"Guess, what did she say to me?"
Ji Xingxuan slowly turned her head and looked at Yu Shu who was walking in front of her. The sun was shining brightly, and the fine hair at the corner of her forehead could be seen clearly. Her slightly bruised eye bags and sluggish eyes made her look a little lifeless.
Ji Xingxuan quietly clenched the lock in her hand and said coldly, "What do you want to say?"
"Haha." Yu Shu suddenly laughed in a low voice. After staring at her as if she had seen through her, she turned to her room and disappeared through the half-open door without saying anything else.
Ji Xingxuan's face darkened. She stood there for a long time before she raised her hand and locked the door again. Then she hurriedly left the women's room.
Yu Shu stood by the window and looked at Ji Xingxuan walking away quickly. She was lost in thought.
*
*
*
The news of another death in Taishi Shuyuan had been leaked during the day. Yu Shu sat in a restaurant near the shuyuan to have a meal. She listened to the discussion of the people drinking next to her and ate plain noodles. She had just seen a dead person last night. If her stomach had not been growling, she would not have drunk a mouthful of noodle soup.
Yu Shu dropped a piece of silver and stood up to leave the restaurant. She walked back to the shuyuan and went directly to the observatory.
She occasionally met a few people on the way. They were whispering about the death last night. Some were afraid, and some were sighing. The atmosphere in the shuyuan became gloomy overnight.
This kind of chaos was also the disadvantage of Taishi Shuyuan. The 18 academicians only managed the teaching, or they would expel students who violated the rules. Apart from that, they did not get involved in other affairs. Even when there was a murder, no one stood up to calm the commotion.
Yu Shu walked through the long Donghuang Screen Wall and did not see anyone. But she was stopped by two officers and soldiers outside the observatory.
"Stop. No one is allowed to enter or leave here."
Yu Shu looked at the officer's uniform. It was different from the bailiffs from the Shun Tian Prefecture that she had seen before. She guessed that he was from the Supreme Court. So he stopped and said, "I want to see Lord Xue. Please help me inform him that I was the first person to find the corpse last night."
The two soldiers looked at each other, and one of them asked Yu Shu to wait. He went inside to ask for instructions. After a while, he ran back and said, "Miss, please follow me."
A soldier led the way and led Yu Shu into the courtyard. During the day, the stargazing tower was even more spacious. Yu Shu looked around and saw several officials scattered on the wide lawn, bending down and looking for something.
Look up. There are people walking on the observatory with gray walls and white walls. Yu Shu climbs up the stairs and sees Xue Rui standing at the door of the hut where the body was found last night. He seems to be thinking about something.
"Sir, the young lady is here." The officer's words interrupted Xue Rui's train of thought. He turned his head and saw Yu Shu. His furrowed brows relaxed. He smiled at her and walked over.
"Have you rested well?"
"Yes." Yu Shu glanced at the hut of the dead person. Then she looked around the platform and looked at the people who were looking for clues and said, "Miss Cao was killed by someone, right?"
Of course, Xue Rui could tell that this was not a question, so he nodded and did not hide the truth from her. "The deceased was strangled with a rope and hung on the roof beam. There were no traces of the corpse being dragged nearby, so it was obvious that the crime happened in that small house. The time of death was between the hours of the sea and the hours of the Zi. However, after investigation, no one else came to the observatory during this time. The murderer is likely to sneak into the Taishi Library in the middle of the night to commit the crime. Unfortunately, the observatory is surrounded by stone slabs and is usually cleaned very well. There is no dust and no suspicious footprints. I deduced that the murderer should be a man who practices martial arts. "
Yu Shu hesitated and said, "It is difficult to find the murderer just by knowing this. Is there no other clue?"
Xue Rui nodded and said firmly, "The deceased is a girl. She avoided other people and quietly came to the observatory at night. There must be a big problem. I don't know if she was lured by someone or there is another reason. I have sent people to collect the confession of those who know and search the residence of the deceased. We should be able to find some clues. "
While they were talking, an officer ran up the stairs and took out a roll of paper from his sleeve. He turned to a page and handed it to Xue Rui, "Your Excellency, this was found in the residence of the female student in the library. It was found in the room of the deceased. Please have a look."
Yu Shu tilted her head and saw a note between the two pages of the book. Because of the angle, she could not see what was written. However, she saw that Xue Rui's face changed slightly. He looked up at her with a strange expression.
"What's wrong?" Yu Shu asked curiously.
Xue Rui did not say anything. He just turned the book upside down and showed it to her so that she could see what was written on the note.
Tonight at midnight, on the observatory platform, admiring the wind and the moon, not talking to anyone else.
Yu Shu was stunned. It was not only because the words "Jing Chen" were written at the end of the note, but also because the handwriting of the short eighteen words was exactly the same as Jing Chen's!
"When you entered the deceased's room, did you find anything unusual?" Xue Rui first asked the officer who found the note.
The official immediately understood what he was worried about and replied, "Milord, the door of the deceased's room was locked. We broke the door and entered. The doors and windows of the room were tightly shut, and there were no signs of anyone sneaking in. This note should have been placed in the book by the deceased himself."
