Qiu Shuang'er looked indifferent, lowered her eyes and sighed softly, "Alas! Kang'er went missing last night, and Prince Yan led people to the dock to search for him. I was worried that my servants would not do a good job, so I personally led people to search in the city. By the time I found Kang'er, it was already past midnight, so I am so tired."
King Jing nodded. He had heard from the officials that the eldest son of Prince Yan had gone missing last night. Prince Yan not only arrested and interrogated Fei Cui, but also went to the dock to arrest Hong Yu. However, the passenger ship caught fire and Hong Yu was burned to death. Fortunately, the child returned safely.
At this moment, Yan Wang hurried over, his cheeks flushed and his eyes wide open, clearly furious.
He nodded to Prince Jing in greeting, then grabbed Qiu Shuang'er's arm and strode away.
Back at the Prince Yan's residence, the Prince Yan closed the door, threw Qiu Shuang'er onto the bed, and angrily demanded, "Speak! Where did you go last night?"
"To make people believe that Kang'er had been kidnapped by villains, I searched for Kang'er in the city. But then, a masked woman suddenly appeared in the east of the city and attacked me. I fought with her..."
"fart!"
As Yan Wang spoke, he grabbed a square pillow and threw it at Qiu Shuang'er.
The square pillow landed on Qiu Shuang'er's hair bun, causing the hairpin to slip off and her long hair to fall loose.
Qiu Shuang'er stared at Yan Wang with wide almond eyes in disbelief, patting her chest and asking herself, "I have done everything I could for you, working day and night, and this is how I get my scolding?"
Yan Wang grinned disdainfully. Just now, he had encountered Bao Qianshan, who had come out of the palace. The Emperor wanted him and Mu Chenyu to assist the Dali Temple in investigating the cases of Wang Baozhu and Zhang Manguan.
That's not a big deal. The key point is that Bao Qianshan said the perpetrator is very likely a woman because there was a woman's footprint on the wall at the scene.
Considering that Master Shen mistook the murderer for Shen Yu, and that Qiu Shuang'er was highly skilled in martial arts and could scale walls, King Yan suspected that Qiu Shuang'er had killed Zhang Manguan's family.
If the truth were discovered, how could the emperor allow him to succeed to the throne?
He grabbed Qiu Shuang'er by the collar, pulled her in front of him, and demanded, "Tell me! Did you do it?"
Qiu Shuang'er burst into tears and threw herself into Yan Wang's arms, sobbing uncontrollably. "Yes, I kidnapped An'er and Ping'er, intending to raise them in the manor so that Yan Wang wouldn't have to worry about Mu Chenyu leaking the letters."
After saying that, she looked up at Yan Wang with teary eyes and asked in a choked voice, "Yan Wang suspects that I killed Zhang Manguan? Or robbed him of his money? Has Yan Wang forgotten the female bandit Zhao Ming'er? She is a person who punishes evil and helps the poor, she must be standing up for Mu Chenyu."
------
After Chen Yu moved into Prince Jing's villa, the family had lunch. She then instructed Yan Ran to take Rong Momo and Jiu'er to gather herbs outside the city. Madam Jia and Cui Wei stayed home to look after the children. She and Emerald rode in Prince Jing's carriage to the dilapidated temple, intending to bring the cripple back.
The boils on the cripple's body hadn't subsided, but they hadn't spread either, probably because Old Li's medicine was working. I just wonder where Old Li went to gather herbs this time? And when will he return?
As she passed by Prince Jing's residence, she secretly peeked out and saw Prince Yan rushing out.
Could it be that Yan Wang is going to cause her trouble again?
She hurriedly instructed the driver to speed up, and when she lifted the curtain, she saw that the Prince of Yan was jogging outside.
"Mu Chenyu, your medical skills are superb, and you are good at autopsies. In short, you are even more capable than the coroner. The emperor has ordered you to investigate the case with me."
Investigating a case?
Shen Yu lowered the curtain and pondered. She suspected that Qiu Shuang'er had destroyed the Zhang family. Wouldn't Yan Wang's investigation be exposing his own family's crimes?
Therefore, it can be seen that the Zhang Manguan case was committed by Qiu Shuang'er alone, and Yan Wang was completely unaware of it.
