Calamity Messenger-Chapter 81 - 65: The Crime Scene
Inspect the storage tokens?
Lu Wangji’s sudden request sounded very reasonable; after all, Jiang Shi indeed had a storage token, and it was quite large. She could very well have killed someone and hidden the murder weapon in the storage token.
But Shang Xinlei felt something was seriously, even tensely, amiss.
Lu Wangji’s tone, his words, seemed as though he only remembered Jiang Shi had a storage token after seeing the blood-stained tokens everyone brought out.
Conversely, if Shang Xinlei and the others had hidden the blood-stained tokens well, would Lu Wangji have forgotten about this matter?
Impossible.
Even though Shang Xinlei had only known Lu Wangji for two days, she was certain he was undoubtedly a meticulous person. The Left Cavalry Guard was the Royal Forbidden Army, the Emperor’s Personal Guard. Furthermore, Lu Wangji was sent by the Court to oversee the situation in Mansu Forest Land. How could he be so careless?
Yet, he chose this moment to voice suspicion about Jiang Shi’s storage token.
After Jiang Shi handed over her saber, Lu Wangji examined the White Iron Straight Saber without any intention to return it, instead handing it to someone behind him. While this move could be explained as intending to examine everyone’s items before returning them all together, it could also imply he never intended to return it at all—he simply wanted to disarm Jiang Shi!
First the saber, then the storage token.
Shang Xinlei suddenly remembered a book she had read, which recorded the commercial insights of a group of merchants titled "Silver Blood Eight Strategies." One of the strategies was known as Le Yin Cutting Flesh; it narrated the story of a moneylender named Le Yin, whom people gladly approached due to his low interest rates. However, Le Yin demanded his lenders do small chores for him to offset part of the interest—starting with small errands but gradually increasing demands. If the lender refused at this point, Le Yin would threaten that the previous interest offset would be nullified. Most people would persist despite the situation to prevent losing their earlier efforts, neglecting their family affairs in the process, causing either poor harvests or family illnesses, compelling them to borrow more from Le Yin. Eventually, they’d end up selling themselves to Le Yin, who would then cut away their flesh piece by piece.
Lu Wangji’s actions mirrored Le Yin’s strategy. Had he demanded a storage token inspection from the start, suspicions of ill intentions would arise. But by examining the White Iron Straight Saber first to prove Jiang Shi’s ’innocence’, the subsequent inspection of the storage token seemed merely diligent, not targeted.
Innocent people, more often than not, would gradually hand over all their possessions under Lu Wangji’s guidance, losing all means of resistance regardless of their guilt, becoming easy prey.
"If you’re going to inspect storage tokens, have you inspected theirs?" Shang Xinlei pointed to the crowd, "Qunyu Book, your ring is quite beautiful; Elder Chen, your pouch seems too rustic, not quite matching your attire; Elder Zhou, the Hundred Flowers Belt produced by Hundred Herbs Garden is a coveted luxury for Jiangnan noblewomen."
"Lu Xiaoqi, inspect their storage tokens first, then come inspect ours—agreed?"
Jie Yuan Shao also responded, "Yes, if an inspection is to be conducted, it should cover everyone. Else, wouldn’t it be targeting us? But storage tokens are important private matters, akin to one’s home. Without orders or warrants, Lu Xiaoqi, do you dare to forcibly inspect their storage tokens?"
Lu Wangji was slightly taken aback, expressionless, as he said, "Indeed, the direct heirs of the Jie Family and the Shang Family, truly well-taught and insightful."
Just as they thought they had gained an advantage, thwarting Lu Wangji’s intentions, Qunyu Book’s voice lazily echoed, "I’m willing to undergo inspection—after all, I haven’t recently stashed any women’s corsets inside."
"With a murder committed, I am willing to accept investigation," said Chen Linchuan.
"I’ve known Old Lu for years; I’m not afraid of what he might find," Zhou Ye laughed.
They reached a consensus?
Jie Yuan Shao was alarmed; if the seven surname families and the Court were to join forces, there was nothing they could say to resist. But she thought perhaps she was overthinking, as Jie Zilong and Shang Yue would certainly stand with them, not letting Lu Wangji act unscrupulously—
"Jie Zilong, Shang Yue." Lu Wangji asked, "Can you accept inspection?"
Jie Yuan Shao and Shang Xinlei looked at their relatives, hoping to hear a stern rebuke or even suffer some sarcasm. However, they saw only silence from Jie Zilong and coughing from Shang Yue.
They stood there contemplating, calculating, both appearing to resist with silence yet permitting with silence. Though they stood opposite Qunyu Book and the others, viewed from Shang Xinlei’s perspective, these people seemed unified.
Shang Xinlei’s heart suddenly raced, and a thrilling thought entered her mind: was her brother truly here to help her?
More accurately, were her interests and that of the family entirely aligned?
Jie Yuan Shao frowned slightly, stepping forward as though intending to speak with Uncle Lin. But at that moment, Jiang Shi, who had remained silent all along, suddenly spoke:
"I won’t hand over the storage token." She said calmly, "Don’t waste your efforts."
"Jiang Shi..." Qian Gongyu looked at her with concern.
"Lu Xiaoqi, if you regard not inspecting storage tokens as equivalent to being suspect." Jie Yuan Shao opened her palm to show the storage ring on her finger, "You can list me as a suspect too."
