“Mistress Lin, Wu Shusheng has been brought in, and this is Qian Xiang’s guqin.”
The old madam handed a guqin to Lin Qinghuang.
Lin Qinghuang took the guqin; it was a seven-stringed instrument, with one string extremely loose.
After setting down the guqin, she scrutinized Wu Shusheng and said expressionlessly, “Do you know what I’m going to ask next?”
Wu Shusheng’s face was ashen, and he said sorrowfully, “I killed Qian Xiang.”
“It really was you! Qian Xiang was so good to you, yet you treated her like this, you beast!”
The old madam roared.
Xie Weilou stared at Wu Shusheng; this scholar also had a peculiar fragrance about him, similar to the scent in the room.
Lin Qinghuang, however, fixed her gaze on Wu Shusheng: “Since you say you killed her, what was your motive?”
Wu Shusheng said in a sorrowful tone, “I’ve always liked Qian Xiang, and she also had feelings for me. We promised to live together forever.”
He looked at Qian Xiang’s corpse: “I exhausted all my efforts and barely managed to gather enough money. This time I came to Wansha House to buy her freedom, but she refused me. I felt she had betrayed her vow, and I thought she was too cheap, so I argued with her and accidentally killed her in the end…”
The old madam said, “Indeed, a thousand taels of silver notes were found on Wu Shusheng.”
Saying this, she handed two five-hundred-tael silver notes to Lin Qinghuang.
Lin Qinghuang took the silver notes, looked at the old madam, and asked, “How much does it cost to buy her freedom?”
“Qian Xiang’s value is five hundred taels,” the old madam stated directly.
Lin Qinghuang then stared at Wu Shusheng and said indifferently, “Did anyone witness you killing Qian Xiang?”
“No…” Wu Shusheng said, lowering his head.
“You’re lying!” Lin Qinghuang’s tone instantly turned sharp.
She pointed to the table in the room and said, “There are five chairs and five sets of bowls and chopsticks. Even if Qian Xiang and you each used one chair and one set of bowls and chopsticks, then whose are the other three chairs and three sets of bowls and chopsticks?”
When Lin Qinghuang said this, Wu Shusheng’s body trembled.
Lin Qinghuang looked coldly at Wu Shusheng and said, “Who are the other three people?”
Wu Shusheng lowered his head, his expression terrified, but he remained silent.
Seeing this, Lin Qinghuang looked at the old madam again and asked coldly, “Has Qian Xiang received anyone else before this?”
The old madam hurriedly said, “No! Qian Xiang only sells her art, not her body. She has had the most contact with Wu Shusheng in the past month. Besides him, she generally doesn’t receive guests in her room; she usually plays music outside the building.”
Lin Qinghuang’s eyes showed no ripples as she looked at Wu Shusheng and said, “One more question for you: when you and Qian Xiang were in the building, did you do anything else?”
Wu Shusheng said gloomily, “We drank, listened to music, talked about buying her freedom, then argued, and I accidentally killed her. That’s what happened in the room.”
“Is that so?” Lin Qinghuang pointed to the sash around Qian Xiang’s waist.
She said indifferently, “When I entered Wansha House just now, I observed the sashes around many women’s waists, and they were all tied in bows. But the sash around Qian Xiang’s waist was a messy dead knot, indicating that her sash was hurriedly tied by someone.”
“…” Wu Shusheng pursed his lips and clenched his fists.
Lin Qinghuang said, “I speculate that when Qian Xiang was murdered, her clothes were disheveled, and then her sash was hurriedly tied by someone.”
She stared at Wu Shusheng and said, “And you were at the scene at that time, witnessing everything, or perhaps you just happened to appear in the room. Besides you and Qian Xiang, there were three other people present. You and those three people could all be the murderer. I observed just now that there is no blood on your hands.”
Wu Shusheng immediately said, “But that doesn’t exclude me from killing Qian Xiang. The absence of blood on my hands doesn’t mean I didn’t kill her.”
Lin Qinghuang said indifferently, “The clothes on your body are the cheapest coarse cloth. A thousand taels of silver is not a small sum. You just said that you barely managed to gather enough money with all your effort, so what you gathered should be the five hundred taels for her freedom. What about the other five hundred taels? How did you get it?”
“I…” Wu Shusheng’s expression froze.
Lin Qinghuang said, “Perhaps the killer wasn’t you, but the other three. They gave you five hundred taels as hush money, right?”
When Wu Shusheng heard Lin Qinghuang say this, he instantly collapsed to the ground.
He said dejectedly, “The one who killed her really wasn’t me, but I was deceived by her…”
“Oh?” Lin Qinghuang stared at Wu Shusheng.
Wu Shusheng gave a self-deprecating smile: “Qian Xiang’s so-called selling art but not her body was all fake. She deliberately created a pure image. When some powerful young masters entered Wansha House, she would quietly enter their rooms and play very wild games with them. This time, I came to find Qian Xiang with money, and I happened to see her enter this room…”
He scoffed, “That’s right, the one who killed her wasn’t me, it was three powerful young masters. Qian Xiang wasn’t actively killed by someone; I saw with my own eyes that she died on the bed… One young master used a guqin string to strangle Qian Xiang’s neck. After Qian Xiang died, I witnessed everything from the doorway.”
A Captian immediately walked to the door and found a hole in the paper covering the door.
“Then you were discovered by those three?” Lin Qinghuang looked at Wu Shusheng.
Wu Shusheng shook his head and said, “When I saw this, I rushed in, and as a result… Hehe! For powerful young masters, killing an entire family is easy. They gave me five hundred taels, hush money, to make me confess to everything. If I didn’t agree, they would kill my entire family.”
“Qian Xiang’s clothes were hastily put on her by them, and the golden hairpin in her chest was also inserted by them, with the purpose of making it easier for me to confess.”
A Captian frowned and said, “They told you to confess, and you just confessed?”
Wu Shusheng murmured, “Before the powerful, ordinary people are like ants. If I confess, my family can live. If I don’t confess, the crime will eventually be laid upon me, and then my whole family will be wiped out.”
“So, you tell me, should I confess or not? You are all officials; you must understand how terrifying power truly is more than I do!”
“…” Everyone fell silent.
Lin Qinghuang asked faintly, “Who are those three?”
Wu Shusheng’s face instantly became incredibly cold: “Ma Huai, the son of the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice; Guo Yu, the son of the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guards; and Cui Zhao, the Fourth Young Master of the Cui family, a wealthy young master from Tianqi City.”
The two Captians frowned slightly when they heard these three names.
They seemed to understand why Wu Shusheng wanted to confess. Not to mention the two sons of officials, just the wealthy young master alone could easily crush an ordinary scholar.
At this moment, they felt a touch of sympathy for Wu Shusheng; it seemed he was innocent.
Lin Qinghuang, however, was very calm, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
Her gaze fell on Xie Weilou, and she asked faintly, “Xie Weilou, you’ve been watching for a while. What do you think of this matter?”
Xie Weilou shook his head and said, “I don’t understand much about investigating cases, but I feel that Wu Shusheng’s words are half-truths and full of loopholes.”
“Oh? For example?” Lin Qinghuang became somewhat interested; Wu Shusheng’s words indeed had many loopholes.