Chapter Eighty-Three: A Strand of Hair

Lanzhou.

"Sir, this is the place."

A junior constable led Li Pingyang to a grand residence and pointed at the tightly shut wooden gates. Two sealing strips crossed the doors, already dusted with a thin layer of gray.

Carefully peeling the seals away and folding them up, the constable pushed the doors open to either side and gestured for him to enter.

Li Pingyang glanced at the waist badge in his hand, the token the former Prime Minister Lin had once given him. He had not expected it to be so useful. Carrying it to the magistrate's office in Lanzhou had made everything go smoothly.

The moment the badge was shown, the officer on duty dropped to his knees at once, apologizing for the poor reception and pleading forgiveness for not welcoming such an important visitor sooner.

After leaving the capital, Li Pingyang had returned first to Lanzhou to begin investigating the truth behind the slaughter of the Li family. The first thing that came to mind was to visit the scene of the crime itself.

Though the place had been cleaned countless times, he still felt there must be clues that had been overlooked or missed.

Li Hu's wounds had only just healed, so Li Pingyang had not called for him this time. He went alone. With his present skill, he no longer needed Li Hu to protect him.

"Much obliged."

After looking around and seeing no one nearby, Li Pingyang smiled at the constable and spoke. Then he took several banknotes from his robe and pressed them into the man's hand.

The constable showed no intention of refusing and said quickly, "Sir, this is only part of my duty. It is as it should be."

Even as he spoke, he tried to snatch the money from Li Pingyang's hand. Li Pingyang felt he had given too much and would not let go. After a brief tug-of-war, he still lost; the money was all taken away.

That was several days' worth of food.

Watching miserably as the money was tucked away, Li Pingyang had to force a smile for appearances and wave it off generously.

"Sir, this case has been closed for months now. Why are you still interested in it?" the constable asked as Li Pingyang entered through the gate. The constable shut the door and followed behind him, speaking over his shoulder.

Standing on the threshold just inside the gate, Li Pingyang paused and looked slowly around.

The bloodstains on the ground had all been scrubbed away, leaving it spotless, with no sign that a murder had ever taken place there. The damaged doors and windows from the struggle had also since been replaced.

Even the courtyard stones underfoot were newly laid later on, leaving not the slightest trace behind.

"When we first pushed open the door, we were stunned by what we saw inside. During my years in service, I have seen countless cases of all sizes, but never anything like that!"

This constable had been present at the scene when the report came in. When he first arrived, he nearly retched. The sight before him had terrified him badly.

The moon was hidden behind clouds, and under its dim light the Li residence looked especially cold and desolate. The instant the doors were opened, the whole household, young and old alike, had been wiped out without a single survivor.

The courtyard was a river of blood. Everywhere one looked, there were bodies.

While examining the corpses, one constable noticed something strange and called him over. On several of the bodies, he found a common mark.

Every one of the dead had a strange red line on the neck.

The constable said he had examined them carefully and believed it looked like a scratch left by human fingernails on the throat.

He was still inspecting the bodies when the constable captain sent him away to search the inner rooms for clues. By the time he came back out, all the corpses had already been carried off and buried directly in the back hills.

The autopsy report stated that all the victims had been killed cleanly by having their throats cut. As for the weapon, it was judged to have been a short blade of some kind, and it was not found at the scene.

Following the trail of blood on the ground, they finally found the weapon. In the weeds of the Li family's back courtyard, Li Goudan was lying on the grass, gripping a bloodied dagger in his hand.

Caught red-handed, there was nothing much left to deny. Since the case had caused such a stir, they had used every kind of torture in hopes of forcing Li Goudan to confess as soon as possible.

Yet he insisted to the end that he had not killed anyone.

...

One hour before the crime.

Li Goudan remembered that he had gone to the western quarter of the city to gamble and won a pocket full of silver. After that, he drank himself senseless at a tavern in the area, then took a boat back.

Walking alone through the street, he always felt as though someone were following him. Every time he looked back, there was no one behind him.

Thinking someone had set their sights on his money, he hurriedly tucked the pouch into his robes.

Clutching the money pouch with both hands, Li Goudan quickened his pace. He was certain by then that he was being followed.

At last, he heard someone call his name and turned back to look. There was still no one behind him, but just as he turned his head, someone struck him from the front and knocked him unconscious.

When he came to, he found himself lying on the grass and hurried to check the silver on his person. Fortunately, the money pouch was lying beside him and had not been taken.

Only then did he notice that his hands were covered in blood. Looking again, he saw that his clothes were also soaked through with blood, which gave him a terrible shock.

He braced himself with both hands and scrambled backward. Feeling along the ground, his hand touched something hard. He picked it up and saw, to his horror, that it was a bloodstained short blade.

He threw the blade away at once and wiped the blood from his clothes. Just then, he heard movement nearby. He crouched in the grass and peered out, discovering many constables outside.

Unluckily, his nose tickled and he sneezed.

The constables looked this way at once and spotted him. They must have realized something had happened. Li Goudan did not linger; he turned and ran.

"Stop! Don't run!"

The constables chased after him with drawn blades. Li Goudan eventually shook them off, and once he got home, he hurriedly shut the door and leaned against it, panting in terror.

Hearing the commotion, his father came out of the house and saw that his son had returned. At the sight of his son, tense and covered in blood, Li Shenfang froze.

Only later, under his father's questioning, did Li Goudan explain everything. As the two were discussing what to do, the constables shoved the door open and burst in, taking Li Goudan away in front of him.

After that, in the prison cell, Li Goudan was whipped until his skin split open and his body was covered in blood. Yet during the entire time he was detained, he never changed his story or admitted to killing anyone.

After checking his background, they found that Li Goudan's father only scraped people's backs at a public bathhouse on the street. Seeing no fear of any real trouble, they closed the case.

The day before his execution, with his body covered in injuries, Li Goudan was taken home once so that father and son could see each other one last time. His father knelt and begged the constables to spare him, but it was useless.

For tugging at a constable's robe, he even angered them and was lashed several times. Seeing them beat his father, Li Pingyang rushed forward to shield him, and his own back was whipped raw.

After several days of such torment, by the time Li Goudan was loaded onto the prison cart, he was already on the brink of death. In the end, he died with hatred in his heart upon the cart.

After that came the opening scene, when Li Pingyang had crossed over and awakened in Li Goudan's body.

Crouching down to search, Li Pingyang suddenly discovered a thin strand of hair beneath a stone pedestal. Taking advantage of the constable's inattention, he picked it up with a handkerchief and tucked it away.

He stood, dusted off his hands, and, pretending to have found nothing, let out a disappointed sigh. The two of them then walked out of the Li residence.