Da Li Temple - Chapter 3.2

Chapter 3.2
Doubts
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The room was full of tea fragrance with a few oil lamps swaying. The doors and windows were closed, making the wind and rain outside couldn’t penetrate. Lin Wanqing felt a little suffocated. Half of it was because of the confined space, while the other was because of the group of guards with swords in this room.

While they were standing in front of a mahogany tea table, the man in a jade crown and an official uniform was sitting on a couch, slowly flipping through the case file in front of him like he was alone.
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For thirty minutes, he did not even give them an eye. Su Moyi’s posture of flipping through the book was stunning. His three slender fingers gently clasped on the corner of the page, the remaining two fingers turned inward in a gentle arc, just the right amount of elegance without losing the prestige. The crunching sound of the clattering pages provoked Lin Wanqing’s throat to tighten and her heart to beat hatefully. It was better to have a head-on slash than to stand like this. She opened her mouth, ready to give up. But before the word ‘Su’ came out of her mouth, her arm was pinched by Liang Weiping. Fine. She really dragged Liang Weiping down this time. Don’t talk too much, don’t talk too much. So, she closed that opened mouth gloomily.
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“You said that Wang Hu is not a murderer, then who is the murderer?” The person leaning on the couch finally reacted. He raised his long fingers and casually threw the case file in his hand on the tea case with a shocking ‘pop.’
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This sudden question shook Liang Weiping. He asked in a trembling voice, “Is Lord Su talking about the rape and murder cases? Or the murderer in Wang Hu’s case?”
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“The rape and murder cases, I think,” the person behind the tea desk tapped his index finger on the tabletop, and the guards on the side came forward and poured a cup of tea for them.
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“What do you know about the murderer?” Su Moyi’s tone was calm. Although the tea was for the two men, his words were a question to Lin Wanqing.
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Lin Wanqing didn’t say anything and took the tea first – the first batch of Mount Huang Mao Feng (*) this spring. After the first rain of Festival Qingming (**), tea leaves should be picked, dried, and then carefully processed. The process was complex, and Mount Huang was far from Sheng Jing. The Festival Qingming only ended in less than a few days, so someone must be using a fast horse to send the tea leaves after picking them up —

T/N : (*) A kind of tea leaves from Mount Huang. (**) Qingming Festival is when Chinese people traditionally visit ancestral tombs.
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Look at the teacup – Hetian jade with translucent light, like a polished white wax, without a trace of impurities —
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Lin Wanqing gulped. Such valuable Mao Feng tea leaves and teacups, unless it was an imperial gift, even Official Li, an official from the fourth rank, wouldn’t have them, let alone a restaurant like this. It seemed the tea leaves and the cups were Su Moyi’s belongings. But what kind of person would bring their tea leaves and cups to a restaurant?
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Lin Wanqing choked on her thoughts for a moment.
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“This tea and cups, I had brought them myself.”
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Lin Wanqing: “……”
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“Can you answer my question?”
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The tea in her hand shook. Lin Wanqing was forced to endure his apprehension and replied softly: “That murderer should be a young man whose stature isn’t sturdy. He may even be a bit weak and thin. He would never come from the military lineage and should be doing relatively humble work. Low self-esteem, small circle of life, lonely character.”
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“Why is that so?” Still a cold, emotionless voice.
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Lin Wanqing put down the teacup and made a slight bow toward Su Moyi, “Dare I ask if the Lord can still remember the victim’s death?”
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“Hmm. Blindfolded, bounded hands and feet, and had multiple stabs in their lower body and chest with sharp weapons.”
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“Exactly,” Lin Wanqing nodded and thoughtfully asked again, “If you, Lord, are this rapist and murderer, and you were ready to kill the victim before committing the crime, why did you still need to cover the victim’s eyes?”
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“Lo — Lord …… how can you be a rapist-murderer?!” Liang Weiping’s heart-stopping voice came from the side.
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Su Moyi did not care, waving his hand to signal Lin Wanqing to continue.
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“During the process of committing a sexual crime, all the pleasure comes from the victim’s resistance, struggle, and despair. The eyes are the best channel to transmit these emotions. Why did he cover them up instead?”
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Su Moyi was silent, without emotions on his face. Liang Weiping, on the side, was afraid of such silence, so he rounded up the situation in panic, “Maybe — …… sexual fetish ……”
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Lin Wanqing didn’t hastily refute him and continued to ask questions, “And what’s up with the bounded hands and feet?”

“Maybe, maybe …… still a sexual fetish ……”
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“What about the stab wounds in the lower sexual organs of the deceased?”
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“Still, still …… sexual fetish ……”
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“……” Lin Wanqing looked at Liang Weiping speechlessly.
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Liang Weiping, shocked by this gaze, suddenly remembered something, holding his neck while saying, “I, I’m just guessing …… I don’t have such some hobbies …… “
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Lin Wanqing drew her eyes. Her tone mixed with a trace of helplessness, “In my opinion, there is a reason for all of this.”
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Su Moyi: “Why do you say that?”
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Lin Wanqing smiled with certainty, “First of all, the murderer bound the victim’s hands and feet because he wasn’t that strong that he could suppress the victim throughout the offense. That’s why he would rather waste time tying up all the victims at the risk of being discovered at the scene. The murderer was afraid that his victims would outmatch him.”
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“Then, what kind of man would have such an opinion of himself?” Lin Wanqing lifted one side of her lips and asked herself.
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“Extremely low self-esteem. A man with extremely low self-esteem would be afraid of his victims seeing him. Their gazes creep him, making it impossible for him to obtain pleasure from the killings. Therefore, he would blindfold his victims.”
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Liang Weiping opened his mouth at this, wanting to speak.
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Lin Wanqing didn’t give him a chance and continued, “Lastly, the damage in the deceased’s lower body gave the reason for the murderer’s low self-esteem.”
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Su Moyi narrowed his eyes slightly. His complexion was as unfathomable as ever. If he hadn’t unconsciously leaned toward Lin Wanqing, Lin Wanqing would have thought he wasn’t interested.
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“He was impotent.”
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Everyone present was stunned.

“An impotent man can’t have normal intercourse with a woman, so it distorts his mentality, and he can only imagine that the cold knife is a part of his own body. He repeatedly stabbed the deceased’s lower body to gain pleasure.”
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“Low self-esteem because of his inability to perform. Tying it all together with the details of the case, it makes sense.”