Despite already harboring suspicions in his heart, Jiang Mu forcibly suppressed his emotions and continued visiting the remaining two families according to the list.
He only returned home as evening approached.
After hastily eating dinner, he returned to his room.
Under the lamplight, he carefully replayed every detail before and after visiting Madam Wu's house that day in his mind, then picked up his brush and recorded them on paper, attempting to sort out a clearer thread of logic.
"If the murderer really is Wu, then things will truly be troublesome."
"Among the several widows investigated, only this Madam Wu has the most special status—she is an official's kin with an imperial decree to her name."
"Moreover, Madam Wu has a cousin, Yan Qingshan, who holds an important position in the Patrol Yamen. Wanting to directly arrest and interrogate her without solid evidence is obviously impossible."
"That kid was clean when committing the crime and didn't leave any solid evidence. The only spirit item is still inside Chief Tang's body..."
"Without conclusive evidence, who knows whether Chief Tang would dare to arrest anyone."
At this moment, Jiang Mu deeply realized that Uncle An's worries had not been unfounded.
This case ran too deep. If he got involved, he could easily be drawn into a struggle between high-level powers. When that time came, a small fry like him would likely truly become cannon fodder.
"Forget it, I'll leave this headache for Big Watermelon Tang to worry about."
Jiang Mu carefully wrote down the conclusions from his analysis, planning to go to the Patrol Yamen the next day and present them to Tang Jinxian.
The final decision would be up to her.
As for whether today's visit might startle the snake and invite the murderer's retaliation to silence him, Jiang Mu was not overly worried.
That Wu was no fool.
Choosing to silence someone at this time would be no different from exposing himself, completely sending himself into a dead end.
"This fellow's psychological resilience is quite strong. He's probably also gambling that the Patrol Yamen can't find evidence and won't dare touch him. Or perhaps, he's waiting for that mole inside the Patrol Yamen to pass him information," Jiang Mu muttered in a low voice. "His uncle Yan Qingshan is ninety percent that left-handed accomplice. I wonder if Chief Tang is already suspicious of him..."
"Ah, what a tangled mess. Sleep!"
——
Thin clouds shrouded the moon. The night was dark and windy.
A cool night wind swept past the eaves and treetops, sending the branch shadows into a wild dance.
Tang Jinxian quietly concealed herself amidst the dense branches and foliage of a tree, her beautiful eyes fixed intently on a small house not far away that glowed with dim yellow lamplight.
At this moment, she was dressed in a tight-fitting black outfit.
The tight design outlined her ample, exquisite, voluptuous figure to perfection.
She was surveilling the man inside the house.
Yan Qingshan.
After preliminarily circling two suspects, she had adopted the most primitive yet effective method—secret surveillance.
Tonight's target was Yan Qingshan.
But judging from her current observations, Yan Qingshan didn't seem very suspicious.
Because the man had a very warm and harmonious family.
He had a virtuous wife and two clever, filial sons.
The family atmosphere was harmonious and warm.
Tang Jinxian didn't believe that someone in such an environment could be that demon who had cruelly tortured and murdered several women.
But since she had come, observing a bit more couldn't hurt.
Inside the lamp-lit house, the family of four enjoyed themselves thoroughly, with the younger son's laughter occasionally floating out.
Tang Jinxian was somewhat dazed.
The concept of "family" had long since become distant and unfamiliar to her.
Her grandfather and parents had all died in battle; her husband had also died on their wedding day. She had long since forgotten his appearance.
At one time, deep in her heart, she had not been without longing.
She had hoped for a husband who respected and loved her, one or two well-behaved, adorable children, and to spend a peaceful, happy life amid the trivial, ordinary daily necessities of living.
But all of this was now merely a vain hope.
Her status, her background, destined her—once widowed—to remain a widow for the rest of her life.
The word "remarry" was simply impossible and absolutely not permitted to appear in the trajectory of her later life.
She came from a military family, her household filled with loyal martyrs. Her former husband was a Hanlin Academician of impeccable nobility; her father-in-law was a former Grand Preceptor who once held power over the court; her mother-in-law was the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Yu...
Beneath layers of halos and shackles, she had neither the capital nor the freedom to pursue personal happiness.
This life was destined to be accompanied only by loneliness.
Time quietly flowed by.
By the time Tang Jinxian returned from her chaotic thoughts, the candle flame in the small house had long since been extinguished.
Apparently, the family had gone to sleep.
Tang Jinxian waited patiently a while longer, then prepared to withdraw.
But just as she moved, the small house's door creaked gently open.
Tang Jinxian's heart tightened, and she immediately pressed her body close to the tree trunk.
Gazing intently, she saw a figure walk out.
It was Yan Qingshan.
"This guy, already gone to bed, what's he coming out for?"
Tang Jinxian wondered inwardly.
Yan Qingshan walked alone to a stone stool in the courtyard and sat down, lifting his head to gaze at the hazy moonlight half-veiled by drifting clouds, seemingly in a daze.
