In the evening, the wind is warm, the sky is warm, and even people are warm.
Regardless of what the two people were thinking, to outsiders, they looked like they were standing side by side, both looking up at the setting sun.
Such a beautiful scenery has a sense of moving forward hand in hand and supporting each other.
After the Ti riders had searched the entire garden and reported the details to Zheng Feng, Zheng Feng would step forward to report.
Chu Xiunian grabbed Zheng Feng again.
He looked at Zheng Feng as if he was a fool. He lowered his voice and asked, "Do you really not understand or are you doing this on purpose?"
Zheng Feng was puzzled: "Once the task is completed, I should report it to you immediately. Why is Master Chu trying to stop me?"
Chu Xiunian closed his eyes, not knowing how to explain.
However, Duan Nanqi still heard their voices. Duan Nanqi's cold eyes swept over, and Zheng Feng immediately stepped forward: "Sir, there are three pavilions, two corridors, two attics, and sixty-four street lamps on both sides of the path in this garden. There are forty-seven lanterns in the pavilions and other places. Tiqi checked all the lanterns and found that they were all engraved with the words "Huazhou Society". They must be made by Wanping Lantern Market."
The Lantern Festival in Wanping is called Huazhe Lantern Festival, which means the starry night is like blooming flowers. For this lantern festival, Wanping set up a special Huazhe Society, which is dedicated to selecting exhibits for the lantern festival, guaranteeing sales, and supplying lanterns for the county government.
Therefore, in the streets and alleys of Wanping, as long as you can see the lights used in the county government, they are all produced by Huazhe Society.
Therefore, the lights in the quiet night garden here should be the same.
Only these four lamps were different. There was neither the Huazhu Society’s imprint nor any other gardeners’ signatures on them. No one knew where they came from.
The lamp makers in Wanping care a lot about their reputation. Famous lamp makers have constant work every year and can display their lamps at the highest position in the lamp market, which is very glorious. Therefore, they will make their own unique name tags and engrave them on each lamp.
That is both their honor and their guarantee.
After listening to Zheng Feng's words, Duan Nanqi said, "In that case, these four lamps are the most special. Take these four lamps back to the county government office and immediately ask the president of Huazhuo Society to claim them. Also, immediately retrieve the list of all lamp makers in Wanping. Anyone who has made lamps needs to report it."
After Duan Nanqi gave these instructions, Jiang Lingyao asked again: "Sir, do you remember the lamp in Xiaozhen's room?"
Duan Nanqi suddenly recalled the six-sided paper lamp.
Jiang Lingyao said, "There is no signature on that lamp, but it shows the exquisite craftsmanship. We don't know much about lamps, so we can't tell whether that lamp and these four lamps were made by the same person, but the president of Huachu Society should be able to identify them. If they were really made by the same person, then without the baby as bait, I suspect the murderer used the shops that sold lamps to find victims."
"Xiaozhen is an orphan. She has no relatives or friends. Even if she goes missing, it will not be reported immediately. It is even possible that no one cares about her life or death. So she occasionally goes to the county and meets a new friend in the county lamp shop. When the new friend learns about her life experience, he should be more sympathetic and close to her. It is very common for her to either buy or be given a six-sided embroidery ball lamp by the new friend."
Jiang Lingyao raised her head suddenly and said, "Before, we didn't know whether the child the murderer used as bait was a boy or a girl. Now we have the answer."
Jiang Lingyao said, "The murderer is about forty years old this year, from Wanping, a lamp maker, and has a daughter who is about thirteen years old. He should have opened a lamp shop or a stall selling lamps in Wanping, and he is not well-known."
Jiang Lingyao raised her head and looked at Zheng Feng with a sharp gaze: "According to this clue, quickly go ask the president of Huazhuo Society. He may be able to give us some clues."
Zheng Feng nodded subconsciously. After a moment, his neck stiffened and he looked at Duan Nanqiao again.
Duan Nanqi said calmly: "Go ahead."
There was nothing left to be found in Jingye Garden. The Jinyi Guards had dug deep into the ground, and there was nothing left to be found there. Jiang Lingyao and Duan Nanqi returned to the county government office together.
When they returned to the county government office, it was already past dinner. County Magistrate Qian had not appeared today except to greet them. But now he was waiting in the lobby, and when he heard the sound of horse hooves, he came out to greet them.
"Master Duan, Master Qiao," Qian Zhixian said with a broad smile, "I have prepared wine and food, please enjoy them."
Duan Nanqi glanced at Jiang Lingyao, who nodded and said, "Thank you, County Magistrate Qian. No need for wine, just food will be enough."
Qian Zhixian immediately said excitedly: "Okay, okay, you can eat whatever you want, sir."
He was very smart. He had already been controlled by Duan Nanqi today, so he would not leave him any handle for impeachment. He would never dare to use any delicacies to curry favor with his superiors.
However, if they dealt with the matter perfunctorily, they might fear retaliation from the Jinyiwei, so Qian Zhixian specially sent someone to inquire about the lunch of Duan Nanqi and others, and prepared a similar menu in the evening.
Baiweizhai’s cooking skills were excellent. Jiang Lingyao didn’t feel sick of it even after eating it for two meals in a row. The cumin duck rack was especially favorite, and she still ate a lot of it in the evening.
After everyone had finished their meal, Jiang Lingyao told Zhao Zhe about the new clues she had found today. This made the old man so excited that he blushed and almost cried.
"You young people are brave and careful," Zhao Zhe patted his thigh and sighed, "This way, this case will definitely make great progress and can finally be solved."
The old man wiped his tears as he spoke, appearing extremely excited.
