Chapter 36: Countdown

Among the people currently recognized as painters in the Kaifeng Prefecture, only Ma Bing had seen Dong Ping and his wife, so she would first draw the original sketch, which other painters would then copy. This way, the work could proceed more quickly.

Yuanpei came over to watch the commotion, eating tender lamb as he chuckled, “Ma Bing, you’re truly a jack-of-all-trades. You handle medical diagnoses, chase down criminals—it’s only fair if we ask Governor Tu to give you double pay.”

Ma Bing paused her brush at his words.

“Should ask,” meaning he hadn’t actually done so yet. But she had already received double wages this time!

Where had the extra two taels of silver come from?

Hmm… two taels, two taels… surely not…

Seeing her suddenly freeze, Yuanpei waved his greasy hand in front of her face, “What are you thinking about?”

“Ah, nothing,” Ma Bing quickly snapped back to reality, then covered the painting and shoved him, “Move away! Your hands are so oily!”

Her disdain was obvious.

Yuanpei cried out dramatically, pretending to smear grease on her face. Ma Bing, quick on her feet, kicked his chair from under him. The two wrestled around noisily.

“Boss Yuan, Miss Ma!” While they were arguing, Ade rushed in from outside, “Lord Xie sent me to see what you two are up to!”

Inside, Ma Bing was pulling Yuanpei’s hair, while Yuanpei had his oily hand pinching her cheek. Both were in tears from the pain but still exchanging threats:

“Know my strength now, brat?!”

“You damned little girl, I only used three parts of my strength! Let go!”

“Why should I go first? I only used two parts! You let go!”

All the other painters around were laughing at the spectacle.

Why don’t you both just stop?

Seeing Ade come in, Ma Bing and Yuanpei exchanged a glance and silently counted to three, then rolled away from each other.

“What was that about four?” Ma Bing asked, rubbing her cheek.

Hmm, her face seemed a little swollen.

Ade held his forehead, “Ah, what was I supposed to say again?”

Ah, right.

“Ahem,” the official said, referring to Xie Yu, “When you two go to interrogate the carriage house, if you confirm that Chen Si indeed rented a carriage that day, also inquire about what she was wearing when she left the city and what she had on when she returned.”

Ma Bing was stunned, suddenly feeling like she had been struck by enlightenment.

Right!

She had completely overlooked this point!

Even if they confirmed that Chen Si had indeed secretly rented a carriage to leave the city that day, and even if she had gone to Jinze, and even if she had met Chen Si in secret—so what?

She could easily argue that she had only gone out for fun, knowing nothing about the case!

Isn’t it against the law for me to go out for fun when I’m bored in the city?

If you can go, why can’t I?

In other words, unless Chen Si panicked and confessed voluntarily, the Kaifeng Prefecture would have no way to deal with her!

Not enough evidence!

Earlier, Ma Bing and others had found splattered bloodstains inside the pleasure boat, hadn’t they speculated that the murderer’s clothes must have been stained? The killer certainly wouldn’t dare return to the city wearing blood-soaked clothes, so she must have changed.

And since it was a crime of passion, the murderer wouldn’t have prepared extra clothes beforehand, so…

That would be the evidence!

Upon hearing Ma Bing’s explanation, Yuanpei clapped his hands and exclaimed, “Brilliant! Truly worthy of the master.”

Ma Bing asked, “Have you asked those maids yet?”

If she had indeed changed clothes, those maids would surely be the first to know.

Ade nodded, “We did. They said she didn’t change. The adults said if the murderer is indeed Chen Si, even though the killing was unexpected, her trip to Jinze must have been planned for a long time. To avoid suspicion, she probably wouldn’t wear her own clothes.”

Xie Yu’s deduction went like this:

On that day, Chen Si sneaked out of the theater while the maids were asleep, first went to a clothing shop to buy a set of clothes to change into, and then rented a carriage. That way, even if someone caught a glimpse, they wouldn’t recognize her.

But things didn’t go as planned. The clothes she bought got stained with blood, so she had to change back into her original clothes outside the city.

In other words, she likely wore the bought clothes when renting the carriage and wore the theater clothes when returning.

But all of this was still just Xie Yu’s speculation, which required confirmation that the murderer was indeed Chen Si.

“Since the Lord said so, it must be Chen Si,” affirmed Yuanpei.

He had always had nearly blind faith in Xie Yu.

Ma Bing pondered for a moment, “If that’s the case, finding the blood-stained clothes becomes the top priority.”

The murder was unexpected; Chen Si must have been extremely panicked at the time, which explained why she frightened herself into illness.

In such a panic, how would she handle the blood-stained clothes?

Common ways to dispose of clothes were limited:

Burn or discard.

But she hadn’t planned to commit murder, and a wealthy lady wouldn’t carry a fire starter when going out. The blood-stained clothes probably weren’t burned.

Then it must be discard.

Throw into water?

Not advisable.

The Jinze area had interconnected waterways and many tourists. If she had done that, someone might have discovered it before she even returned to the city, practically shouting to the crowd, “Come look, there’s been a murder!”

So the only remaining possibility was… bury it!

