Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 249 Rising Step by Step
A terrifying giant python lay in the crack of the door, a blood-soaked girl wiped the sharp blade in her hand, the torrential rain blurred the blood, and the wind rushed through the hall and into the corridor, where the seven corpses hanging neatly in front of the corridor swayed in the wind.

I don't know whose corpse touched the wind chimes, but they tinkled and tinkled...

The Ou brothers stood dumbfounded at the door, the rain in the late autumn and early winter feeling as cold as ice.

But they felt their blood boiling, as if what was falling from the sky today was not rain but fermented rice.

"It's nothing, just a snake. Ah Huang, come in and examine the body."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, she put away the dagger she had wiped clean, picked up her umbrella that had fallen to the ground, opened it, and entered the courtyard with Ah Huang.

The soldier wasn't lying; the seven corpses were neatly hung under the eaves, a sight that inexplicably sent chills down one's spine.

Upon seeing this, Liu Huang lightly leaped down and took down the corpse of the woman in the very center.

This was an exceptionally beautiful woman with a head of thick, black hair. Even in her gruesome death, one could tell she was a stunning beauty in life.

"The deceased's lips were bluish-purple, and there were obvious bruises on the face and neck. The deceased's tongue was not protruding..."

Liu Huang laid the body flat on the ground and began a preliminary autopsy. As he spoke, he pinched the deceased's chin and looked at her mouth. "There is a wound on the tip of her tongue and blood in her mouth. She must have bitten her own tongue."

The deceased had obvious defensive wounds on both arms, a deep ligature mark on his neck, and scratch marks next to the ligature mark.

I noticed that there were indeed some bits of skin between her fingernails.

This person was probably strangled to death, and then the act of hanging the body was staged.

Zhou Zhao did not interrupt Liu Huang's train of thought. Huang's judgment was basically the same as hers: the girl was obviously murdered, not committed suicide.

As Liu Huang spoke, he moved the body on the right side of the corpse down. "This is a little girl, about twelve or thirteen years old. Her face is pale, her tongue is sticking out, the ligature marks on her neck are relatively faint, and her face is cyanotic."

There were no signs of defensive wounds on her body, and the ligature marks weren't circular... Ah Zhao, this victim is very likely not murdered, but committed suicide.

Zhou Zhao frowned and looked at the stool lying on the ground at the little girl's feet. There were seven corpses in total, some of which were suicides and others were murders.

As Zhou Zhao was pondering this, he heard a somewhat frivolous voice beside him, "Young Master Zhou, I recognize these seven people. Does Your Excellency need my assistance..."

Zhou Zhao turned his head and met Ou Jianshen's roguish eyes.

"Of course, otherwise why would I have called you two brothers out when I heard about Bai Xiang Lou? Did you think I needed you two to be my henchmen to collect debts?"

As Ou Jianshen listened, his expression twisted slightly.

"This neighborhood is basically made up of small courtyards where courtesans like Bai Xiang Lou live. It's not the kind of brothel where many beauties spend money and drink together. This place is almost one person per courtyard, so many of the girls are mistresses."

The buildings and courtyards here were once home to many renowned courtesans. The madam of Baixiang Tower was surnamed Bai, and her daughters also shared the surname Bai. Bai Jiuniang was famous throughout Chang'an back then, and it was during that time that she hung up the plaque for Baixiang Tower.

After Bai Jiu Niang disappeared, the madam Bai brought out Bai Shi Niang, Shi Yi Niang, and Shi Er Niang, but none of them achieved much success. Now, Bai Shi San Niang can only be considered to have some fame.

However, Bai Shisan Niang does not entertain guests. It's rumored she's kept by someone, but we don't know who that person is, and no one in the neighborhood has seen her."

As Ou Jianshen spoke, he walked to the corpse and began to identify it from left to right. "This man is named Dashan, a henchman of Baixianglou. The one next to him is Xiaoshan, Dashan's younger brother. The third one is the madam I mentioned earlier, Bai Laobao." Zhou Zhao looked closely and saw that Bai Laobao was wearing a begonia-red robe. Although she looked to be around forty years old, she was still very beautiful.

"The fourth one, the one that His Highness the King of Chu said was strangled to death, is Bai Shisan Niang; the little girl next to her is called Bai Xia. If Bai Shisan Niang can't make money, she will be Bai Shisi Niang, the next money tree raised at home."

The sixth one is Bai Shiyi Niang, who was unknown at first. Later, she changed her name to Hong Shuang and became Bai Shisan Niang's personal nanny.

The seventh was Uncle Hai, an old man who worked as a coachman at Bai Xiang Lou. That was all the people in the entire Bai Xiang Lou, and they were all dead.

After Ou Jianshen finished speaking, he also sighed deeply.

He thought for a moment and then said, "However, I have never heard of raising snakes in Baixianglou."

There are many beautiful women hiding around here, so how could something like this appear? Even those little snakes, when they tried to come out and cause trouble, were all killed by those playboy young masters when they came to the rescue.

Why would Bai Shisan Niang keep a giant python in her courtyard? And if it wasn't theirs, where did it come from?

As Zhou Zhao was thinking, she saw Liu Huang stand up and look at her expectantly.

"Ah Zhao, there were seven people in total. Apart from Bai Shisan Niang, who was murdered, the remaining six all hanged themselves. Among them, the brothers Da Shan and Xiao Shan both had defensive wounds on their bodies, and their fists were stained with blood, so it is very likely that they had a dispute with someone before they died."

In addition, a clump of the madam's hair was pulled out, and there were signs of bleeding on her scalp.

Furthermore, her knees had obvious bruises, indicating that she had been kneeling for a considerable period of time before her death.

Zhou Zhao listened, imagining that scene.

She frowned thoughtfully. "Approximately what time did he die?"

Ah Huang thought for a moment and said, "It was around this morning, around dawn. I found this in Bai Shisan Niang's sleeve pocket."

Ah Huang opened his palm, and Zhou Zhao glanced at it, his expression suddenly becoming serious.

In Ah Huang's hand lay a small, exquisite blue purse, embroidered with delicate white auspicious cloud patterns, which looked exceptionally elegant.

Above the tassels of the pouch hangs a warm white bead, and the blue pouch is embroidered with four beautiful characters: "Step by Step to Higher Positions".

Zhou Zhao's heart sank, and his mind raced.

This morning, just now, she received a brocade box.

Inside the brocade box was a pair of shoes and a purse, on which were also embroidered the four characters "Step by Step to Higher Positions".

Now that Chen Jiyuan is dead, there is no way to verify the facts.

Was that purse really left to her by Chen Jiyuan?

Who wrote these two phrases, "rising step by step"? And what was their purpose?
If it wasn't Chen Jiyuan, then who could it be? And what is the relationship between Bai Shisan Niang and Chen Jiyuan?