Jiang Lingyao was not so angry that she could not get over it. The next morning, when Xingyun asked where she would have breakfast, Jiang Lingyao said, "Breakfast should be in the dining room. Am I afraid of him?"
Xingyun: “…”
Xingyun smiled and said, "Yes, our lady is not afraid of him."
Jiang Lingyao snorted, but she wasn't really angry. She just didn't want to lose face in front of Duan Nanqi, as if she was afraid of him.
When Jiang Lingyao was dressed up and came out in a casual spring gown with a peony pattern, she saw Duan Nanqi returning from the courtyard.
He was holding a sword in his hand, apparently having gone to practice swordplay in the morning.
The two of them happened to meet face to face. Duan Nanzhu paused for a moment and said very naturally, "Good morning, my lady."
He had a perfect smile on his face, and it seemed that he was not angry at all about yesterday's argument. Instead, he had a broad-minded demeanor.
Jiang Lingyao sneered in her heart, knowing that he was just pretending, so she also put on a bright smile: "Good morning, my husband."
The couple nodded politely and greeted each other, then passed each other. Jiang Lingyao went to the dining room, while Duan Nanqi went to the study to wash up.
By the time breakfast was served, Duan Nanqi had already taken his seat in the dining room.
The two of them had smiles on their faces and were quite polite to each other, but in reality they sat on their own and ignored each other.
Jiang Lingyao loves to eat noodles in the morning. She likes them all, whether they are noodles with shredded chicken soup, noodles with sesame sauce or noodles with diced eggplant.
Today, the kitchen specially made roast pork noodles for her. The roast pork was made of fat and lean pork belly with skin, which was spread on the noodles in a bright red color. Two green vegetables were placed on the red soup base, which was a perfect combination.
Jiang Lingyao first took a sip of the soup and immediately felt refreshed all over. She ate the noodles slowly and leisurely. After she had finished half a bowl, the sounds of the two people eating were the only ones left in the dining room.
Duan Nanqi said nothing, and Jiang Lingyao was too lazy to pay attention to him.
After breakfast, Jiang Lingyao put down her bowl and chopsticks, got up and went back to her bedroom.
Although Zhou confessed to the murder yesterday, Jiang Lingyao still had to go to the county government to review the case so that Pei Yu of the Jinyiwei could write the case file.
This case was jointly handled by Shuntian Prefecture, Jinyiwei and Wanping County, but Jinyiwei was the lead investigator and was responsible for issuing the case files.
Jiang Lingyao rested for a while, then went to the west wing to change clothes and went out with Shen Suning.
When she arrived at the Wanping County Government Office, she found that Duan Nanqi had already arrived and was sitting in the lobby with Zhao Zhe, Qian Zhixian and others, apparently waiting for her.
Jiang Lingyao walked in quickly and said apologetically, "Sorry, I'm late."
Qian Zhixian didn't dare to offend her, and said hurriedly: "No, no, we came too early, Master Qiao, please take a seat."
Jiang Lingyao sat down next to Zhao Zhe. In addition to Pei Yu, there was another deputy captain of the Jinyi Guard sitting next to him, and the two of them were going to write the files together.
Qian Zhixian was a lowly person with little influence, and he didn't know much about the case. He was led to solve the case without knowing it clearly, so he was not going to say anything at this time.
So when the case was sorted out, Zheng Feng narrated it. His voice was extremely cold, like an emotionless wooden man, but he didn't waste time and finished the case quickly.
Jiang Lingyao added: "I was thinking last night why the shoe prints Zhou Yi left at the crime scene were seven and a half inches long. Now that I think about it, the footprints were heavy in the middle and light around the edges, and one foot was deep and the other was shallow. Zhou Yi must have been wearing seven and a half inch shoes and deliberately left the footprints in order to pin the suspicion of the crime on Zhou Sen."
Zhou Sen's shoes are exactly seven and a half inches in size.
With that said, all the clues on the scene of this case were clear. Pei Yu wrote down this inference and listened to Zheng Feng say, "After yesterday's search, Ti Qi found two people who matched the identities of the deceased in the Wanping area in the seventh year of Tianyou."
Jiang Lingyao's eyes lit up.
Zheng Feng said, "The first victim was probably only about 16 or 17 years old when he was killed. According to the confession of the murderer Zhou Yi, in the seventh year of Tianyou, a family in Wulibao near Wanping reported their daughter missing. The family made a living by growing flowers. The daughter, Wang Xiaoling, often came to Wanping to sell flowers, but she left home in April of the seventh year of Tianyou and went to Wanping. There was no news of her since then. After waiting in vain, the family went to Wanping to look for her. After searching for three days, they reported to the police."
"For such missing people, the government can only register them in the register, without even a portrait."
Jiang Lingyao sighed.
Zhao Zhe said: "In this case, it should be the person who died that year. Stay in Zhou's house and search repeatedly to see if you can find Wang Xiaoling's remains."
Zheng Feng: “Yes.”
"The Wang family still lives in Wulibao, but they are very concerned about their daughter's disappearance. They come to the government twice a year to inquire about the matter. Now we can tell them the truth."
This truth came to light fourteen years later, and the person has long since turned to dust, but it is still a comfort to his family.
After talking about Wang Xiaoling, Zheng Feng said, "At first, we didn't find any clues about the second victim, but after Lord Qiao reminded us, we changed the name and directly looked for clues about the man named Li looking for his wife. We actually found one."
Zheng Feng said, "On April 18th of the seventh year of Tianyou, there was a family named Li in Guihua Lane, Wanping. The man's name was Li Hong. He reported that his wife had gone out shopping and never returned, so he went to the government to report the case."
Li Hong?
Jiang Lingyao's heart began to pound.
She tried hard to suppress her surprise, lowered her head slightly, and clenched her trembling hands tightly.
