"Second Brother should be arriving soon."
Just as the words were spoken, a hearty laugh came from outside the door, "It’s a pleasant surprise to see you here today, Sister."
With those words, Shen Dao walked into the private room, exuding his usual carefree and uninhibited demeanor.
Without uttering a word, Meng Shiwen merely nodded as a form of greeting.
Once everyone had arrived, the wine and dishes were served one after another like a flowing stream.
Initially, due to Meng Shiwen’s presence, everyone felt a bit restrained and couldn’t fully relax.
However, after a few drinks, seeing that Meng Shiwen remained cold yet didn’t say anything, even chatting happily with Zui’Er beside her, everyone began to unwind.
At this moment, Miao Shaocheng laughed and said, "Second Brother, why didn’t you bring Miss Shi along today?"
Shen Dao chuckled, "She had something to attend to today but should be here shortly."
"Honestly, Second Brother, you parade around with Miss Shi so much, doesn’t the owner of Drunken Flower House object?" Xu De inquired.
"Of course, they object, but they have to hold it in. After all, Miss Qingqing is their cash cow now."
Shi Qingqing was the top courtesan at Drunken Flower House, with many wealthy nobles willing to spend lavishly just to see her.
This gave Shi Qingqing a highly esteemed status there.
Even the owner wouldn’t dare to offend her.
"Sigh, but the more it is this way, the harder it is for you and Miss Shi to be together!" Xu De sighed.
Such a money-maker, the owner of Drunken Flower House certainly wouldn’t let go easily.
This was also the reason why, despite being with her for so long, Shen Dao couldn’t redeem her.
"Alright, enough about that. Today, our junior disciple is treating us. Let’s chat about something happy," Miao Shaocheng quickly changed the topic.
Realizing his mistake, Xu De quickly raised his glass to lighten the mood.
But just then, the sound of panicked footsteps came from outside the door, and suddenly, the door to the private room was thrown open.
The intruder was a young maid.
She looked at Shen Dao sitting inside the room as if seeing a lifeline.
"Young Master Shen, hurry, something happened to the young lady!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Dao stood up abruptly, his usually smiling expression now turning grim and deadly serious.
"Where?"
"At Aunt Xue’s place in Yongle Square!"
As soon as the words fell, Shen Dao leaped out the window.
The people in the room quickly reacted.
Miao Shaocheng recognized the young maid as Xi’Er, who was always with Shi Qingqing. He hurriedly asked, "What happened? What about Miss Shi?"
"Aunt... Aunt Xue’s whole family is dead!" Xi’Er seemed to be in shock, muttering incoherently when faced with Miao Shaocheng’s questions.
Seeing this, no one had any appetite left for wine.
"We should go take a look too, what if something happens to Second Brother?" Xu De suggested.
While Shen Dao was the strongest among them, in a situation where he might be outnumbered, they thought it was best to support him.
Zhao Ya left some money for the meal, asked Meng Shiwen to look after Zui’Er and the maid Xi’Er, and then followed Miao Shaocheng and Xu De towards Yongle Square.
Yongle Square wasn’t close to Feixian Inn, but since the three of them had martial skills, they managed to get there in just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
Xu De had been to Aunt Xue’s house with Shen Dao and Shi Qingqing before, so he knew the way.
He led Zhao Ya and Miao Shaocheng to a house in Yongle Square.
The courtyard gate was wide open, and inside, faint cries of women could be heard.
The three exchanged looks, prepared themselves, and stepped inside.
As soon as Zhao Ya entered the courtyard, he frowned.
He smelled an extremely strong scent of blood.
Miao Shaocheng and Xu De smelled it too, their expressions changing instantly.
Rushing to the main room, they saw Shen Dao standing there, his face ashen, with Shi Qingqing sitting beside him.
The well-known enchanting Miss Shi was now holding a corpse, crying incessantly.
Upon seeing the corpse, not only Zhao Ya but Miao Shaocheng and Xu De also frowned.
