Hearing Rong Fei say that there was a third person in the room at that time, and that he was most likely the murderer, Manager Liu immediately showed a fierce look on his face. He showed his arms and sleeves and started searching the room with his thugs and Mr. Gui.
From the time of the murder to the present, no one has been out of the house, so the murderer must be hiding somewhere in the house.
Damn you, stir up trouble on my territory and cause trouble for me. Let’s see if I don’t peel off your skin.
Manager Liu said fiercely in his heart.
The room where Fengchennv received guests was not big, and there were not many furnishings in the room. There were only two places under the bed and the wardrobe that could hide a large person.
Guan Liu personally lay down on the floor to check under the bed, and when he glanced at it, it was empty.
He stood up and ignored the dust on his clothes, and made a gesture to the thugs and the turtles.
Six or seven thugs from the Turtle Guild decided to surround the closet, which was the only place where people could hide.
Picking up the stool that had knocked Chunxiang unconscious, Manager Liu walked to the closet door, opened a closet door with his left hand, and threw the stool into the closet with his right hand.
"You blind thing, I'll crush you to death!"
Boom!
The stool slammed into the closet, scattering a pile of women's underwear and breaking the inner wall of the closet.
"Hey, why is there no one?"
Manager Liu looked at the clothes scattered out of the closet, muttered strangely, and then reluctantly opened another cabinet door.
The double doors of the six-foot-tall, four-foot-wide wardrobe are open, completely exposing the interior to the public.
"My lord...are you making a mistake?"
Manager Liu turned around and suppressed the anger in his heart and said to Rong Fei.
If you weren't afraid of Ji Xiansi's identity as an agent, I would have killed you no matter what I said today.
"Haha, I didn't say the murderer was hiding in the closet. It was Manager Liu who thought too much."
Rong Fei sneered.
"Just now, my lord, you personally said that there is a third person in the house. No one has ever gone out from here. There are only two places where people can be hidden. There is no one here and there is no one there. Is it possible that this person can walk through the wall? He will become invisible."
Manager Liu's anger could no longer be suppressed, and he said with a mocking tone.
Rong Fei was too lazy to follow him, so he walked to the closet with his hands behind his back and took a look inside, then went to the bed and looked down, and then said slowly.
"Through previously obtained clues and evidence, Chunxiang's suspicion of homicide has been eliminated, and the possibility of the deceased committing suicide has been ruled out. Therefore, the arrester concluded that there must have been a third person in the house at that time.
The so-called bold assumptions must be carefully verified. Now that the hypothesis has been made, the next step is to verify it.
When handling a case, you need to look at the overall situation, and then discover the unusual details, and then follow the clues to find the final truth. Now, please think back to the entire process of the case. Are there any details that were missed or anything unusual? "
detail?
What's unusual?
Everyone couldn't help but think about it carefully after hearing this.
"Does it count when everything suddenly goes dark?"
Someone suddenly shouted outside the door.
"exactly."
Rong Fei nodded.
"Miss Chunxiang, when you first started playing peek-a-boo, the room was lit with candles, right?"
"yes."
"I saw there were four candlesticks in the house. Were they all lit at that time?"
"Not all lit."
Chunxiang shook her head and explained.
"Because the silk handkerchief used to blindfold the guests was transparent, and if the fire was too bright, vague figures could be seen through the silk handkerchief, so I just lit the candle on the dressing table."
"Oh, while we were playing the game, the room suddenly went dark. That was naturally because the candles went out. Is it possible that the wind caused by the guests' movements too much blew out the candles?"
Rong Fei asked again.
"No way. At that time, the guest and I were quite far away from the dressing table, so even if the wind caught in our clothes, it wouldn't be able to blow over there."
Chunxiang replied.
"Is this kind of candle commonly used by you, Miss Chunxiang? Have it ever suddenly extinguished before?"
Rong Fei walked to the dressing table, pulled out the candle on the candlestick, took it in his hand and blew the flame gently and asked.
"Candles are all rationed in the building. This has never happened before."
After Chunxiang answered, Rong Fei turned to Xiao Wei and asked.
"Miss Xiaowei, there are four candlesticks in the room. Why did you choose to light this one after entering the room?"
The maid Xiao Wei was stunned by Rong Fei's question. She thought for a moment before answering hesitantly.
"I...I don't know, maybe...maybe it was because we were so close at the time."
"Can you tell me more about the circumstances when you lit this candle?"
"Um?"
Xiao Wei was a little confused and looked at Rong Fei without knowing why. Seeing Rong Fei's serious look, he spoke.
"I just ran to the dressing table, took out the fire sickle and lit the candle."
"Did it light up immediately?"
