Chapter 27 third quarter

"Twenty years, it should have passed the retrospective period." This is the first sentence that Tang Jianmu's father said. "I remember the look-back period for homicide was like fifteen years." "Murder—?" I couldn't help but ask back, Tang Jianmu's father nodded feebly. "Up to now, I don't know whether it was a deliberate murder or a manslaughter. That day——" Father Tang Jianmu told us what happened in the summer twenty years ago. "Two days after Mr. Jiuze and Miss Jasmine disappeared, the owner of Songyue went to the police station to cancel the request for assistance. As for where they went? Why did they leave? ——I don't know at all, and neither does the owner of Songyue, right?"

Songyue nodded slightly in affirmation. "I can't figure out whether they were involved in some disaster, or something important happened as the owner of Songyue and the old homeowner said. Both the owner of Songyue and I have vaguely noticed that they are falling in love-here It’s so big, everyone lives together, no matter how much they hide it, they can’t hide it. But I don’t think it has something to do with their disappearance, because at that time, if they said they wanted to be together, neither the Songyue homeowner nor the old homeowner would object.” The fact that they are in love seems to be a fact, and Jasmine's brother Songyue and her father Songyue, the old homeowner, are also ready to accept their feelings.So, it is not true that they eloped.Since the elders agree with their relationship, there is no need to elope at all.

"Two days later, I walked around the garden with a broom as usual. At noon, Aunt Yi made tea for me, and I sat on the porch there to rest—" As he spoke, Father Tang Jianmu pointed to the window of the restaurant.Outside the darkened window, a verandah extending about a meter to the left and right. "Ah, although I mean 'there', the real location is not there, but the verandah of the dormitory at that time. The layout now is the same as it was then." At that time, the dormitory had not been moved to its current location. "I was drinking tea, staring blankly at my feet, thinking about Mr. Jiu Ze and Miss Jasmine, I couldn't figure out why they disappeared, and I didn't know where they went... As a result, I watched on the grass. There's a red dot. I lean over to see—"

Tang Jianmu's old man acted out what he was doing at that time while talking. "I was taken aback, because the red spot looked like blood, and when I looked carefully, I found not one, but five, six, seven—there were many red spots on the turf. It spread out in a fan shape. So I looked down the corridor. Because, I guessed that when the blood-stained things should be thrown out, the blood would spread out in a fan shape. When I probed, I found the short pillars under the corridor There's something in the back. So I got down on my knees and stuck my head in, and—" Father Tang Jianmu paused for a moment, and his body shook slightly.

"That's the sickle I use to mow the grass. The sickle I usually use to trim the lawn is a half-moon-shaped sickle with a wooden handle that can be used with one hand. I usually sharpen the knife, so the knife is very sharp, and it is better than the one used in the kitchen. The knife is sharper. Unexpectedly, it was thrown under the corridor like this, and when I reached out to pick it up, I found that the blade and handle were stained with dried blood. I was half scared to death, trying to remember the last time I used it. When was this sickle, but I couldn’t remember it. So I hid the sickle in my arms and ran to the direction of the workshop to report to the owner of Songyue.”

"--yes?" Aunt Yi frowned in fear.She didn't seem to know what Tang Jianmu's father said just now. "It took me a lot of effort to leave without being noticed by you." Father Tang Jianmu said this to Aunt Yi, and then continued. "I called the owner of Songyue outside the workshop, showed him the sickle in my arms, and reported what I found, and discussed whether I should call the police. In the end, the owner of Songyue said: 'How can I call the police?'" Tell me to forget about it—I handed the scythe to the owner of Songyue, and I have been trying to avoid reminding myself of it."

"Has it been like this for twenty years?" Really asked, Tang Jianmu's old man lowered his shoulders desolately, and nodded slightly. Zhenbei waited for a while, Tang Jianmu's father seemed to have finished speaking, staring at the ground with a pensive expression, and remained silent. "Housekeeper Songyue, why didn't you tell the police about the discovery of the blood-stained scythe? Not only that, but you also went to the police station the next day and canceled your request to find Mr. Yuzawa and Miss Jasmine. Could you please explain?" What is the reason?"

