The Plough

t dodging rent as him! With his character, he can't even call himself a cultured person, he's no different from a street thug!”

“There, this is it!”

’

The woman brought them to the room at the end of the second floor, took out the key and opened the door.

“Since you know him, why don't you come in and sit down? I'll let you know if he comes back.”

“That's not quite right, we haven't gotten the host's permission,” Ling Shu said politely.

The landlord didn't mind, “It's fine, there's nothing valuable in there anyway.
You can sit for a bit, I'll make some tea for you two.”

Since she said that, the two naturally stopped being polite and started to look around the room.

Ling Shu was a policeman, he knew how to look around without leaving a trace.

Yue Dingtang just wandered around, looking everywhere.

The room was very simple, almost crude.

There was paper and pens on the desk, and underneath was a Wusong University library card.

The card was new, with the number of uses written on the back.
There was only three strokes of the character “正”.

At the same time, Ling Shu saw the name on the card.

Hong Xiaoguang.

There were three books next to it.

One was a collection of poems from the European Renaissance.

One was Tagore's Fruit-Gathering.

The last one was Shakespeare's most well-known work, Romeo and Juliet.

About half of the notebook had been used up, and it was mostly copying down verses, mostly from Shakespeare.

“Find anything?” Yue Dingtang walked over.

“The handwriting in the front is more serious, the handwriting in the back is sloppier, and there are scribbles,” Ling Shu said.

Ling Shu flipped to the last few pages and Yue Dingtang realized that the scribbles were just a few characters from a poem that was copied over and over again.

“A wise man becomes a fool, an easy prey for the angler; for he relies on his talents and knowledge, yet fails to see his own arrogance.” Yue Dingtang read it out loud.
“Who wrote this?”

“Shakespeare,” Ling Shu replied.
“Du Yunning loved reading his works when she was in school, and she could recite these lines like the back of her hand.”

’

“So Mr.
Hong was trying to win her over?”

“Interestingly, all three books are foreign works, none of them are from our country.
And Du Yunning also had a preference for poetry.
Maybe she couldn't recite Bai Letian's most famous three poems, but she could write out half of Shakespeare's lines by heart.”

“I have some interesting findings here, come and have a look.”

Yue Dingtang walked to the bedside and gently lifted the pillow.

Underneath was a book.

The Golden Lotus.

Ling Shu picked it up and flipped it open.

Yue Dingtang noticed that he was wearing two white gloves: “Where did you get the gloves from?”

Ling Shu glanced at the book and said absentmindedly, “I asked Shen Renjie and he gave them to me without hesitation after I cited your name.
They're not expensive but they can come in handy in critical moments to avoid leaving fingerprints on the book cover and being noticed by someone who pays attention to details.
Look—”

Li Pinger whispered to Fei Cuixuan while Pan Jinlian made a drunken scene at the grape trellis.

This was one of the most famous lines in The Golden Lotus.

It not only profoundly depicted human nature and customs, but also satisfied people's curiosity.

This chapter's few pages were flipped through repeatedly and were much more wrinkled and worn out than the other pages, indicating that the owner must have read it often.

Ling Shu had an enigmatic smile on his face: “I'm afraid the attraction of The Golden Lotus to Hong Xiaoguang is much greater than those poetry collections on the table.”

“The poetry collections were used to please Du Yunning, while The Golden Lotus was something he liked to read, of course it's different,” Yue Dingtang said.
“Is this Hong Xiaoguang a con artist?”

Con artists and Fairy Jumpers were similar societal terms, referring to those who swindled money and sex through some means, setting traps for the victims.

With the world in disorder, all kinds of people emerged.
Such con artists were everywhere, the small ones swindling money and food, while the big ones could make people lose their property.

Especially those originally poor and humble men, who, with a passable face, dressed up, talked sweetly, and lured rich girls into their traps, making them befuddled by their own beauty and asking for something in return.
This was often reported in newspapers and people had already become accustomed to it.

“But con artists usually only swindle money and not take lives, right?”

Now not only was Du Yunning dead, but he was also unfairly implicated.

This case was still shrouded in mystery, and the real culprit was yet to be revealed.
If it was a con artist, they would have been too powerful.

’

Ling Shu flipped the novel and put it back in its place.

The room was not big, and a few steps were enough to turn around and see the whole thing.
Most of the furnishings were the landlord's, and even the wardrobe contained only one set of pajamas, showing that Hong Xiaoguang's financial situation was not good.

Although Du Yunning was naive and inexperienced, her literary accomplishments were far greater than those of ordinary rich girls.
If Hong Xiaoguang could win her heart just by twisting a few foreign poems, it would be too ridiculous.

Ling Shu felt that there must be other links and hidden information that they were not aware of yet.

“Here.”

Yue Dingtang suddenly spoke up.

“What do you see when you look here?”

Ling Shu walked over and stood by the window, following his gaze outside.

As the fireworks and lights of the night faded away, one could still vaguely make out the scene outside.

Ling Shu was taken aback and couldn't help but take a deep breath.

“He had definitely planned this ahead of time!”

Author's note: Happy Tuesday! Leave a comment and get 66 red packets~

Side scene unrelated to the main story–

Ling Shu: My desserts…

Yue Dingtang: Handle the case with care and win the people's trust.

Ling Shu: My cigarettes…

Yue Dingtang took the cigarette and put it in his mouth: Smoking is bad for your health.

Ling Shu said nothing and three days later gave Yue Dingtang a birthday present.

Yue Dingtang opened it to find a copy of The Golden Lotus.

Yue Chunxiao said with a heavy heart: Little brother, I have already told you, get married early and don't read too many of these novels, it's bad for your health!

Yue Dingtang: …