Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 314 The Ink Dot Puzzle
"Zhao Zhao?"

When Su Changying saw that Zhou Zhao suddenly stopped speaking halfway through his sentence, he walked over and followed Zhou Zhao's gaze to the white silk handkerchief in the wooden house.

He understood immediately upon seeing it.

Zhou Zhao said that Zhou Yan liked to use pure white silk handkerchiefs, which he didn't even embroider. If that's the case, then where did the ink spots on them come from?
He thought to himself, and picked up the silk handkerchief. "Could it be that he accidentally flicked his pen and ink dripped in..."

A stack of white silk handkerchiefs was folded up. Su Changying picked up the top one, and a new handkerchief was revealed underneath. He looked at it and saw that the second handkerchief had an ink spot in a different position.

"It doesn't seem so. If it had been accidentally spilled, the ink should have seeped in, and several handkerchiefs would have ink spots in the same place. Since it wasn't an accident, then someone did it on purpose."

Zhou Zhao nodded solemnly, recalling the marks left on the door lock.

"If it was left behind by my brother, what does it mean? Is it related to his death?" Zhou Zhao said, his expression extremely complicated. "For so many years, this thing has been right under our noses, and we haven't discovered it."

"If it wasn't left behind by my brother, but rather the work of someone with ulterior motives, then what kind of result did those people hope to achieve by placing this thing here?"

As Zhou Zhao spoke, his eyes flickered, and he lifted the entire small wooden house directly up. Because it contained handkerchiefs, it wasn't very heavy in his hands.

Once the wooden house was moved, a clear rectangular mark appeared underneath.

The area was sheltered by a wooden hut, so it was clean and dust-free, while the rest of the table had a thin layer of dust.

"The edges of the mark are very neat, without any double edges, so the cabin should not have been moved before. If someone moved it and then put it back, there would usually be two non-overlapping edges because it does not completely overlap with the original position."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, she put the wooden house back on the table. She glanced at the handkerchiefs inside and said to Su Changying, "Fold the first handkerchief back neatly and don't mess up the order. If I'm not mistaken, the handkerchiefs below also have ink spots."

This might be some kind of code.

I don't have any ideas right now, and this isn't a good place to stay. Let's take the cabin back first and see if we can crack the code.”

Su Changying responded and folded the first silk handkerchief and put it back.

"Zhaozhao, use a box and pack several items in it. Since someone broke in recently, they might come back a second time. If this is the only thing missing, it could give people clues. It's best to confuse them."

Zhou Zhao gave Su Changying a thumbs up. She walked to Zhou Yan's bookshelf and saw a dusty red lacquered box. She couldn't help but reach out and wipe the dust off.

She opened the chest and saw that it was filled with all sorts of things neatly arranged inside.

"This trunk was a gift from me to my brother. It's full of my little trinkets, any one of which would make Father furious and want to beat me. If they were found hidden there, it would be like my witchcraft being discovered—the sky would fall."

So I begged to give it to my brother. He's always been well-behaved and a model of virtue. If it were found, he could say he couldn't bear to see me wasting my time on frivolous things, so he confiscated it. We'd planned our stories together from the start.

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he picked up a dazzlingly ornate gold ball from the chest, which was inlaid with various sparkling gems.

It was even more luxurious than Ji Yun's gold silk ball before.

"This was a football match in the palace back then. It was originally arranged by the palace to please the Third Prince. Everyone else was too proud to win, but he insisted on challenging me. Back then, we played football outside and swept through Chang'an, utterly crushing everything in our path..."

He won against the palace's Cuju team and immediately thought he was blessed with good fortune, becoming quite dizzy with pride.

They insisted on mocking us and bullying Ah Huang, so I immediately lost my temper, stepped in, and won the item back.

As Zhou Zhao spoke, she winked at Su Changying, “The scene was quite something. Father was so angry when he came back that he vomited blood. He was afraid that I would offend a noble person in the palace without knowing the consequences, which would affect my brother’s and your future.” Su Changying thought about it carefully, “My future depends on my military achievements.”

Zhou Zhao's eyes lit up. "That's right, that's what you said back then. Father told me to return this thing, so I said I lost it and hid it with my brother."

As she spoke, she picked up one of the small gadgets.

"I won this in a gamble; it's the only time I've ever actually gambled. It's a rare thing; it looks like an ordinary lump of iron, but at different times of the day, it casts different patterns of shadows. I really wanted it back then."

This time, my father was especially angry. Knowing I was in the wrong, I didn't dare to take it out to play with, and instead obediently went to the ancestral hall to reflect on my mistakes.

Grandma was the worst; she punished me by making me divide the beans. My brothers and sisters all secretly brought me food, and even the Zhou family matriarch was drooling that night! In the end, the beans weren't divided, but you brought a winnowing basket and shook them out, and they were divided..."

Su Changying couldn't help but laugh when she pictured Zhou Zhao eating and drinking heartily while she was sweating profusely sifting beans.

It was exactly as he had thought.

Zhou Zhao didn't continue to take things out one by one. She moved the items in the trunk to the side. Seeing this, Su Changying found a piece of leather, carefully wrapped the small wooden house, and then put it into the trunk.

"Let's keep searching and see if there's anything unusual."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he and Su Changying checked the items again separately, and this time there was nothing different.

"Zhao Zhao, is there a secret room or something in your brother's room?" After the two finished searching, they returned to the chest and trunk. Su Changying looked at the painting on the wall and asked curiously.

Zhou Zhao shook his head decisively. "As far as I know, no. Firstly, my brother is an upright and honest person. Secondly, usually only cunning and scheming people have many secrets that no one knows. My brother is not old enough yet."

Su Changying was speechless; he did have a secret room.

Not only in Tianying City, but also after returning to the Luhou Mansion, he discovered a secret room in his house.

He was the same age as Zhou Yan.

“Zhaozhao, I…”

Zhou Zhao rolled her eyes at Su Changying, "If you were a spy without secrets, wouldn't you not survive a single day? There's no need to force a connection with being upright and honest."

Upon hearing this, Su Changying chuckled softly, "Mm."

As she spoke, she gathered the notes that were casually placed on Zhou Yan's desk, took a small root carving from his antique shelf, and then pulled out a painting from Zhou Yan's pile of paintings. She opened it, looked at it, and then quickly closed it again.

Su Changying, who was standing nearby, leaned over with sharp eyes and asked, "Is there a little girl in the painting wearing a bellyband, Zhao Zhao?"

Zhou Zhao blushed and wanted to put the painting back, but Su Changying, with her long arms, easily grabbed it. He opened it and saw a chubby little girl, about three years old, wearing a gold necklace and a red bib, running wildly with short legs. In front of her was a large, frightened yellow dog, and next to her were chickens that had been startled and spread their wings to fly away...

What a chaotic scene!

Although the little girl is young, she has boundless energy.

Su Changying couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Zhou Zhao cleared his throat. "Laugh, laugh. Do you know why you're not in the painting? Because you're hanging on a water buffalo's horn, covered in stinking mud!"