I fulfilled the female supporting role's wish and I succeeded

Li Xiangyi and Fang Duobing walked into the inn side by side, and a mixture of the aroma of wine, sweat and mildew hit them in the face.

The light in the inn was dim, and a few oil lamps were swaying, stretching the shadows of people and adding a bit of weirdness.

The two of them went straight to Yun Jiao's room. Li Xiangyi squatted down and carefully looked at the ground.

"Look here." Li Xiangyi pointed to a crack under the door and said in a low voice.

Fang Duobing leaned over and saw a broken jade pendant lying on the ground. The jade was soft and smooth, gleaming faintly in the dim light. Next to it was a slender golden needle, its tip gleaming with a cold light.

"This jade pendant... seems to belong to Yun Jiao," Fang Duobing frowned. He remembered that Yun Jiao always liked to wear a piece of warm jade that was very similar to this broken jade pendant. "What about this gold needle?"

"It seems someone really wants to silence us." Li Xiangyi slowly stood up, his eyes sharp. "This golden needle is thin and long, it should be used for acupuncture, and... it seems to be poisoned."

"Someone wants to kill Yun Jiao?" Fang Duobing was shocked. "Could it be that the murderer is someone else?"

"Let's go check out the second young lady's room." Li Xiangyi said, and the two turned and walked towards Yu Qiu Shuang's room.

Yu Qiu Shuang's room is simply furnished, yet exudes a girlish elegance.

Li Xiangyi looked around and his eyes fell on the table.

In the corner, I found an exquisite shadow puppet. The puppet was so lifelike that it seemed as if it would move at any time.

"This is..." Fang Duobing picked up the shadow puppet and examined it carefully. "This shadow puppet is really exquisitely made, but why is it placed here?"

"I'm afraid this is the 'Second Young Lady' the guards saw."

Li Xiangyi said, his voice solemn, "Someone used a shadow puppet to pretend to be the Second Young Lady, creating the illusion that she was still in the room."

"What on earth is going on?" Fang Duobing was increasingly puzzled. "The murderer first used a shadow puppet to impersonate the Second Young Lady, and then tried to kill Yun Jiao to silence her... What's the connection between these two?"

"Let's go back to the City Lord's Mansion." Li Xiangyi said, "Perhaps the answer lies there."

The two returned to the City Lord's Mansion and went straight to Yun Jiao's room.

As soon as he entered the room, he saw a figure trapped in the center of the room. It was the city lord, Yu Mulan. He was firmly trapped by the trap set by Fang Duobing and could not move.

"Fang Duobing, what are you doing!" Yu Mulan roared, his face full of fear and anger.

"Lord Yu, how are you?" Fang Duobing sneered, "Why are you here?"

"I...I came to see Yun Jiao." Yu Mulan's eyes flickered, not daring to look directly at Fang Duobing.

"Look at Yun Jiao?" Fang Duobing pressed on. "I think you want to kill her to silence her!"

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Yu Mulan denied it flatly, "How could I kill someone?"

"City Lord Yu, please tell the truth." Li Xiangyi spoke. His voice was calm, yet it carried an undeniable authority. "You are an orphan of the Pu family, right?"

Yu Mulan's expression changed, and a trace of panic flashed in his eyes.

"You're addicted to gambling and have accumulated a large gambling debt," Li Xiangyi continued. "And that shadow puppet was secretly controlled by you, right?"

"I... I don't know what you are talking about!" Yu Mulan still insisted.

Li Xiangyi took out the broken jade pendant and gold needle from his arms and placed them in front of Yun Jiao.

"We found this at the inn. The murderer wanted to silence us, but your jade pendant stopped him. I remember this warm jade was given to you by the Second Young Lady. I wonder if she would regret being your friend if she knew about this in the afterlife?"

Yun Jiao's body trembled violently. She raised her head, her eyes filled with fear and regret.

She looked at the broken jade pendant and tears welled up in her eyes.

"I...I don't want this..." Yun Jiao choked and said hoarsely, "I really don't want this..."

"Yun Jiao, what's going on?" Fang Duobing asked anxiously, "Tell me quickly!"

"It's...it's him..." Yun Jiao pointed at Yu Mulan tremblingly, "He forced me to do it..."

"I... I have an affair with Yu Mulan..." Yun Jiao's voice became increasingly low, almost inaudible, "It was... the Second Miss discovered..."

"Yu Qiushuang caught you in your affair?" Li Xiangyi asked.

"Yes..." Yun Jiao nodded, "I'm afraid of her... afraid that she would tell Madam Yu... Yu Mulan would... kill her with the Soul-stealing Needle..."

"What?" Fang Duobing and Li Xiangyi were both shocked.

"He...he used ice cubes made of blood...to wrap the Second Young Lady's body..." Yun Jiao spoke intermittently, her voice filled with fear. "Then...then he paid a high price to the Weiyuan Escort Agency...to escort her to the Xiaomian Inn...trying...trying to make it look like a ghost had killed someone..."

"What about Wangfu?" Fang Duobing asked, "Why kill Wangfu?"

"Wangfu was the instigator... He was lucky... He didn't succeed in killing me..." Yun Jiao said, "But... It was too late for me to stop it... I could only... I could only watch the situation unfold bit by bit... I knew... Sooner or later, it would lead to him... He... He might as well kill me too..."

"You beast!" Fang Duobing roared and rushed forward to beat Yu Mulan.

"I... I was forced to do it!" Yu Mulan shouted, "I didn't want to kill anyone! She... she forced me to do it!"

"You dare to quibble!" Fang Duobing punched Yu Mulan in the face. Yu Mulan screamed and blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

"Enough!" Li Xiangyi stopped Fang Duobing, "Now is not the time for lynching."

Seeing this, Yu Mulan took the opportunity to break free from the restraints of the mechanism and escaped out the door.

"Want to run?" A voice came from outside the door, and then Yu Mulan screamed and flew back.

Zong Zheng Mingzhu stood at the door, with a trace of blood still on his palm.

"Master Zong Zheng!" Fang Duobing and Li Xiangyi were both a little surprised.

"Madam Yu is here." A guard's voice came, and Yu Hongzhu walked in.

"Take him away!" Yu Hongzhu looked at Yu Mulan lying on the ground, her eyes filled with hatred, "I will kill him with my own hands and avenge my sister!"

"Madam Yu, wait a minute," Li Xiangyi said, "The palm injury Yu Qiushuang suffered before her death was caused by you, Zongzheng Mingzhu."

Upon hearing this, Yu Hongzhu turned her head sharply and looked at Zongzheng Mingzhu, her eyes filled with shock and disbelief. "Mingzhu, why? She's my sister, why did you hurt her?"

Zong Zheng Mingzhu's face was pale. He opened his mouth but could not speak.

"Master Zong Zheng, you should explain it yourself." Li Xiangyi said.

"I..." Zongzheng Mingzhu lowered her head, her voice low, "I... I just wanted to stop her... I didn't expect to hurt her..."

"Stop her?" Yu Hongzhu's voice trembled. "Stop her from what?"