Chapter 6 - His Name

Editor: mako

Proofreader: kllua

Huo ZhenYe stopped for a second before laughing and reaching for Bai Zhun’s wheelchair handles.

However, every time he was about to touch the handles, the wheelchair would jolt forward a few steps. Constantly at the point of almost being able to touch it but unable to, Huo ZhenYe knew that Bai Zhun was playing a trick on him.

Nonetheless, he was not angry and gave him a smile. “You really do not want to know who killed Su ManLi and Jin DanGui?”

Bai Zhun did not acknowledge the question and continued moving forward. Eventually, Huo ZhenYe took a few large strides to catch up to him.

As long as his hands did not touch the wheelchair, it would move at the usual speed. So, Huo ZhenYe tucked his hands in his trouser pockets and followed beside Bai Zhun with unrestrained steps.

“I have seen Jin DanGui’s file.” Huo Zhenye was smiling with several strands of hair falling before his forehead. With the afternoon sun reflecting against his eyebrows and eyes, he asked, “I can tell you about it?”

Bai Zhun’s wheelchair slowed down. Tilting slightly towards Huo ZhenYe and raising his eyebrows, it appeared that he was finally a little interested in what Huo ZhenYe was saying. Even after living this many years in seclusion, Bai Zhun was still unable to curb his curiosity.

Huo ZhenYe tried to make a compromise, “How about I tell you who the killer is and you tell me when we met?”

He dared to raise such conditions with him? Bai Zhun turned his face, and his bamboo wheelchair rumbled forward. This time, no matter how much Huo ZhenYe pursued him, he could not catch up anymore.

Nonetheless, Huo ZhenYe did not stop and chased Bai Zhun until they were at the mouth of the alley. The whole scene looked as if Bai Zhun was a cat that was teasing him.

No matter how good Huo ZhenYe’s physical body was, he could not stop his panting, “Do you really not want to know?”

Human beings always possessed curiosity, and one such example was himself. He had never thought that one day, he would harbor such a strong curiosity about another person.

Initially, Huo ZhenYe had never believed in ghosts and gods either. After all, despite his mother’s prayers to the gods and Buddha every day, no wishes were ever fulfilled. Besides, there was also a saying: “three feet from one’s head were divinities” 1 “举头三尺有神明” (literally “three feet from one’s head were divinities”) was a saying that persuades people not to do guilty things as everyone had deities/gods scrutinizing them within three feet from their head. , but while gongs and drums sound during kind acts, everyone acted as if no one knew any better of their bad deeds.

However, now he knew there existed ghosts and gods between the heavens and earth. Before his fear could develop, he would first enjoy this experience. It turned out that when the Yang was insufficient, the Yin would step in to reward and punish.

Bai Zhun’s paper rickshaw puller was already waiting for him. As it set off, the rickshaw that Huo ZhenYe took followed closely behind them.

Because Huo ZhenYe’s rickshaw puller received a silver dollar, he wanted to retain this big customer and ran with his utmost strength and efforts.

However, no matter how hard he chased, he could not reduce the distance between himself and the rickshaw in front of him. Drenched in sweat, the rickshaw puller eventually lost sight of Bai Zhun.

The rickshaw puller stopped with a face full of loss. He could not figure out how he could just lose sight of them in a blink. Afraid that he would lose the silver dollar, he bowed to Huo ZhenYe and said, “That rickshaw is too fast. How can they have thrown me off?”

Aware that Bai Zhun had done something, Huo ZhenYe’s interest towards him grew even more. As he looked at the sweaty appearance of the rickshaw puller, he gave him another silver dollar. “Can you still continue?”

“Can, I can!”

“Go to Avenue Joffre 2 “霞飞路” is known as “Avenue Joffre” in French. However, it was now more commonly known as “Middle HuaiHai Road”. , Huo residence.”

As soon as Huo ZhenYe returned, the amah 3 “老妈子” (amah) is a maidservant who is older in age. As I assumed that she was employed by the family to clean, look after children, and perform other domestic tasks, I translated it to the occupational role of an “amah”. Also, do note that referring to her as “Mother Liu” does not mean that she was Huo ZhenYe’s biological mother. As these nursemaids usually take care of a family’s children till they grow up, they tend to play the role of a mother hence the “妈” (mother) form of address in Chinese. came up to him. As Mother Liu looked at him, tears were about to flow down her eyes. “The young master has finally come back. When the car arrived at the precinct, there was no one there, so we did not know where you were. I have also prepared some pomelo leaves. Young Master should bathe with them to dispel bad luck.”

“Did my eldest brother call?”