It was a naked female corpse, brutally murdered, her body covered in knife wounds of varying depths.
Xu De recognized the corpse as Aunt Xue.
Despite the nickname, Aunt Xue was only about thirty years old.
She used to be a girl at Drunken Flower House, and after aging a bit and earning enough money to free herself, she moved to Yongle Square to live.
During her time at Drunken Flower House, Aunt Xue had the closest relationship with Shi Qingqing.
Especially when Shi Qingqing was younger, Aunt Xue often stood up for her.
Even after Aunt Xue redeemed herself and moved to Yongle Square, Shi Qingqing often visited her.
Unexpectedly, Aunt Xue was brutally murdered at home today, showing clear signs of torture before death.
"Second Brother, what happened?" Miao Shaocheng asked.
Shen Dao remained silent, only extending his hand to reveal a jade butterfly in his palm.
"Jade Butterfly!"
The three exclaimed in unison.
Shen Dao nodded, "Yes, it’s the Jade Butterfly."
Through Shen Dao’s account, they learned what happened.
It turned out today was Aunt Xue’s birthday, which was why Shi Qingqing couldn’t accompany Shen Dao to the feast.
She prepared a gift and came to Aunt Xue’s house with her maid, but no matter how she called, the door wouldn’t open.
Sensing something was wrong, Shi Qingqing had her maid Xi’Er fetch a ladder to climb over the wall and open the courtyard gate from inside.
But when they entered, the scene almost made Shi Qingqing collapse.
Her close friend Aunt Xue lay dead in the living room.
And in the adjacent room, again, the entire family of seven, including the old servant who tended the courtyard, were all killed.
This tragedy devastated Shi Qingqing, but she managed to stay somewhat composed and sent Xi’Er to fetch Shen Dao at Feixian Inn.
Why not call the authorities first...?
Counting on the constables to show up would probably take until morning.
When Shen Dao arrived, he was shocked by the scene but quickly regained composure. He carefully surveyed the site and discovered the jade butterfly.
The situation was clear: the Jade Butterfly, who had been inactive for over two years, was responsible for killing Aunt Xue’s family.
Everyone looked grim.
Miao Shaocheng, in his anger, started cursing.
"Damn it, that bastard Jade Butterfly is insane, committing such atrocities. If I catch him, I’ll skin him alive."
"Plenty of people want to skin him, but no one knows who the Jade Butterfly really is," Xu De said helplessly.
Zhao Ya said nothing.
He was carefully examining the scene.
According to Shi Qingqing, when they arrived, the courtyard gate was locked from the inside, suggesting the Jade Butterfly must have flown in.
This wasn’t surprising; whoever could commit so many crimes, some within heavily guarded mansions, must have remarkable Lightweight Skill.
The key was the doors and windows inside.
Zhao Ya closely inspected them, finally finding traces of lock-picking on one window.
These windows were internally secured with bolts, now broken on the inside while the exterior wood remained intact.
Zhao Ya furrowed his brow.
This technique, akin to "hitting a bull behind a mountain," was a high-level skill of force application.
To achieve this, Jade Butterfly’s abilities must be extraordinary.
It was determinable that he entered through this window.
It happened to have rained in the Commandery recently.
So Zhao Ya meticulously searched for any trace.
Seeing Zhao Ya searching the ground without speaking, Miao Shaocheng approached.
Zhao Ya suddenly said, "Don’t come over."
Miao Shaocheng awkwardly stopped.
The footprints were messy, but since Aunt Xue’s residence had only women and Shi Qingqing was the first to discover the scene, this greatly aided Zhao Ya.
By excluding the women’s footprints, whatever remained was suspicious.
Indeed.
After searching for some time, Zhao Ya finally found a suspicious footprint in the corner.
The print carried fresh mud, clearly left recently.
But the key aspect was its strangeness; one footprint was deeper than the other.
Could it be...?
An idea struck Zhao Ya; could the notorious criminal Jade Butterfly actually have a limp?