Jiang Lingyao tried to comfort him before asking, "Old man, were there lanterns and other items at the scene?"
Zhao Zhe said without hesitation: "There must be lanterns on site, but none of us paid special attention to the lanterns in the garden at that time. Besides, there was also a lantern festival in Tongzhou at that time. The lanterns in the garden were more delicate and beautiful, but we didn't pay much attention to them."
“So this is where the joint is.”
Jiang Lingyao's eyes lit up. She exchanged a glance with Duan Nanqi and they both said in unison, "The Lantern Festival?"
Zhao Zhe obviously understood the key to the Lantern Festival. He said, "Yes, yes, it is the Lantern Festival. That's it."
When they had figured out all the clues and the murderer's appearance was about to jump out of the paper, Zhao Zhe said, "We have been looking through the files this afternoon and didn't find anything special. We have already started to look for the backgrounds of Rong Niang and others. Now we have some clues."
The old man said, "Let's talk about Xiuhong first, or Xiuying. If the two are the same person, then Xiuhong should be Xiuying's real name, and Xiuying is a pseudonym. Let's take one person as an example. Xiuying left the Hongzhaolou in Beijing and came to Wanping. If she wanted to resume her old job, she would have to register in various brothels. But today, the Jinyi Guards have already inquired, and there are only two brothels in Wanping, and neither of them knows Xiuying or Xiuhong. So it seems that she is not here to resume her old job."
"According to Chen Zhen's confession, she should have completely turned over a new leaf and came to Wanping to live with the person who redeemed her. In this case, she should have been registered as Xiuhong in the county annals of Wanping County."
"However, when we first started to check the files of the sixth year of Tianyou, we did not find Xiuhong, but we did find a woman named Rongya, who appeared at an embroidery exhibition in January of the sixth year of Tianyou. However, because the exhibition was very small, the county annals only mentioned it briefly, and did not even write down the full name of the embroiderer who attended the exhibition. We don't know whether her name is real or fake."
It seems that if this woman named Rong Ya is Rong Niang, she was still alive in the sixth year of Tianyou.
Zhao Zhe sighed: "There are too many files. Even if there are dozens of Jinyiwei to check together, they will become fat in one go. We can only search through them bit by bit."
Jiang Lingyao said, "Lord Zhao has already retired, but he is still working on this case. We are very grateful. This is already very good."
Duan Nanqi also comforted him, "Don't worry, old man. The case is now clear and the murderer's identity has been narrowed down. Even if we check the identity of the lamp maker one by one in the entire Wanping, we will definitely be able to find him. This case will definitely be solved."
Zhao Zhe smiled a little, and he sighed, "Seeing that there is someone to take over my legacy, I am very pleased."
A few people were discussing the case when Zheng Feng walked in quickly from outside, followed by a thin, small middle-aged man who was looking at everyone tremblingly.
Zheng Feng came up to several people, greeted them one by one, and then said: "Sir, this person is the president of Wanping Huazhu Society and a famous lantern master in the county, Wang Cheng."
Wang Cheng looked to be in his forties and was not very timid, but he was not so frightened that he could not speak. Instead, the conversation was quite smooth.
Jiang Lingyao asked him a few questions about the situation of Huayue Society, and then said: "On the way here, Lord Zheng should have explained the reason to you. You need to help investigate the case."
Wang Cheng nodded hurriedly and said, "Yes, sir, I know."
He took out a list from his arms, handed it to Zheng Feng, and said, "This is the list of lamp makers in our Huazhu Society for the past twenty years. Please take a look, sir."
Zheng Feng presented the list. Duan Nanqi happened to be sitting between Zhao Zhe and Jiang Lingyao. He took the list, spread it on the table, and opened it to look at it.
The list of Huazhuo Society is different from the population list of the county government. In it, apart from the name and where they live, it only contains information about their skills and achievements.
In addition, everyone is required to draw the best lanterns, which are obviously used for sales and promotion.
Duan Nanqiao flipped through a few pages, looked at Jiang Lingyao, and seeing her shaking her head, he looked at Wang Cheng.
He spoke slowly: "Wang Cheng, this case involves multiple lives. I hope you can answer carefully and do not conceal it."
When Wang Cheng heard this, his legs went limp. He said, "My lord, I will tell you the truth."
Duan Nanqi asked, "How many gardeners are there in Wanping County?"
Wang Cheng replied: "There are eighty-seven in total."
Duan Nanqi asked again: "Is there anyone among them who is around 40 years old, has a daughter of about 13 years old, and..."
He lowered his eyes to glance at the list and continued, "And he is good at table lamps, glass lamps and revolving lanterns. The revolving lanterns are mainly based on figures."
When Duan Nanqi asked the first question, Wang Cheng was obviously a little confused, but after Duan Nanqi supplemented it according to the list, Wang Cheng immediately had an idea.
He thought for a moment and said, "Sir, I know all the lamp makers in Wanping. If what you said is true, it is not uncommon to see people around 40 years old with daughters. However, there are not many who are good at making glass lamps. There are only about 20 people in the whole Wanping."
"Among them, there are only about ten people who meet your requirements. However, I only know their ages, and I don't know whether they have daughters."
Wang Cheng was quite sincere. Being able to narrow the scope to ten people was already a pleasant surprise.
Jiang Lingyao also took a look at the list. Suddenly, something occurred to her. She put her hand under the table and gently tugged at Duan Nanqi's sleeve.
Duan Nanqi's eyes flickered slightly, he turned his head and listened to the soft voice next to his ear.
"Sir, can you show the lamp to Wang Cheng?"
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