TEFSCBSS Chapter 105

Chapter 105: Case Closed (Part 4)

“Virtual Scenario of the Plot” — City South, Chenghuang Temple, Simulating the Scene from Ten Years Ago

After Candidate One left, only Yueniang and Wanniang remained.

Standing in the ruined temple, they felt a sense of relief.

“It’s finally coming to an end,” Yueniang said with a faint smile still on her face, though tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes—tears for the innocent sisters who died so tragically, and for a future free from fear.

Wanniang’s eyes were filled with sorrow. “Yueniang, let me handle the final step.”

Yueniang shook her head. “No, I’ll go. I should be the one—it’s only right.”

“You’re the last of your three—your mistress and sister are both gone. You need to live on, to see the world for them.”

Wanniang was visibly shaken. She grabbed Yueniang’s hand tightly. “But what about you? None of this was your fault to begin with. You got dragged into it because of us, and we’ve already felt so guilty.”

“How could it have nothing to do with me?” Yueniang replied softly.

“Xiaomei was my childhood friend from the same hometown. Xiaoyu saw me as an older sister. And you… you treated me like a confidante.”

“This Moon Immortal Pavilion may be filthy through and through, but meeting all of you… that was my greatest fortune.”

“I had no parents. I was sold to this place by the neighbors. People always said Madam Qin treated me like her own daughter—but none of you knew how much I hated her.”

“Why do I dance so gracefully? Why, despite being the top courtesan, have I never taken a single client?”

“Heh… it wasn’t kindness. She was simply grooming me as a toy for someone else.”

Yueniang closed her eyes and gently touched her arm, as if still feeling the scars of the past.

Then she turned to Wanniang with tenderness in her gaze. “It’s because I met you that there was finally a bit of light in my dark world.”

“So it should be me.”

“For all of you. For myself.”

She rested her hand on Wanniang’s head and stroked her hair gently, just like she had when they were young. “Be good, Wanniang. Since you all call me ‘sister,’ then I must carry the responsibility of being one.”

“Now go—go find the officials.”

“I’ve seen countless people come and go through Moon Immortal Pavilion. I’ve learned how to read people. I believe… they might be able to uncover the truth, and make those monsters pay with their lives.”

With those words, she gently broke free from Wanniang’s grasp and walked resolutely toward the outside.

Waiting there was Butcher Liu, his face solemn. “Are you truly ready?”

“Of course.”

She let out a wild laugh. “Let me use this tainted body to perform one final, bloody dance for those rats! Hahahaha!”

“Let’s just hope the hero won’t tremble when the time comes.”

Butcher Liu clasped his fists and gave her a deep bow. “I salute you, righteous one.”

His eyes were tinged red as he silently followed behind Yueniang, heading toward the Sun residence in the eastern part of the city.

The night was dark, the streets empty and silent. The two walked—one in the light, one in the shadows—until they reached the gates of a wealthy household.

The gatekeeper was dozing off against a stone lion, completely unaware of their arrival.

Yueniang nodded slightly toward Butcher Liu in the dark. Her red lips parted: “Do it.”

A cold blade flashed beneath the moonlight, slicing into Yueniang’s chest. A moment later, her beating heart was pulled out and placed into Butcher Liu’s hands.

In that final moment, Yueniang forced her eyes open, staring at the still-beating heart.

“So… so my heart was truly this clean.”

That final thought faded, and silence fell like a curtain. A breeze swept through, gently lifting her body.

Yueniang’s dress fluttered lightly as she slowly collapsed, like a stunning dancer taking her final bow. In that moment, she was heartbreakingly beautiful, breathtaking beyond words.

Wanniang sat slumped on the steps of the high platform, completely disheveled.

Contestant No. 5 rushed over and helped her up. “Wanniang… are you okay?”

But Wanniang was inconsolable, sobbing uncontrollably as she shook her head over and over, unable to accept the truth of Yueniang’s death. She clutched No. 5’s sleeve tightly. “Yueniang is dead!”

She looked toward the crowd with tear-filled eyes and pleaded, “Please, sirs! Help find Yueniang’s killer! Clear her name!”

The candidates all stood in shock, especially Candidate One, his face frozen in disbelief. Just moments ago, she had been calmly explaining the plan to him, and now… Yueniang was dead?

Was this to silence her? Or something else…?

Before anyone could respond, Wanniang led the group down from the platform in a hurry. The rest of the audience followed instinctively. Their minds could barely process what was happening. All they felt was shock, fury, and deep sorrow.

They followed Wanniang to a corner near the West Building’s script store, where a crimson gate had appeared at some point. Flanking it were two massive stone lions, now stained red with blood, their eyes wide and fierce.

A woman in white lay dead at the entrance. A gaping wound in her chest revealed the heart had been removed—her body empty.

It was Yueniang.

Wanniang rushed over and collapsed beside her, sobbing so hard she couldn’t catch her breath. She looked up at the red gate, her entire body shaking, rage burning fiercely in her eyes.

Just then, the gate creaked open.

Zhao Wen stepped out, dressed in ornate robes.

The intense looks from Wanniang and the crowd made him shudder.

What had he done to offend Su Li this badly? Why did he have to play this kind of hateful character?

He had wanted the role of Butcher Liu!

Or at least that poor scholar who died early!

Hell, even a random bystander would’ve been better!

But now there was no turning back. The role had begun.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Zhao Wen squared his shoulders and, ignoring the death stare from his actual father in the crowd, asked coldly:

“You filthy commoners—gathered at the gate of the Sun Estate. What is the meaning of this?”

Candidate One could no longer contain his fury. He stepped forward with large strides. “What is the meaning? Does this young master truly not know?”

Zhao Wen followed everyone’s gaze to Yueniang’s lifeless body on the ground and forced a sneer onto his face. “What is this filthy thing? You dare desecrate the entrance to my Sun Estate with such filth?”

Candidate One nearly laughed from sheer anger. He stepped forward again, directly confronting Zhao Wen. “Young Master Sun, is it?”

“You are suspected of murder, connected to the deaths of over eighty innocent people. You’ll be coming with us.”

Zhao Wen’s gaze turned icy. “Utter nonsense!”

“When have I ever committed such atrocities?”

“I suggest you all leave immediately—or I’ll have you charged with slandering the heir of a noble family!”

He raised his chin defiantly and pointed at the plaque above the gate: this was the Sun Estate—an aristocratic household, and kin to the Prime Minister himself.

The lady of the house was the sister of Chancellor Su. Commoners couldn’t touch them—not easily.

The candidates and onlookers understood this power dynamic all too well. But Yueniang’s body lay right there in front of them. The innocent girls, the forgotten victims—the matchmakers, the runaway girls, the poor scholar who died seeking truth—all of them seemed to form a chorus of blood-red phantoms, silently standing behind the crowd.

How could they retreat?

The ten candidates stepped forward, surrounding Zhao Wen.

If there were people brave enough to die for the truth, then those who studied the words of sages—those who were meant to serve the people—must stand up too, no matter how powerless they felt.

Behind them, the crowd of red-eyed citizens closed in, forming a silent wall around the estate.

They said nothing, but their presence asked a single, thunderous question:

Can the lives of ordinary people be trampled so easily?

Can saving one man justify the destruction of countless families?

Are we even human anymore?