The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Sun Shaozong stroked the slightly rounded dent, and his heart was also filled with doubts.

According to the autopsy report, the penetrating wound in the chest of Jie Ming was indeed caused by repeated chiseling, which basically confirmed the inference of Private Advisor Qi, ”one hand holding an iron chisel, one hand holding a hammer.”

Why didn't Jie Ming resist?

Or…

When the murderer attacked, Monk Jie Ming was still unconscious. Although he woke up due to severe pain, he was no longer able to turn around and only had time to desperately grab the iron chisel in his chest?

How was he transported out of Fayuan Temple while he was in a coma?

Sun Shaozong was pondering here, but the two knowledgeable monks who greeted him couldn't bear it anymore. They bowed together and said, "Amitabha, did you Lords come over with new clues?”

“Is this also something you can ask?”

Qiu Yunfei twisted their eyes and scolded, "Go ahead and quickly summon the two of them, Jie Chen and Jie Xiu, to the main hall.”

Sun Shaozong stood up and patted the dust off his hand, then interrupted, "I am going to visit the meditation room of Jie Zhi and Jie Ming first.”

The two little monks looked at each other, and one of them immediately turned around and entered the temple.

The remaining one said calmly, "Then all of you, follow me.”

It was said that big stores bully customers and this temple's reputation was no exception. Even the little monk who watches the door has a good temper. After being shouted at by Qiu Yunfei, they refused to call him “Lord.”

However, after more than half a month of investigation, none of the hairs were found. Instead, two more monks died. No wonder the people of Fayuan Temple were dissatisfied with the Central Judicial Office.

Therefore, Sun Shaozong used his gaze to stop Qiu Yunfei's impulse to get angry and led everyone silently into the Fayuan Temple.

As the first treasure temple in the Capital, Fayuan Temple naturally covered a considerable area. After entering the gate, they head west and pass through the main hall, side hall, bamboo forest, rockery, pond, and small bridge. The little monk then pointed to the front rows of houses and said, "Uncle Jie Zhi lives in the second row, and Uncle Jie Ming lives in the third row. I wonder which one you want to see first?”

Upon hearing this, Sun Shaozong turned around and looked at the main hall hidden in the bamboo forest. He measured it slightly in his heart and found that there was at least one mile away from the meditation room to the main gate, and there was also a Taoist wall in the middle to block it.

“Was there any other entrance or exit in this meditation room besides the courtyard gate just now?”

“Of course not!”

The little monk who led the way shook his head decisively and said, "Not to mention there are no other entrances or exits. At midnight, even the only courtyard door needs to be locked.”

Tch!

According to the autopsy report, Jie Ming died between the third and fourth shifts, and it was highly likely that since the lock would be locked on the second shift at midnight, it would be even more difficult to get Jie Ming out and kill him without being unaware of it.

It seemed that only with the key in hand could it be possible.

Shaking his head and temporarily suppressing this preconceived judgment, Sun Shaozong signaled the third-row courtyard with his chin and said, "Let's go take a look at Jie Ming’s house first.”

It was said that all living beings were equal, but the treatment of monks in the temple naturally varied depending on their status.

For example, this young monk of the Xuan generation who led the way usually slept in large bunks for sixteen people. As for the monks of the Jie generation, they were assigned according to their different positions, and only the first disciples, such as Jie Chen and Jie Nian, were qualified to have their meditation room in a four or two-person room.

The four monks who followed Jie Chen to the arrest house on that day all had positions in the temple and naturally lived in a double room.

When he came to Jie Ming's meditation room, he saw that the doors and windows were all sealed with the seals of the Central Judicial Office. Zhao Wuwei led several government officials to come forward and carefully examining it, confirming that it had not been demolished before using a waist knife to break the door seal.

Sun Shaozong reached out and pushed, only to find the interior empty, with almost no other furniture except tables, chairs, beds, and a half-person-high cabinet.

He still carefully scanned several times before stepping in.

