It was a three-day journey by car from the capital to Mengqiao Station. They were delayed for almost an hour because of the horse.
Unavoidable changes would occur on the way, so Lu Fang suggested traveling day and night and only stopping to rest when necessary.
Unexpectedly, when they were about to arrive, a police officer came to deliver a message saying that the body had been burned.
"How could this happen? Could it be that your Dali Temple leaked the news?"
Lu Fang couldn't explain Qianru's doubts, so he hurriedly led a few people to ride alone to explore the corpse site.
Shangguan Yuan and Qianru stayed at Mengqiao Inn with the remaining people.
In the simple inn, the flickering candles looked like ghosts.
It always feels like something is going to happen.
Qianru saw An Tai as soon as she closed her eyes. She fell asleep in a daze until dawn. When she woke up, it was already afternoon.
At this time, Shangguan Yuan and Lu Fang were discussing the case outside.
Mengqiao Station was originally just an inn, but became a small town because of the increased number of merchants coming and going.
But there are only two trappers in the town.
Therefore, three civilians were temporarily recruited from nearby villages to guard the corpse.
The case happened two days ago, because the civilian husband had to report to the town first, and then from the town to the county, and then to the county. This delay in reporting at different levels, so that they met the messenger who was delivering the message when they were almost at Mengqiao Station.
Although the body was burned, some villagers saw a strange old woman wandering near the hay shed where the body was parked several times.
Therefore, it is a new breakthrough for the case.
Now the officers are searching for the old woman who agreed to the conditions based on the clues provided by witnesses.
Although Mengqiaoyi is not a big place, searching it is not a matter of time.
"We are searching now. We don't know where they have fled." Qianru said angrily, "Three civilians were not attacked, how could they not even see a corpse?"
"It was the busy time for farming. I sneaked home to do farm work during the day and only stayed at night, so I was taken advantage of."
"Since we can't identify the body, I'll ask Mr. Lu Lu to find a car for us to take us back to the capital."
Lu Fang smiled slightly, straightened his clothes, bowed to Qianru, and then to Shangguan Yuan.
"How could you come here with all the fanfare just to recognize a withered skeleton?"
If Shangguan Yuan had any idea, he would have heard that Lu Sizhi, an expert in Dali Temple, was very brave and had better use cunning plans to solve the case.
This time, it was probably a mystery.
Sure enough, after Lu Fang invited the couple into the room, he dipped his hands in water and wrote eight words on the table: Wait for the opportunity to see the effects.
Qianru saw that Lu Fang looked confident. Although she didn't know what was going on, she couldn't ask further questions.
With the mentality of taking it one step at a time, she and Shangguan Yuan went to the corpse scene with Lu Fang to inspect it.
The burned thatched hut was located in a small forest surrounded by fields.
It's getting dark, and there are still farmers farming.
That being the case, if an old woman comes over and someone sees her, why doesn't anyone stop her or chase her?
The guard guard said that the old woman was dressed like an ordinary village woman, but when she escaped, she walked as fast as flying.
It had just rained on the morning of the incident, and the thatch of the thatched shed was not burned. The old woman wrapped the bones in clothes soaked in wine and burned them.
Because they found it in time, the bones were not turned into ashes, but burned black.
The corpse had already turned into bones and had been burned by fire. The widower of Dali Temple could not conduct any tests, except that he only found that a little finger was missing from his left hand.
Qianru looked at the black bones and couldn't identify anything, so she spent money and asked the accompanying folk to bury them.
At this time, a police officer came running up and said that a passing merchant recognized the murderer from the notice posted at the entrance of the town.