Ignoring everyone's surprise, Shen Qingqiu walked forward and circled around Zhu Xiu'er's body, observing carefully, "My lord, although Zhu Xiu'er has been in my house for a short time, I have confronted her head-on for no less than several times. When standing next to me, she is still half a head taller than me. This body has been burned, so the corpse should be smaller than when the person was alive, but now it looks more than a head shorter than me. Moreover, Zhu Xiu'er is extremely thin, but this corpse has nothing to do with thinness!" Shen Qingqiu raised his head and said, "So my lord, she is not Zhu Xiu'er at all."
After listening to Shen Qingqiu's well-reasoned analysis, the Zhu family began to panic. Several members of the family pushed each other. Finally, Zhu Xiu'er's mother rolled her eyes and cried again: "You are talking nonsense. I am Xiu'er's mother. How could I not recognize her body?" As she spoke, her crying became more vigorous, "Miss Shen, you can't rely on your status as a princess to bully us common people like this. My lord, you must uphold justice for me!"
Shen Qingqiu looked at the woman in front of her with disgust, and then looked at the Zhu family members kneeling with her. She knew that this must be a conspiracy planned in advance, so Zhu Xiuer must not be dead yet.
The people who were listening to the trial outside the hall also became suspicious because of this reversal, and they began to ask questions non-stop. The adult sitting in the hall heard the constant questioning voices around him and did not say a word for a long time.
Although he also wanted to accuse Shen Qingqiu of a crime, the woman in his hall was not only the daughter of a marquis, but also a princess personally appointed by the emperor. If he detained her without solid evidence, then by then, not to mention punishing Shen Qingqiu, she would probably lose her official hat.
"Hahaha." The lord walked down from the hall and said with a smile, "I've heard that the daughter of the Marquis's Mansion is very smart. Now I see that her reputation is well-deserved." The lord looked at the corpse behind him and pretended to be enlightened and said, "After the princess's analysis, I really think that this corpse does not belong to Zhu Xiu'er. So where do you think Zhu Xiu'er is? Is she dead or alive?"
Shen Qingqiu smiled slightly, turned his head and looked at the Zhu family members who were still kneeling in a row behind him, "Then we have to ask them."
Seeing the situation suddenly turn to Shen Qingqiu's favor, the Zhu family was so scared that they could not kneel any longer, and they quickly knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "My Lord, please be wise. If this body is really not Xiu'er, then where is Xiu'er, and is she dead or alive now? If such a big living person disappeared in the Hou Mansion, then it must be related to the Hou Mansion. Moreover, ever since Xiu'er entered the Hou Mansion, the princess has been unhappy and has been making things difficult for Xiu'er. Do these princesses still want to deny it?"
Seeing the aggressive look of the Zhu family, Shen Qingqiu felt sick. "This princess has been making things difficult for her. With his status, is he worthy of me arguing with him? It's her own fault for not being well behaved. A lowly concubine wants to ride on my mother's head." As expected of a princess, Shen Qingqiu's angry voice was enough to shock everyone present. Even the adults who had always been high and mighty were frightened and speechless for a long time.
"Yes, yes, the princess is right." The adult said with a smile, then turned around and looked at the Zhu family viciously, "Who are you? How dare you question the princess? Get out of here!" The adult obviously didn't want to make things worse.
Seeing that the truth was about to be exposed, the Zhu family members stood up in panic and prepared to leave, but were stopped by Shen Qingqiu.
“Wait!” Shen Qingqiu walked forward slowly, looking up at the people standing in front of him, his gaze was enough to judge them.
"Since you said that Zhu Xiu'er disappeared in our mansion, we must of course give you an explanation." As he said this, he called Tu Jiu who was standing in the crowd.
"Find out the truth about this matter for me. No matter whether she is dead or alive, you must find Zhu Xiuer for me. If she is alive, I must find her body! If she is dead, I must find her corpse!" Shen Qingqiu said to Tu Jiu while looking at the Zhu family members in front of him.
Seeing Shen Qingqiu so furious, the Zhu family was somewhat panicked. They had originally only wanted to take advantage of the Marquis' Mansion, but they had not expected that they would be in a situation where they could neither move forward nor retreat.
But now that things have come to this point, the Zhu family can only bite the bullet.
"Then please trouble the princess to find Xiu'er's whereabouts as soon as possible. This way, we can find Xiu'er and the princess will be cleared of suspicion by the Marquis' Mansion."
Shen Qingqiu sneered, "Of course, I just hope she didn't hide on purpose, making it difficult for me to find her."
The Zhu family's faces became even uglier, and they fled the Jingji Prefecture government office in panic.
At this time, the adult standing behind Shen Qingqiu had already frowned. He was originally working for his superiors, but he didn't expect that the daughter of the Hou Mansion would be such a difficult person to deal with. It seems that this mission is not easy, and now he is caught in the middle and is in a dilemma. No matter whether it is the powerful Hou Mansion or the people above, his small yamen cannot afford to offend them.
