There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 46.1

The content of the letter was not difficult to understand at all. It was certainly infinitely simpler than any random classical Chinese reading comprehension passage from any high school Chinese exam paper.

There were almost no obscure words, which allowed Qin Ke to effortlessly interpret the contents of this letter—

“It seems to be saying that a distant relative of the recipient wants to marry off his daughter to the recipient’s master, um, that is, her husband. The letter praises how gentle and virtuous his daughter is, saying that after marrying into the family she will certainly be filial to the mistress of the house and know her place, things like that…”

After finishing, Qin Ke looked back at the camera.

“There’s nothing else in the room, so this letter must be the most important clue to solving the identity—combined with the previous analysis, it’s not hard to deduce that the owner of this room is the primary wife in a wealthy household.”

The random staff member from the director’s team in the room finally got to experience the moment of liberation he had been waiting for through gritted teeth. He opened his mouth. “Congratulations to the guest for solving your own identity. You may now proceed to the next stage.”

After saying this, the staff member looked up, expecting Qin Ke to ask him what the next stage was.

However, he was disappointed.

Qin Ke stood motionless in place, still pensively looking at the contents of the letter while muttering to herself.

“Since this is the identity, then the term ‘sinner’ seems quite obvious. At the time, it was a locked room murder case. On the surface, the only person who could possibly have committed the crime was this primary wife, so everyone treated her as the criminal. But if that’s really the case, why are there quotation marks around the word ‘sinner’ on the sign?”

Saying this, Qin Ke looked up at the increasingly pale-faced staff member from the director’s team, with a hint of amusement in her eyes.

“So for the next task, at least for my storyline, it should be to clear the name of this ‘sinner’, right?”

Director’s team staff member: “……”

Who the hell recruited such a troublemaker from where??

Needless to say, later in this segment, watching the pale-faced young man from the director’s team, the bullet screen comments were still full of amused spectators laughing hysterically.

[Director’s team: Feeling the crushing pressure on their IQ.]

[First time seeing such a lifeless director’s team hahahahaha the second task hasn’t even been announced and someone’s already guessed the follow-up hahahaha]

[The top student sister is so fun too, I’m a fan now!]

[The entire production team resigns, “Academic Genius Show” Season 1, deceased.]

…

Although she had figured out the ultimate goal of her storyline in advance, Qin Ke still had to follow the subtasks given by the production team.

The second task after solving her identity was to require the guest to leave the room, collect enough information, and meet up with other players.

However, before meeting up, Qin Ke was taken by the director’s team to the makeup room to change into a fitting ancient costume and styling.

Then, Qin Ke arrived at the main hall of this mansion.

When Qin Ke entered, she found that there was actually a guest who had arrived even earlier than her.

Gu Yuncheng, corresponding to the sign information [Blind Person].

Qin Ke saw that he wasn’t closing his eyes at all, and for a moment couldn’t tell if this was because he didn’t actually need to pretend to be blind or if this guest was just too aloof to cooperate.

She quietly asked this question to the director’s team staff member who was still accompanying her.

The staff member was silent for two seconds.

“Even if you lower your voice, the microphone on you will still fully record your question into the show.”

“…”

Qin Ke blinked innocently, belatedly covering her microphone.

Not getting an answer, Qin Ke decided to approach and test the waters herself.

“Hello.”

Qin Ke waved very lightly to Gu Yuncheng, as a form of greeting.

Gu Yuncheng returned a very steady nod to her.

“Hello.”

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence spread between these two quietest guests for a moment, until finally Qin Ke “surrendered” first. She looked over this male guest who was even less talkative than herself with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, then tentatively opened her mouth to ask.

“Your identity is… the master of this wealthy household?”

Gu Yuncheng nodded.

There was about five seconds of hesitation on his face, as if he felt this question was like when someone asks you “How are you?” and you should politely ask “And you?” in return.

So five seconds later, Qin Ke saw this young man ask with an expression full of “I don’t need to know either” perfunctory emotion.

“And you?”

Qin Ke: “…”

Qin Ke: “The primary wife, currently the one who looks most likely to have killed your concubine within the range of suspects.”

Gu Yuncheng: “……”

Qin Ke didn’t expect this wooden male guest to voluntarily provide her with any information anymore. She gestured at the task card in her hand.

“The second task I received here is to collect information and then meet up, which looks like a group task—what about yours?”

Gu Yuncheng was silent for two seconds, then said, “The same as yours.”

“…”

At least he was somewhat cooperative.

Qin Ke sighed in relief and sat down in a high-backed chair across the table from Gu Yuncheng.

“Then let’s exchange the information we’ve already obtained. For fairness, we’ll take turns asking questions. You can go first.”

Gu Yuncheng: “…”

Qin Ke: “?”

Gu Yuncheng: “…”

Qin Ke: “…………”

Under Gu Yuncheng’s gaze that was entirely cooperative yet completely detached, Qin Ke took a deep breath, suppressing the feeling of helplessness in her heart.

“Alright, I’ll go first.”

“My first question,” Qin Ke looked into Gu Yuncheng’s eyes, “Does your identity information indicate that you’re blind or have any signs of eye disease?”

Gu Yuncheng pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

“No.” After saying this, he unusually added, “Healthy body, no illnesses.”

“…”

Qin Ke’s gaze flickered, thoughtfully looking at the sign she had been holding in her hand.

