After quite a while, Yanniang recovered. "Why does Teacher Ji ask about this? We have renovated the place since then."
"But the structure hasn"t changed?"
"That... didn"t change."
Ji Yunshu simply said, "Bring me there."
"N... now?" Yanniang was so surprised that she stuttered.
However, Ji Yunshu was already standing. "The case is urgent, please lead the way."
Although Yanniang was reluctant, she did not dare to refuse since Ji Yunshu possessed the yamen’s command token. She could only bring Ji Yunshu there, full of dread.
The room was at the end of the corridor on the third floor. There were two locks on the door; one was old and rusty, while the other clearly was newly added!
"This is it." Yanniang said.
"Open the door."
"Teacher Ji, there"s nothing inside. It"s merely used as a storeroom for clutter."
"Just open the door."
Yanniang sighed and could only retrieve the key to open the door. The moment the door opened, there was a burst of cool air and the smell of rotten wood that irritated the nose. Other than the sunlight that entered through the doorway and landed on the ground, it was completely dark inside. It was daytime, but not a single glimmer of light was able to enter. The windows were covered securely by wooden boards without a single gap between them. Even mosquitoes couldn"t fly in.
At that moment, s.h.i.+ Zijin took out a firestarter from his waist. He found a candlestick somewhere in the house and lit it quickly. The room slowly brightened to reveal a literal storeroom, filled with messy piles of anything and everything.
Ji Yunshu looked at Yanniang. "Are Ye"er"s old things still here?"
"Yes. Some of the things piled in this room belonged to her. The bed, tables, chairs, hangers, and part.i.tion screens are still here. I didn’t dare to throw them away. You know, her death was so tragic I was afraid that strange things would happen if her old things were discarded or burnt. If that happened, my business would be ruined. I couldn’t let this room affect the business either, so I sealed the room and turned it into a storeroom. Fortunately, she was a songstress, not a girl who entertained the guests, so the room arranged for her was also out of the way. This corner doesn’t affect the business much, but for peace of mind, we still nailed the windows shut and locked the door."
While listening, Ji Yunshu took the candlestick from s.h.i.+ Zijin"s hand and walked forward a few steps. She gathered the candlelight in front of the pile of debris and moved it little by little towards the redwood bed.
The bed was full of miscellaneous things, and most of which were broken or old. She moved the light to the side again and illuminated a part.i.tion screen carved with exquisite patterns. One corner on the part.i.tion screen was worn out, revealing the broken wood in the red paint, and there were a few scratches beside it. It was unclear whether the damage was caused by something pressing against it or due to it being moved around carelessly.
Ji Yunshu brought the candlelight forward for a closer look and reached out to touch the corner where the part.i.tion screen was broken. Only then did she find out that it was a triangle corner that was fitted and could be removed directly. She took it off and turned it around in her hand a few times to see the scratch clearly. It didn’t look like it was left by someone"s fingers but rather like it was scratched by sharp claws.
She asked, "Did you have cats here before?"
Yanniang nodded, "We had a few. The girls like them."
"At that time, who was the owner of the cat that died in Ye"er"s room?"
"Shui Lian owned it. She cried for a while when the cat died. Tell me, why did Ye’er have to she strangle the cat even if she wanted to kill herself?" She sighed.
Ji Yunshu didn"t tell Yanniang that Ye"er didn’t commit suicide. She gave the corner to s.h.i.+ Zijin, then walked to the nailed windows, knocking on the board with her hand. Then she shook the boards with her hands. "Have someone remove the boards."
"Remove them?" Yanniang said quickly, "Teacher Ji, I"m doing business. Something happened in the room so I deliberately let people nail the window. If you want to remove them... It will get me into trouble!"
"Just remove it and let me take a look. After investigation, you can just nail it shut again."
"Then we can do that instead"
Yanniang was relieved and hurriedly called a few people over to disa.s.semble the window. As the boards were nailed down too securely, it took a lot of effort to disa.s.semble it. The room finally saw some light.
Ji Yunshu stood in front of the window, leaned out her head, and looked out to find an alley. As this room was located on the third floor of the Zhichun Building, it was a fair distance up. Looking from the top down, the back wall did not appear to have any hand or foot holds. One would have to know martial arts and qinggong to get down from here. But... where was the cat?
Her mind was whirling with thoughts, but it all circled round to the question of the cat.
If the murderer was not Qiao Zihua, then the culprit must have hidden in the room beforehand. When he fled, it was through the window, which explains why the window that should have been closed was opened by the time Qiao Zihua woke up. So where did the cat come from? Unless someone had entered right after the person who knocked Qiao Zihua unconscious left, and let the cat in with them.
She turned around and asked Yanniang, "May I meet Shui Lian?"
"Sure."
Yanniang quickly agreed and found someone to call Shui Lian. Shui Lian posed her lithe body gracefully and stood at the door, holding a black cat in her arms. She huffed and refused to enter. "My last cat died in this room, I don"t want to go in."
Okay, if you don’t come in, shall I step out? Ji Yunshu walked towards her and asked, "Do you remember why your cat would appear in this room the day Ye’er died three years ago?"
"How would I know? Business was good that day. I had several guests and shut the cat in the backyard. How could I know that it would appear in Ye’er"s room? A lovely cat that I kept for a long while died just like this." Shui Lian itched with anger as she thought of her beloved cat"s death.
Ji Yunshu pondered her words without continuing to question her.
"I will leave if there is nothing else. There are guests waiting." Shui Lian held the cat and walked awa, but the cat suddenly jumped down from her arms. The little body wove messily around the feet of the crowd.
Suddenly someone reached out a hand and lifted the cat by its scruff, lifting it by a single hand.
"Meow~" The cat wailed in pain, shaking its four paws everywhere.
Seeing this, Shui Lian stepped forward and s.n.a.t.c.hed her beloved cat from the man, and then scolded the man fiercely. "d.a.m.ned cripple. I will kill you if you dare to hurt my cat."
The man referred to as ‘the cripple’ was a small apprentice in Zhichun Building. He was in his thirties, with a pair of feet of different lengths. He was wearing a servant hat but on the left, most of his hair could be seen. exposed. His face was half-covered, exposing eyes that looked like the cat"s eyes. These eyes were so piercing eyes made people tremble if a person stared at them for too long.
The man bowed in greeting sombrely, then left without saying anything.
Ji Yunshu happened to see this scene and stared at the man’s retreating back. Her gaze was then drawn down to several things hidden in his right sleeve. They were small, glimmering things that looked a bit like silver needles.
But they also looked much thicker than silver needles.