Chapter 26 Handwriting "Madam, it's time to go."

The salt well cave has been there for a long time. The ancestors of these people once made their living there, but at that time it was a last resort for survival. It was the responsibility of the world, not the fault of the people, and the national law has no right to do so.

It was different then, and it is different now.

Yan Siqing was not overly moved by the fallen Wang Mazi. When she was observing the old-fashioned equipment for making salt using the traditional method, Jiang Hui suddenly called her.

"lady."

No matter how much he said before or how impulsive he was, this person still insisted on his own opinion on the name.

It was obvious that Wang Laosan and Wang Mazi had misunderstood her for the second time because of this, but he still deliberately called her "Madam".

Yan Siqing said nothing, walked over, and saw where Jiang Hui was raising his hand to signal.

There are some large rocks embedded in the mountain above the five salt wells. There are traces of digging and pitting on them. But the digging and pitting marks are left by our ancestors when they mined the wells. The traces on them are indeed...

A child's doing?

Those are scratches, probably made by a knife, or a sharp stone. The crooked little figures, if you look closely, are six stick figure-like figures, large and small, tall and short, all jumbled together...

"This is the sixth person who grew up with Wang Mazi and the other four. Madam was able to deduce his existence based on Wang Mazi's actions, but she hasn't arranged for anyone to deal with him. Is she planning to use this as a bargaining chip to intimidate Wang Mazi into confessing?"

She seems to be strict in her approach, but she is also worldly-wise, which is rare.

If he could serve as an official in the court, he would surely be granted a title of nobility and become a prime minister.

Jiang Hui thought to himself, and suddenly realized how unorthodox his idea was.

Yan Siqing: "I don't know that person's identity."

Jiang Hui raised an eyebrow, thinking Yan Siqing was afraid he would break this silent agreement and go after the man. He said, "Madam, do you think I would break my promise? Don't you have the same steadfast character as you do?"

Yan Siqing felt that this man was being cunning. "He really didn't make any promises, but he's truly unsure—but Wang Mazi doesn't care whether I know the other person's identity or not. He probably values ​​him too much and doesn't even want to take the risk of me finding out his identity. So, he'll just plead guilty and end it there."

"And even if I have an unspoken promise with him, it is between him and me. Your Highness need not worry about it. For the sake of the court's laws, you can do whatever you want."

Jiang Hui raised an eyebrow, feeling uncomfortable with her "clear and righteous" demarcation, but he didn't say it out loud. He just followed Yan Siqing's gaze and looked at the stone slab.

Silence lingers between them, and settles in the mountains and rocks over the years, eventually disappearing into silence.

The powerful and wealthy in the world live a life of luxury and benefit themselves and their families. It is their nature. Who would care about the countless living beings caught in the cracks of human ills?

It's good enough to be able to do the superficial work.

Yan Siqing turned aside and was about to leave when Jiang Hui suddenly said, "Much of the land here has probably been taken away by the wealthy gentry in the city, and the land has been distributed unevenly. The young people who have grown up here cannot make a living from the land like their parents did. They have difficulty making a living now, and the economic difficulties are the worst disaster."

Can he understand the difficulties faced by people at the bottom of society in trying to survive?

Yan Siqing: "Most murders in the world are caused by money or love."

Jiang Hui also agreed. "The Dali Temple categorizes cases in the same way, but in this case, the girl must be the Yueguang that Wang Mazi couldn't get in his youth and dared not get for the rest of his life."

He did not allow Wang Mazi's illegal behavior, but he could also see the sincerity and helplessness in his heart.

He was talking about a girl.

How did he know that the stick figure was a girl?

Yan Siqing did not deny it, but did not respond either. He just looked away and took a few steps to look down at the salt well.

Just as she was about to look, a hand suddenly appeared in front of her and covered her eyes.

The man's clear and casual voice came to my ears.

"Ma'am, don't look."

