Chapter 44 Solving the Case

Liu Ruofu nodded and looked at Zhang Yuan, who had just arrived. "捞出把人捞捞上来——pull the body out of the well."

"Ah..." At this moment, a woman hurried to the edge of the well, wailed at the opening, and cried out, "You heartless wretch! How could you abandon me and leave like this? How am I supposed to go on living..."

Liu Ruofu asked, "Do you know the person inside?"

"He is my husband!"

Liu Ruofu nodded. "Quickly fish him out and let's take a look!"

Zhang Yuan immediately ordered several men to tie ropes around themselves and descend into the well.

Lin Feng watched with cold detachment, observing the expressions and subtle movements of the surrounding townspeople illuminated by the torches. As a former operative who had conducted numerous interrogations, he knew that observing facial expressions and body language could reveal a person's inner psychological fluctuations.

Most of the onlookers were residents living around the water well. Their expressions showed no particular abnormality—only a mild trace of fear or curiosity, which was entirely natural under the circumstances.

However, when Lin Feng looked at the woman, he noticed that although she had been howling loudly just moments before, not a single tear had fallen from her eyes.

This indicated that she held little affection for her husband, or perhaps, with his death, she might even be secretly rejoicing.

Yet, Lin Feng also noticed that her facial expressions and the look in her eyes were extremely complex. She kept clutching the corner of her dress every now and then, which signaled that she was very nervous and experiencing intense internal turmoil.

What was going on here? What was she nervous about?

Given the situation, she should have displayed a sense of relief and relaxation.

This woman was likely hiding something!

Of course, this was merely a hypothesis Lin Feng formed through careful observation.

Once the corpse was hauled out of the well, Liu Ruofu asked the woman, "Take a look. Is this your husband?"

The woman immediately dropped to her knees beside the corpse and wailed, "It's him! It really is him..."

Lin Feng stepped out from the crowd and asked the woman, "Did your husband have any enemies? The kind of people he had grudges with, quarreled, or even got into fights with on a regular basis?"

"N—no..."

Liu Ruofu smiled at Lin Feng. "I hadn't noticed that Brother Lin was here as well."

"I was having a drink with Brother Zhang Yuan, and when I heard the commotion, I came along to see what was happening."

"What does Brother Lin make of this case?" Liu Ruofu asked, sensing that Lin Feng had likely perceived something unusual.

In the past, as a local magistrate, he would never have allowed anyone to interfere or chime in while he was handling a case. But Lin Feng was different—not only because he had saved his wife's life, but also because Liu Ruofu found him exceptionally clever and knowledgeable. For instance, regarding the oleander, Lin Feng had identified it on the spot and correctly deduced the cause of his wife's illness.

Afterward, Liu Ruofu had searched through numerous medical texts but found no records whatsoever concerning the oleander, which made him regard Lin Feng with even greater awe and astonishment.

Lin Feng replied, "Since I asked her if her husband had any enemies and she claimed he didn't, it is unlikely that her husband was murdered by a rival and thrown into the well."

Lin Feng turned his gaze back to the woman. "Did your husband drink and gamble?"

"He was a hopeless gambler and a drunkard!" the woman sobbed. "Everyone in the neighborhood knows it."

Lin Feng looked around. "Is that true?"

"That's right!" someone chimed in.

"Could it be that he owed too much gambling debt and threw himself into the well to commit suicide?" another person speculated.

"Or maybe he got too drunk and accidentally fell into the well."

"..."

The surrounding neighbors began to chatter all at once.

Lin Feng raised a hand to quiet them and continued questioning the woman. "Did he frequently stay out all night because of gambling or drinking?"

The woman stammered, "Y—yes..."

Lin Feng stared intently into her eyes. "It's pitch black at night, and the well is deep. Even with a torch, it's impossible for anyone to make out the features of a corpse down in the water. How is it that you recognized him as your husband at a single glance?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuan looked puzzled and exclaimed, "That's right! That is extremely strange!"

