Chapter Ten: Nameless Corpse

  Today's first update, wait for a more powerful second update later, asking for votes!

  However, the efficiency of that young king is indeed high. The next day, King Zhen Nan immediately summoned Xie Pei Shan and agreed to investigate Governor Zhou Wen, Prefect Wang Ling Song, and wealthy merchant Qian Lei after being persuaded by Xie Pei Shan's efforts.

  "How's that? Am I impressive?" Xie Peishan puffed out her small chest, proudly looking at Su Jing.

  Su Jing gazed at that enticing part, swallowed his saliva: "Not awesome, but rich. In this era, having money can even move ghosts!"

  But leading a pair of soldiers to investigate the case, Su Jing had a subtle feeling of being a bandit king, and for someone like him who didn't have too much ambition, he could at most just barely make it as a bandit leader.

  "Look at you, so domineering! When the time comes and you're facing the sharp history, be sure to maintain this majestic attitude." Xie Peishan followed closely behind him, looking like a female bodyguard. Su Jing raised his head, with an arrogant expression.

  The Zhou Mansion may not be as grand as the Mansion of the King of Southern Peace, but it is still a wealthy and prominent family that ordinary commoners cannot compare to.

  "This fat leech, I don't know how much of the people's wealth he has swallowed. Today, this young lady caught him and it can be said that she is following the will of the people. It would be best if this time we could bring down the Zhou family." Xie Peishan said viciously as she gazed at the signboard of the Zhou residence.

  Zhou Wen, the county magistrate, seemed to have never thought that someone would come to arrest him. Seeing Xie Peishan leading the captors into his hall, he was somewhat astonished.

  "What are you doing? I can have you arrested by the authorities for trespassing!" said Governor Zhou Wenru.

  "Magistrate Shi, I'm afraid you won't be able to get out of this one. I have a search warrant issued by the prince. Sorry about that, brothers, take him away!" Su Jing said as he packed up the antiques in the hall.

  "What order did the king give? Why are you arresting me? I haven't committed any crime against the king!" Zhou Wen was somewhat perplexed.

  "Haven't you committed a crime against the king's law? If we let you continue to act arbitrarily, it won't be long before you harm the people. For the safety of the people, it's better to put you under house arrest!" Xie Peishan said, "Not just you, Prefect Wang Lingsong and Qian Lei must also be detained. Let me tell you, Miss is going to do something, and there's nothing that can't be done."

  Facing Xie Er's strong momentum, Zhou Wen was also helpless.

  "Thank you, Second Miss, I naturally can't afford to provoke you, but I really didn't plan on harming anyone. Even if you arrest me, sooner or later I will be released for lack of evidence." Zhou Wen shouted. But Second Miss was no longer listening and directly had him taken away.

  Next was the prefect Wang Lingsong, followed by Qian Lei. The three were detained in the reception room of the government office. Mainly because all three were high-ranking officials, these bailiffs did not dare to slack off either.

  "You few take care of things for me, and notify me immediately if anything happens." After Captain Feng Yun had given instructions on all the big and small matters, he locked the gate.

  It can be said that Zhen Nan Wang's approach is a safe strategy. Even if the inspector Zhou Wen and the other two have the intention to kill, it would be difficult for them to harm anyone under the guard of so many people. And if they do not have the intention to kill, temporarily detaining them here will not cause any trouble. After all, the service at the government's reception office is still very thoughtful.

  "Are you saying that Master Wang wouldn't even notice something from ten years ago?" Qian Lei asked with some fear.

  "How can they be so clear about something that happened ten years ago?! Unless it's because Du Chudie knows we're the ones who killed her whole family and she's telling on us! But do you think that's possible? The three of us haven't leaked a single word." said Zhou Wen with certainty.

  But Wang Lingsong, the prefectural governor, also had some misgivings, "That's not necessarily true, maybe she really did secretly investigate our identities."

  "Alright! Don't say anything more, be careful of eavesdroppers! Let's just wait for news calmly. As long as we can get through this month peacefully, we'll talk about future matters later." Governor Zhou Wen said with a pretended calm tone.

  The other two nodded and dispersed separately.

  Returning home, Su Jing couldn't help but admire Xie Peishan's ability. Money can indeed move ghosts.

  "Chen Zhan, I increasingly feel that money is very important, not just in my previous world, but also the key to everything here."

  Lin Yun carelessly pulled out the Analects, "If not, I, Lin Yun, with my exceptional talent, wouldn't have been driven by you for just a hundred taels of silver."

  Chen Zhan smiled foolishly, as long as he followed the old master correctly, and as long as the old master had money, even the dogs by his side would be arrogant.

  "Chen Zhan, don't belittle yourself either. Just thinking of being by my side and taking advantage of something, as long as you have the opportunity, you should start your own business." Su Jing said, "Just like I gave Shu Sheng an opportunity but didn't restrict his development. He wanted to go to Beijing to take the imperial examination, I allowed him to go."

  "Master? Don't you want me anymore? Am I not loyal to you, Chen Zhan?"

