Placid Chang’an

Chapter 12: Evil Ghost

After finishing his duties at the yamen that day, Su Cen headed straight to Qu Ling'er's bedroom.

Qu Ling'er was busy playing a hand-to-hand game with Ah Fu, taking advantage of his agility to tease him. Ah Fu's hand was swollen from being beaten, while he hadn't even managed to touch Qu Ling'er once.

Seeing Su Cen enter, Ah Fu quickly seized the opportunity to stand up. "Second Young Master, you're back."

Su Cen remained silent, walking directly in front of Qu Ling'er and glaring down at him with a cold, overbearing aura.

Qu Ling'er felt a chill run down his spine from the imposing pressure, and in an instant, he dared not even breathe loudly. Lowering his head, he admitted his mistake, "I was wrong, I was wrong. If anything, I'll let Ah Fu hit me back."

"Where did you go last night?"

"Huh?" Qu Ling'er was taken aback, then sullenly avoided eye contact. "Nowhere, I was... just sleeping."

"At three in the morning last night, I heard your door creak, and it took half an hour for you to return," Su Cen's gaze turned icy. "It's enough time to make a round trip from here to Dongshi. Did you conveniently kill someone along the way, huh?!"

"Kill someone?" Qu Ling'er suddenly raised his head. "Who died?"

"Don't you know who you killed?" Su Cen grabbed Qu Ling'er's delicate wrist, pulling him up from the bed. "If you have anything to say, save it for the Ministry of Justice. When the torture starts, along with explaining who ordered you to assassinate Prince Ning, you can also explain the injuries on your body."

"Su Cen, Su Cen, Brother Su!" Qu Ling'er panicked, quickly struggling free from Su Cen's grip. "I'll talk, I'll talk. I did go out last night, I... I just went out and had a drink."

"Drinking?" Su Cen frowned.

Qu Ling'er pleaded with a smile, "I've been eating plain porridge every day lately, my mouth has become as tasteless as a bird's, but I swear, Brother Su, I absolutely haven't killed anyone."

"Where did you go to drink?"

Qu Ling'er hurriedly replied, "In a hidden alley in Pingkang Lane. The East Market has a curfew, and the shops have closed early. That hidden alley operates secretly at night, serving both drinks and music."

Su Cen ignored him and stared at Ah Fu. "Was he with you the whole time?"

Ah Fu nodded. "He just went out to relieve himself. It only took the time of an incense stick to go back and forth, nowhere near the East Market."

Pingkang Lane was just one block away from the East Market, but it would be impossible to make a round trip and commit murder within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

At the mention of relieving himself, Qu Ling'er suddenly remembered something. "The person who died, was it a woman?"

Su Cen finally turned his attention back. "Why do you say that?"

"When I was relieving myself, I heard someone next door talking about wanting to kill that crazy woman..."

Su Cen abruptly raised his head, his eyes shining like a lone star in the dark night. "What else did he say?"

Qu Ling'er frowned and thought for a moment. "He also mentioned something about ruining his reputation and affecting his career. I didn't pay much attention to it. I thought he was just joking."

"What time was it then?"

"Didn't you say it already? I went out at three in the morning, around midnight."

"The East Market gates are already closed at midnight. How did he get in?"

Qu Ling'er exclaimed, "Right, the person who was talking to him said he could bring him into the East Market!"

Su Cen became excited upon hearing this, grabbing Qu Ling'er's sleeve and urgently asking, "Who was it? What did he look like?"

Qu Ling'er furrowed his brow. "I was relieving myself at the time, with a latrine in between. How would I know what he looked like? But from his voice, he sounded like a young man, probably not older than forty, and he seemed to possess martial arts skills."

Su Cen asked, "You could tell that just from his voice?"

"A person skilled in martial arts has light and steady footsteps, beyond the reach of ordinary people," Qu Ling'er said proudly. "As someone who practices martial arts myself, I can roughly gauge a person's skill just by listening to their footsteps. For example, the movement technique I practice, 'Flowing Clouds and Flying Swallows,' or the 'Traceless Steps on Snow.' There are very few people in this world who can catch up to me..."

Su Cen waved his hand, interrupting his self-praise. "So, with your skills, you could easily climb the walls of the East Market?"

"I naturally have no problem with that."

"What if you had to bring one more person with you?"

Qu Ling'er was speechless. "Um... Su gege, it's not that I can't do it. Unless there's a divine immortal, no one can make it up there. Movement technique requires being light as a swallow, so how can I carry another person?"

Su Cen nodded. He had witnessed Qu Ling'er's technique before. If even he couldn't make it, then that person must not have climbed over the wall. It could only mean that they had bribed the gatekeeper. He had already concluded that a third person was involved in this case, and the yet-to-be-seen person who bribed the gatekeeper was undoubtedly the key.

