Chapter 542: Autumn Examination, Candidates, Disappearance, Assassination

"You said that your husband was a candidate who went to Beijing to take the imperial examination three years ago. He has never returned home since the end of the autumn examination? You haven't received any letters from him?" Xie Yingmian asked.

Shi Yuqing nodded: "Yes."

"My husband is very knowledgeable. He is a juren at a young age and the top scorer in our mansion. With his talent, even if he can't get the first place, he can definitely get the second place."

"We're not bragging, but my husband's talent is well-known in our provincial capital. He has beautiful calligraphy and good writing. The teachers who came from the capital praised him as having the potential to be the top scholar."

"We didn't dare to hope that he could get the top spot, or even the top three. Our family felt that as long as he could get into the top two, that would be a success."

"But, ever since the Autumn Examination, my husband has been missing, both alive and dead."

"Those murderers came after the Fang family not for money, but to kill."

Shi Yuqing sighed: "I went to file a complaint, but both the county magistrate and the prefect said they couldn't do anything about it. They all advised me to give up and that living a good life was the most important thing."

"They told me in a roundabout way that my husband had offended the powerful in the capital and that this was the reason he suffered this misfortune. A weak woman like me would not be able to win the lawsuit."

"But I know my husband's temperament. He's neither pedantic nor flattering. He handles things with ease and tact. He wouldn't offend anyone."

Xie Yingmian felt a little depressed.

Autumn Examination, Candidates, Disappearance, Assassination...

Combining these keywords together, it is not difficult to infer something.

It is very likely that Shi Yuqing's husband, like Ji Yunshu's brother, was replaced by someone else in the autumn examination, and the murderer must be eradicated.

Considering that Ji Yunshu had been following the Qiuwei case, Xie Yingmian had a guess in her mind that Shi Yuqing's husband might not be dead.

"Yumozuo." Xie Yingmian said, "Please ask Master Ji, the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, to come over."

"Let's say we caught an assassin who was trying to kill a doctor at an affordable clinic. That assassin might be a bandit who had been on the run for years."

Wen Juexia pretended to read the sword manual, but actually pricked up his ears to listen to Shi Yuqing's words.

When she heard Xie Yingmian asking Yumao to run errands, she was a little dissatisfied.

"Sister Mianmian, how can you let Tamamo do something like running errands? Don't I smell good? I'm much faster than Tamamo."

Xie Yingmian was speechless: "Just because you gnashed your teeth the moment you saw Ji Yunzhang, and you looked like you wanted to tear him into pieces, I wouldn't dare to use you."

Wen Juexia chuckled: "That was before."

"I've come to terms with it these days. Lord Ji is innocent. It was his duty."

"I'll go, I'll go call him, I promise not to cut him into pieces."

Xie Yingmian: ...If you said this without gritting your teeth, it might be more credible.

In the end, it was Wen Juexia who went.

Because Tamamo's speed was not as fast as hers, Wen Juexia had already flown out before Tamamo could react.

Xie Yingmian asked Shi Yuqing and Fang Chensheng, "Did you bring your petition?"

Shi Yuqing nodded: "I carry it with me all the time."

Xie Yingmian said, "Well, you guys will hand this petition to Master Ji Yunzhang, the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, later."

"Compared to the Six Criminal Departments, the Dali Temple is more suitable for your case."

"As for the subsequent arrangements, you will listen to Master Ji."

"Don't worry, Lady Ji is a good official and a close minister to the emperor. She will make proper arrangements for you."

Shi Yuqing and Fang Chensheng expressed their gratitude profusely.

Xie Yingmian: "Madam Shi, you just said that your mother once told me that your family has relatives in Shangjing?"

"Do you still remember who your relatives are who went to Beijing?"

Shi Yuqing shook her head: "My mother didn't explain it in detail."

"I heard it all when my mother was talking to herself."

"I was very young then, only about two years old. My mother always liked to hug me and cry, saying how she was a good girl, but she had a home but couldn't go back, and had to run to a place like this to be a slave. She said her life was miserable, my life was miserable, and that God was unfair."

"They say children don't have memories before the age of three, and my mother always thought I didn't remember."

"When I grew up a little, I accidentally mentioned this incident. My mother's face turned very ugly at the time. She said I remembered it wrongly and scolded me. She told me not to mention it again. I never dared to mention it again."

"When my mother died, she stuffed this worn-out bronze mirror into my hands and kept saying sorry to me."

Xie Yingmian asked, "Did she not tell you about the origin of the bronze mirror?"

Shi Yuqing shook her head: "No."

"However, everyone in the village said that when my mother first came to the village, she was very, very beautiful, like a fairy, and she spoke with a Beijing accent. She looked like a pampered young lady from an aristocratic family."

"Combined with what my mother said about not being able to return home, I speculate that her parents might be in Beijing."

"We were desperate at the time, so we thought of coming to the capital to look for our relatives. We thought that if my grandmother's family was really a noble family in the capital, perhaps we could avenge the Fang family."

Xie Yingmian didn't know how to start.

The word engraved on the bronze mirror is "Feng".

The Feng family was wiped out long ago.

Shi Yuqing continued, "Oh right, I remembered something important about the bronze mirror."