“Qingyue was dead when these two children were five years old. When they were swapped, Jing’an was still a baby and unaware, but later… she must have known,” Lin Fei tidied the documents in his hand and continued, “After all, with Jing’an’s temperament, if there wasn’t this reason, Jinxin wouldn’t have been able to persuade her to go and listen to the scripture.”

“Unfortunately, Jinxin couldn’t make her truly calm down, he just made her wary,” Lin Fei said, looking at Jinghui and Zhuang Meiniang, both of whom looked pale. “Just now, my team and I went to Qude Temple and rescued this woman. Jing’an, alone and pretending to be a young woman who had sprained her ankle, mistook Master Wen from our Dali Temple for the little maid who saw you taking away Han Jun that day and was caught on the spot.”

“Under these circumstances, do you still intend to continue concealing the truth for Jing’an?”

With one sentence, the two people’s faces were as white as paper.

After a while, Zhuang Meiniang murmured and spoke: “How do you know, Sir, that she was not the only one who took Han Jun away that day?”

“In the study, all your dead husband’s belongings were thrown away without any trace. I guess you hate him very much.” Lin Fei said, “But I saw a double set of dishes and chopsticks in the cupboard. So, I assumed you were not the only one living in the study, and other people were staying overnight. “

As for whether the person staying overnight was a man or a woman…

“I saw that your dresses are of different colors at first glance, and they seem to belong to you alone, but there were two sizes of these dresses. One is suitable for you, and the other one was for someone who was slightly taller and thinner than you,” Lin Fei said, “Everyone involved in this case is related to Yishan, and Jing’an and Jinghui are also suspects. Among them, only Jing’an is suitable for this dress. Therefore, I guessed you were related to Jing’an.”

“So they suspected Jing’an was the real culprit so early on? I’ve been clueless all this time, taking the blame for her,” Jinghui sighed and spoke, “I’ve been with her every day, but I never imagined she would harm anyone. How could a child I’ve watched grow up since childhood become like this?”

Wen Mingtang frowned when she thought of Jing’an’s excitement when she killed someone.

The next moment, Lin Fei was heard saying: “On the first day I came to visit the nunnery, I felt that the guest rooms in the nunnery were too clean.” 

What Jing’an and Jinghui showed him that day was that the nunnery was simple and quiet, with few people coming to stay. Since no one was staying there, it seemed a little unreasonable to keep the guest room so clean.

Naturally, some people were born with a penchant for cleanliness, and they enjoyed tidying up in this manner. However, such individuals should have ensured that everything they saw was clean, not just the guest rooms.

“I have handled many cases. If a murder occurs in a house, most murderers will clean up the inside and outside of the house, including the beams that are only cleaned once a year, unless they leave it alone.” Lin Fei said, “It’s as if cleaning up like this can erase all traces of murder.”

In fact, sometimes being too clean becomes the biggest suspicion point.

“The overly plain face of Jing’an is the favorite canvas for makeup artists, just like a blank scroll. Through makeup techniques, they can transform it into various appearances,” Lin Fei said, glancing at Wen Mingtang beside her. “Tangyuan said she’s like a ‘painted skin monster,’ and she’s not entirely wrong. If she has good makeup skills, she can indeed transform her appearance.”

With the disappearance of scholars, along with Han Jun and Ruan Zhan, there were already quite a few cases. If one person was connected to all these disappearances, even if it was just an ordinary missing persons case, it would have surely attracted the attention of the authorities long ago.

But in fact, no one had ever paid attention to Jing’an before.

Therefore, it was very possible that Jing’an really knew how to “paint skin” so that no one would recognize her.

 Put it this way…

“So, what Zhou Dagui and I thought was that Han Jun was bullying Jing’an, in fact…” Jinghui trembled her lips and murmured, “I came back early that day and unexpectedly saw her and Han Jun. The two of them… Han Jun was in a hurry to go to class and left in a hurry. After Han Jun left, Jing’an cried to us…”

“If Han Jun really bullied Jing’an, Jing’an must have suffered injuries,” Lin Fei said. , “Was there any external injury on her body?”

Jinghui shook her head, with a complicated and confused expression: “I…I don’t know.”