There was a strange smell beneath the five salt wells, which was also the source of the smell in the cave. Looking down, the broken body parts were soaked in salt water, half rotten, and the smell was getting stronger. It might be no different from the pickled meat of ordinary people, but the human-like characteristics made the true appearance of this pickled meat seem even more terrifying.

Jiang Hui had seen it in advance, and he didn't call Yan Siqing to come so that she could witness the remaining scars of the case.

But he didn't innately think that Yan Siqing was delicate and weak and couldn't bear to see such a horrific scene, but he knew her in advance and knew about her family.

The group of people who killed the Yan family were extremely brutal, and it wasn't just killing people.

He was mutilated and dismembered, and humiliated before his death.

Yan Que's death was the most cruel.

He thought that Yan Siqing had been exposed to many murders since she was a child along with her uncle, whose reputation for solving cases was even known as far as Chang'an, and had accumulated a lot of experience. However, there were very few brutal murders of entire families in local counties. Even if there were dismemberments, the traces of human appearance would be faded due to corruption.

The white bones are not that scary.

The most terrifying thing is that the human face is still there, half human and half rotten.

The scene under the well is very obvious because of the presence of salt, just like pickling.

Yan Siqing had his eyes covered, and while he was stunned, his brain had already figured out the source of this person's actions.

My eyelids are slightly moving up and down...

Jiang Hui felt as if his palm was being brushed by her thick, straight eyelashes, it was itchy and as alluring as the fragrance of this person.

Yan Siqing: "I understand, Your Highness."

She pulled his hand down and turned to walk out.

Didn't look at him.

He watched her back disappear towards the cave entrance, and she was about to disappear from his sight. For some reason, he subconsciously looked at the sixth person on the wall, thought for a moment, and suddenly turned around.

————Yan Siqing walked out of the cave and saw a ray of morning light shining from the horizon.

She stood there quietly, without much emotion, just a strange look of sadness.

Jiang Hui, who was following behind her, also stopped at the entrance of the cave, half inside and half outside, unable to enter.

His eyes were always dark and unclear.

But he looked at the same ray of daylight with her.

Ruo Zhao, who had something to report, saw this scene, was stunned for a moment, stepped back, lowered his head and remained silent, waved his hand behind him, and all the other subordinates who followed him retreated.

After a while, Jiang Hui played with the jade ring in an ambiguous voice.

"How about those things that Jean Cha had asked about?"

He no longer had the youthful and mischievous spirit he had in front of Yan Siqing, and appeared gloomy, and no longer had the absolute authority from top to bottom as before.

Ruo Zhao: "Before I came here, the first wave of secret letters from Yancheng arrived. There were some clues about Lin An's pursuit. It can be confirmed that he has contacted his former subordinates. Most of those former subordinates were his personal soldiers. Some of them broke the rules during their military service and were saved by him, while others worked as his secret agents. It is expected that he has some leverage over them and they are willing to fight with him..."

When he said this, he found that Jiang Hui had no attitude towards this and did not say anything. Obviously, the investigation result was not surprising to him.

Ruo Zhao: "We have also investigated the Shen family, but Your Highness suspects that the Shen family did not take the two offshore routes we all thought, but that Madam had gone the other way and stayed in the country, changing their names and settling down. We are also pursuing this line, but there has been no definite results yet. We only know that traces of the Shen family's ships have been found at the sea gates along those two routes, but no members of the Shen family have been seen."

"Madam is extremely intelligent. We dare not make any rash judgments about her arrangements. We can only wait for you, the prince, to arrange further tracking directions."

Jiang Hui: "First, the Arab Empire. Second, the second group of troops retreated to the coast."

Ruo Zhao was stunned. "Go back and investigate? Could it be that Madam would go against the grain and do something dark under the light? She won't go back to Yancheng, will she?"

Jiang Hui thought that Yan Siqing had not shown any concern for his daughter or any other signs of resistance so far, and guessed that the way out he had arranged for his only daughter must be meticulous and backed by powerful guarantors. Although she could not resist the powerful forces like him, she could cope with the current local pursuit.

