble even after she died! So what if I killed her? If she didn’t die the first time, I’m going to kill her a second time, a third time or a fourth time if needed!”

Madam Ge was panting a little after letting out everything on her mind in one shot. She glared at Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi like she was going to gobble them up.

At the same time, Qi Zhaoyuan and Gao Zhuo couldn’t stand hearing this anymore and looked like they were about to march up to Madam Ge. Wen Yuansi quickly ran over with his men to hold them back.

But Madam Ge wasn’t done. She turned to look toward her husband’s family and said, “What sort of expression is that on your faces? Who did I do all this for? Others can criticize me or despise me, but none of you can! Do you know how much I’ve done for the family?!”

Song Caitang sighed quietly as she watched Madam Ge descend into madness.

“Have you ever considered the idea that Yun Nianyao really couldn’t help you when she said she couldn’t? Her entire family, including herself, is currently in very big trouble.”

Madam Ge froze for a moment, but she didn’t want to accept that possibility. She glared at Song Caitang and opened her mouth again to retort.

Song Caitang spoke before she did, “The item that Pacification Commissioner Lu gave her was indeed something that she could have lent you, but she lost it that same day. An Pengyi and his two sworn brothers had stolen it. That’s why she looked so downcast and told you sincerely that she couldn’t help you.”

“You actually had a chance. If you just gave Yun Nianyao some time to settle her own family matters, then someone like her wouldn’t bear to watch your family go down. But you misunderstood her, which in turn caused her demise and caused your downfall.”

This time, Madam Ge was really almost too stunned to speak. “She… she lost that item? She couldn’t help me?”

Song Caitang nodded. “That’s right.”

Zhao Zhi didn’t have patience for her and waved Governor Zhang and Governor Li over, “The killer has already confessed, so why are you just standing there? Take her away!”

The two governors snapped out of their daze and quickly ordered the runners behind them to take action, “Arrest her!”

And even after Madam Ge was handcuffed, she turned to look at Song Caitang and asked, “Is everything you said… true?”

Song Caitang nodded. “Yes.”

Madam Ge suddenly started laughing even as tears streamed down her face. “Why… why do you have to tell me these things? It’s not true… it’s not true… it can’t be true… I refuse to believe it!”