Tang Jinxian felt increasingly strange and observed patiently.
After a long time, Yan Qingshan returned inside.
Not long after, he emerged again, actually changed into a black night-traveling outfit, and left the courtyard.
Tang Jinxian silently followed.
At this moment, she realized that her previous subjective conjecture was likely wrong.
This Yan Qingshan was the one who would give her a "surprise."
The night was like ink, cold wind howling.
The bare branches of withered trees on both sides of the road twisted and swayed in the wind, casting patches of eerie, dancing shadows.
Tang Jinxian executed her movement technique, following from afar behind Yan Qingshan.
Trailing all the way, they arrived in the area of Liuyang Street.
This place was rather remote. Only one gambling den still had its lights on.
But Yan Qingshan didn't enter the gambling den. Instead, his figure flashed as he turned into a narrower, dimmer alley beside it.
Tang Jinxian observed the surroundings, lightly tapped the tip of her foot against the wall, her posture as light as a swallow, silently sweeping to the roof on the side. She lowered her body and continued tracking.
Soon, she saw another figure faintly walk out from the depths of the alley.
It was a man.
His gait was one step and a pause, his figure slightly swaying.
He was clearly lame.
Tang Jinxian was just about to focus her gaze for a closer look when a black shadow suddenly darted out from the other side of the roof beside her, startling her into quickly flattening her body even lower.
"Meow~~"
That black shadow leaped lightly down from the wall and disappeared into the alley's shadows.
"So it was a cat."
Tang Jinxian secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Patting her rapidly beating heart, she looked up at the alley again, only to freeze.
The alley was empty!
Yan Qingshan and that mysterious lame man had both vanished!
"Crap, I lost them!"
Tang Jinxian hurriedly swept down from the roof and slipped into the alley to search carefully.
But after searching for a long while, she couldn't find a single shadow.
"Damn cat!"
Tang Jinxian cursed inwardly, extremely annoyed.
After another fruitless search, she reluctantly prepared to head back first.
Right at this moment, Tang Jinxian suddenly felt a wave of heat in her abdomen, as if some brand was burning.
At the same time, her consciousness began to blur.
"This is..."
This familiar scorching heat and dazed feeling made Tang Jinxian suddenly remember the feeling of being tamed by the spirit item in the cave previously.
Her expression changed, and she subconsciously touched her neck.
The skin at her neck was still delicate, smooth, and snowy, without any abnormality.
She hurriedly reached toward her lower abdomen where the burning sensation originated.
Where her fingertips touched was scalding hot, as if a fiercely burning small furnace was hidden inside her body.
"How can this be?"
Before she could figure out what was happening, the woman's consciousness was completely drawn out, seized by the powerful spirit item's energy.
A watery charm quickly submerged her cold, clear eyes.
Driven by instinct, she dropped to all fours.
Tang Jinxian looked around left and right, then leaped onto another wall. Relying on a strong, indistinct sensation, she rapidly sought out the direction where her "master" was.
Her figure quickly merged into the heavy darkness.
——
Inside the room, the moonlight was like frost, quietly pouring through the window lattice to scatter silver radiance across the floor.
Jiang Mu was sleeping soundly.
In his drowsiness, he felt an itch on his cheek.
It seemed like a furry little insect was crawling, and a familiar, faint fragrance lingered between his nostrils.
He reached out and swatted at it.
But the "insect" not only didn't leave; instead, it continued wandering across his face.
A moist, warm sensation grew increasingly clear.
The fragrance also grew increasingly rich.
Jiang Mu finally opened his sleepy eyes.
In his blurry vision, he saw a dark head swaying right before his eyes.
"Holy shit!!!"
Under intense fright, his sleepiness instantly vanished, adrenaline spiking as he sprang up from the bed with a jolt.
Without thinking, he reached under his pillow and pulled out the hidden iron ruler.
He viciously stabbed toward the black shadow!
"Woof~~"
Jiang Mu's movements abruptly halted.
He stared blankly at that exceptionally familiar voluptuous silhouette in the darkness, tentatively calling out:
"...Chief Tang?"
"Woof~~"
It was still that obedient response.
Jiang Mu's heart raced wildly. He hurriedly fumbled to light the kerosene lamp on the nearby table.
The dim, swaying light quickly dispelled the darkness, outlining the woman's marvelous, astonishing figure.
From her rounded, fragrant shoulders, to her slender, supple snake waist that could be grasped in one hand, to that millstone-like rear...
"This... why is it starting again?!"
Jiang Mu was dumbfounded.
His brain couldn't quite wrap around it for a moment.
And at this moment, Tang Jinxian had already pounced forward, bringing a wave of fragrant wind, easily pressing the still somewhat dazed Jiang Mu back down onto the bed.
She lowered her head.
Her soft, hot tongue, like a small brush, rubbed against the man's face.
Very cheerfully and eagerly.