Songyue replied in a light tone: "A blood-stained knife was found under the verandah of the dormitory - I immediately thought it might have something to do with their disappearance. The blood on the scythe may have belonged to one of them, so something terrible may have happened between them, Someone may be seriously injured, or it may have caused irreversible results—in short, these things must not be known to the police. Therefore, I decided to conceal the scythe and revoke the request to help find them.” "It doesn't seem reasonable." Zhenbei immediately shook his head, "What if your apprentice, Mr. Yuzawa, murdered your own sister? How could you let Mr. Jiuze, who killed his relatives, escape? And both of them are missing. , There is no way to know who committed the crime to whom, and it would be too unreasonable to revoke the request to assist in the search for missing persons just because the bloody scythe was found."

Looking directly at Satsuki's face, Mabei said in a low voice: "You know that the blood on the sickle is not Miss Jasmine's, but Mr. Yuzawa's - am I right?" His voice was full of confidence. "Other than that, I can't think of any reason for revocation. Unless you know that it was Miss Jasmine who committed the crime against Mr. Yuzawa." Satsuki looked at Mabi with her lips tightly closed. "Did you witness the murder scene?" Really prepared to ask.Songyue clearly expressed the negative meaning. "If I see it, I will stop it myself."

"Then how did you know? How did you know that the blood on the sickle belonged to Mr. Yuzawa, and the one wielding the knife was Miss Jasmine?" Songyue sighed heavily and shook her head helplessly. "It's useless to hide it now." After muttering this in a barely audible voice, he looked directly at Mabi. "Jasmine called me. It happened to be the evening when Mr. Tang Jianmu discovered the scythe. I don't know where she called from..." "What did she say on the phone?" Songyue took a deep breath and held it for a while.Then, while exhaling, he confessed his sister's crime.

