The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 302 Yan Fan
"This……"

Yin Suqin stared wide-eyed at the corpse.

Although his clothes were different from what he had seen before, it had only been a day since they last met, so he would never mistake him for the storyteller who had told them about Xue Bangzhu!
It's always like this!

I just followed the clues here, but all I found was a corpse!
He had initially thought the storyteller was the mastermind behind it all, and that capturing him would put an end to the matter. But the corpse ruthlessly shattered that notion—they were far from uncovering the truth!
Cao Hanyan was the first to calm down, walked to Li Miao's side, and carefully observed the scene.

Zheng Yi also came over and told him the information she had learned from the yamen: "Sir, this man is named Yan Fan, he is 65 years old, a local resident, his identity and history are very clear, and his ancestors were also from this area, so it doesn't seem like a forgery."

"Moreover, there is another thing—five years ago, the year Xue Bangzhu disappeared, he moved house."

"Before moving, he lived alone in a small courtyard, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But the prefect remembered that you had asked him to investigate Xue Bangzhu, so he had the clerk investigate one more step and discovered a key detail."

Zheng Yi looked at the corpse and said in a deep voice.

"After Xue Bangzhu arrived in Kaifeng, she rented a small courtyard. Later, after getting married, she moved to her husband's home. This Yanfan was Xue Bangzhu's neighbor before her marriage!"

“He knew Xue Bangzhu, and his telling us about Xue Bangzhu was by no means unfounded; he must have some purpose.”

After Zheng Yi finished speaking, she fell silent for a moment.

Yes, Xue Bangzhu is a disciple of Penglai Sect. Yan Fan deliberately told them this, and all these guesses have come true. But so what?
They were ultimately too late; the dead cannot tell them the truth.

Just then, Cao Hanyan suddenly spoke up.

"No, sir."

He turned to look at Li Miao.

Was this person's death a suicide or a murder?

He pointed to the kang (a heated brick bed).

“I looked closely and saw that he was dressed neatly and cleanly, not like someone who had been in a fight. When we came in, he was already in rigor mortis, but he was sitting upright, which means he died peacefully while sitting.”

Cao Hanyan stepped forward, lowered her head and sniffed the teacup on the low table. Sure enough, the liquid inside also faintly emitted that strange fragrance.

"The Seven Star Begonia you just mentioned, that must be the name of a poisonous creature, right? Could it be that he committed suicide by poisoning himself?"

"But since he told us about Xue Bangzhu, he must have been deliberately trying to lead us to find out the truth. So why did he commit suicide at this critical juncture? Why didn't he just tell us everything directly?"

He looked at Li Miao with a puzzled expression, expecting her answer.

Li Miao said in a deep voice.

There is one explanation.

“He was an insider, but not a participant. He wanted to tell us the truth because he himself was incapable of solving Xue Bangzhu’s problem.”

"He couldn't even dig up Xue Bangzhu's body and let her rest in peace."

Li Miao reached out and pinched the corpse's pulse point. He released his true energy and immediately sighed.

"As expected—he doesn't know martial arts."

"What!?"

All three people present exclaimed in surprise.

Zheng Yi exclaimed urgently, "How is this possible!"

"He knew so much about Xue Bangzhu, and even came to us with clues. The poison that killed him was the Seven Star Begonia—how could someone as famous as Xue Bangzhu die so quietly without anyone noticing, yet he didn't know martial arts?"

Li Miao shook his head, looked at Yan Fan's corpse, and after a long while, stepped forward and closed his wide-open eyes before turning to the three of them and saying.

"Think about it, what did Xue Bangzhu do after he died?"

Before the three could answer, Li Miao continued.

"He spread the story of Xue Bangzhu and the rumors that the mortuary was haunted. When he saw you coming to inquire about things, he took the initiative to tell you the story of Xue Bangzhu."

"He was not covering up the truth, but guiding others to seek it out."

"But here's a problem."

Li Miao held up one finger.

"Although I don't know why Xue Bangzhu appeared so frail in her later years, her bones and muscles had been tempered. The person who could break her bones like that must have been quite skilled in martial arts."

"The way he disposed of Xue Bangzhu's body was definitely because he didn't want anyone to discover the truth—in other words, Yan Fan was on the opposite side of the murderer."

"If he had told everyone about this so clearly, he would probably have quickly attracted the attention of the murderer, who would have come to his door to silence him. Therefore, he would have consciously chosen who to tell the truth to."

