The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 456: The Fushou Festival

Since Sun Shaozong was unable to identify the mechanism arranged by the murderer, he carefully examined the surrounding area of the body as much as possible without damaging the scene of the crime.

After confirming that no details were missing, he picked up Jie Nian's body and left the center with the footprints of his arrival.

“Your Excellency.”

Just as he placed the body on the door panel, Qiu Yunfei immediately approached and asked, "How did the murderer kill? Have you figured it out?”

He then lowered his voice and said, "Isn't it really that he was bitten to death by a wild dog?”

Sun Shaozong gave him a silent glance until Wei Ruolan, Private Advisor Qi, and Zhao Wuwei gathered around him. Then he said, "Let's talk about the results of our official investigation first.”

“The deceased's legal name is Jie Xian, and he is the first member of the Monastery Reception of Fayuan Temple. Judging from the stiffness of the body, the time of death is approximately between 8 am to 10 am.”

“The fatal wound was on the neck of the deceased, which was a transverse wound about two and a half inches from left to right. Based on the cross-sectional area of the wound and the damage to the cervical spine, it seems that the weapon used was a firewood knife, which is a one-handed weapon that is conducive to chopping.”

“After the death of the deceased, the murderer tried to create the illusion of being bitten to death by wild dogs on the wound of the deceased.”

“The posture of the five fingers on the deceased's right hand is very disharmonious. It is highly likely that someone forcibly broke open the deceased's fingers and took something away after death.”

“There is an inconspicuous fresh scratch on the inner lining of the deceased's right arm sleeve, which seems to have been caused by some sharp object, but the force and speed are not very fast. It should be a mark left by accidentally removing a sharp object from the sleeve pocket.”

“Except for the footprints of the deceased himself, no other footprints were found at the scene. Additionally, due to a fall that occurred midway, a fault of about four feet appeared in the middle of the footprints. Therefore, it is impossible to transport the deceased to the scene to commit the crime and then step back on the footprints to leave.”

“And there are no traces of ropes ever erected on the stone tablets on both sides…”

At this point, Sun Shaozong stopped and silently waited for everyone to digest this information or raise their questions.

Wei Ruolan listened and only frowned and pondered on the side, while Private Advisor Qi and Qiu Yunfei almost simultaneously approached and examined the body of Jie Nian.

This was not that Sun Shaozong couldn’t be trusted, but rather that some details were ultimately based on seeing.

After all, he often went to Lao Xu's place to learn. Qiu Yunfei's autopsy techniques were more proficient than those of Private Advisor Qi. He quickly completed the examination of the fatal wound on his neck and began to look through the gestures in his right hand and the scratches on his sleeve.

“This seems to be...”

He muttered to himself, bent down, and pulled out a dagger with a cat's eyes from the boot barrel. He gestured back and forth in Jie Nian's palm a few times before firmly saying, "If I guessed right, he should have held a dagger in his hand.”

Tch tch tch…

Qiu Yunfei exaggerated and said, "It seems that this monk doesn't have any good intentions. Unfortunately, he took a step slower than others. Otherwise, the person lying here might be the murderer.”

Private Advisor Qi also chimed in and said, "From the angle and length of the scratches on the sleeve, as well as the curvature outlined by his tail and ring fingers, it really looks like a dagger.”

However, he immediately said, "It's just not clear at the moment whether it was the dagger taken out by the other party after revealing his malice, or whether he had already held the dagger in his hand. Therefore, whether he had any malice or not still needs to be discussed.”

Wei Ruolan frowned aside and said, "Why did the murderer take away Jie Nian's dagger?”

“Of course, it is also to create the illusion of wild dogs hurting people.”

Sun Shaozong opened his mouth and explained, "Otherwise, how would Jie Nian be holding a dagger in his hand, but there would be no sign of fighting with wild dogs? Isn't it abrupt?”

After a pause, seeing that the crowd had no further questions, he raised his voice and called out Jie Chen and Jie Xiu, asking them when they last saw Monk Jie Nian.

Jie Xiu answered honestly that he had seen Jie Nian in the Main Hall during the morning class, but he just said hello in a hurry without stopping to talk in detail.

Upon hearing Sun Shaozong's question, Jie Chen appeared quite impatient. Firstly, he muttered that ”evil spirits harm people,” and finally, after repeated questioning by Qiu Yunfei, he reluctantly said, “I have seen him before, but Senior Brother Jie Nian has always suspected that I’m the real culprit behind the scenes, so I avoided him from a long distance.”

Upon hearing this, Sun Shaozong solemnly asked Jie Xiu, "Monk Jie Xiu, did Jie Nian, like Monk Jie Chen, have been deliberately avoiding him during his lifetime?”

“This…”

Jie Xiu hesitated a bit, and after a while, he shook his head apologetically and said, "Due to the unexpected death of Jie Nian, I have low willpower and rarely ask about trivial matters in the temple, so...”

“If you don't believe me, just ask other monks in the temple, or simply ask my master.”

“Amitabha Buddha.”

Before he could finish speaking, he heard someone proclaiming the name of Buddha. Immediately after, a dozen monks crowded out from behind the merit monument in the southeast. The leader was not someone else, but Master Lechi with five willows and white beards.

Behind Master Lechi, the little monk followed suit and was so excited that his face turned red. He was Monk Xuan Ci who first discovered the body of Jie Nian, and when he saw the crowd to conduct an expanded search, the little monk saw that no one was paying attention to him, so he called for someone from the temple again.

“Master.”

“Abbot.”

Jie Chen and Jie Xiu quickly approached to salute.

Master Lechi walked over to them and reached the corpse of Jie Nian, silently hanging his head for a while. His lips, almost covered by his white beard, trembled a few times, as if to say something, but suddenly his feet softened and fell!

Thanks to the monk behind him who was quick to help him with his eyes and hands; otherwise, he could have gone straight to the Western Paradise at his ancient age.

“Master!”

“Abbot!”

However, even so, Master Lechi still had his eyes closed and his attention was not focused, and the anxious monks were in a chaotic state.

Amidst the chaos, someone called out, "Master is in this state now. The Fushou Festival on the first day of August will be missed.”

“That's natural! Quickly send someone to notify the palace, saying that Senior Brother Jie Nian died unexpectedly, causing physical and mental damage to his Master. It's impossible to host the Supreme Emperor's longevity party.”

“Would this be disrespectful to the Supreme Emperor?”

“I can't care so much! Three monks died in the temple, and the government hasn't even said a word. Even Senior Brother Jie Nian is dead now. If the Supreme Emperor wants to blame us, he can’t blame us either.”

Upon hearing this, everyone in the Central Judicial Office had already lowered their faces.