Chapter 162: An Unexpected Teacher
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
There were many signs which pointed to the presence of a traitor within Kun Society, and furthermore that he or she was of an important position.
Gu Shenwei had already reached this conclusion after Shangguan Ru was abducted in the deserted village. The mole had to be very familiar with Tenth Young Master and Slave Huan to know that there was a great disparity in their Lightness Skills.
Subsequently, during the duel in Rouge Forest, the assailant apparently understood Slave Huan’s tactics and waited patiently nearby.
Even fewer people knew about the campaign to assassinate the Machete God Huang Shi’an, yet the squad still fell into the enemy’s trap. Had Gu Shenwei not called off the mission at the last possible moment, the casualties would perhaps not have been limited to one killer.
The first person whom Gu Shenwei suspected was Shangguan Yushi.
Master Yu naturally would not think about harming or kidnapping Tenth Young Master; her motive was to lead Slave Huan to commit an unforgivable mistake, and thereupon use Stone Castle’s power to get rid of him or cause him to completely lose Shangguan Ru’s trust.
In the middle of all this, however, there was something which Gu Shenwei could not make sense of, and that was the question of why the assassin wanted to kill Ye Silang in Rouge Forest.
There seemed to be a connection between these matters when they were understood together, yet there also appeared to be contrasting motives. Gu Shenwei was unable to come up with a holistic explanation, and so he did not reveal all of his suspicions to Tenth Young Master.
“Allow me to find out who the mole is.”
Moles and traitors were the types of people whom Shangguan Ru hated the most. However, she was somewhat hesitant this time. Gu Shenwei could tell that, in Tenth Young Master’s eyes, the status of “Slave Huan” was currently declining.
“Alright, but keep it a secret. I don’t want everyone to become suspicious of each other.”
Gu Shenwei bowed and accepted the instructions. “I’ll conduct the investigation alone.”
When he returned to South City, Gu Shenwei thought through everything several times. He realized that he had very few clues at hand, and did not even know where to begin from.
Maid Lotus and the Xu siblings had kept up the covert investigation of the deaths of Marquis Gao and Zhou Huan, and although they found out a fair bit of information, there was nothing useful to identify the true murderer or even ascertain the existence of one.
Male prostitutes were very popular in Jade City. Most of the rich sons in North City owned such a plaything or two. Zhou Huan was a little different from the others; he was already in his twenties, which was slightly old for a male prostitute, yet his relationship with Marquis Gao remained strong and stable. The latter had even helped him to buy Heng Sheng Riceshop.
Shopkeeper Mi’s claim that contradictions arose between them was indeed true. Like most ordinary couples, they often bickered. The main contradiction was Marquis Gao’s philandering heart – he was attracted to both males and females. The last quarrel between them was more intense than usual, and it happened on the last day of the twelveth lunar month, when Marquis Gao secretly entered South City.
On that day, Marquis Gao came to visit Zhou Huan, but after a quarrel, he went to find a female prostitute.
Nobody had witnessed the quarrel, but a few people who entered Heng Sheng Riceshop after the fact discovered that the whole shop appeared to have been ransacked by robbers, and there were debris and rice grains scattered all over the floor. Zhou Huan was seen sitting on a rice barrel giggling foolishly, and when he noticed the visitors, he flew into a rage and drove all of them out.
Based on these accounts, it seemed likely that Zhou Huan had indeed committed homicide and suicide in a heat of passion.
But Gu Shenwei remained skeptical. He had seen Zhou Huan’s body with his own eyes; the wound on the neck was very deep, and did not seem possible to be inflicted upon oneself. However, because he had not seen the corpses of other suicide cases, he dared not confirm the accuracy of his judgment.
He had to do a little something.
When the commandant Zhong Heng received the killer Yang Huan’s invitation to visit Xu Yanwei’s house in the afternoon the next day, he, as usual, agreed and brought along two junior officers.