  "No, I didn't say don't want you, I just want you to live with more dignity, don't lower your identity for the sake of money. Learn from others, like that foolish bookworm." Su Jing looked at Lin Yun as if he wanted to see through him.

  "Boss, don't look at me with that gaze, it's a bit scary." Lin Yun said somewhat uncomfortably.

  "By the way, has Miss Xie's 5,000 taels of silver been settled?"

  "I've already deposited it into the bank. Don't worry, sir, my efficiency is absolutely high." Chen Zhan patted his chest.

  Lin Yun stared with his eyes wide open, hardly believing it. "What?! Five thousand taels?! Just for helping her catch someone once?!" He must be regretting not choosing the divided reward in the first place.

  Nothing happened that night, and the next morning, as soon as they got up, the whole city of Jianye was buzzing with discussion. It was said that a large fire had broken out in an abandoned temple on the outskirts of the city the night before, burning all night before stopping. A villager found a charred corpse inside. Due to safety concerns, the corpse was sent to the prefecture early in the morning by the villager. The current head of the prefecture is Young Master Li Huan, as Prefect Wang Lingsong has been detained for trial.

  "Look, Master Wang, this mummy is four feet seven inches long. Judging from the signs on its body, it should have been killed before being thrown into the fire." The coroner analyzed.

  "How did you know?" Little King Wang looked at him with a sidelong glance.

  "Returning to the king, if she was burned to death, then before her death, she must have been desperately crying for help, taking big breaths, and would have inhaled a large amount of particulate dust. However, there is not a single speck of smoke ash in this corpse's trachea, so she had already stopped breathing before the fire started."

  "So, in your opinion, this is a murder case?" Little King deduced, "It's strange to say, just caught those three guys, the next day someone died, could it be related to them?"

  "I don't know about that, I'm just in charge of the autopsy. Moreover, this person's original height should be around five feet, and her hand was tightly grasping a lotus-shaped jade hairpin. It seems that should be the key to solving the case. And this is a woman's corpse, Young Master Wang, you should go investigate whether there were any missing women in the city yesterday." The coroner suggested.

  "I already know all this, the rest of the things don't need you to instruct me, I also know how to do it. You go down, let me think again." Li Huan waved his hand, looking at the ferocious-looking dry corpse, his eyebrows deeply furrowed, "Nameless dry corpse? I should find He Yihan to help investigate. It's a good opportunity to prove my ability, this is really a two-for-one deal..."

  Early in the morning, He Yihan arrived at the First Detective Agency and had an in-depth conversation with Su Jing, mainly about his detention of Shi Shi and Fu Yin, as well as Lao Ban.

  "Brother Su's courage is admirable."

  "Haha, but to be honest, if it weren't for Miss Xie's backing, I wouldn't have dared to do that. Heaven knows whether those three people had any motive to commit a crime or not. Once they come out, my days will probably be numbered." Su Jing said with a smile.

  He Yihuan was still as tender and delicate as ever, although the word was somewhat inappropriate to describe a man, but in Su Jing's heart, there was no other word that could better describe He Yihuan.

  "What's wrong with you, Master Su? Are you having some kind of 'Dragon Yang' obsession? If you can't make it in Jianye City, you can always head to the capital. The world is vast, and there are plenty of places to stand. A man's ambition lies in all directions, he won't be without a place to go."

  "You're quite open-minded..."

  Su Jing hadn't finished speaking when Xie Er's young lady rushed in, stumbling and shouting loudly: "Something's happened! Something's happened!"

  He Yihuan and He Su Jing were both stunned, what could make this female knight so flustered?

  "You don't know, there was a big fire outside the city last night, and a woman died in it!" Xie Peishan made a very frightened expression.

  Su Jing looked at her with a ridiculous expression and said: "What's wrong with that? Burning people to death is normal, isn't it?"

  "Don't you think this is suspicious? According to the coroner's autopsy, that corpse was killed before being burned. It's a murder case. And isn't it too coincidental? Those three scoundrels were just found by us to have a motive for crime, and today someone died, don't you think there's any connection between these two things?"

  "I can only say that Miss's imagination is too rich, what relationship can these two have?" Su Jing said casually.

  He Yihan did not express any opinion, after all, he has a calm and composed demeanor having cracked many big cases.

  "Oh, right! He Da Ge, Xiao Wang Ye wants you to personally investigate this case!" Xie Pei Shan said.

  He Yihan was taken aback, and indeed, whenever there were bizarre or major cases, the government's first thought would always be of him, He Yihan.

  "Why look for him to crack the case? Why not look for me, the great detective?" Su Jing said with some puzzlement.

  Xie Peishan looked up and down at Su Jing, sneering: "You still want to take over the big case? I reckon you can't even find the thread of the case! Just focus on catching your adulterous husband and wife, that's more suitable for you!"

  Su Jing felt this was an insult. Originally, he had set up this detective agency just to catch adulterers, and now it had been reduced to a place where people came to be humiliated. This had already tarnished his reputation as a great detective, and today he was being openly disdained by this woman, which really hurt his self-esteem.