Mystery at Lanting Chapter 8

It was late at night, and a bright moon hung high in the sky. The cold moonlight sprinkled on the sparkling glazed tiles of the imperial palace and spread out like a white mist.

Outside Zhang Zongchang's palace, the bodies of servants and palace maids remained in their original positions, but their blood had dried and solidified on the fine marble floor. Jonathan Di and Gabriel Zeng were squatting beside the bodies of the servants, examining them carefully.

"Gabriel Zeng, look here. This servant is sitting down with his back to the pillar of the corridor, but the plate in his hand is not broken. What does this mean?" Jonathan Di said to Gabriel Zeng who was recording.

"The servant was killed when he had his back to the pillar, and the plate happened to fall to the ground but did not break?" Gabriel Zeng said.

"No, that shouldn't be possible." Jonathan Di carefully observed the dishes on the plate and asked Gabriel Zeng with a smile: "Do you know what this dish is?"

"Teacher, you are still thinking about food at this time!" Gabriel Zeng complained slightly: "There is a murder case in the palace, and the emperor is furious. Let's quickly check the more important evidence!"

"Gabriel Zeng, you have to remember: everything at the crime scene is important evidence, and it contains a lot of information about the truth. No matter how small or insignificant it may seem, we must carefully analyze what is behind it."

Jonathan Di picked up the plate while speaking. The blood in it had evenly coagulated on the dish, like a layer of sauce. "This is the flying dragon that Goguryeo presented to the emperor last month. The meat on this plate is the flying dragon meat."

"Flying dragon? Are there really dragons in this world?" Gabriel Zeng looked at Di Gong in surprise and asked.

"Of course not. A flying dragon is a bird with two pieces of delicious meat on its breast. It is also very difficult to catch, so it is called a flying dragon."

Jonathan Di said: "These should be the two flying dragons given by the emperor to Lucas Zhang. Look, there are four pieces of flying dragon meat on this plate. How could Lucas Zhang eat all of this rare delicacy at once?"

"You mean Lucas Zhang is hosting a dinner party tonight?" Gabriel Zeng said.

"That should be the case!" Jonathan Di said affirmatively. Gabriel Zeng waved and called a servant who served Lucas Zhang, and asked: "Is your master inviting anyone to a banquet tonight?"

The servant said, "Yes, Master Zhang invited Oliver Hu and Hu Gonggong to come to the mansion tonight to taste the flying dragon meat."

After hearing this, Jonathan Di smiled with satisfaction, waved his hand to let the servant leave, and then continued to say to Gabriel Zeng: "Look at the flying dragon meat on this plate, it is arranged very neatly. If the plate falls from a high place, even if the plate does not break, the dishes on the plate cannot remain in their original positions. What do you think?"

"That's right. If it fell from such a high place, even if the plate didn't break, the dishes would have been scattered all over the floor. They certainly wouldn't have been arranged so neatly." Gabriel Zeng said.

"Look at the position where the servant was sitting backwards, with his back against the pillar." Jonathan Di continued, "Think about it, what was this servant doing before he died?"

"Of course it's the fairy master who serves him who treats us!" Gabriel Zeng said contemptuously.

"Haha, that's right!" Jonathan Di pointed at the dead servant and said, "If he was delivering food, he should have been carrying the dish and walking straight forward. How could he have fallen with his back to the pillar?"

Then Judge Dee turned around and looked at the wall opposite the pillar. There were spots of blood on it. Judge Dee pointed at them and said, "These bloodstains confirm my thoughts."

"Teacher, what do you think?" Gabriel Zeng asked hurriedly.

"When the servant was delivering the dishes, he was attacked from the front. Blood splattered on the front of the deceased, most of it on the murderer, but a small amount of blood still splattered on the wall next to him. Then the deceased's plate was about to fall to the ground. In order to prevent Lucas Zhang and Oliver Hu in the room from being alarmed, the murderer caught the plate with one hand and supported the deceased with the other hand to slowly sit down against the pillar. But at this time, the palace maid who was delivering the wine also came from behind."

At this point, Jonathan Di turned around and came to the dead body of the palace maid: "In fact, she didn't have to die. She just accidentally ran into the murderer and was killed by the murderer in panic before she could even scream!"

"But master, how do you know that the murderer did not intend to kill the palace maid?" Gabriel Zeng asked.
 
"Look at the body of the maid, she was lying very casually, the blood was scattered, and the broken wine glass and wine pot showed that the murderer did not expect the maid to be behind him, but was caught committing the crime, so he jumped up from the servant's body and killed the maid, and then fled!"

"What a powerful murderer!" Gabriel Zeng sighed: "After instantly killing the servant who was delivering the food, he killed the palace maid behind him without waiting for her to scream, and then fled. I wonder how Nathan Li compares to him?"

"I wonder how he got into the palace, or maybe the murderer was already in the palace!" Di Gong said as he thought, "Another thing, where did the servant's left arm go? He killed two people in such a short time and took away the dead man's arm. The time is obviously not enough. If I'm not mistaken, Lucas Zhang may have even seen the murderer's back!"

