Chapter 122

Indeed, while the citizens were behind the times, they were not stupid. They had noticed that something big had occurred recently in the small town. Acting on the orders of Buddha’s Hand, the organisation’s members had already started packing up in order to evacuate the town.

Bo Jinyan had been right, when Buddha’s Hand seized control of this little town, they had isolated it, further hindering any contact the locals had with the outside world. If Buddha’s Hand continued to occupy the town, the residents would always be left behind, impoverished, and closed off from the world.

Buddha’s Hand would have to be pulled up by the roots, and eradicated.

At this time, someone walked from the street corner to the small building where Buddha’s Hand lived. White clothes, a familiar, skinny figure, holding a large medicine bag.

“It’s the doctor,” said Zhao Kun. “He said he was coming back tonight. He must be going to tend to Boss and Qin Sheng’s injuries.”

Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao were briefly silent before Bo Jinyan said, “Catch up with him!”

With the passing of time, Jian Yao’s heart had calmed down. The shock that she had experienced on first seeing that ‘J’ had been superseded by cool-headed analysis.

Luo Lang was the butterfly killer; there was no need to doubt this. The ‘J’ at the scene of Feng Yuexi’s murder had been left by him.

Moreover, with his temperament, he would never associate with the masked killer.

Therefore, there was only one answer —

Handwriting could be imitated, to say nothing of the words written in blood on the wall, since they were unable to distinguish between true and false at this time. That had to be the work of the second masked killer, in order to distract them and disrupt their state of mind.

Thus, it was just as Bo Jinyan said: this was a puzzle which looked very complicated, but was actually simple.

However, when the three of them walked into the inn, Jian Yao could not help the chill that permeated her heart, because she knew that they were drawing even closer to the masked killer. Perhaps they were only one step away from the final conclusion.

When they had knocked on and opened the door of Song Kun’s study, the first thing that greeted them was the faint odour of medicine, mixed with the fragrance of tea. It was pitch black outside the window, but the room was blazing with light. Song Kun was half lying on a taishi chair*. His shirt had been loosened to bare his shoulder. Wen Rong, in a white doctor’s coat that was not too clean, was standing at his side, head bent as he carefully tended to his wound. Qin Sheng was sitting on one side, waiting his turn.

*T/N You can read more about the taishi chair here.

Gongfu tea* was brewing on the table. Song Kun was partial towards freshly drawn well water; every day, after the water had been delivered, the first thing he would do was to brew a pot of tea. Presently, Qin Sheng was drinking a cup of tea while refilling the empty cup in front of Song Kun. He looked up to see them and asked in surprise, “What are you doing here? Has something happened?”

*功夫茶 (gong fu cha) – a very concentrated type of tea drunk in Chaozhou, Fujian and Taiwan. Gong fu, sometimes translated as kung fu (think ‘Kung Fu Panda’), refers to martial arts. Find out more about gong fu cha here.

Song Kun and Wen Rong looked at them. Song Kun’s expression was reserved, while Wen Rong smiled, and nodded genially towards them.

Bo Jinyan, Jian Yao and Zhao Kun sat down calmly. Zhao Kun took a cup of tea and sipped it. Bo Jinyan rested his hands on his knees and said, smilingly, “We’ve gathered some clues from the scene of the crime and are here to report to Boss.”

At this, Song Kun’s expression eased somewhat. He waved his hand to indicate that Wen Rong should stop his ministrations for the moment, and said, “Proceed.” Qin Sheng got up and poured Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao a cup of tea each.

Bo Jinyan said, in an unhurried manner, “The door lock was not tampered with, and there were no signs of forced entry through the windows. The killer was someone Zhao Jian knew, that is to say, it was someone in our organisation . . .”