After Xue Rui confirmed it, he turned to Yu Shu and said, "You should recognize his handwriting. Can you see that it was written by him?"
Yu Shu calmed down and picked up the note to carefully identify it. However, she was not proficient in calligraphy and could not see anything fishy. She had to tell Xue Rui frankly, "It is very similar to his handwriting."
Xue Rui's expression turned serious, and he immediately instructed the nearby subordinate. "Find Daozi and invite him over."
During the interrogation this morning, he had only heard the news that Jing Chen had gone to the Taishi Library to become an academician. Before that, he had not heard any news at all. With the murder case in front of him, he did not have any extra thoughts to worry about Jing Chen.
After he sent them away, Xue Rui left two people behind to continue guarding the top of the Star Observatory, and he brought Yu Shu downstairs. He walked in front of Yu Shu and asked absentmindedly, "Shu, what do you think?"
He thought that Yu Shu would defend Jing Chen, but her tone was cold, "When he comes, you can ask him. I am not a constable. What opinion can I have?"
Xue Rui turned around to look at her in surprise. When he saw her indifferent expression, he suddenly recalled that a few days ago, after the banquet in Forgotten Opportunity Restaurant ended, he went to look for her, but he bumped into Jing Chen who was sending her back home at the entrance of her house. There was a distance between them, and he didn't know what the two of them said to make her so sad.
With doubts, Xue Rui did not ask at that time, and he would not take the initiative to mention it now. In short, he had made his feelings clear to Yu Shu. If he saw her and Jing Chen again, he would not ignore it.
*
*
*
Yu Shu and Xue Rui sat in a small building near the observatory with fragrant tea in their hands. Not long after, a voice came from outside, "Milord, Daozi is here."
Hearing the footsteps outside the door, Yu Shu lowered her head and drank tea. She did not even raise her head.
Jing Chen, dressed in a yellow robe and white robe with a jade hairpin in his hair, was quiet and elegant. He looked like a teacher. As soon as he entered the door, he saw the two people sitting there. His eyes swept over Yu Shu, and his expression did not change. He turned to Xue Rui, who stood up, and said, "Milord Xue, why are you looking for me?"
Xue Rui raised his hand and motioned him to sit down. Jing Chen sat down opposite him and Yu Shu. He looked at Xue Rui without moving his eyes.
Xue Rui's eyes flashed with suspicion. He saw that the two people ignored him. It was not difficult to see that the relationship between them was more rigid than he thought.
"It's like this." He said, "Last night, a female student was strangled on the observatory. Has Daozi heard about it?"
Jing Chen said, "I heard about it when I came this morning."
"Then do you know the deceased Cao Youling?" Xue Rui did not directly mention the note, but first asked another question.
"Yes. After I became an academician, there were 37 students this year. Miss Cao was one of them." Jing Chen did not avoid talking about the relationship between her and Cao Youling.
Xue Rui thought for a moment and asked, "Did you have contact with her yesterday?"
"I was giving a lecture on the observatory during the day, and she was there."
"Then do you know why she went to the observatory in the middle of the night last night?"
Jing Chen said without hesitation, "I don't know."
Xue Rui picked up the book at hand and took out the note. He handed it to the officer waiting at the side and asked him to hand it to Jing Chen. He suddenly changed the topic and became fierce, "Isn't this written by Daozi himself?"
As the Junior Minister of the Supreme Court who had successively solved more than ten serious cases in a year, Xue Rui's observation was sharp and his thinking was meticulous. Most importantly, he had never been swayed by his emotions when investigating a case. Therefore, even though he believed in Jing Chen's character, under the black and white evidence, he did not eliminate his suspicions.
Jing Chen stared at the note in his hand and revealed a trace of surprise, then he raised his head to look at Xue Rui and asked in reply. "Where did you get this from? It's actually so similar to my handwriting?"
Xue Rui said coldly, "This was found in Miss Cao's room. It was confirmed that it was left by the deceased before she died. She was probably killed at the observatory because of this note. Now I suspect that it was you who led the deceased to the observatory with this note. You say that this note was not written by you, but it is empty talk. Do you have any proof? "
Jing Chen was pressured by him, but he was not angry. He lowered his head and looked at the note again. After thinking for a moment, he said seriously, "It is written 'tonight' on it. According to the time, it should be the note that Miss Cao received yesterday. I was giving a lecture on the observatory yesterday. Although she was present, there were other students with her. If I wrote a note to her in person or accepted something, it should be seen by others. You can find those students and ask them. "
Xue Rui frowned and said, "How many people were there to see it? Who were they?"
Jing Chen thought about it. He had a very good memory and had the ability to remember everything he saw. In just a few days, he had remembered all the students who had paid respects to him. He then slowly said a few names, "Yesterday, I was giving a lecture on the measuring apparatus. There weren't many people who came. There was the young miss of the Qin family, Qin Yuerou, the young miss of the Cui family …"
Yu Shu listened to Xue Rui's successive questions from the side, and she drank until the end of her cup of tea, yet she didn't interrupt or speak in support of Xue Rui, and she seemed as if she had nothing to do with it. She only raised her head and glanced at Jing Chen when he finally spoke of a name.
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