Live Action Murder Mystery

Chapter 99.1

(The Unveiling of the Truth)

Upon hearing Gu Liang’s words, Li Xiao Yu stood up immediately. “I’ll bring the wish book now.”

Gu Liang called her to a stop: “Call Waitress Jing inside while you’re at it.”

“Sure.” Li Xiao Yu pushed open the door and went to the main hall. Moments later, she called Waitress Jing inside as she brought over that wish book.

When the large doors to the one-on-one interrogation room closed again, Gu Liang took the wish book and posed a question towards Waitress Jing first: “Why did you choose to leave at 2 o’ clock in the afternoon yesterday? I know you were doing your usual work before 2 o’ clock, but where did you go specifically during that time frame? Did you see Chef Huang?”

Waitress Jing did a brief recall, saying: “After all of you finished your meal yesterday afternoon, we went our separate ways. I stayed behind to clean up, wash the dishes, and mop the floor. I was planning to rush to the opposite bank once I was done. But around 1:20 in the afternoon, I saw Chef Huang sunbathing in the courtyard.

“I joked around with him for a bit, saying that with the rhinoceros horn incense, even ghosts could sunbathe now. In actuality, I wanted to urge him back to his room. He would usually take an afternoon nap in the afternoon, and then make dinner once he slept enough.

“Afterwards, he casually conversed with me for a while, saying that Proprietress Ling was in the lobby doing the account settlement, and she’ll probably be busy for another hour or more. He was also planning to bask in the sun for half an hour before going back to his room.”

Gu Liang nodded, “Understood. You couldn’t flip across the fence right in front of him. Which is why you returned to your room, waited for 2 o’ clock to arrive before you stepped out again to check if there was anyone in the courtyard before you dared to leave.”

“That’s right.” Waitress Jing stated, “Firstly, according to Chef Huang’s words, Proprietress Ling was doing the cash settlement. If I interrupted her in the middle and insisted on bringing her to one of the empty rooms upstairs, it would draw her suspicion. Hence, I remained patient, deciding to slowly make my way over to the opposite bank so I could keep Vagrant Qian informed. Once Proprietress Ling was done with her settlement I would lure her upstairs as planned. That’s why I walked at such a slow pace, because I wasn’t in a rush. I thought that I had more than enough time to inform Vagrant Qian, but I didn’t expect that he would already be dead.

“Moreover, Chef Huang said that he was going to bask in the sun for 30 minutes, so I estimated that he was going to stay in the courtyard until 2 o’ clock. It happened that I took the same amount of time to clean up the dining hall and wash the dishes, and I was slightly tired too. Thus, I went back to my room to rest, waited for 2:10 to arrive before I departed. When I glanced into the courtyard to ascertain that there was no one around, I guessed that Chef Huang had gone back to his room since he was done sunbathing, and then I went to flip across the fence.”

Curiously, Waitress Jing looked at Gu Liang, “Prior to this, I didn’t feel like these details held sufficient importance, so I didn’t go into the specifics. I still don’t think there are any issues with these details. Why are you asking about this??”

In lieu of answering Waitress Jing directly, Gu Liang looked towards Li Xiao Yu first, “Do you understand now?”

“I get it now.” Li Xiao Yu nodded, “Chef Huang was audacious and meticulous; in a few short sentences, he managed to ensure that Waitress Jing would only go out after 2, which also means that he can prevent bugs from appearing easily when he was fabricating his timeline. Or else, what recourse would he have if Waitress Jing chose to stay in the courtyard between 1:30 to 2?”

“The truth is that at 1:20 in the afternoon, Chef Huang didn’t know that he would witness the timelines of the various characters in their respective rooms through the scope when he arrived at the thatched hut on the opposite bank at 2PM. He probably only said that to Waitress Jing because he wanted Waitress Jing to go to the thatched hut half an hour after him, which would give him sufficient time to kill Vagrant Qian.”

Gu Liang continued, “And when he peered through the scope later, he saw Recluse Wang, Girlfriend Jia, and Zhao Meili’s timeline, which allowed him to fabricate his own timeline as well.

