Chapter 23 third quarter

Breakfast ended in heavy air, Mizuho and Kaori sat facing each other, chewing salad and egg rolls, and delivering toast to their mouths, until the coffee after dinner, the silence dominated the two.Suzue, who delivered Lianli, didn't say a word, only the sound of the collision of tableware echoed throughout the cafeteria, which was unpleasant. On the way, Suzue sent the food to Shizuka's room on a tray.If it was just delivering breakfast, she would have stayed upstairs too long.She might be reporting some situation to Shizuka, Mizuho imagined in her mind. "Everyone left."

Just as Mizuho finished his breakfast and was about to leave, Kaede suddenly whispered.Mizuho looked down at her face, she continued to speak while staring straight ahead. "Two months ago, everyone was there. Mom, dad... and grandma, everyone had breakfast together. But now I'm alone. Why did things go to this point?" Mizuho wanted to comfort her, but couldn't find the right words.Why it has developed to such a point, everyone should be well aware of this. Mizuho remained silent, turned and left.Kaori didn't continue talking. She went upstairs and was about to go back to her room when there was a sound of the door opening.Shizuka appeared in front of her with a paler face than before.

"Are you free now?" she asked. Mizuho looked away slightly, and nodded with a forced smile. "Then, can you come in for a little while?" "Yes." Mizuho replied, and turned to Shizuka's room.A heart-wrenching feeling suddenly hit her. "You seem to be ready to go back." After Mizuho closed the door, Shizuka said in a calm tone.There was no reproach in his tone, nor did he force her to stay. "Well, I've been here for too long." Mizuho replied that this was her real thought.Shizuka seemed to understand very well, nodded, then poured the hot water in the kettle into the teapot, and poured tea into the two teacups equally.

"I heard about it from Suzue." Shizuka said, but didn't say what she had heard. "You seem to have many thoughts, which are deeper and more thorough than I thought. There must be some thoughts that make you very painful." "Yes, grandmother." Mizuho replied, suppressing the emotions in her heart so as not to show them. "It was a bit uncomfortable. So I tried to avoid these annoying thoughts from the beginning. But in the end, I still had to look at these thoughts directly." Shizuka held the teacup in both hands, and took a few sips close to her lips.Her gaze was as gentle as ever, but there was an indescribable loneliness in her eyes.The wrinkles engraved on her face are also telling the same emotion as the eyes.

"What are you going to do?" Shizuka asked. "I could have just let you go back like this, but it would be bad if you had all kinds of misunderstandings. Besides, the knot in your heart hasn't been untied yet, has it?" "It's not a matter of being pimple or not!" Mizuho could feel the blush on his face, "I don't know how to express it, I just don't want this matter to end in this way! This is too abnormal, there must still be many misunderstandings and distortions left. Maybe it's My prejudice, I feel excluded from the Takemiya family... I really don't know how to describe it."

"Okay, okay, you don't need to be so painful." Shizuka quickly comforted her, then smiled. "Talk to me. Tell me what you think, and then I'll tell you what I know." Mizuho faced her grandmother directly.Shizuka closed her eyes and shook her head. "You seem to have chatted with Qing Jiang." She asked Shui Sui. "Yes." Suzuki nodded. "He had discovered the truth before that, but he hid the truth in his heart... probably because he wanted to get the evidence and make it public. He didn't expect that he would become the murderer's next target."

Shizuka still sipped her tea lightly, and seemed to have nothing to add. "On the night of my last conversation with Qing Jiang, he once said that Matsuzaki did not kill Uncle. Although it is true that he had the intention to kill, Uncle was just pretending to be dead at that time." There was no trace of surprise on Shizuka's face, she looked at Mizuho as if she knew everything. "He also said that if this incident is compared to a performance, it has only just passed the first act so far. There is still a second act and a third act before reaching the truth, and there will be surprises. The actor played an unexpected role-. I reflected on his words countless times in my mind, trying to understand what he was trying to say. After countless reflections, I finally reached a conclusion.”