Mother Liu took his wrinkled suit coat from him and replied, “The First Young Master made three phone calls this morning, one in person and two from Secretary He.”

Otherwise, without those phone calls, they would not have been aware that Huo ZhenYe was released.

Huo ZhenYe knew that by not returning home immediately, he would have to suffer through endless nagging from Mother Liu. So, he then decided to play coy and coaxed her to be happy, “Mother Liu, I am hungry. I want to eat noodles.”

Indeed, Mother Liu had just been grumbling internally about the fact that he did not return immediately despite everything having been resolved. However, when she heard him say that he was hungry, she recalled that he would not have been able to eat and sleep well outside these days, causing her heart to ache immediately. “Have you suffered this entire time? Next time, you should listen to the older young master. I also knew that you must have wanted noodles when you returned, so the sauces have all been prepared. Between shredded shrimps and meat, which one do you want?”

Huo ZhenYe, who was truly hungry, as he did not have a good meal these past few days, said, “I want both.”

With a face full of smiles, Mother Liu then walked to the kitchen while mumbling, “You really cannot forget my noodles no matter where you go.”

At this moment, Huo ZhenYe climbed up the stairs to the study. He should first give a call to his eldest brother, Huo ChaoZong.

Secretary He was the one who answered the phone. As soon as he picked up the call, he heard Huo ZhenYe’s voice and said with a smile, “The Seventh Young Master has finally called. The First Young Master has been waiting.”

Although Secretary He was a secretary by name, he was actually someone from the Huo family. So, in front of the Huo family, he had always called Huo ChaoZong the First Young Master.

“You finally know how to give a call?” As soon as Huo ChaoZong received the phone, he directly scolded his younger brother, “How many days have you just come back from England, and you still managed to end up causing so much trouble?”

Huo ZhenYe was not afraid of him. There were few people in the Huo family who really treated him well, and his eldest brother was at the top.

“It was my bad luck. It was not as if I meant to cause trouble.”

“Then you should find something proper to do! From the way you were going, what were you trying to do?” Although Huo ChaoZong and Huo ZhenYe were not born from the same mother, he had watched Huo ZhenYe grow up. Whatever Huo ZhenYe wanted to do, he knew clearly.

“If you do not like Miss Tao, you can just tell me, and I will deal with our father. How did you cause such a big scandal?”

“Eldest Brother, I want to go to the precinct to solve cases.”

Even Huo ChaoZong had not expected that his younger brother would want to do something like that and laughed across the phone, “How can you do it without brains? Did a visit to England turn you into Sherlock Holmes?”

“Big Brother, have you even read Sherlock Holmes?” Huo ZhenYe felt mild disbelief, as the older his brother got, the more old-fashioned he became. As a result, it was unexpected that he would still read this kind of novel.

Huo ChaoZong did not respond to his brother’s joke. With something urgent going on currently, he was in a hurry to leave and said to Huo ZhenYe, “That place is in a public settlement. Do you think my hands can stretch that far 4 Here, he was referring to his social reach/connections to the precinct. ? You cannot be entrusted with proper duty, so just be a consultant.”

Achieving what he wanted, Huo ZhenYe put down the receiver, took a relaxing bath with the pomelo leaves, and ate the noodles sent up by Mother Liu.

Polishing three bowls full of ingredients and sauce, he ate cleanly and stood up, intending to go out.

When Mother Liu saw that he was about to leave again, she gave him a new suit. She even complained, “You cannot stand staying at home and yet do not study obediently either.”

“Mother Liu, I have already graduated,” Huo ZhenYe said while leaving with a smile. This time, he took his own car to the precinct.

Meanwhile, Song JingNan had already received a phone call, and it was indeed within his abilities to arrange for a consultant. However, he just did not know what the purpose of this young master’s return was. Did he find the precinct fun?

When he handed Huo ZhenYe the consultant appointment letter, he asked tentatively, “Should I first arrange a desk for you?”

Huo ZhenYe raised his eyebrows. “No need. Just take me to the scene of the crime and give me an assistant.”

While others regard Huo ZhenYe as a young master trying to stir things up, only Da Tou had seen Huo ZhenYe’s abilities. If the interrogation had not been interrupted suddenly then, he would have managed to obtain more information from Big Liu.

Da Tou bravely volunteered, “Me! I will be Young Master Huo’s assistant.”

As he brought Huo ZhenYe to Su ManLi’s home, he apprised Huo ZhenYe the details of the case on the way.

Su ManLi had been murdered at home. Even though the manservant, amah, and the others were all questioned, no one had heard anything that night.

