Chapter 9

After leaving Huichun Hall, Jian Xinyi carefully sorted out the ins and outs of the case in her mind.

Qian Rou was a famous singer in Xianxian Tower. She often went to Tanhua's residence with her sister Liu Qin. Their relationship was not very good. Last March, a girl died in the tower, causing panic among the people. Even Liu Qin was so scared that she bought a mahogany ball sachet.

So what is the connection between these two?

The evil ghost locked Qianrou's life. Could it be that the girl's relatives killed Qianrou in revenge for her?

But these were just her guesses. There was no evidence. Even if she told the Jingzhao Yin, they would not believe it. On the contrary, Shi Kui was indeed at the crime scene and was a very strong suspect. Moreover, he had a very clear motive for committing the crime.

He admires Qianrou, but has no money.

I have to say that this murderer is extremely cunning and must have planned this for a long time.

But apart from being able to deduce this information, she could do nothing else. She couldn't disguise herself as a woman and go to Xianxian Tower to check. She didn't have a penny. If she really went, Xianxian Tower would become a disgrace to her, Jian Xinyi.

People were coming and going on East Street, and the bustling streets did not care about the sadness of a few people. In some shady places, the snow had not melted yet, and a few children were playing snowball fights on the busy streets. Sometimes they bumped into street vendors, and they pointed at their noses and called them "little bastards", but they were not ashamed and just played by themselves.

It seems that all the children on the street grow up like this, with no one to supervise them, leaving them to fend for themselves, and end up with bad tempers that everyone hates.

Several tall horses were galloping across the street. The people on them were wearing dark green uniforms. They seemed to be officials from the Dali Temple who were out investigating.

Jian Xinyi moved to the dark. There were some people in ancient times that she couldn't afford to offend.

The children who were playing snowball fights did not dare to act rashly at this moment. They went back home obediently, but secretly opened the door a crack and looked at the group of majestic officials curiously.

Jian Xinyi looked at those children, but she didn't know whether Shi Kui had spent the same childhood as before.

It seems that not only Shi Kui, but she is the same.

Jian Xinyi suddenly felt a chill. She blew out a few breaths of hot air. Even if she wore several layers of clothes, they were still not as warm as a cotton coat.

Winter is so cruel.

She hugged herself tightly with both arms, not allowing herself to think too much, and walked towards East Street to find the man who sold the wine garden.

East Street, as the first of the four streets, has been declining in recent days. Many shops have moved to Zhoufu Street. Although Jian Xinyi does not remember places like Todaiji Temple, Lin Zhuiyu does.

She looked around carefully, but didn't see anyone selling rice dumplings. Just as she was about to wonder, she saw Qian Yuan and his group walking towards her from East Street with serious expressions. Jian Xinyi was about to hide when she saw Qian Yuan walking straight towards her, "What are you doing here?"

"Investigate the case." Jian Xinyi didn't want to hide it from him. "If you don't investigate, I'll investigate it myself."

"So what did you find out?" Qian Yuan looked normal, not as angry as Jian Xinyi had expected. He spoke very calmly, as if asking for her thoughts.

Jian Xinyi also wanted to solve the case quickly, so she told him about the little girl's ghost story. Qian Yuan nodded thoughtfully and said, "We also found out about this place through an informant, but we didn't see any place selling fermented rice dumplings."

"That means that person is an imposter, deliberately spreading this news to confuse the public." Even the Jinwu Guards couldn't find the dumpling seller. It's possible that he was the murderer or someone hired by the murderer to impersonate him. That means... Jian Xinyi pondered for a long time, "Then why go to such great lengths?"

Qian Yuan looked at the very thin little girl in front of him. It was freezing cold, but she was only wearing a few thin clothes. Her cheeks were red from the cold, but her eyes were still bright, and she was investigating the case information with great energy.

It seems that Shi Kui is really a very important person to her.

His eyes darkened unconsciously, "We will go to Xianxian Tower again to find out the truth of this matter. The truth will surely come out then."

A few gusts of cold wind blew past, and Jian Xinyi only felt the cold wind. She couldn't help but sneeze and nodded, "Okay, then I'll go back first."

Qian Yuan stopped him, looking a little flustered, "Wait, I have something to tell you, it's about that nephew."

"What's up?"

Before Jian Xinyi could react, Qian Yuan ran to the street to buy a roasted sweet potato and handed it to her. He then continued, "The nephew is a distant relative of yours, but not that close. We have disciplined him, and I believe he won't cause trouble for you again."

Jian Xinyi looked at the roasted sweet potato in her hand. The heat from the roasted sweet potato was enough to warm her hands, but it couldn't warm anywhere except her hands.

She looked a little dazed. In such a cold winter, she couldn't even afford a roasted sweet potato. But the same cold winters would still exist for decades to come.

"Why, are you still worried?" Qian Yuan saw that she didn't look happy at all, so he thought she was still worried about Shi Kui. "If you are worried, take this. If you really find out anything, come to Wu Hou Mansion to find me."

After saying that, he handed the token in his hand to her.