One at a time and using simpler terms, he reported the discoveries the three of them had made earlier at the scene of the crime. In the meantime, Jian Yao lifted her eyes and unabashedly scrutinised Wen Rong. He had spent a day and a night in the mountains, and his white coat was dirty, with quite a few clay stains, even on his lower back. Inside, he wore a woollen vest and trousers. What could be seen of his trouser legs was spotlessly clean, but there was a little mud on his trousers near his sports shoes. The sleeves of his coat were water-stained, and there were even greyish-green marks. Jian Yao’s brain was humming away; she could vaguely sense that there was something highly important about this, but she just could not grasp what it was. She raised the cup of tea before her and was just about to drink from it when Wen Rong, across from her, looked up at her with a smile out of the blue. That smile seemed incredibly calm and gentle, yet, inexplicably, it caused her heart to feel numb . . .

“Wife . . .” Bo Jinyan abruptly pulled on her hand and said, “What else did you discover just now? Tell the boss, quickly!”

Jian Yao had not expected him to ask this of her so suddenly. She quickly came back to herself, put down the cup and looked off into space for a while. As she saw the men looking at her, her gears in her brain started to turn more quickly. Then, she said, slowly, “Boss, I don’t think whether the killer is a police officer or not is important. What is important is that Gu An’s death is extremely important to him. Privately, their relationship is very close. Gu An, with his uninhibited and licentious ways, could have been like a younger brother to him. Thus, he reacted to the news of Gu An’s death by killing someone in such a crazed manner. A police officer would not have done this. If he knew that we had actually worked and planned together to deceive Gu An and colluded in his death, he might be even more enraged.”

She looked intently at Wen Rong as she said all this.

Wen Rong’s gaze was as tranquil as water.

“Hmm.” Song Kun nodded and said, “That’s reasonable.” He looked at Bo Jinyan and said, “Not bad. You all continue investigating. When you’ve figured out who it is, I want to skin Gu An’s accomplice alive then toss him into the river for the fish.”

Zhao Kun raised his cup of tea and was about to drink from it when Bo Jinyan called, “Zhao Kun.” Zhao Kun startled and lowered the cup. Bo Jinyan smiled faintly and said, “It was all thanks to Zhao Kun that we made those discoveries today.” Zhao Kun eyed Song Kun, who nodded. Zhao Kun smiled briefly before saying, “You’re welcome.” He glanced at his cup of tea, then subconsciously turned to Song Kun again.

Jian Yao looked up. The kettle was whistling, which meant that Song Kun was already on his second pot of tea, at least. Bo Jinyan sat in silence.

Song Kun was not a simple person. In the twinkling of an eye, he was able to discern what someone was thinking from their body language.

His line of sight gradually shifted until it rested upon the pot of tea. Silence.

Qin Sheng, who was sitting next to him, also put down his cup.

Everyone was silent. The tension in the atmosphere was like a bow string, stretched taut. Even the sound of their breathing was clearly audible. However, right then, someone abruptly laughed out loud.

It was Wen Rong!

In a flash, four people had drawn their guns. Their movements were quick and light, like the flapping of a bird’s wing.

Zhao Kun and Jian Yao aimed their guns at Wen Rong, while Qin Sheng stood at Wen Rong’s side with his gun pointing directly at Wen Rong’s forehead.

The gun in Wen Rong’s hand was aimed at Song Kun’s temple.

“Shh . . .” Wen Rong said softly, “Listen to me. Everything has just begun.”

Song Kun, who had spent half his lifetime rebuking people, was excellent at it. In such a tense situation, he was not a slightest bit fazed. After a brief moment of silence, he still lifted the cup of tea in front of him and took another sip before smilingly asking Wen Rong, “What did you put in the tea? Did you kill Zhao Jian?”

Although he was smiling and his deliberate tone of voice bore no trace of anger, his aura was imposing.

However, Wen Rong was not at all cowed. He laughingly said, “Don’t worry, boss, it’s not a lethal poison, it’s just to enable me to do as I please. I killed him. As for why I’m doing all this, why not ask . . . the three police officers across from you?”