Chapter 48 Progress
She watched Ling Tianshui approaching, his sharp eyes fixed on her, squinting slightly as he stared at her, like a ferocious beast sizing up a small animal that had appeared in its territory.
He clearly didn't say anything, but the burning breath from last night suddenly hit her, and an inexplicable feeling of dizziness rushed to her forehead, causing her palms to sweat unconsciously.
She turned her face away, trying to hide her embarrassment: "Why are you here?"
"I'm here to light a stick of incense for Madam Meng." He had obviously heard her conversation with the maid and asked, "Jin Jingting... who is that?"
Qian Deng calmed down and explained, "Among Madam Meng's belongings is a jade pendant with the words 'Never tire of looking at each other' written on it. So the next sentence should be 'Only Jingting Mountain'."
"Emei, Jingting..." He naturally knew Madam Meng's maiden name. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "So, these jade pendants are a pair. Emei refers to Madam Meng, and Jingting... should be the one who gave her the jade pendant?"
Qiandeng nodded in agreement, but when she thought about it again, she felt that Madam Meng had passed away, and her past should have been buried in the past. Why bring up these things after her death?
So she just said, "Actually... I'm just a little bothered by Meng Lanxi hiding the jade pendant in the palace. Now it seems that it's related to Madam Meng's privacy. So let it go. There's no need to pursue these matters."
"Well, the dead are gone, let's not talk about it." Ling Tianshui's face showed no abnormality. He responded and walked straight inside.
Meng Lanxi was so grief-stricken that she was helped to the back hall and leaned against the coffin to rest.
Qiandeng followed Ling Tianshui to the coffin and saw that the modified spirit tablet had been placed back on the altar.
The black paint covered it tightly, and Meng Lanxi's brushstrokes tried to imitate the original handwriting as much as possible. The two words "Emei" were written neatly, and there was no trace of modification.
Ling Tianshui lit incense for Madam Meng. Turning back, he saw Qiandeng staring at the spirit tablet, so he turned back and asked, "What's wrong?"
Qian Deng said, "This spirit tablet... the words on it were written incorrectly just now, and Meng Lanxi corrected it."
Ling Tianshui was studying it, confused as to its meaning, when he heard Qian Deng mutter beside him, "It's changed... erased the female character and added the mountain character..."
Now even Cui Fufeng next to him heard something wrong. Looking at the word "E", he was about to ask, but he saw Qiandeng's eyes light up slightly, as if something very important was presented in front of her, allowing her to suddenly glimpse the world of cave heaven.
"Erasure..." Ling Tianshui and Cui Fufeng exchanged glances, apparently thinking the same thing. "Are you referring to the word Zheng Junshan left behind?"
Qian Deng nodded: "It seems that word is the clue to everything, the key to solving the case, and the identity of the murderer."
Ling Tianshui questioned, "The words on the spirit tablet can be covered with black paint, but how can we cover up the words written by the deceased on the ground? Even though there are traces of the murderer's footsteps, the blood and ink have dried up, so it won't be effective."
Cui Fufeng thought about that word and frowned slightly. "Comparing it to Zheng Junshan's daily homework, it is undoubtedly the handwriting he left with blood and ink before his death. The structure of the handwriting and the stroke habits are consistent."
Qian Deng didn't care about their doubts and said without hesitation, "Since the handwriting can be altered, the message left behind can certainly be changed. It's just that his method is more clever, and he has concealed it from us temporarily."
The two men before him stared at each other in silence. Ling Tianshui glanced at Meng Lanxi in the inner hall and asked the question that concerned him most: "So, the character 'Lan' representing Meng Lanxi was tampered with?"
Qian Deng said confidently, "Yes, I am certain of it, but I still have some doubts. I need to go to the Imperial College to verify it."
After paying homage to Madam Meng, Qian Deng immediately went to the Imperial College.
The Imperial College, which had been searched several times by the government and cleansed of the devastation thanks to the generous reward from the Jin family, saw the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple coming in with a group of people to search again, and the chief academic officers and teachers were almost in tears.
The chief priest came over to ask, "Master Cui, is this case still open? The floodwaters have finally been drained, the houses have been cleaned, and we've just resumed normal classes..."
Cui Fufeng looked at Qiandeng and asked whether they wanted to search the school this time.
Qian Deng soothed him, "Don't worry, we're just checking out Zheng Junshan's bedroom and the library corridor. It won't affect the lectures in any way. Everyone, just carry on as usual."
The teachers breathed a sigh of relief and urged the students who had come to watch the excitement to go back quickly. Qian Deng saw Shang Luo in the crowd constantly standing on tiptoe to look in his direction, so he waved to him and said, "Stay tuned in and don't join in the fun!"
She was in mourning and always wore a veil when she went out, but Shangluo didn't need to look at her expression to know from her tone that she was not blaming him.
He did not leave, but ran to her side and said excitedly: "County Lady, Cui Shaoqing, I have good news for you!"
Qian Deng had no time to chat with him, so he just casually asked, "What's going on?"
"Yesterday, the teacher retested my academic performance, and I finally got first place! He just wrote me a compliment!" Shang Luo said happily to Cui Fufeng, "Brother Fufeng, you're amazing! You got three of the five points I circled! I'll tell my father the good news right away. Now I can definitely stay in the palace and won't have to leave the county lord!"
"Really?" Qian Deng praised him and looked up to see Jian Anting standing behind the crowd.
He was silent and calm, just like Yu Guangling. His eyes staring at her were like a non-aggressive deer beside a banana tree and a spring.
Qiandeng looked at him indifferently, and when she saw him bowing to her from a distance, she nodded to him through the veil.
After Jian Anting and the others left, Qian Deng said to Shang Luo, "I told you, as long as you work hard, you won't lose to anyone. Didn't you beat Jian Anting this time?"
Shangluo felt a little depressed when he mentioned this. He scratched his head and said, "Actually, it was a bit unfair because Jian Anting spent the previous two nights on the levee inspecting it with his father, and he was even drawing some weird diagrams during the exam, so his test was invalidated."
"A strange map?" Qiandeng stared at Jian Anting's back, still pondering. Cui Fufeng briefly questioned Shangluo and explained, "It's probably a flood control map requested by the Ministry of Works. I heard the Jian family, due to their deep family heritage, are very proficient in flood control, and that's why Jian Taiping was transferred to Beijing. Jian Anting must be helping his father with flood control, hoping to repair the breach in the Wei River embankment as soon as possible."
Thinking of the mighty water that swept everything away, Qian Deng also sighed: "The dam collapsed. It is naturally not easy to repair it in a short period of time. No wonder he couldn't even take care of his studies."
Shangluo said dejectedly, "Yeah... Although it's a good thing for me, but thinking about the whole Chang'an being flooded, I can't be happy."
Qiandeng patted his head and said, "Go to class. We are here to investigate a case. Don't follow us."
"Well, anyway, I can stay with the county lady!" He smiled at her, touched the place where she had slapped him and his ears turned slightly red. After taking two steps, he turned back and waved at her before running away.
Ling Tianshui looked at him jumping around and asked Qian Deng, "How old is he?"
Qian Deng said casually: "Still young, thirteen years old."
He seemed to be thinking about something and said, "Thirteen, not young anymore."
Qian Deng gave him a puzzled look, not knowing what he meant. He only stared at her through the veil for a moment, then turned around and walked towards the students' dormitories in the back: "Let's go."
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