Card Room (Rebirth)

In the dressing room, Xiao Lou quickly figured out the answer to the drawer lock.

The layout of the jewelry was regular and the necklaces were placed from short to long. The earrings were from the smallest studs to the longest dangling earrings. Then the arrangement of the jewelry numbers should follow the rule of ‘short to long.’

Among the three types of jewelry, the earrings were the shortest (8 pairs = 16). Then it was the bracelets (7) and the necklaces (5). Therefore, the order of the password should be earrings, bracelets and necklaces. This was 1675.

The drawer was a four digit rotating lock. Xiao Lou rotated the numbers to 1675. Sure enough, there was a click and the lock was successfully opened.

He opened the drawer and found a 30 cm long jewelry box in the drawer. The red velvet cloth looked a bit old and it was tied with a red ribbon in a beautiful bow. He opened the box and saw a necklace lying inside, but the chain was a bit yellow. There was a space below with a piece of paper stuffed inside. It read: For my beloved. I hope you will always be as young and beautiful as you are when you are 18. I will always love you.

Xiao Lou handed the necklace to Qu Wanyue. “Teacher Qu, can you tell what material this is?”

Qu Wanyue said, “Platinum has a much better gloss and isn’t prone to rust. Silver chains tend to turn yellow after a long time due to oxidation. This necklace looks more like a silver chain. The pendant in the middle might be jade but it isn’t transparent at all and the color is average. It should be a bargain necklace that can be bought for a few hundred yuan at the mall.”

She looked back at the jewelry on the table.

The five necklaces on the left were shining brightly under the light. The first sapphire necklace was very valuable at first glance and was suitable for wearing with various dresses. There were also two diamond necklaces with huge diamonds that dazzled people’s eyes. They probably cost at least several hundred thousand yuan. In addition, the two jade pendants were crystal clear and one of them was probably fine jade.

The silver necklace locked in the drawer looked particularly poor compared to these luxurious jewelry. Due to age, the silver chain had oxidized and yellowed. The heart-shaped jade pendant also seemed covered with a layer of dust.

Xiao Lou frowned slightly. “This chain must have a special meaning to the hostess. She is so rich and has so much precious jewelry. Why bother locking a cheap silver chain in a drawer?”

Long Sen speculated, “Looking at this note, it seems to be a gift from her 18th birthday so it has special significance. An 18 year old student has no source of income so isn’t it natural to be unable to afford jewelry? Students often give silver chains since diamonds are too expensive.”

Xiao Lou nodded. “Yes, this necklace probably wasn’t given by her husband. 18 years old is a normal age for first love.”

Qu Wanyue also agreed. “This should be something very important that her first love gave her. She didn’t dare let her husband find it so she locked it in the bottom drawer.

Most men wouldn’t idly go through their wife’s jewelry table in the dressing room. The hostess secretly locked this necklace in a bottom drawer and it was difficult for her husband Wells to find it. She wouldn’t have to hide it if this necklace was from her husband.

Combined with the clues suggested by the previous Dream Wedding and The Lover, Xiao Lou felt his deduction was close to the truth. “The hostess is happily married and has a happy family but she has an unforgettable first love in her heart. As described in the novel The Lover, the male and female protagonists married other people for family reasons but they always loved each other.”

Old Mo had a headache. “Marrying one person but thinking of another. Isn’t this completely unfair to her husband?”

Xiao Lou told him, “There are indeed many examples of this in reality. People who are in love can’t always be together. In the end, they go on blind dates, are introduced to someone and find a suitable person. Many couples aren’t necessarily in true love. I heard many people have an unforgettable white moonlight in their hearts and will preserve the things the other person gave them. Even if these gifts aren’t expensive, they are the most unique in their hearts.”

The three of them stared at Xiao Lou. “Professor Xiao, you seem to understand this quite well?”

Xiao Lou touched his nose and explained, “It is just a theoretical analysis. I have never been in love.”

Qu Wanyue joked, “Listening to your analysis, I thought you also have a white moonlight you can’t forget.”

Yu Hanjiang could hear Xiao Lou’s conversation through the heart channel. He couldn’t help whispering, “Is there?”

Xiao Lou was startled. “What?”

Yu Hanjiang was serious. “A white moonlight.”

Xiao Lou immediately explained. “It is a theoretical analysis. I have never been in a relationship and don’t have anyone I am unable to forget.”

Yu Hanjiang sighed with relief. “Oh, that’s good.”

Then he changed the subject before Xiao Lou could feel doubts. “Your speculation is very reasonable. The hostess should have an unforgettable first love but she ultimately married Wells. Perhaps it was forced by her circumstances. Her true love could never forget her but couldn’t get her love. In the end, he committed a cruel act.”

Xiao Lou was concerned. “Have you solved the password? Are there any new clues?”

“It is solved and we found a book of doodles. I’ll show it to you later.”

It was Ye Qi who figured out the password to the child’s room.

The key clue to this was the sentence on the wall: The lifespan of a tree is much greater than that of a human. If I can become a tree, how good would it be? I could get enough to eat in the sun every day.

