After traveling through time, the adults were completely in my hands

At night, at the Jinyiwei Hundred Households Office.

In the room, Wei Qing sat behind a desk, holding the note he found in Miss Qi Yu's room during the day, and lowered his head in thought.

Looking at the handwriting on this piece of paper, it was obvious that Miss Qi Yu wrote it in a hurry, and she stuffed the note under the quilt in a hurry. What exactly happened in between?

What does the word "山" on the paper want to tell others? Does it want to tell others that there is something on the mountain, or does it want to tell others that their death is related to a person with the surname Shan?

Wei Qing felt a headache from thinking so much, so he raised his hand and rubbed his forehead.

"Sir, sir!" Jindou's voice came from outside the door.

Wei Qing put down his hand and said, "Come in."

Jindou opened the door with one hand and walked in with a large bag of food in the other. When he came to the table, he put the bag down and said, "Sir, please try it. These are all Yanzhou's specialties."

Wei Qing never liked sweets. He just glanced at the cakes and then turned his attention to the paper on the table, saying casually: "You seem to be having a good time."

"Sir, I didn't go out just for fun. I went out to find some clues for your case."

Jindou walked around the table and came to Wei Qing's side. He lowered his head, leaned close to Wei Qing's ear, and said mysteriously, "Sir, guess what I heard at the market today?"

When Wei Qing raised his head towards Jindou, his mouth almost touched Jindou's lips. Wei Qing was so frightened that he quickly leaned to the side.

Jindou, who was standing next to him, continued with a look of confusion, "I've heard that many young men have gone missing in the area around Yanzhou in recent years."

Is there such a thing? Wei Qing was also shocked after hearing this. The capital had not heard of this news. It seemed that the local government had suppressed these people as missing persons.

Seeing that Wei Qing hadn't said anything, Jindou followed his gaze towards the table and saw the note on it.

"Sir, what is this...?"

When Wei Qing saw Jindou asking about the note, he told him how he found the note in Honglefang.

"Ah, that's right." Jindou crossed one arm over his chest, resting his chin on the other, and walked around the table. "I think Miss Qiyu must be trying to tell someone something with this word."

"Sir, what do you think? Could this be the case?" Jindou stared at Wei Qing, his eyes sparkling. He hypothesized, "Treasurer Li Zheng went to Honglefang every night, but on the night the relief funds went missing, Li Zheng didn't go. Instead, he was either invited or tricked into going somewhere else. And Miss Qiyu might know who this person was."

Jindou glanced at Wei Qing and, seeing that he was listening intently, continued his reasoning: "Miss Qiyu might not have committed suicide at all, but was murdered. It's possible that when she heard the door open that night, she realized something was wrong and hurriedly wrote this character and shoved it under her quilt. So, this character could very well be the first character of the murderer's name."

After hearing Jindou's words, Wei Qing nodded. He had reasoned the same way before, but who could this person with the surname Shan be?

At this time, Jindou thought for a moment and said, "Sir, there is another possibility. This character for mountain is not a complete character, but Miss Qiyu only wrote half of it. It was too late to write the other half, so she had to tuck the half-written character under the quilt in a hurry."

Jindou's words were like lightning, illuminating Wei Qing's mind. Yes, why didn't he think of this? The surname contains the word "mountain". Suddenly, Wei Qing thought of something and couldn't help but tremble all over.

Jindou's brain turned and he immediately thought of this. He said, "Sir, doesn't the character 'Cui' in the name of Cui Botong, the prefect of Yanzhou, have a mountain in it?"

Jindou took a piece of cake, stuffed it into his mouth, patted the cake crumbs on his hands, and said, "My lord, you know, I know a little bit about physiognomy. I can tell from the first glance that Mr. Cui is not a good person. He is definitely involved in the theft of disaster relief funds."

Wei Qing nodded. After investigating over the past few days, he found many suspicious points about Mr. Cui, the prefect of Yanzhou.

"However, for such a large case as stealing disaster relief funds, I'm afraid Lord Cui has even bigger accomplices above him," Wei Qing said thoughtfully.

After hearing what Wei Qing said, Jindou's mind turned and he said, "Sir, have you ever heard of the phrase 'stirring up trouble by stirring up trouble'?"

Seeing Wei Qing nod, Jindou continued, "Now, the culprit in this disaster relief fund theft case is like a snake. It's hiding in the grass, and we can't find it. But if we hit the grass with a stick, it will be startled and we can see it, right?"

Wei Qing looked at Jindou, remaining calm on the surface, but he had to admit in his heart that this man was indeed quite clever.

"Sir, this is all you need now," Jindou walked to Wei Qing again, put his mouth close to Wei Qing's ear and whispered a few words.

Jindou's mouth was almost touching Wei Qing's ear, and the hot air exhaled from his mouth swept across half of Wei Qing's face like fluff.

Wei Qing only felt a sudden sensation behind his ears, as if it was on fire, and his entire face turned red.

Wei Qing leaned to the side to cover up his mistake. He was really helpless about Jindou's always unruly behavior.

He thought that he was the commander of the Jinyiwei, and even the top officials of the dynasty had to show courtesy to him, and ordinary people were scared and retreated away from him. But this Jindou always behaved unruly in front of him. Did he really think that his title of commander of the Jinyiwei was just a decoration?

"Sir, what do you think of my idea?" Jindou said, looking at Wei Qing with anticipation.

Although he was somewhat disgusted with Jindou's lack of discipline, Wei Qing had to admit that Jindou was quite clever. He nodded and said, "That's a good idea. I'll do as you say."

******

When Jindou came to the market again, everyone was whispering to each other and talking about the missing disaster relief funds.

"Hey, have you heard? The disaster relief funds weren't stolen by the treasury supervisor, Li Zheng. Someone else stole it and then framed him. He's already been murdered by the real murderer."

"Yes, I heard that Li Zheng's ghost appeared last night and said that he died unjustly and hoped that someone would help him get justice."

Jindou clapped his hands. Yes, the Jinyiwei were very efficient. Next, he just had to wait for the snake to crawl out of the grass by itself.

******

On another dark and windy night, at the residence of the prefect Cui Botong, Cui Botong handed a bag of silver to his nephew Cui Biao and instructed him, "Leave now under cover of darkness. I've prepared a carriage for you once you're out of the city. Remember, do not return until I tell you to."

Cui Biao nodded, took the silver, walked out of the mansion, and disappeared into the night in a short while.

Seeing Cui Biao leave the house, Cui Botong thought for a while in the room, called the housekeeper over, and gave him a few instructions. The housekeeper nodded repeatedly after listening, and soon left the house as well.

******

In the morning, Xie Xiaohu from the Jinyiwei Captain's Office came to Wei Qing's room and reported a few things to Wei Qing. Wei Qing nodded. It seemed that the snake had come out.