In the upper-class room of Ruyi Inn, a male corpse was lying on the ground. The blood on his head had dried up. The fatal wound was only on his head. No murder weapon was found in the inn. The time of death was when his body was discovered. The perpetrator did not escape so quickly. In addition, records of guests staying in the hotel are kept, and guests have to sign in the registration book when checking out.
The yamen brought the coroner with them, leaving only this conclusion without any clues.
"Miss, I am the prefect of the border town. May I know who you are?" Guan Ren had been in office for more than ten years. He was sure that this young lady was not from the border town, but he didn't know where this distinguished guest came from or what her identity was. She protected the crime scene very well and made the onlookers stay there without disturbing the scene. She seemed to be very familiar with handling cases.
Song Jiaren lowered her nose, still looking down on everyone, as if she looked down on this small official from the border town. "I'll tell you more about my identity later. Now let's solve this case first. Otherwise, I'll feel uneasy. Who knows if I will be the next to die?"
The people around were indignant and complaining at first, but after hearing what was said, they felt that it would be best to stay and help solve the case and catch the real culprit, otherwise they would not feel at ease.
Seeing this, Guan Ren had no choice but to deal with the case at hand first. He set up a table next to the corpse in the inn and interrogated each person one by one.
After Gu Zhen dressed up as an old butler, he followed Song Jiaren obediently, acting like an old man. No one aroused his suspicion, and no one even took good care of his health and gave him a seat.
Song Jiaren and Gu Zhen sat in the room and listened. Changfeng and Shitou, along with the guards, were still guarding all the exits and windows, surrounding the inn like an iron barrel, making it impossible for the criminals to escape.
"Interrogate them one by one, starting with the first person who discovered the body."
A servant stepped forward tremblingly. "Greetings, my Lord and Miss. I'm a servant on the third floor, responsible for cleaning this room. Last night, the guest asked me to wake him up early, so I came to wake him up this morning. I knocked on the door for a long time but no one opened it. I tried pushing it, and it opened unexpectedly. Then I saw the guest lying on the ground. I was so scared that my legs gave out and I called many guests over."
The servant's legs were shaking, as if he was terrified by the memory. His face was pale and he looked scarier than the corpse on the ground, as if he was about to faint at any moment.
Seeing this, Guan Ren waved his hand and asked him to leave, "Next."
The fat innkeeper came up and greeted Guan Ren and Song Jiaren. "I heard the servant yelling and came here. I thought he had offended a guest and was beaten because of the screams. I didn't expect that the guest had died in the room. Sigh, who would dare to stay in the inn this time?"
Song Jiaren scolded impatiently, "Just tell me what the body looked like and who was around it. Don't say anything nonsense!"
The fat boss's plump body was startled by Song Jiaren's shout, and then he said, "When we got down, there were several guests watching. They were all staying on the sides. I didn't pay attention to the others."
Song Jiaren said, "Call those people who were watching over here."
The fat boss breathed a sigh of relief and immediately called in the onlookers.
"Tell me what each of you saw." Guan Ren had a headache. He wouldn't get anything out of him if he continued interrogating him like this.
Two guests who lived in the room next to the deceased came in. Guan Ren asked, "Did you also leave the room because you heard the servant's shouting?"
The fatter guest said, "Yes, early in the morning, the servant was shouting, 'Help, help!' I was woken up by him. When I went out, I saw him slumped at the door of the room, his face pale. I went over to ask, and saw the body inside the room. It was exactly the same as it was now. I don't know anything else."
Another guest nodded in succession. "I was in the same boat as this one. We were both woken up by the servants. However, I went to bed late last night and was reading in my room when I heard the quarrel next door."
Guan Ren sat up straight and asked, "What's that quarrel?"
"It seems to be the voice of this servant..."
"You're talking nonsense!" The servant's forehead veins bulged as he loudly defended himself, "The guest called me here last night and gave me a few words. The guest asked me to wake him up early in the morning. There was no quarrel!"
The fat boss also agreed, "Yes, he is the most obedient boy in our store. He will never talk back to customers even if they give him trouble. How could he possibly quarrel with customers? You must have heard it wrong."
The guest was clearly unconvinced. He had heard the servant's voice. "How could I have heard it wrong? It's so late, who would go to someone else's room? They'd all gone to bed early. I'm used to reading in the quiet of the night, so I was woken up in the morning and went out to check what happened. I didn't expect the person next door to be dead. I never thought it was this servant who killed someone after just a few arguments!"
The servant's eyes were red as he cried out in injustice, "You are slandering me! I am innocent! I am not a villain!"
Song Jiaren yelled angrily, picked up the teacup on the table and smashed it to the ground, "Stop making noise! If you make any more noise, I'll arrest you all!"
Guan Ren raised his eyebrows. This young lady seemed to have a higher authority than him and had a very bad temper.
"Everyone go down and wait first. Do you have anything else to say?"
The people who had been watching in the morning all shook their heads and denied any involvement. "I just came to join in the fun and have no idea what happened. Besides, I live quite far away, several houses away, so I didn't hear anything and went to bed early."
"Yeah, I'm just here to join in the fun..."