The woman's gaze grew even more flustered. "H—he didn't come home at all last night. I figured something must have happened to him, so I assumed the body in the well had to be him..."

Lin Feng chuckled lightly. "Just now, when I asked you about it, you said he frequently stayed out all night and that you usually didn't worry. Yet today, you were suddenly so concerned. Isn't that a glaring contradiction?"

Liu Ruofu was suddenly enlightened. "Could it be that she was the one who threw her husband into the well?"

"I... I didn't... How could that be... It wasn't me..." The woman collapsed onto the ground, rambling incoherently.

"Take this woman and the body back. I will interrogate her through the night!" Liu Ruofu ordered immediately. Even a fool could now see that there was something deeply suspicious about the woman.

Liu Ruofu cupped his fists toward Lin Feng and said, "Brother Lin, you've helped me immensely once again."

"Being able to ease your burdens is my greatest honor, Magistrate."

Liu Ruofu patted him on the shoulder and lowered his voice. "It's a pity I'll be leaving this place soon; otherwise, I would certainly invite you to serve as my legal advisor."

Lin Feng thought to himself that he had no desire to be any legal advisor, and besides, he wouldn't be staying here for many more days either.

By early May, he would be leaving as well.

Upon returning to the farmhouse in Kaoshan Village, Xiaodie and Liu Xi were already fast asleep. After washing up, Lin Feng went to his room and saw that a plate of stir-fried five-spice garlic peanuts was already neatly prepared on the table. It seemed Tian Xi'er had returned earlier and made sure tomorrow's supplies were all taken care of.

She truly was a diligent and hardworking young woman.

She would most likely not choose to follow him when he left. Once he departed, he would simply leave the food stall to her and her family. What Tian Xi'er had learned from him would be more than enough for her to live a stable and prosperous life in the future.

Suddenly, a pang of reluctance tugged at his heart...

The next morning, Zhang Yuan sent a subordinate to the riverside food stall to brief Lin Feng on the outcome of the previous night's case.

The woman had indeed turned out to be the murderer. The night before, she had expected her husband to spend the entire night drinking and gambling as usual, never imagining that he would return in the middle of the night and catch her red-handed in an affair with another man.

In a fit of panic, she and her paramour had murdered her husband and dumped his body into the water well.

That was how the whole story unfolded.

The bailiff also mentioned that a letter had arrived from Jiangcheng, instructing Magistrate Liu Ruofu to assume his new post there as soon as possible. Zhang Yuan had sent him to ask if Lin Feng intended to travel along with them.

The bailiff added that Zhang Yuan had already booked three carriages in advance, so accommodating Lin Feng and his two companions would not be a problem at all.

If Lin Feng wished to travel with them, he should pack his belongings as soon as possible.

After the bailiff left, Tian Xi'er walked over to Lin Feng. Her voice was remarkably subdued. "Brother Lin, are you leaving?"

Lin Feng nodded.

A look of unspeakable desolation and loss crossed her pretty face. "My father and mother still won't agree to let me go."

"I know."

"Brother Lin, will you ever come back here?"

"Yes, I will."

Though when he did return, it would likely just be passing through.

Tian Xi'er forced a faint smile onto her lovely face and then turned away to attend to the incoming customers. Her delicate figure carried an unspoken, lingering loneliness.

An unusually large number of patrons came to eat today, many of whom were travelers from out of town.

As Lin Feng listened to their private conversations, he learned that many of them had traveled from afar specifically to attend the performances of the Tianyin Troupe.

"Coming here last night was truly worth the trip."

"The maidens of the Tianyin Troupe are simply breathtaking."

"..."

"I never imagined that Xu Zhichang from Wei County possessed such poetic talent."

"I'm so envious that he became a favored guest of Lady Hongyi."

"If Lady Hongyi adapts his poems into musical compositions, Xu Zhichang will undoubtedly become even more renowned."

"His writing is truly exquisite. I must copy it down when I get back and study it carefully. 'As the moon climbs above the willow tree, we meet at dusk'—that line is absolute perfection."