Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 367 The Perfect Absence

The room brightened up; I don't know when it started, but the east had begun to lighten.

With the curfew lifted, the slumbering city of Chang'an suddenly came to life.

Standing on the small building, they could hear the sporadic sounds of doors opening and the incessant crowing of roosters and barking of dogs, which was quite invigorating.

Zhou Zhao ignored Song Yu and went directly to the chest next to Song Yu's bed, where Song Yu's outer robe was piled up haphazardly. Zhou Zhao picked up the waist belt and looked at it.

Song Yu's robe was a light green color, which looked very elegant. It was embroidered with green bamboo. His waist belt was a thin strip of the same color, without any jade inlays, but only some bamboo leaves embroidered on it.

Zhou Zhao thought for a moment, then opened the lid of the chest again. The clothes inside were almost all very plain in color.

The waistbands on each set were also very elegant, it seems that Song Yu pretended to be a gentle and talented scholar in order to deceive those young girls.

“There is no red jade,” Su Changying said, straightening up from beside Song Yu’s bed. He had thoroughly examined every nook and cranny of the bed.

As he spoke, he said to Zhou Zhao, "I searched the surrounding area before, but I didn't find any trace of sparrows, nor any indication that they were being kept as pets."

The two did not elaborate, but they both knew the truth.

The sparrows all had gold rings around their legs, indicating that they were not just caught randomly in the wild, but were deliberately marked.

While gold rings and red jade may not be considered extremely valuable, they were clearly not something a weakling like Song Yu, who relied on deceiving young girls, could squander at will.

If he had a gold ring, he would probably want to wear it on his own nose, so how could he bear to give it to the sparrow as a leg ring?

"Take Song Yu back to the Court of Justice first. Even if he is not the murderer, he still cheated people out of money and should be dealt with according to the law."

Song Yu, incredulous, leaped over and shouted, "Lord Zhou, how could you lie to me!"

As he spoke, he rushed from the doorway to Zhou Zhao, excitedly reaching out to grab Zhou Zhao's sleeve.

Zhou Zhao did not move. Su Changying, who was standing to the side, had already drawn his long sword and stood in front of Zhou Zhao. A Huang even stepped in and kicked Song Yu to the ground.

Ah Huang was born with superhuman strength, while Song Yu was already weak. He couldn't maintain his balance at all and rolled several times on the ground before landing on Min Cangzhi's instep.

Song Yu felt a sweet taste in his throat and almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He looked angrily at Zhou Zhao and said, "Lord Zhou, I have already explained that I had no choice but to do this, and it did not harm them. The money was given to me willingly. What kind of deception is this?"
You've already agreed, yet you still say the Court of Justice deserves praise..."

Before he could finish speaking, he heard a suppressed snicker from above.

"As expected, it's not a human being; it just can't understand human language."

Agree with you? Then you might as well agree that tigers eat people to help them ascend to heaven, and that I ripped your conscience out to cool you down!

Min Zangzhi couldn't hold back any longer, so he lifted his foot and shook Song Yu off.

“Oh,” Min Cangzhi glanced at Song Yu’s chest with a mocking look, “saying so many self-deceiving things, trying to make your conscience feel at ease? You’re just wasting your time, like a blind man lighting a lamp. You don’t have a conscience at all.”

Before Xie Yunniang died, she was still dressing up in front of the mirror because you praised her for having beautiful eyebrows.

The girl you just made a promise to meet by the East River is dead, and you feel no sorrow whatsoever, only thinking of finding an excuse to escape punishment. Xie Yunniang's money was spent on buying meat buns to feed the dogs; if she were to die, even the dogs would weep at her grave.

Zhou Zhao ignored Song Yu, for everyone has their own area of ​​expertise.

Min Zangzhi is adept at using words to poison people.

Besides, if he doesn't poison people, then he has to poison her.

“Let’s go back to the Court of Justice and interrogate the other five people who know the truth. Min Wenshu, take all the bamboo slips with Song Yu’s signature back with you.”

...By the time Zhou Zhao sat down in the room in the left courtyard specifically used for interrogation, it was already broad daylight.

You can smell the aroma of breakfast coming from all directions with just a sniff. The family to the east has their ancestral home in Sichuan and Chongqing. They must have fried some spices this morning, because the smell of them made sneezing echo throughout the Court of Justice.

Zhou Zhao looked down at the six people below.

They were divided into three groups.

Song Yu knelt directly in front, staring blankly, seemingly lost in thought.

Behind him stood four young men wearing cloaks and fur coats, with the two in the middle at the front and the other two at the back.

Zhou Zhao recognized Chen Shanhai; he had been summoned to the Court of Justice during Zhang Qingru's case.

The man beside him was half a head shorter than him, and looked thin and obedient. Zhou Zhao noticed that there was a jade pendant hanging from his waist, with the character "He" written on it, which should be He Jiang.

Standing beside the two men was an unremarkable man. These two men had typical Qin appearances; if you threw them on the streets of Chang'an, you could easily spot three of them in a row. They must be Zhu Yang and Xu Yang.

On the other side of the room stood a lone figure with narrow eyes. When Zhou Zhao looked at him, the figure gave him a kind smile.

Zhou Zhao knew that this was Fan Yin from Duobaoge.

"May I ask, Lord Zhou, why have you summoned us to the Court of Justice? We are completely bewildered and have no idea what case we've been involved in."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhao looked at Chen Shanhai and asked, "What were you doing last night? Where did you go? Can anyone testify?"

Chen Shanhai looked calm and smiled, "None of the four of us were in Chang'an last night."

Zhou Zhao's heart skipped a beat as he met Chen Shanhai's eyes. There was no trace of panic in his eyes; in fact, there was a hint of excitement.

“I have a manor in the suburbs. Yesterday, I invited He Jiang and his brothers to go horseback riding and rabbit hunting. I brought several brothers with me, and He Jiang invited Zhu Yang and Xu Yang. We also invited ten dancers from Zuixianlou to accompany us. We didn’t return to Chang’an until this morning.”

By the way, when we were leaving the city, because He Jiang was good-looking, the guards at the gate spoke rudely to him, and we almost got into a fight.

Although I don't know what happened in Chang'an last night, it definitely has nothing to do with the four of us. A lot of people were playing together and watched! What does the Court of Justice call this? Witnesses, right? Well, we have many witnesses!"

Zhou Zhao gave Chen Shanhai a deep look.

Therefore, they do indeed have a strong alibi.

However, Chen Shanhai was somewhat strange.

Zhou Zhao mentally noted Chen Shanhai's name and then asked, "Why didn't you invite Song Yu along? As far as I know, he hosted a banquet for you a few days ago."

This time, Chen Shanhai didn't say anything, but instead nudged He Jiang who was standing next to him.

He Jiang scratched his head somewhat awkwardly, "Shan Hai told me to call Song Yu, but firstly, he can't ride a horse, and secondly, we got tired of playing during the day, so we specially went out to play at night. Song Yu is going to write his story tonight, so we don't want to disturb him."

Besides, the last time we all drank together, it was quite awkward. I think it's better for Song Yu not to drink.

Song Yu was taken aback, turned around and asked, "What's awkward?"

He Jiang's eyes widened in surprise. He turned to look at Chen Shanhai, and only after Chen Shanhai nodded did he blush and say, "After you drank too much, you pounced on me and tried to tear off my clothes. How should I put it, it was like you were possessed by a ghost. The way you looked at people was terrifying. If Chen Shanhai hadn't known martial arts and knocked you unconscious, it would have been..."

Don't you know that yourself?

Song Yu shook his head blankly.