First, Ning Yan wasn’t asking anyone for a favor. She merely wanted Ma Si to cooperate with her investigation. If Ma Si was unwilling, that was fine. She could simply go back and pursue another lead. After all, this was a criminal investigation, not a matter of pulling strings or begging for help.
Second, she genuinely had no idea what attitude she should adopt.
“Then please enlighten me,” she said.
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhang Xingben suddenly understood. Stepping forward, he slipped a banknote into Shiwen’s hand. “Please do us a favor and make an exception.”
Shiwen casually accepted the money, but he didn’t spare Zhang Xingben a glance. Instead, he continued waiting for Ning Yan’s response.
Zhang Xingben stared in bewilderment. Now even he was confused.
Seeing the situation, Liu Zhan quietly pressed three copper coins into Ning Yan’s hand. He had forgotten to bring money when he left home.
Without hesitation, Ning Yan handed the three coins to Shiwen and said openly and frankly, “Please. We only wish to see Deputy Commander Ma.”
Shiwen looked down at the three copper coins. In his entire life, this was the smallest bribe he had ever received. Then he looked up at Ning Yan’s calm, composed expression. Secretly, he felt a surge of admiration. No wonder she was the girl their commander had personally set his sights on. She truly was extraordinary.
Shiwen took the money and brought it back to Pei Yan.
Pei Yan changed clothes and looked at him, confused. “What is this?”
“Miss Ning’s attitude,” Shiwen replied, scratching his head.
Pei Yan kicked him aside. “She gave you three coins, and you actually took them? Have you no shame?”
Shiwen lowered his head, unable to reply. If you’d seen her expression yourself, you’d have accepted it too, he thought.
“Bring her in,” Pei Yan said, sweeping his sleeve.
A short while later, Ning Yan was escorted into the command tent.
Pei Yan sat in his chair and looked down at her with narrowed eyes. His voice was cool and cutting. “Don’t you know that unauthorized people are forbidden from approaching a military camp? What are you doing here?”
Ning Yan explained the purpose of her visit.
“Let Ma Si cooperate with your investigation?” Pei Yan snorted coldly. When he summoned her, she didn’t come. Now that she showed up, she wanted one of his men to cooperate with her? Had he been treating her too kindly?
“If you want his cooperation, that’s simple enough.” Pei Yan pointed outside the tent. “The troops are running the obstacle course right now. If you can make it through, I’ll have Ma Si cooperate with your investigation.”
“Otherwise, leave immediately!”
Cold sweat instantly broke out on Zhang Xingben and Liu Zhan. Both men looked at Ning Yan anxiously.
Pei Yan refused to believe she would not back down. Besides, he was still waiting for her apology for failing to report to the military camp during the past three days. When he invited people, no one dared refuse. He waited for her reaction, but to his surprise, Ning Yan turned around and walked out.
The weather was so hot. There was no way she was going to run around on a sweltering training ground and come back drenched in sweat.
Pei Yan froze. Staring at Ning Yan’s retreating figure, he felt frustration lodge in his throat.
Shiwen silently lowered his head. Had their commander just suffered a setback?
After leaving the camp, Zhang Xingben looked back every few steps, wiping sweat from his brow in fear. “You’ve got far too much nerve. That’s General Pei!”
Ning Yan replied, “I was speaking reasonably. Surely he can’t just kill someone without caring who’s right and who’s wrong.”
Zhang Xingben muttered a few prayers under his breath, feeling Ning Yan was still far too young. A newborn calf fears no tiger.
Ning Yan decided to investigate Fourth Master Xu, another of Mudan’s patrons, before pursuing any other leads. She asked Zhang Xingben to go find Jin Shu while she and Liu Zhan headed back toward Chunhua House.
With the brothel shut down and business suspended, everyone was bored out of their minds. As soon as they arrived, a crowd gathered around them, chattering nonstop.
Several of the women teased Liu Zhan until his face turned bright red.
Ning Yan could not help laughing. “My cousin is thin-skinned. Please go easy on him, ladies.”
“That’s exactly the kind of man we like,” a girl in a green dress said with a smile. “Come visit your sister here when you have time. Use the back door, and I won’t charge you.”
Following behind Ning Yan, Liu Zhan was so embarrassed he didn’t dare lift his head.
