Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Any brothel is unwilling to let a prostitute get pregnant and give birth, because it interferes with business.

But for some reason, Yuanyang suddenly got pregnant in her most popular year and gave birth to the child.

Because of childbirth, Yuanyang lost her former glory; her looks and figure suffered some damage.

Yet she still had to receive customers and do business, so Linglong could not live with her but stayed in the backyard, sleeping with Mama Li, the kitchen helper at Jinlan Courtyard.

Every month, Yuanyang gave Mama Li one tael of silver as payment for taking care of Linglong.

Captain Liu said, “I don’t understand what you mean.”

I said, “For many years, Yuanyang had a habit: whenever she had no guests, before the hour of chou, she would go to the backyard to check on Linglong before going to sleep. But on the night she was killed, she didn’t show up.”

This information was provided to me by Mama Li.

Captain Liu was silent for a moment, then said, “Maybe she forgot.”

I shook my head. “For seven years, she never forgot. Besides, that day was Linglong’s birthday.”

Very few people knew about this habit of Yuanyang’s.

Not even Linglong knew.

Because by the time her mother came to see her, she was already sound asleep.

I sighed and said, “Therefore, in my opinion, the most reasonable explanation is that night, Yuanyang had no guests and was about to go see Linglong, but encountered the killer before she could leave her room.”

Captain Liu pondered for a moment, then understood the whole sequence of events. He shouted, “Why did no one tell me this?! Such an important clue, why did no one mention it?!”

The people from the brothel: “…”

I cleared my throat and said, “Captain Liu, this matter seems unrelated to the murder case, so it’s normal that you didn’t know.”

Most constables are fierce and intimidating; who would dare to ramble on during questioning?

Captain Liu nodded, believing my explanation, then turned to the seven people from the second floor that day.

“You lot-who killed Yuanyang?! Confess honestly, or I’ll arrest all of you and have you tortured!”

These seven all cried out their innocence.

“Not me!”

“It wasn’t me either!”

“I had no grudge against Yuanyang!”

Especially Boss Zhao, who shouted repeatedly, “I came to sleep with a girl, not to kill one! Spending money brings disaster!! No wonder a fortune teller the day before yesterday said I was down on my luck!”

After saying this, he suddenly pointed at me as if waking from a dream: “Yes, it’s you! You’re that fortune teller!”

I said in a low voice, “I didn’t deceive you…”

Although I wanted to fish for information from him, I had told the truth according to the divination sticks.

Captain Liu sneered twice and shouted, “Cut the nonsense! Now that we have a lead, I cannot let this go. If you can’t explain clearly, I’ll take all of you back to the yamen!”

The madam, the brothel keeper, and the three girls were about to cry.

Boss Zhao slumped in his chair.

Only Xue’e’s customer, Young Master Yuan, was exceptionally calm.

He stared at me and said curiously:

“Miss Yu, I have a question I’d like to ask. That night, was it really just us seven? Couldn’t there have been some highly skilled martial artist who killed Yuanyang without anyone noticing?”

This Young Master Yuan was composed from start to finish, as if he didn’t take the current situation seriously.

I had investigated him and roughly knew his background.

Among the people here, he was indeed an unexpected factor.

Thinking this, I answered truthfully, “You have a point. However, it’s highly unlikely. That night, an autumn wind arose and the weather was slightly cool. The window in Yuanyang’s room was latched, meaning no one could enter or exit from the window-they could only go out through the door.”

Young Master Yuan nodded.

I continued, “I haven’t seen the scene of Yuanyang’s murder, but I heard it was gruesome and soaked in blood. I believe the killer must have been stained with blood as well…”

Young Master Yuan immediately understood, “You mean that the killer, covered in blood, couldn’t have gone downstairs without being seen…”

Captain Liu continued, “Unless that person didn’t go downstairs at all, but directly returned to their room and changed clothes! Heavens, how did I not think of that!”

Seeing the situation turning against them, the seven began protesting their innocence.

“This is all just speculation by you, a fortune teller!”

“What reason would we have to kill Yuanyang?”

“The real culprit is roaming free outside, while you fixate on us honest folk!”

I sighed softly and said, word by word, “Stop pretending. Each of you seven had a motive to kill!”

“!”