Chapter 1 The Three-Fingered Man <The beginning of the story> When I started writing this article, I suddenly had the urge to go to the house where the horrific murder happened on the wedding night, so I walked there with a cane on a certain early spring afternoon while taking a walk. Since I was evacuated to this village in Okayama County last May, almost every villager who knew me and Ichiliu’s family had told me about this horrible wedding night murder case. I seldom tell others that I write detective novels. Usually, as long as people know that I am a detective novelist, they will take the initiative to tell me some murders they have seen.Although people didn't understand the real horror of this case, everyone still talked about it all day long, which shows how deeply this murder case is in the villagers' impression.

I rarely use murder cases told to me as the subject of my novels, but this case is different.When I first heard a few words about the case, I felt very curious. Soon, I learned the truth from Dr. F, who has a very deep understanding of the case, which aroused an indescribable excitement in my heart.Because this is completely different from ordinary murder cases. It not only has the murderer's meticulous plan, but also has the secret room murder technique that I really want to create. Think about it, a murder case that happened in a completely inaccessible room can be solved reasonably and satisfactorily, what a fascinating charm this is for a detective novel author!Therefore, according to my awe-inspiring friend Eizo Inoue, most detective novelists must try to write novels like Dixon.Ka is good at the works of secret room murder.

Since I am also a member of the detective novelist, of course I also hope that one day I will be able to challenge the tricks of the secret room. Fortunately, I have acquired themes such as the murder in the secret room by accident and effortlessly. Now that I think about it, maybe I should It is only right to thank the murderer. If the murderer hadn't killed two men and women in that rare and cruel way, perhaps this work would not have been possible. When I first heard the truth about this case, I immediately thought carefully about whether there were similar incidents in the works I had read before.First, I thought of Luno's yellow room, then Rubran's tiger teeth, Vateln's canary murder and the big house murder, Dixon.Card's Plague.Curt's Murder, and Scarred's Murder at the Angel's House, these works are typical of locked-room murders.

However, this case is different. I always feel that the murderer may have read these works. Although he did not completely imitate the tricks in them, at least the murderer picked up the essence of each article and combined them with the situation on the scene to piece together another new strategy. If you really want to explore, I think, maybe it is roughly similar to the yellow room.However, it is not similar to the truth of the matter, but the atmosphere at the scene is exactly the same. The room where the homicide occurred, no matter the pillars, ceiling, dust-proof windows, or rain-shielding windows, were all painted in a reddish-yellow color to replace the yellow wallpaper.Of course, in the Okamura area, there are many houses painted in this color, even the room I live in.

However, the house I live in is quite old, and those parts that were originally red have a black luster.However, the room where the homicide took place had just been repainted, so it showed a bright red color.Plus the brand new tatami in the room.The paper door and the golden screen made a man and a woman lying in a pool of blood give people an extremely horrifying impression. There is another element in this case that makes me extremely excited, and that is the Guqin.It is said that every time something happens, people will definitely hear a rough piano sound.Think about it, murder in a secret room, a room painted red, and the sound of a piano are rare conditions that are usually not available. If I don't write it down, it will really insult the name of a detective novelist.

<One Willow Mansion> It's about a fifteen-minute walk from where I live to Ichiyanagi's mansion where this secret room murder took place.Here is a small village called Okamura surrounded by mountains on three sides. The low ridge stretches out to the flat land like a starfish's claw, and the vast mansion of the Ichiyanagi family is just at the tip of the claw. There is a small river on the west side of the ridge, and on the east side there is a small road that crosses the top of the mountain and leads to Jiucun. The small river and the small road will meet soon after extending to the flat ground. Yiliu’s house occupies this irregular area of ​​about 2,000 ping surrounded by the small river and the small road. Triangle.In other words, Yiliu's house is located on the north side of the mountain, on the west across the small river, and on the east is the path leading to Jiucun. The main entrance faces the path on the east side.

Looking from the main entrance, walking up the small path, there are two black gates with iron rings, and there are tall walls extending about 100 meters on the left and right.Looking in from the outside, there seems to be an inner wall inside the outer wall, which looks like a big family.However, standing on the edge of the inner wall can not see the situation inside the wall. On the west side of the mansion, along the small river to the north, there is a broken waterwheel at the end of the wall of Yiliu's house. There is an earthen wall on the north side of the waterwheel, bypassing the earthen wall, and drilling into the dense bamboo forest on the low cliff on the north side of the mansion. , from the edge of the low cliff to the wall, you can roughly completely overlook the general situation of the house.

The first thing that comes into view is the roof of the side courtyard directly below, under which is the place where the horrible incident happened on the wedding night.According to the villagers, this is a secluded place built by the ancestors of the Yiliu family. There are two rooms with eight tatami mats and six tatami mats.Although the scale of the building is small, the courtyard is very delicately built. From south to west, there are many finely carved gardens and trees and rocks. The flowers and trees are scattered, quiet and elegant. The details of the partial hospital will be mentioned later.

