"Nan Yu, are you okay?" Jian Si was concerned.
"I’m fine, I’m hanging by my hands, not my neck." Nan Yu shouted, "You can turn on the lights now."
Nan Zhan turned on the lights, and everyone saw Nan Yu hanging from the rope, supporting his body in mid-air with his arms.
"Did this officer hang himself up there?" soone curiously asked.
"No," Nan Yu said. "I stepped onto the table voluntarily but I didn’t hang myself up there."
"Then, how did you get up there?"
"I’ll explain that in a mont, let’s first look at the distances," Nan Zhan said as he set the knocked-over table upright, pointing at the tip of Nan Yu’s toes, "The height from the beam to the floor is 355 centiters, Nan Yu’s height is 180 centiters, the height of this table is 60 centiters. When the deceased was found, the rope noose was 20 centiters from the beam. With Nan Yu standing on this table, even with his height, he can’t reach the rope noose, yet the deceased was only 157 centiters tall. How could she have reached the rope noose standing on the table? Unless the noose was placed around her neck and then soone used external force to suddenly hoist her up, the noose could have reached the height it is now, which sufficiently proves that the deceased did not commit suicide but was hung by soone unexpectedly."
Everyone murmured in dismay, but many were still puzzled.
"Now let’s talk about how Nan Yu was hoisted up," Nan Zhan continued, suddenly drawing back the curtain that had been blocking the view. Only then did everyone see a thick rope coming in from the skylight above, with one end connected to the rope noose on the beam.
"So, the officer was pulled up by that rope from the skylight."
Nan Zhan nodded: "If the deceased were hoisted up by a rope, we would have noticed this rope when we entered. But it wasn’t there at the scene."
"The rope was cut from outside," soone suggested.
"If it had been cut from outside, a long length of rope would have been left, but the rope we found at the scene was very short at one end. This is because..."
Just then, the rope on the beam suddenly beca taut, followed by a faint "pop" in the air.
The rope snapped.
Everyone was shocked: "What’s going on here?"
"Clearly, external force was applied to the rope again. I previously made a cut with a knife on one end of the noose, not too shallow nor too deep, enough to hold up the deceased without the rope breaking. Afterwards, with increased force, the part of the rope that was cut would gradually fail to hold the weight, leading to the break. In this way, the murderer could silently withdraw the excess rope and leave only a small piece at the scene, just like it is now." Nan Zhan pointed: "If you don’t look carefully, you can’t even tell that the rope was once connected to the outside. Perhaps the murderer did countless experints to master the precise depth of the cut and the amount of force needed."
"What kind of external force is it, man-made? To lift a person from such a distance and then break such a strong rope doesn’t seem easy. Could it be done by two people?"
"No, it was one person. The murderer used a tool, and this tool can achieve such an effect."
"What tool?"
"You’ll know soon."
Not long after, the tall and handso figure of Mu Shuoqian appeared in everyone’s sight, holding a machine in his hands.
The proud man seed reluctant to be summoned by Nan Zhan; he tossed the device onto the ground and walked away without looking back: "Don’t ask to do this kind of thing next ti."
Nan Zhan smiled wryly, realizing it was not easy to ask for Mu Shuoqian’s help, especially since he had called him to the lakeside to take orders.
"Do you recognize this machine?" Nan Zhan asked Feng Guang.
Panic flashed across Feng Guang’s face but was quickly concealed: "Yes, it’s a lawnmower."
"Yes, this is the lawnmower, an old-fashioned one borrowed from a neighbor. Let explain the murderer’s trick now." Nan Zhan took the lawnmower brought by Mu Shuoqian, "Earlier, I asked Mr. Mu to help with this experint by the lake. I tied one end of a rope to this gear on the lawnmower; when the lawnmower was turned on to the first setting, the gear rapidly coiled the rope around it, subsequently hoisting the person in the house into the air. After the victim died, the murderer turned on the lawnmower to its highest setting. The speed of the gear reached its peak, and under this force, the spot where the rope was supposed to break could not withstand the pull and naturally snapped."
"So that’s how it was." Soone exclaid in astonishnt: "Such a ticulous plan indeed."
Nan Zhan looked again at Feng Guang: "Do you think it’s like this, Feng Guang?"
Feng Guang said: "Mr. Nan’s explanation is very sensible, but why would Yuan Xiaoxian voluntarily step onto the table to lower the noose and put it around her own neck? Moreover, the rope extended from the skylight is so long, how could she not see it? Furthermore, the door was locked from the inside. Could the murderer lock the door and then climb out through the skylight? That space is too small even for a child to fit through."