Having said that, Mizuho took a deep breath and looked at Shizuka.Grandma's expression didn't change at all.Mizuho had expressed her views on painting and music to her grandmother before, and that was her reaction at the time. Mizuho stared at Shizuka's face, and made the following reasoning in one breath. "Mr. Matsuzaki did intend to kill Uncle, but Uncle was just pretending to be dead at that time - and in this trap, there is another trap hidden, that is, the person who pretended to be dead was not Uncle Zongyan. In the dark, as long as you put on the mask Mr. Matsuzaki has no way of distinguishing the real from the fake beard. I have a basis for reasoning. After the time of the crime mentioned by Mr. Matsuzaki, I saw the light of my uncle's room. This It can be proved that the uncle was still alive at that time—that is to say, the person Matsuzaki-san killed was someone other than the uncle. However, there is a flaw in this trick. No matter how perfect the cross-dressing is, the body shape can never be fooled Yes. In other words, there are limited characters who can pretend to be uncles."

Mizuho took a peek at Shizuka's reaction and continued. "In a word, this person... can only be Mr. Yongdao." Hearing this, Shizuka took a long breath.This should be her unique nervous reaction, and it can be understood that she acquiesced to Mizuho's statement. "Mr. Yongshima pretended to be his uncle, pretended to be killed by Mr. Matsuzaki, and then killed his uncle himself. If the plan goes well, the crime will be completely passed on to Mr. Matsuzaki. The killing of Ms. Mita is probably an unplanned action. In short, as long as Thinking about it this way, all the contradictory parts will become logical. In addition, he also prepared a hand to completely reduce Mr. Matsuzaki to the prisoner who killed his uncle. Put the fallen puzzle pieces back into the box, and broke the box, so that the police found the problematic piece. As a result, Mr. Matsuzaki was forced to die by taking this as an opportunity. However, it feels a bit strange when you think about it Yes. Is it really necessary for him to put the fragments back into the box at the risk of his own life? It’s just that one of the fragments of the ‘Portrait of Napoleon’ is missing. The police will not pay special attention to such trivial matters, right? Mr. Nagashima can definitely pick up He burned or threw away the pieces he got, but he didn’t do that, and even accidentally broke the lid of the box. Doesn’t this look like a deliberate attempt to attract the attention of the police? Besides, it’s not just the pieces of the puzzle that I care about. There is also the testimony of Ms. Suzue. She once said that the murderer's hair was clutched in her uncle's hands, right? But, don't you think that all the developments are too ideal? All of these are pushing the charges to Matsuzaki gentlemen."

Next, Mizuho said the most difficult thing for her to let go. "The traps that framed Matsuzaki-san were not the only ones. He also stained the gloves that Matsuzaki-san dropped with blood... But Auntie Suzue made these traps ineffective. She treated the hair in Uncle's hands and threw the gloves out the door. However, Aunt Suzueda did not complete these tasks alone, there was another person—grandmother, you also participated in this work, am I right?" Shizuka didn't answer immediately, her eyes were fixed on a point in space.After a while, she lowered her eyes and tilted her head slightly.