"Well... that's not the case. My hands were shaking so much that it took several times to light the fire sickle, and it also took several times to light the candle."
"Did you feel something was wrong at that time?"
"Does it matter if the candle is not very good?"
"Yes, of course."
Rong Fei nodded, held the candle and walked to the table near the wall. He first lit the candle on the table and then blew out the candle in his hand.
"It shouldn't take more than thirty breaths from the moment the candle suddenly goes out to when Miss Xiao Wei comes in and lights the candle again. The candle wick is still hot and should be easily lit, just like this."
Rong Fei blew two breaths into the extinguished candle wick, letting it cool down to almost the same temperature as it would be thirty breaths later. Then he brought the candle close to the flame and lit it easily.
"But the situation at that time was that it took Miss Wei some time to ignite it. There is only one possibility for this to happen."
Rong Fei said, slightly tilting the candle in his hand towards the candle on the table. Because of the sudden increase in temperature, the candle on the table melted faster, and soon the red wax water overflowed and flowed down the candle.
Everyone guessed that Rong Fei's move must have a deeper meaning, so they all stared at the two candles and refused to blink, for fear of missing important information.
The interval between one exhalation and one inhalation is one breath. Because everyone's lung capacity is different, there is a slight difference, so the middle value is about six seconds.
The onlookers were counting their breaths and counting the time, staring intently at the two candles.
Five breaths…ten breaths…twenty breaths…thirty breaths…
After fifty breaths, nothing happened except that a puddle of wax solidified on the table and the two candles became a little shorter.
After not blinking for such a long time, many people finally couldn't help but close their eyes and rub them vigorously.
"Hey, hey...why did it suddenly disappear?"
Suddenly someone shouted in surprise.
The person who had just closed his eyes quickly opened them, and sure enough he saw that the candle on the table had been extinguished, but the candle in Rong Fei's hand was still burning.
What's even more strange is that the flame of the candle in Rong Fei's hand is right next to the extinguished candle, but the candle seems to be dead, with no flame burning.
Can candles die?
How can we talk about life and death when there is no life in the first place?
Then why does it not burn when exposed to fire?
Because there is no core!
"Damn it, you're actually selling fake goods in the building. You don't want to hang out in Kyoto anymore, do you?"
Manager Liu cursed angrily.
It was already obvious that there was something wrong with the quality of this batch of candles, and they burned out on their own.
It is estimated that the cotton core wrapped inside is broken.
"Hehehe, don't be anxious, Manager Liu, it shouldn't be the problem with the candles."
Rong Fei said, then walked to another unlit candle, pulled the candle out of the candlestick, walked to the door where everyone could see it, raised the candle and turned it slowly.
"Hey, why is there a small hole in this candle?"
A turtle man who was closer pointed at the candle in Rong Fei's hand and said in surprise.
"Does anyone have a sharp dagger or knife that I can borrow?"
Rong Fei asked.
"I have it here."
Bai Zizai flicked his sleeve, and a delicate palm-length sword appeared in his hand.
Rong Fei reached out and took the small sword, carefully inserted the tip of the sword into the small hole on the candle, rotated it around the candle, and then gently opened the candle along the carved marks.
Rong Fei's movements were very careful and gentle, but even so, the cotton wick inside the candle was still broken after it was opened.
Although everyone didn't understand the significance of Rong Fei's move, they couldn't help but express regret.
Rong Fei seemed to be unwilling to give in. This time he didn't use the small sword to make scratches. He directly used his fingers to break the candle into two pieces simply and roughly.
The strange thing is that even though Rong Fei broke the candle with such a rough movement, the cotton wick inside was not broken and was still stubbornly connected to the two broken candles.
"Oh, I understand. The cotton wick was not broken when it was first opened, but had already been broken. The small hole on the candle was left when the cotton wick was broken."
Someone with a quick mind was the first to say it in sudden realization.
Upon hearing this, Manager Liu quickly ran to fetch the last unlit candle in the room, and sure enough he saw a small hole near the top.
Use your fingertips to crush the candle bit by bit starting from the top. When it reaches the level of the small hole, a small piece of cotton wick falls off and falls to the floor.
At this time, only a small hole was left on the cross section of the candle, and the remaining cotton wick shrank inside the small hole.
Seeing everyone here, they understood that the cotton wick inside the candle was not only broken, but also cut off a little bit. If the cotton wick above burned out, it would be unsustainable, and the candle would extinguish itself.
That's why it took Xiao Wei some time to light the candle, because the cotton wick was a little short, and the wax mud covering it had to be melted before the cotton wick could be lit.
This explains why the candle extinguishes itself.
Because it was tampered with.
"Sir, we have figured out the matter of the candle going out, but you still haven't told us where the murderer is hiding?"
Manager Liu asked.
