S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 4 Chapter 36

Ghost Ship Murderer 02 – What the Heart Carries

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Two hours later, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang arrived at Lin Ruo's residence along with Bao Zheng. As it was not an official investigation, not too many people accompanied them, they were just checking out the situation first.

Lin Ruo did not live in a condo nor a villa, but in an ancient castle.

Zhan Zhao got out of the car, looked up at the British-style manor built on the outskirts of downtown S City, and marvelled, "There's actually this kind of building in S City?"

"It's been here for some time." Bao Zheng greeted an old butler-like man who came out to greet them, and led the two inside.

Bai Yutang looked at the sophisticated security equipment and the professional security personnel everywhere and raised an eyebrow at Zhan Zhao – Asking the police for help was all a bit redundant, wasn't it?

Zhan Zhao, on the other hand, doubted Lin Ruo's taste, such a character, would he be good friends with Bai Jintang?

"This is not Lin Ruo's residence." Bao Zheng seemed to understand what the two were thinking and turned back to tell them, "It's his ancestral home. Because of this case, he was forcibly brought home by his parents to ensure his safety."

"The young master lives in a condo in the city, he doesn't like to live with the servants and security guards. The master is worried about his safety, so he brought him back." The butler was courteous and polite.

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other – No wonder Bao Sir said he was from a distinguished family.

When they walked into the living room, they saw a man in his fifties walking over, wearing glasses and looking quite civilised.

He and Bao Zheng seemed to know each other from long ago and exchanged a few pleasantries. When Bao Zheng introduced Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, he said that they were the children of the Qitian and Yunwen.

The man introduced himself, and Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang learned that his name was Lin Qianci and that he was Lin Ruo's father.

When Zhan Zhao heard the name, he thought it was quite special, so he searched his brain's huge memory bank and found the identity of this man – A very successful ship merchant with a huge family fortune, and if he was not mistaken, his wife, Lin Ruo's mother, was the president of a university and came from a famous family. His grandparents ran a hospital, the whole family was talented, and his ancestor seemed to be some big official in the Qing Dynasty... It was really a powerful family.

Zhan Zhao had the family tree inside his head, while Bai Yutang looked around and found that the security was quite tight, it looked like it was taken very seriously.

"Go call Chengji down." Lin Qianci sat down and instructed the butler.

Zhan Zhao glanced at Bai Yutang – Wasn't it Lin Ruo? Where did Chengji come from?

The corners of Bai Yutang's mouth twitched slightly – I guess in a big family, there are courtesy names in addition to their name.

Zhan Zhao's eyebrows twitched slightly – No way...

Bai Yutang looked relieved – Who knows.

"Ahem." Bao Zheng coughed softly to stop the two from looking at each other seemingly expressionlessly while actually ‘exchanging love glances’.

"It's been a while since I've seen Yunwen and Qitian." Lin Qianci reached out to peel oranges for Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, looking very affectionate.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were a little uncomfortable, it didn't feel like work or like visiting elders, it was awkward...

At that moment, they saw the housekeeper running down with sweat on his forehead, going to Lin Qianci's ear and lowering his voice to say a few words. Although he was cautious, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao's ears were sharp, and what the housekeeper said was – The young master is missing.

"What?" Lin Qianci got nervous, "Where did he go?"

"I don't know, the security guard guarding the door said he hasn’t come out. The window was open, but the security guard downstairs didn’t seen him go down either."

Lin Qianci had an angry look on his face, "Didn't you tell him that Bao Sir would be here today?"

"I told him..."

"Hurry up and find him, I don't believe he can run away on his own without alerting all those security guards." Lin Qianci was furious and ordered people to hurry up and look for him.

Bao Zheng looked at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, and saw the two of them tacitly holding their teacups, drinking tea slowly and with uniform movements and expressionless faces.

The commotion here had obviously alerted the rest of the family, and at that moment, a middle-aged woman came down. She looked quite young, but had a distinguished air and was dressed in a decent and elegant manner, very expensive.

"Master, what's happened?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a tacit glance – Filming a period drama, huh? And also the old master...

"Nothing, you can go up first." Lin Qianci had the manner of a patriarch.

"Did something happen to Chengji?"

Zhan Zhao stroked his chin, and Bai Yutang reached out and gently touched his ear...

Bao Zheng caught a glimpse of the two's small movements out of the corner of his eye and felt a little strange.

"It's alright." Lin Qianci said to a female servant who was following the beautiful woman, "Help the Madam go upstairs."

Mrs. Lin eventually went upstairs, while the entrance to the house was a mess, with the security guards searching everywhere for this Young Master Lin.

