Chapter 105 The person is dead, so what can be said...?
Pei Jingyi handed the fishing rod to Yan Yi and gently squeezed her fingertips as if to comfort her, "Wait for me here."
He strode over to Pei Jinghuai's side, his handsome face cold and tense. He didn't say a word, and silently helped Pei Jinghuai drag the female corpse dressed in a peach-colored dress slowly ashore.
Snap.
A large carp, which looked to weigh five or six pounds, leaped out from under the carcass, its tail thrashing violently, its mouth still tightly gripping the hook.
Pei Jinghuai stepped forward, untied the carp, and casually tossed it into an empty bucket beside him. He then glanced at the fishing line tangled around the corpse and suddenly realized what was going on.
He waved to Chen Lingyue, as if to comfort her: "Come and see, you caught a really big fish."
Shen Lingyue had already covered her eyes and retreated seven or eight meters. Upon hearing this, she was absolutely furious. "Pei Jinghuai, you call this a big fish?!"
Pei Jinghuai looked aggrieved: "No, you really caught a fish..."
Pei Jingyi coughed lightly and said helplessly, "Sister-in-law, you've misunderstood Huaizhou. It was indeed you who caught the fish first. When it was struggling, it got tangled in the fishing line with the corpse, which is why you caught the fish and the person together."
Shen Lingyue: ...
Should she be glad that she's finally not in the Air Force today?
But what's with this "buy one get one free" offer?!
Suddenly, a terrible question came to her mind.
"Who knows how many days this body has been submerged in the water? And what about the fish we just caught..."
The four people present all changed their expressions, revealing indescribable emotions.
It's definitely not edible now, but putting it back in the river doesn't seem very practical either.
Pei Jingyi was the first to react, and said helplessly, "Then take them all back to the manor and bury them in the soil as fertilizer."
Shen Lingyue sighed, "When the flowers on the estate bloom brilliantly next year, I wonder if it will be because of the fatness of these fish, or because..."
"...Sister-in-law, please shut up."
Pei Jingyi rubbed his forehead, then said gently to Yan Yi, whose face was pale, "Madam, don't listen to her nonsense. It's just a small accident. Don't take it to heart."
Shen Lingyue also noticed that Yan Yi's expression was off, and quickly ran to her side to comfort her: "Are you alright?"
Yan Yi gently shook her head, took Shen Lingyue's hand, and led her toward the direction of the female corpse.
Shen Lingyue's eyes widened. "W-what are you going to do?"
She'd heard that people who drown are often ugly, and that they can even create a giant's phenomenon... She really didn't want to have nightmares!
Pei Jingyi frowned when he saw the two approaching, raised his hand to stop them, and shook his head disapprovingly, "Madam, don't look."
"No, I...I need to see clearly."
This time, Yan Yi surprisingly refuted him, turning to Shen Lingyue and saying, "If you're scared, stay here and wait for me. I'll just take one look and come right back."
Although Shen Lingyue was afraid, she didn't want Yan Yan to face it alone. Taking a deep breath, with a heart ready to die, she said, "I'll go with you!"
For Yan Yan to care so much, it must be something very important.
The two held hands and slowly approached each other.
Yan Yi met Pei Jingyi's worried and puzzled gaze, and gave him a reassuring smile, "I'm not afraid."
Shen Lingyue mustered her courage and quickly glanced at the corpse. The woman was wearing a peach-colored dress, and judging from the style, it looked like the attire of a maid in a wealthy family.
Moreover, she must have been dead not long ago, as her body did not show obvious swelling, but her face was deathly pale, though it was clear that she was a very pretty young girl.
"He doesn't look that old, how could he..."
Sympathy overcame fear. Shen Lingyue looked upstream along the current and turned to ask Pei Jinghuai, "Besides our manor, are there any other houses around here?"
“There are many.” Pei Jinghuai recalled, “If we’re talking about the upstream areas, I remember there’s the family of the Minister of Personnel, the family of the Prince of Chun, and…”
“Prince An.” Yan Yi suddenly uttered these two words coldly.
Pei Jinghuai, unaware of the situation, clapped his hands. "Right, and Prince An too. I almost forgot about him. How did you know, sister-in-law?"
Yan Yi lowered her eyes and did not answer. Only Shen Lingyue could feel Yan Yi trembling slightly in the hand that was tightly clasped with hers.
It wasn't fear, but... anger.
She recalled Yan Yi's unusual insistence on examining the corpse up close, and suddenly a thought struck her. She leaned closer to Yan Yi and whispered, "Is it the Goddess Xuan Nu?"
What did Yan Yi "see" with that elusive and unpredictable cheat code?
Yan Yi snapped out of her daze, nodded, and looked somewhat serious.
Now is not the time to explain. She looked at Pei Jingyi and asked, "Could we take this body back to the estate for a thorough examination?"
"good."
Pei Jingyi agreed without asking why, and told Pei Jinghuai to ride back to the manor to fetch people.
As the sun set, a vast expanse of evening glow spread across the sky, shimmering like scattered gold on the river's surface. The warm yellow light shone upon him, softening the features of his otherwise aloof face.
He smiled slightly at Yan Yi, his tone as casual as if he were chatting about everyday things.
"If Madam has any instructions, I will go back and read the Record of Redressing Wrongs several more times."
Shen Lingyue silently turned her head to look at the scenery.
Damn it, I should have gone back with Pei Jinghuai earlier.
...
The manager acted swiftly and soon summoned several men to come over in a flatbed mule cart.
The group worked together to lift the body onto a straw mat, and then carefully transferred it to the vehicle.
