Chapter 223 - 221: Killed by a Ghost (2nd Update)

Chapter 223: Chapter 221: Killed by a Ghost (2nd Update)

Zhao Shao Hua thought, and subconsciously looked at Xu Jing.

Xu Jing, however, said: "There is indeed a possibility that the culprit’s situation is similar to Qingyun’s, but it also cannot be ruled out that he is very cautious by nature. In Qingyun’s case, it was only after seeing Qingyun fall and fail to check the wound on his palm that I suspected Qingyun was the murderer.

However, the first two cases clearly occurred within the Imperial College, yet the third case happened outside, which is rather intriguing. Moreover, there was only a little over a month between the first and second cases, but nearly two months between the second and third cases. In a way, these two points indicate one thing..."

The issue of the interval between the cases had not occurred to Zhao Shao Hua and Zhao Jingming, who quickly asked, "What is it?"

"As the cases occurred, the students within the Imperial College must have become more and more vigilant, making it increasingly difficult for the culprit to take action. I guess this transition to committing crimes outside the Imperial College, and the almost two-month gap before the third murder, was because he found it hard to find an opportunity to strike.

Moreover..."

Xu Jing paused and said, "The culprit is clearly very familiar with the environment and circumstances inside the Imperial College, which is why the first two cases went off so smoothly. He should be someone from within the Imperial College, and he is very familiar with the personalities and habits of these three deceased. Prior to committing the crimes, he must have intentionally gathered information about them or tracked them for a period of time."

Zhao Jingming and Zhao Shao Hua stared at Xu Jing in a daze.

With just the information provided by Zhao Jingming, she managed to deduce so much!

Zhao Jingming couldn’t help but get a bit excited and said, "Should we go immediately to the Imperial College to investigate?"

"No."

Xu Jing, however, shook her head, "Let’s go to Gui Xiang House first. The case at Gui Xiang House happened five days ago, so there will be more clues to find."

Zhao Jingming was stunned, "You’re a woman, how will you go to Gui Xiang House?"

Beside him, Zhao Shao Hua’s eyes lit up, suppressing a certain excitement, and said, "What’s so difficult about that! Leave this to me!"

She had long wanted to visit that place, which was said to be a paradise for men!

They returned to Xu Jing’s house, and soon, two handsome young men, dressed in splendid fine clothes and with fair and beautiful faces, appeared in front of Zhao Jingming. Zhao Shao Hua donned a light purple narrow-sleeved robe with a folded collar, a fan in her hand, tapping her left palm gently, and threw a coquettish glance at Zhao Jingming, saying: "How about it? We can get in like this, right?"

Zhao Jingming: "..."

Though he was often accused of fooling around by his family, someone even more unruly was clearly standing right here!

Moreover, with Xi and Miss Xu’s faces, even dressed in male attire, anyone with eyes could tell they were women at a glance!

Seeing Zhao Shao Hua’s eager expression, Zhao Jingming, who knew his sister’s temperament well, said somewhat weakly, "Sister Xi, if we take Miss Xu to such a place, Yanci will kill us..."

Not to mention Yanci, even his brother-in-law would probably demand that he atone for his death!

Zhao Shao Hua squinted her eyes suddenly and said leisurely, "I seem to remember it was you who begged Jing to investigate the case. If you don’t want us going to Gui Xiang House like this, go persuade that Wang Qilang to let Jing join them openly in the investigation."

That’s even more impossible!

If it could be done, he would have done it already. In fact, he had already exerted all his effort to gather some intelligence from the Ministry of Justice.

Thinking of Mr. Song’s extremely exhausted face, Zhao Jingming gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, we’ll go, and I’ll protect you with my life!"

Xu Jing: "..."

There’s no need to make it seem so tragic.

From what she knew, because of the relatively open customs of Great Chu, many women would frequently dress up as men for fun, and she often saw them.

However, women going to such places should still be relatively rare.