Then...someone must be there to pick it up.

Money, giving so much money, is either a trust or a friendship.

More credible than any verbal or blood relationship.

Hai Fugui must be her most trusted ally, someone she could entrust her daughter's future to, and using dark methods under the light was indeed the method she would choose.

"Let's investigate back. First...leave aside the rest of the Shen family. Old Madam Zhou is no simple person either. She should prioritize protecting Shen Wanzhao, just like Yan Siqing. Not putting all your eggs in one basket is a skill that all heads of families should have."

Jiang Hui valued Yan Siqing and did not dare to underestimate Zhou. After making some arrangements, he finally asked, "How is the investigation going into Chen Cangyu's military service?"

Ruo Zhao was about to report, but after a moment's deliberation, he finally reported, "This was not a normal conscription, nor was it recommended by any military commander."

Jiang Hui: "Did he donate money to the army in exchange for a rank?"

If he started out as a soldier, it would be difficult for him to survive on the front lines with a scholarly background like Chen Cangyu.

The battlefield is a place of man-eating monsters. He asked himself if he had not started out as a descendant of the Chiang family, he would never have achieved what he did later.

Unless Chen Cangyu is a natural military god.

Ruo Zhao: "My subordinates suspected the same thing, but after a thorough investigation, we found no such record in the military account books. Further investigation revealed that this person was recommended by Cao Erxin, a Langzhong of the Ministry of War. Because he was not directly recommended by a frontline general, we didn't find him at first."

"Chen Cangyu was in charge of grain and fodder transportation in the Jiasi Department and was gradually promoted. Cao Erxin trusted him very much, but he unfortunately died in battle."

"When the news of Shen Cang Yu's death reached us, Grandmother Zhou was terminally ill and on the verge of death. Some members of the Shen family were agitated. Taking advantage of the dangerous period when Xu Zhizhou was caught up in the court struggles, some elders, with the tacit approval of their authority, wanted to get rid of the young lady, a thorn in their side, and had already made the shameful move of remarrying and pawning his wife."

"The spies interrogated Chen Tongqing and the others, and only then did they learn that they were only one step away. The young lady had just given birth and was extremely weak. The child was taken away. They used the child to pressure her. More importantly, as the mistress of the house, the young lady should have had a lot of money to deploy. Chen Tongqing and the others said that the young lady was in dire financial straits at the time. If it weren't for Madam Qin, who was by Zhou's side, who had some ability to prepare and take money from Zhou's reserve treasury and make arrangements, there would have been no way to save the situation."

Jiang Hui's fingers unconsciously left the jade ring and moved.

He knew that she must have been in a difficult situation at that time, but he didn't know about this. Even though he looked down on Shen Zangyu before, and didn't care why he joined the army, he felt that he was fighting for his country after all, and was worthy of respect. He didn't want to be too harsh on him, but now his impression of him is getting worse.

Even the strongest and most ferocious lioness will be extremely weak during the reproductive period, so it is extremely vicious to take advantage of this opportunity to attack.

But what is the crime of the lion that has led him to this situation?

Is this Shen mentally ill? Or is there some other hidden reason behind this that would make him abandon his wife and daughter?

No wonder Yan Siqing's reaction was a bit strange when he heard those women in the Wang family yard making up stories about Zhang family's daughter-in-law and talking about selling his wife and remarrying.

Jiang Hui sneered, but when Ruo Zhao lowered his head, he found that his prince's fingers had already hooked out the hilt of the sword bestowed by the monarch. Under the hilt, a cold light shone that could swallow gold.

What is he thinking about?

In a moment, it was put back into the sheath silently.

Jiang Hui walked out of the cave and walked towards Yan Siqing. He looked as if he was bathed in spring breeze and his tone was gentle, just like a clean gentleman like a young poplar.

"Ma'am, it's time to go."

"This prince will take you back to Chang'an."

She was supposed to be a pearl and jade who lived in Chang'an.