“Additionally, he remembered that he spoke to Waitress Jing at 1:20, and Waitress Jing had gone back to her room immediately to rest. Thus, the possibility of her flipping across the fence directly at around 2 o’ clock after she was done resting up was comparatively higher, whereas the possibility of her going to the courtyard or lobby would be a lot smaller. This was why he dared to falsify his timeline.

“Of course, he was the most insured at 1:50. After all, it followed the same logic as President Gao resting— At 1:20, Waitress Jing heard Chef Huang say that he was going to bask in the sun for half and hour. Waitress Jing would wait until 1:50 at the very least before she stepped out to confirm if Chef Huang was still sunbathing, while also judging if it was a good time for her to flip across the fence. It isn’t very likely that she would go back to her room and take a nap, and then randomly wander around for nothing…

“Therefore, Chef Huang made up the fact that he reached the inn’s lobby at 1:50, and tried to look for Proprietress Ling around the lobby and wine cellar.

“That way, even if Waitress Jing chose to step out at 1:50, or perhaps even a few minutes earlier, Chef Huang could still say that he happened to miss her.

“Which is why I previously said that, Chef Huang, no, perhaps I shouldn’t be referring to the scripted Chef Huang, but to Ming Yue instead. What Ming Yue couldn’t get an accurate grasp of, was only President Gao’s timeline in actuality.”

Waitress Jing was slightly perplexed. “What do you mean? The murderer is Chef Huang?”

Gu Liang did not explain this matter first. Instead, he asked Waitress Jing: “I’ll ask you again, during this afternoon, you should be the only person who met Proprietress Ling. She roughly asked about what we were eating, and if we were enjoying ourselves. You replied to her from the corridor outside the dining hall.”

Waitress Jing nodded her head. “That’s right.”

Gu Liang asked: “What was her condition back then? For example, her face, were there any injuries?”

Waitress Jing replied, “She… I didn’t get a clear view of it either.”

Gu Liang: “Why couldn’t you get a clear view?”

Waitress Jing: “Her shawl was wrapped around her head, kind of like a half-covered pipa, so I only managed to see half of her face.”

Gu Liang took out the digital camera, retrieving the photo of the corpse that he had just taken: “Was she using the shawl to cover this abrasion on her face?”

Waitress Jing: “I don’t know if there was an abrasion on her face, but it was the left side of her face — by which I mean the injured half of her face as shown in the photograph — that was being covered.”

Gu Liang questioned Li Xiao Yu: “What about you? When you were going to stab her?”

Li Xiao Yu said, “Mn…. there were some additional decorations on her face, the sort of small glitters that looked ‘bling bling’. It was quite amorous-looking. I thought that this detail wasn’t important, so I didn’t allude to it specifically. It turns out… she was using it to cover her injury?”

Gu Liang proceeded to show them the other parts of the corpse he had photographed. “The rhinoceros horn incense in the back kitchen was burning the entire time, which was why the corpse never disappeared. When I went out just now, I examined the corpse carefully again. The wounds were incurred from friction and fall damage, but there were way too many in all honesty.

“Look at the back of her head, a huge part of it was swollen.”

Gu Liang continued to state, “Initially, I presumed that it was caused when she was placed inside some kind of weaved sack and dragged through the forest after she was shot. But now that I’m looking at it, there’s another possibility. After all, even if you fell from the third floor, the rice straw pile is quite high, and logically speaking, she shouldn’t have fallen that badly.”

Li Xiao Yu could not help but ask: “And what is the other possibility?”

It was only at this moment where Gu Liang flipped open the wish book, searching for one of the pages in the middle— That described how Proprietress Ling had disguised herself as a man in order to help someone fulfil their wish.

Gu Liang explained, “Not only can she change faces, she can change to a completely different person. Not only can she transform into different women – like my ex-girlfriend, and President Gao’s ex-wife for instance – but she can also transform into a man.

“The person who was pushed off the mountain precipice by President Gao was not Tourist Jia, but Proprietress Ling.”