Ning Yan entered the crime scene room once more. Yesterday, she had not yet determined whether Zhang Heyu was truly the killer or had been framed, so her attention had not been focused on the locked-room aspect of the case. Today, she had come specifically to figure out how the locked-room trick had been accomplished.
After thinking it over the previous night, she realized it wasn’t impossible to fasten the door latch from outside the room. She asked Liu Zhan to bring out some fishing line. She tied a slipknot, looped it around the latch, pulled it up, closed the door, lowered it from outside, then finally removed the line.
“How amazing,” Liu Zhan said curiously. He tried it himself. “It really works.”
Ning Yan nodded and turned to Taohong. “Did anyone move about the building after midnight?”
Everyone present heard the question. Not only Taohong, but the others lowered their heads in thought too. Then they all shook their heads.
“I really didn’t see anyone. And even if I did, I probably forgot about it. I wasn’t thinking along those lines.”
Ning Yan nodded.
If the door could indeed be latched from outside using fishing line, then how had the murderer entered the room in the first place?
Suddenly, she asked: “Taohong, when you brought the tea in, was the window open or closed?”
“Closed. I’m certain of it,” Taohong replied. “Because there are mosquitoes outside. Sister Mudan always liked to keep the window shut when she slept.”
With the window closed and the door locked, how had the murderer gotten inside?
Ning Yan tested the window herself. It couldn’t be opened easily from the outside. The gap was too narrow to slip a knife through. She could not figure it out.
“Couldn’t find him.” Just then, Zhang Xingben pushed through the crowd and entered. “The butcher’s shop has been closed since yesterday. No one knows where that butcher went.”
Ning Yan frowned. Of the three suspects, one was missing, and another was unreachable. It seemed she could only go see the third one first.
Taking Liu Zhan with her, she left Chunhua House and headed for the Xu family’s business. To her surprise, she met Fourth Master Xu without any difficulty.
Fourth Master Xu’s given name was Xu Yao. He was the fourth son in his family. His father belonged to the Qiantan Chamber of Commerce, as did Zhang Xingben. The two families were merely casual acquaintances.
“Me?” Xu Yao looked baffled. “I went home after drinking. My servant opened the door for me, and I went straight to bed until morning. Then I heard that Mudan had been murdered.”
He frowned and looked at Ning Yan. “Wait a minute. You’re asking me all these questions because you think I killed Mudan?”
“Why would I do that? There was nothing between us.”
Xu Yao angrily tried to drive Ning Yan away.
Ning Yan picked up a writing brush and twirled it idly between her fingers, smiling as she kept questioning him. “Fourth Master Xu, you and Second Master Zhang are on good terms. Who do you think would want to harm him in this way?”
“No idea. Go ask Zhang Heyu. He’s still alive, isn’t he?” Xu Yao replied. “Besides, Zhang Heyu has plenty of enemies. My relationship with him is average at best, but certainly not bad enough that I’d murder someone just to frame him.”
“Besides, why couldn’t it be that Mudan had made an enemy of someone and was killed because of that?”
Ning Yan did not comment. Killing a defenseless woman like Mudan would have been easy. Yet the murderer had deliberately made the crime far more complicated.
Because of that, Ning Yan believed the killer’s true target had been Zhang Heyu, not Mudan.
As for the motive, once robbery was ruled out, only two possibilities remained: a crime of passion or revenge. If it had been a crime of passion, then from everything Ning Yan had seen and heard, Mudan was hardly the type of woman who devoted herself wholeheartedly to one man. Even if someone had fallen for her, it was unlikely to be unrequited love.
More importantly, if it were truly a crime of passion, then the target should have been Zhang Heyu. Why kill Mudan instead?
Therefore, Ning Yan was more inclined to the revenge theory. As for the exact grievance behind it, she still needed to investigate further.
“I don’t know either. You’ll have to ask someone else,” Xu Yao said before turning away and going about his business.
Standing in front of the shop, Ning Yan looked around, then pointed to a notice hanging above the entrance. “What is that?”
“They’re probably trying to clear out inventory before the end of the year,” Zhang Xingben said with a dismissive snort. “Small shops always try to sell off a batch of goods before the New Year.”
Ning Yan thought Zhang Xingben’s attitude toward the matter seemed a little strange. She was just about to say something when she suddenly felt someone’s gaze resting on her. She turned around and searched for the source. But she saw nothing.