Jian Xinyi was very surprised and didn't dare to take the token. After all, it was too valuable. She didn't understand why Qian Yuan gave it to her. "If you give me this, how will you go in and out for patrol?"

"I have my own way. You take it."

Qian Yuan's tone was unyielding. She was a little timid and took the token with trembling hands.

Although she was a modern person, she still understood the value of this thing. Just as she was about to thank him, Qian Yuan suddenly said, "I was wrong about what I said before. After you went there this morning, an official came to visit. I released him. You can rest assured."

"Thank you very much, both of them." Jian Xinyi thanked him and was about to turn around when she heard Qian Yuan mention the wound on her forehead, "This wound... seems to be healing soon."

Jian Xinyi reached out and touched it, "There's no need to change the medicine tomorrow."

Qian Yuan's eyes revealed a trace of guilt and pity, and he sighed, "Have you been so pitiful since you were a child?"

"There are many poor people out there, I'm not the only one."

Jian Xinyi was completely bewildered by Qian Yuan's actions. She didn't understand why he was so melancholy today. Suddenly, she thought of the sufferings of the world and said sarcastically, "You, sir, can only protect me, but you can't protect all the miserable people in the world."

Qian Yuan didn't expect that a little girl like Jian Xinyi could say such words. He was slightly stunned. He just thought that she had suffered too much to have such realization, but he didn't think that Jian Xinyi was attacking from a lower dimension.

In terms of knowledge, Jian Xinyi should be far superior to Qian Yuan.

Unfortunately, in the past few years of work, it seems that they have all been given to teachers.

She held the roasted sweet potato in her hand all the way back to the bookstore. The bookstore was filled with a comfortable warmth. Only then did Jian Xinyi notice that a lot of charcoal had been added to the stove at the back of the bookstore. She was a little surprised and asked, "Dad, our bookstore actually has charcoal."

Lao Lin found it very strange. "The bookstore is out of charcoal. Are the readers supposed to read while freezing?"

Jian Xinyi didn't quite believe what her cheap father said, so she walked straight up to him and said, "No, I'm asking where did you get this charcoal?"

Old Lin turned around and began to pretend to pack up the books in the bookstore. He muttered, "Why are you suspicious of me again, girl? Of course I bought them."

"Where do you get the money to buy it?" Jian Xinyi was anxious and blocked Lao Lin's way with her body. It would be fine if Lao Lin just cheated people out of food and drink, but how could he even cheat people out of charcoal? If he continued like this, it would be disastrous. Seeing that the bookstore was just starting to pick up, she could not tolerate him cheating any longer.

"I'm going to take on some publishing jobs, right? I'll make some money." Lao Lin paused his work and looked out at the deserted street. "It gets cold in the shop in the winter, and people won't want to come in. It's better to be warm and cozy."

"You really didn't lie to me?"

Lao Lin's eyes were evasive. "No, of course not."

Jian Xinyi was about to say something when she saw Bai Yuanyuan rushing in from the doorway. "Zhuiyu, Shi Kui has been released. Have you seen him?"

"Not yet. I just came back from Doctor Zhang." Jian Xinyi asked Bai Yuanyuan to sit down first, poured her a glass of water, and turned to her father and asked, "Dad, did you see it?"

"Neither did I." Old Lin shook his head. "That official was quite respectable. He released me on the spur of the moment."

"Forget it, let's not talk about this. I came here for something else. I ran into Shi Kuigang on the way." Bai Yuanyuan ran to Jian Xinyi, her face flushed and she was out of breath. "The thief who stole my rouge was caught, and it turned out to be a servant."

"Servant? From whom?"

Jian Xinyi asked subconsciously. She always felt that this matter was not simple, but she didn't know where the root of the problem lay.

"He won't say anything, and my mother has lost her temper. I can't send him to Jingzhao Yin just for this matter. I'm in a dilemma."

Bai Yuanyuan held her chin with one hand, her expression very solemn.

Old Lin was quite enthusiastic about this matter and cheerfully interjected, "A servant stole rouge. It's obvious that he was giving it to the young lady again."

"I don't know about that." Bai Yuanyuan pondered for a long time. "My mother didn't tell me much and just let the man go. He took many deceptions and finally got rid of the thugs my mother had paid for."

"So powerful, but hiding his abilities." Lao Lin chimed in, making Jian Xinyi very annoyed.

A powerful yet silent servant, a ghost who wants to kill you, a disappeared rice wine and dumpling shop, a secret room...

Obviously, there is no connection at all.

Jian Xinyi is not Conan, and she has no way of determining what the problem is based on this little information.

Forget it. Shi Kui had been released anyway, so she didn't need to dwell on the case. But seeing Bai Yuanyuan's dejected face, she comforted him, "Don't be sad. Now that the boy has been caught, he won't steal again."

"But the problem is, it was that boy who came here on his own." Bai Yuanyuan stared at Jian Xinyi with a haggard face. "If he was caught, it would be fine, but he brought the stolen rouge here on his own. My mother checked, and it happened to be the three boxes of rouge and two boxes of powder that were stolen."