"Oh dear, it feels like I’ve been looked down on by the Eldest Miss Jie." Shang Xinlei laughed and said, "I haven’t taken in any tokens, don’t even qualify to be considered a suspect alongside you guys, I can only sit at the table with Xiaoyu."
"All of you are overthinking this. Without solid evidence, I can only report truthfully. How this is judged is up to the Three Ministries." Lu Wangji said plainly, "Since you refuse to cooperate, then we’ll proceed with the final step of inspection—using the Blood Mirror to check for the victim’s blood stains on you."
He then took out the Blood Mirror and directed it towards the four, seemingly as part of routine procedure. Jie Yuan Shao and her companions didn’t take it seriously; while there was plenty of blood on them, it was all demon blood. Everyone had clean clothes before entering Mansu Forest Land, so how could they be stained with the victim’s fresh blood—
Whoa.
Just like a drop of ink falling into water, observers gasped in surprise. Shang Xinlei, Jie Yuan Shao, and Qian Gongyu turned their heads, staring blankly at Jiang Shi.
Under the yellow light of the mirror, Jiang Shi’s clothing revealed a faint blood-colored mist, and as Lu Wangji moved the Blood Mirror, everyone could clearly see that the mist from Jiang Shi’s clothing extended all the way to the corpse on the bed, such obvious evidence made everyone aware that the blood on her clothing came directly from the victim!
"Impossible!" Qian Gongyu shouted loudly.
"There’s definitely something wrong!" Jie Yuan Shao quickly said, "I demand the Three Ministries to investigate this case!"
"If her clothes had blood, why didn’t we see it this morning?" Shang Xinlei’s words came out like rapid-fire arrows, "If she washed her clothes, why didn’t she just get rid of them and change into another set? A murderer has enough time yet doesn’t change clothes, it’s completely unreasonable, someone is framing her!"
"If she didn’t kill, why would her clothes have Luo Weijin’s blood stains?" Lu Wangji asked, "She might have a token to clean the stains on herself, just didn’t think I would use the Blood Mirror to trace it, thus revealing this flaw. Without the Blood Mirror, who would have discovered this evidence?"
"You can raise doubts, but these are beyond my jurisdiction. Jiang Shi is suspected of murdering a noble descendant, means vicious, utterly wicked, now please step aside, this official needs to arrest the main suspect Jiang Shi, and escort her to Jiangdu for trial!"
"No way!" Jie Yuan Shao’s beautiful eyes widened in anger, "You’re framing—Third Uncle!"
Jie Zilong sighed and said, "But Jiang Shi’s clothes indeed have Luo Weijin’s blood, she truly is the prime suspect in this case. Even the Jie Family cannot shield someone suspected of murdering a noble descendant."
"But—"
"Yuanshao, adhering to laws is also a principle of noble descendants." Jie Zilong said seriously, "You may challenge, investigate, and clear Jiang Shi’s name, but must do so under the guidance of legal principles, not directly opposing the Court’s law!"
Jie Yuan Shao bit her lip lightly, exchanged glances with Third Uncle from afar, and ultimately could only lower her head despondently: "Yes."
On the other side, Qian Gongyu grabbed Jiang Shi’s clothes, almost losing her mind, "Impossible, impossible, these are clearly my clothes, how could they have that guy’s blood... Jiang Shi, you just put on these clothes today!"
Shang Xinlei asked, "Could anyone have accessed your wardrobe?"
"Wardrobe? My wardrobe is deep inside the carriage, besides, we don’t use servant attendants, anyone wanting to sneak into our carriage would surely be discovered by Uncle Lin... Uncle Lin?"
Qian Gongyu suddenly froze, scanning around, looking back and forth, over and over—she failed to find that familiar figure among the crowd. Her body trembled slightly, tightly grasping Jiang Shi’s arm, bending her knees directly kneeling on the ground.
"I’m sorry..." she spoke with a tearful voice, pearl-like tears fell onto Jiang Shi’s hand, "I’m sorry, I’m sorry..."
"It’s me... it’s my Qian Family that harmed you... it’s all my fault, if it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have had a grudge with Luo Weijin, much less..."
"Jiang Shi, I, I..."
Jiang Shi raised his hand, rubbed the tiger ear on top of Qian Gongyu’s head. Qian Gongyu couldn’t hold back anymore, burst into tears, her nose formed a large bubble, it paired comically with her tiger face.
Shang Xinlei murmured, "This has become a major problem, if we can’t find the real murderer, Jiang Shi will become the prime suspect, according to the law..."
"Rebellion and slaughter of noble descendants, defying hierarchy, vicious hand, unforgivable crime." Lu Wangji’s emotionless voice echoed from afar: "According to the Twelve Jade Laws, her punishment is execution!"
"If anyone dares to resist arrest and flee, kill, without, mercy!"
As dozens of Divine Machine Crossbows aimed at Jiang Shi, the atmosphere on scene turned tense instantly. The surrounding noble descendants screamed and shouted, seemingly anticipating a bloody drama to unfold; Shang Xinlei and others were either crying or dumbfounded, completely clueless about what to do. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
At that moment, a cough broke this precarious balance.
"What if the Shang Family is willing to vouch for Jiang Shi?"