They were already “old friends”, and always had interesting conversations. The banquet swiftly began. Because Gu Shenwei was a terrible drinker, he enlisted Tuo Nengya, together with the Xu siblings, to make sure that the guests drank to their hearts’ content.
During the dinner, Gu Shenwei thanked Commandant Zhong for his support towards Kun Society, then gradually changed the topic to Marquis Gao’s death. Having drunk a little too much, Xu Xiaoyi was not his usual cautious and meticulous self. He unexpectedly thumped the table and stood up. “I simply don’t believe that Marquis Gao was murdered by Zhou Huan. It’s not as if they hadn’t quarreled before. How could things escalate to the extent of murder this time?”
Zhong Heng placed his glass down. “I’m also not convinced.”
Gu Shenwei was slightly surprised. “Ah, what flaw has Commandant Zhong noticed in the evidence?”
Stroking his thin beard, Zhong Heng appeared hesitant about whether or not to speak the truth. “A large part of it is based on my experience. I’ve been involved in many homicide cases in which the murderers committed suicide out of guilt or fear of punishment. However, I’ve rarely seen a case like Zhou Huan’s where the murderer only takes his own life a few days after his crime. Suicide is a very difficult thing to do for most people, and is either done when emotions are at their most intense or not at all.”
Gu Shenwei felt that this explanation was very reasonable. He had discovered the corpse on the fifth day of the first lunar month, and many experienced machetemen surmised that Zhou Huan had died two or three days prior, which meant his death took place on the second or third day of the first lunar month. This was three or four days removed from Marquis Gao’s death.
Xu Yanwei held on to her robe horrifiedly. “This means a murderer killed both of them. That’s terrible! And to think Marquis Gao was such a nice person.”
The female prostitutes were never much bothered by their clients’ keeping of male prostitutes – there was no direct competition between them anyway.
“Marquis Gao was too careless with money.” These words of Zhong Heng ended the discussion. An officer promptly changed the subject to something more trivial, and the banquet resumed an atmosphere of jocosity.
The two officers were first to take their leave. Conversely, Commandant Zhong was adamant not to leave this soon having stepped foot into a brothel. What’s more, Xu Yanwei had given him several hints throughout the banquet. She eventually succumbed to the liquor and was staggering about. Had the commandant not held her up in time, she might even have fallen on the floor. He carried her into her bedroom, and when he reemerged, everyone knew it was time to end the banquet.
Zhong Heng was done with a perfect day, and he was beginning to feel as if his bones were dissolving. He finally realized why the bunch of playboys from North City loved coming to South City. It was not only the cleanest and safest city but also had the filthiest of places where people could come to unwind.
“Beauty and ugliness go hand in hand.” “The place where the most beautiful things exist is also where the ugliest things are found.” In his half-asleep state, the commandant came up with several such abstruse thoughts, and felt that he was beginning to think like Laozi himself. With that, he calmly drifted off to sleep.
One can, therefore, imagine the horror when Zhong Heng woke up and realized his hands were tied behind his back.
He laid on the bed with his back resting against several pillows. The beauties who spent the night with him were gone. The room was pitch-dark, and the only thing he could sense clearly was the numbing pain from the ropes pressing against his skin. He struggled a few times tryingly and quickly sobered up. “Manager Yang, what are you up to?”, he cried.
In reality, of course, the title of “manager” was not the killer Yang Huan’s true identity. This commandant was the only person who took it seriously and used it regularly.
Gu Shenwei sat in a corner observing the captive on the bed.
The present scene was somewhat similar to a previous scene in another brothel, except that the positions were changed and one of the bodies was now tied up in ropes.
“Please forgive me, Commandant,” Gu Shenwei said unemotionally, without a sense of repentance in his voice.
“Forgive? Forgive what? Faster release me!” Zhong Heng burst into rage. From his perspective, the youth was failing to recognize his greatness. He had treated the latter with kindness, yet was requited with such indignity.