"Let explain first why Yuan Xiaoxian would not be able to see the rope. When I opened the door just now, you all must have seen that the room was very dark, with thick curtains blocking the view. The curtains hid the rope, and the excess rope was threaded from above the beam. So, in the dim light, the victim would not have noticed that rope. Next, Yuan Xiaoxian did indeed stand on the table, and she locked the door herself, because..." Nan Zhan stared at Feng Guang and said: "Soone told her to do so."
Everyone was shocked; was the victim actually willing?
Nan Zhan continued: "Guided by the murderer, Yuan Xiaoxian heard the conversation between and Leng Shaoqing. She knew we were suspecting her. Yuan Xiaoxian was very afraid. At that ti, the murderer told her that she could pretend to commit suicide to dispel the suspicions. Of course, the murderer did not want her to really commit suicide but to feign the appearance of suicide. So, the murderer arranged the chanism as previously ntioned. The murderer had Yuan Xiaoxian hang her neck in the noose, and after everything was prepared, she was to light the lighter. Because of the curtains in between, the murderer, standing outside, could only use the light of the lighter to gauge the timing. The mont Yuan Xiaoxian lit the lighter, death was slowly approaching her. Until her last breath, she didn’t understand how she died because she and the murderer had agreed that the mont she lit the lighter, the murderer would rush in, allowing us to see her ’committing suicide’, thus believing her to be innocent."
"Why was Yuan Xiaoxian so scared after knowing you were suspecting her? Could it be that the bracelet was indeed stolen by her?"
"Yes, Yuan Xiaoxian, before Qin Yong and also after Cheng Feiyi’s death, had pushed open that room’s door. She was very scared and wanted to co down to tell us, but she saw the White Jade Bracelet on Cheng Feiyi’s wrist, which she liked very much, so she took the daring step of removing the bracelet. Of course, she did not tell us about Cheng Feiyi’s death either."
"What about the suicide note, then? How do you explain that?"
Nan Zhan walked over to Yuan Xiaoxian’s desk and opened the top drawer: "When I observed this place earlier, I found it strange. There are several copybooks for handwriting practice, pens, and ink in this drawer, but all the copybooks are blank. There’s only one possibility, the copybooks that were written on were taken by the murderer. Yuan Xiaoxian ca from a rural background and has five siblings; she never went to school. The words she could write were all taught by the murderer. Therefore, it was easy for the murderer to imitate her handwriting."
"Besides her boyfriend Feng Guang, who else here could have made Yuan Xiaoxian follow commands?"
Everyone’s gaze once again focused on Feng Guang. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides, but his face still maintained an unflappable calm, a level of psychological quality that Nan Zhan had underestimated.
"Mr. Nan, your deduction is very impressive, but during the ti of Xiaoxian’s death, I was by the lake moving fireworks. Several guests saw there, and at the banquet, there was a constant flow of people. If I stood outside the room operating such a large lawnmower, I would definitely have been noticed. It seems no one has inford you of seeing any such suspicious person."
"Indeed, if soone was loitering around the lake, it would definitely draw attention. But what if it was not a person at all?"
"Not a person?" Everyone looked surprised, "If not a person, then what?"
Nan Zhan pulled the curtains inside the room to the side a bit and pointed outside: "Look, is there anyone by the lake now?"
Everyone looked carefully: "There’s no one."
"How can there be no one? Zhengzheng and Niannian are clearly playing there."
"No, there’s not even a shadow."
Nan Zhan smiled slightly, and asked to look again more carefully.
At that mont, the two Transforrs by the lake suddenly began to move about, circling around the lakeside path.
"Transforrs? The two kids are inside the Transforrs."
"Right, it’s Zhengzheng and Niannian operating the Transforrs, moving around. During the banquet, these Transforrs were scattered at various locations, tasked with moving about to liven up the atmosphere. The murderer had positioned two Transforrs by the lakeside. He hid inside a Transforr to control the lawnmower beside him. After he killed the victim, he threw all the tools used for the cri into the lake, then casually mingled with the crowd to create his alibi. Am I right, Feng Guang?"
Finally, Feng Guang’s face started to turn pale: "I have no grudge against Miss Han, why would I kill her? And Xiaoxian is my girlfriend; would I kill her just to fra her?"
"No." Nan Zhan looked at him, his gaze firm, "You do have a grudge against Han Feiyi, a deep and bitter one. Feng Guang is just a false na you use. Your real na is Feng Tianbao, and your mother, Mama Liu, was once a servant here."
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