Chapter 42 The Wrongly Taken Gold Lock
Zhu Lan and Qin Yuwei were also shocked and asked her what was going on.
Could it be that someone had been eyeing this gold lock for a long time, and took advantage of the time when Qiao Youyou took it off to secretly replace it with a fake one?
The jewelry taken off the candidates' bodies was kept by a special person in the county government.
How could such a thing happen under the noses of the government?
"Strange, this lock..."
Qiao Youyou took the golden lock in her hand and examined it repeatedly. Qin Yuwei came closer with confusion in her eyes.
Judging from the texture and weight of this gold lock, it is definitely made of real gold.
The broken gemstones inlaid on it are also real.
But Qiao Youyou said that the color and position of the inlaid gems were somewhat different from her own gold lock.
This is even more strange. Who would use a real gold lock to replace the bag? What's the purpose?
"Could it be that someone's gold lock looks very similar to yours and took it by mistake?" Zhu Lan asked.
Qiao Youyou felt it was very likely. When she came out of the Imperial Examination Hall to receive the jewelry, she didn't look carefully.
There is indeed a possibility of taking the wrong one.
The three decided to go back to Gongyuan to look for it again.
As soon as I arrived outside the room where I received the accessories, I heard a voice coming from inside.
The woman who was in charge of the jewelry said in a shrill voice, "You said this gold lock is not yours. What evidence do you have? Don't make a fuss here."
When Qiao Youyou and the other two heard this, they hurried in and saw a girl in white clothes holding a gold lock and frowning.
After confirmation, it turned out that the two of them had taken the wrong one.
"I was careless before and accidentally took yours. I'm sorry!" Qiao Youyou exchanged the gold lock back and apologized to her.
The girl said nothing, just nodded slightly to her and left.
"So cold." Qiao Youyou felt a little embarrassed and put away her gold lock.
Qin Yuwei looked at the girl's back and asked, "Do you think she looks familiar?"
After she said this, Zhu Lan and Qiao Youyou also felt that they had seen her before.
"I remember now, isn't this the one in Zhao Wenyuan's study, that... Jiang Xueer?" Qiao Youyou said.
"It is said that he has a very cold temper, comparable to our class teacher Chang. Oh, and I also heard some gossip..."
Qiao Youyou lowered her voice and said that Jiang Xueer seemed to be an illegitimate daughter who was ostracized in her previous academy and had transferred to Longchang Academy.
After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "I'm not sure whether it's true or not. I just heard it by accident."
However, rumors about illegitimate daughters are nothing new to these modern people, and they do not have any discriminatory thoughts because of it.
Qin Yuwei saw that it was getting late and decided to go to the shop to check.
The three of them hurriedly set out for the south of Jiangzhou City.
Pei Yue really kept her word and had used this time to clear out the tea shop.
The location of the shop is not very good, the surrounding residential areas are relatively scattered, and it is quite far from the market. There are not many people coming and going in front of the door every day.
The shop has two floors, and is decorated in the most common wooden style in ancient times.
There are several rows of empty cabinets against the wall, and in front of the cabinets is a row of low counters.
A woman in her forties was dozing off on a stool at the counter. She woke up when she heard the noise, and quickly stood up and smiled.
"Are you the girls who took over the shop as the boss said? My last name is Zhang. The previous shopkeeper Zhang is my brother. You can just call me Fourth Aunt Zhang."
Pei Yue's considerations were indeed thorough. After all, the children were still in school and could not stay in the shop all the time, so there had to be a shopkeeper to look after them.
The original shop owner, Zhang, was a man who tinkered with tea. If he were asked to run a women's products shop, which girl would be willing to come?
So his sister came to help.
Qin Yuwei asked her if she knew anything about rouge and powder.
Zhang Sigu grasped the corner of her clothes awkwardly and said that she was also from the country and knew a little, but not much.
Qin Yuwei sighed slightly in her heart, but it was not easy to find a more suitable candidate for the shopkeeper at the moment.
"Fourth Aunt, please ask a handwriter to write a job opening notice and post it at the door.
Anyone who can make rouge, lipstick or other women's products should bring samples here for an interview in three days.
Once hired, those who meet the quality standards will receive three taels of silver per month."
…
Jiangzhou city, suburbs.
In a desolate wilderness, there stood a solitary adobe house.
The roof was covered with thatch and the walls were made of dilapidated bricks and stones.
As the sun sets, a few crows stay on the roof, casting long shadows on the ground.
This is a charity cemetery funded by Zhaoping County, which is used to temporarily store coffins that cannot be buried in time and collect unclaimed corpses.
It is also the daily workplace of the coroner.
Several people who looked like officials were waiting outside, with a look of impatience on their faces.
Coroner Zhang finally came out carrying a toolbox. Several officers covered their mouths and noses with their hands and took a few steps back in fear.
"Okay, just stand there and talk, don't come over."
Coroner Zhang is in his fifties and not very tall. Due to his job, his skin is very white, so white that you can almost see the blood vessels beneath the skin.
Coroner Zhang smiled and bowed to the officers, saying, "Captain Zhuang, I've examined the body. There is mud and sand in the mouth, nose, and stomach. He must have fallen into the river and drowned."
Captain Zhuang nodded and said, "Okay, then you have nothing to do with this case."
After saying this, he saw that Zhang the coroner was still standing there, so he asked him why he didn't leave.
"Zhuangtou'er, look at this..." Coroner Zhang smiled carefully and stretched out a hand.
"Tsk... you look so poor." Captain Zhuang rolled his eyes at him and took out a dozen copper coins and threw them to him.
Coroner Zhang took the silver and smiled awkwardly.
"Zhuangtou'er, didn't the government agree that for a corpse like this, the fee would be thirty cents per time..."
"That's all, take it or leave it!" Captain Zhuang said this and went to drink with the other detectives.
Coroner Zhang watched them walk away. The humility on his face gradually turned into sarcasm. He sneered twice and put the few copper coins into his arms.
Then I prepared to go to the market to buy some meat and go home to cook.
Aunt Qian, the butcher, was standing in front of the stall, wearing an apron and chopping meat one knife at a time.
"Give me half a pound of pig brains, the best."
"Okay, forty cents." Aunt Qian quickly packed half a pound of pig brains, wrapped them in oilcloth, and looked up to hand them over.
When he saw it was Coroner Zhang, he subconsciously retracted his hand, feeling a little embarrassed.
She placed the meat on the edge of the table and let him take it himself, her eyes fixed on his white and slender hands, as if afraid that he would touch it carelessly.
Coroner Zhang said with a sigh: "You know what, this pig brain and human brain really look alike."
Aunt Qian was so frightened that her face changed and she urged him to leave quickly.
Once I lowered my head, I could no longer look directly at the pig brain on the chopping board.
Coroner Zhang made a joke but didn't take it seriously. He put away the meat he had bought and took out a small piece of silver and put it back where it was.
It was enough to cover the debt he had owed at the butcher's shop over the past month.
Aunt Qian stared at the silver for a long while.
He is just a low-class coroner. Where did he suddenly get so much money?
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