There was nothing but silence from the corner.
“Hey, young hero, this is something that even Golden Roc Fort wouldn’t dare to do, yet a killer like yourself has done. Since you want to kidnap me, you shouldn’t have allowed the two junior officers to leave. A commandant may not be considered a high-ranking official, but I can sit at the same table as people from the Stone Castle. What you’re doing is a huge mistake.”
“I often make mistakes,” Gu Shenwei remained unmoved. “No harm making one more.”
Zhong Heng was full of lines he used whenever he dealt with official affairs, but not one of them proved to be useful this time. He ruminated for a while and suddenly understood. Relaxing his body and resting against the pillows, he said, “Killers and prostitutes are the two most untrustworthy types of people in the world. I can’t believe I’ve trusted them and even drank with them. Alright, I’ve lost this time. Tell me what your demands are.”
The person in the corner blinked his eyes and flashed a piercing glance at the commandant. “Let me ask you, Commandant Zhong, what problem did you intend to solve when you killed Zhou Huan?”
“Are you kidding? I didn’t kill Zhou Huan.”
“Commandant, do you remember that when I visited you on the 3rd day of the month, you offered me a few rice grains as a clue? It was this clue that allowed me to find Zhou Huan’s body.”
“What does this explain? Is it wrong of me to give you clues with good intent?”
“It doesn’t explain anything, but it’s too coincidental. Zhou Huan hadn’t died very long when you offered me the clue, it was as if you knew in advance. What’s more, even the people in South City who’re the best at digging for information hadn’t heard of such an important clue. It just seems very odd.”
“Hah, how old are you this year? Eighteen? Why are you as suspecting as an eighty-something old man?”
“Commandant Zhong is an expert at ‘solving problems’. I just don’t believe you would casually offer a clue like this.”
Zhong Heng remained silent for some time, busy assessing the severity of the situation. “You… you aren’t serious, right?”
“How different are the offenses of kidnapping a commandant and killing one?'”
Zhong Heng strenuously swallowed a gulp of saliva. “This youth is mad, but… a mad child is sometimes scarier than a mad adult. Especially when he’s a killer.” “Will you let me go?”
“I will once I hear the truth.”
“Are you not afraid I’ll take revenge?”
“I’ll offer you a compensation proposal which I’m sure you’ll be highly satisfied with, and you won’t want me to die early then.”
“Hurr.” Zhong Heng cackled, beginning to suspect if the youth in the corner was truly in his teens. “You’re right, I already knew about Zhou Huan’s death by the third day of the month. I purposely led you and Tenth Young Master to discover the body. I came up with the story about the rice grains myself.”
This was the first true sentence. Gu Shenwei nodded his head and awaited even more truth.
“I didn’t kill Zhou Huan, and Marquis Gao’s death had even less to do with me. Though I may often only think about ‘solving problems’, I remain interested in the truth. Because I knew about Zhou Huan’s relationship with Marquis Gao, I went to find him shortly after the latter’s death. Zhou Huan was very animated. He said he knew who killed Marquis Gao, but flatly refused to say the name. Like most people, he didn’t trust a commandant, and wanted to take revenge by himself. When I went to find him again on the second day of the month, he was already dead. This is what happened.”
“I’m sure you have already made a reasonable guess who it was.”
“Conjectures are worthless.”
“Not always. Listening to you has taught me a lot. The weight of your guesses is naturally different from other people’s.”
A wry smile appeared on Zhong Heng’s face. He quietly felt that the price of teaching this killer had already been too great. “My guess is Fifth Young Master Meng. Marquis Gao had cheated him of a fair bit of money, and he was very angry when he found out. Aye, I now know how it’s like when a young man is angry. In the days before Marquis Gao’s death, the Meng family demanded a large portion of the debt be repaid. I believe it’s no coincidence that they are the creditors who’ve suffered the least losses.”
Gu Shenwei’s guess was the same, but he wanted to find out even more.
