Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

The day after tomorrow is June 1st.

Chen Shao did not return to Zhaojia Village or Wenhai Township. He asked Sun Qiji and I to inform Tao Ming, Xu Xianmin and others to return to the prefectural government tomorrow to report the results of the investigation, and then he returned to the county town first.

the weather is getting hotter.

Chen Shao waved a palm-leaf fan and asked Chan Yi to lift up all the curtains.

The hot wind, carrying the scent of ripe wheat, passed through the low bushes and blew towards the carriage.

Chen Shao looked out against the wind, watching the people busy in the fields under the sun, and suddenly thought of the scenes where she had seen many fields barren and people displaced due to the long years of war along the way from the capital to Hongyuan County. In contrast, although Zhang Boshan, Ding Lisheng and others did nothing, the people of Hongyuan County seemed to live in peace.

Thinking of this, Chen Shao's gaze remained on the fields for a long time and he couldn't take his gaze away.

When they were less than two miles away from Hongyuan County, a small piece of wasteland suddenly appeared. It was surrounded by a fence, and there were eleven or twelve horses scattered in the fence. There were a few thatched houses next to the fence, and a few tables were placed under the shade of a tree in front of the thatched houses. On the tree was a banner with the word "tea" written on it.

"Changed the route?" Chen Shao asked. The first few times he came out, he didn't see this teahouse and horse farm.

Li Tianliu, who was riding a bicycle beside the carriage, said, "We always went through the north gate before, but today we went through the west gate. They said that the road here has more shade from the trees and is cooler."

The person who led the way was a bailiff from the prefectural government.

Hearing that it was just a change of route, Chen Shao didn't take it seriously.

He glanced at the horse farm and the teahouse for a few more seconds, then turned his gaze elsewhere.

Soon, the carriage arrived at the city gate.

Seeing the originally sleepy doorman perking up instantly and stepping aside, then bowing his head and saluting, Chen Shao suddenly called Fu Jiu to stop and got off the carriage.

After asking Fu Jiu to invite the city gate guard, Chen Shao walked towards the gatekeepers.

While the guards were at a loss, Chen Shao said, "Don't be nervous. I'll just ask a few questions. Do you check the carriages that come in and out every day?"

The gatekeepers looked at each other and shook their heads, not daring to lie.

Chen Shao asked: "You don't check any of them?"

The guards looked at each other again, and one of them, who was a little bolder, replied, "We won't check those we know, but we will stop and question those we don't know."

The murderer was so familiar with the villages and towns in the northwest that Chen Shao subconsciously preferred to believe that the murderer had some degree of relationship or contact with the villages and towns in this area. If he only heard about it and went to check the places, it was impossible that no one in the villages involved had seen the murderer.

The murderer had a certain economic foundation. From her observations during the investigations in villages and towns, the gentry and nobles with the most economic foundation all lived in the county town. Even if the farmers in the villages and towns had a little economic foundation, they would not wear such shoes to farm. In other words, the murderer was most likely someone from the county town.

The murderer usually killed people around midnight, when the city gates were already closed. If the murderer was from the county town, he must have come back early. Thinking of this, Chen Shao asked, "During the period when the murders occurred, among the carriages and horses entering the city every morning, were there any problematic carriages?"

The gatekeepers didn't understand what she meant by "problematic". Fortunately, the gatekeeper had already followed Fu Jiu. After paying his respects to Chen Shao, he replied, "Most of the people who come into the city every morning are farmers selling vegetables, cakes, straw hats, and palm-leaf fans. Occasionally, there are clerks from various businesses or commodity stores who come back from collecting goods. Most of these people are familiar faces, and I haven't seen any problematic carriages so far."

Chen Shaoben asked just in case, and when he found out he couldn't get anything out of it, he left.

She did not take the carriage again, but just walked through the city gate and headed towards the prefectural government.

After walking for more than ten steps, an old man with silver hair and a hunched back passed by her, leading a donkey cart and walking towards the city gate. A moment later, the voice of the city gate guard came: "Is Master Shi going to harvest wheat for Uncle Niu again?"

Chen Shao turned around when he heard the voice and saw the old man who had just passed by. He couldn't help but look at him a few more times. He heard that the gatekeeper and the gatekeeper seemed to know him, and their eyes were full of respect.

Almost subconsciously, Chen Shao looked at the old man's feet. The old man was wearing a pair of old straw sandals. Then he looked at the donkey the old man was leading. Although it was blocked by the carriage, he could still tell from its pace that it was as old as the old man.

After retracting his gaze, Chen Shao called out to Master Shi in his heart, then shifted his attention to the pedestrians on the street.

Although she knew it was impossible, Chen Shao still scanned everyone on the street like a radar. Whenever she saw someone whose height and body shape matched the description of the murderer, she would immediately look at the person's feet.

"I thought it was a joke," Chan Yi said, looking at how almost everyone had a palm-leaf fan, "I didn't expect it to be true."

Fu Jiu heard her words and continued, "Didn't you see that people from all the villages have been scrambling to cut palm leaves to make cattail leaves fans these past two days? The village chief in Wenhai Township said that many palm trees have had their leaves chopped off."

Chan Yi said proudly: "This is all thanks to you, Master!"

When Chen Shao heard this, he looked at the palm-leaf fans in everyone's hands and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: Is this another form of promoting products?

When passers-by saw her looking at the palm-leaf fans in their hands, they couldn't help but wave them more vigorously.

Chen Shao saw that an idea of ​​increasing people's income by "bringing goods" suddenly popped up, but was quickly suppressed by her. Regardless of whether it was feasible or not, everything had to wait until the murderer was caught.

The prefectural government has been very busy in recent days, with a constant stream of people coming to register for the Type 8 knot and people reporting on others in the hope of getting a reward.

As soon as Chen Shao entered the gate of the prefectural mansion, Zhang Boshan came out to greet him.

Zhang Boshan also held a palm leaf fan in his hand, "Master, are you back?"

Chen Shao said, "How many people are registered?"

Zhang Boshan said: "There are almost 700 people."

Chen Shao was surprised: "Why are there so many people?"

Zhang Boshan said while waving a palm-leaf fan, "Fulai Commercial Bank and the two cargo companies account for nearly 500 people. The remaining nearly 100 people are all people who came to register after hearing the news from the county town or the surrounding areas."

No wonder. Chen Shao glanced at the people going to or coming out of the lobby and reminded them, "No matter who you are, remember to be nice and don't act arrogantly."

Zhang Boshan hurriedly said, "Don't worry, sir. I have been supervising them."

After Chen Shao asked him to continue supervising, he was about to leave when Xu Guang trotted up from the direction of the gate and said breathlessly, "Finally I caught up, sir. I, I have a new discovery."

Chen Shao looked at him, who was sweating profusely and had a red face and pale lips, and asked, "Where are you from and why do you look like this?"

Xu Guang picked up his sleeve and wiped the sweat off his face. "I had nothing to do, so I went for a walk in the villages."

"I'm going to be out for a few days, so I have to go back and change my clothes. I won't be going out for the next two days." Chen Shao saw that he was very tired, so he said kindly, "You should go back and pack up as well. When you're done, it won't be too late to come to Chengfeng Court to find me."

Xu Guang took a look at the sweat and dirt on his body, patted it with his hands, shook it off, and said, "Okay, I'll go find the adults later."

Chen Shao nodded.

After returning to Chengfeng Courtyard, Chen Shao tidied up and sat down. Just as he raised the cup of tea to his mouth, Fu Jiu called out from outside, "Master, Zhao Qiang is here!"