S.C.I.谜案集 (Special Criminal Investigation) Book 2

Case 4. Love Murderer: Chapter 18. Old House

Everyone followed Zhao Jue into the fortress-like villa. The villa was very special, as the whole structure was an olden European style, with brass chandelier candlesticks, hollowed-out wall decorations, oil paintings, sculptures and busy maids passing by.

Gong Sun stared at a few European armoured statues next to the corridor and said, "the things in this room should be worth a lot of money, right?" He remembered that Bai Jintang had said he would buy several such armoured men for decoration. Of course, Gong Sun also liked these things, but as soon as he saw the price, he immediately felt that it was too expensive as a decoration, so he firmly refused. With this much extra money, it would be better to donate it to charity.

"Do you know anything about antiques?" Zhao Jue looked back at Gong Sun.

Gong Sun shook his head and said, "just a little bit."

Zhao Jue smiled and said, "I photographed a medieval duke's castle abroad, and it took more than half a year to tear it down completely. Then, it took more than half a year to move it here and get it restored. It's just that the original fortress is grey. I didn't like the colour, so I asked people to paint the outer walls white."

Zhan Zhao smiled dryly twice and said, "don't tell me the servants are also from there?"

Everyone was speechless, while Zhao Jue snickered. He looked back at Zhan Zhao and said, "I bought this castle for a reason... I'm sure you'll approve of what I have done." With that, he went up to the second floor. When they followed him upstairs, Zhao Jue went to the end of the corridor, pushed open a door and said to Zhan Zhao, "this is my bedroom. There are several master bedrooms like this. You guys can spend the night here."

Zhan Zhao was a little puzzled and asked, "why are we spending the night here?"

Zhao Jue chuckled and whispered, "if you spend the night here, the lion cub can sleep with you."

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows. He lowered his head and saw that the little cub was looking at him cutely. Once again, Zhan Zhao's heart softened.

Bai Yutang and the others looked around and saw a huge oil painting covered with a piece of white cloth over the back of a large bed in the middle of the room. It was on the main wall facing the gate.

Zhao Jue went over and said, "the reason I bought this castle is for this painting."

"Is this a painting from the castle?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Mmhmm." Zhao Jue nodded, stretched out his hand, and uncovered the white cloth.

When everyone looked up, they could not help but gasp.

Zhan Zhao opened his mouth wide and saw a man dressed as a medieval aristocrat on the canvas behind the white cloth. His appearance looked familiar... He looked like Zhan Zhao's dad... or rather just like Zhan Zhao.

For a moment, everyone was in a daze. They all had surprised expressions on their faces. When they looked at Zhao Jue, they saw him trying to hold back his laughter on the bed. Zhan Zhao immediately realized that something was wrong and thought again, "how can an ancient painting be so new?" He turned to look at Zhao Jue, then said, "Zhao Jue, you're teasing me?!"

Gong Sun went to the front of the painting and looked at it. "It's painted recently... Not an antique."

Bai Yutang felt the pressure in the air around him become lower and lower. "Zhao Jue sure is good. He is able to make Zhan Zhao angry every time. Though, why do something so boring?" Bai Yutang thought to himself.

When the atmosphere became awkward, Zhao Jue stopped laughing. He reached out and gently pressed the bedside bell. Soon, the housekeeper came up with a milk bottle in his hand and handed it to Zhan Zhao.