Relieved to have understood what he wanted to ask, Su Cen relaxed and asked, "Why did you take Ah Fu with you to drink?"

Qu Ling'er pouted in grievance. "...I didn't have any money."

Su Cen shot Ah Fu a glare, and he flinched in fear, hastily saying, "It was my monthly allowance. I didn't spend any of the family's money."

"If he pulls any tricks again, just kick him out," Su Cen said coldly, narrowing his eyes. "What are you still standing here for? Go make porridge. If I find out he's secretly going out to drink again, you'll be drinking plain porridge with him from now on."

Just as he was about to leave the room, he turned back and said, "Report that hidden alley later. I'll bring people to seal it off tomorrow."

Qu Ling'er: "..."

Early the next morning, Su Cen hurriedly went to the gatekeeper's office and borrowed the register of the on-duty gatekeepers for that day. He planned to bring people and individually interrogate them. But when he arrived at the Dali Court, he found it sparsely populated, with only Xiao Sun leading Xiu Niang out of the court.

Su Cen asked, "Where is everyone?"

Xiao Sun sighed. "Your guess was right. Another murder occurred."

Su Cen was immediately shocked and asked what had happened.

Xiao Sun explained that someone had come to report the case early in the morning. Magistrate Song didn't even come to the yamen, but went directly from home to the crime scene.

Su Cen asked about the location of the crime scene, handed the register in his hand to Xiao Sun, and hastily walked out. After taking a few steps, he turned back and looked at the maid following behind Xiao Sun. "What about her? What should we do with her?"

"What else can we do?" Xiao Sun shrugged. "She's a madwoman. We can't get any information from her, and it's a waste of rations to keep her locked up. Since she didn't kill the victim, Magistrate Song ordered her release."

Su Cen nodded. There really wasn't a better solution. Just as he was about to turn around, he suddenly froze in place, a chill running down his spine.

Those eyes, hidden behind the disheveled hair, looked at him clearly and earnestly, without any sign of madness. But in an instant, the person's face turned into a silly smile and looked away.

"Master Su?" Xiao Sun called out.

Su Cen snapped out of his thoughts and hesitated for a moment before turning and walking outside.

The crime scene was behind the Gong Academy, to be precise, on a crooked-necked tree behind the academy. The person was hanging dead.

When Su Cen arrived, a crowd had already gathered around the scene, and the body had been taken down from the tree.

Song Jiancheng saw Su Cen's widened eyes and shouted, "What are you doing here? Who told you to come?"

"Naturally, I'm here to assist in the investigation," Su Cen smiled and crouched down to examine the body on his own.

Song Jiancheng stood there dumbfounded, his mouth hanging open. It was obvious that he was more than just surprised. What did it mean for a single misstep to become a lifelong regret? Why did Su Cen have to provoke him when there was nothing wrong?!

"Hey, don't touch..." The aging coroner standing nearby hadn't finished his sentence when Su Cen began his examination.

"The victim's clothes are in disarray, showing signs of a struggle. The face is purplish, mouth and eyes open, tongue pressed against the teeth, with a broken chin bone. There's a similar wound on the neck as in the Lü Liang case, but this time the wound is on the left side. There are no other injuries on the body."

"Come and lend a hand," Su Cen called to a nearby clerk. Together, they managed to lift the stiffened jaw. Su Cen glanced at it and furrowed his brow.

Two ligature marks.

"Turn him over." After examining the front, the two of them flipped the body to inspect the back. One ligature mark crossed behind the ears, while the other was at the back of the neck.

The coroner, watching Su Cen's skilled techniques, worried that someone might be encroaching on his territory and hastily asked the person beside him, "Who is this guy?"

The person sneered softly and replied, "He's the newly appointed top scholar."

Su Cen paid no attention to the disdain in the person's tone. After examining the body, he picked up the nearby rope and took a look. On the three-foot-long rope, there was a clearly visible knot.

"Did you break it when you brought the body down?" Su Cen asked.

"How could we? It was already there," the clerk replied.

"How high was the person hanging from?"

"Less than two feet off the ground."

Su Cen casually wiped his hands on his clothes after setting down the rope and stood up, asking, "What about the identity of the deceased?"

The scribe beside him spontaneously answered, "The deceased is Yuan Shaochun, a scholar from Binzhou. He participated in this year's provincial examination and achieved the second-level pass for the imperial examination..."

Halfway through the sentence, the scribe suddenly froze and discreetly glanced at Song Jiancheng, whose face had turned dark and grim. He quickly shut his mouth.

Once again, it was a scholar who participated in the examination. Su Cen frowned, about to say something when suddenly a commotion erupted among the crowd.

"It's the work of an evil ghost! The ghost from the examination hall has come out to kill!" Someone in the crowd shouted.

The surroundings instantly descended into chaos.