Upon hearing that utterance, Li Xiao Yu and Waitress Jing involuntarily revealed stunned expressions.

Gu Liang glanced at Yang Ye. “Tell them the specifics.”

Hence, Yang Ye gazed at Li Xiao Yu and Waitress Jing, saying: “The night before yesterday, which was also the night that Proprietress Ling said that she was going to use spirit-beckoning spell to help Tourist Jia call for a departed spirit, I was constantly paying attention to the movements along the corridor.

“I couldn’t shake off the vague feeling that Proprietress Ling was quite similar to my ex-wife. In any case, once I caught sight of her, it invoked some emotions within me, so I really wanted to be together with her. It has been a long time since my divorce, and I haven’t felt such heart palpitations in a long time. Hence, I thought that I had to grab hold of this hard-found affinity.

“That night, Proprietress Ling told us not to go outside, lest we meet something unclean. But I didn’t really care for such things, so after 12 midnight, I monitored the corridor through a cracked seam of my door. At around 12:30, I saw Proprietress Ling leaving Tourist Jia’s room. She was staying opposite of me. I noticed that when she was returning to her room, she didn’t shut her door firmly.

“I found it rather strange. It couldn’t be that she was leaving the door open for some other man, right?

“But I couldn’t let another man snatch her away. Thus, despite how late it was, and spurred by the worry that she would secretly meet some other man, I went to her room and told her that I was quite interested in her, and hoped that she would consider me. I also said something along the lines of, how I knew that my current behaviour was slightly rash, but the impression she gave me was way too good to ignore.

“But she said that her heart belonged to Tourist Jia. I was very angry and indignant, so I declared the following— stating that I would always obtain what I wanted. Anything that obstructed or hindered me, I would eliminate.

“As all of you are aware, Proprietress Ling pretended to be my ex-wife before, and her pretence had been flawless. My information, regardless of their importance, had been told to her by my wife. As a natural consequence, she knew how unscrupulous I could be in the business field.

“Hence, during breakfast the next morning—”

Having spoken to this point, Yang Ye looked towards Waitress Jing, “When you asked us if we had decided where we were going, I invited Tourist Jia to hike the mountain together. Proprietress Ling was present back then. She knew my conduct, and also heard the vicious words I proclaimed the previous night. She could guess that I might be borrowing the pretext of mountain climbing as an opportunity to act against Tourist Jia.

“Previously, we mentioned that Tourist Jia and I didn’t climb the mountain immediately once we left the dining hall. We went back to our respective rooms to change into exercise clothes. Presently, Gu Liang and I surmise that when Tourist Jia went back to his room to change after breakfast concluded, Proprietress Ling went to look for him.

“Proprietress Ling probably told Tourist Jia that President Gao was conspiring against him, then instructed him to lock himself inside the room, and that she would explain everything after she returned.

“Consequently, Tourist Jia stayed inside his room from beginning to the end, whereas the person who climbed the mountain with me was actually Proprietress Ling disguised as Tourist Jia. Proprietress Ling was once Tourist Jia’s older sister, and she had always been concerned about Tourist Jia’s general situation, which also means that she’s extremely familiar with his family’s business, and has the capability to hold a business-related conversation with me. She has a wealth of experience when it comes to acting, and I’m not overly familiar with Tourist Jia, so my inability to perceive any flaws is normal as well.”

Gu Liang continued for Yang Ye, saying, “We surmised that, according to Proprietress Ling’s character design, she has always harboured kindness for humans in her heart. We can put aside the argument of whether her actions cause good or bad consequences first, but intrinsically, she doesn’t possess a heart that can harm others. Hence, she didn’t do anything to President Gao, instead choosing to die for Tourist Jia once.

“After returning to the inn, she couldn’t allow the others to know that Tourist Jia was still alive since she was afraid that President Gao would continue to act against him. I reckon that she was planning to hide Tourist Jia, persuade President Gao to leave, and then give a proper explanation.

