TGCFNM -Chapter 146 Nangong Jue

Chu Ling glanced back toward the direction of the Ghost Scholar and gave a slight nod.

The Ghost Scholar then turned to Nangong Jue and asked, “Young Master Nangong, do you know how you died?”

Nangong Jue nodded. “I know. I was resting in bed. In the middle of the night, there was a lot of noise outside. I got up to check, and a sharp weapon pierced my chest, killing me.”

“Strangers shouldn’t have been able to enter your room, right?” the Ghost Scholar asked.

Nangong Jue’s expression darkened. “Correct. And there was only one key to my room, which I always kept on me.”

The Ghost Scholar lightly tapped his folding fan. “Afterwards, did you notice anything unusual?”

Nangong Jue shook his head. Even now, he had no idea who had killed him.

His deputies and subordinates had all been carefully selected—loyal people he could trust. He truly could not imagine who it could have been.

After listening, Chu Ling looked at Bai Hu and asked, “Miss Bai Hu, when you went to collect your brother’s body, did you notice anything?”

Bai Hu said, “You can still call me Bai Hu. When the Nangong family suddenly received this tragic news, I went personally. By the time I arrived, I had already asked around. Early in the morning, they knocked on my brother’s door, but there was no response. When they forced the door open, they found my brother was already dead.”

“There was no weapon in the room. My brother was very cautious; the doors and windows were all tightly shut. There were no signs of forced entry. It seemed as if he had been killed in his sleep. Some even suspected he had sleepwalked and killed himself.”

Chu Ling asked, “Then why did you want me to investigate?”

“My instinct says otherwise,” Bai Hu frowned. “But the key to the room was unique; he always kept it on him. Even when I arrived, the key was still hanging on his chest.”

Chu Ling nodded knowingly. “A death inside a locked room with no signs of entry is a classic locked-room murder. Usually, these murders require pre-set mechanisms to kill the victim.”

“But who could have gotten in?” Chen Lan came over to ask.

Chu Ling propped her chin on her hand. “The maid who cleans the room, the servant who delivers meals, a subordinate discussing matters, or a woman traveling with him?”

Both Bai Hu and Chen Lan shook their heads. “None of them.”

“For some reason, no outsiders were allowed into Young Master’s room, and he had the key on him. That morning, I went to him, knocked, got no response, and had to enlist several people to forcibly break open the main door,” Chen Lan explained.

Chu Ling shook her head. “Someone definitely found a way in and set up a mechanism. Otherwise, it would have been a sleepwalking suicide.”

Nangong Jue stepped forward. “I did not commit suicide.”

Cui Xi was startled and immediately pulled him back. “Do not interfere with the investigation.”

Chu Ling tilted her head at Nangong Jue, then looked at Chen Lan. “That night, did anything seem off?”

Chen Lan shook his head. “The whole night was quiet.”

Nangong Jue was stunned. “How can that be? I clearly heard a commotion in the middle of the night.”

Chu Ling turned past Chen Lan and looked at the other Qingqi soldiers. “What about you?”

The Qingqi soldiers shook their heads in unison. “It was quiet all night.”

“No unusual sounds were noticed.”

“The patrols didn’t report anything suspicious.”

“Actually, guards were present the entire night. No one entered the estate.”

“The room was very clean and tidy; there were no signs of intrusion.”

“Not even the weapon…”

Bai Hu hesitated. “Could it really have been a sleepwalking suicide?”

“Even in suicide, there would be a weapon. How could there be none?” Chu Ling crossed her arms and stared at the screen, waiting for Su He’s autopsy results.

About half an hour later, Wan Sanjin poked his head out from behind the screen, covering his mouth and nose, and spoke in a muffled voice, “It’s done. Wait for Su He to restore the body and put it back.”

Chu Ling gave a small nod.

Immediately, a series of exclamations came from behind the screen, and shadows inside began to move.