On power.

——————

The first ray of light from the horizon covered the mountains, rivers and streams of Licheng. Among them, a reed river was flowing slowly, and a small boat carrying some people across the river was leaving Licheng.

On the boat, a woman dressed simply with a dull and haggard face was hunched over. The backs of her hands, neck, and even her face were covered with scars from years of beatings. She looked a bit ugly and had a tired look that was not in line with her age. She huddled in the corner of the boat, looking at the leisurely river, with an obviously confused expression.

In fact, she didn't understand what happened, and she didn't even know why a small ball of paper was thrown into the window of the woodshed where she lived.

At this moment, she couldn't help but open the small piece of paper again.

There are crooked words on it.

Maybe she is the only one in the whole village who can understand it...

She never knew that there was another person in the whole village who could read besides herself.

The words on the white banners of the sacrificial text all came from her hand.

But few people in the village mention it.

It seems like this is something that is not worth mentioning and is the most secretive thing.

It's something that others don't need to know.

There were also things she didn't know, such as who gave her the money and the note, and who threw the key into the woodshed.

She had been thinking about it for a long time along the way and only remembered it now.

It seemed that when she was a child, she taught someone to write.

But it had been a long, long time, so long that she almost forgot her childhood self, let alone that person.

She also didn't know that as she grew older, her handwriting never improved, locked in her childhood.

His handwriting was also almost identical to his own, who had never made any progress.

In fact, she could understand the first part of the note, which told her to take the money, leave, and live a good life.

She didn't need to understand the last three words.

——Don’t look back.

head.

Zhang Wu’s head.

After an unknown amount of time, the light from the sky over the river shone through her eyes, but she tried hard to look towards the horizon.

The sky is clear and the sea is vast, it is a good day.

Zhang Wu's wife, Zhang Ling'er, was stunned for a long time before she muttered something.

"So, this is what the world outside is like."

Later, it didn't take her long to realize that when she was a child, she would rather walk two more hours on the mountain road while herding cattle to eavesdrop on the private school classes in the suburbs of the county. After finishing a day's work, she would squeeze out time to hide in the woods and learn to write crookedly on the ground with tree branches.

This gave her the ability to settle down in any city, big or small.

What's more, there is money.

So, she didn't look back, but moved forward, and she had a bright future.

——————

It was just a feint before, and no one went to the county town at all. After arresting Wang Mazi, the case was basically settled.

But going to the county government office to follow up on the case and get to the bottom of it was the job of the subordinates. Jiang Hui and Yan Siqing rested in the village for half a day and then set off.

Later, the five people were convicted of smuggling salt, and a lot of their property was recovered. However, because they were already dead and their families were unaware of the situation, the money and property did not benefit their families, so they were treated leniently at the discretion of the court. Except for the orphan Wang Mazi, the other four people all had large families, but none of them... either squandered the money on alcohol and sex, or made other plans to hide it. They had already reached adulthood and were still eating, drinking, and wandering around at home.

After learning the details, these families didn't know what to feel. Perhaps after experiencing so much ups and downs, they could only stay sober and not be implicated.

——————

On the fifth day after leaving Licheng, they arrived at Zhanglin Post Station to stay overnight.

Zhanglin Post Station is a privately owned transit station for merchants and travelers from many states. It is small but exquisitely built. A large iron pot hangs above the central kang, and a whole sheep is cooked in the pot. The skin and teeth roll around like crescent-shaped knives.

They were the first group of guests and had arrived early. They were not in a hurry to continue their journey because the next place to stay was far away and it was not safe to travel at night.

Yan Siqing, who had washed off the dust of the world, was standing on the balcony of her room on the second floor, gazing at the beautiful scenery of mountains and rivers in the distance. When it was quiet, there was movement on the balcony of the next room, and Yan Siqing turned around to look.

Although he was not far away, the prince, who was very playful in front of her, deliberately folded a kite and flew over...

It landed lightly and accurately on the small table beside her.