“Su ManLi dances in the evening and sleeps in during the daytime, so it was almost noon when a female servant went to wake her up and found her dead in bed.” Da Tou snuck a glance at Huo ZhenYe as he continued, “Her eyes have also been dug out.”

The culprit for this case was vicious, and Da Tou, who had been a policeman for a few years, had never seen such a thing before. Meanwhile, despite this being Huo ZhenYe’s first case, he wore a calm expression. Da Tou then asked, “Young Master Huo, who do you think did it?”

Huo ZhenYe turned the question back to Da Tou, “Who do you think did it then?”

“Me? I think it must have something to do with the selection of the queen of the world of flowers.” It was then that Da Tou took out a notebook and listed out the votes of the few rounds of selection, and handed it to Huo ZhenYe.

Huo ZhenYe took a glance. It seemed like the ranking of these candidates did not change much every time. Only Jin DanGui and her tricks became a hit, allowing her to jump up from being at the bottom and almost being eliminated to the middle.

“In addition, the Paramount and XianYue Palace are business competitors 5 In the past, Shanghai had 4 notable dancing places/ballrooms: “仙乐斯舞厅” (literally “XianYue Palace” but now known as Ciros Plaza), “百乐门” (The Paramount), “大都会” (literally “DaDou Hui”) and “丽都” (literally “LiDou”). Here, Da Tou was referring to 2 of them, specifically the Paramount and XianYue Palace. , as most of the dancers were chosen from these two establishments. Is it possible that it was a murder for profit?” After saying that, Da Tou scratched his head. “Young Master Huo, do you think what I am saying is right?”

“Quite right.” If this was an ordinary case, this line of thinking was not problematic.

However, it was not an ordinary case. The deceased had turned into a female ghost who would return at night to avenge herself.

Soon, they arrived, and Huo ZhenYe walked into Su ManLi’s bedroom.

Her bedroom was at the deepest end of the second floor. If the murderer had entered by prying the lock open, they would have passed through the living room stairs. Even if the servants and amah did not hear anything, the murderer would have left traces on the carpet by the door.

“Young Master Huo, there are no traces on the floor and carpet while the lock is intact. How do you believe the murderer got in?”

In Su ManLi’s bedroom, there was also a window facing a small garden, but there was no sign that the window had been pried open.

The flowering shrubs downstairs had not been trampled on either. Did the murderer really appear out of thin air, commit the murder, and disappear once more?

In the case of Jin DanGui, the location of the crime was in a private room of Astor House. With the numerous hotel staff, the murderer would be undetected if they camouflaged themself in the crowd and left.

However, Su ManLi died at home. With the manservant, amah, and the girl servant, there were only a total of four people. How did the murderer commit the crime then?

“What did they eat in the evening? Have you checked?” Since anesthetic drugs were found in the wine bottles in the hotel’s private room, they might be present here too.

“Su ManLi did not return home for dinner in the evening, so the amah did not cook. Meanwhile, several servants gathered some money to buy Sanhuang chicken 6 “三黄鸡” (Sanhuang chicken) is a type of chicken. Besides their obvious yellow characteristics, they are also resistant to rough feeding, strong adaptability, fast growth, strong disease resistance, high egg production, and meat quality. and ate some chicken porridge and soup noodles.”

“The corpse was sent to the forensic officer, and there was no sign of the lock being picked. So how did the killer get in?”

Huo ZhenYe stared at the window and walked over to stand beside it. “Has evidence been collected here already?”

“It has been accomplished. We even took photos.”

Huo ZhenYe put on his gloves, pushed open the window, and looked down. The flowers have bloomed well.

He then turned back and looked up, noticing some fresh-new dirt at the top of the window. Kicking off his shoes, he climbed up the window.

“Young Master Huo! What did you see? I should be the one going up.” However, before he could finish his words, Huo ZhenYe’s whole body was already outside. He even waved and said, “Give me the camera.”

On the outer wall of the window of Su ManLi’s room, there was a white line that seemed to have been rubbed on by something.

Da Tou quickly handed over the camera. Exerting some strength on his two legs, Huo ZhenYe then clung onto the window with one hand while his other hand pressed on the shutter.

“Young Master Huo, what are you taking pictures of?”

Huo ZhenYe did not answer him. After taking some pictures, he just threw the camera back to Da Tou and jumped back in through the window. Slipping on his shoes, he then hurried downstairs and made a circle around the townhouse.

“The person went up from here.” As it was a villa constructed by the French, it had their signature limestone walls and ivy growing outside.

Between the leaves, Huo ZhenYe found a shallow mark that seemed to have been left by cloth shoes.