“That’s it!” Ma Bing slapped her palm, frustrated, “Earlier when I checked Chen Si’s pulse, I noticed wounds on the tips of several fingers. At the time, I was puzzled—how could a wealthy lady who never did any housework have such injuries?”

If you need to bury something and have no proper tools, in desperation, you can only use your hands!

But she hadn’t thought much about it then. The puzzlement had only briefly crossed her mind before being overshadowed by the abnormal pulse.

Yuanpei casually comforted her, “You’re not specialized in this. It’s normal not to think of everything at once!”

If everyone were as meticulous and insightful as you, seeing one clue and deducing ten steps ahead, wouldn’t they all be competing with us for jobs?

Ma Bing thought it made sense and quickly regained her enthusiasm.

Hurry, hurry!

Confirm that Chen Si indeed changed clothes before leaving the city, then find the blood-stained clothes!

The Jinze area was vast. Hiding a woman’s outfit there would be easy, but for them to find it would be like searching for a needle in the sea. To solve the case quickly, they would need to mobilize a large number of people.

As Xie Yu had said, without solid evidence to steadily push forward, Governor Tu would never approve such a large-scale operation.

Crime and investigation, though opposites, were surprisingly similar.

Each link depended on the next; missing any one, and you could only stare helplessly.

The next step was simple: use the old-fashioned method, asking one by one.

Considering the maids could wake up at any time, Chen Si didn’t actually have much time.

Although she had explicitly forbidden the maids from entering without permission, there was still a risk of exposure. Therefore, her entire trip to and from Jinze must have been rushed.

To save time, Chen Si would naturally choose the nearest clothing shop and carriage house. Ma Bing and others thus centered their search around the theater, spreading outward.

But here’s the problem!!!

The theater area was one of the most prosperous parts of the city. Carriage houses were manageable, but clothing shops were countless!

The next day, they zeroed in on the target carriage house:

This establishment was located directly between Jinze and the city gate, and had a thriving business, with a constant stream of customers every day. The shopkeeper couldn’t possibly remember any individual.

The shopkeeper summoned all the staff from that day for questioning. Initially, no one had any special recollection.

“Sir, this is really difficult for us. There are so many people in and around Kaifeng, and every day we have at least a hundred or eighty people renting horses. How can we possibly remember every single customer clearly?” one worker complained.

Ma Bing thought for a moment and changed her approach, “Let me ask you this—did anyone see a woman in her thirties come alone to return a horse, dressed rather elegantly, and wearing clothes probably unsuitable for riding? Also, she might have looked somewhat panicked and had injured fingers.”

At her prompting, one worker suddenly exclaimed, “There really was someone like that!”

“When she came to return the horse, I noticed from a distance and thought it strange—she didn’t look like someone unfamiliar with horses, yet she was wearing clothes meant for beginners. Such a dress is easy to get caught on the saddle and get damaged, not to mention ruining the outfit after a day’s ride.

We’ve had similar customers before who didn’t know how to ride, ended up damaging property, and then blamed us. So I paid extra attention. When handing over the horse, I noticed she had some injuries on her fingers, which startled me—I was worried she might blame us for not properly training the horse…

But she seemed quite anxious, distracted, and left without saying much. I actually thought myself lucky at the time.”

Ma Bing was delighted and pulled out a portrait of Chen Si to show him.

The worker scratched his head, hesitating, “She had her face covered…”

Riding in the wind and dust, experienced riders usually wore face masks, which wasn’t unusual.

Ma Bing covered the lower half of her face with her hand, leaving only her eyes visible, “Like this?”

“Ah, yes! Exactly her!” the worker immediately shouted.

Perfect!

Ma Bing continued, “Do you remember who served her when she rented the horse?”

Hearing this, the shopkeeper hurriedly fetched the rental records from that day, “Ahem, sir, please see—our shop truly operates with great care. Every day, we record exactly which carriages and horses went out and which came back, along with who was responsible, to prevent disputes in case of errors… sir, we’ve paid every bit of tax due!”

Seeing how cautious he was, Ma Bing couldn’t help but smile, “I’m not here to audit your taxes, nor will I extort anything from you. Don’t worry.”

The boundaries between scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants were clear. Even a minor official from the Kaifeng Prefecture could cause significant trouble if they chose to.

Ma Bing followed the records to find the worker who had served Chen Si that day. However, since Chen Si had been dressed plainly and appeared calm, the worker hadn’t paid much attention.

“It’s not common, but not unheard of, for a single woman to rent a horse. She paid promptly and knew how to ride, so I didn’t ask many questions.”

Ma Bing persisted, “Do you remember what she was wearing?”

The worker hesitated, “I can’t recall the exact style, but it was a plain green short-sleeved tunic with trousers—something very common on the streets. Look, sir, something like that—sold in any regular clothing shop.”

Following his gaze, Ma Bing saw indeed that the streets were full of people wearing similar outfits—the most basic style.

However, this seemingly mundane description provided another clue:

Mid- to low-end clothing shops!

This area was too prosperous, with high-end shops everywhere, but affordable ones were relatively fewer.

That evening, Ade came running back, out of breath but clearly excited, “Found it! We found the clothing shop!”