My Years in the Jianghu with the Prince: A Time of Unethical Conduct

It's drizzling in Yongcheng tonight.

The rain came suddenly, catching pedestrians off guard. They quickened their pace and hurried home.

Amidst the anxious crowd, a man walked leisurely. He carried no umbrella, seemingly unconcerned about getting soaked in the rain.

Fortunately, before the rain got heavier, the man finally made it home, trudging through the mud.

For some reason, the dog in the yard didn't bark at him when it saw him today; instead, it lay listlessly on the ground, not moving at all.

He didn't think much of it, casually tossed the food he was carrying to it, and then slowly returned to his room.

Completely unaware, a red hem of clothing fluttered past in the shadows of the corner.

After washing up, the man collapsed onto his bed. He stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing.

The laughter grew louder and louder, eventually bordering on maniacal. The flickering candlelight cast a distorted shadow on him and the wall, making him look like a demon crawling out of hell.

The sounds of wind and rain mingled outside the window. Occasionally, a gust of wind would blow by, carrying raindrops that pattered against the windowpane.

The man slowly stopped laughing. Perhaps it was because the wind was a bit cold tonight, he felt a chill seeping in from outside the thin, tattered quilt.

He sneezed, shook himself, and then pulled a handkerchief embroidered with flowers from beside his pillow.

The man covered his face with the handkerchief and inhaled it with fascination, saying, "The handkerchief my wife embroidered for me smells so good."

The candle was blown out by the wind, and he slowly fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, a gust of wind suddenly blew the window open, waking the man in bed.

He had a nightmare, was covered in cold sweat, and didn't know where the handkerchief covering his face had gone.

The man sat up, but his movements suddenly froze. The sound of his own heart pounding echoed in his ears. He turned his head, his fingers pounding, and stared in disbelief at a red figure sitting at the table.

The figure stood with its back to him, motionless.

The man scrambled backward in a panic until his head hit the wall, at which point he stopped, yelling in terror, "W-who's here, playing tricks on us?!"

A soft laugh rang out, and the figure in red stirred. Her voice was as hollow as the wind, "Have you forgotten me so quickly? Husband."

Upon hearing that familiar voice, the man's expression froze instantly. His eyes darted stiffly over the figure's back before finally settling on a silver hairpin in her hair.

No! Impossible! You're dead!

He screamed in despair and frantically threw everything off the bed.

But the figure in red was elusive, and whatever was thrown at her seemed to pass right through her body. In the blink of an eye, she floated to the man's bedside.

Turning around, a bloodied face appeared before the man—

"Why are you going to kill me?"

"Ah!!" The man kicked his legs frantically.

In a daze, he seemed to see a pair of identical eyes staring intently at him, so he used a knife to stab those eyes to pieces.

But now, are swords and knives still effective against a ghost?

"Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer! It's all your fault! Who told you to smile at other men when you're already with me!"

The female ghost stopped what she was doing upon hearing this, staring at him expressionlessly. Then, she suddenly grabbed his hair and slammed him hard against the wall!

The man was hit on the head and bled profusely, but then he realized what was happening: "You! You're not a ghost!"

A moment later, the candles were relit in the room, and several figures went inside.

Xie Yan took Chu Ling's handkerchief, wiped her face clean, and resumed her original voice, "He admitted it."

The cook at Baoyuelou, his trousers soaked, sat slumped on the ground, staring blankly at the crowd filing in, and asked incredulously, "How...how did you all know?"

Do you think you're being clever?

Ning Liang looked down at him, "You thought you could frame the murderer, but in reality, your plan is full of loopholes."

“We not only found your footprints, one deep and one shallow, in Luo Xiangjun’s vegetable garden, but also learned from just a few questions to those close to Luo Xiangjun that you have been secretly pursuing her.”

When he said that last sentence, for some reason, the cook suddenly exploded.

"I didn't pester her! She was the one who started showing interest in me!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at the disheveled man with an indescribable expression.

The cook became even more enraged, shouting, "What kind of looks are those? Are you saying I'm not good enough?!"

Everyone: ...What else? Take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror.

"She smiled at me the first time we met; she would run over to help me up when I fell, and even give me a handkerchief to wipe my face; sometimes she would even share her earnings with me. What else could this be but liking me?!"

When he talked about these things, the cook's face showed an expression of rapture.

"So I accepted her offer. Although she was a bit of a womanizer, I still reluctantly stayed with her. Before, when she lived far away, I worried about her and would walk her home at night if she wasn't safe. But to stop me from worrying, she moved to this neighborhood, even closer to me..."

As the cook rambled on about his "love" story with Luo Xiangjun, everyone present had only one thought: this man is no longer normal.

"Shut up!"

Chu Ling rubbed his temples, crushed a teacup on the table, and flicked the shards past the cook's mouth, leaving a bloody mark on his lips and face.

The cook was startled and quickly covered his mouth in fear.

“Tell me the truth about how you killed Luo Xiangjun. If you dare to say anything more, I’ll cut out your tongue.”

The officials standing nearby immediately unrolled a scroll to record the information.

The cook nodded obsequiously, no longer daring to make things up.

Thus, the entire course of events was reconstructed.

From a long time ago, this cook had been relentlessly pursuing Luo Xiangjun, but after being rejected time and time again, he gradually became angry and decided to take advantage of the night to commit violence against her.

During the attack, he had already planned to frame the thug who had recently caused such a stir in the city.

The news of Hua Ran's death had spread like wildfire. So he assumed that Hua Ran had been strangled, and thus he also grabbed Luo Xiangjun by the neck.

But then he saw Luo Xiangjun's resentful eyes and became frightened. In a fit of rage, he stabbed her face repeatedly with a knife.

After the cook finished his work, it was already dawn. He didn't have time to clean up, so he decided to take the body away and dump it in the brothel, and then come back to clean it up later.

But he was far too stupid. Although Ning Liang had initially drawn conclusions about the mass grave, he calmed down and observed the situation more closely and discovered a number of flaws.

He even thought he had done something flawless, and was smug about it when he got home.

Ning Liang looked at the case record and felt a little puzzled. "According to the murderer, he lost his grip for a moment when he was at Luo Xiangjun's door. The girl could have escaped, but why did she come back?"

Xie Yan lowered her eyes, ground a tongue on the ground with her foot, and said indifferently, "Perhaps it's because there are still people at home."

Upon hearing this, Ning Liang stood silently for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh.