CH 12.3

It was getting dark now, so it was inconvenient to go out, but it was too early to go to bed now; that was why Ming Huashang prepared calming tea, to discuss while brewing the tea.

Ren Yao was just about to finish the cup of tea when she suddenly heard the word ‘ghost’, and her movements immediately became stiff. She looked at Ming Huazhang with a tense face, not knowing if she wanted to hear him say yes or no

Ming Huazhang pondered for a moment, and said, “Death is like a lamp going out. If ghosts and spirits could kill people, how can miscarriage of justice continue to occur in this world? Rather, I think some people have ghosts in their hearts, and they’re using ghosts and deities as a cover to manipulate people’s hearts.”

Ren Yao hesitated, “But, everyone saw it this morning. Wei Zi’s bloody characters, and the blackthorns that don’t belong to the capital. If it wasn’t a ghost, how could these things appear?”

“These happen to be the logical flaws.” Ming Huazhang explained, “If it really was the ghost of Chi Lan who killed Wei Zi according to the scapegoat theory, then how could Chi Lan, a maid who has never left Luoyang, have known about the blackthorns and deliberately use them to bind her?”

Ren Yao seemed to realize something, “You mean…the other party did it on purpose?”

“Obviously.” Ming Huazhang snorted coldly. The young man had a slender neck, an icy figure, and disdainful eyes, like a rare Persian cat with different colored pupils who ought to be haughty, “There are so many ghost folktales out there, with only one death, instead of a rumor involving a mountain ghost or a snow ghost, it’s one with a serpentine ghost from thousands of miles away. If it weren’t for the manipulation of some people with intentions, how could this rumor spread all over the villa overnight? Although blackthorns are a specialty of Jiangnan West Road, but the West Road is so long, why did the rumors focus on Jizhou?”

It was as if someone couldn’t wait to convince the people in the villa that there are ghosts in Jizhou.

What was so special about Jizhou that it was worth taking two lives, and going through so much trouble?

Xie Jichuan stared at the tea and remained silent for a long time. Ming Huashang was not very familiar with the geography of the Great Zhou Dynasty, let alone the difference between blackthorns and ordinary thorns. She was only interested in what she saw during the day: “According to the servant girl witness and the maids who stayed in the same courtyard as Wei Zi, Wei Zi’s time of death was between the fourth watch and the second hour of Shenshi. I remember that when I saw Wei Zi yesterday, she was wearing a blue half-sleeve paired with a pine green dress. When I saw her room today, the colors inside were mostly cold hues. Then why was she wearing a bright red dress when she died in the end?”

Ren Yao didn’t understand how this mattered, “It’s just clothes, maybe the murderer changed them for her, so what’s the big deal?”

Ming Huashang bit her lips and remained silent as if she had fallen into a mystery within a mysterious world. In this world, she was not Ming Huashang, but a murderer with a blurred face and an unknown gender.

What on earth was she thinking leading her to change Wei Zi’s clothes?

Ren Yao didn’t care about these small details and said regretfully, “It’s a pity that after the accident last night, Taiping Gongzhu asked people to wash away the handwriting and blood at the scene of Chi Lan’s death. Otherwise, we might’ve discovered some clues by comparing the handwriting.”

Ming Huazhang’s eyebrows twitched when he heard this and looked at Xie Jichuan. Xie Jichuan pretended not to understand, but Ming Huazhang’s eyes were burning brightly. It was useless for him to pretend to be dead, so he could only sigh helplessly, “So unlucky, can’t something good happen when you think of me?”

Ming Huazhang was impassive and said, “He has been known as a child prodigy since young. He has a photographic memory and can reproduce another person’s handwriting with just one look. Shuli, get a pen and paper.”

Ren Yao was taken aback, she never expected that someone could possess the talent that only existed in books: “Really?”

Xie Jichuan frowned in disdain, really hoping that this situation wasn’t real. Ming Huazhang carried pens and ink with him everywhere he went, just like how Ming Huashang always carried food, and Shuli quickly fetched the paper. Xie Jichuan knew that he couldn’t avoid it, so he resigned himself to his fate and dipped the pen: “Careless in making friends, really careless in making friends.”

As soon as Xie Jichuan finished writing, there was a faint sound of something being knocked over outside the courtyard. The sound was very soft, but Ming Huazhang heard it, and his gaze suddenly became sharp: “Who is it?!”

Ming Huashang was awakened from that strange state. She didn’t understand what had happened but felt a gust of wind passing by the tip of her nose, and then the wind and snow suddenly poured in from behind. Ming Huazhang’s figure had already rushed into the snow curtain.

Ren Yao also gritted her teeth, stood up, picked up her spear, and ran out, “Which scoundrel is playing tricks here, scaring this great aunt so that she couldn’t sleep well all night? Scoundrel, I’ll take your life!”

Ren Yao also rushed out briskly. Ming Huashang froze in place, and asked blankly, “What happened?”

Xie Jichuan stood up and said, “Maybe we caught the ghost. Let’s go out and have a look.”