“Hence, during the afternoon, as she was handling the settlement, she was probably waiting until the guests who were supposed to go out, to leave, and for the guests who wanted to rest to head back to their rooms. Then she would go to Tourist Jia’s room to look for him, and explain what happened in the morning.”

At this moment, Li Xiao Yu opened her mouth to interrupt: “Hold on, I have a question.”

Gu Liang: “Ask away.”

Li Xiao Yu said: “Why would Tourist Jia cooperate with Proprietress Ling? The affair between the both of them was Proprietress Ling’s one-sided wishful thinking. When she went to look for Tourist Jia the night before yesterday to clarify the truth, it’s apparent that Tourist Jia didn’t believe her at all. Tourist Jia believes that she’s the murderer who killed his older sister, and that she’s an evil ghost.

“Furthermore, when Tourist Jia was strolling around at 5:30 in the morning, he encountered Recluse Wang and Tourist Jia first, and he evidently obtained the confirmation that Proprietress Ling was indeed an evil ghost from Girlfriend Jia’s mouth.

“That being said, we finished eating breakfast at 7:30. Why did Tourist Jia choose to believe and cooperate with Proprietress Ling when she told him that President Gao wanted to kill him, and asked him to hide in the room?”

Gu Liang chuckled, “Good question. This question hinges on what time Tourist Jia started cooperating with Chef Huang.”

Li Xiao Yu widened her eyes. “The murderer is really Tourist Jia?”

Gu Liang asked: “Who wakes up the earliest in the morning.”

LI Xiao Yu: “Chef Huang probably…. he started preparing breakfast around 5 o’ clock.”

“Precisely so. Therefore, when Girlfriend Jia was talking to Tourist Jia in the courtyard at 5:30 in the morning, telling him that Proprietress Ling was the evil ghost that caused the death of his older sister, Chef Huang naturally bears the possibility of having heard everything.”

Gu Liang stated, “Afterwards, Recluse Wang and Girlfriend Jia left together. Regardless of whether Tourist Jia randomly strolled around the courtyard alone, went to the dining hall alone, or went to the back kitchen to look for food… No matter what it was, Chef Huang would definitely look for him around this time.

“Chef Huang would tell him, since you want to kill Proprietress Ling as well, I have a good idea.

“‘Did our Proprietress Ling confess to you’? Chef Huang might have asked Tourist Jia something like that. Then, he would tell Tourist Jia, you are aware of the stories with pretty female spirits, right? Female ghosts love hooking up with handsome young men because they want to absorb their vital energy. Therefore, if she ever expresses goodwill towards you, you should never believe it.

“Chef Huang might continue to say— ‘However, when she expresses goodwill towards you, you can pretend to cooperate with her. I have a good plan at hand, find a way to bring her closer to the window, I can shoot her to death from the opposite bank of the lake’.”

Waitress Jing built on Gu Liang’s words: “Therefore, his original plan was to kill Vagrant Qian in the morning, and then eliminate Proprietress Ling.”

“Yes.” Gu Liang nodded, “Proprietress Ling replacing Tourist Jia on a temporary basis was an accident. Not only did you fail to find Proprietress Ling in the morning, even Chef Huang didn’t manage to. But I’m thinking that when Tourist Jia went back to his room to change into mountain climbing exercise clothes and Proprietress Ling went to find him to exchange places, Proprietress Ling might have taken the initiative to mention that she would go and look for him later, or perhaps under Tourist Jia’s queries and deliberate luring, she promised Tourist Jia that she would go to his room in the afternoon, and properly explain the situation surrounding his older sister again, while telling him what President Gao had done.

“Of course, there is another possibility, which is that you didn’t know where Proprietress Ling went because you were washing the dishes after breakfast. Whereas Chef Huang was in the courtyard, and upon seeing ‘Tourist Jia’ and President Gao depart, he was already aware that Proprietress Ling was disguising herself as Tourist Jia in actuality.

“Hence, he and the real Tourist Jia, might have had a detailed discussion.

“After all, all the other guests were not around in the morning.”