Chapter 337 - 335: All Was Meticulously Orchestrated by Him (First Update)

Chapter 337: Chapter 335: All Was Meticulously Orchestrated by Him (First Update)

The surrounding government officials were taken aback and hurriedly looked around, but they didn’t see Xu Jing.

Wasn’t Miss Xu always by their side? How could she suddenly disappear?

Mr. Yao couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious, "Someone, quickly go and find Miss Xu’s whereabouts..."

"No need."

A clear and bright male voice suddenly rang from not far away. It was Jiang Yu, who was leaning against a dark brown corridor pillar, with arms crossed, his eyes slightly dark as he said, "Miss Xu didn’t follow us into the front hall, she stayed behind talking to the shopkeeper about something, she’ll probably be here soon."

Mr. Yao was taken aback.

Just now, the confrontation between the attendant and Mr. Qu had distracted them from the surroundings.

Surprisingly, among so many people here, only Jiang Erlang had been keeping an eye on Miss Xu’s movements.

Mr. Yao had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn’t pinpoint it at the moment.

Just then, a government official next to him said, "Miss Xu is here!"

Mr. Yao’s thoughts were immediately scattered as he followed the gaze of that official and saw Xu Jing slowly approaching, with the inn’s shopkeeper following her.

Xu Jing noticed everyone’s bright gazes on her, paused slightly, and realized it must have made them anxious that she left without a word earlier. She smiled slightly and said, "I was just confirming some things with Manager Cao..."

She paused momentarily, her expression becoming solemn, "I am now almost certain that Sister-in-law Wu was murdered."

Mr. Yao was taken aback and said, "Miss Xu, can you now tell us what method you think the murderer used to kill Sister-in-law Wu?"

Xu Jing said, "Before that, I have one last question for Mr. Qu. Did the merchant who witnessed Sister-in-law Wu falling from the roof say that her head was facing the direction of the eaves when she rolled down?"

Mr. Qu looked at Xu Jing incredulously, "How... how do you know? But it wasn’t what the merchant said; at that time, it was night, and he couldn’t see many details clearly under the moonlight, he just saw something resembling a person tumbling down from the roof.

Later, it was the people from the government who determined, based on my mom’s landing posture, that when she fell, her head was facing the right eaves..."

"Very simple."

Xu Jing’s lips tightened slightly as she said word by word, "Because whether it was your mom’s falling posture or the direction in which she fell, they were all meticulously arranged by the murderer!

In the dead of night, when everyone in the inn had returned to their rooms, the murderer drugged your mom, tied her to his body with a rope or something, and climbed to the roof through the sycamore tree in the courtyard!

Since people wore more clothes in winter, the murderer bound Sister-in-law Wu with a rope, and no traces would be left on her body. Then he put on the shoes he had prepared in advance for Sister-in-law Wu and placed her head towards the eaves on the roof..."

Mr. Yao couldn’t help but say, "Miss Xu, are you saying that the murderer had prepared the shoes in advance this time?"

After all, in the Jiang San case, they deduced that the murderer directly wore Jiang San’s shoes.

Xu Jing nodded, "Correct, because when Sister-in-law Wu fell from the building, her head was towards the eaves, and the murderer, wanting to leave no traces, could only use a prepared rope to hang from the protruding corner of the roof to get back to the ground after putting down Sister-in-law Wu. If he then went around to her feet to help her put the shoes on and left again, he would surely leave his footprints in the snow.

And if he casually threw the shoes onto the roof, it would easily arouse suspicion, after all, someone committing suicide by jumping off a building would rarely take off their shoes before jumping, so it would be better to prepare a pair identical to Sister-in-law Wu’s shoes and wear them for the murder."

Mr. Yao stood amazed and asked, "Are you saying that the murderer’s shoes might have been made by Sister-in-law Wu?!"

Just a while ago at Mr. Qu’s house, Mr. Qu mentioned that his mom made all her own clothes and shoes, so if the murderer wanted a pair identical to Sister-in-law Wu’s, he could only have asked her to make them.

"That’s right."

Xu Jing said coldly, "Therefore, Sister-in-law Wu must have had a good relationship with the murderer beforehand, maybe even very close interactions."

A new pair of shoes and an old pair of shoes, even if they are the same size and pattern on the sole, would leave slightly different traces.

Unfortunately, this case occurred during the busiest time of the year for the local government. According to Mr. Yao, this case was entirely handled by Mr. Zhang Shaoyin alone, and Chief Fang didn’t have time to help back then.

Otherwise, he might have noticed some anomalies at the time.

Mr. Qu’s face turned slightly pale.

One of the government officials couldn’t help but say, "But... why make it so complicated? If it’s just because Sister-in-law Wu’s head was facing the eaves and it was inconvenient to put shoes on her, couldn’t the murderer have just changed her direction? Then he could have helped her put on the shoes while leaving the roof..."

Logically speaking, when the murderer was hanging from the rope, he should have been able to free one hand to manage to put the shoes on Sister-in-law Wu.

Xu Jing glanced at him and said, "Such a risk would have been too great. Even if he reached to put the shoes on Sister-in-law Wu while hanging on the rope, a small mistake could have left traces in the snow. Don’t forget, the roof was covered in snow at the time, only the protruding gables and two sidewalls had no snow, and the murderer was already very skilled at avoiding places with snow to leave no trace.

Moreover, he didn’t have a choice; he simply couldn’t change Sister-in-law Wu’s direction!"

The government official was taken aback and asked, "Why?"

Xu Jing chuckled softly, "This matter requires a long explanation and needs to start with the murderer’s method of killing Sister-in-law Wu. This morning, during the autopsy, you all thought our work was in vain, yet it was then that I began to suspect something—this building is only two stories high, not very tall; even if one were to fall from the roof, if the back or lower limbs hit the ground first, it might not lead to immediate death, perhaps not even death at all!"

Everyone was taken aback, and the attendant who brought them here couldn’t help but say, "Right! In my hometown, someone once fell while fixing the roof, and although they were paralyzed, they lived on healthily until now!"

Others also exclaimed, "I’ve seen people fall from heights and not die before, they just had a broken leg and recovered after some time!"

"It’s not unheard of! Of course, there are plenty who die on impact as well!"

Mr. Yao couldn’t help but say, "If Sister-in-law Wu was indeed murdered, the murderer surely wouldn’t want her to have any chance of survival, so he deliberately made her head hit the ground first?"

Mr. Qu frowned tightly, "But, but it’s not something the murderer could do as he wished!"

After all, when his mom fell, he wasn’t on the roof!

Letting his mom fall alone from the roof was already baffling, let alone the idea that her fall direction could be controlled!