Looking beyond the side courtyard, you can see the main house of Yiliu's family, a huge one-story building facing east; beyond that is the residence of Erfang's family, barns, storage rooms and other irregularly arranged buildings.The main house and the side courtyard are separated by the wall of Jianren Temple and connected only by a small firewood gate.Although the wall and chaimen have been demolished now, they were new and strong at the time of the incident, so when the people from the main house came after hearing the screams of the incident, there was a long interval between them. time.

At this point, I have finally finished introducing the general layout of Yiliu's family. Walk out of the bamboo forest and walk to the entrance of the village, where is the village office of Okamura.The office is at the southern end of Okamura. From here to the south to Kawamura opposite, there are fields as far as the eye can see. There is a straight 12-meter road in the middle. You can walk along this road for about 40 minutes to reach the train station, so For those who come to Okamura by train, to enter the village, not only must they take this road, but they must also pass through the village office.

<mysterious three-fingered man> Opposite the village office, there is a house with a wide door but poor decoration.It was originally a snack bar where grooms, peddlers and travelers had a glass of wine and a meal, and it was also the original place where the mysterious three-fingered man who had an important relationship with the murder of Yiliu's family lived. Three days before the incident, that is, the evening of November 22, Showa 12 The lady proprietress of the snack bar was sitting on a canvas chair outside the door, chatting with a familiar groom and the staff of the village office, when she saw a man coming from the direction of Kawamura along the 12-meter road just mentioned. The man came to the snack bar, stopped and asked: May I ask how to get to Mr. Yiliu's mansion? The proprietress, staff and grooms who were chatting all looked at him at the same time, and then looked at each other, because the man's ragged appearance really didn't match the rich and powerful Yiliu's family. The man wore a crumpled bowler hat, a large mask covering most of his face, unkempt hair protruding from the brim of the hat, a messy beard on his side, his jacket and trousers were covered with dirt, his elbows and The knees were worn and shiny, and the toe of the leather shoes were all cracked and covered with dust. This person looked to be about thirty years old. In this early winter dusk, because of his exhausted expression and thin clothes, he gave off a sense of hopelessness. Mr. Yiliu's house is just across the street, but what can you do with Mr. Yiliu? The proprietress stared at him in a defensive tone and asked. The man blinked and mumbled a few words indistinctly through the mask. At this time, there happened to be a rickshaw coming from the direction the man had just come from, and the proprietress of the snack shop immediately said: The Mr. Yiliu you want to ask happened to come from there. The man sitting in the car was about forty years old, wearing a black suit, with a light-dark complexion, a high nose bridge and tightly closed lips, with a solemn expression, his eyes looking straight ahead, and an appearance of sitting upright, giving an impression of humanity. An inaccessible impression. He is Xianzang, the contemporary patriarch of the Yiliu family. When the rickshaw with Xianzang passed in front of everyone and disappeared at the opposite corner Ma'am, is it true that Mr. Yiliu wants to marry a bride? Of course it is true, the wedding will be held the day after tomorrow. Why are you in such a hurry? If I drag it on any longer, I really don't know what kind of mistakes will happen, so I have to proceed as quickly as possible.In fact, once Mr. Yiliu made a decision, he would definitely stick to it. Yes, otherwise, how could he become such an accomplished scholar? By the way, does the reclusive old lady agree? The clerk in the village office asked next. Of course I don't agree, but now, I heard that I have no choice but to admit it, because the more he opposes, the more Mr. Yiliu insists. How old is Mr. Yiliu? Exactly forty, and I heard it was the first time I fell in love! Middle-aged men's love is usually more intense than that of young people. I heard that the bride is only twenty-five or six years old, and she is the daughter of the owner of the orchard. To her, this should be regarded as catching a rich man!Ma'am, is the bride really that beautiful? Probably not too pretty!However, she works as a teacher in a girls' school and is quite talented, that's why Mr. Yiliu has taken a fancy to her.I think it will be impossible for girls not to receive education in the future. The proprietress said with emotion. Ma'am, do you also want to go to a girls' school and find a rich husband? That's right! When the proprietress' hearty answer made everyone laugh out loud, the man who asked for directions timidly interrupted: Ma'am, I'm sorry, can I have a glass of water?I'm so thirsty The three looked back at the man in surprise, as if they had forgotten the existence of this man. The proprietress stared at the man, but immediately went to ask for a glass of water. After the man thanked him, he took the glass and took the mask away a little.At this moment, the three couldn't help but looked at each other. On the upper right cheek of this man, there is a long and large scar from the right end of the lip to the cheek. The scar is probably the mark left by sutures after the injury, and it looks like a gap has been cracked.However, what made the three feel even more fuzzy was that the man's right hand holding the cup had only three fingers, the little finger and the ring finger were each broken off, and only the thumb, index finger and middle finger were intact. After drinking the water, the man with three fingers thanked him sincerely, then turned and walked towards Yiliu's house. When he left, the three looked at each other blankly. what is that person What is he doing with Mr. Yiliu? Look at his mouth, it's disgusting, I will never use this cup again. The proprietress really put the cup in the corner of the cabinet immediately.Unexpectedly, because of her release in this way, it will be of great help to the investigation of future cases. After reading this, readers should already know that what I want to describe next must be related to the three fingers.As long as you have three fingers, you can play the qin. The so-called qin is the kind of guqin that can be played with only the thumb, index finger and middle finger.