After Song Que returned to his house, he began to analyze all the clues he had obtained today. Ji Qiong also followed his example and took a piece of paper to analyze the relationship between the characters.
The third concubine was not very old, but she spoke with grace and composure. She did not panic when they mentioned the rumored lover.
Song Que recalled her expression when she spoke. When she concluded that the rumored lover was an old friend, there wasn’t any other emotion in her eyes, as if she was explaining a common rumor. Song Que asked her the person’s name, and she mentioned it without hesitation.
After Song Que and his party came out of the Chen Mansion, they split into two groups. Officer Chen and Ji Qiong went to find Concubine Bai’s sister, while he and Xiao Bing went to find about the third concubine’s old friend Zhao Rong.
Zhao Rong’s home was not difficult to find, but Zhao Rong was not at home. Song Que and Xiao Bing then inquired about Zhao Rong from his neighbors, gathering a lot of information about him.
Zhao Rong was not from Qingshi Road. He was from a newly moved family. Counting the time, it was exactly when the third concubine entered the Chen Mansion. The courtyard building of the Chen Mansion was much taller than the courtyard next to it. Standing at Zhao Rong’s house and looking in the northwest direction, Song Que felt as though he could see the faint silhouette of the Chen mansion..
Zhao Rong’s parents had passed away, and he didn’t marry. He lived alone in this deserted courtyard and made a living by catching snakes. There was only one mountain in the county, and snakes were not commonly seen in the mountain. Zhao Rong went out early and came back late all day long. He stayed in the mountain all day, and when he came back, he put the basket containing the snake in his room. He was handsome and and has caught the eye of many young ladies, but because of those hissing snakes, no one dared to get close to him. Zhao Rong didn’t care either. He have no contact with anyone and didn’t like talking to others.
According to neighbors, Zhao Rong went out yesterday and never came back. Although this situation was rare, it has happened before. According to Zhao Rong, it was because some snakes only appear at night, and if he wanted to catch them, he had to stay in the mountain all night.
Song Que waited at the door of Zhao Rong’s house until sunset but Zhao Rong hadn’t come back. He asked Xiao Bing and Officer Chen, who came later, to take turns guarding the door of Zhao Rong’s house to see if there was any movement. If Zhao Rong came back, they would catch him immediately. That was the order, but Song Que thought they wouldn’t be seeing Zhao Rong tonight.
“Young master, would you like to have something to eat before continuing?”
Cheng Bi spoke cautiously, interrupting Song Que’s train of thought. Song Que put down his pen and invited Ji Qiong to have some snacks together.
Cheng Bi pursed her lips and smiled, put down the tray, poured a cup of tea for each of them, and took out the dessert plates.
The pastry had a light green paste, mixed with glutinous rice flour. It was fragrant and sticky and looked somewhat similar to the plate of pastries Huan’er was holding during the day.
Cheng Bi said: “Young master, you should eat it quickly. This thing cannot be stored. It is best to eat when it is freshly baked. If it is left for a while, it will harden and it will not taste good.”
Song Que asked: “So, does that mean these pastries can only be made fresh?”
Cheng Bi nodded.
Song Que looked at the pastry in his hand. Ji Qiong quickly swallowed and asked, “Sir, is there something wrong?”
Song Que said, “Do you remember Concubine Bai’s maid? She was holding these pastries. Although such a guess is a bit arbitrary, Concubine Bai seems to have deliberately sent this maid away. Did you find anything when you checked on her sister?”
Ji Qiao took over the piece of paper on which he was writing. He nodded and said: “I asked as you instructed. Concubine Bai’s younger sister married a man named Dongsheng. This Dongsheng is in his late twenties and has just passed the county examination. He is still studying at home. The family’s income depends entirely on Madam Bai’s small food business. They had been living in poverty. They often rely on Concubine Bai’s help. Because they are not close relatives, Madam Bai entered the Chen mansion through a side entrance when she went there a few days ago to seek help. She met Concubine Bai alone and encountered Master Chen on her way out. They didn’t exchange many words before she left the mansion.”
At this point, Ji Qiong paused for a moment, as if he was a little embarrassed to continue.
Song Que looked amused and said, “What’s wrong? A grown man acting so fidgety, what kind of demeanor is that? ”
Ji Qiong was a little shy and said: “Concubine Bai’s sister’s appearance is indeed very outstanding. ”
He has also reached the age of appreciating beauty, but speaking such judgemental words about a woman’s appearance always gave off a feeling of being a lecher.
Song Que nodded, pushed the plate of pastries toward Ji Qiong, and stared at the two pieces of paper and got lost in thought.
Early the next morning, Song Que went to Zhao Rong’s house. Officer Chen and Xiao Bing took turns to guard Zhao Rong’s house for half the night, but they did not see Zhao Rong come back. Both of them were a little sleepy at the moment.
Song Que was not surprised or rather he had expected this result. This was just a precaution.
“Thank you for the hard work. Go back to the county office and take a rest first.”
Officer Chen said: “This…”
Song Que patted him on the shoulder and asked: “Do I need you to stay and protect me?”
Officer Chen also laughed at this question and stopped declining.
Song Que sent Ji Qiong to the Chen Mansion. He only gave him one task, which was to ensure that no one escaped. At this moment, he was the only one standing outside Zhao Rong’s courtyard. There was no need to worry about his image, directing one’s strength, he climbed over the wall
With his current martial arts skills, attempting to leap over rooftops would be too strenuous, and his posture of climbing over the wall was inelegant. Fortunately, no one saw it.
Song Que patted the dust and jumped off the wall.
