Chapter 118: The Master Has His Own Methods

Chapter 118: The Master Has His Own Methods

Some problems couldn’t be figured out by thinking normally, but they might become clear when you ignored common sense and thought in the opposite way.

This situation seemed to be just like that.

Li Zian said excitedly, “Officer Liu, then you should go investigate. Let’s back out and go around to the front door of that house. It shouldn’t be far.”

But Liu Jun shook his head.

Li Zian was surprised. “What do you mean by shaking your head? Do you want to climb over here?”

“No, we’re leaving,” Liu Jun said, then turned and walked away.

Why was he leaving just like that?

Li Zian felt frustrated. He looked at the wall, unwilling to give up, but Liu Jun was walking farther away, so he had to catch up.

“Officer Liu, you’re the one who found the suspicious point, and now you’re just leaving like this. What do you mean?” He really couldn’t figure out what Liu Jun was up to.

Liu Jun glanced back at the wall at the end of the alley, apparently feeling they were far enough away, then spoke. “If that White-clad Woman deliberately lured you here, she might be trying to tell you something related to the woman in that house. If we go directly to the door, we’ll alert them.”

Li Zian thought for a moment, immediately understood, and smiled. “I hadn’t thought of that. I was too eager to figure things out. I’m not as professional as you. So, what should we do next?”

He wanted to perform a divination for Liu Jun, but he swallowed the words.

Even without that, Liu Jun already suspected he was drunk. If he suggested performing a divination for Liu Jun, Liu Jun would probably treat him as a drunkard or a lunatic.

“Not we. You go back,” Liu Jun said.

Li Zian was slightly stunned. “You want me to go back? What do you mean?”

Liu Jun said, “I mean you should go home.”

Li Zian: “…”

“I’ve understood the situation. Thank you for your cooperation. How we investigate next is the police’s business. You shouldn’t get involved,” Liu Jun said.

“Aren’t you kicking me away after crossing the river?” Li Zian said unhappily.

“Mr. Li, are you a police officer?” Liu Jun retorted.

“Of course I’m not a police officer.”

“Exactly. This is a murder case. The related investigation and catching the killer are the police’s job. You’re a civilian. Why are you meddling?” Liu Jun stared straight at Li Zian, his gaze sharp. “Or, are you hiding something from me? Do you have a motive to get involved?”

Li Zian raised his hand. “Alright, alright, stop talking. You just want me to leave, right? I’ll go. Why talk about motives? You should go write a script.”

A faint smile hid at the corner of Liu Jun’s mouth. “That’s right. Go back. If you find anything else, remember to contact me promptly.”

Li Zian said grumpily, “You’re really thick-skinned. Are all you criminal investigation guys like this?”

Liu Jun said lightly, “Knowing but not reporting, sheltering the killer—that’s also illegal.”

Li Zian: “…”

There was no point in talking anymore.

After leaving the alley, Liu Jun made a phone call. Li Zian deliberately slowed down to listen, but he heard nothing and instead got several fierce glares from Liu Jun. He didn’t want to be thick-skinned either, so he crossed the street himself, climbed onto the River Embankment, and headed back.

Before he had gone far, Li Zian saw the two officers arriving to join Liu Jun. Liu Jun’s call was probably to one of them. How the three police officers would investigate next was unknown.

“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have called that guy. He just pushes me aside as soon as we find a clue. No loyalty.” Li Zian was unhappy but couldn’t do anything about Liu Jun.

After all, he was a police officer. It was only right for the police to investigate cases and catch killers. What loyalty did they owe a civilian? If you talked about loyalty with him, he’d talk about the law. What could you say?

After walking along the River Embankment for a while, Li Zian stopped. He thought to himself, “I’m not a police officer. I can’t investigate cases, but I have my own methods!”

Thinking this, he used his left hand as a brush and his right hand as paper, closed his eyes, and randomly drew with his left-hand fingers on his right palm.

The Great Sluggish Cauldron awakened, with faint green smoke rising.

From the chaotic “tangle of lines,” a picture emerged. It depicted a man with a bun and a full beard, thick eyebrows, big eyes, a large nose, and a big mouth—a total ugly guy.

This Divination Symbol was quite peculiar.

The Hexagram Interpretation appeared: Do not mistake Li Gui for Li Kui. The one you should chase, you must not chase. A boneless grave sprouts new shoots. A lover named Hong shows the way.

Li Zian began interpreting the hexagram.

“Do not mistake Li Gui for Li Kui” meant that the White-clad Woman was not the killer. Li Gui didn’t have Li Kui’s skills but impersonated Li Kui to rob people. In other words, if that White-clad Woman were the real killer, such a Hexagram Interpretation wouldn’t appear.

“The one you should chase, you must not chase” was a reminder that he should not chase that White-clad Woman. This line brought him some confusion. If he couldn’t chase her, how could he investigate the Great Sluggish Cauldron’s secret?

“A boneless grave sprouts new shoots.” Graves should have bones. If there were no bones, it meant the person wasn’t dead.