Seeing that the carriage was not stopping, Yan Wang shouted, "His Majesty's decree has ordered Mu Chenyu to assist the Court of Judicial Review in investigating the case. Stop the carriage immediately!"
The carriage stopped, and Shen Yu, unlike her usual carefree self, no longer jumped off the carriage. Instead, she imitated the behavior of a concubine's daughter, reaching out her hand and being helped down by Emerald, carefully getting off the carriage to follow Prince Yan to investigate the case.
First, an autopsy was performed.
The perpetrator held the knife in his left hand, and judging from the force and direction, he deliberately used his left hand. This suggests that the perpetrator was highly skilled in martial arts and intentionally linked the Zhang Manguan and Wang Baozhu cases together.
Afterwards, they went to Zhang Manguan's mansion to investigate the scene. As Bao Qianshan had said, there was indeed a bloody footprint on the wall, which was indeed a woman's.
Chen Yu wasn't in a hurry to leave. She bent down to examine the ground and continued searching for clues.
Yan Wang followed behind, and after an hour, he asked in a low voice, "Can you confirm that the murderer is left-handed? Also, whose hair is that? It doesn't look like a songstress's."
Chen Yu remained silent. Just now, she had found a long hair in the songstress's hair bun. The hair was rather thick, naturally curly, and jet black. The long hair did not belong to the songstress, nor to any corpse; it must have been left by the murderer.
She became increasingly suspicious that Qiu Shuang'er was the culprit.
Also, Qiu Shuang'er's little fingernail is broken, but none of the fifty-three corpses had broken fingernails. The entire scene was searched without success; it seems a thorough autopsy will be necessary tomorrow!
She held her lower back and slowly straightened up. A sharp pain shot through her back, and she couldn't help but grimace and blurt out, "Ah... my back hurts, time to call it a day."
After saying that, she walked towards the door. The Prince of Yan followed her and asked again, "Chenyu, are there any new clues? If the culprit is not found within three days, the Emperor will hold me responsible."
Shen Yu shook her head and remained silent. Although a strand of hair was found at the crime scene, it was still uncertain whether it belonged to Qiu Shuang'er. She could only verify it at the Yan Prince's Mansion tomorrow.
She returned to Prince Jing's villa after dark. After having dinner and returning to her room, Rong Mama handed her a note, whispering:
“Miss, this afternoon when Jiu’er and I returned from gathering herbs, we were summoned by Old Madam Gu’s people. Master Gu secretly slipped me a note, specifically instructing me not to leak any new clues.”
Shen Yu quickly opened the note, which contained a new clue that Master Gu had found:
Witnesses stated that after the passenger ship caught fire, a man jumped into the river and swam away, leading to the speculation that someone deliberately set the fire. Considering that Miss Hongyu was a good swimmer, it was concluded that the perpetrator must have been highly skilled in martial arts, first knocking out three people before setting the ship on fire and escaping.
Shen Yu shook her head, then asked Rong Momo to prepare pen and ink, and wrote a reply to Master Gu, in which she wrote:
The boatman and Hongyu are both skilled swimmers; if they see a fire or are being chased by criminals, they will definitely jump into the water to escape. Dongqiao is highly skilled in martial arts and can fight ten men at once; one villain is no match for her. Therefore, there are other hidden details in this case, and we hope that Master Gu will look for new clues.
She handed the letter to Rong Mama, who did not leave but leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Miss, after you came back, Emerald went out for a while. I secretly followed her and found that she went to the Prince Jing's mansion next door. I suspect that she is unfaithful to you, Miss. You must be careful of her. If all else fails, you can sell her off."
------
The next day.
After having breakfast, Chen Yu carried the "little tiger" sewn by Rong Momo to the Yan Prince's Mansion.
Arriving at the gate of Prince Yan's mansion, she looked around, trying to see if anything was amiss. But she spotted a masked woman hiding behind a large tree diagonally opposite.
The masked woman stared at the Yan Prince's residence, and when she met Chen Yu's gaze, she quickly retreated.
Shen Yu was very surprised. The masked woman was tall and slender, and her eyebrows and eyes looked exactly like Qiu Shuang'er. She hurriedly ran into the Yan Wang Mansion and went straight to Qiu Shuang'er's courtyard.
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