Case One: The Two Corpses in the Flowerbed
The Xie family?
Zhong Li popped the last piece of duck into her mouth, tilting her head slightly. Her gaze swept past the window frames, watching the group of young noblemen downstairs gathered and muttering.
“What’s up? Could it be they’ve set their sights on another young lady and plan to bring her back to their manor?” a man dressed in green satin inquired, taking a sip of his clear wine.
“A young lady? Not this time, truly,” replied a man across from him, clad in white. He appeared to be a dashing gentleman at first glance, but his face was actually quite vulgar.
“Then what is it?” another man, with a golden toad hanging from his waist, leaned in and asked with gossip in his eyes.
The man in green satin looked mysterious. He beckoned the other two with his fingers, seemingly lowering his voice, but in reality, his voice was so loud that everyone around could hear. “Do you know Miss Shui Shui from the Hundred Beauties Pavilion?”
“Of course, who doesn’t? She’s a top contender for the next courtesan queen of the Hundred Beauties Pavilion. I heard her regular patrons are all influential figures. She wouldn’t even spare us merchants a glance!”
“Old Master Xie is planning to buy off Qi Shui Shui and welcome her into his household!”
“Pfft…” The man with the golden toad, hearing this, sprayed the wine he had just drunk all over the man in green satin. “No way, that’s quite a price! Does the Xie family still have so much money?”
The man in green satin wiped his face, shot a look at the golden toad man, and continued, “Xie Xu was a Minister of Works before. He must have skimmed quite a bit of oil. A lean camel is still bigger than a horse, don’t you get it?”
As he spoke, he poked the golden toad man’s head.
Zhong Li heard this and put down her chopsticks. She looked thoughtfully at the three men still interacting downstairs. Judging by their tone, the Xie family wasn’t as prosperous as before? That couldn’t be right. No matter what, the Prince Xian’s manor was still supporting them. Besides, she hadn’t heard anything about this from Lu Wuxie.
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Zhong Li was startled by a rapid knocking sound from outside.
She rolled over and got out of bed. Her gaze casually swept past the window frame. The sun was already beginning to dip towards the west; it seemed it was just past noon.
The door was opened.
She saw a stranger’s face at the door and instinctively asked, “Sir, have you knocked on the wrong door?”
Ren Wenshu heard the melodious voice opposite him and looked at the woman’s fair and beautiful face beneath her tall, fitted attire. The words he had prepared earlier were all forgotten.
Zhong Li’s willow-like eyebrows slightly raised. After waiting for a long time and seeing no response from the person opposite, she assumed she had encountered an idiot. She turned to close the door.
Ren Wenshu, in his haste, quickly placed both hands on the door, preventing her from taking further action.
Zhong Li, being a person of few words, saw the rude behavior of this stranger and drew her scalpel from her waist, holding it directly at his neck. “What, are you robbing me?”
“But… but… Miss Zhong… Miss Zhong?” Ren Wenshu had never expected Zhong Li to react this way, stammering and stumbling over his words.
Zhong Li did not retract her weapon, her eyes issuing a warning, “And if I am?”
Finally, Ren Wenshu recovered from his daze and quickly said, “It’s my father…呸…!”
He quickly slapped his own mouth and bowed to Zhong Li with a clasped-hand salute. “Miss Zhong, I am Ren Wenshu. My father is Ren Zhong, the Prefect of Jinzhou. I have been specially sent by my father to fetch you.”
“Fetch me?” Zhong Li heard Ren Wenshu announce his name and slightly relaxed her grip on the scalpel, but it still remained near his face. “Fetch me for what?”
Ren Wenshu swallowed a few times, his gaze drifting down to the blade pointed at him. “To fetch you to see the scene.”
Hearing “see the scene,” Zhong Li’s first thought was of the place where the two male corpses were discovered.
“Where is the Young Prince? Why are you here?” Zhong Li asked again.
“This morning, the Young Prince brought two paintings to my father and asked him to search the city for someone. He was afraid of missing anything and is currently in the archives examining case files for reported missing persons. Because he is spread too thin, and his subordinates are not familiar with Jinzhou, he asked my father to send someone to escort you to the scene for investigation. My father, fearing that he would inconvenience you again, sent me to fetch you,” Ren Wenshu said, scratching his head with an obedient expression.
Zhong Li looked at the man opposite her, who kept saying “my father” and “my father.” She realized he was clearly a mama’s boy. She put away her scalpel and, leaving him with a “wait here,” closed the door and went back inside.
When the door of the side room was opened again, Zhong Li was standing at the entrance, her medicine box on her back.
Ren Wenshu quickly made a gesturing invitation. As she began to walk downstairs, he hurriedly followed.
The place where the two men died was quite a distance from the Jinzhou tavern. Zhong Li remembered taking a short nap in the carriage before arriving at their destination.
She refused the hand Ren Wenshu extended to help her alight from the carriage, jumping down herself and looking at the residential house before her.
The house was located in the southern suburbs of Jinzhou. Compared to the houses in Jinzhou city, it was clearly larger. Rows of them were closely connected. Counting them, about four or five households resided in the suburbs.
Zhong Li ignored Ren Wenshu’s constant introduction of the beautiful scenery of the southern suburbs of Jinzhou. She glanced at the house with its door sealed with paper not far away and walked directly towards it.
Pushing open the gate, she saw the front courtyard of the house. Converting it to modern square meters, it was about forty square meters. The courtyard seemed to have been uninhabited for a long time. In the corners were piled up dusty earthenware jars. On the other side, a waterscape pavilion had been built, but the pond was long dry. Faintly, she could still see the carcasses of some carp stuck to its edges.
“Has this house been investigated? Whose name is it under?” Zhong Li asked as she walked inside.
Ren Wenshu, following behind her, quickly replied, “It has been investigated. The owner of this house is Miao Fenghua, a widow.”
“Where is she now?” Zhong Li began to look around the house, asking casually.
“Miao Fenghua has been involved in reselling goods in Jinzhou and Yongcheng. She has been in Yongcheng for the past few days,” Ren Wenshu said.
Hearing this, Zhong Li paused. This meant that the owner of the house had an alibi?
“Has that been confirmed?” she asked, not entirely reassured.
“It has been confirmed. All the neighbors have been questioned, and Miao Fenghua is indeed in Yongcheng without a doubt,” Ren Wenshu stated with certainty.
Zhong Li gave him a faint glance and casually pushed open the door to a bedroom. It was likely the owner’s, and judging by the style of decoration inside, it was undoubtedly a woman’s.
She tightened the medicine box on her back, walked to the wardrobe, and pulled open the door. A gust of dust wafted out, revealing neatly folded women’s clothing.
Zhong Li casually picked one up and glanced at it. A flicker of confusion crossed her eyes. Then, she turned to Ren Wenshu and asked, “How much is this house typically worth in Jinzhou?”
Ren Wenshu answered without hesitation, “Five hundred taels.”