“A lover named Hong shows the way.” This line was the easiest to interpret. As long as he followed the woman surnamed Hong, he could find Li Gui.

Interpreting these four lines of Hexagram Interpretation combined with what he sought in his heart made it even clearer.

That White-clad Woman was not the killer. She deliberately lured him to that woman’s house. Barring any accidents, that woman should be surnamed Hong. Her lover was the killer who murdered Director Ma, and she knew where the killer lived.

Although the Hexagram Interpretation didn’t mention who the killer was, the line “a boneless grave sprouts new shoots” gave a hint. Both Kang Haichuan and Ma Fuquan had said Huang Bo was missing and suspected Huang Bo was dead. Ma Fuquan’s last call said he had discovered something, then he was mysteriously killed. Liu Jun had also made a professional judgment at Ma Fuquan’s house, saying the killer was likely an acquaintance. Yet, Li Zian had steered Liu Jun’s attention toward the White-clad Woman. With all this, the truth was likely that Huang Bo, who had “come back to life,” killed Ma Fuquan!

Of course, nothing was absolute. Based on the Divination Symbol and Hexagram Interpretation, it was probably Huang Bo, but there was still a small chance it was someone else.

Whoever the killer was, he could find out by following the woman surnamed Hong.

Li Zian looked back. Liu Jun and the two officers were walking along a sidewalk next to the alley. Liu Jun was on the phone while walking. Although he didn’t know who Liu Jun was calling or what was said, he could roughly guess Liu Jun was using police resources to investigate that woman’s information.

Who that woman was could be found by checking the household registration information based on the address. For the police, this was no trouble at all.

Li Zian had an idea and quickly ran back. He entered the residential area and went upstairs. Near his door, he paused and glanced at the neighbor’s door.

The Mu family’s door was tightly shut, not “left open.”

His door, however, was left open, the gap between the door and frame still obvious.

“Did she really sneak into my room?” Li Zian thought. He gently pushed the door open and went in.

The Living Room light was off, and no one was there.

He had left in such a hurry he didn’t close the door, but now it was closed.

He was stunned for a moment.

Tang Qing wouldn’t come in the middle of the night to close his door, and Yu Meilin was even less likely. She was drunk and should be sound asleep in her bed. Besides Tang Qing and Yu Meilin, only Mu Chuntao was left.

“She really has daring lust. She actually sneaked over.” Li Zian felt excited. He quietly walked to the door, reached out, and turned the doorknob to open it.

The door slowly opened.

Li Zian felt both excited and nervous. He imagined that hot body rushing toward him the moment the door opened, but he was also afraid of making noise that Tang Qing or Yu Meilin might hear. And the Old Matriarch—older people have light sleep; any sound might wake her. If Mu Chuntao was in his room with him doing things, and the sound was heard, caught in the act, it would be a huge mess.

However, the room was empty.

Mu Chuntao was not in his room.

He knew her scent, but no trace of it remained in the room.

A breeze blew in from the window, making the curtains sway.

Li Zian smiled wryly. He found the real culprit who closed the door: the wind.

Actually, he had still wanted her to come. When he realized the wind had closed the door, he felt like something was missing, empty.

But now was not the time to think about such things.

Li Zian quickly walked to the bedside table, opened the drawer, took two sticks of sandalwood incense from a pack, grabbed the lighter for lighting the incense, and went out again.

His urgent reason for running back was to get the sandalwood incense.

Liu Jun and the two officers were taking a detour to investigate that woman’s house. They would surely talk, and he couldn’t hear them from the wall in the alley, nor could he risk climbing into the courtyard—the chance of being discovered was too high. With the sandalwood incense, taking a few puffs would put him into the Great Sluggish Cauldron’s “Incense Burning State.” Then, without needing to climb into the woman’s house, he could hear the sounds. At that time, he could not only know Liu Jun’s purpose but also get that woman’s information.

Leaving the residential area, he went onto the River Embankment, running at a sprinting speed.

He had to reach that alley before Liu Jun and the two officers found the woman’s door and took action.

Just as he was dashing along the River Embankment, the neighbor’s door opened. A woman peeked out, looked around, then sneakily slipped out.

Mu Chuntao had come out.

If Li Zian had stayed in his room a few minutes longer, Mu Chuntao would have met him.

At that time, it would likely have been a broken bridge meeting like Mu Suzhen and Li Xian, but he had run off.

Mu Chuntao quietly came to his door, pushed it, but it didn’t move. Her mouth instantly pouted. “Coward. Said you’d leave the door open for me. I even washed the Taozi for you, and now you won’t get to eat it!”

She held a peach in her hand, still wet.

She really had washed a peach for Li Zian, but he obviously missed out.

The alley was pitch black.

Li Zian reached the wall at the end of the alley. He took out a stick of sandalwood incense, lit it with the lighter, and without waiting for the smoke to rise, directly took a deep breath from the tip.

Boom!