Seeing him, Xue Huan's heart skipped a beat. She walked over and asked, "Captain Guan?"
Guan Yue opened his eyes and asked, "Miss Xue, did you just come back from the fields?"
When she saw Pei Ji next to her, her eyes fixed on him. Out of professional habit, she couldn't help but look him over carefully, while analyzing this man's background in her mind.
Xue Huan: "Yes, why is Captain Guan here?" She turned to Pei Ji and said, "You go in first."
Pei Ji glanced at Guan Yue, said nothing, and went in.
"Miss Xue, may I have a moment to talk?"
"Okay, wait a moment."
Xue Huan went into the yard, put down her things, came out, and took Guan Yue to a nearby grove.
Guan Yue looked at her and said, "This time, I'm here to thank you."
Xue Huan didn't understand.
"Thank you for helping me kill Qian Dazhi."
Xue Huan: “!!!”
"Don't be nervous. This is just my guess. I don't actually have any evidence, but I have a hunch that you did it."
Xue Huan's face was expressionless: "Intuition is often wrong."
Guan Yue smiled silently and did not refute.
"Let me tell you a story." He sat down casually against a tree, not caring whether the ground was dirty or not.
Then he took out something from his sleeve. It was an exquisite wooden hairpin with delicate and moist texture and a jade-like patina, as if it had been often played with and caressed in someone's hands.
He stroked the hairpin in his hand. "This is a hairpin I made for my sister. I gave it to her on her coming-of-age day and personally put it in her hair. She loved it and wore it every day. But one day, she suddenly disappeared. When I found her, she was lying in a mass grave, bruised all over, clutching this hairpin tightly in her hand."
"Did Qian Dazhi do it?"
"good."
"At first, I thought about bringing Qian Dazhi to justice, but later I realized I was too naive. With my brother-in-law Cai Kuo protecting me, I couldn't touch Qian Dazhi at all, and I might even get myself into trouble. But Cai Kuo is the governor's man, and this bunch of corrupt officials protect each other. How easy is it to bring Cai Kuo down?
"I've been secretly collecting evidence of Cai Kuo's crimes, but unfortunately he's very cautious, so it's hard to find solid evidence. However, there's one thing I have that can definitely put him to death!"
"What?"
"He left an account book with Qian Dazhi, which contained a detailed record of the bribes he accepted and evidence of his tributes to his superiors. The fire at the Qian residence last night destroyed many things, but the items in the storeroom and the accounting office were moved away beforehand. That account book was mixed in with the other books, but it was written in a secret code, and even if the average person got hold of it, they wouldn't be able to understand it."
"It seems that our county magistrate is indeed very cautious."
"Ms. Xue, I have a hunch that this matter is related to you, although I also find it absurd. After all, you didn't go to the Qian Mansion last night, and there's no way you could quietly take away so much valuables under the Qian Mansion's heavy security. The only connection is that your grandmother wanted to offer you and your mother to Qian Dazhi in order to get a sum of money.
"But you woke up early and left with your mother. And finally, Xue Xin, from the Xue family's eldest branch, was taken away. Her whereabouts have yet to be found, and the Qian family hasn't found her body either. It's as if she vanished into thin air."
"Oh, really?" Xue Huan's face showed a hint of confusion and surprise.
"Miss Xue, you know what? The first time I saw you, I noticed that you had a kind of detached aura. You seemed to live in this world just like me, but you were alienated from everything outside of yourself. It was as if everything in this world was just an insignificant game to you."
Xue Huan's heart skipped a beat, but she smiled and said, "Captain Guan, I'm just a little peasant girl. Why do you make me sound like a hermit? Do you have anything else to say? If not, I have to go back and cook."
Guan Yue called out to her from behind, "Miss Xue, I know you don't trust me, but that's human nature. No one can trust someone they've only met twice. I came here today just to tell you that you and I are on the same page. If you need anything in the future, you can always come to me. Although I'm just a small constable, I still have some respect in Fengchi County."
Xue Huan turned her head and said, "Okay, I'll make a note of it."
At this time, the atmosphere in Old Xue's house was strange and silent.
Before going to look for Xue Huan, Guan Yue came here first. Earlier at the Qian family, he learned from the servant Qian Yi - the one who was elected as the representative of the servants to answer to the county magistrate's wife Qian - that housekeeper Qian had gone to the old Xue family last night.
Qian Yi was also one of the servants who followed Butler Qian to Old Xue's house last night, and he knew very well the ins and outs of going to Old Xue's house.
After Guan Yue learned about this, he went to the old Xue family in Shanghe Village and told them the news of Xue Xin's disappearance. Of course, he did not come to deliver a message to them, but wanted to know more details.
For example, how Xue Huan escaped from Old Lady Xue and others.
After all, according to Qian Yi, Old Lady Xue put the sleeping pills given to her by Butler Qian in the chicken soup, and she also saw Xue Huan and her mother drink the chicken soup with her own eyes. Why did she wake up in the middle of it?
Perhaps this is just a coincidence in the eyes of ordinary people, but for people like Guan Yue who have been dealing with criminals for many years, there must be something unknown hidden here.
At first, Mrs. Xue had no intention of cooperating. After all, selling her wife and granddaughter was a difficult matter. At the very least, it was a family conflict, a private matter. But at the most serious level, it was human trafficking, punishable by imprisonment.
However, after learning that Xue Xin was missing, Chen's emotions collapsed. Ignoring Mrs. Xue's obstruction, she spilled all the beans about what the three of them had planned. She hoped that Captain Guan Yue would help find her daughter because of her cooperative attitude.
Guan Yue got the information he wanted and said that he would do his best to find the person. Then he went to Xue's house. However, at that time Xue Huan and Pei Ji were still watering the wheat seedlings in the field.
Although he did not find out anything substantial during this trip to Shanghe Village, he did confirm some things.
That is, Xue Huan was definitely related to the fire in the Qian family and the death of Qian Dazhi.
As for how it was related, he had no evidence and couldn't figure it out. He could only guess that maybe the peasant girl was just a disguise of Xue Huan, and she actually had another identity and was secretly working for some big shot?
But he would not pursue the matter to the end. After all, Xue Huan did what he had always wanted to do but had not been able to do.
When he first became a constable, he also thought about serving the country and the people, but in the end he found that if he couldn't even protect his family, all those lofty ideals of serving the country and the people were bullshit!
The government was unable to give justice to these ordinary people, so he had no choice but to seek it himself.
As for Cai Kuo's order to solve the case within five days, let him do whatever he wants. Even if he fails to do so, the most Cai Kuo can do is to fire him.
During these five days, he only needs to pretend to be investigating a case.
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