When the sound of coffin nails being hammered rang out, the courier officer also ordered someone to pull back one of the screens.

Su He looked at the officer and said, “Prepare hot water and soak it with mugwort. These people will all need to soak later.”

The officer immediately instructed the attendants to prepare it.

After giving his orders, Su He stepped forward and looked at Chu Ling. “The deceased was around thirty-five years old. There’s a fresh wound on the left arm. The medicine applied there has sedative and calming effects, and it was overdosed, enough to make someone drowsy. The fatal wound is a blood hole piercing the chest. Judging by the wound, the weapon may have been cone-shaped.”

“The body is slightly decayed, but from the edges of the wound I can tell the weapon was likely poisoned. That is, after it pierced the chest, the poison instantly entered the body, causing death—there may not have even been time to cry for help. The poison resembles Fengdinghong.”

Chu Ling furrowed his brow. “Fengdinghong again?”

Bai Hu looked shocked. “Again?”

Chu Ling nodded. “There was a case I handled in Changzhou that involved the Gao family of the Noble Consort. A similar poison, Fengdinghong, appeared there. That case has already been handed over to Xiao Lengjue, the Young Master Xiao in the capital. The specific details are still unknown.”

Su He looked at Chu Ling. “Sir, I cannot guess what weapon could take a cone shape.”

“I know this,” Chu Ling said, turning to explain to everyone. “If no weapon appears at the crime scene, there’s only one possibility: the weapon was an ice spike. Poison was mixed into the ice. After killing Nangong Jue using a trap in the room, the ice melted into water, leaving no trace of the weapon.”

Chu Ling then looked at Chen Lan and asked, “Is there a place where ice could be stored where you are?”

Chen Lan immediately nodded. “Yes.”

“I think you are right, sir. It should be an ice spike that killed him, but Fengdinghong…” Bai Hu shook her head. “How could it possibly be Fengdinghong?”

Chu Ling said, “As I said, it’s just speculation. After all, we’ve never seen Fengdinghong ourselves.”

Bai Hu nodded. Fair enough.

Chu Ling looked at Bai Hu. “I can’t go into that room with you, so I can’t guess what mechanism was set up. I can only roughly explain what happened.”

“First, Nangong Jue must have been extremely tired, so when he returned, he probably collapsed to sleep. But the medicine on his left arm would make him drowsy, half asleep, half awake. He thought it was the middle of the night, but it might not have been, and the sedative effect would lower his alertness.”

“Therefore, someone must have entered the room beforehand to set up the trap. After Nangong Jue fell into drowsy sleep in his room, that person intentionally made noise. The half-conscious Nangong Jue would get up to check and accidentally trigger the trap, allowing the ice spike to pierce his chest. The trap required a lot of force, so it might have involved a bow.”

“The bow is drawn by a mechanism, likely a hooked wire, which is held by a strong force. When Nangong Jue stood up and touched something, the wire released, the full-drawn bow shot instantly, the ice spike struck him, and Nangong Jue died. The ice melted into water, and the weapon disappeared.”

As Chu Ling finished speaking, she looked at everyone. The answer was clear.

Chen Lan’s eyes widened. “So the person who applied the medicine is the culprit!”

“It’s Doctor Gu!” someone from the Qingqi Army shouted.

Nangong Jue’s expression darkened. “I once fell asleep from injuries at the medical hall. It’s possible a key was copied at that time.”

Chu Ling looked at Chen Lan. “You trusted that Doctor Gu so much? If your lord fell asleep from injuries, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to copy a key, right?”

“Doctor Gu has white hair and is very old,” Chen Lan said with difficulty. “He’s skilled in medicine, but his age can’t withstand travel, so he didn’t leave with us.”

Chu Ling’s heart skipped a beat. She asked nervously, “Where were you before?”

“Dongle City,” Chen Lan replied.

A single answer flashed in Chu Ling’s mind: Bai Zhuoxing!

What Doctor Gu? That’s Bai Zhuoxing!