Chapter Seventy-Five: Sorting Out the Clues

"Miss Duan Ling is... Madam's lover!" Wu Li gritted her teeth and finally spoke the words she had been holding back.

"Hmm... hmm?" Fang Mu nodded at first, then suddenly shook his head. "What did you just say?"

Wu Li trembled slightly and bowed her head. "I just said, Miss Duan Ling is Madam's lover."

Fang Mu shook his head, uncertain. "If I didn't mishear, did you just say 'Miss'?"

Wu Li nodded firmly.

Good heavens, that's quite a revelation.

Fang Mu had already guessed before coming here that Duan Ling might also be Zhao's lover; the answer was both expected and surprising.

Indeed, Duan Ling was Zhao's lover, but just now Wu Li referred to Duan Ling as 'Miss'.

Has society here become this open already?

Fang Mu took a deep breath, shaking off the strange images in his mind, then asked, "How do you know all this?"

"I am Madam's personal maid, and I have cared for her for over ten years," Wu Li explained quietly. "After Master disappeared, Madam would spend her days gazing at that bracelet. Later, I overheard her talking to herself."

Now Fang Mu understood the meaning behind the phrase "Too rigid will break" in the letter they found earlier, and that the term "Jun" was not just used for men.

After all, even among women, there can be different roles.

But there was still an issue—the account here differed greatly from what Duan Gen had told him.

"And..." Wu Li hesitated to finish, her voice timid. "At the time, I was standing outside the door with a tray of tea when I heard Madam crying inside. Madam said... Madam said..."

At this point, Wu Li glanced back at the women of the Sun family, clearly troubled.

Fang Mu spoke sternly, "At this point, what are you still hesitating for? Do you not want to live?"

Frightened, Wu Li poured out everything she knew. "Sun Wei is not Master's son—he was born because Duan Wei of the Duan family raped Madam."

Fang Mu stroked his chin; each piece of news was more explosive than the last.

Wu Li shrank back and continued, "Duan Ling is also from the Duan family, but Madam was violated by Duan Wei while she was there, and that's how Sun Wei came to be."

This version now aligned somewhat with Duan Gen's story. Fang Mu sorted through the details, piecing together a rough thread of events.

First was Zhao's identity, which involved both Duan Ling and Duan Wei.

Setting aside Duan Ling's gender for the moment, Duan Ling was Zhao's lover, and Duan Wei had raped Zhao, resulting in Sun Wei, the heir of the Sun family.

On the remote mountain, they found the body of Master Sun Chang from the Sun family, and from the corpse, they retrieved a love letter.

Perhaps Sun Chang had discovered the truth and was murdered as a result.

All clues now pointed to Sun Wei, and he, too, had vanished.

But there was a problem—who had driven Duan Wei insane?

It was clear that a sinister practitioner was involved, but who was this person? Sun Wei? Or someone else?

"My lord, I've told you everything I know," Wu Li pleaded. "Please speak kindly of me before the magistrate. I was not involved in any of this."

"It has nothing to do with me either, my lord."

"Please investigate, my lord, it must have been Sun Wei!"

"That's right, we're only servants—how could we commit murder?"

With Wu Li's words, the other prisoners in the cell began pleading their innocence as well.

Fang Mu said nothing further and left the cell.

As soon as he exited, he ran into the returning constables and bailiffs.

He stopped one of the bailiffs and asked, "Did you find him?"

"No," the bailiff replied with a bitter smile. "We've searched all of Jinglong County—Sun Wei is nowhere to be found. The magistrate is preparing to close the case."

Fang Mu let go and left the county office alone.

Closing the case—how they planned to close it was none of Fang Mu's concern, but there was something odd about all this: why was the maid the first to die?

The first body discovered had been the maid. If Sun Wei was the killer, the motive would be to silence those who could expose his identity—so he murdered Sun Chang and ruined Zhao.

But why kill the maid? And the method was peculiar—there were two fatal points.

First, the work of a sinister practitioner, and second, the strangulation marks on the maid's neck.

If a practitioner intended to kill, why use two different methods?

"Something doesn't add up." Fang Mu had only taken a few steps out of the county office before turning back and grabbing another bailiff. "Why are there so few of you returning?"

Nearly the entire yamen had emptied out during the search, but now less than half had come back.

The bailiff was about to leave on an errand but paused at Fang Mu’s question. After looking around, he whispered, "Something else happened—the Sun residence was surrounded by people demanding payment for Sun Wei’s gambling debts. They want to take Sun family possessions as compensation."

Gambling debts?

Fang Mu released him, feeling as if some of the fog in his heart was clearing.

Leaving the county office, Fang Mu returned home.

Ah Bai quickly prepared dinner. After eating, Fang Mu began organizing his thoughts.

...

Night fell. Ah Bai, who had been snoring away on the table, suddenly woke and stared in one direction, growling a low warning.

"Something strange?" Fang Mu, sitting nearby, stroked Ah Bai’s fur.

Ah Bai only reacted this way when something unnatural appeared; the direction he faced was none other than the county office.

Zhao had just died that morning, and now something sinister was afoot. Fang Mu didn’t hesitate—he grabbed his butcher’s knife and headed out.

...

It was already deep into the night, but the magistrate’s residence in the county office was ablaze with light.

Magistrate Wang sat at his desk, pen in hand.

Before him lay a blank memorial, mottled with splashes of ink from the hovering pen.

He had been hesitating for a long time, unsure how to begin.

The recent events had left this newly appointed magistrate with thinning hair and a receding hairline.

He thought that since his predecessor had been promoted, the post must be an easy one, and his own tenure would be smooth. But he hadn’t expected to encounter such trouble.

"Sigh." Magistrate Wang let out a long breath and muttered to himself, "For now, I can only put the blame on Sun Wei."

He finally put pen to paper, summarizing the details of the case. Once he finished, he set the pen down.

As the ink dried, Magistrate Wang put away the memorial and recalled something else.

The county’s coroner’s background seemed quite impressive—perhaps he should prepare a gift and pay a visit in a few days, especially since he had offended the man before.

As these thoughts drifted through his mind, fatigue set in. He snuffed out the lamp and prepared to rest.

But just as the lamp went out and Magistrate Wang stood up, a bizarre scene unfolded.

The extinguished lamp suddenly flared back to life, illuminating the room once more.

Magistrate Wang's legs gave out, and he nearly collapsed—because the lamp’s flame... was green!