Bone Painting Coroner

So that would mean that Shang Zhuo was the forger? This case has become really complicated!

"The letter was written by Shang Zhuo?" Teacher Yu was still unable to regain his composure. "Impossible." He refused to believe it.

Although Shang Zhuo was talented in copying paintings, he couldn't possibly have forged Guo He's handwriting to write a letter like that. What would be his motive?

Ji Yunshu walked back from the painting and started to explain, "It's understandable that Teacher Yu doesn't believe me. However, the only person who could have replicated someone else's handwriting so accurately is Shang Zhuo."

"Just based on this?"

"Not entirely. Teacher may not know that the handwriting from a person's left hand is completely different from that written by the right hand. However well-done the handwriting forgery may be, there will always be imperfections. These imperfections have nothing to do with the quality of the forgery, and everything to do with the person's habits."

Eh?

"Teacher can compare the character for 'return', '回', between the letter Guo He left behind and one from his exercise book to see the difference."

What?! Teacher Yu started to flip between the two documents, comparing the character '回' between the letter and the exercise book. Even if he put them together, there didn't seem to be any differences. Whether it was considering the weight of the brushstrokes or the flourish at the end of each stroke, it all seemed to come from the same hand. If one were to nitpick, the only difference would be the size of the characters, but that was entirely reasonable considering the difference in word positioning and type of paper.

He squinted at it for a long while but was unable to find any difference at all. Thus, he raised the two documents in his hand and declared, "There is nothing at all peculiar about this '回' character. It's certainly Guo He's handwriting, I'm clear how it looks like!" No doubt! He was sure of it!

Ji Yunshu frowned a little. "Yes, there is no discernible difference between the two characters, but Teacher, have you noticed anything different in the space around the two characters?"

A question, an answer; One like a teacher, one like a student. It felt almost like she was issuing exam questions.

Teacher Yu followed her instructions and continued looking at the two characters. Finally, he found it! Raising his head, he said, "One of the characters has a dot beside it but the other does not."

"Exactly! That's exactly the point."

What's the deal with this dot? "What could this explain?" Teacher Yu asked.

"As I mentioned earlier, however skilled the reproduction artist is, however vividly the strokes are reproduced, the artist would still have no way of changing their personal writing habits. This is particularly true of those who habitually use their left hand to write. In this world, there are exceedingly few people who would habitually add a light dot when they write the character '回' with their left hand. This is an unconscious habit that cannot be changed. I have a friend that does exactly that. Of course, Teacher Yu could say that this is merely a coincidence and that this is nonsense, but this is the truth." The friend that she spoke of was naturally Wei Yi!

Her little speech did not wholly convince Teacher Yu. Of course, what she said was not fabricated or without basis.

In modern times, she once assisted the police in investigating a case that involved someone writing with their left hand. The culprit imitated the handwriting of the deceased to forge a suicide letter. Through handwriting analysis, comparing the character '回' in the letter, and experts in handwriting analysis testifying that extremely few left-handed people would add a dot beside the '回' character, police concluded that that letter was not written by the deceased.

Subsequently, after several days of police investigation following the clue about the left-handed culprit, they finally had a breakthrough and located their target.

The murderer was really a lefty!

However, at this moment, her explanation to Teacher Yu undoubtedly appeared entirely theoretical!  An educated person like him could understand principles that would be incomprehensible to the layperson, but may not know how modern science worked. Even if he trusted Ji Yunshu, he may not necessarily wholly believe it.

Ji Yunshu spoke candidly, "I know Teacher Yu still has some reservations about this but every word I just spoke is the truth, and Shang Zhuo's painting 'A Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix' has evidence to prove my point."

Eh? The 'Hundred Birds' painting?

"Teacher Yu should also know that there are two lines of a poem at the bottom of the painting: Departing birds do not return to the forest; facing the Phoenix on a different branch. Those lines also include the character '回', as well as that extra dot beside it."

Is that so?

Teacher Yu racked his brain trying to remember. Although that painting had always hung in his study, his attention was always focused on the painting, not the poem. He knew and appreciated the poem, but had never paid any particular attention to the direction and changes in those lines. Naturally, he could not recall anything about it at this moment.

"If that letter was really written by him, then…" Would the murderer be Shang Zhuo?

Teacher Yu didn't dare continue that train of thought.

Unexpectedly, Ji Yunshu said, "The writer of that letter may not be the murderer. I did not investigate the matter of that letter to find the murderer."

"Then what was it for?"

"It was to find out what exactly happened at Guo He's time of death. The evidence that I found regarding the beads and the bloodstains on the wine bottle, was invalidated by the fact that Lin Shu had an alibi for the 13th." So that was it!

If only Guo He's time of death could be placed before the 13th, then the evidence that she had found could be validated. However, Teacher Yu said, "If this letter was not written by Shang Zhuo, then…"

"That letter truly was written by me." Following the direction of that voice, they found that Shang Zhuo had actually appeared in the doorway!

His expression was calm, without a trace of fear, as he stepped across the threshold. "This letter was written with my left hand in imitation of Guo He's handwriting, and the poem on the 'Hundred Birds' painting was also written with my left hand. Additionally, I am left-handed but always wrote with my right hand in front of other people so nobody ever knew of this habit."

Such honesty and frankness! He was preternaturally calm as he spoke, as if he were describing something totally unrelated to himself.

Ji Yunshu had long guessed that this was the case and was not at all shocked by his admission. However, Teacher Yu was elderly and choked for a moment in surprise at his words. He stretched out a trembling hand. "Seems that Teacher Ji was right, but why did you write that letter? Did...did you kill someone?"

Utterly disappointing!