Looking up, he noted that the second floor was the window of the reception room. Climbing back upstairs again, he pushed the window of the reception room open.

Da Tou quickly stopped him. “Young Master Huo, we have already asked, and no guests have paid a visit during these few days. The door and window of the reception hall had also not been opened.”

Despite that, Huo ZhenYe still climbed up the window frame. He indeed found a triangular mark on the ledge.

Someone had thrown a rope with a hook over the wall and walked across the roof before entering Su ManLi’s room to commit the crime.

Da Tou was confused. “But how did the murderer open Su ManLi’s window?”

Huo ZhenYe took out his handkerchief and wiped away his sweat. “It is now August, which makes it normal for a person to open their window at night to let in some wind. Go and ask the female servant if Su ManLi had such a habit.”

Sure enough, the female servant nodded. Su ManLi was afraid of the heat, and she always had her windows opened and fans on.

Next, they only had to send someone to the roof to collect the footprints and fingerprints before comparing them. Just like that, Huo ZhenYe would know whether the murderer was the person he had in his mind.

The precinct sent a skinny policeman who moved lightly to collect the footprints and fingerprints.

Da Tou admired Huo ZhenYe’s series of inferences greatly. Wanting to do something instead of standing around, he asked, “Then, was this a murder committed in revenge? Anyway, a robbery can be ruled out, as Su ManLi’s jewelry have been accounted for and nothing was missing.”

When Huo ZhenYe heard about the jewelry, he thought of something. Going straight to the dressing table, he opened the jewelry box.

The pair of earrings Big Liu gave Jin DanGui was lying in Su ManLi’s jewelry box.

Huo ZhenYe frowned. Did this mean that the killer was not him?

He plucked out the diamond earrings. Such big diamonds were rare, and compared with her other jewelry, this was one of the most valuable ones.

Huo ZhenYe held out the earrings and asked Su ManLi’s girl servant, “How many days ago has it been since she took this item back?”

The girl servant combed through her memory and replied, “It was probably the night of the world of flowers selection banquet.”

Su ManLi’s love for jewelry and her guests’ jewelry gifts were nothing unusual.

That day, after receiving the earrings, she kept looking into the mirror and even said she wanted to change its design, transforming one into a ring and another into a necklace.

“Then, did she forget? Or did she not send it for change?”

“She did not send it for change. At that time, I even asked the young lady if she wanted to call the jeweler to the house, but she scolded me.”

The next day, when the murder of Jin DanGui was reported in the newspaper, Su ManLi had not dared to wear the earrings out again.

At this point in time, Huo ZhenYe drew out a general timeline of events.

Jin DanGui tipped the footman at Astor House to ask for his room number. However, when he left the Peacock Banquet Hall, he had headed to the billiard room downstairs to play and did not go back to his room immediately.

Big Liu then came into the room pretending to be him and stayed with Jin DanGui. When they drank the wine containing the anesthetic drugs, they fell unconscious.

It was during the period after Jin DanGui became unconscious and before she was killed that Su ManLi entered the room and stole the earrings. That was to say, Su ManLi might have seen Jin DanGui’s murderer.

Right then, Huo ZhenYe could not wait to tell Bai Zhun what he found.

However, he only knew that the other person was called the Seventh Master.

1

“举头三尺有神明” (literally “three feet from one’s head were divinities”) was a saying that persuades people not to do guilty things as everyone had deities/gods scrutinizing them within three feet from their head. 2

“霞飞路” is known as “Avenue Joffre” in French. However, it was now more commonly known as “Middle HuaiHai Road”. 3

“老妈子” (amah) is a maidservant who is older in age. As I assumed that she was employed by the family to clean, look after children, and perform other domestic tasks, I translated it to the occupational role of an “amah”. Also, do note that referring to her as “Mother Liu” does not mean that she was Huo ZhenYe’s biological mother. As these nursemaids usually take care of a family’s children till they grow up, they tend to play the role of a mother hence the “妈” (mother) form of address in Chinese. 4

Here, he was referring to his social reach/connections to the precinct. 5

In the past, Shanghai had 4 notable dancing places/ballrooms: “仙乐斯舞厅” (literally “XianYue Palace” but now known as Ciros Plaza), “百乐门” (The Paramount), “大都会” (literally “DaDou Hui”) and “丽都” (literally “LiDou”). Here, Da Tou was referring to 2 of them, specifically the Paramount and XianYue Palace. 6

“三黄鸡” (Sanhuang chicken) is a type of chicken. Besides their obvious yellow characteristics, they are also resistant to rough feeding, strong adaptability, fast growth, strong disease resistance, high egg production, and meat quality.