"She said—she killed Chirosawa." Suddenly, someone gasped. "Did she really say that?" "She said, and the murder weapon was the sickle." "Is there any reason for the murder?" "No, this..." Songyue shook her head, "Jasmine just told me briefly that she killed Mr. Jiuze with a sickle, and that she didn't plan to come back to Ruixiang's room. Her voice was indistinct and inarticulate—she said it several times in a row She wanted to die—told me not to look for her—and—" Songyue sighed heavily, and uttered the last sentence: "The phone hung up." I moved my eyes and found that Tang Jianmu's father was looking at the table with a melancholy expression, muttering something.Aunt Yi looked at Songyue, Father Tang Jianmu, and Torii with panicked eyes.She didn't know that there was a sickle stained with blood under the corridor outside the restaurant, and she must have been hit hard.Maya also looked at the sky with horrified eyes, covering her mouth with her hands.Perhaps the reason why she was so confused was because she was unfamiliar with the names of Ryuzo Nirazawa and Jasmine Minakami. "Sorry……" Maya stood up suddenly, and the chair made a thumping sound.She covered her chest and ran to the door with her back to us.She seemed to want to throw up. "Miss Maya." Rin stood up, chased after Maya, and then supported her.They went straight out, probably to the bathroom or toilet. "Where's Mr. Yuze's body? Could it be that the owner of the Songyue house disposed of it?" Hearing Mabe's question, Songyue shook her head. "No body was found." "—no body?" "After Jasmine hung up the phone, I immediately searched everywhere in the workshop. Since Jasmine killed Chirazawa, his body should be somewhere—but, I couldn't find it. I searched everywhere like crazy, but still found nothing." "Have you searched every corner? Under the verandah? Have you searched all the dorms and workshops?" "I searched all the rooms, and I also searched under the verandah. I even checked to see if any wall had been repainted. I also searched in the old owner's room. Of course, I didn't tell him the reason." "Is there any loose soil in the garden?" "I also thought about this, and wondered where Jasmine might have buried Jiuze's body, but I didn't find any suspicious traces." "What about the stepped kiln? I think that's the best place to hide a dead body." I also agree with Mabe's opinion in my heart.When the police searched yesterday, they also focused on the step kiln. Unexpectedly, Songyue actually replied: "Impossible. On the morning after Jasmine killed Mr. Jiuze, the other three disciples used the step kiln to burn Buddha statues. Before lighting the fire, they would definitely check the interior in advance. , could not have been discovered." After Torii nodded vigorously, he continued to explain to everyone. "I remember very clearly that it was completely clean at that time. Not to mention human corpses, there were not even dead rats, and of course there were no traces of burning things. Because I was the one who confirmed that day—and, at that time, the dormitory It has not been rebuilt yet, and it is not a step kiln, but an ordinary cave kiln, only the bottom part." That's how it is. If this is the case, it shouldn't be possible to miss it.According to yesterday's observation, there are only two tatami mats at most. "For the next three days and three nights, the three of us took turns guarding the burner's mouth. Therefore, during this period, it was impossible for anyone to throw the corpse in. After the kiln was fired, when the Buddha statue was taken out of the kiln—— No bodies were seen." Where did Yuze's body go? Mabi pouted and looked at the ceiling and asked Satsuki as if he suddenly thought of something. "Can Miss Jasmine drive?" "Molly doesn't have a driver's license." "Is it - it should be impossible to use a taxi to transport the corpse..." Zhenbei crossed his arms and fell into deep thought. "That's what I think," Songyue continued. "When Jasmine swung the knife at Jiu Ze, he might not have died. Although he was seriously injured, people thought he was dead, but he might have survived by luck." Zhenbei nodded slightly. "It's possible, but since he has suffered such a serious injury, where will he go?" Songyue seemed a little hesitant, looked at the mid-air and replied: "A few days later - I saw a lot of crows gathering on the hill. Many, many crows..." I didn't know what he wanted to say for a moment, but I quickly remembered the scene of that day.On the way here that day, I saw the group of crows sitting in the passenger seat of the taxi, those black birds of prey that were surrounded by red and black corpses and kept chattering. ——As long as dead animals are found, they will gather like this—— Being confronted by Jasmine's sickle, Jiu Ze, who was seriously injured, fled into the mountains in a near-death state, where he died.Songyue should think so. "Did you go there to confirm?" Hearing Mabe's question, Songyue frowned and shook her head. "I dare not look, I am afraid to know the truth..." I can understand his mood.If he had personally gone to confirm the things surrounded by the crows—if he had found out that it was Jiu Ze’s body, for Songyue, it would have confirmed the fact that his sister was the murderer and that his most beloved apprentice had been killed at the same time; If it wasn't a human body, but a fox's body, it meant that Jiu Ze's body was still somewhere in Ruixiang's house, which was also a creepy fact. You have to be brave enough to look at what the crows are gnawing on, but Songyue doesn't have the courage. Now, he finally knew why Songyue didn't want the police to intervene in the investigation. He was worried that Jiuze's bones would be found somewhere in Ruixiang's house. "However, I didn't know that my apprentices - Torii and Wei Ze knew about this." Songyue turned to look at Torii. "Because you guys know about it, that's why you said whether Kizawa is still alive in the parking