Li Miao turned to Cao Hanyan and Yin Suqin.

"What makes you different from the others? Why did Yanfan choose you?"

The two men were suddenly stunned, exchanging a glance, utterly shocked. They were complete strangers to Xue Bangzhu; could it be that their ancestors had some connection to him?
Li Miao shook his finger, pointing to the weapons worn at their waists: "Don't overthink it. His reason for choosing you is simple—you are people of the martial world."

"Moreover, Cao Hanyan is a local, and Yin Suqin is quite well-known. It's possible that Yanfan recognizes you. He thinks you have the ability to uncover the truth."

"The reason is that simple."

Li Miao turned around again and looked at Yan Fan's corpse.

"There is no doubt that he does not know martial arts. His meridians are blocked, his muscles and bones are weak, and his dantian has not even been opened—he has never practiced martial arts."

“Look inside this house, all the utensils are just one set. He lives here alone and has been living like this for many years.”

"Of the three unfilial acts, the greatest is to have no offspring. Especially since his parents died early and he is the only son in the family, if he doesn't carry on the family line, his lineage will be cut off. What made him choose to live alone?"

"It's rare for a person to live to seventy. He's sixty-five, and he doesn't have many years left to live. Why is he bothering with Xue Bangzhu's affairs?"

Li Miao glanced around, then slowly walked to a wall, touched it, and sure enough, felt a protrusion.

He slowly pulled out a brick, revealing a hole. Li Miao reached inside, took out a cloth bag from the hole, and tossed it to Zheng Yi.

Zheng Yi took the cloth bag and untied it in her palm.

Inside was a piece of amber.

In the center of the amber, a flower is encased.

Five dark red petals are faintly translucent, with slightly curled edges that converge towards the center. A white cross pattern adorns the center of each petal, resembling a star.

However, the edges of the amber are not rounded; it looks as if a corner has been ground off, which happens to have worn away part of the petals.

“Seven stars, begonia…” Zheng Yi murmured.

Li Miao nodded.

"That's right. This flower should have seven petals, each with a cross pattern. Under the moonlight, it resembles stars, hence the name Seven Star Begonia. It is highly poisonous if left untreated, but it doesn't keep well."

“But now there are only five petals…” Zheng Yi asked in confusion, but suddenly froze and turned to look at Yan Fan’s corpse.

Li Miao has already laid out all the clues in front of them, and the truth behind Yan Fan's death is beginning to surface.

Cao Hanyan let out a long sigh.

"I see."

Yin Suqin looked at him and asked, "Brother Cao, have you guessed something?"

Cao Hanyan nodded.

“Actually, I had some questions when I saw Yanfan’s death. The master has already told us all the clues, so I have a guess.” He turned to look at Li Miao.

"My lord, let me share my thoughts. If there is anything wrong with them, please correct me."

Li Miao raised his chin, indicating that he should speak freely.

Cao Hanyan then slowly addressed the other two.

"According to my guess, Yan Fan could be considered to have committed suicide, but he could also be considered to have been murdered. In other words, he chose to die, but the fact that he died today was the result of being forced by others."

Cao Hanyan took a few steps and said in a deep voice.

"Let me start from the beginning."

"Xue Bangzhu came to Kaifeng forty-five years ago, and that's when he met Yanfan. At that time, they were both in their early twenties. One had fled to Dashuo alone, and the other had lost both his parents. Their circumstances were similar."

"The two became neighbors and both lived alone, so they must have interacted frequently. A young man and a young woman, both in love at first sight."

"I guess that's when Yanfan fell in love with Xue Bangzhu."

He took the amber from Zheng Yi, rubbed it a few times, and nodded.

"This amber is of excellent quality and must be at least a hundred years old. It should be a keepsake that Xue Bangzhu brought from Penglai, but it is now in Yanfan's hands."

"I guess Xue Bangzhu must have also been fond of him back then, and gave him this item brought from Penglai to express her feelings. Yan Fan either didn't recognize the item or was hesitant, so he didn't respond."

"So Xue Bangzhu thought he had no intention of marrying her, and later married someone else."

"Yanfan was powerless to change the situation, so he never married and kept the matter to himself."

Cao Hanyan glanced at Li Miao, and seeing that he didn't intend to interrupt, she continued.

"If things end here, it's not necessarily a bad thing."

"But then, a massacre that wiped out the entire family changed everything."

Cao Hanyan sighed.

