The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 290: Arrogant, Show-Off, Night Walk in Brocade

Gulou Alley was located in the northwest of the outer city, in a relatively remote location. In addition, the terrain was high and uneven, so there were not many residents, mainly the locals. Last year, a portion of Hebei disaster victims with small family assets moved in.

In places like this, public security was naturally not very good, and everyone was accustomed to sweeping the snow in front of their doors, paying little attention to irrelevant people.

Therefore, last spring, there was also a tragedy where an elderly man who lived alone drowned in his own water tank, only to be discovered in the middle of summer.

My Lord, since I didn't know in advance that you would personally handle this case, I have ordered someone to lift the body after inspecting the sceneNew chaptᴇrs are published on Noᴠelꜰire.nᴇt

Private Advisor Qi was leading the way in front and explaining the situation in detail, but when he arrived in the courtyard, he turned around and saw no sign of Sun Shaozong.

He quickly turned back and saw Sun Shaozong outside, his eyes burning at the blood words on the door panel.

Your Excellency?

Private Advisor Qi quickly explained, "I have carefully observed that these blood characters are all written with non-habitual hands. It may not be easy to identify the true culprit by relying on handwriting. The only thing that can be confirmed at the moment is that the culprit has a certain level of calligraphy skills.

This statement coincided with Sun Shaozong's previous speculation.

Sun Shaozong nodded, and after carefully examining it, he followed Private Advisor Qi into the courtyard.

As soon as he entered the gate, he saw three corpses lying under the dilapidated western wall. One of them was covered in white cloth, while the other two were unobstructed.

The reason for this difference was, naturally, the identity of the three. As the son of an official, even if Ma Yingjue died, his treatment was different from that of the two young servants.

However, at first glance, there seemed to be little similarity between the two young men and the portraits painted by Ma Chunfeng during his lifetime.

This was mainly because both corpses died from poisoning, with a dark and bluish complexion, ferocious and twisted facial features, and a considerable degree of swelling. It might be exaggerated to say that they were completely disfigured, but it was extremely difficult for ordinary people to distinguish their original appearance.

Only those who were proficient in on-site exploration and knew how to use facial contours and the proportion of facial features to restore the basic appearance of the deceased could see the connection between the two.

From this, it could be seen that the professional level of Private Advisor Qi was quite good.

Your Excellency.

Private Advisor Qi led the crowd to the corpse, first lifting the white cloth and pointing to the young deceased man on the stretcher with wide eyes and mouth open. He introduced, "This is Young Master Ma. When I checked his corpse, I found that the boots were marked with the name Changlong and the date of shipment. That's how I traced his identity.

He pointed to the blue and purple fingerprint on Ma Yingjue's collar as he bent down cautiously to remove it. "According to the investigation, Young Master Ma should have died from suffocation caused by choking," he said.

When we arrived, his body was still tied to a Grand Master's chair and his throat was stuffed with soft cloth, so there were no signs of struggle or resistance left.

Based on the surface features of the body, it is speculated that the time of his death should have been between yesterday afternoon and evening.

Speaking of this, Private Advisor Qi turned his head and pointed to the two young men who had been poisoned. "I have also compared the fingerprints of these two people, and they do not match the marks on Young Master Ma's neck. It can be ruled out that they were poisoned after killing.

In recent years, when investigating cases, fingerprints were not taken lightly, but the means of extracting fingerprints were limited. Unless the fingerprints were clearly printed on the neck of the corpse, it was difficult to make a careful comparison.

Private Advisor Qi had the heart to show off his skills in front of Sun Shaozong. As soon as he finished analyzing the fingerprints, he began to analyze the causes of the deaths of the two young servants.

There are three cups on the square table inside.

At the bottom of two of the cups, there seems to be some small white powder adhering, but there is no similar residue in the wine pot. Therefore, I infer that the poison should have been applied to the cups beforehand.

Speaking of this, Private Advisor Qi made a concession and said, "Do you want to go in and take a look?

No need for now.

Unexpectedly, Sun Shaozong shook his head and said confidently, "If my previous inference is correct, it should not be difficult to identify the culprit.

Not difficult?

Private Advisor Qi was taken aback. The murderer appeared to have left his fingerprints carelessly, but in fact, he didnt reveal too much information.

Therefore, Private Advisor Qi analyzed all the details of the scene and couldn't come up with many clues about the killer. However, as Sun Shaozong had just arrived at the scene, how could he possibly

Was it not that he intentionally spoke big in front of him?

Thinking of this possibility, Private Advisor Qi couldn't help but question, "I wonder when will you be arresting the real culprit?

Qiu Yunfei, Zhao Wuwei.

Yes Sir.

Immediately go to the government office to gather people and search all the shops selling pens, ink, paper, and inkstones, with Gulou Alley as the center. Ask if they had any acquaintances yesterday. They used to use the cheapest low-quality pens, ink, and paper, but suddenly bought high-end goods.

Qiu Yunfei and Zhao Wuwei agreed and took orders to go.

Private Advisor Qi furrowed his brows and hesitated repeatedly, but couldn't help but question, "Your Excellency, do you think the murderer bought a new brush alone to write those few words?

Sun Shaozong took out the note from his sleeve and handed it to Private Advisor Qi, saying, "This is the extortion letter sent by the murderer to the Ma family on the 25th.

After Private Advisor Qi glanced at it a few times, he explained, "It's obvious from this note that there are signs of curly hair branching at the tip of the pen, indicating that an old brush is being used.

Furthermore, based on the analysis of paper and ink, the quality of this brush will not be as strong as that.

Also, the door panel is rotten and mottled, with an extremely rough surface, and the difficulty of writing should even exceed that of inferior coarse paper. But I have only carefully observed that the messy marks are significantly less than the former, and there is almost no depilation.

This is a new pen, and it is of excellent quality.

Considering the killer's expertise in calligraphy and the long-term use of inferior study treasures, it is reasonable for him to have a strong and urgent desire for these things.

Private Advisor Qi held the note and listened to Sun Shaozong's analysis of this wave. He couldn't help but sigh that his observation was indeed meticulous, but...

My Lord, even if that's the case, you can't conclude that he bought the Four Treasures of Study from a familiar shop, can you?" Private Advisor Qi questioned. "If he chooses an unrelated shop, wouldn't we be in vain?

Sun Shaozong smiled and said, "The reason why I made such a judgment still stems from those six blood characters.

As he spoke, he turned around and pointed to the door, asking, "What was your first impression of those six blood characters when you saw them?

Arrogant.

Private Advisor Qi blurted out, "The murderer is clearly provoking the government.

That's right.

Sun Shaozong nodded and said, "If it weren't for these six words, perhaps we would have to wait until the body was highly decayed before the neighbors would discover it. By then, there would naturally be much less useful information.

But the murderer chose to risk writing six blood characters on the door so that the government could know in the first place that three people had died here, three people who deserved it.

This is both arrogant and boastful.

Such a person who is arrogant and likes to show off, but has long been depressed and frustrated; has a proud hand in calligraphy, but can only afford the cheapest pen, ink, paper, and inkstone..."

Perhaps sometimes he will be shy and unable to afford stationery. Even if the shop owner doesn't mock him for it, he may have accumulated a lot of resentment in his heart.

When he suddenly received a large windfall and was eager to retaliate against his past life, do you think he would choose to go on a night trip in the Royal Guards and specifically look for an unfamiliar shop?

So my inference should be around 70% accurate.