There was a logical order in this sentence. The lifespan of a tree was greater than that of humans. Those with a greater longevity were ranked first.

The toys in the room had been sorted and classified, their specific numbers determined. The thing he was unsure of was their order. The only thing related to order in the entire room was the sentence on the wall.

The lifespan was the key to sorting the numbers.

The five types of rag dolls were 5 Mickey Mouse, 6 little bears, 3 turtles, 7 Snow White and 8 bunnies.

A tortoise had the longest lifespan and some could live up to 200 years. Humans were second since they had an average lifespan of 70-80 years. Bears usually lived for 20-30 years, rabbits for 10 years and mice had the shortest lifespan of 2-3 years.

According to the rule of longevity, the order of the toys was: turtle, Snow White (human), bears, rabbits and Mickey Mouse.

This also matched the rule that the tortoise was before the rabbit based on the drawing of the tortoise and the hare.

The password was: 37685.

Ye Qi’s logic was complete and Yu Hanjiang entered the password into the door lock of the cabinet. Sure enough, it opened. A little girl’s doodling book was found in the cabinet. Yu Hanjiang picked it up and saw that images in it were extremely creative. Lucia had a talent for drawing and recorded all the details of her family’s life in the form of ‘doodles.’

This picture book should be drawn before she moved into the villa.

The first page was a drawing of her and her father going out for a picnic. The second page was her father taking her to the amusement park, a movie, her father accompanying her on her birthday… in these pictures, her mother rarely appeared. Perhaps her mother was abroad for her performances.

Lucia also wrote on one of the pages: Mom loves the piano more than she loves me.

The last page showed her moving into a new home with her parents. In front of the five storey villa, a man and a woman were holding her hand. There was a truck from the moving company and next to it were two people, one man and a woman who came to help.

This picture book connected with Lucia’s diary. The picture book recorded her life before the move and the diary was written after the move.

Judging from the last drawing, apart from her parents and Lucia, two other people came that day to help move. The diary showed that the nanny and driver were only hired after the move so the people in the picture couldn’t be the staff. They were more likely to be her parents’ friends.

Yu Hanjiang pointed to the drawing. “These two people are very important. They came to the villa on the day of the move and can understand the layout of the villa in advance. This murder case was obviously premeditated. It is difficult for people who have never been to the villa before to kill and then leave.”

It was impossible for those unfamiliar with the environment to accurately come to the little girl’s bedroom and poison Lucia.

The two people in Lucia’s drawing must be part of the five people invited to the Christmas Eve party. She had seen them a long time ago so when they entered her room to change her medicine, she wasn’t too alert.

Yu Hanjiang put away the book and asked Xiao Lou, “The cabinet code has been unlocked but the door of the room hasn’t opened. How do we get out?”

The moment he spoke, the wooden board at the back of the cabinet suddenly opened on both sides and a passage appeared. At the same time, a passage also appeared at the back of a closet in the dressing room. Everyone moved forward along the passage and after passing a corner, they actually saw their teammates.

Ye Qi exclaimed with pleased surprise, “The passages from the two rooms are connected? Grouping can really save a lot of time!”

Old Mo rubbed his pained head. “Piano, bookcase, wardrobe… everything is so messy. It should be a labyrinth of mechanisms that A of Diamonds temporarily remodeled using the family’s villa.”

Xiao Lou asked, “Old Mo, can you tell the space and direction?”

Mo Xuemin had been drawing on the paper since entering the labyrinth. He heard this and took out the image he drew. “The dream room we entered was on the same floor as the little girl’s bedroom. Based on the window layout, it should be the second floor. The piano room and study are also on the second floor. We went up a flight of stairs from the study so the hostess’ dressing room and the child’s toy room are on the third floor.”

Now they were once again going down the stairs. Old Mo stared at the spiral staircase in front of him. “From the length of this staircase, we are currently heading to the first floor.”

Xiao Lou was immediately alert.

Usually, a party took place on the first floor of a villa where there was a dining room and kitchen for everyone to eat and chat. It was very likely there would be a major discovery on the first floor and it would also be the most difficult level in the secret room.

Xiao Lou glanced at Yu Hanjiang and said, “Let’s go. Everyone, be careful where you step.”

The group walked down the spiral staircase for a while and saw a glass door. Xiao Lou opened the door gently. Sure enough, they walked into a luxurious living room.

The middle of the living room contained a Christmas tree full of colorful lights. It was two meters high and very grand. There are many of Santa’s red stockings hanging from it and the balloons on the wall spelled out ‘Merry Christmas.’ The host and hostess obviously put a lot of thought into this Christmas Eve party.

The living room was a mess. The pillows on the sofa were thrown to the ground and the table was covered in snack bags.

The long table in the dining room contained seven red wine glasses and some empty wine bottles were scattered on the ground. There were also many unfinished fruits and pastries thrown on the plates on the table.

This scene was like a mess that hadn’t been cleaned up yet after a party. Most notably, a man lay motionless on the sofa in the midst of the mess.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged looks and stepped forward. Sure enough, it was the husband, Wells. He was already dead.

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Proofreader: Fictional Reality