Zhan Zhao put down his cup and asked Bao Zheng, "Didn't Lin Ruo ask us to investigate the case?"

Bao Zheng looked at Father Lin with some confusion.

Lin Qianci smiled awkwardly, "Actually, it was me, but he didn't resist when I told him, so how come...."

"Lin Ruo hasn't received any professional training, right?" Bao Zheng looked at the door, "There are so many security guards, he shouldn't have been able to get out, could he have gone to another room?"

Lin Qianci nodded as the security guards went from room to room looking.

"Actually, all these security guards can be removed." Bai Yutang lowered his cup of tea. Having taken a courteous sip of black tea, he found that it tasted of coriander, and didn't know whether he lost his sense of taste or the tea had gone bad, sure enough, he still loves coffee and green tea.

Lin Qianci looked at Bai Yutang in confusion.

"Oh..." Bai Yutang said indifferently, "I don't think ordinary people can deal with your son at all, and those who can deal with him, these security guards can't stop them, rather they're crowded and messy instead.

Bao Zheng silently glared at Bai Yutang – Manners! Manners!

Bai Yutang had to pick up his cup and continue to drink the unpleasant black tea.

Father Lin, on the other hand, was thoughtful and seemed to be considering Bai Yutang's words.

Zhan Zhao did not seem to be interested in Lin Ruo's disappearance, as his eyes had been fixed on a painting of a landscape on the opposite wall since a while ago. The painting was of the sea, with a boat on the water. The painting was simple, but generally speaking, the simpler the painting the harder it was to paint. This painting was quite well executed in terms of composition, momentum, as well as the details. It was both majestic and soft, which suited the interior of this house, and had an ancient and noble air. After examining it again and again, Zhan Zhao was sure that the painting was very new and the technique should also be from a contemporary artist. Zhan Zhao had some knowledge of contemporary art and did not recognize such a heavyweight novice with such amazing talent. They should be very famous...

"It was painted by Chengji." Lin Qianci glanced back and spoke in a very understated manner, but there was an unmistakable pride in his tone of voice and in his eyes.

"Hm." Zhan Zhao nodded with uncertain meaning and let out a syllable which seemed to contain a lot of emotions.

Bai Yutang really found the tea hard to drink and put the cup down after the second sip. Seeing Lin Qianci's face flushed white and his anxious eyes on the rowdy security guards at the entrance, he sighed softly.

Lin Qianci thought they were getting impatient and smiled awkwardly, "Chengji is good at everything, but is too stubborn. I asked him to inherit the family business he refused. A professional chess player, painter, architect, scholar, businessman, there are so many professions he could choose from, but he chose to go sailing and diving, and now he has caused a big disaster and still does not take it seriously..."

"I've always wanted to ask, is Chengji his courtesy name?" Zhan Zhao could not resist any longer.

"No." Speaking of this, Lin Qianzhi's face hardened a few notches, "His original name was Lin Chengji, but he changed his name to Lin Ruo when he turned eighteen."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both nodded – So that's how it was.

"Master, the courtyard, the roof and the mansion have all been searched." The butler hurried in and whispered, "There's nothing..."

Lin Qianci looked really nervous at this point, "Send someone to his condo to check, did he really run away?"

Just as the housekeeper was about to leave, Bai Yutang reached out and waved his hand at him gently.

The housekeeper looked at him.

Bai Yutang pointed to a luxuriously styled wine cabinet not far away, behind Lin Qianci's sofa, "Your young master is in the cabinet."

Everyone froze and looked at the cabinet together.

The butler opened his mouth, "How is that possible, I just opened this cabinet..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Lin Qianci reached out to stop him and lowered his face to look at the cabinet, "You still haven't come out?!"

After about five seconds, there was a click and the cabinet door slowly opened.

A young man came out with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.

Lin Qianci's face darkened again, "How old are you, childish!"

It was only at this point that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang could get a good look at Lin Ruo's appearance.... Sure enough, he was full of nobility, tall, lean and well-proportioned, with a dignified appearance. The appearance was civilised, but it could be seen that his personality was quite cheerful.

He didn't feel even a little embarrassed at this point. After coming out, he reached out and nodded at Bai Yutang, "As expected of Jintang's brother."

Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow at Bai Yutang – Directly calling him Jintang!

Bai Yutang nodded – I noticed.

Lin Ruo walked over and politely greeted Bao Zheng first, then walked over and sat down next to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, saying to the breathless butler, "A’Bo, get Captain Bai some coffee, he doesn't like black tea."

Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows.

Zhan Zhao silently glanced at Bai Yutang – This black tea was so expensive, you have no taste.