"Then let's go directly to Lucas Zhang!" Gabriel Zeng said hurriedly.

Di Gong frowned and shook his head: "I need to consult His Majesty first about this matter."

"What? We are investigating the murder case in the palace under the order of His Majesty. Do we need the emperor's approval to interrogate a little male favorite like him?" Gabriel Zeng said angrily.

"Gabriel Zeng, being an official does not require one to be always honest and upright. Sometimes one still has to judge the situation!" Di Gong said with a sigh.

Gabriel Zeng's eyes widened. In his mind, such words could never come out of his mentor's mouth. Everyone knew that Di Gong had always been famous in the court for his honesty, courage to remonstrate, loyalty and uprightness. Why did he say such words today!

Di Gong gently patted Gabriel Zeng's shoulder, but did not explain: "Come on, follow me to the Prince's Palace."

Gabriel Zeng nodded silently and walked towards the Prince's Palace with Di Gong.

Outside the Prince's Palace, the bodies of the eunuchs and palace maids had been carried away, leaving only two marks drawn with lime, lying quietly at the murder scene covered with dried blood.

Di Gong squatted down gently and checked the direction where the eunuch fell. He fell against the wall, and the palace maid fell in front of the eunuch, facing the sky. The bloodstains neatly highlighted the outline of the corpse and spread under the corridor.

"The murderer had made sufficient preparations when he committed the crime. He knew that there was someone behind the palace maid, so he appeared very calm this time. The blood did not splatter on the walls on both sides of the corridor, but was slowly supported by the murderer as she fell down. Therefore, the murderer's hands and body must have been covered with the victim's blood at that time." Di Gong analyzed.

"Then how did this bloody murderer evade the search of the imperial guards, disappear in the palace, and then run to Lucas Zhang a day later to continue killing people?" Gabriel Zeng asked.

"We need to investigate this further!" Di Gong turned to Gabriel Zeng and said, "Let's go and see the body."

Gabriel Zeng waved his hand, and an officer of the Imperial Guards led Di Gong and Gabriel Zeng to a utility room in the Prince's Palace. Di Gong carefully looked at the two bodies, and all the details were exactly as he had imagined. When he bent down to check the eunuch's hands, he was suddenly stunned. The eunuch's right hand was missing. He called the officer on duty that night and asked, "Did you find the eunuch's right hand when you cleaned up the scene that night?"

The officer thought for a moment and said, "That night when we were patrolling outside the Prince's Palace, we found the eunuch and the palace maid lying on the ground. The eunuch's right hand was missing. We searched the nearby bushes and even the entire Prince's Palace, but we did not find this right hand or any trace of the murderer."

At this time, the palace chief steward Oliver Hu came outside the door and said to Di Gong: "Master Di, the emperor asked me to ask you if there has been any progress in the investigation?"

"We haven't found much yet..." Judge Dee frowned and continued, "We only know that the murderer is a skilled martial artist, his killing method is clean and neat, and..."

At this point, Di Gong motioned Oliver Hu to come closer. Oliver Hu waved to the officer who had just been called in for questioning. The officer tactfully saluted them and then quickly left.

"The murderer is most likely hiding in the palace." Jonathan Di said solemnly.

Looking at Oliver Hu's horrified expression, Gabriel Zeng continued to explain: "Or in other words: the murderer may have another public identity in the palace."

"You two gentlemen mean that the murderer is someone from the palace!" Oliver Hu was shocked.

"I mean it's very likely. We visited two murder scenes, and the victims left a lot of blood. It's impossible for the murderer not to have blood on his hands and body. In this case, he had to hide in the palace and avoid searches by the imperial guards and even the inner guards. The murderer must have a safe place to stay in the palace, or even an insider." Jonathan Di said.

"This is terrible!" Oliver Hu also felt a chill down his spine. Bloody incidents were happening in the safest palace. Even a fool would know that the murderer would not stop after killing just a few servants. Who was the murderer targeting?

The prince? The emperor? He didn't dare to think any further, and bowed to Jonathan Di and said, "I'm going to tell the emperor right away, and ask her to be careful!"

"Wait a minute..." Judge Dee stopped him, "There is one more thing, Eunuch Hu, come and see." Judge Dee pointed to the dead eunuch's right hand and said, "His right arm is missing. The male servants executed by Lucas Zhang had their left arms missing. This may be a hint."

When Oliver Hu saw this, he suddenly felt like he was burned by a branding iron. He cried out "Ah!" and sat on the ground. Gabriel Zeng quickly helped him up and asked with concern, "Manager Hu, what's wrong with you?"

Oliver Hu's face was pale, and the sweat on his forehead flowed down his wrinkled cheeks like a stream.

After realizing that he had lost his composure, he wiped the sweat off his face and said, "The murderer is too cruel. I am scared! I will report to the emperor now. Please catch the murderer as soon as possible! Let the palace be peaceful again!"