Chapter 141: Dawn

Looking at the several neatly arranged skulls on the ground, the three of them smiled at each other. After working tirelessly for two days and two nights, they had finally finished the remaining six facial reconstructions. Such a speed could truly be considered miraculous.

"Now we just need to find someone to identify their names," Ji Changge said.

"This time we don't need to make a fuss. Bringing Mingxin and Mingyuan here will be enough to figure it out," Wen Jing said. Since the murderer was already known, she would undoubtedly be keeping an eye on this place.

Ding Wu hurried into the room.

"Did you find anything?" Ji Changge asked.

"Reporting to Your Honor, no one knows what kind of background this Ruan Qinglian has. They only know that she came to the Taoist temple very early on, lived here since childhood, and there has never been any mention of relatives or friends," Ding Wu replied. With lingering apprehension, he glanced at Ji Changge, only to be surprised that Ji Changge did not seem overly angry, appearing as though this result had been anticipated.

"Call Mingxin and Mingyuan over."

"Yes, Your Honor."

Mingxin and Mingyuan were summoned. Every time they were called over, the two of them wore expressions of sheer terror, as if they feared that once they came in, they would never be able to leave again, which was rather comical.

"Take a look and identify who these six people are," Ji Changge said, pointing to the six heads.

Mingxin and Mingyuan looked at the six heads with horror written all over their faces. Even though they knew these were not real human heads, because the lighting in the room was somewhat dim, the six heads looked startlingly lifelike, their twelve eyes staring straight at the two of them.

"This one is Mingyou," Mingxin said, pointing to one of the reconstructions.

Ji Changge opened the registry and checked the name against it: Mingyou, former name Wu Chunhua, along with several others, but no more beyond that.

"Tell us about this Daoist Priest Mingyou."

Mingxin gently nudged Mingyuan, who raised his head and said, "Mingyou entered the temple even earlier than us. Later on, for some unknown reason, she suddenly disappeared. As a lot of time has passed, we can't remember anything else."

Ji Changge looked at the two of them and said coldly, "It seems you two have no desire to atoning for your crimes with good deeds. Then, regarding Xiaoxiao's case..."

Frightened pale by Ji Changge's threat, Mingxin and Mingyuan hurriedly said, "We heard that before coming to the Taoist temple, Mingyou was a courtesan. Back then, she was not well-liked in the brothel. The other Taoist nuns despised her for being unclean and were unwilling to get close to her. Later on, when everyone realized she had vanished, no one even bothered to bring up her name anymore."

A courtesan? This Taoist temple truly was a mixed bag of good and bad, Wen Jing thought to herself. A courtesan...

"Do you know which brothel she came from?" Ji Changge continued to ask.

The two of them shook their heads simultaneously. "In the Taoist temple, this was originally a disgraceful matter. Who would be so foolish as to ask which brothel she belonged to? Even if it was mentioned back then, so much time has passed that we can no longer remember clearly."

"Keep identifying the rest."

Mingxin looked closely and said, "This one should be Junior Sister Mingling."

Ji Changge flipped through the registry again. "Mingling, secular name Huang Jingxian, entered the temple three years ago."

Before Ji Changge could ask further, Mingyuan hurriedly chimed in, "This Junior Sister Mingling was extremely introverted. After coming here, we hardly ever heard her speak. She was quite delicate and pretty in appearance. We heard her family was quite prominent at first, but after her father was sent to prison, they fell into decline."

Imprisoned? If what Mingyuan said was true, then this Huang Jingxian left traces that could be followed. All they needed to do was investigate officials surnamed Huang who had been imprisoned to figure out her background, Ji Changge mused.

"Next."

"These two are Xuanqing and Mingchen. As for these two, we can't tell who they are. Xuanqing was a disciple of Senior Sister Mingqing, and Junior Sister Mingchen, if this poor Daoist remembers correctly, died of a severe illness two years ago," Mingxin said.

"How did Xuanqing die?" Ji Changge went on to ask.

"Xuanqing fell off a cliff and died. Her body was never even found."

"Very well. You may leave. Remember, not a single half-word of what was said here today must be leaked," Ji Changge told the two of them.

The two nodded repeatedly, turned around, and left.

"Ding Wu, go investigate these four people," Ji Changge instructed.

Ding Wu acknowledged the order and strode out.

Wen Jing stared at Mingyous reconstruction for a long time. She had a lingering feeling that this face looked somewhat familiar, though she could not place it for the moment. Besides, that skeleton had been dead for so long, and since she had transmigrated here only a few short months ago, it should be impossible for her to have seen her. Perhaps it was possible that Wen Qiniang, the original owner of this body, had seen her before.

Following Wen Jing's gaze, Ji Changge also appraised the reconstruction, but he did not notice anything unusual about it.

Dongsheng, who had remained silent for quite a while, also rubbed his chin and stepped forward to examine the reconstruction.

"This face looks a bit familiar," Dongsheng remarked.

Wen Jing raised her head and looked at Dongsheng with a hint of surprise. "Could it be that you've also seen this person before?"

Dongsheng hurriedly shook his head. "That can't be said lightly. I never visit those places of floating flowers and willow leaves. It's strange, why does this face look so familiar to me?"

Ji Changge's eyes suddenly lit up. He pinched a small lump of clay from the ground, rolled it into a ball, and pressed it onto the tip of the reconstruction's nose.

Wen Jing and Dongsheng widened their eyes instantly, a sudden feeling of clouds parting to reveal the sun washing over their minds.

"Ruan Qinglian!"

They exclaimed in unison.

Ji Changge smiled. "Right, this person's appearance looks remarkably like Ruan Qinglian. Unless it's a coincidence, she must share some blood relation with Ruan Qinglian."

This discovery made all three of them somewhat excited. Because it was merely a clay model, there was inevitably a gap compared to a living person, which was why they hadn't recognized it immediately. If it were a living person, they believed she would look very much like Ruan Qinglian.

"This person might very well be Ruan Qinglian's biological mother. After Wu Chunhua went missing, Ruan Qinglian found out about it and came to the temple to search for Wu Chunhua's whereabouts. Upon discovering that the Abbess and Mingqing murdered her mother, she exacted an eye for an eye, killed the Abbess and Mingqing, and took Mingqing's body to Wu Chunhua's grave to confess her guilt," Ji Changge analyzed.

Although there was no concrete proof, all three of them felt this hypothesis was very close to the truth. Now they were just waiting for Ding Wu's investigation results. If they could prove that Ruan Qinglian was connected to the deceased, the motive for murder would be established. With a motive and a method, the only thing lacking now was evidence.

...

Three days later.

To the disappointment of Ji Changge and Wen Jing, three full days had passed, yet the entire Huaqing Temple showed not the slightest ripple of activity. All the guards hidden around Lingyun Hall had stared with wide-open eyes for three days and three nights, but they hadn't even caught a glimpse of a single shadow, let alone any suspicious person appearing in the vicinity.

"Could we have guessed wrong? Ruan Qinglian doesn't care that we reconstructed the faces?" Ji Changge muttered to himself.

Wen Jing remained noncommittal. "Not necessarily. Ruan Qinglian is exceptionally shrewd. She may have already guessed our purpose and naturally wouldn't walk right into the trap. As long as we have no evidence, we can do nothing to her. Even if we prove she has a connection to that Wu Chunhua, it still doesn't prove that the Abbess and Mingqing were killed by her."

Ji Changge nodded. Ruan Qinglian's composure was so remarkable that even at this stage, she could remain completely unruffled; this kind of intellect and endurance surpassed even ordinary men.