Locked: God is the matchmaker, neither you nor I can escape

Prefect Hong looked at Master Zheng with surprise, smiled, and praised: "I didn't expect Master Zheng to know so much about our search. Thanks to Master Zheng for preserving the scene as much as possible, we can avoid a lot of trouble."

Mr. Zheng smiled and said, "When I was young, I was involved in a case. As a witness at the scene, I led the police to investigate and cooperated with the government to investigate the case. Naturally, I know something about it."

Although we have not yet obtained any specific information about Magistrate Hong from the higher-ups, we can guess a little about his character from the fact that he was willing to condescend to come to a merchant's house today to investigate a case, and that it was only a theft case, not a murder case.

Through a brief contact, from Magistrate Hong's words and deeds as well as his vigorous and decisive character, one can vaguely judge what kind of people he likes to make friends with.

Even if he was clearly told by his superiors that Governor Hong was his political enemy, it would not affect his efforts to improve his favorability in front of Governor Hong. He was already old, and unless he couldn't help it, how could he easily show his likes and dislikes in front of others?

Prefect Hong was indeed very satisfied with Mr. Zheng's active cooperation. At this time, the head constable came to report to Prefect Hong: "Sir, the doors and windows have been checked and confirmed to be no problem."

After saying "hmm", Magistrate Hong took a closer look at the golden lock. There were several scratches on the lock, of varying depths and from different years, but there were obviously no recent signs. It was certain that the lock was not damaged, but it could not be concluded that Ji De did not enter through the main gate.

Ji De's theft methods are so strange, there is no guarantee that he doesn't have any special methods to open locks.

"Master Zheng, please open the lock."

"Yes, my lord."

After Master Zheng opened the golden lock, he handed over the lock and key with both hands. Magistrate Hong accepted them without hesitation and said, "I will return them after I have carefully checked them."

"Yes." Mr. Zheng said respectfully.

Although the lock was quite heavy, he felt that Magistrate Hong was not the kind of person who would be so short-sighted as to embezzle his golden lock. Mr. Zheng had no choice but to cooperate with him, adopting an attitude of "a good citizen asking the magistrate to make the decision".

"Squeak-"

The study door was opened again. Master Zheng and the housekeeper were waiting obediently by the side. Magistrate Hong and the captain of the police were not in a hurry to go in. Instead, they took a look at the current situation of the study at the door.

Even though it was daytime, the study was still a little dim with the windows closed, but the empty study could be seen at a glance.

Prefect Hong turned to Mr. Zheng and said, "Please go in and open all the windows, but try not to touch them too much, and don't walk too much."

"Yes." Mr. Zheng went in obediently and opened the window.

The dim study suddenly became bright, and some clues hidden in the darkness were completely exposed to the light.

Magistrate Hong and the captain of the police standing at the door clearly saw the marks left in the study. There were traces of paintings being taken down and bookshelves or bookcases being emptied on the walls. There were pieces of dust of different shapes and sizes on the ground, as well as footprints!

First, we have to rule out the footprints on the wall. Those were the marks left by the route that Mr. Zheng walked when he opened the window. It is obvious that the thief did not come in through the window after leaving, or he did not leave through the window.

There is no other way to leave the house except the door and the window. From this, it can be judged that Ji De entered through the door in a fair and honest manner, so how he opened the lock is an unsolved mystery.

I have to say that the servants of the Zheng Mansion were very serious in their planning. They usually wiped all the places without cabinets and tables very clean and bright. There were shallow footprints on them, which could be confirmed to be from a man.

But judging from the pace of his footprints, he did not walk with big strides as usual, but walked very carefully.

The fact that Ji De dared to enter and exit through the gate openly showed that he had confidence in himself, so his steps should not have been cautious. Combined with the testimony provided by Mr. Zheng, this set of footprints was most likely from the guard who was sent in last night to help light the lamp.

As for whether it is correct, the captain will be asked to find someone to measure the footprints for comparison to confirm whether the judgment is correct.

Not all the bookcases and bookshelves in the study were placed against the wall, so different shapes of dust could be seen in some parts of the study. There was one place where a footprint was clearly visible, and the mark on the shoe was different from what they had seen before.

According to the testimony of Mr. Zheng and others, Ji De was dressed strangely and his shoes were different from theirs. Therefore, it can be inferred that the footprint belonged to Ji De!

But Ji De is not stupid. He wears the same outfit from last night and walks around every day. However, the soles of his shoes are so strange that it is not difficult to guarantee that the shoes he wears on a daily basis do not have such soles. This can be considered as evidence.

"Sir, we found a mark that looks like a footprint here." The captain walked to a patch of dust, knelt on one knee, pointed at the footprint and reported to Magistrate Hong.

Upon hearing this, Magistrate Hong immediately went over and squatted down to study it together.

Master Zheng had completed his "mission" and was sent out again. When he heard the captain's words, he wanted to rush in to see what was going on. Fortunately, he still had his wits about him and did not act rashly. He and the housekeeper stretched their necks at the door to look inside, like baby birds waiting to be fed by their mother.

The two people who were concentrating on studying their new discoveries obviously did not notice them. Even if they did, they would not allow them to come in and watch the fun.

"Look, sir. This part looks very much like Ji De's shoe print. Although the texture and shape are different, I have a hunch that this is a shoe print."

Prefect Hong did not deny the captain's guess, but asked: "Do you think Ji De has an accomplice? Assuming such an accomplice exists, what kind of person would wear such small shoes?

This length is the size for babies, right?

And look," he pointed to a small square not far away and parallel to the "little shoe," "what do you think this is?"

"It should be a special item brought by Ji De?"

“Assuming our guesses are correct, we can conclude that Jide is an adult man over eight feet tall, and he may have a dwarf accomplice who is the size of a baby.

Not only are they dressed strangely and act strangely, but their purpose is also unclear.”

The captain nodded.

The answer came from Magistrate Hong, but I don’t think it’s the truth.

After a thorough search, he confirmed that there were no other clues in the room, and then left the study, while instructing: "Master Zheng, lock up the study for now and do not let anyone in without my permission."

"Yes, sir." Mr. Zheng agreed immediately.

At this time, the four detectives who were responsible for surveying the surrounding environment also made a new discovery: "Your Excellency, we found traces of people stepping on the roof, but we can't collect footprints on it, so we are not sure how many people there are."

Mr. Zheng nodded, turned around and said to Mr. Zheng who was following closely behind him: "Please ask Mr. Zheng to take us to the warehouse to check the situation."

"Have you finished checking the study?"

"The preliminary inspection has been completed. We are worried that something may have been missed, so no one is allowed to enter the study for the time being, including Mr. Zheng. Is that okay?"

"Yes, I understand. I will follow your orders."