Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 321 The Death of the Musician
You can hear the needle drop.

The host of the banquet let out a snicker, his fingernails scraping against the bronze wine vessel beside him, making a grating noise.

Suddenly, the sound stopped abruptly.

The host placed the wine cup on the table, stood up, and said, "How can a birthday banquet be complete without a musician?"

As he spoke, he hummed a popular tune in Chang'an, then walked out with his hands behind his back, swaying leisurely.

The door suddenly closed, leaving only a crack.

Looking through the crack, the lamplight inside the room flickered and swayed, and the shadows of the corpses and guests seemed to come alive for a moment, with toasts and laughter filling the air.

The nights in Chang'an were even quieter after winter set in. Meng Yannian limped out of the courtyard, carrying a shovel in his hand.

Moonlight fell on the back of his hand, revealing the gruesome scars. He gripped the shovel as if it were a pipa, his fingers twitching and fiddling as if plucking strings. His right index finger was missing, and when he needed to move it, the remaining finger trembled.

He used to be a famous musician in Chang'an. At his peak, even princes and nobles were willing to spend a thousand gold pieces to buy a single piece from him.

During the day he had to go out to make a living, and only at night did he have time to shovel the snow in front of his door.

As Meng Yannian leaned on his shovel, his fingers moved, and he couldn't help but hum a tune softly.

He remembered the first time he played this little tune, a girl was sitting opposite him. She looked about eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a green and white dress, like a lily of the valley covered in morning dew.

Meng Yannian bent down. The snow in the shady spot in front of the door was already frozen solid. He shoveled down but didn't move much. However, the impact made his hand go numb.

This caused him to lose a beat in the rhythm of his humming.

Suddenly, Meng Yannian realized that his body stiffened. He had missed a beat, but the music hadn't stopped; someone was humming along with him.

Moreover, the person was standing right behind him, and he could feel the person's body temperature and a nauseating odor.

Meng Yannian suddenly stood up straight. He gripped the shovel and tried to turn around, but in that instant, the person behind him clung to him like a leech. His warm breath sprayed onto the back of Meng Yannian's neck, making Meng Yannian tremble involuntarily.

"I've found you, my musician."

Meng Yannian snapped out of his daze, turned around, and grabbed the shovel to shovel at the person behind him. But he felt a sharp pain in his throat, and blood spurted out, with a drop landing in his eye. He thought that this drop of blood might slip from the corner of his eye in a moment and be mistaken for a tear.

A refreshing melody continued to play behind him...

An oval-shaped metal sheet fell to the ground, spun once, and then fell into the crimson blood.

……

"Sister Zhao! You're here!"

Han Ze raised his hand high and waved enthusiastically at Zhou Zhao!
Noticing Su Changying's piercing gaze, Han Ze shrank back and quickly lowered his hand. He lowered his voice and explained somewhat awkwardly, "Brother Changying, I was just showing my sister-in-law how passionate our Northern Army is!"

Upon hearing the words "sister-in-law," Su Changying's gaze shifted from one of death by a thousand cuts to one of a slap in the face.

"Why haven't you gone back to the Imperial Household Department yet? You don't need to stay in the Northern Army and suffer anymore."

Previously, he had acted as a spy for His Majesty, with Han Ze serving as an informant. Now that he had openly returned to his position as the Marquis of Lu, Han Ze was free to return to the Imperial Household Department at any time.

Upon hearing this, Han Ze smiled ingratiatingly at Su Changying.

“My father said, you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. If the government is raided one day, my whole family will be wiped out. Now that I’ve jumped out of the basket, at least I can still keep this egg.”

Besides, my father said that Brother Changying, you're going to take full command of the Northern Army. I'm not good at anything else, but I'm number one at being a lackey. Following you is more promising than going to the Imperial Household Department.”

Han Ze spoke, tears welling in his eyes.

Just kidding, ever since he joined the Northern Army, he has endured all the hardships of his life and heard praises he had never heard before in the first half of his life.

Who would want to be a playboy if they could achieve great things?
His father said that he was destined to have a benefactor, and that he was born to bring prosperity to everyone, even his chickens and dogs!
Zhou Zhao, holding a hand warmer, watched Han Ze whispering in Su Changying's ear and nodded curiously.

She crouched down and touched the blood on the ground. The blood hadn't congealed yet and felt sticky in her hand. "The murder must have just happened; the blood is still warm. The body is gone, but have you sent someone to check the surrounding area for any bloodstains? Whether the murderer moved the body from the carriage or moved it themselves, there could have been drops of blood."

When the Union soldiers arrived, did they see the murderer?

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he stood up and shone the lamp in his hand toward the courtyard wall, where there were obvious splattered bloodstains.

Upon hearing this, Su Changying walked to Zhou Zhao's side and shook her head. "After you mentioned that someone had gone missing, I increased the number of patrols. The patrol team heard someone humming a tune, but when they arrived, they only found a pool of blood on the ground; the body was gone."

We didn't see the murderer either. I had people search the surrounding area carefully, but we didn't find any bloodstains on the ground.

I've already ordered a search of the area. There's a curfew now, the gates are locked, and the murderer can't have gone far.

Zhou Zhao nodded, bent down, wrapped the token in the bloodstains with a handkerchief, and spread it out in his palm.

Upon seeing this, Su Changying immediately lit a lantern to illuminate the metal plate, where three words were engraved: "Birthday Banquet".

"Birthday banquet? Whose birthday banquet? The King of Hell's birthday banquet?" Han Ze couldn't help but mutter.

Zhou Zhao glanced at him, and he immediately made a gesture to seal his mouth, standing behind Su Changying like a quail.

"This is a bronze token, like an invitation to some kind of banquet. It's very likely that the killer left it intentionally as a mark of his chosen victim. It's also a symbol of his identity, which is not uncommon in serial murder cases."

Even bronze is not something ordinary people can easily possess, so the murderer must have come from a very wealthy family.

The strange thing is, why wasn't this token found at the scene before?

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he handed the birthday banquet token to Min Zangzhi.

"The killer's birthday must have been special to him. Judging from the amount of blood at the scene and the range of the splatter, the killer most likely used a sharp blade to slit the throat at very close range."

The splattered blood is different from the blood dripping on the ground because a person has a pulse. When someone's throat is slit, the blood is very forceful and may spray onto a wall. It's like a person forcefully spitting out a mouthful of water.

The dripping blood looked like raindrops falling slowly down a finger.

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he squatted down and used a lamp to carefully examine the scene. In addition to the splattered blood, there was also a large amount of blood that had flowed out after the body fell to the ground. As he looked around, Zhou Zhao moved his position along with the drops of blood.

“The murderer picked up the body and moved it to this position. It’s impossible for the body to suddenly stop bleeding. Either the murderer got into the car here, or the murderer carried the body away using his martial arts skills.”

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he carefully examined the few drops of blood. One of the drops had its edge flattened. Zhou Zhao estimated the distance of a car wheel, moved it to a different position, and sure enough, he found another faint bloodstain.

"It seems to be the first possibility: the murderer transported the body away by car, heading east."

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