The mind-reading coroner drove the court crazy

Qin Miaoxi stood aside, her eyes closely following the pen in the butler's hand, watching him write the list stroke by stroke.

Taking advantage of this break, she looked around Qian Baiwan's study.

Inadvertently, her sleeve brushed against the large vase beside the desk, and a muffled "clang" sound came from the vase.

Qin Miaoxi was startled and subconsciously reached into the vase and took out a thin account book.

She looked at it carefully and saw that the font on the account book had a hint of time, and the paper was slightly yellowed, obviously it was quite old.

"Butler, what is this account book?" Qin Miaoxi raised the account book in her hand and asked the butler.

The housekeeper came over, flipped through a few pages, frowned slightly, and shook his head: "I have never seen this account book before. I think it belongs to the master."

Qin Miaoxi couldn't wait to read it carefully after hearing this. As expected, she soon discovered that the amount recorded in this account book was exactly the same as the amount of donations recorded in the Qian Mansion's account book.

It seems that this is indeed Qian Baiwan's private account.

At this moment, the butler also finished writing the list and presented it with both hands: "Miss, these are the friends of the master that I know."

Qin Miaoxi took the list and quickly scanned it. She saw that the list of officials took up an entire page. Although they were all minor officials of the fifth or sixth rank, their strength lay in their large number, and they involved various departments of the six ministries.

What surprised her even more was the distribution of the names on the last three pages. Only half of the pages were devoted to business partners, while the remaining two and a half pages were filled with ordinary people, including learned scholars, itinerant porters, and street vendors at the city gate.

Qin Miaoxi couldn't help but look surprised and blurted out, "Are all these his friends?"

The butler looked solemn and said firmly, "These people have been acknowledged by the master himself. They are his good friends."

"How did your master become friends with them?" Qin Miaoxi asked.

The housekeeper was speechless for a moment, a bewildered look on his face, as if he had never thought about this question before. After a long pause, he stammered, "Maybe it's because of financial dealings!"

Qin Miaoxi raised her eyebrows. Is this reason believable?

She tapped lightly on the table with her jade fingers, and her sharp eyes quickly locked onto the anomaly in the account book.

This account book is mostly a running record, however, the names of more than a dozen people appear twice or more.

She frowned slightly, her dark brows knitted tightly together, lost in thought. Could it be that these people were in dire straits and urgently needed help twice?

After thinking for a moment, her eyes became firm and she made a prompt decision to start with these names and investigate them one by one.

Qin Miaoxi walked out of the Qian Mansion quickly with steady steps.

As soon as she went out, she immediately ordered the Jingzhao Yin's yamen runners to go to Lord Zhao's mansion and wait secretly, closely monitoring Lord Zhao's every move.

In that instant, she finally remembered the editor, Mr. Zhao. Wasn't that the person who had appeared at Yunyin Pavilion on the day of the branding iron transaction? Her intuition told her that this might be the key to unlocking the secrets of Qian Baiwan and Mr. Cui.

She herself wasted no time in looking for those people who appeared twice in the account book.

Time passed quietly and half a day was gone in a flash.

Qin Miaoxi finally found four or five people who met the requirements. However, the results shocked her—all of them were dead. According to their relatives, they had died of illness several years ago.

One or two cases might be attributed to coincidence, but if four or five of them happen in the same way, how can one not be suspicious?

Qin Miaoxi absolutely did not believe that there could be so many coincidences in the world. Moreover, from what their relatives had said in their hearts, she knew that they had died of illness without a doubt.

Qin Miaoxi looked at the relatives of one of the deceased and asked softly, "Do you know Qian Baiwan?"

The other person was slightly taken aback, then quickly replied, "I know. He was a close friend of my son. When my son was buried, he even gave a hundred taels of silver as a funeral gift."

"So many?" Qin Miaoxi's heart trembled, and she keenly realized that there was something wrong behind this matter.

The man's eyes were slightly red, and his voice was choked with sobs. "Yes, they were good friends for many years. He was sadder than anyone else when my youngest son passed away. He knew our family was struggling, so he gave us more. He's such a good man!"

Qin Miaoxi remained expressionless, said a few more words of comfort, and then said goodbye and left.

She continued to look for the next one, frowning on the way, and repeatedly thinking about the results of today's investigation: the deaths of these people were too strange, and Qian Baiwan's seemingly righteous high funeral money was more like a cover-up.

After searching for more than a dozen people and finding they were all dead, we finally arrived at the last house.

The person who opened the door was a middle-aged man. After asking, we learned that he was the brother of the person everyone was looking for.

Qin Miaoxi asked, "Is Wang Biao here?"

The middle-aged man looked at everyone and asked, "He's not at home, who are you? What do you want from him?"

When Qin Miaoxi heard that Wang Biao was not there, her eyes suddenly lit up. It seemed that Wang Biao was still alive. She immediately took out the government token and revealed her identity: "I am from the government. I came here to ask Wang Biao about someone."

"The government office?" Wang Biao's brother looked dazed for a moment, then asked cautiously, "Sir, please tell me quickly, has that kid done something sneaky again?"

Qin Miaoxi's heart moved, and she asked, "What do you mean?"

"He's been a man of few moral principles since he was little, and has been turned over to the authorities by the villagers several times. Are you here to arrest him this time?"

Qin Miaoxi was lost in thought and quickly denied it: "No. He knows a lot of people, so I came here just to ask him some questions. Do you know where he went?"

Wang Biao's brother was obviously relieved when he heard this. He said, "He said a few days ago that he was going to do some big business. He hasn't been home for a few days."

"What big deal? Who did it with?" Qin Miaoxi asked immediately.

"He said it was related to a wealthy man in Jingzhao, but I don't know the details."

Qin Miaoxi's suspicions grew even stronger after hearing this. The wealthy man in Jingzhao...

"But a million dollars?"

"Huh? I don't know. I've never heard of this person's name."

Qin Miaoxi couldn't help but feel disappointed. She calmed herself down and continued to ask, "Did he say when he would be back? Or did he leave any message?"

Wang Biao's brother scratched his head, trying to recall: "He left in a hurry, saying that he would come back to make a good life for the whole family after making a lot of money. He didn't say anything else."

Qin Miaoxi nodded, and then asked Wang Biao's brother about Wang Biao's daily whereabouts and places he often went, then said goodbye and left.

Just as she was about to go to the place Wang Biao often went to, she saw Zi Yan running over and whispering a few words in her ear.

Qin Miaoxi's face changed slightly, and she immediately turned around and rushed towards Lord Zhao's residence.

It turned out that Zi Yan found out that the person who had a close relationship with Prince Wang was none other than the editor Mr. Zhao.