“Excessive concern leads to chaos,” Wen Mingtang couldn’t help but interject. “With her identity as the daughter of Yānzhī’, even if she were to do something suspicious, neither of you would have noticed.”

Even if someone were killed, Zhuang Meiniang would never have implicated her.

After all…she was the child she had watched grow up since she was a child!

“So, was it you who gave the arsenic poison, or she?” Let’s leave the worries and self-blame for later! At the moment, Lin Fei still had something to ask Jinghui.

Jinghui lowered her eyes and turned pale: “I bought it and watched her do it.”

“Have you ever thought that when she asked you to go down the mountain to buy arsenic, she planned to use you to take the blame from the beginning?” Lin Fei He said, “Han Jun’s death accidentally alarmed Dali Temple. You and Zhuang Meiniang will protect her because of her relationship with Yānzhī. Ruan Zhan will not, so Ruan Zhan had to die too. As for the book boy, let Zhou Dagui, who was already involved, take action. It is not difficult to solve. She prepared all the scapegoats, but she missed one thing.”

Han Jun and Ruan Zhan weren’t the first people she killed. The owners of the bodies found in the Hosta Flower Garden of Qude Temple were the initial victims.

“Those people did not die from arsenic poison, but from dagger trauma, which was fatal.” Lin Fei said, “The person who used the murder weapon was captured on the spot when she was chasing Master Wen.”

In addition, there was one more thing…

“Tell Zhou Dagui that his health is not at risk, but what about Jing’an?” Lin Fei asked Jinghui, who looked pale before her. “The physician brought by our Dali Temple has treated Zhou Dagui, and his health is fine, which won’t affect his offspring.”

Therefore, the child in the belly of Zhou Dagui’s wife must be Zhou Dagui’s in all likelihood. The behavior of Zhou Dagui’s wife and Zhuang Meiniang’s husband was indeed despicable, but the child was innocent. However, Zhou Dagui killed his own child with his own hands because he was coaxed by Jing’an.

When Jinghui heard this, she couldn’t help but hide her face and murmured: “Jing’an learned some medical techniques from the monk Jingxin. She helped me diagnose any headaches and fevers I had now and then. She also told me about Zhou Dagui.”

Although it was Jing’an who said it, it was she who came forward to tell Zhou Dagui about this. She had never doubted Jing’an before.

“What a sin!” Although the nun was lying, after hearing this, Jinghui still subconsciously said “Amitabha” and “That child was innocent.”

I didn’t kill Boren, but Boren died because of me.¹

“She wasn’t like this before,” Jinghui still couldn’t believe it. “Even if a bird dies, she still has to cry for a long time.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Fei handed a booklet to Jinghui and said: “This was found in Qiude Temple. Jing Xin’s notes also recorded the death of a bird in Jing’an, but it is completely different from what you saw.”

Small details could reveal larger truths; Jing’an’s temperament had long been evident.

(End of chapter)

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Footnote

1. This is a proverb that means “although I resented Boren, I didn’t intend to kill him. But because of my resentment, he was killed by others and hence his death is tied to me.” The story arises from this tale.  Wang Dun, an important official in the Jin Court, had been at war.  His brother Wang Dao and his family had been implicated and were about to be punished.  Wang Dao and his children had been kneeling before the palace gates to beg for forgiveness when Zhou Wei (Courtesy name: Boren), a minister at court came by.  Wang Dun implored the Zhou Wei to plead on his behalf.  Zhou Wei then spoke to the Emperor and pleaded for pardon.  Later that day, Zhou Wei was drunk when he left the palace (he loved to drink) and Wang Dao was still waiting for him outside the palace grounds for an answer.  Zhou Wei behaved in a drunk fashion as he led; Wang Dao didn’t know that that he (Zhou Wei) had already begged for pardon and was even writing letters to the Emperor and thus Wang Dao hated him.  Subsequently, Wang Dun (he’s a general) launched a military campaign against the Jin Emperor and once he was in position, he killed those who he didn’t like, one of which was Zhou Wei.  Eventually when Wang Dao was looking through the court documents, he realised Zhou Wei/Bo Ren has been defending him all along.  Distraught, he returned home and that’s when he told his family this statement “I didn’t kill Boren, but still he died because of me” . Found in Twitter.