Chapter 80 Water Falls

Captain Liu is a very experienced detective and has a set of insights into this matter.

"This man didn't say a word, which shows that he knows Miss Tang and the Marquis' Mansion. His purpose is also very clear, which is to ruin Miss Tang's face..." Captain Liu glanced at Tang Wei's face and was met with Tang Wei's wailing.

He was silent for a moment in awkward silence, then said to the Marquis's wife, "Madam, please recall whether your daughter has ever accidentally injured a woman's face?"

"How could that be!" Lady Wuning Hou denied subconsciously.

It's not a good reputation for a lady from a noble family to hurt a woman's face.

Captain Liu looked embarrassed. "If not, then we can't investigate this person's identity. We can only wait until the yamen runners find him."

"Mother, we can't let this man run away!" Tang Wei cried and shouted.

The wife of Marquis Wuning looked at her somewhat crazy daughter and her expression suddenly changed.

She remembered that there was such a person!

At that time, Wei'er was only a little over ten years old. Somehow she got into the kitchen to play and burned the face of a maid who was stoking the fire.

The fire-making maid was not a born child of the family, so she was given ten taels of silver and sent home.

Could it be that Wei'er's accident this time was related to the maid who was in charge of the fire?

Seeing that the wife of the Marquis of Wuning looked strange, Captain Liu asked, "Has the Marquis thought of something?"

The wife of the Marquis of Wuning said thoughtfully, "A few years ago, Wei'er accidentally burned a servant girl who was in charge of the stove. I wonder if it has anything to do with what happened now."

Captain Liu immediately asked a series of questions: "Where is the fire-making maid now? Who is at home..."

As Tang Wei listened to the conversation between her mother and Captain Liu, a face appeared in her mind.

It was a face somewhat similar to hers.

That year, she walked into the kitchen on a whim and suddenly saw someone whose eyebrows and eyes looked somewhat like hers. That person turned out to be a fire-making maid, and there was even ash on her face.

She also heard the gossipy old woman say to the maid, "You are so beautiful, you might have a great fortune in the future."

At that moment, she was furious and picked up a piece of charcoal and pressed it on the maid's face.

She still remembered the maid's screams and the smell of burnt flesh.

After the impulse, she ran back to her boudoir.

After that, she never saw the fire-making maid again, nor did she see the old woman again.

Occasionally when she thought about what happened that day, she did not feel any regret.

She didn't want to see a fire-making maid who looked like her have any great fortune.

Later, she forgot about it.

"Mother, it must be that fire-stoking maid who did this to me!"

Captain Liu learned some information from the wife of the Marquis of Wuning, and then asked Tang Wei, "Miss Tang, do you still remember the man's height, weight, and other characteristics?"

"He's not tall, but he's quite strong. His features..." Tang Wei shook her head. "His head and face were covered with a black cloth, so it's hard to see any features."

"It doesn't have to be the face. What about other parts? Anything that leaves a lasting impression on you, please feel free to tell me about it."

"Other places—" Tang Wei hesitated, "I think his hands are quite big and bronze."

Captain Liu nodded and said to the wife of the Marquis of Wuning, "Madam, please bring us the list of the fire-stoking maid as soon as possible, as well as the names of people who knew her. I will arrange for some people to investigate her home so that if the criminal escapes, we will have a clue."

"With so many yamen runners and monks, how could that villain escape?" asked the wife of Marquis Wuning with a serious face.

Captain Liu smiled helplessly: "It's easy to hide people in the mountains and forests. If the criminals plan to waste time, it will be difficult to find them in a day or two."

"If we can't find him in one day, we'll do it in two days. If we can't find him in two days, we'll do it in three days. The servants of the Marquis' Mansion will also join the search. We must not let the villain escape."

"We'll do our best. I'd like to speak with the deacon monk."

The wife of Marquis Wuning ordered the maid to take good care of Tang Wei, and went out with Captain Liu to meet the deacon monk.

"I heard from Madam Hou that the ransom letter was stuck under the door. The person who delivered the letter must be a monk from the temple."

The monk in charge disagreed with Captain Liu's words: "This is the guest room. There are many pilgrims staying here for a short time. The person who delivered the letter might also be a pilgrim."

Captain Liu smiled and said, "I don't think that's very likely."

Facing the puzzled looks from the Marquis of Wuning's wife and the monk in charge, Constable Liu asked, "When did the Marquis' wife decide to come to Qinglu Temple?"

Although the wife of Marquis Wuning didn't understand what he meant by asking this, she still said, "I just suddenly wanted to come and burn incense."

Of course, it cannot be said that the prince came here to relax because he married a concubine who was not easy to deal with.

Captain Liu looked at the monk in charge and said, "Master, this isn't a festival, and most pilgrims come to burn incense spontaneously. It's difficult for the criminals to find a messenger among the pilgrims in advance, and if they do, they risk being exposed. So I suspect the messenger is a monk from the temple, most likely a humble servant."

The monk in charge had a gloomy expression on his face and chanted a Buddhist name: "I will check the situation of the disciples in the temple right away."

Half an hour later, the deacon monk found the disciple who delivered the letter, and it turned out to be the monk who did odd jobs.

"That man was a clerk in the cloth shop. Yesterday he came to deliver thick cloth for making cotton clothes, and I was in charge of moving the goods. When it got dark, he found me and asked me to deliver a letter to a guest room. I... I was greedy for a moment and agreed."

Captain Liu did not ask what benefit the cloth shop clerk had given the monk. Instead, he asked something that was easier for the monk to answer: "Are you familiar with that person?"

The monk nodded hesitantly. "Every time the seasons change, he's always among the people delivering cloth. I'm in charge of moving the goods, and we've become close friends."

"What's that man's name? Which cloth shop does he work for?"

"His name is Ah Hu, and he works at Fulai Cloth Shop."

Captain Liu immediately ordered his men to go to Fulai Cloth Shop to investigate.

Time passed quickly and it was already afternoon. The criminals were searched inside and outside the forest for several times but were not found. The people who came to deliver the list of names to the Wuning Marquis Mansion and those who went to the Fulai Cloth Shop to inquire arrived one after another.

"Ah Hu's surname is Ning. He came to work in the cloth shop three years ago. The address he told the shopkeeper was Yanzifang..." The yamen runner who went to the cloth shop to question him reported.

The steward of the Marquis's residence opened the list of fire-making maids and showed it to the wife of the Marquis of Wuning. The maid's surname was exactly "Ning". Her address was also recorded, and it was the same as Ah Hu's address.

At this point, although no one had been sent to Yanzifang to inquire, it was already confirmed that the fire-making maid and Ah Hu were a family.

"So, it's the relatives of the fire-making maid who was disfigured by Miss Tang Er who are here to seek revenge?" After hearing the news that the maid had spent a lot of money to find out, Lin finally felt relieved.

There was no way. If she couldn't find out the truth about something that aroused her curiosity, she wouldn't be able to sleep well.

Lin's curiosity was satisfied, so she said to her good sister Lin, "I had planned to stay for two more days, but now the temple is in such a mess, so forget it. Let's go home now."