At this moment, Gu Yuncheng suddenly spoke up. “I have a question too.”

“?”

Qin Ke looked up in surprise, “Go ahead.”

Gu Yuncheng looked directly into her eyes, “Are you the one who killed that concubine?”

Qin Ke: “…”

Suddenly feeling something akin to stern righteousness in the other’s gaze, Qin Ke instinctively stiffened, then came to her senses and inwardly smiled bitterly—she had just been wondering how such a newcomer could establish themselves in the entertainment industry, and now she suddenly saw one of his potential acting paths.

Playing an impartial and upright positive character would definitely be no problem…

After her random thoughts, Qin Ke shook her head.

“I only discovered my personal identity and some basic information, I don’t have any memories about this incident.” She paused, then added. “Besides, I guess the whole story revolves around this event, so they wouldn’t reveal the answer to us so quickly.”

Gu Yuncheng: “Is that so.”

Qin Ke: “.”

His tone was calm, and Qin Ke couldn’t even tell if this was just a perfunctory response or if it had some other meaning.

Qin Ke thought for two seconds, and finally took out the letter she had been carrying.

She placed it on the table and pushed it towards Gu Yuncheng.

“This is the most valuable thing I found in my room.”

Gu Yuncheng reached out to take it and quickly read through it. From his reaction, Qin Ke judged that he had no difficulty reading this either, saving her the time to explain. Qin Ke spoke directly:

“From this letter and its heading and signature, it’s not hard to guess that the daughter mentioned in the letter who wanted to marry into the family was likely the deceased concubine. If this holds true, then she was originally married to the master of this household, um, that is, to you, through some method by the mistress of the house—me.”

Gu Yuncheng’s eyes moved slightly, as if enlightened.

He turned his head to look at Qin Ke, “I was the first to arrive in this hall earlier, and there was a character from the story here at that time.”

“Oh?” Qin Ke’s eyes brightened, “Did they say anything?”

“Judging from her clothes and how she addressed me, she was a maid,” Gu Yuncheng said, glancing at Qin Ke. “She said that among the servants, there were rumors that the primary wife was jealous of the concubine’s beauty and favor, so she plotted to kill her.”

“…”

Qin Ke frowned slightly, feeling a headache coming on, “Looking at it this way, it seems that both the scene and the storyline background are intentionally or unintentionally pointing the arrow of suspicion at me, aren’t they?”

Gu Yuncheng: “You mean, you’re innocent?”

Qin Ke hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“At least, I believe ‘I’ am innocent.”

“Do you have any evidence?”

“Of course,” Qin Ke nodded, “As of now, there are three pieces of evidence.”

“…”

After Qin Ke said this, before Gu Yuncheng could react, the director’s team staff member who had been trying to blend into the background looked at Qin Ke with a shocked expression.

Gu Yuncheng remained calm—in fact, he had been calm throughout.

“Which three?”

“First, it’s this letter. From its content, we can see that this concubine was a distant relative of the primary wife, um, that is, me. If ‘I’ were really that jealous, I could have easily refused when receiving this letter—from the wording, we can tell that the sender was completely fawning on ‘me’, so the power should have been entirely in ‘my’ hands, ruling out any exchange or coercion.”

Qin Ke paused, then concluded her first point, “So, the primary wife wasn’t jealous of this concubine, otherwise she wouldn’t have even entered the household.”

Listening attentively to Qin Ke’s words, Gu Yuncheng nodded involuntarily.

“Hmm, no major loopholes. What’s the second point?”

Qin Ke touched her nose.

“The second point is more of a personal inference.”

“Oh?”

“It’s actually very simple, it’s the only piece of common information the show has given us so far.”

“…” Gu Yuncheng’s eyes flickered, “You mean the opening announcement?”

“Yes,” Qin Ke nodded, “Right at the start, we learned that the direct suspect in this case was the primary wife—because at the time, she was the only person near the deceased, the doors and windows were locked, and she was found unconscious nearby—which means, even if this primary wife had her own memories, she might be as clueless as I am now.”

Gu Yuncheng thought for a moment, then shook his head, “This doesn’t rule out the possibility that she killed the person and then feigned innocence or knocked herself unconscious.”

“…”

Qin Ke made an exasperated expression.

“If all the servants in this household were spreading rumors about the primary wife and concubine not getting along, how stupid would this primary wife have to be to deliberately lock herself in a sealed room with no other suspects and commit murder?”

As Gu Yuncheng was about to say something, Qin Ke spoke again—

“Of course, I don’t have any evidence for this point yet, which is why I said at the beginning it was a personal inference.”

“…” Gu Yuncheng was silent for a few seconds, “Then what’s the third point?”

Qin Ke’s eyes flickered.

“I can’t say the third point yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not sure if my guess is correct.” Qin Ke looked up at him, “And if that guess is right…”

The girl slowly revealed a smile.

“Then, it’s very likely that the real culprit is hidden among us guests.”

Gu Yuncheng: “…………”

Gu Yuncheng instinctively turned his head away, slowly and as inconspicuously as possible, making a swallowing motion.

——

Up until this second, he had thought the real culprit had nothing to do with the primary wife, but after Qin Ke’s smile, he suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore.

After all, that smile just now was really… too devastating.

Gu Yuncheng pressed down the goosebumps on his back, thinking his earlier movement had been discreet and unseen.