Private Advisor Qi followed closely behind and pointed to the two beds, saying, "The one on the left is Jie Ming's bed, and the one on the right is Jie Xiu's.”

“Jie Xiu’s?”

Sun Shaozong frowned and said in a deep voice, "So, Jie Xiu also lives here? Why didn't you mention this in the case file?”

Private Advisor Qi was a bit awkward when questioned by him, but he explained truthfully, "After all, there is a conclusive alibi for Jie Xiu. Moreover, after Jie Ming's death, he temporarily moved to the guest room of Dongkuan Courtyard and did not sleep in this meditation room, so...”

Sun Shaozong nodded, barely acknowledging his explanation, but turned his face and asked about the relationship between Jie Ming and Jie Xiu.

“These two people are said to be childhood friends before becoming monks and almost simultaneously shaving and becoming monks at Faming Temple, so their relationship is excellent. Otherwise, they would not have lived in the same meditation room.”

“However, after Jie Zhi's death, he was identified as the first suspect because only Jie Ming did not have an alibi. Jie Xiu had some doubts and fears about him, so he moved to the East Courtyard for temporary residence.”

While listening to Private Advisor Qi's explanation, Sun Shaozong searched around and didn't find anything. There was only a stack of manually transcribed scriptures on the desk, which looked about twenty pages long.

The handwriting on the top ten pages was messy, but when he turned to the back, the handwriting gradually became neat again.

At the end of the scripture, there were also the words ”Jie Ming of Fayuan Temple, transcribed on July 14th, the eleventh year of Guangde,” which was also the day before Jie Ming was killed.

Private Advisor Qi saw Sun Shaozong flipping through the scriptures and said, "This must be the scripture that Monk Jie Ming copied to seek peace of mind. Therefore, the initial copying was chaotic and disorganized, but later he gradually settled down and wrote it neatly.”

Sun Shaozong was noncommittal to his inference, but he took the stack of scriptures to the door and placed them outside in the sunlight to repeatedly examine them.

“Your Excellency.”

Qiu Yunfei curiously approached and followed suit, but couldn't see anything. He couldn't help but wonder, "You've been looking so carefully; what's so rare?”

“Rare but not rare.”

Sun Shaozong said calmly, "These scriptures were not written on the same day but were divided into several days to complete. In addition, he did not become more calm as he wrote but became more restless as he wrote. The reason why his handwriting became neat afterward was not related to the scriptures themselves.”

Upon hearing this, Private Advisor Qi quickly gathered up and asked Sun Shaozong for the scripture. He followed his example and carefully screened it line by line, word by word.

Not long after, he let out an ”oops” and said regretfully, “It was indeed not written on the same day! I was really careless. I even flipped through it twice. Seeing that it was just an ordinary scripture, I didn't think much. Who could have thought that... “

On the side, Qiu Yunfei still couldn't figure out what was going on. He wondered, "How do you know that this scripture wasn't written in a day? Besides, even if you know it wasn't written in a day, what's the use of it?”

“Please take a look inside.”

Private Advisor Qi naturally didn’t dare to neglect him and quickly pointed to the scripture to explain. "Although there may not be much difference at first glance if you look closely in the sunlight, you can still vaguely distinguish some differences in the ink color between the words. These color differences should be caused by re-studying ink writing after a considerable period of separation.”

“And in these areas of color difference, the neatness of the upper and lower text is also greater than in other areas, and it is obvious that the text above the color difference is more chaotic, indicating that he is indeed getting more and more upset as he writes, so he has not been able to copy this scripture several times in a row.”

“As for knowing the usefulness of these...”

“Since it was not the function of copying scriptures, then Monk Jie Ming must have encountered something that suppressed his anxiety.”

“As long as we can figure out what exactly caused his emotional changes next, we may find clues to solve the case by following the example.”

As he spoke, he arched his hand in both shame and admiration, saying, "Your esteemed ability is truly making me embarrassed.”