“Common people too…”
Guan Ren had no idea what was going on. He turned around and saw that the young lady had gotten some exquisite snacks from somewhere. There was a corpse lying on the ground next to her, but she could still eat the snacks without changing her expression. She was definitely not an ordinary person.
The prefect automatically assumed Song Jiaren's vague identity when he was unaware of the situation, and treated her more cautiously, fearing that he might offend her.
"The interrogation is over, right? It's lunchtime, everyone should go and have lunch. Even though the real culprit hasn't been caught yet, we can't delay everyone's meal."
Song Jiaren was already hungry, so she stood up first and prepared to leave. Seeing Gu Zhen's hint, she remembered the prefect who she had been treating as invisible. "If you don't mind, would you like to have dinner with me and the housekeeper?"
Guan Ren wiped the non-existent black line from his forehead. He felt upset that he had to greet the person with a smile even though he was completely ignored.
Changfeng and Shitou were still guarding the entrance and exit of the entire inn and dared not leave. They took turns to eat. When Song Jiaren passed by them, she deliberately called their honorable Prince.
"Butler, tell the kitchen later that I want Dongpo pork and lion's head meat, and a bowl of peanut butter."
Gu Zhen, dressed as the old butler, hunched over and nodded, with a smile and satisfaction on his face, as if it was a blessing for him that his young lady was willing to eat more. This made Changfeng and Shitou so angry that they clenched their fists, panted like a cow, and gritted their teeth.
Song Jiaren felt refreshed and said with a smile, "Thank you for your hard work~"
Guan Ren followed the young lady to her room number one with a confused look on his face. He was secretly surprised to find that the daughter of a powerful family was indeed traveling incognito.
Gu Zhen tremblingly went to the kitchen and told Song Jiaren what to eat, then went back with a bowl of large grapes from Rakshasa Country. He chuckled as he passed by Changfeng and Shitou.
Shitou felt very aggrieved. He felt sorry for His Highness, but His Highness laughed at him instead!
Song Jiaren still opened her mouth and was fed by the old housekeeper Gu Zhen.
"Miss, please eat a few pills before dinner and wait until after dinner."
Song Jiaren bit into the large grape in her mouth, and the juice splashed out, sweet and refreshing. She nodded with satisfaction and said, "Okay, I won't eat it for now. I'll save it for after dinner."
Guan Ren cautiously spoke to the old butler, "May I know how old this butler is?"
A kind smile bloomed on Gu Zhen's weathered old face. "I'm sixty years old now."
Guan Ren was surprised. At the age of sixty, he was still serving the young master. He was really loyal. "Why haven't you enjoyed your retirement at such an old age?"
Could it be the supervisor of the palace?
But the voice doesn't sound like that kind of person.
Gu Zhen also imitated Song Jiaren and made up a story: "I have no children, no relatives, and no friends. It would be better for me to serve the young lady for a while while I can still move, until the young lady gets married, and then I can feel at ease."
Song Jiaren raised one of her eyebrows and watched the Crown Prince talk nonsense with interest. He was no less interesting than her.
The lion's head and Dongpo pork were soon served, and the peanut cheese was steaming hot. Gu Zhen put it aside and waited until he finished his meal when it would no longer be so hot and he could eat it then.
Dongpo pork is bright red in color and has a strong aroma of wine. The fat is crystal clear, the lean meat is lean but not dry, and the sauce is rich. The lion's head is fragrant and makes people's mouths water just by smelling it. It has a mellow and rich flavor.
"Eat quickly, Your Excellency the Prefect, don't be polite." Song Jiaren was served by Gu Zhen, who served her the dishes and gave her a piece of each.
Guan Ren was a little embarrassed when he picked up the chopsticks, and said hurriedly, "Please, please."
Song Jiaren licked her lips and tongue with great satisfaction while eating. Guan Ren just wanted to fill his stomach and did not dare to eat too much in front of the young lady. After Song Jiaren and Gu Zhen finished eating, he also put down his chopsticks.
The peanut cheese was just warm but not too hot. The aroma of peanuts and milk was sweet and tempting. Song Jiaren picked up the bowl and ate another bowl of peanut cheese.
It was naturally impossible to take a nap at noon. They had to hurry to solve the case. Song Jiaren was helped up by Gu Zhen. She was too full after eating.
"Sir, please call everyone involved in this case into that room."
Song Jiaren recalled everyone's confessions, and a light bulb went off in her head. She whispered a few words to Gu Zhen.
There were quite a few people standing in the upper-class room of Ruyi Inn where the murder took place. They were all those who had gathered at the door to watch the excitement. The corpse was still lying on the ground, his eyes wide open, pupils dilated, and his expression extremely distorted.
Everyone lowered their heads and looked at their shoes, not daring to look at the corpse. They were also afraid that if they showed any different expressions, they would be found by the eldest lady and arrested as murderers.
Guan Ren had no clues and no target, so he could only obey the orders of the eldest lady and wait on the side.
Song Jiaren stood calmly beside the corpse. Suddenly, her eyes widened as if she had discovered something. Then she quickly squatted down and picked up something. "Found it!"
"What did you find?" Guan Renye stood up in surprise and asked.
"We found a piece of physical evidence that fell from the murderer. Now we can find out who the murderer is just by asking around." Song Jiaren said confidently.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