The butler quickly brought the coffee and also handed Lin Ruo a drink of some kind. Lin Ruo childishly said that it was not sweet enough and wanted to add sugar.

Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow at Bai Yutang, which meant – See, to be a young master, you need to be pampered. You can see that his father and his housekeeper only have the word ‘spoiled' in their eyes.

Bai Yutang silently drank his coffee – Not getting to the point yet?

"You're still laughing, why were you hiding in the cabinet?" Lin Qianci didn't quite understand when he had gotten into the cabinet, let alone how Bai Yutang had found out, but his impression of Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang came from their fathers, so he was fully convinced that these two boys were not simple.

"He merely made a bet with Brother to see if we could find him." Zhan Zhao asked Lin Ruo, "Is that right?"

Lin Ruo smiled cheerfully and nodded to Zhan Zhao, "En, Jintang said that you two would definitely be able to help, I believe it, and I lost a bottle of good wine."

"Nonsense!" Father Lin glared at him. Lin Ruo immediately sat down obediently and peeled an orange for his father.

Father Lin's face immediately eased a little.

Bao Zheng winked at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, which meant – See, you have to coax the elderly like this!

The corners of Bai Yutang's mouth twitched. It would be reasonable for him to coax his mother like this, but if he did this to his father, his father would think he had taken the wrong medicine, right?

When Zhan Zhao saw that Lin Ruo seemed to be comfortable with everything, a bad idea suddenly came to him and he said, "That painting is very good."

Lin Ruo smiled, "Jintang said that you can see through people's hearts at a glance and told me not to offend you, or else I would suffer the consequences."

Bao Zheng nodded silently on the side, which meant – What the elder brother of the Bai family said was reliable.

"How about you tell me what you see about me?" Lin Ruo asked with a smile, "If you can't, I can win the wine back."

Zhan Zhao was silent for a moment before saying, "Although you are very adventurous in your behaviour, you are actually a very measured person who will only do something when you have everything under control, so Uncle doesn't have to worry too much. In addition, you are also very career minded, diving is just a way to relieve stress. Your original name, Chengji, is actually quite suitable for you, with such a heavy family mindset and ambition, hoping to start a business from nothing and surpass your father's generation, you're really a good son for Uncle."

When Zhan Zhao finished, he put down his cup and asked a somewhat embarrassed Lin Ruo, "Then, do you have any more information related to the Emilia?"

"Ahem." At this point, the corners of Father Lin's mouth that had been raised upwards were no longer under his control. Lin Ruo had always been a master of tricks, but he had never expected that he would be restrained by Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang today, "Your Uncle Bao and I have serious business to talk about, you youngsters can find your own place to talk, you don't need to sit with us."

Lin Ruo stood up and waved to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Come up and sit in my room, I have a lot of information."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged a look and followed Lin Ruo upstairs.

When the three had left, Lin Qianci smiled and looked at Bao Zheng, "They really are formidable youngsters."

Bao Zheng smiled and shook his head, and Lin Qianci sipped tea and chatted, while the case was left to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao.

......

"Actually, I don't believe in curses." Lin Ruo's room was on the third floor, which was a large peaked loft. The bed was a hammock, the entire room was occupied mostly by a huge table with a lot of nautical materials as well as thick books, and the walls were covered with newsletters and old photos.

Zhan Zhao scanned the walls, "You're obsessed with the Emilia, huh?"

"En!" Lin Ruo didn't deny it, "I hope to find that ship in my lifetime, and preferably I can see Emilia's bones."

Zhan Zhao was curious, "Why this ship?"

Lin Ruo smiled, "I don't know, it's just a feeling. I really wanted to meet Emilia when I first read the story, but unfortunately she's already dead. Maybe it's just a legend, but the more I investigate, the more interesting I find it."

Bai Yutang looked at the photos of the skull in the box thoroughly and found that they were taken in great detail. The neck bone section of the skull was a flat cut, so it was clear that it had really been beheaded.

"Meow~"

Bai Yutang took out his phone and found that it was Jiang Ping who had sent him the information about the deaths of a few of Lin Ruo's friends. It wasn't much and they were all ruled as accidental deaths.

"What really made me suspect that something was wrong with their deaths were these emails." Lin Ruo turned on his laptop and opened his email to show Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang the emails, "All three of them sent me an email on the day they died."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang went over to take a closer look and found that the contents of the emails were the same, it was only that they used different languages because they were of different nationalities. If they were all translated into Chinese, there was only one phrase – How much weight can the human heart carry?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: March 21, 2023 by Angel

Edited: April 3, 2023 by Angel