"Well, that's right." Mizuho took a deep breath. "However, the reason why you did this was not just because you judged that the murderer came from within. You must have known, grandma, that the murderer was Mr. Nagashima, and he intended to frame Mr. Matsuzaki." Having said that, Mizuho and Shizuka's eyes met. "Next is the button." She looked her grandmother in the eyes and continued. "That button should also be part of Mr. Nagashima's plan. Auntie Suzue claimed that the button fell next to the corpse, but I saw the button on the shelf next to the stairs with my own eyes. I was surprised. Putting the button in that kind of place can't be framed. To Mr. Matsuzaki. What is his intention? There is only one answer. Mr. Nagashima originally put the button somewhere else—a place that would make Mr. Matsuzaki suspect. But it was picked up by you, grandma, and put on the shelf Come on. Am I right?" After Mizuho finished speaking in one breath, she waited for Shizuka to reply.She has considerable confidence in her reasoning, after all, she has repeatedly reviewed it in her mind countless times. Shizuka sighed, "That's right." She replied.The tone was extremely painful, but there was no pain in the expression. "That night, when I was about to open the door to go to the bathroom, I saw Mr. Yongdao coming upstairs. I was about to go up and ask him what he was doing so late, but the man didn't go to the corridor at the end of his room, but to Matsuzaki The other side of Mr.’s room. I hid in the corner of the corridor to spy on his actions, and I saw Mr. Nagashima squatting in front of Mr. Matsuzaki’s room and doing something. I felt that I saw something that I shouldn’t see, so I immediately returned to myself After a while, I left the room again, and when I came back from the bathroom, I took a look around where Mr. Nagashima was squatting, and it turned out..." "Did you see that button fall to the floor?" "Exactly." Shizuka nodded. As expected, Mizuho was relieved.If the police found the button in front of Matsuzaki's door—I'm afraid they would—Matsuzaki would definitely be the number one suspect. "But at that time, I had no idea what happened. I couldn't be sure if the button was put there by Mr. Nagashima." Shizuka's tone was slightly sad.If she had known about the incident at the time, she would have taken a different approach—perhaps she regretted it. "And then, did you just put the buttons on the shelf?" Mizuho confirmed. "Yes. There was no particular intention in doing so." After finishing speaking, Shizuka smiled slightly. —It was probably after that that I left the room and found the button. Mizuho analyzed in his heart.If there is even a slight error in the time interval, the plot will definitely develop in another direction. "Suzue came to inform me as soon as she found the body in the basement. She is a woman with a sharp head. I'm afraid she could have seen on the spot that the murderer was an insider. After I went to the basement to confirm the situation, I discussed with Suzue How to pretend to be the work of an external intruder. After that, the two of us racked our brains and carried out various disguises. You must know what I concealed from Suzueda." "I know, grandma." Mizuho replied sharply. "At that time, grandma, you have noticed that Mr. Yongdao is the murderer." "Exactly." Shizuka said. "When I saw a button on Zong Yan's pajamas was taken off, I immediately understood that it was the button from last night. Naturally, I realized that Mr. Nagashima was the murderer. He wanted to frame Mr. Matsuzaki for the crime. However, I I did not tell Suzue about this. I handled the button entirely by myself, without Suzue's knowledge. I threw the button in the backyard on the balcony on the second floor before the riot started." It turned out to be such a thing, Mizuho missed it.The balcony is located directly above the back door, there is no need to go through the back door, just throw it from the balcony. "However, when Aunt Suzueda was questioned by Police Officer Yamagishi, she admitted that she threw the button herself." "This is exactly where she is astute. She seemed to have sensed that there was some kind of secret behind my discarding of the buttons, so she took the initiative to admit that she had lost them, so that the police would not pursue me." "When Mr. Matsuzaki was arrested, Aunt Suzueda didn't know the truth of the matter, right?" "Yes, although she has noticed that I am hiding something." "Grandma, you know that Mr. Matsuzaki is not the murderer, why didn't you tell the police? Do you want to protect Mr. Nagashima more than Mr. Matsuzaki?" Shizuka rested her cheek with one hand and shook her head. "no." she replied. "Indeed, I wanted to cover up Mr. Yongdao at first. After all, he killed the couple, so I can't feel any hatred for him..." Those two deserved to die—there was such emotion in Shizuka's words. "And... I also considered Kaori." Shizuka said after a little hesitation. "Kiaori has love for Mr. Yongdao. As long as he is by his side, that child can always cheer up—if I let her know that this person is her father-killing enemy, I am afraid that she will be hurt forever. In fact, I told the truth to Hanako, not only to Hanako, but also to your mother, Kotoe. After discussion, the three of us made a secret decision. If the incident can end like this, let the truth Stone sank in the sea." It turned out that this was the case, Mizuho finally got a satisfactory answer.No wonder Kotoe always felt a little indifferent towards the incident on the day of the funeral. "But..." Shizuka continued. "However, when Matsuzaki-san was arrested, my state of mind changed. I was terrified to be able to frame Nagashima with such an ingenious trap. But when I thought about Kaori, I couldn't make up my mind to expose Everything led to the arrest of Nagashima. So, I began to find a way to make Nagashima consciously leave Kaori's side and surrender to the police. About Sohiko's pajama buttons, Suzue gave a testimony that contradicted the facts, right? Through this At this point, Mr. Yongshima should have noticed that his whereabouts have been revealed." "It's impossible for