Chapter 22 This Capital is Really Small

"Sir? Who did he say he was? Is he from the Street Department?" Shen Yuan thought about it. The only sir he knew outside was Sir Fan, the director of the Street Department whom he met last time.

Er Niang shook her head. "They are not from the Street Office. The Street Office patrols every day. I know all their people."

"What does he look like, and what color uniform does he wear?"

Er Niang was a little hesitant. "He looks... very handsome. He was wearing a brown official uniform."

Soy color... Isn’t the soy color official uniform the same color as her father’s official uniform?

Handsome... For some reason, a very good-looking face flashed in Shen Yuan's mind.

"Miss Shen, I didn't tell that gentleman what you said to me."

Shen Yuan had no idea either, so he could only put the idea aside for the time being and said to Er Niang with a smile, "Thank you, Er Niang."

On the way home, Shen Yuan unconsciously began to think about what Er Niang had just told her.

"Girl, who is asking about you? Can you tell me?"

Shen Yuan hurriedly shook his head, "No, don't tell my dad yet, so he doesn't worry. It shouldn't be a big deal. Maybe that person heard what I said earlier, and someone happened to be a matchmaker for him, so he thought what I said made sense and came to ask."

Shen Yuan said it lightly, but he was worried. If that person was Lord Xie, what was the purpose of doing this? Check her, what is there to check about her?

Could it be that he found out about that?

Shen Yuan couldn't understand how anyone could have guessed such an incredible thing. Perhaps Lord Xie was just curious.

"Daddy, buy me a candy man."

"Okay, Daddy will buy it for you."

Shen Yuan turned her gaze towards a father and daughter on the street and smiled. Perhaps Lord Xie was showing his love for his colleagues by watching her "uphold justice" on the street and showing some concern for her father.

But... Shen Yuan's face fell again. No matter which guess it was, it showed that he recognized him when he went to Dali Temple last time.

But maybe that person was not Lord Xie. Shen Yuan shook her head. Nothing happened now, so she should stop making trouble.

Bai Zhi saw her daughter frowning, smiling, and shaking her head, and she couldn't help but feel a little worried. But she couldn't help the girl with her troubles.

After thinking for a while, he raised the cake wrapped in oil paper in his hand and said, "Girl, the cake is getting cold."

"Oh, I almost forgot." Shen Yuan took one of them and looked around. He couldn't hold the cake up and eat it on the side of the road.

"Baizhi, let's go there." Shen Yuan pointed to a tavern not far away, "Shen's Tavern, it's a place that we have a connection with."

As a result, Shen Yuan was stunned the moment she stepped into the door. She didn't know that the capital city was so small.

This tavern is not big. Opposite the front door is the counter. On the left and right sides are four square tables. Who else is sitting at one of the tables if not Lord Xie?

"Isn't he the emperor's nephew? He also comes to a small tavern like this to eat..." Shen Yuan muttered softly, not knowing whether to advance or retreat.

Shen Yuan thought about it and realized that logically he should not have met Mr. Xie at this moment. If he walked out, it would seem like he was covering up. In order to hide his guilt, Shen Yuan came in and sat down.

Coincidentally, there was no one else in the tavern at the moment. Now, she and Lord Xie were standing on either side, just like the gatekeepers of the tavern.

In fact, while Shen Yuan was feeling conflicted, Xie Hui was also observing her. Xie Hui had come out today to investigate a case, as four arson cases had occurred in succession in the capital.

At first, all that was burned were firewood or the fire was put out before it started. The third fire was bigger and the whole house was burned down. Fortunately, the husband happened to accompany his wife and children back to her parents' home that night. The man drank too much and did not come back that night, so nothing happened to him.

Originally, this type of arson case was handled by the Jingzhao Prefecture and had no place in the Dali Temple.

But things in the capital city have been uneasy recently. First, two villages in the suburbs of Beijing started fighting over irrigation. There was no shortage of water that day, so this was at most a matter of precedence. In the end, the villagers on both sides still had a quarrel.

It just so happened that a girl from "Li Village" who married into "Zhang Village" was bullied by her mother-in-law. The two villages were already at odds with each other, and now the quarrel turned into a fight, with all kinds of weapons being used, such as plows, shovels and even laundry mallets.

Then, there was a debt-collecting incident in the city in a gambling den, in which someone was killed. Recently, half of the people in Jingzhao were busy trying to break up the fight, while the other half were busy clearing out the underground gambling dens in the city.

Unfortunately, the arson case, which had no clues to begin with, happened for the fourth time, and this time someone was killed. The Jingzhao Yin was overwhelmed and simply submitted the case to the Dali Temple under the pretext of the murder.

Today, Xie Hui received an assignment to investigate an arson case. Jingzhao Shaoyin Zhou Zhongan was his childhood playmate. Today, the two of them visited several crime scenes together. Zhou Zhongan told him that the duck hotpot at Shen's Tavern was unique in the capital, but he brought him here because he had to leave in a hurry.

Shen Yuan restrained herself from looking at Lord Xie. When the restaurant owner came over, she just ordered a few signature dishes.

Fortunately, people started coming into the store one after another soon. With more people around, Shen Yuan's nervousness was relieved a lot.

After the dishes were served, Shen Yuan ate her favorite fish hotpot with the sandwiches she had bought. The nervousness she had felt when she first came in was already gone as she ate bite after bite of the tender fish.

So much so that even when Xie Hui walked to her table, she didn't notice him.

"Ms. Shen." Xie Hui's tone was calm but certain, and he didn't think he had recognized the wrong person at all.

Shen Yuan's hand holding the chopsticks froze, and he subconsciously asked, "How do you know my last name is Shen?"

After saying this, she wanted to bite her tongue to commit suicide. She was the daughter of the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple. What difference was there in saying this tantamount to walking into a trap!

She seemed to hear Mr. Xie chuckle...

Looking at the other person's maroon official uniform, Shen Yuan didn't expect that Lord Xie would dare to come to her house. She didn't care about anything at the moment. Since Lord Xie had already recognized her, it meant that he had guessed it that day in the Dali Temple. In that case, there was no need for her to hesitate.

"The pancake stand, is that you?"

Xie Hui originally came over because he was too curious about what happened in the past and wanted to come over to test the waters, but now he thinks this girl is quite interesting.

"It's me."

"Why are you checking me?"

Xie Hui did not answer but asked: "How do you know the situation of the man introduced by the matchmaker?"

"What's the big deal? That man is the neighbor of my Baizhi's third uncle's cousin, so I naturally heard about it."

Bai Zhi… Although Bai Zhi didn’t understand, but since her daughter had said it, she nodded immediately, “Yes! That person is the neighbor of my third uncle’s cousin, so I know, and I was the one who told my daughter.”

Xie Hui laughed, but he also knew that his behavior was inappropriate at the time, "I'm sorry Miss Shen, I shouldn't have asked about your behavior in private."

Shen Yuan nodded modestly, "Since you are my father's colleague, I won't tell my father about this."

Xie Hui lowered his head slightly, looked into the clear eyes of the little girl in front of him, and understood what she meant.

This matter should stay between the two of them and Lord Shen must not know about it anymore.