Chapter 360 Suspicion Resurfaces

Shen Chu stood up. "What happened?"

Ling Ce grabbed the veil and put it on her, then pulled her outside. "It's urgent, let's talk as we walk. Where's Senior Brother?"

Han Feng carried Yuanbao out of the side room.

"Did you need something?"

"Pick your medicine kit and come with me."

Han Feng glanced at the expression on his face, and without saying a word, turned around and took out the medicine box.

Hongxiu drove the carriage, and the three of them boarded the carriage at the door.

"Go to the post station."

Shen Chu asked curiously, "What are you going to the post station for? What happened?"

Ling Ce said, "Yu Feng came to see me just now and said that Zhang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, who had been unconscious, woke up briefly today."

After Zhang Shilang woke up, he said he wanted to see the newly arrived imperial envoy.

While Yu Feng was out sending someone to find me, he returned to find that Vice Minister Zhang was bleeding from the corner of his mouth and was in critical condition.

Han Feng habitually took out his embroidery needle from his medicine box and asked while embroidering, "Poisoned?"

Ling Ce nodded, "That's right, so Yu Feng quickly came to the yamen to tell me about this."

Fearing that someone might harm Lord Zhang, he had already secretly moved Vice Minister Zhang to the post station.

I told the eldest brother to hurry over and see if he could still be saved. If he couldn't, at least the junior sister could hear his last words.

Upon hearing this, Shen Chu's expression turned solemn.

Before she arrived in Yangzhou, Vice Minister Zhang had been attacked and fell into a coma, where he was recuperating in a quiet house.

She had visited him before, and Han Feng said that Zhang Shilang had been attacked on the head and was in a coma, and whether he could wake up depended on luck.

“It’s only been a short while since Yu Feng left home that Minister Zhang was poisoned. This means that someone doesn’t want him to wake up or speak.”

Han Feng frowned. "Jueming, the mastermind behind this, has been caught and is locked up in jail. Who would want to harm Minister Zhang?"

Shen Chu said, "When I was sorting through the case today, I happened to find a few suspicious points. I'm afraid we haven't gotten to the bottom of the missing girl case yet."

"What do you mean? You mean Jueming hasn't finished explaining, and there's someone else behind him?"

Shen Chu nodded.

"More than 10,000 taels of silver were found in Qingshan Temple. Although it matches the account books found in the temple, it is very likely that they are fake."

Think about it, when we went to investigate the Golden Spear Water, a bottle of Golden Spear Water sold for 1,790 taels.

Even if only ten bottles are sold in a year, that's still over ten thousand taels, not to mention the many human skin lanterns Jueming made to sell.

Han Feng understood. "You mean that the ten thousand taels of silver was just a small fraction? Most of the silver went to the person behind the scenes."

"That's right."

"So, who do you think is the person behind this?"

Shen Chu frowned slightly. "It seems we need to interrogate Jueming again. He confessed so readily that day, probably to protect the person behind the scenes."

Ling Ce remembered something and said, "By the way, when Pei Yuan came to see me today, someone was eavesdropping outside the window."

This means that someone in the prefectural government office was monitoring our movements. Not only that, but as soon as I left the prefectural government office, someone followed me.

I estimated that there were more than one group of people following me, but luckily I was quick-witted and managed to shake them off.

Do you think the person behind this might be in the prefectural government office?

Shen Chu paused for a moment before saying, "It's very possible. There's another possibility: the person behind it bribed the officials."

But the former possibility is the easiest to investigate. You've come into contact with so many people at the government office these days; give me a list, and we'll check them one by one.”

"good."

"What did Pei Yuan say to you?"

Speaking of this, Ling Ce immediately rolled up his sleeves and began to complain endlessly.

"What did he say? He didn't say anything, he just pressed me down on the table and stared at me for a long time. I'm a real man, how could I endure such humiliation?"

*Pfft*

Han Feng couldn't help but laugh so hard he almost dropped his embroidery needle.

"Third brother, I can already picture those ambiguous positions you two are in."

Ling Ce's face turned ashen. "Get out of my way."

Shen Chu looked puzzled.

"What did you do that made him come in and pin you to the table without saying a word?"

Ling Ce's eyes flickered; he was embarrassed to admit that he had almost kissed Li Anning and that Pei Yuan had seen it.

"Yeah, who knows what's wrong with him? He just stared at me like that, and when he was done staring, he had two baskets of potatoes sent over."

Ah Chu, you don't know, there were two baskets of potatoes right in front of me, staring at me without blinking.

Clang, clang, clang, both baskets of potatoes were chopped up. Pshaw, was he even trying to chop potatoes?

He clearly intended to cut me! After cutting the potatoes, he grabbed the knife and tried to chop me. Luckily, I reacted quickly, or my nose would have been sliced ​​off.

Ling Ce poured out his grievances while rubbing his nose and muttering to himself.

"I don't know how he was so sure. After he finished cutting the potato shreds, he pressed me down and said I wasn't Achu, asking where Achu was."

Shen Chu touched his nose and gave a dry laugh.

"It was my oversight. I forgot to tell you that when he's in a bad mood, he likes to cut potato shreds, the kind where he cuts basket after basket of them."

Upon learning the truth, Ling Ce nearly burst into tears.

So he died because he had never seen potato shreds before?

That's outrageous.

What kind of ridiculous hobby is this?

"Didn't you go to see him? Why is he coming to the prefectural government office to look for me?"

Shen Chu smiled wryly, "I didn't see him. I'll explain after I see Minister Zhang."

The carriage sped towards the post station.

Shortly after they left, Pei Yuan and Sun Yan appeared in a nearby alley.

Sun Yan stood at the crossroads, pointing to the alley ahead and said:

"When I tracked him to the vicinity, Lord Shen disappeared. I can confirm that he must be in one of the alleys nearby."

Strange, Lord Shen's martial arts skills are clearly average. Back in the capital, he was able to eavesdrop on several occasions without being detected.

How come it seems that once we arrived in Yangzhou, Lord Shen's skills have obviously improved? Even though he was following far away, Lord Shen still managed to spot him.

"There was another person following Lord Shen ahead of me; he came out of the prefectural government office."

After his subordinates discovered this, fearing that he might harm Lord Shen, they secretly followed him and knocked him unconscious.

Turning around again, Young Master Shen was gone.

Sun Yan looked guilty. "It's my fault for being incompetent and losing track of the person."

Pei Yuan suppressed his anxiety and said, "Send two people over to investigate everyone in the nearby alleys and find out who lives in the area."

"Go and keep an eye on the prefectural government office yourself. I want to see who's behind this."

"yes."

Pei Yuan looked up and glanced at the network of alleys around him, his eyes swirling with emotion.

Ah Chu, are you around here?

Achu had already gotten off the carriage at the entrance of the post station and instructed Hongxiu to tie up the horse and stop the carriage.

She followed Ling Ce into the inn.

A person walked towards her and bumped straight into her shoulder, nearly knocking her veil off.

"careful."

Han Feng, who was standing nearby, reacted quickly and reached out to support her.

The man who bumped into her was a middle-aged man carrying a bucket of swill. The impact knocked off his straw hat.

The middle-aged man hurriedly picked up his straw hat, lowered his head, and knelt down on the ground in fright.

"I apologize for not seeing anyone come in."

Shen Chu pulled her veil down a little. "It's alright, you can get up now."

The middle-aged man glanced at Chen Chu with trepidation, put on his straw hat, picked up his water bucket, and walked out with a stoop.

Shen Chu's gaze swept across his face, and her eyes narrowed slightly.