Case One: Twin Corpses in the Flower Bed
Zhong Li had guessed Yue Tianping’s words.
After all, for someone who showed no reaction to the deaths of two brothers, the only explanation was that Yue Tianping was not on good terms with Yue Tiannan and Yue Tianhu.
“Why?” Zhong Li asked.
“It’s all because of money!” Yue Tianping scoffed. “Yue Tiannan and Yue Tianhu were concubine-born sons of the family, while the fifth son and I were the legitimate ones. As everyone knows, there’s a distinction between legitimate and concubine-born. By rights, good fortune should come to the legitimate sons first, then the concubine-born.
However, in our Yue family, it was the opposite. Father doted on Yue Tiannan and Yue Tianhu, even going so far as to let them manage the shops in Yongcheng. You must understand that the Yue family’s prosperity began with those shops. Who would be willing to give the ancestral business to them?”
“Didn’t you also get shops allocated to you?” Zhong Li asked, puzzled. The Fragrant Tea Shop in Jinzhou was quite substantial. Even if Master Yue showed favoritism, it shouldn’t have been too severe.
Yue Tianping let out a disdainful laugh upon hearing Zhong Li’s words. “Scribe Zhong, you haven’t been to Jinzhou before, have you?”
Zhong Li nodded.
Yue Tianping looked at Ren Wen Shu and said, “Scribe Zhong can ask young master Ren privately. If it weren’t for me! A few years ago, the Fragrant Tea Shop in Jinzhou was on the verge of closing down!”
Zhong Li heard this and looked at Ren Wen Shu.
Ren Wen Shu nodded. “A few years ago, the shops in Jinzhou were managed by Yue Tianhu. He lacked business acumen, and within half a year, the shops were failing. It was then that the old master Yue handed over the dying business to Yue Tianping to manage.”
So that’s how it was.
Zhong Li mused, and the Lucky Tea House in Jincheng appeared in her mind. It seemed that the reason for the name change, she guessed, was that the Yue family members were unhappy with Master Yue’s distribution. After improving the business, they changed the name.
In ancient times, the distinction between legitimate and concubine-born was important, but in her opinion, parents had raised their children to adulthood. How their property was distributed afterward was a voluntary choice of the parents. Whether it was more or less, one should be grateful.
“Then do you know what Yue Tiannan and Yue Tianhu were doing in Jinzhou? Don’t they have any shops here anymore?” Zhong Li asked.
Hearing this, Yue Tianping’s brows furrowed, as if this question also stumped him.
However, he quickly slammed the table in anger. “It must be that these two felt I was managing things well in Jinzhou and wanted to cause trouble to snatch my business.”
Zhong Li looked at the man who was cursing and yelling continuously. Her gaze shifted to Ren Wen Shu.
Ren Wen Shu was not unintelligent. He waved to the people around them in the room.
After only Zhong Li, Ren Wen Shu, and Yue Tianping remained in the room, Zhong Li took out a painting from her embrace and said, “Do you recognize this?”
At first, Yue Tianping thought it was just a painting of flowers and plants. He glanced at it casually, preparing to answer. But when he saw the leaves of the shrubbery in the painting, his face darkened. “This… Chat Grass… um…”
He realized he had let slip a word and quickly covered his mouth.
But it was too late. Zhong Li’s gaze suddenly turned chillingly cold, staring intently at him.
Yue Tianping’s eyes darted around for several turns. Just as he was thinking about how to explain away what he had just said, Zhong Li had already walked up to him and said coldly, “Yue Tianping, I advise you to tell the truth. Otherwise, don’t even mention your shops; even your life might be claimed by the yamen’s prison.”
“I…” Yue Tianping looked distressed, as if pleading with her, his eyes on the verge of tears.
Only when he realized the woman opposite him was unmoved did the last vestiges of his haughty demeanor crumble. With a ‘plop,’ he knelt on the ground and said, “Scribe Zhong, I guarantee that this Chat Grass is definitely not in my shops.”
Saying this, he raised three fingers above his head.
“Then what are you afraid of? Or did you have it before?” Zhong Li probed.
Yue Tianping quickly waved his hands. “I wasn’t managing it before either.”
Indeed, Yue Tiannan and Yue Tianhu were connected to Chat Grass. As for whether this Chat Grass was the culprit behind their deaths, that remained to be investigated.
“Both the Jinzhou and Yongcheng ports strictly prohibit this Chat Grass. Do you know how Yue Tiannan and Yue Tianhu obtained it?” Zhong Li asked again.
Upon hearing this, Yue Tianping glanced at Ren Wen Shu.
Ren Wen Shu reacted quickly and said, “The jurisdiction of the Jinzhou port is under the imperial court. The prefectural government only has partial supervisory power!”
Yue Tianping withdrew his gaze. “Scribe Zhong, I truly don’t know about this matter. I only know that Yue Tiannan and Yue Tianhu were indeed involved in such dealings. A few years ago, when the business in Jinzhou was poor, they relied on this to subsidize the shop’s losses. Later, when my father discovered it, he was so angry that he gave the shop to me.
As for where they obtained it, our relationship was not good, and it was something that violated the imperial prohibition. I wished for them to meet their downfall in the gutter, so I never asked.”
Hearing this, Zhong Li looked at Yue Tianping. Seeing that his eyes did not waver, she knew that what he was saying was mostly true.
Seeing that she was no longer pressing him, Yue Tianping also relaxed, slowly got up, and sat back in his seat.
Zhong Li looked at the autopsy report again and asked, “Where were you ten days ago?”
“Ten days ago?” Yue Tianping thought and said, “I took on a business deal from Jincheng. Ten days ago, I was just preparing tea in the warehouse.”
“Is there a witness?” Zhong Li asked.
“Does my wife count?”
Zhong Li nodded, then her gaze fell on Yue Tianping’s feet. “Take off your shoes and let me see.”
Yue Tianping did not understand, but he dared not act presumptuously in front of Zhong Li anymore. He obediently took off his shoes, even sniffing inside his boots to ensure there was no smell, before handing the boots to Zhong Li.
Zhong Li took out the cast of the footprints from her medicine box to compare. The result disappointed her; the footprints at the scene did not belong to Yue Tianping.
“You may go,” she said, putting away the cast and addressing Yue Tianping.
Yue Tianping, upon hearing this, grabbed his boots from the ground and left without looking back.
“Miss Zhong, you’re just going to let him go like that?” Ren Wen Shu walked up to Zhong Li and asked. In his opinion, based on what had been said, Yue Tianping had sufficient evidence to be the killer.
“He shouldn’t be the murderer,” Zhong Li said.
“Is it just because the cast doesn’t match his footprints?” Ren Wen Shu asked.
Zhong Li shook her head. “If Yue Tianping truly wanted to kill someone, he could have done so when he knew Yue Tiannan and Yue Tianhu were involved in the Chat Grass dealings. Why wait until now?
Moreover, with his shops in Jinzhou flourishing and his business doing so well, how could he do something so foolish that would ruin his career?”
Hearing this, Ren Wen Shu nodded in agreement. “Then, do we have no other options?”
Zhong Li thought for a moment and asked Ren Wen Shu, “Of those three keys, two were on the wrists of the deceased. Have you found out where the other one is from?”
When Ren Wen Shu heard her ask about this, he nodded. “There’s a clue. It’s from the main door of the residence.”
As expected!
Zhong Li’s heart tightened. What was this? A locked-room murder?
“What about Miao Fenghua? When is she returning today?”
“She should be back in about half an hour,” Ren Wen Shu said, glancing at the sundial by the door.