"From twenty years ago until Xue Bangzhu's death, we still have no clue about what happened in between, and I dare not make any rash judgments."

“But five years ago, at the same time Xue Bangzhu disappeared, Yan Fan also moved here. This can’t be a coincidence. I guess Xue Bangzhu was murdered at that time, and Yan Fan also knows the truth.”

"But he doesn't know martial arts, so he has no ability to participate in this matter. He can't even dig up Xue Bangzhu's body and bury it—because that would alert the murderer and have him, the last person in the know, silenced."

"So he chose another path."

"He moved to this village, far away from the mortuary and Kaifeng Prefecture, to avoid the murderer's sight. At the same time, he transformed himself into a storyteller, turning the events of the mortuary into ghost stories and telling them to others."

"He was probably trying to attract attention and make a big fuss to drive away the murderer so that he could dig up Xue Bangzhu's body and bury it."

Yin Suqin frowned and asked a question.

“No, Brother Cao, there’s something wrong with this.”

"If he tells this story to people every day, wouldn't it also attract the murderer's attention?"

"Besides, when you and I were asking around, not many people knew about this. If Yanfan tells this story to people every day, shouldn't there be people everywhere who know about it?"

Cao Hanyan shook her head and sighed.

"Brother Yin is right, but he overlooked one point."

"Do you still remember the missing caravan? Do you remember what the master just said, why Yanfan chose us?"

Yin Suqin was taken aback.

Cao Hanyan continued.

“Yanfan certainly couldn’t reveal everything, as that would quickly attract the murderer. So the story he made up must have been heavily edited and only mentioned vaguely, which is why it didn’t attract the murderer.”

"But he will choose some people and say more."

"Like you and me, like that caravan."

Cao Hanyan pursed her lips and said.

"Traveling merchants usually hire martial arts practitioners as bodyguards, otherwise they will be robbed by bandits before they get far. In other words, there should also be martial arts practitioners among the group of merchants who disappeared in the mortuary."

"I think they didn't accidentally wander into the mortuary, but rather they learned some information from Yanfan and went there to investigate on purpose."

"The evidence is this flower."

Cao Hanyan held up the piece of amber in her hand.

"Two petals of this seven-star begonia are missing."

"That corresponds perfectly to the two groups of merchants and ours."

He said slowly.

"Yanfan is just an ordinary citizen. He has never experienced the affairs of the martial arts world, and he has no way of judging whether the person in front of him has the ability to find out the truth."

"So over the years, he has only told this to two groups of people."

“I guess that every time he told someone about it, he would take out the token of love that Xue Bangzhu had given him, grind off a piece, and soak it in tea.”

"Just now, the master said that the Seven Star Begonia is not easy to preserve, but it has been able to retain its poison in this beeswax. After he changed his clothes and washed himself clean, he would sit on this kang (heated brick bed) and sit facing this cup of poisoned tea for the whole night."

"If someone gets close to the truth, the murderer will come to kill him, and he will drink this cup of poisoned tea before the murderer can do it."

"At the same time, the scent emanating from his body will mask the aroma of the begonia in the amber."

"When the person who discovers the truth realizes something is wrong and turns to look for him, they will find this piece of amber—the clue he left behind with his own life."

“If we don’t know about Yingzhou and Penglai, we can trace Xue Bangzhu’s origins by following the Seven Star Begonia.”

Yin Suqin frowned.

"This is far too unstable."

"What if the murderer seizes the person who went to investigate and interrogates them? What if the person who came didn't even notice the amber?"

"Besides, don't the people of Yingzhou also have this Seven Star Begonia? If the people who come here trace it back to Yingzhou, wouldn't they be like a wolf walking into a tiger's den?"

Cao Hanyan shook her head.

"No, Brother Yin, we are martial artists, and we are standing next to Lord Li, so of course we can talk without feeling the pain."

"But we can't ask Yanfan to do more."

He looked at the corpse lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) and sighed.

"After all, he did not marry Xue Bangzhu, so Xue Bangzhu would not tell him everything. He probably only heard bits and pieces of information about these things."

“He doesn’t know martial arts, so he has no way of judging who is stronger, the murderer or us. He’s just an ordinary person who knows the truth but is powerless to resist, who knows where his lover’s body is hidden but dares not go near it.”

"As an ordinary citizen, as an old man who knows no martial arts, as someone who has never been to the martial world..."

"He has no right to expect stability."

(End of this chapter)