All of these were Zhang Qiling's conjectures. While they barely held together logically, loopholes still remained.
For instance, that oil painting. Since it was already inside the Cave of What Is Human back when the Thirty-six Thieves took their oath, "Old Father" Zhang Xilin certainly must have seen it, yet he had never once mentioned it over the years.
Judging purely from their very first encounter, Zhang Xilin did not know Mo Shanshan.
Chapter 299