But now he can only take one step at a time.
"My princess, our yamen will definitely conduct a thorough investigation into Zhu Xiuer's matter, so please rest assured!" Lord Liu made a 180-degree turn in his attitude.
Shen Qingqiu glanced at her coldly and said, "Your Excellency is very observant, I naturally believe you." After saying that, he left the Jingji Prefecture government office.
——
"How is it?" Seeing her daughter coming back safe and sound, Liu quickly stepped forward and held Shen Qingqiu's hands, tears welling up in her eyes, "Did they embarrass you?"
Shen Qingqiu held his mother's hands with his backhand, shook his head and said: "I am the leader of the group, how dare he, a mere county magistrate, do anything to me?" Then he took his mother's hand and sat on the rattan chair behind him.
"But mother, the body I saw in the government office today, I am sure it was not Zhu Xiuer."
"What?!" Liu rarely spoke so loudly, "How could it be, if it wasn't that body, whose body could it be, and where did Zhu Xiuer go?"
Shen Qingqiu helped his mother sit down and said, "Mother, don't worry. That body is definitely not Zhu Xiu'er's. I looked at it today. Although the body has been burnt, it is far from Zhu Xiu'er's height. Moreover, the body shape is also a bit off. To me, it looks more like an old woman in her forties or fifties."
"Old lady?" Liu frowned, and it took her a while to recover from the news. "What is going on? Where is Zhu Xiuer's body?"
"I doubt he's dead at all."
"Even if he's not dead, how could a living person like him disappear out of thin air?"
"This is where the problem lies." Shen Qingqiu approached Liu and said, "Mother, I suspect this has been a conspiracy from the beginning to the end."
"Conspiracy?" Liu frowned.
Shen Qingqiu nodded, "Ever since Zhu Xiuer entered our mansion, I have always felt something was wrong. She is just a peasant's daughter, a concubine of the mansion, who gave her the courage to keep provoking you? It was not until something like today happened that I began to doubt what had happened during this period of time."
"Are you saying that someone deliberately arranged Zhu Xiu'er to enter our Hou Mansion?" Liu was also a smart person. These days, she also felt that there were many suspicious points about Zhu Xiu'er. After hearing this, Liu was even more skeptical about Zhu Xiu'er's identity.
Shen Qingqiu nodded, then shook his head and said, "But we are not sure yet. Only when we find Zhu Xiuer can we know the truth."
"But it's been several days. If he is really not dead, where can we find him?" Liu frowned.
Today in the court, the Zhu family has been evasive about the death of Zhu Xiu'er, especially when I found out that the body was not Zhu Xiu'er, the panic in their eyes told me that they knew where Zhu Xiu'er was now. I think if I follow them, I will definitely be able to find Zhu Xiu'er's whereabouts. Then it will be easy to find out what conspiracy they have.
Liu nodded and said, "Well, if this is true, then who wants to harm our Hou Mansion?"
"I hope it's not what I think." Shen Qingqiu muttered.
"What?" Liu asked in confusion.
Shen Qingqiu shook her head. "It's okay. Mother, you should have a good rest these few days. Leave the investigation of Zhu Xiu'er's affairs to me. I will definitely clear our mansion's name."
"Mother believes in you."
A few days later.
"How is it? Still no trace of Zhu Xiu'er?" Shen Qingqiu had no idea how many times the people he had sent out had returned empty-handed.
The servants shook their heads and said, "The Zhu family seemed to have taken a reassurance pill. They have been staying at home these days and have not gone anywhere. It seems that they guessed that the princess sent someone to follow them."
Shen Qingqiu slammed the table angrily, "I don't believe they will never go out for the rest of their lives."
The servants were puzzled and said, "But the Zhu family is also strange. Their daughter has been missing for so long, and it's unclear whether she's dead or alive, but they don't seem to be in a hurry at all."
"Humph." Shen Qingqiu sneered, "This can only further prove my guess that Zhu Xiu'er is not dead at all."
"Follow them for the next few days. Follow them closely whenever they go out."
In the past few days since returning from the yamen, the Zhu family has not lived a peaceful life and they are worried every day.
"What should we do? Shen Qingqiu asked Lord Liu to re-examine the case in just a few moves. What should we do if Shen Qingqiu really finds out?"
After he finished speaking, two or three women around him also began to cry, "I just wanted to make some money, but I didn't expect that I might lose my life."
"What are you afraid of?" Seeing that everyone was in disarray, the old man of the Zhu family sat up and said, "It's been so many days, and they haven't found Xiu'er yet. They may not be able to find her. Let's not scare ourselves. Let's hold on for a few more days. Once the deadline set by Lord Liu has passed, we will win."
If they win this duel in the Marquis' Mansion, they will have no worries about food and clothing for several lifetimes.
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