The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#320 - Front cabin and rear cabin

"I'll go out and take a look.♦♦ ♦♦"

Seeing the worried look on Lan'er's face, Lu Jing lost his desire to bicker with her. Clearly, she was worried about her grandfather, so he took the initiative to get up.

As he spoke, he picked up the bamboo hat from the side, but just as he reached the door, he heard a knock.

Lu Jing glanced at Lan'er, who shook her head and whispered, "It's not Grandpa, his knocks are very light."

So Lu Jing and Yan Jun exchanged a look, and the two stood against the wall.

Lan'er went to open the door, and her face paled when she saw a burly constable named Ma Liu standing outside. "I… what happened to my grandfather?"

"How did you know I came because of your grandfather's matter?" Ma Liu asked strangely.

Lan'er's eyes immediately turned red when she heard his words. She was very familiar with Ma Liu because Ma Liu was the one who notified Coroner Cheng to examine corpses whenever there was a murder case in Wujiang City.

However, she had never felt any ill will towards Ma Liu in the past because her grandfather made a living from this job, so death was also very common to her.

But it wasn't until she lost her own relatives that Lan'er realized that she didn't really understand life and death before.

"What are you crying for?" Ma Liu asked, puzzled, seeing tears falling down Lan'er's cheeks. "A murder case suddenly occurred in the south of the city. It just so happened that your grandfather went to the yamen, so Constable Wang asked your grandfather to help examine the corpse. Your grandfather asked me to bring you a message, saying to wait a while and take that half basket of fat persimmons to your Sister Xiangyun… But it's strange, when did you get another sister? I don't know about this."

"Dead Ma Liu, next time if there's something like this, can't you just say it directly?! Don't beat around the bush!" Lan'er stopped crying after hearing his words, but instead said angrily.

Ma Liu was baffled, but before he could say anything, he saw the door slam shut in front of him again.

Ma Liu shouted, "Hey, hey, don't be in such a hurry to close the door! I'm thirsty, let me in for a bowl of water, and also give me a persimmon to try."

However, after shouting for a while and seeing that the door remained closed, he could only scratch his head and go to a nearby stall to buy herbal tea.

After Ma Liu left, Lu Jing and Yan Jun also bid farewell to Lan'er.

Although Coroner Cheng's people hadn't returned, they had still passed the message through Ma Liu. Xiangyun was obviously a woman's name, and if there were no accidents, she should be one of the courtesans on the pleasure boat that night. From her, they could find out who was on the boat that night.

However, when Lu Jing and Yan Jun went to the brothel where Xiangyun was, they heard that Xiangyun had been invited by a group of students from Bailu Academy to play the zither not long ago.

It wasn't until dusk that Lu Jing and Yan Jun finally met the person they were looking for.

Perhaps because she had been busy all day, Xiangyun's face was a little tired. She originally didn't want to see any more guests, but she couldn't resist the large sum of money Yan Jun offered. After tidying herself up a bit, she braced herself and came to Lu Jing and Yan Jun.

She plucked the zither a couple of times and said, "What song would the two of you like to hear?"

"We're not here to listen to music," Lu Jing said.

"I'm sorry, guests, Xiangyun is a courtesan who only sells her art, not her body. If you're looking for pleasure, I can have Mama call a few more sisters for you."

"We're not here for pleasure either, we just want to ask you about something," Yan Jun said.

"Ask about something, what is it?" Xiangyun's eyes, perhaps because they had seen too much of the world, didn't show much surprise, she just quietly waited for Yan Jun to continue.

"More than three months ago, a group of镖师from Tianma Escort Agency invited you to sing on a pleasure boat to add to the fun, does Miss Xiangyun still remember?"

"I remember," Xiangyun nodded. "Because most of the people who come to me on weekdays are scholars and merchants, martial artists… are relatively rare, so I remember it very clearly."

After a pause, she added, "No offense, I'm not saying that martial artists are uncouth, but compared to them, you are indeed more… direct."

Xiangyun thought for a moment, "I don't remember anyone leaving, but before midnight, because镖师Geng was too drunk, he was carried to the rear cabin. A镖师named Hou was taking care of him, and the rest of us continued to feast in the front cabin until dawn."

"Can you see the rear cabin from the front cabin?" Yan Jun asked.

"Half and half, you can't see where镖师Geng was lying, but you can see the back of镖师Hou sitting. Of course, I didn't stare at it all the time, I just occasionally glanced at it. Anyway,镖师Hou was always there when I looked, and it looked like he was meditating? As for that pair of copper hammers, they were also taken to the stern of the boat."

After Xiangyun finished speaking, she asked, "What else do you want to know?"

"That's all for now," Lu Jing said. "Thank you, Miss Xiangyun, for clarifying our doubts."

"You're welcome, you paid for it," Xiangyun gathered her hair and pointed to the seven-stringed zither beside her. "Are you really not going to listen to music? It's not cheap to ask a few questions for ten taels of silver."

"No need, it's getting late, and I see that Miss Xiangyun is also tired, so I won't bother you any longer," Lu Jing said, and he and Yan Jun had already stood up.

So Xiangyun also put down the zither and sent the two to the door, then bowed gracefully as a farewell.

Walking on the street, Yan Jun said to Lu Jing, "Geng Nantian and the镖师named Hou are both possible murderers. If Geng Nantian did it, then he was pretending to be drunk earlier, and the镖师named Hou is likely his accomplice. This way, he can slip away from the rear cabin calmly, and the镖师named Hou can also ensure that others will not accidentally break in during this period.

"And if the镖师named Hou did it, the risk would be greater. He would need to exchange clothes with the drunken Geng Nantian in a very short time, and then have Geng Nantian sit in his chair instead. Generally speaking, seeing him practicing breathing exercises, others would not bother him, and he could take Geng Nantian's copper hammer to kill someone."

After Yan Jun finished speaking, he saw Lu Jing still frowning and thinking about something, so he asked, "What's wrong? Is there anything missing."

"Oh, no, your analysis is indeed very reasonable, I'm just thinking about a question, why three days later?"

"Hmm?"

"Wang Wan said that Su Zhe disappeared for three days, and he was killed on the third day, why?"