Chapter Fifteen: The Deceased Died Peacefully in His Sleep

The officials ignored the people's pleas and, at this rare moment, "obeyed orders from above."

Su Zhenzhen glanced at the crime scene from outside the door and said that the deceased had no external injuries. However, the deceased's parents insisted that the shop was a black shop that was trying to kill for money. The two sides could not reach an agreement, so the shop owner reported the case to the authorities.

The county magistrate was the innkeeper's brother-in-law, and he immediately surrounded the entire inn, determined to find the murderer.

Hensheng quietly moved closer to Su Zhenzhen. "Miss Su, what do you think?"

Su Zhenzhen looked Hensheng up and down, and she even wondered if the murder would have been avoided if he hadn't stayed here last night.

The deceased was a sixteen-year-old girl. Her parents were farmers, but they were well-off and lived in a high-class house.

It seems this family only has one daughter, which explains why the parents, who are farmers, dared to argue with a shopkeeper who has connections.

The woman cried hysterically, "Xiuxiu, how could you leave your mother like this? Who the hell killed you? I will risk my life to find the murderer!"

The deceased's father's surname was Li, and the people around him called him Li Da. Li Da didn't cry, but stared intently at the shopkeeper with red eyes.

The shop owner was in a difficult position. How could someone have died out of nowhere? Unfortunately, the officials couldn't find any clues when they came. If they couldn't find the murderer, he would have to take the blame.

The diners dared not confront the officials directly, so they turned to Li Da and said, "Brother Li, please accept our condolences. The deceased should be respected. Let your daughter rest in peace first."

"Exactly! If you can't find the murderer in a day, you'll keep us here for a day. If you can't find the murderer in ten days, are you going to keep us here for another ten days? In this sweltering summer, aren't you afraid of the stench of a corpse? She was just a little girl; if she dies, she dies..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Da pounced on the man like an enraged leopard, pinning him to the ground and beating him mercilessly.

"Pah! So it wasn't your daughter who died? What's wrong with being a girl? Weren't you born of a girl? How did your mother give birth to such a thing as you?"

Li Da's punches drew blood, and by the time the officials reacted and broke the fight, the man had already lost two teeth.

The officer said sternly, "If you lay a hand on me again, I'll arrest you."

Li was still furious when the woman stopped him, saying, "Husband, you can't let anything else happen to you."

The farce gradually subsided.

The diners began to worry about other things. After all, if the Li family's daughter could die here so quietly, who knew if they would be next?

"Shopkeeper, is there something evil in your shop? These are the same people who stayed here yesterday, and the officials have checked, but there's no sign of anyone going in. Could the Li family's daughter have been harmed by a ghost?"

The shopkeeper's face turned green. "What nonsense are you spouting? My inn has been run by my grandfather's generation. Ask around about its decades-old reputation. There has never been an accident, let alone any evil spirits."

Old Man Bai quietly tugged at Su Zhenzhen's sleeve, and Su Zhenzhen followed him back to her room.

"Did you discover anything?"

Old Man Bai shook his head. "Miss Su, it seems we can't give up so easily. Why don't you summon the ghost and ask it, and then..."

Old Bai lowered his voice, "You went out quietly last night, I was afraid we'd been tricked."

That's possible. Who knows if any former noblewomen here recognize Hensheng's face? It seems we'll have to disguise him from now on.

Su Zhenzhen immediately made hand seals and chanted an incantation, "I will use myself to guide the soul, may the soul return!"

The room was quiet.

A bead of sweat dripped from Su Zhenzhen's forehead, and she chanted the incantation again.

"Use yourself to guide the soul, and may the soul return!"

Seeing that Su Zhenzhen looked unwell, Hensheng couldn't help but ask, "Has something happened?"

“No surprises.” Su Zhenzhen’s expression was strange. “You could even say everything is normal. Because…”

"The daughter of the Li family has passed away peacefully and entered the cycle of reincarnation."

Hen Sheng almost thought he had misheard. "Died of old age? She was only sixteen?"

“Everyone has a certain lifespan, just like when the food runs out,” Su Zhenzhen explained. “When the food is gone and the lifespan is used up, a person’s life ends.”

No wonder I had a strange feeling last night. It must be because the Li family's daughter passed by me when she was led into the cycle of reincarnation.

Old Bai wrung his hands anxiously, "Then there's no murderer at all! How are we supposed to tell Mr. and Mrs. Li? Nobody will believe us!"

Hensheng's thinking remained simple: "Why not just tell them the truth? He really died of old age. We can't just drag someone out to find a murderer if there isn't one."

"You have no idea how much this couple cared about their daughter. I just overheard that they had a difficult time conceiving, praying to gods and taking countless medicines before finally having this one child. She was pampered from a young age and never got sick or injured. How can you believe she died of old age?"

Su Zhenzhen was also in a dilemma. From Li Da's actions just now, it was clear how much he loved his child. But the problem was that the person had already entered the cycle of reincarnation, and she couldn't even get the ghost to appear in Li's dreams to explain the truth to the couple.

"Does Li Da want money? Would it be better to let the shop owner pay him back and let it go?"

"Let alone whether Li Da wants money or not, even the innkeeper doesn't want to bear this stigma. If this matter isn't investigated thoroughly, the inn's reputation will be ruined."

For a moment, there seemed to be no solution. Su Zhenzhen began to browse through the comments in her mind's eye, hoping to get some useful ideas.

[Just be direct. That family dotes on their daughter, so they're not that feudal. Just reason with them.]

[Why doesn't the female lead pretend to be a ghost tonight, posing as the dead, and tell the Li couple that she's been reincarnated?]

Su Zhenzhen searched through her mind and found nothing but useless nonsense.

Now, it's not just about letting the Li family know the truth, but also about clearing the inn of suspicion.

The former can be easily solved by having a ghost appear in a dream, but what about the latter? How can the inn's diners be convinced that the owner is neither a culprit nor possessed by any evil spirits?

In this world, a good reputation doesn't bring good luck, but a bad reputation does. How could the officials leave easily if they didn't wash the filth off the shopkeeper?

Although officials were stationed outside, the shopkeepers did not raise prices. They followed the current market rates for food and lodging, and even gave an extra dish of pickled vegetables with each meal.

Su Zhenzhen had no appetite and had a vague feeling that this whole thing seemed to be aimed at someone.

If it weren't for me, who would have known that this girl died of old age?

Will it become an unsolved case or will someone be found to take the blame?

That night, Su Zhenzhen was meditating, but for some reason she fell asleep and entered a strange dream.

Su Zhenzhen had excellent eyesight; she only glanced at the Li family's daughter briefly during the day before memorizing her appearance.

And she is the protagonist of this dream!