Pei Jingyi asked the steward, "Which of the maids in the nearby estates are dressed like this?"
"I'm not too sure about this. I'll ask around when I get back."
The steward looked troubled and explained, "Madam Hou has repeatedly asked everyone in the estate to strictly guard the gates and avoid contact with other people unless necessary. I dare not disobey her. I have always forbidden the maids from running around outside."
Pei Jingyi nodded; this was indeed very much in line with Meng Wanyin's cautious and prudent personality.
Seeing the manager's anxious expression, he comforted him, "I didn't mean to blame you. You did a good job. Keep it up in the future."
"Yes, young master."
The group returned to the manor, only to be met by a group of uninvited guests at the gate.
The middle-aged man at the head of the group bowed respectfully to Pei Jingyi.
"Young Master Pei, I am the steward of Prince An's estate. I heard that you pulled a young woman's body from the river. I'm afraid she is one of the maids who ran away from our estate a few days ago. I wonder if you could return her to us?"
Pei Jingyi's face showed some displeasure as he coldly glanced at his steward.
Is this what he keeps saying, "strictly guarding the gates"?
He remained seated on horseback, his expression indifferent. "Your information network is quite impressive, going to such lengths for a runaway slave. I wonder what mistake she made?"
The steward of Prince An looked troubled. "This girl was newly bought. She clumsily broke the princess's favorite vase. I only scolded her a few times, but who would have thought she would be so temperamental that she secretly ran out of the villa and even jumped into the river to commit suicide."
He saw a pleading look on Pei Jingyi's face. "Please, young master, have mercy and let me take the body back. As you know, our princess is kind-hearted. If a death occurs in the manor and the body is not properly buried, she will surely punish me."
Pei Jingyi's eyes turned cold.
This statement is full of holes.
Not to mention that aristocratic families mostly employ servants born into the family, even newly purchased maids have to learn etiquette from the head maid first, and then start from pruning flowers and trees, washing clothes, and doing rough cleaning. How could they possibly easily come into contact with the princess's beloved items?
The steward kept saying that Princess An was kind-hearted, so how could she beat and scold the maid over such a trivial matter, driving her to the point of drowning herself?
Nine times out of ten, he has something to hide, and it's nothing more than the sordid affairs of a wealthy and powerful family.
In the past, Pei Jingyi would never have made an enemy of the Prince An's mansion for the sake of a strange little maid.
But... who told his wife to speak up?
Pei Jingyi grasped Yan Yi's hand that was wrapped around his waist and said calmly, "I'm sorry, my wife is also kind-hearted. She can't bear to see such a young girl's body left to rot in the wilderness. Go back and tell Princess An that it's just a simple coffin, our Marquis's mansion can afford it, so there's no need for you to trouble yourself."
The steward's expression changed slightly, and he stepped forward anxiously, emphasizing, "Young Master Pei, this girl is a runaway slave from our estate. She signed a contract of indenture, and even if she dies, she must be buried on our own land..."
"Soliciting nonsense."
Pei Jingyi scoffed: "The person is dead. What's wrong with taking back a corpse? You'll just wrap it in a straw mat and bury it in some deserted place. Do you expect us to give her a grand funeral with music and fanfare?"
It's really strange. Why would the people of Prince An's mansion care so much about a little maid?
Seeing that the two sides were deadlocked, Yan Yi peeked out from behind Pei Jingyi and asked the steward seriously, "After talking for so long, you still haven't lifted the straw mat to take a look. What if the person we pulled up isn't the one you're looking for?"
The steward was taken aback, but he steeled himself and stepped forward. Trembling, he lifted a corner of the straw mat and immediately covered it back up, saying with certainty, "That's right, it's the person we're looking for."
"Are you sure you saw it clearly?" Yan Yi asked again. "Even if I found something, I would ask the owner to describe it to confirm it was theirs before returning it. But this is a person, so tell me, what are her distinguishing features?"
The manager's face turned red, and he couldn't speak for a long time.
"Isn't this a case of 'the dead have no way to prove it'?"
After listening for a while, Shen Lingyue clapped her hands and said, "You say she is a runaway slave from your royal palace, but I would say she found the runaway slave's clothes and then accidentally fell into the water."
She said matter-of-factly, "Since you can't produce any evidence, don't stop us from doing good deeds and giving this poor girl a proper burial."
"Get out of the way."
Pei Jingyi's voice was cold and deep. He tugged on the reins, and the horse immediately seemed to understand him, rearing up and galloping straight toward the steward.
The steward hurriedly dodged, only able to watch helplessly as the cart entered the Marquis's estate, and then the gate slammed shut.
The second steward leaned closer and whispered, "What do we do now? Should we just let them take Chun Tao away?"
The steward's face was gloomy, and he gritted his teeth as if trying to console himself, "Chun Tao saw something she shouldn't have seen... Anyway, she's dead now, what can a dead person say?"
The second steward then asked, "How are we going to explain this to the Prince when we get back?"
"Explain what?" the steward glared at him irritably. "Explain that we watched the Pei family take the body away?"
He turned around and warned his trusted confidants who had come with him: "Keep your mouths shut. Go back and say the person hasn't been found yet, understand?"
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Author's Note: [Let me see] My cervical spondylosis has flared up again, so I'm writing a bit slowly with my neck crooked... There will be another update tonight!
By the way, let me recommend my new pre-order, "My Deceased Husband Returns" [doge]. Well, if you haven't had enough of the older brother and Yan Yan, you can check this out~ Although calling it a substitute is a bit disrespectful to my new daughter and son-in-law hhh... but those who like the "refined villain" genre can read the synopsis before deciding whether to give it a try [heart][heart]
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