CH 319

319: Ming Xi’s Reasoning

They met for two hours before everyone finally adjourned to their respective rooms to rest.

Feng Wu returned to her room. Soon after Jier and the other guys rushed over as well. The outside meeting was over, but now they needed their own meeting.

“What that Airon guy said was reasonable.” Jier rexplained Airon’s reasoning to the rest of the group.

Ming Xi thought for a moment before saying, “There is some good logic in it, but it’s not without flaws.”

“What’s wrong with his reasoning?” Leo, who had become a middle-aged manservant, asked.

Ink and Feng Wu sat on the stool waiting for Jier and Ming Xi to speak. They knew who the brains of the group were.

Ming Xi thought deeply while Jier thought in a more straightforward manner. For this kind of insidious, sneaky situation, Ming Xi was undoubtedly the better person for the job. If anyone could see through the subterfuge, it would be Ming Xi.

“Senior, please share. Did you figure something out?” Ink really wanted to know.

“I did.” Ming Xi smiled and nodded. His demeanor was still regal even if his new appearance was plain and unremarkable. “Airon said the culprit wasn’t strong, but I disagree. Everyone must have wondered this at least once. Why, when everyone else died, was Xiao Wu the only one who survived?”

“Yeah, why?” The inquisitive group asked eagerly.

“It’s because the person let Xiao Wu live. I don’t think it was calculation error. The person killed so many people without making a single mistake. Yet despite this, Xiao Wu lived. The only explanation is the culprit wanted Xiao Wu to live.”

“But why? Why would the person spare Xiao Wu after killing so many others?” Jier couldn’t help but guess. “Is there a connection between the body Xiao Wu is in and the culprit, so the person couldn’t bear to kill her?”

Ink and Leo nodded along. It made sense. Feng Wu blinked her big eyes in curiosity at Ming Xi.

Ming Xi shook his head. “It wasn’t for such a basic reason.”

“Then why? What other reason could there be?” Then Ink was inspired. “Could it because the culprit has a crush on the original Zhēn, so couldn’t bear to kill her?!”

Ming Xi gave Ink a look. It seemed to say: you think too much.

“He wanted Xiao Wu to live so there would be someone to give an eye witness account.” Ming Xi stopped stalling and gave it to them straight.

“A testimony!” Jier suddenly understood what Ming Xi was trying to say. “You mean the culprit made such a crude attempt on Xiao Wu’s life just so Xiao Wu would live to give an account of what happened. It would lead us to discover the drug.”

“What?! How scheming! Man!” Ink would never have thought of that. He was amazed at the trickery.

“Truly formidable.” Leo thought out loud.

“No, think about the people outside. That Airon guy has a bit of brains, but the rest, who knows how long it would have taken them to figure the medicine. And if Airon ignored the clues, wouldn’t the culprit’s plan have been wasted?” Ink had been around the people in the group for days. With the exception of the killer, who was hidden deep, he had everyone else figured out.

He didn’t think anyone in the group would have been clever enough to connect the clues together. Even that Airon guy was only clever about small things.

“It wouldn’t have been wasted effort. If Airon hadn’t thought of it on his own, the culprit would have reminded him at the right time.” Jier didn’t believe the murderer would let his efforts go to waste.

“Exactly.” Ming Xi agreed. “If anyone’s discovered anything, please share. We can discuss it together.”

Ink and Leo glanced at each other before shaking their heads no in embarrassment. They had tried their best, but came up with nothing. The castle was so big and they couldn’t use their abilities. You could imagine how difficult it was to find any clues.

They couldn’t risk asking any of the other people for help and inadvertently invite an enemy in.

“I found something.” Unexpectedly, it was Feng Wu who had discovered something. She looked at Ming Xi earnestly.

“Xiao Wu, what did you find?!”

They were all curious. How did she have the time to find any clues? She had been confined to bed for so many days. Even when she had healed, she mostly just stayed in her room. The times she did go out, it was always with a group of people. When did she find the opportunity to look for any clues?

Feng Wu stood up and went to the dresser. She opened one of the drawers and motioned for the others to come over.

They walked over and looked inside. There were some cosmetics for girls, but that was it. What was so unusual about the items?

Feng Wu reached inside and brought out a powder jar.

“Is there something special about that powder?” Jier took the jar from Feng Wu and inspected it. He turned it around a few times in his hand before opening and looking inside. He failed to find anything strange though.

“Look here. This mark.” Feng Wu pointed to a flower and butterfly logo on the bottom of the jar.

“Isn’t this just a normal design for girl cosmetics? Girls like flowers and butterflies.” Ink was indifferent to the logo design.

Even Ming Xi, who was very perceptive, didn’t notice anything strange.

“This flower/butterfly logo was used for a line of cosmetics from one hundred years ago. It hasn’t been around since. The people who make it are no longer around, so this powder hasn’t been made in a long time.” Feng Wu relayed the information with a blank face.

“You mean this brand hasn’t been sold since a hundred years ago?!” Ink was surprised to learn that.

“It’s possible someone from Yanaimo’s family had it specially made.” Leo explained.

There were cases like this before. Once there was a family of wine makers who were massacred. It was a complete bloodbath. No one thought it was possible to buy or taste the wine again since the method to make the wine was lost forever.

Turned out the heir escaped and was still making the wine. However, he didn’t sell it, but was making it exclusively for one person. The flower/butterfly brand may have survived in the same way.

“This belonged to Zhēn. A lot of the other girls have this kind of powder too. I asked them and they said the powder was a business the Yanaimo family owned. Yanaimo gave some to everyone.”