Tang Dynasty Puppet Doctor

Chapter 40 Leading out the murderer
Murong Huan nodded and said, "The shopkeeper just said that when the two men entered this room at 12:30, no woman was seen entering. So how did the female corpse and the body downstairs get brought into this room? So I suspect that the two tall and sturdy men he described are actually four, and they simply used large cloaks to cover the two bodies."

"If the shopkeeper looks carefully, he should be able to see it!"

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up, and he added, "Oh, yes, that's right. Now that you mention it, it reminds me. They were indeed each holding a long box. I thought they were here to discuss business, so I didn't pay much attention. So, they actually brought the body in, hidden in the box."

"But why did they kill people and bring the bodies to me to pretend they hanged themselves or jumped from a building? Isn't this deliberately harming me and making my business go bankrupt?"

"My Lords, you must find out the real culprit and clear the name of Ruyi Tower!"

Lu Ling and Xiao Muchen seemed lost in thought, but remained silent. Lu Shiyilang then replied, "Boss, rest assured. If you can provide enough clues to help us identify the real culprit, we will naturally clear the name of your Ruyi Tower!"

"Go on!" Xiao Muchen gestured to Murong Huan again.

"These two men dumped one of the bodies downstairs. One reason might be to kill me by pretending someone fell from the building, and the other is to draw my attention. There are no footprints on the windowsill, which means he didn't escape through the window, but chose another way to hide his identity. This method is most likely that they disguised themselves as spectators watching the puppet show here."

"When I came in, I looked at all the spectators here and memorized their appearances. There are thirty-two people in total. I only need to find all thirty-two people, and then I can find the two murderers among them."

"How do you find it?" Lu Shiyilang asked curiously.

"The shopkeeper has seen these two people before. I just need to draw them according to his description!"

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper waved his hands and said, "But both of them were wearing hats that covered their faces. I couldn't see their faces at all!"

"You just need to tell me the characteristics of the two people you remember, and I will piece them together based on your description."

Hearing Murong Huan's words, Qiu Shenji was completely dumbfounded. Just as he was about to say something, Wuling Yue came up from downstairs and reported to Xiao Muchen, "Central Minister Xiao, the Internal Guard and the Dali Temple have surrounded this restaurant. All the patrons in the restaurant have been found and questioned, but they still can't find any clues. These patrons are all some dandy young men from the Shendu of Luoyang. They are timid and cruel, so they can be ruled out as the murderer."

"How many spectators are there in total?" Xiao Muchen asked.

"Thirty people."

"That means we didn't find all of them. Two of them got away!"

"That's impossible. The people I brought with me have surrounded this place in time. We have also sent people to search the surrounding area, but no one else is found."

Xiao Muchen then turned his gaze to Qiu Shenji: "General Qiu, how many people did you bring today?"

"Fifty people!" Qiu Shenji answered casually.

"Then go count the Jinwu Guards here and see if there are only fifty of them." After saying that, he asked Murong Huan, "Have you finished drawing the portrait of the murderer?"

"Yeah! It's done!"

Murong Huan nodded and handed the portrait to him. Xiao Muchen frowned slightly and saw that the paper was as clean as a mirror, with nothing on it.

However, he still slowly folded up the drawing paper and said confidently, "Also, tell them that the portrait artist from the Dali Temple has already drawn the murderer's appearance. Have them both come forward and surrender. According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, those who surrender can be exempted from the death penalty. This is the last chance we give them!"

"Here!"

Wuling Yue obeyed the order and before going down, he couldn't help but glance at Murong Huan.

Murong Huan added, "I will go down with Sheyue Jun!"

Qiu Shenji seemed to want to say something, but he couldn't find a reason to refute. He could only stare blankly and watched Wulingyue and Murong Huan walk downstairs together. He shouted to the Jinwu Guards downstairs: "I know the murderer is among you Jinwu Guards. If you come out and surrender now, you can reduce your punishment and exempt from the death penalty. If you don't come out, I will let the portrait artist here identify your faces!" When Wulingyue said this, Murong Huan had already searched the dark crowd in the restaurant. As she expected, there were indeed two more people in the Jinwu Guards. She then identified the appearance of the onlookers she had noted down one by one, and soon found two suspicious people with flickering eyes.

"That's them two!"

As Murong Huan pointed his finger, the two people hiding in the crowd wanted to run away out of guilt and fear.

Wu Lingyue shouted, "Catch them!"

The two internal guards immediately brought the two men in front of Lu Ling, Xiao Muchen and Qiu Shenji like catching chickens.

A few people saw that the two men were young men as thin as bamboo poles, less than twenty years old.

"Didn't the shopkeeper say that they were two burly men? How could it be these two people?" Qiu Shenji sneered disdainfully.

The two men immediately knelt on the ground and said, "My Lords, it's unjust. We are not the murderers!"

"If you're not the murderer, why are you running?"

Murong Huan said, "If my guess is correct, you had already prepared the Jinwu Guard uniforms when you came here, so the two black cloaks and hats that you took off should still be in this room."

Upon hearing this, Lu Ling immediately ordered the Dali Temple constable: "Search this wing room again to see if there are any hidden compartments where things could be hidden. Search the beams and under the floorboards again."

"Here!"

The three detectives followed their orders and entered the box again to search. After a while, one of them indeed found a black object hidden on the beam. He took it down and handed it to Lu Ling: "Lu Shaoqing, there is indeed this object, hidden on the beam!"

Lu Ling opened it and saw that there were indeed two cloaks and a bamboo hat inside. He threw them in front of the two men and said, "Put them on and show them to the shopkeeper!"

The two men were so terrified they dared not move, so Lu Shiyilang kicked them each, "Hurry up and put on your clothes! Do you want the Dali Temple to torture you?"

One of the men was so frightened that he immediately knelt on the ground. "It wasn't us two brothers. We weren't the murderers. We were just paid by the owner to help dispose of the body. It was our employer who told us to choose this place to dispose of the body. It was also the employer who said that this young man would definitely pass by here, and wanted us to pin the crime of murder on him." After saying this, the man pulled out a portrait from his sleeve and handed it to Xiao Muchen. "This is the portrait of this young man our employer gave us!"

When Xiao Muchen opened it, he saw that the person in the painting was none other than Murong Huan, standing tall and graceful in a white robe under a crabapple tree.

"Then who is this master you are talking about?"

"Yes...it's the housekeeper of the Guo Mansion!"

……

"This Guo Mansion is the home of Guo Erlang, who was killed along with Zhou Jiulang. The current head of the Guo family, Guo Hongba, is a cruel and mean official. When Li Jingye rebelled, he gnashed his teeth before the Empress and threatened to pull out Li Jingye's tendons, eat his flesh, drink his blood, and destroy his marrow. This insult pleased the Sage so much that she promoted him to the position of Censor."

Lu Shiyilang laid out the Guo family records he had gathered on the desk and said to Lu Ling, Murong Huan, and Xiao Muchen, "Another thing we must mention is that this Censor once tasted Doctor Wei's feces to curry favor with his superiors. Hence, he earned the honorific title of 'Faecal Tasting Censor.'"

After saying this, Lu Shiyilang covered his mouth and laughed stiflingly. Seeing that others were not laughing, he continued:

"Based on the portraits drawn by this Su Silang, we have confirmed the identities of the deceased. They are Guo Erlang's two new concubines. Xie Zi'e was the one Guo Erlang had taken a fancy to and snatched away a month ago."

"So who killed these two women, and what was their motive?"

(End of this chapter)