Everyone present was listening to Zheng Feng's report of the case, only Duan Nanqi glanced at Jiang Lingyao.
His eyes darkened slightly, and he noticed Jiang Lingyao's shaking hands at a glance, but he did not warn her. He just turned around and looked at Zheng Feng: "This Li Hong, is he still alive now?"
Zheng Feng said, "I don't know about this. Because we are not sure whether the deceased is Li Hong's wife, Tiqi did not go to Guihua Lane to look for her. However, Li Hong has not appeared again in these years, and he has not asked the government many times for the result."
Duan Nanqi nodded, he suppressed the light in his eyes, turned his head and looked at Jiang Lingyao: "I wonder if Master Qiao will be free later, can you please go to Guihua Lane to ask."
Jiang Lingyao's clenched hands paused slightly, but at this moment she was not angry about Duan Nanqi's casual assignment. Instead, she was surprised that he would suddenly let her do this mission.
She raised her head and looked at Duan Nanqi, her phoenix eyes glanced lightly, and her gaze fell lightly on Duan Nanqi's face.
Duan Nanqi, however, put on a nonchalant and frivolous attitude and said unreasonably, "Why, Master Qiao is unwilling to do even this little job?"
Jiang Lingyao could not see anything unusual on his face, so she simply said, "That's not the case. Since you trust me, I have no choice but to do my duty."
Duan Nanqi snorted softly, which was regarded as his tacit agreement.
This continued for another half an hour, until noon when the officials finally explained this complicated case.
Duan Nanqi then said, "There are five victims in this case, and it took fourteen years. It took the joint efforts of many government offices to finally solve the case today."
Duan Nanqi put away the smile on his face, and his cold and handsome face became a little more serious.
"This case has passed through several hands, and each of them has contributed greatly to it. The Imperial Guard will record it in detail and present it to Your Majesty. You gentlemen do not need to worry."
"The case was solved thanks to everyone, not just the Royal Guards."
Duan Nanqi's words were quite frank. Jiang Lingyao and Zheng Sanji were from Shuntian Prefecture, and Lord Yao of Shuntian Prefecture would definitely be proud of it.
Mr. Zhao Zhe has already retired, and the court will definitely reward him for solving another major case this time, not to mention Duan Nanqiao who was in charge of solving the case.
He solved a series of major cases within a month. Duan Nanqi would not be in this position of governor for long before he was promoted to a higher position.
Only Qian Zhixian sighed silently in his heart, unable to utter a word of his distress.
Zhao Zhe said with a smile: "Lord Duan is young and promising, and Lord Qiao is as careful as a hair. The court is lucky to have talents like you in criminal law."
"Your Majesty is able to select and employ wise and virtuous people, and is able to recognize good people. This is a blessing for the country."
The old man is really amazing, this is a very clever exaggeration.
Jiang Lingyao, Duan Nanqi and the others thanked him politely, and Duan Nanqi said, "Old man, the case has been closed, so I won't delay your leisurely days of enjoying your grandchildren. Do you want to go back this afternoon or tomorrow?"
Zhao Zhe was leaving today, so Duan Nanqi asked the Jinyi Guard to send him and Zheng Sanji off together.
Finally, he said, "Old Master, if the identity of the second deceased can be found, I will send someone to inform you by letter."
Although Duan Nanqi often behaved in a nonchalant manner, he was still attentive. The old man nodded, had a simple lunch with them, and then left.
After everyone left, only Jiang Lingyao and Duan Nanqi were left in the county government office.
Duan Nanqiao looked at Jiang Lingyao indifferently, still acting like a pacifier of the Jinyiwei: "Master Qiao, please do as you please. I have something important to do. If you need to see me in the future, you can go to the Jinyiwei Wanpinglin Yamen."
Jiang Lingyao also said in a friendly manner: "Master Duan, please go and do your work. I will start investigating Xiuhong's identity."
Duan Nanqi nodded and strode away with a team of Jinyiwei.
Jiang Lingyao waited for him to leave before going to look for Shen Suning. As they walked towards Osmanthus Alley, Jiang Lingyao told them the clues she had just obtained.
Shen Suning was very surprised: "How come Xiuhong is related to Li Hong? Senior sister, is this true or just a coincidence?"
Jiang Lingyao thought for a moment and said, "I've thought about this before, but I think this is about 60 to 70 percent accurate."
"Do you remember that when the Ministry of Justice reported Li Hong's disappearance, a colleague said that Li Hong already had a fiancée, but no one knew who this fiancée was, and no one had ever seen her."
"Li Hong is just a censor. He has no parents and no one to rely on in Beijing. How did he find a good partner?"
Shen Suning listened to her analysis carefully.
Jiang Lingyao continued, "So I think he and his colleagues secretly went to Hongzhaolou to drink and met Xiuying, and he fell in love with her. Xiuying probably also thought he was honest and a good man, so she used the money she had saved for several years to redeem herself with Li Hong."
Hongzhaolou was not very popular, and Xiuying was not a famous courtesan. Her worth was not high to begin with, and Li Hong was able to save some money from his years in officialdom, which enabled him to redeem himself.
In this way, Li Hong will have to give Xiuying a good identity.
So Xiuying redeemed herself and became Xiuhong, but she did not marry Li Hong immediately, and Li Hong did not bring his fiancée to meet his colleagues.
Jiang Lingyao narrowed her eyes slightly. "So after Li Hong came to Wanping, he must have wanted to call Xiuhong his husband. He did not change his name, but his identity was different, so it was not easy to find him."
Finding a single man is different from finding a family with children.
As they talked, the two of them arrived at Osmanthus Alley.
Jiang Lingyao looked up at the tall osmanthus trees in Osmanthus Alley and whispered, "I hope he's still alive."
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