My Years in the Jianghu with the Prince: A Time of Unethical Conduct

Chapter 44 A Clumsy Copycat

The person involved in this incident was a courtesan at Baoyue Tower.

When Xie Yan and her group arrived, the officials had already surrounded the entire brothel.

Perhaps because the events that had occurred in Yongcheng during this period were too horrific, there were very few onlookers.

The girl's name was Luo Xiangjun. Although she was a virgin, she was different from those girls who had been sold into servitude.

She came from a poor family and lost both her parents at a young age. Although she was quite talented as she grew up, she could not find stable employment because her elderly parents needed her care.

When the owner of Baoyuelou heard about this, he was moved by her filial piety and made an exception to allow her to sing in his building from time to time, without charging her a single penny.

When the guards at the gate saw them, they explained the origin of the corpse and led them to the woodshed in the backyard.

Several girls, unable to be driven away, stood outside the woodshed, sobbing and weeping. Even before the group entered the woodshed, they could already faintly smell a strong stench of blood emanating from it.

Luo Xiangjun's body was covered with a light gauze. It must have been that the people in the building found her and, not having a white cloth, could only tear off a piece of gauze to cover the body.

Ning Liang stood to the side with his brows furrowed, not relaxing for a second when he saw them arrive.

Xie Yan squatted down to lift the veil to check, but Ning Liang suddenly said to him, "Wait, you should prepare yourself first."

These words instantly sank their hearts, and a sense of foreboding washed over them like a tidal wave.

The blood-stained veil was lifted, and everyone's expressions immediately turned serious.

Miserable.

I've heard that although this girl isn't a courtesan, her beautiful and delicate appearance, along with her unparalleled musical skills, have attracted countless admirers, making her a unique sight in this Baoyue Tower.

But now, that delicate face was covered in knife marks. His eyes had been stabbed multiple times, a truly gruesome sight.

A pair of dark palm prints were deeply imprinted on his neck, almost snapping his slender neck.

Her clothes were torn to shreds, revealing two legs covered in bruises. Anyone could tell at a glance what she had gone through.

"I had the coroner examine the body; the cause of death was asphyxiation and blood loss. Besides stab wounds and signs of beatings, there were also signs of..."

Ning Liang omitted what everyone already knew.

Since returning from the mass grave, Ning Liang had arranged for men to patrol the city in shifts every night. As a result, they even caught several suspicious thieves.

But no one expected that at this critical juncture, the perpetrator would still dare to commit the crime against the odds.

Was he demonstrating to the crowd that he was not afraid at all?

Even a refined scholar like Ning Liang couldn't help but curse, kicking away a piece of wood that was lying to the side as he did so.

The log spun several times in the air before crashing to the ground, scattering debris everywhere.

Chu Ling looked at the piece of wood, his eyes narrowing slightly, and suddenly asked, "Who discovered this body first?"

"Huh?" Ning Liang came back to his senses. "It was found by a cook in the backyard this morning when he came to the woodshed to get some wood."

Chu Ling: "Call him here."

After waiting for a while, a man finally came limping over, dragging one leg.

The cook was of ordinary appearance, with nothing particularly outstanding about him. But his body proportions were somewhat strange. His upper body was normal, but his legs were of different lengths, making him look extremely disproportionate.

The longer leg is relatively normal and can support his body for walking. However, the shorter leg is clearly underdeveloped; it is not only shorter than the other leg but also appears thin and weak. This causes him to walk with a limp and with great difficulty.

Perhaps because of his disability, he seemed shrouded in a thick gloom, appearing extremely self-conscious and timid.

When communicating with others, this person never dared to raise their head, their gaze shifting and uncertain, as if afraid of making eye contact with the other person.

However, when the head, buried deep in the chest, occasionally lifts up to steal a glance at the other person, a hint of undisguised jealousy and resentment will inadvertently emerge from the depths of the eyes.

When did you discover the body?

“Mao, one quarter past Mao hour”.

Is the door to the woodshed locked?

"Here, the woodsheds and wood storage rooms are not locked."

"..."

The cook seemed to have little experience communicating with others; he spoke haltingly and sometimes gave incoherent answers.

"Your Highness, is there something you suspect?"

After the cook left, Ning Liang glanced at Chu Ling's expression and asked with a puzzled look.

"Indeed, there is." Chu Ling lowered his eyes slightly, making it impossible to see the expression in his eyes, but one could inexplicably feel the compassionate aura emanating from him.

Looking at the mangled body, he made a startling statement: "I suspect that the killer in this case is not the same person as the killer in the previous case."

Ning Liang was shocked: "What?!"

He pressed on urgently, "May I ask what Your Highness means by this?"

Chu Ling looked at Xie Yan with a gentle gaze, "You should have figured it out by now, right?"

Ning Liang quickly looked at the latter. Sure enough, he saw Xie Yan nod and say, "The victims in this case are very different from the previous ones."

After being reminded, Ning Liang suddenly realized something was wrong. He looked at Luo Xiangjun's body again and suddenly realized, "I know! It's ligature marks! She was strangled to death, but the previous marks were from being strangled with a rope!"

Xie Yan nodded slightly in agreement and added, "It's not just about the way you die, there are many other places too."

"The dozen or so corpses in the mass grave were all dressed up in finery. Even those with grotesque faces were covered with makeup. The murderer seemed to be very careful not to damage the integrity of the bodies."

"I don't think someone like that would choose to vent their anger and change their methods of killing just because their crimes have been exposed."

This is just like those assassins. Every assassin has their own preferred methods, such as poisoning, torture, slitting throats...

However, Xie Yan had some regrets about not having developed his preferred methods. This was because every time he severely injured someone, they would die of anger and vomiting blood before he could even exchange a few words with them, leaving him no room to develop his techniques.

Therefore, from the first glance, Xie Yan knew that this was definitely not the same criminal.

The perpetrator even attempted to deceive the public through clumsy imitation.

Xie Yan covered herself with a light veil, stood up, and scoffed, "A little clever, but not much."

"Moreover, this should not be the primary crime scene."

"Ok?"

"Because there was too little blood."

According to insiders, this young woman, Luo, doesn't live in the building; she only comes to Baoyue Tower to sing occasionally. She spends most of her time at home taking care of her elderly grandmother.

If the woodshed wasn't where she was murdered, then it's highly likely it happened in her home.