lot?" Torii hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Yes—we know about it." "How do you know? Do you also know that Jasmine did it?" Torii lowered his head and pondered for a while, and finally revealed the shocking inside story. "—We saw it at the scene." "what happened?" "That night—the night when Niozawa and Miss Jasmine disappeared, Wei Ze, Okajima, and I just walked out of the dormitory. I forgot something in the workshop, so I had to go back to get it, and the two of them accompanied me. As a result, we I heard someone arguing in the corner of the garden—then, I heard a bang, as if something was being knocked—because it was too dark, I couldn’t see anything clearly..." "Is it Jiuze and Jasmine who are arguing?" "It should be, at least that woman is Jasmine. We were very puzzled - we turned off the flashlight and stood where we were. Then we saw Miss Jasmine rushing over from the darkness. She didn't notice us, so she just ran to the dormitory I threw something under the porch—of course, I never dreamed that it was a scythe for mowing grass—and Miss Jasmine ran out the back door into the hills. We dare not confirm what happened , just ran back to the room..." "Why haven't you said anything?" "Er—because...we...were frightened—we decided not to mention it—and it turned out, a few days later, when we saw the crows gathering on the hill, we, like the master—thought the guy fled into the mountains and died..." Torii was terrified, with a sad expression on his face.Songyue looked at her apprentice's face for a long time, finally lowered her eyes, and her whole body went limp. By now, it was too late to say anything. As the truth of the past was presented one by one, I became more and more confused, and I also remembered the morning after the first time I lived in Ruixiang House, I talked with Tang Jianmu about moving to the dormitory twenty years ago.At that time, I mentioned the question about the room I lived in—why did you reserve a room for the missing people during the relocation? ——He didn't leave a note, and he didn't know when he would come back. Of course, he couldn't tear down his room immediately.The owner of Songyue and the three apprentices all agreed to keep Mr. Kizawa's room—— That's what Tang Jianmu's father said at the time, but now he realizes that it was a big lie.The three apprentices, including Songyue and Torii, knew that Chirazawa was dead, so they kept his room on purpose.It is precisely because they know that "Jiu Ze will not come back", they agree to keep his room to avoid being noticed by outsiders. I suddenly felt sad.Regardless of Songyue, Father Tangjianmu, Torii, Wei Ze, and Okajima, for the past twenty years, they have hidden their secrets in their hearts. In the small world of the room. "Huh? That's not right..." A question suddenly came to mind. When Torii discovered that Wei Ze was missing just now—and when he saw the strange scarlet letter in the parking lot before—he was terrified of the existence of Niu Ze. related.However, if you think about it carefully, you will find that something is wrong.Perhaps Jiu Ze would resent Jasmine, or take revenge on Jasmine who killed him.But if Jasmine is no longer in Ruixiangfang, why would Torii think that it was related to Jiuze when this series of strange things happened? "Mr. Torii, may I ask you a question?" I mustered up the courage and planned to speak out the doubts in my heart.Torii's skeletal face tensed up, trying to force out this sentence. "To tell you the truth, that guy—Nisezawa—had left a word of resentment." "Words of resentment?" "That night, when Miss Molly was running away in the dark, the guy - intermittently, in a barely audible voice said... 'I want, kill everyone'... that's what he said. So, I, Wei Ze and Okajima were very scared, and ran back to the dormitory. His voice was terrible, as if it came from the depths of hell, and I still remember it clearly. That voice—that voice , I will never forget it in my life..." Torii covered his face with his hands and let out a long moan. "Kill...everyone?" Therefore, even though it was Jasmine who swung the knife at Jiuze, it was not just Jasmine who was resented by Jiuze. What exactly is going on? Moreover, why did Jasmine kill Niozawa who fell in love with her?Is it a relationship dispute?Or is there something hidden?What is the hidden secret that made her swing a knife at the one she loves? ... Li... ...Jasmine... That weeping voice. And the strange phenomenon that happened to many Buddha statues carved in Niuzawa. ——Because it was a Buddha statue carved by Mr. Kizawa, and the head was split—— Bloody King Wushu Samoming. ——It was returned.After finishing the carving, I sent it over, but the customer sent it back immediately—— ——He said that this Buddha statue could not be accepted under any circumstances— Avalokitesvara who laughs late at night. "Homeowner Songyue, have you told others about Mr. Tang Jianmu's discovery of the scythe for mowing the lawn?" After a while, Zhenbei asked. "I couldn't hide from the old homeowner, so I reported it to the old homeowner, but not to anyone else." "Where is the scythe that cut the grass now?" "I dealt with it right away." "--yes?" muttered regretfully. At this time, I suddenly raised my head. "I see……" I finally understood what the wonderful red lettering painted on the parking lot really meant.That's right, that's not the word "ㄑ"—— "I finally found out about it just now." He turned to look at me and said: "That's not a word at all. Of course, the owner of Songyue, Mr. Torii and Mr. Wei Ze should understand what it means the moment they see it." "Yes—I guessed right away." Song Yue nodded. That's why they trembled with fear.Those two red lines, from the upper right to the lower left, and then draw another line from the end point to the lower right corner, the upper line is relatively thick and short, and the lower line is straight and thinner—— "That represents a sickle covered in blood..."