A thorny problem

Unable to figure that out, Lin Ke still had the onlookers disperse.

Then he brought the people from Chaoyang Street to the Tongfu Grand Restaurant to think through and discuss the case.

Although Lin Ke had not known them for long, they had developed something of a bond.

They all liked Lin Ke, too, so they were willing to help.

Inside the Tongfu Grand Restaurant, the people from Chaoyang Street sat in a circle.

Butcher Zhang, Bingbing, Wang Lin, Shopkeeper Tong, Bai Zhantang, the matchmaker, the storyteller and his son, and the others were all there.

Bingbing had just finished describing everything the young gentleman, now a corpse, had done at the Song-Listening Entertainment House.

Simply put, he had watched dances and listened to songs. That was it.

They were discussing it!

Discussing everything about those people!

They hoped Lin Ke could find a lead to crack the case-or, really, that anyone could find one!

Lin Ke asked, "Miss Bingbing, when that young gentleman left the Song-Listening Entertainment House, did his complexion change? Or was there any change in the way he spoke?"

"No." After thinking for a moment, Bingbing shook her head. "Nothing changed at all. He was exactly the same as when he arrived!"

That meant the young gentleman had only eaten porridge, drunk tea, watched dances, listened to songs, eaten melon seeds, pastries, and sweets, and chatted at the Song-Listening Entertainment House!

He had done everything there was to do at the Song-Listening Entertainment House.

"Like a child who's never experienced the world..." Lin Ke noted that point, then frowned as he looked toward Wang Lin.

Next, it was Wang Lin's turn to speak.

When Lin Ke came over, Wang Lin nodded. "He entered my Exclusive Black Room, but he didn't enter the Hands-On Black Room. He stayed in the Exclusive Black Room for an hour, carefully examining every painting, then gave me a tael of silver!"

When Wang Lin casually mentioned that tael of silver, Shopkeeper Tong sprang to her feet. "It's that profitable?!"

Butcher Zhang and Constable Xing looked nervously at Wang Lin, as though afraid she would say, "From now on, every visit to my shop costs a tael of silver."

The Tea Shop Father and Son, meanwhile, were rather baffled and had no idea what was going on.

"Sister Lin..." In a rare display, Bingbing's entire face flushed red in an instant.

What are these people up to? Farther away, Li Hanlin, seated beside Constable Xing, wore an expression of innocent puzzlement.

Lin Ke, meanwhile, looked disdainful. "Master, have you no shame? You charged a whole tael of silver just to look at those works outside."

"What business is it of yours?" Wang Lin gave a light snort, then looked around and said in a soft, sweet voice, "Don't worry, dear customers. This humble girl won't raise her prices!"

Butcher Zhang and the others settled back into their seats one after another, and Constable Xing let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Bingbing's face grew even redder, but she stubbornly maintained her cool expression, making her look oddly red and white.

"Hmm?" Li Hanlin tapped Constable Xing beside him with the back of his hand and gave him a questioning look.

Constable Xing scratched his head awkwardly. "My lord, please wait a moment. I'll fetch the keys, and we'll see for ourselves."

"Very well." Only then did Li Hanlin nod.

Wang Lin had already overheard them. She took out the keys and tossed them straight to Constable Xing. "The smaller key opens the outer door. The inner-"

Constable Xing waved as he headed toward the entrance, cutting Wang Lin off. "I know which key is which. Don't trouble yourself."

With that, he led Li Hanlin toward the entrance with short, hurried steps, bowing and scraping.

Just as they reached the entrance, Li Hanlin stopped and looked back at Lin Ke. "Wait until I return before continuing!"

"Yes, my lord." Lin Ke nodded, and then he disappeared through the restaurant entrance with Constable Xing.

Silence fell over the hall. Everyone remaining wore one of only two expressions.

One was the baffled, puzzled look exemplified by the Tea Shop Father and Son.

The other was the "every man understands" smile exemplified by Butcher Zhang.

That offered a glimpse of just how well Lin Ke's master's Immortal Realm Painting Studio was doing.

Half an hour passed, and the moon climbed high overhead, but Constable Xing and Li Hanlin still had not emerged.

"Why are Lord Li and Little Xing taking so long?"

"Heh heh. If you ask me, there's more to this than meets the eye."

"Huh? More to it?"

"Young man, these waters run too deep for you to handle. You'll understand someday."

