The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

When it was said that someone died in the royal troupe, Sun Shaozong naturally didn’t dare to snub him. He hurriedly went back to apologize to Jia She and his Big Brother, and asked Jiang Yuhan to lead him to the scene.

Speaking of it, Sun Shaozong has not been on the scene since the ”Longsheng Old Store Heartbreaking Case” was cracked. As soon as he entered the working state, he felt a sense of nostalgia.

However, at the moment of seeing the scene of the murder, most of the nostalgia dissipated.

Outside the row of simple thatched sheds, there were seven or eight actors with heavy makeup, each of whom had different heights, and sizes, and each one covered their noses with their hands.

As for the reason…

“Zhu Er was killed while going to the restroom?”

“Exactly!”

Jiang Yuhan also took out his handkerchief and whispered, "Just now, when someone went to the restroom, as soon as the door of the second restroom in the east was opened, I saw him lying inside, bloody and out of breath for a long time.”

As he spoke, he raised his voice and ordered, "Get out of my way and let Lord Sun investigate.”

The actors hurriedly retreated to the side and cast awe and anticipation at Sun Shaozong. During the rehearsal, Jiang Yuhan gathered many of Sun Shaozong's case-solving experiences for everyone to speculate about his characters. There were many people in the royal theater troupe, so they became fans of Sun Shaozong's reasoning.

But Sun Shaozong's expression was expressionless. When he arrived at the second restroom in the east, he glanced inside and breathed a deep sigh of relief. It was a famous tavern in the Capital, and the hygiene of the restroom was much better than expected.

The entire latrine was about two meters long and 1.5 meters wide from north to south, with a thatched shed for shade and rain protection. It was surrounded by a painted wooden wall, and the ”tunnel” in the middle was tightly covered by a wooden board with a long handle nailed to it, so that when someone entered the toilet, they could easily move it away.

In addition, there was a grand master's chair in the corner, with circular holes in the seat, resembling an ancient version of the toilet.

At this moment, Zhu Er's corpse sat slumped on the grand master's chair with round eyes, wearing only plain white underwear, and a dagger was inserted in his heart. If nothing unexpected happened, this would have been the fatal injury suffered by the deceased.

Sun Shaozong inspected the door lock of the toilet and saw no signs of forced damage to it. He then walked in and reached out to lift the wooden board that was pressing against the tunnel.

An indescribable breath suddenly rushed out!

Sun Shaozong held his breath and lowered his head to glance at it, then quickly pressed the wooden board back.

Afterward, he came to the body of Zhu Er and carefully examined it.

This Zhu Er was about thirty years old, with a short stature and a white face. He leaned back on a chair and his arms naturally fell on the outside of the armrest.

After a preliminary investigation, it appeared that the deceased had only one fatal injury on his chest.

The murder weapon was a dagger less than six inches long, narrow and sharp, with no blood grooves on the side. After being inserted into the heart by the killer, there seemed to be no intention of pulling it out, so the amount of bleeding from the wound was not very large.

After confirming this point, Sun Shaozong immediately checked the two hands hanging on the outside of the armrest.

If a sharp object was pierced into the heart without being instantly pulled out, resulting in a large amount of blood loss, the deceased often could erupt in an intense struggle before death, so there was a high possibility of skin and flesh fragments or clothing fibers remaining in the fingers.

As expected, after careful investigation, Sun Shaozong discovered some moon-white fibers in the nails of the deceased.

But…

These white fibers seemed to be made of the same material as the deceased's clothes.

Did he catch his clothes before he died?

Sun Shaozong pondered for a moment, then suddenly turned his head and walked out of the restroom. He approached an actor dressed in martial arts, lifted his colorful costume, and studied it carefully.

The martial arts actor was dumbfounded by him, unsure whether to resist. However, Sun Shaozong had already abandoned him and loudly asked, "Are you guys wearing moon-white underwear that is uniformly distributed by the royal theater troupe?”

Everyone nodded in unison, and Jiang Yuhan also covered his nose and said in a muffled voice, "Brother Sun, the costumes in our theatrical troupe are all sewn by the women in the mansion, so they are all of the same style and material.”

“So, the probability of this being an internal crime is high.”

Sun Shaozong unquestionably ordered, "Brother Jiang, please ask everyone inside and outside the theater to gather backstage so that I can examine the body and inquire

In fact, Jiang Yuhan felt that the culprit was inside the theater, so without saying a word, he quickly ordered that everyone in the theater be gathered backstage.

Sun Shaozong turned around and went to the body again, continuing to carefully investigate.

The deceased's angry eyes were wide open, and there was a hint of disbelief in his expression of fear. Perhaps they didn't believe that the killer would attack them?

The corners of the deceased's mouth seemed to have many traces of saliva spilling out.

Sun Shaozong further opened the deceased's lips and found clear tooth marks on the inner wall of the lips, which should be the marks left by the deceased's mouth when pressed by an external force.

Could it be that he covered his mouth with one hand and stabbed his heart with a dagger with the other?

If so, this person's skills should be quite agile.

But…

Agility seemed to be a basic skill for actors, so it couldn’t be taken as too important evidence.

Sun Shaozong pondered in his heart and carefully pulled the deceased's body outward to make some gaps and examine the situation behind the deceased.

The first thing to check was the back of the head, which, except for some floating dust, didn’t show any signs of collision or severe friction.

If the murderer had covered his mouth with his hand, it was reasonable to infer that the deceased should have made a move of leaning back and avoiding.

Was the inference of covering the mouth with a hand incorrect, or was it because the victim struggled and did not touch the wall?

Based on the accumulation of blood in the deceased's abdomen, it could be concluded that he was attacked while sitting in a chair, and with just a slight struggle in this position, he would knock down the wall behind him. That was to say, there was a problem with the inference of covering his mouth with his hand.

There were clearly some friction marks on the wall behind the deceased's head.

Could it be that he had something behind his head at that time?

While constantly speculating on clues and questioning himself, Sun Shaozong carefully examined the murder scene inside and outside, more than twice.

Being accustomed to inertia, simulating the scene of the murderer committing the crime in his mind. Suddenly, someone outside respectfully said, "Your Excellency, it was only after repeated questioning that I learned that Zhu Er, who had suddenly died, was accustomed to cheating, playing tricks, and shifting blame to others. Therefore, he didn’t get along well with many people in the theater troupe.”

“In addition, Zhu Er once made a big joke on the stage due to unbearable abdominal pain. From then on, whenever the play started, he would first go to the restroom, and no one in the theatrical troupe was not aware of this.”

This statement was concise.

Sun Shaozong looked back curiously and saw a person standing outside the toilet, It was Su Xingfang, the Magistrate of Daxing County.

“Are you also here to listen to the opera, County Magistrate Su?”

“To be honest with you…”

Su Xingfang smiled shamefully and said, "I have been here for three days now, and I don't know how many official duties have been delayed due to this. I know in my heart that it shouldn't be like this, but I really can't bear to miss such a wonderful show.”

This person usually looked sharp and capable, but surprisingly, he was also a playwright inside.