Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 363 Clues Under the Bed (Bonus Chapter)
"Did you see the bloodstains on the top of the bed curtains? Judging from the shape, the murderer most likely stuck this pigskin face to the top of the bed curtains."

The deceased lay on the bed with their face directly facing another person. In the dim light of the night, and with the bed curtains high, the deceased would have had difficulty seeing clearly and would undoubtedly have been greatly frightened.

Zhou Zhao looked up at the bloodstain on the top of the bed curtains, then slowly lowered his gaze.

Didn't you hear screams at the time?

Zhou Zhao asked loudly towards the door.

A sobbing female voice came from the doorway. "I heard it once. I immediately pushed the door open and came in. The girl said that when she was drawing her eyebrows, she saw a human face in the bronze mirror, smiling at her eerily, which gave her a big fright."

But because she liked listening to ghost stories and reading strange tales, she told me that she was hallucinating because she was too tired.

We only glanced around; there was no one hiding in the house. *Sobbing*, the girl was still alive and well. If only I had searched more thoroughly, or taken her to another room.

"Didn't you hear a second scream? Or any other strange noises?" Zhou Zhao asked again.

The maid's voice choked with sobs, "No, I stayed in the outer room. Every night I would get up three times to cover the young lady with a blanket. As soon as I came in, I saw... I saw... the young lady lying on the bed covered in blood, so I immediately ran out to wake up the master and the lady."

Hearing this, Min Zangzhi couldn't help but ask, "Why would the murderer deliberately frighten the victim? Not once, but twice."

He used sleeping pills; that's the kind of behavior you'd expect from a womanizer.

But before administering the sleeping pills, they would pretend to be ghosts and scare the deceased.

Not to mention, they even cut open the deceased's stomach and stuffed a live sparrow inside...

Just incomprehensible.

Zhou Zhao didn't answer the question. Instead, he squatted down and looked under the bed. "When people are frightened, they usually scream loudly. Even if they are too scared to speak, they will call for help when they come to their senses."

The maidservant in the outer room did not hear any noise, and the deceased had no signs of defensive injuries. There were no signs of a struggle in the room, indicating that after the maidservant left, the deceased went to the bed and lay down. Because she was lying on her back facing the pigskin-faced man, the murderer used a sleeping drug to cover her mouth and nose before she could scream.

The victim must have indeed seen the murderer in the mirror when he was first startled. The murderer didn't leave; he remained hidden in the house.

Zhou Zhao's words sent chills down the spines of everyone inside and outside the house.

"The place that is not visible and closest to the bed is under the bed. When the deceased got into bed, the murderer was hiding under the bed waiting for an opportunity to strike."

He was like a hunter, toying with his prey.

Zhou Zhao felt a warmth beside her; Su Changying had already squatted down next to her and placed the lamp on the floor beside the bed.

"The space under the bed is large enough to hide a person. Young Master Zhou is incredibly insightful. Look, there are blue silk threads hanging under the bed..."

Hearing Su Changying's praise, Zhou Zhao rolled her eyes at him. Ever since she learned about his affair with Han Xincheng, she always felt that Changying's seemingly ordinary words were full of traps, just waiting for her to take the bait.

"Hmm, someone is hiding under the bed, their clothes are covered in gauze... General Su, move the lamp a little further in..."

Hearing Su Changying and Zhou Zhao address each other as "Little Lord Zhou" and "General Su" repeatedly, Min Zangzhi clicked his tongue in disdain.

He dared not utter a word of mockery, fearing Zhou Zhao would turn hostile and disrupt Chu You's marriage to him. But he could silently scoff in his heart! Pretending not to know each other—you guys are utterly shameless!
Zhou Zhao was oblivious to Min Cangzhi's inner grumbling. He moved the lamp further inside, illuminating an even wider area. "Look what's that?" he asked.

Following Zhou Zhao's finger, Su Changying gently flicked the jade with her longsword, and a piece of red jade the size of a fingernail rolled out.

"This crimson cloud has a rich color and a translucent luster, making it look quite valuable..."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he walked to the little girl's dressing box, gently opened it, and saw that the box contained a lot of jewelry, mostly turquoise and pearls, as well as some jade ornaments with a more elegant color. The metal used for inlay was not gold or copper, but mostly silver.

Her eyes flickered, and she walked to the door, asking the Xie family members, whose eyes were red, "Your daughter..."

"Xie Yunniang, my daughter's name is Xie Yunniang."

Zhou Zhao nodded. "Does Xie Yunniang have Chiyun? She used to have it, but it's okay if she lost it."

The speaker was a middle-aged woman. Zhou Zhao immediately noticed a string of jewelry hanging on her wrist. It was a string of red jade beads, which looked beautiful, but it was far less exquisite than the piece she had just taken out from under the bed.

"No, Yunniang is very elegant. She usually loves turquoise and pearls, and her dresses are mostly green and white. She is usually very well-behaved and rarely even goes out. How could she have gotten herself into such trouble for no reason?"

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he opened his palm and handed the Crimson Cloud he had found to the maidservant serving Xie Yunniang, "Do you recognize this?"

The maid, her eyes swollen, took a look and shook her head without hesitation. "I've never seen this before. I'm the one who cleans the young lady's room every day. I've never seen this before, so it shouldn't belong to my young lady. Besides, this Crimson Cloud looks very valuable. My young lady doesn't have any jewelry like this."

Zhou Zhao looked thoughtfully at the red jade stone in his hand, "Then it might be the murderer's possession."

"Does Xie Yunniang have any enemies? Or has she recently met some young master?"

As soon as Zhou Zhao finished speaking, the beautiful woman's voice immediately became shrill, "No! My daughter is the most obedient. She is young and doesn't understand matters between men and women at all. How could she know any disreputable young men?"

Xiao Zhou is also a woman. It's one thing for my daughter to die tragically, but since you can't find the murderer, you want to pin the blame on her, saying she attracted the murderer herself? I disagree. Our Yunniang is completely innocent!

Zhou Zhao frowned slightly and glanced indifferently at the woman in front of her.

"No one asked for your consent, so what are you agreeing to?"
No one spoke of her innocence. To me, she only has one identity: a victim. And what the Court of Justice needs to do is find the guilty murderer.

We need to find out who was close to the deceased, because the killer is usually someone they knew.

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he looked at Xie Yunniang's personal maid.

The maid's lips moved slightly, and she glanced furtively at the beautiful woman before whispering, "Yes. Recently, you've met a young gentleman named Song Yu, a scholar. You enjoy reading about strange and unusual things, and he has a large collection of books at home."

The girl often goes to his place to read... "The girl, the girl..."

The maidservant shrank her neck as she spoke, her voice barely audible, "Miss, Miss likes Song Yu, she calls him Yu Lang. Last night at dusk, they even went swimming in the East River together. On the way back, Miss kept talking about him, saying that Yu Lang praised her eyebrows..."

"Impossible! My Yunniang is the closest to me. She is usually well-behaved and sensible. How could she..." the woman roared in disbelief.

Zhou Zhao looked on and sighed inwardly.

That's why she didn't ask Xie's mother, but instead asked the maid.