him not to notice." Mizuho said. "However, that person did not disappear from our side on his own initiative, nor did he turn himself in. He even went further and killed Qing Jiang who saw through his trick." On the last night of Qing Jiang's life, when Shui Sui talked with him in the living room on the first floor, he felt that someone was eavesdropping on the second floor.It seems that the person is Yongdao. "That person will actually kill again... I really never dreamed of it." Perhaps the shock at that time revived in her heart again, and Shizuka's voice seemed exhausted. "But even so, grandma, you are still covering him, aren't you? You fiddled with the meeting time with him on the day Qingjiang was killed, right? Grandma, you testified that Mr. Yongdao stayed in your room until 2:25 He left in the next minute, but in fact, he had already left before that, right?" "Yes... The moment I heard that Qing Jiang was killed, I immediately knew that this person did it. He actually left my room at around 2:15, which exactly coincided with the time of the incident." "Mr. Yongdao didn't expect that the body would be found so soon, and he didn't prepare any alibi for himself. Therefore, all the time certificates he made to the police were all ambiguous. He just testified that he was in your room first, grandma, Then he went to Jiazhi's room again, but he couldn't remember the exact time. What did he think about the perjury his grandmother gave him? Maybe he just thought that you just remembered wrongly, grandma. But he had to admit that he was too lucky, even Kaori also perjured him." After listening to Mizuho's words, Shizuka pressed her fingers between her eyebrows as if trying to suppress her headache, held this position for a while, and then sighed deeply. "That kid probably doesn't know anything. Why do you still tell that kind of lie..." "She probably sensed something. She is a sensitive girl." Mizuho said. "Maybe she felt from Mr. Yongdao's attitude that he was the murderer of Qing Jiang. But the child still chose to cover Mr. Yongdao. She lied that Mr. Yongdao came to her at around 2:30 The room. The child really admires Mr. Nagashima. Admiration usually leads to extraordinary behavior." "Let me put an end to this farce." Shizuka said firmly. "I will use a method that does not hurt Kaori, make Nagashima-san disappear from our side, and make Matsuzaki-san feel wronged. Although I don't know how to do it yet, I will definitely not sit still." "In other words, you want me to keep everyone silent until you take countermeasures?" "If you want to report to the police, I will not stop you." Hearing what Shizuka said, Mizuho broke into a smile. "Even if I do this, it won't help, right? But there is one more question I would like to ask you. What is the motive behind Mr. Yongdao's killing of his two uncles?" Hearing Mizuho's question, Shizuka looked out the window: "Me." She replied. "But things have evolved to the present situation, at least it can be imagined that the person's love for Lai Zi is sincere." "Admiration for my aunt..." Kaori also said this before, Nagashima loves Lai Zi, and hates Zong Yan and Rie Zi who drove Lai Zi to a dead end.In other words, this is his motive for committing the crime?If this is really the motive, it is completely understandable that Shizuka and Kaori can't feel any hatred towards him. "Okay, I've confessed everything I can. Is your questioning over?" "Well, grandma, thank you very much." Mizuho stood up. "Are you planning to go back to Australia?" Shizuka looked up at her granddaughter. "Yes. I'm going to go to Australia again...to try and forget everything I've lost." After speaking, Mizuho opened the door. At this moment, she felt that the huge Koichiro adorning the wall was looking at her. (clown perspective) After Wu Jing left the hotel, he immediately hailed a taxi and informed the driver of his destination.It seems that he intends to go to the Cross Mansion.He put me in a bag and held me in his arms. Wu Jing is planning to uncover the mystery of the case of the Zhugong family this time, right?Whom he could save, or whom he might make miserable, by doing so, I do not know.Maybe Wujing himself didn't know. The tragedy of the Takemiya family that I witnessed will soon come to an end.Including a series of tragedies starting from the jumping incident—— In other words, it is really one incident after another that is full of doubts. First there was the murder in the basement.On the night of the incident, it was not Zong Yan who was listening to music in the basement, but the man named Yong Dao.But I thought his name was Zong Yan at that time.The reason why I have this illusion goes back to before the incident. It was the conversation in the reception room that made me delusional.That's right, it was when Wu Jing visited the mansion for the first time.At that time, the old lady said that it seemed to be "Zong Yan" who put the dolls on the shelf in the corridor.But this is not the case. It was this man named Yongdao who put me on the shelf next to the stairs.It was this tiny error that made me mistake Nagashima's name for Zongyan. It was not Zonghiko who pretended to be stabbed in front of my eyes that night, but Nagashima.I only recently noticed this fact.On the day when I was decorated in the living room, the Takemiya family had dinner, and Zong Yan, who was supposed to die, was sitting on the dining table. Only then did I know that that person's name was not Zong Yan, but Yong Dao. It turned out that it was this man who was stabbed that night—the truth began to unfold before my eyes.This man named Yongdao pretended to be Zongyan that night, pretending to be killed, and then held hands to kill Zongyan afterwards.That woman probably died at his hands too. Wu Jing thinks the same as me, and he should have noticed that some people are protecting Yong Island.Needless to say, the old woman or Suzueda must have been a part of it. However, the incident is naturally impossible to be resolved by these alone.There's a more important question - why did Yeong-do kill those two. And Wu Jing went to the Cross Mansion just to reveal the answer to this question.