The constables around them whispered among themselves. More and more wore knowing expressions, their smiles positively sleazy.

Just then, a sound came from the restaurant entrance.

Bang!

The door opened.

Everyone looked over and saw two people entering, bent at the waist.

Now they could see clearly!

It was Li Hanlin and Constable Xing, who had vanished for half an hour!

Lin Ke inwardly cursed their mothers. There's been a fucking murder here, and you two actually hid in Little Black Room to satisfy your personal urges?

Fucking impressive!

The two men finally made their way inside, bent over and walking with their feet splayed.

Meanwhile, Lin Ke wondered whether the two of them had helped each other solve their problems in there.

After entering the restaurant, Constable Xing hurried over to Wang Lin and handed her the keys. "I've already cleaned up the Hands-On Black Room!"

With that, he turned, patted his backside, and prepared to leave.

But after taking the keys, Wang Lin said, "I'll give you a discount today. Just one tael!"

Raising the price on the spot?!

Butcher Zhang's eyes widened, and he immediately blurted out, "Didn't you say you wouldn't raise your prices?"

"Holy shit." Shopkeeper Tong's eyes lit up, and she gave Wang Lin a thumbs-up. "Lesson learned!"

Lin Ke nearly laughed aloud at that.

Incredible. Wang Lin is absolutely incredible.

With Li Hanlin present-and having gone inside to "consume"-this would surely count as spending public funds.

When spending public funds, nobody ever looked at the amount. It was the same in any world.

Since it was not their own money, they felt no pain over spending it.

"One tael?" Constable Xing froze when he heard Wang Lin's words!

Then he turned toward his superior, Li Hanlin, with a pleading look.

"Hmph." With an entirely composed expression, Li Hanlin fished a silver ingot from inside his robe and tossed it to Constable Xing.

Constable Xing handed it straight to Wang Lin.

Wang Lin took it, weighed it in her hand, nodded, and sat back down. Then she said, "Today is an exception. Helping investigate this case has put me in a somewhat irritable mood, so I'm charging a little more. Please don't mind, my lord. Next time you visit, I'll charge you the usual price."

As she spoke, she also signaled to Butcher Zhang and the others, allowing the two men to settle down.

"Next time? Heh. What a vulgar place." Li Hanlin snorted coldly, but his eyes swept from side to side, committing the Immortal Realm Painting Studio's location to memory.

Then he looked at Lin Ke, signaling with his eyes.

Lin Ke immediately said to Wang Lin, "Master, let's continue. Did anything change about the young gentleman while he was at your place?"

This time, Wang Lin's face held neither playfulness nor a smile. Instead, she wore an exceptionally rare look of gravity, her brows furrowed.

"It did!" She took a deep breath before continuing. "When he arrived at my shop, his face looked normal, no different from anyone else's. But after I took him into the Exclusive Black Room, his face slowly began to redden. At first, I thought he was a little embarrassed after seeing my masterpieces.

But as he examined the paintings one by one, his face grew even redder. The light was rather dim in Little Black Room, though.

"By the time I noticed, his face was like fire. We didn't even need candles in the Exclusive Black Room to see all the paintings!"

Wang Lin paused briefly, then continued, "After he finished looking, he commented that the paintings were good, but he couldn't look at them for long. While I was still puzzled, he tossed me a money pouch, so I told him he could look for as long as he liked.

"He left around the time you were about to come over-two quarter-hours into the noon period!"

Hearing that, Lin Ke realized he and the man had missed each other perfectly.

He had arrived at Wang Lin's place near the end of the noon period, almost one o'clock, whereas according to Wang Lin, the man had left at twelve.

Wang Lin probably was not a suspect. Otherwise, she should have had plenty of other ways to kill the young gentleman.

For now, there was no suspicion surrounding Wang Lin.

What about after that?

Were the Tea Shop Father and Son suspects?

After all, the young gentleman had visited the tea shop.

"You two." Lin Ke looked toward the storyteller and his son and asked directly, "When did that gentleman arrive at your place?"

The storyteller and his son did not answer immediately, instead sinking into thought. After a long while, the son finally said, "He came around that time, listened to a stretch of storytelling, then left."

"But there wasn't much unusual about him, either..."

Lin Ke immediately frowned.

That's not right!

That shouldn't be!

Did I miss someone? Everyone's here. Whose information haven't I considered?

Lin Ke felt things had become rather troublesome.

It would be difficult to resolve this with mortal power alone!