Soon, they arrived at Gui Xiang House. As one of the most luxurious and high-end brothels in the Western Capital, Gui Xiang House had an extraordinarily luxurious and grand exterior, standing three stories tall.

Brothels like this generally started business in the afternoon, and when they arrived, Gui Xiang House had just opened, but there were already people coming and going at the entrance constantly. It was to be expected that if they came any later, it would undoubtedly be bustling.

Before getting off the carriage, Zhao Jingming said in a low voice, "Due to the case, Gui Xiang House was closed for three days to cooperate with the investigation. It just reopened two days ago, so there aren’t as many customers as there used to be. However, this makes our investigation easier."

The entrance of Gui Xiang House was unlike other brothels; there wasn’t a crowd of women soliciting customers, just two expressionless guards standing by. They just gave Xu Jing and Zhao Shao Hua a look but didn’t say anything.

As the three of them stepped in, a young woman in a cool pink dress with a charming appearance quickly approached, smiling brightly, "Ah, here come three handsome gentlemen. May I ask if the gentlemen would like to sit in the main hall or directly open a private room?"

Zhao Jingming glanced at Xu Jing without a change in his expression, and Xu Jing said placidly, "The main hall will do."

As they were there to investigate, naturally, they needed to go where there were more people.

The young woman glanced at them with a meaningful smile and said, "Alright, distinguished guests, please follow me. I’ll get you a table closest to the stage."

The scene inside was somewhat different from what Xu Jing had imagined.

Though it was still early, the main hall on the first floor was already one-third full of guests. At the front was a stage where women, equally dressed in cool attire and with beautiful appearances, danced elegantly. The elegant music echoed softly throughout the hall. The people seated there were simply enjoying tea and chatting. Occasionally, a few men had one or two women sitting beside them, but they didn’t touch them directly. It did appear they were simply engaging in very proper... conversations?

The woman in pink led the way ahead. Seeing Xu Jing and Zhao Shao Hua’s curious and puzzled expressions, she knew what they were thinking and couldn’t help but smile subtly. "Our Gui Xiang House is unlike those vulgar brothels and serves distinguished officials and nobles. Such matters can’t be conducted openly. Even if a guest takes a liking to a lady, they would take her to a room to engage in those pleasures. Thus, many honored guests also come to our Gui Xiang House specifically to discuss matters."

Xu Jing suddenly understood.

Ah, so it’s the so-called ’refined depravity’.

The woman before them had evidently realized that Xu Jing and Zhao Shao Hua were women and was rather friendly toward them. Xu Jing looked at her and straightforwardly asked, "I heard there was a murder here five days ago."

The woman was taken aback, her expression changing immediately, "Why do you suddenly bring this up, guest?"

"Don’t worry, I’m not here to cause trouble. I usually stay at home and get bored, so I came out with my sister for some fun. I heard that case was quite peculiar and that the perpetrator hasn’t been caught yet, so I wanted to ask out of curiosity."

While speaking, Xu Jing handed a prepared piece of silver to the woman.

The woman’s eyes lit up, and she hurriedly slipped the silver into her sleeve, glanced around, and leaned closer to Xu Jing, whispering, "About that matter, our madam forbids us from discussing it. Please keep this confidential, dear lady.

The case from five days ago... was indeed quite unusual. The deceased Mr. He was a regular customer here, frequently booking rooms with us. Every time he was here during a break from the Imperial College, his servant and guard would stand at the door, making quite a scene. Because of this, his death five days ago... was very strange.

Mr. He’s servant and guard said they were stationed at the door the whole night. At exactly 9 p.m. (10 p.m.), Mr. He even sent them to fetch a fresh pot of wine. Shortly after, sounds of passion between a man and a woman sounded from the room.

Who expected that the next day, Mr. He hadn’t woken up. After knocking with no response, they had to break the door open, only to find Mr. He... was dead. No one knows how the perpetrator got in or how they vanished suddenly, so there are many rumors that Mr. He was killed by a ghost from Gui Xiang House..."