There were not many things in Zhao Rong’s yard. Everything was arranged casually. Some of them were dusty, and it looked like they were not used often.
Zhao Rong’s house had few rooms, Song Que casually pushed open a door. It looked like his bedroom. There were several tightly covered baskets on the floor. Thinking of the neighbor’s words, Song Que could probably guess what these baskets were used for.
He checked them one by one. There was a distinct smell of snakes in the basket, which was consistent with Zhao Rong’s occupation. When he picked up the last basket, Song Que felt that the weight was wrong, and his heart skipped a beat.
“System. ”
Song Que rarely took the initiative to call the system. The system, which had always been quiet as if it had gone dormant, immediately jumped out: “To serve the host!”
Song Que said. “Baby, I’m a little afraid of snakes. ”
System: “…”
Even calling baby. It seems that the host was really scared. Just when the system wanted to comfort him, Song Que opened the lid of the basket and something flew out suddenly. The system screamed.
Song Que quickly grabbed the snake by its neck, feeling its cold, sticky texture on his fingertips.
System: “You, you…”
Song Que: “You want to ask me how I did it? Oh, this snake must have been hungry for two days so it’s power was lacking. Coupled with my quick reflexes, I succeeded in one fell swoop. ”
The system didn’t want to speak, Song Que still has the time to boast. He didn’t look scared. Instead, it was frightened by the scene it had just seen.
Song Que saw that the system was ignoring him. He take delight in grabbing the snake. He was really not afraid of snakes, at most he didn’t like them. He just hasn’t talked to the system for a long time and misses it a little, so he decided to tease it.
Zhao Rong clearly made a last-minute decision to escape. After this snake was caught, it hadn’t been sold yet and was left here. According to the neighbors’ testimony, Zhao Rong left on the same day Master Chen’s body was discovered and never returned.
Obviously, Zhao Rong did not decide to run away on his own. During the days when Master Chen had an incident, he was still catching snakes to sell, so someone must have told him to run. As for whether the person who told him to run away was afraid that he would be caught, or wanted to put the blame on him, it’s hard to say.
Song Que searched around Zhao Rong’s house again and found the wooden box where he saved his money. There was a double character engraved in the box, and there were some scattered coins in it. Though small amounts, they had accumulated to quite a sum.
Run away without taking any money?
Song Que searched again and found that most of the boxes containing thick clothes were empty. There were traces of hasty taken.
It was early autumn, Daytime was fine, but the nights in the mountains were very cold.
Song Que didn’t rush to find people in the mountains. Instead, he took the snake basket to the Chen Mansion.
Chen Hong couldn’t help but be curious when he looked at the basket, and asked, “Master Song, what is this?”
Song Que just smiled and remained silent. Chen Hong didn’t know what Song Que was up to, but seeing Song Que had no intention of explaining, he didn’t ask anymore.
Ji Qiong followed Song Que when he entered the mansion and knew what was in the basket. He was very stiff and carefully avoided the snake basket and stood on the other side. He looked at Chen Hong with admiration for being able to maintain a cheerful demeanor despite being kept in the dark.
Chen Hong led people to find the third concubine. Song Que has not pointed out who the suspect was, but the people he interrogated were clearly suspicious. But, Chen Hong still treated these concubines equally, behaving somewhat like Madam Chen.
As soon as the third concubine saw the snake basket in Song Que’s hand, her expression froze, and it took a long time before she came back to her senses.
“Master Song, do you have anything else to ask?”
Song Que smiled and said, “I’d like you to take a look at this for me.”
After that, Song Que opened the basket, and Ji Qiong had already gone into hiding. When Song Que grabbed the snake, he had put a very inhumane restraint on the little guy. At this moment, he was not afraid it would hurt anyone and directly lifted the little creature out.
The maids next to him were frightened. Even Chen Hong was frightened by this sudden action and couldn’t help but take a step back. In the whole room, only Song Que and the third concubine were not frightened by the snake.
The third concubine looked at the snake, her expression changed several times, she suddenly knelt down, pulled Song Que’s clothes, and said: “Sir, please let him go. It was me who killed Master Chen. I got the poisonous snake from him to kill the master. He was just a snake seller, and he usually caught non-venomous snakes. He had no enmity with the master, so how could he harm anyone?”
Song Que said calmly: “Did you ask him to hide in the mountains?”
Third concubine lowered her head and said nothing.
Song Que said: “You asked me to believe him, why don’t you believe him yourself?”
Third concubine sensed that something was amiss, raised her head and looked at Song Que, and asked: “…What do you mean, sir?”
Song Que said: “If I say that the murderer is not Zhao Rong, do you still admit to the crime?”
Third concubine was surprised: “Then who killed the master?”
Chen Hong was already confused and said: “Master Song, what does this mean? Is the third concubine the real culprit who killed my father?”
Song Que said: “Young Master Chen, don’t worry, the truth will come out soon, I’ll trouble you to follow me around for the rest of the day.. .”
Song Que’s request came out of nowhere, and Chen Hong just asked: “Will this solve the case?”
Song Que nodded, and Chen Hong did not refuse.
Song Que turned to the third concubine and said: “Third concubine, please come with us.”
Third concubine clenched the handkerchief tightly. She couldn’t see the situation clearly now, but she also knew that Song Que’s words were not something she could refuse. She pursed her lips and nodded.
Song Que took Ji Qiong, third concubine, and Chen Hong up the mountain to find Zhao Rong. It was evident that the third concubine knew Zhao Rong the best. Trying to find him in such vast wilderness, solely relying on Song Que and the others, would be impossible.
