"Marquis Yongzhong ties Princess Anping to his belt every day."
"The Holy One turned a blind eye in order to escape the punishment of conscience."
The emperor's ears ached from the daily buzzing of baskets of gossip.
"Remember the time limit I gave you. If you can't catch the murderer, don't go to court!"
As a result, Shangguan Yuan's qualifications for court meetings were deprived.
Every day before dawn, they would drag their guns and practice outside the Linlang Pavilion. When Qianru had finished dressing, they would investigate the case together.
There were no wounds on the body, and there were no abnormalities even in the hair.
After conducting an autopsy, Wu concluded that An Tai's daughter died from inhaling poisonous powder because there were many bleeding lesions in her lungs.
However, there was no poisonous powder remaining in the corpse's nasal cavity, and the source of the poison was not found at the crime scene, so it was not possible to determine what kind of poison he had been exposed to.
In Qianru's memory, from getting up to falling asleep that day, there was nothing unusual at all.
In hot weather, corpses decompose quickly.
I tried a lot of antiseptic spices but still couldn't cover up the pervasive rancid smell.
Shangguan Yuan buried the body after getting An Tai's consent.
The only clue was lost.
Shangguan Yuan did not strive for progress and stopped doing his job. He completely forgot about the fearful words of others and only stayed with her at Linlang Pavilion every day.
During the day, he hugged her and enjoyed the cool air under the trees and under the eaves. At night, he wiped her hands and soaked her feet.
Qianru clearly felt that Shangguan Yuan no longer had any hope of finding the murderer.
But she didn't want to give up just like that.
If a bad guy can kill her once without anyone noticing, he might do it a second time.
She didn't want to be caught without a fight.
So she thought of a way to beat up those people she had offended when she was the daughter of Antai, and investigate whoever showed their flaws.
"Maybe it's a way, but who did you offend?"
Qianru spread out the paper and wrote down a bunch of names.
Shangguan Yuan selected the most suspicious one, Duke Rongguo Xu Huaishan.
"He is the Duke and you are the Marquis. If we go to 'beat' him, he will probably be thrown out! It is better to prepare some gifts and go visit him."
So Shangguan Yuan prepared two fresh fish, a pair of turkeys, a pig, and a box of paper, and went with Qianru to visit Duke Rong Guo.
Except for the box of paper, the rest of the things were handed over to the concierge as soon as he entered the door.
The servant said that Shangguan Yuan had given some strange gifts.
Duke Rong and his wife were very surprised after seeing it.
"It is said that Shangguan Yuan was bewitched by a female ghost. It seems that what he said is true!"
When Nie Sanniang heard what her husband said, she couldn't help but shudder, and hurriedly ordered someone to go out quietly through the back door to buy something to ward off evil spirits.
Just as he was giving instructions, Shangguan Yuan and Qianru had already arrived.
Qianru took the box from Shangguan Yuan and politely stepped forward to present it to Duke Rong Guo. "I heard that Shibo was ill, so Qianru came to pay a special visit. It's just a small gift to express my feelings. Don't refuse."
Nie Sanniang saw that the box was quite big, and she was curious about what was inside, so she found an excuse to leave and check it out.
Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a box of ghost paper. I was so frightened that I turned pale and lost half my life.
The servant reported the matter to Rong Guogong, who also looked horrified and ordered people to drive them out of the mansion like a rooster that had been stimulated.
Even the chickens, fish, pigs and paper they sent were returned.
So, with these gifts, they went to the Prime Minister's Mansion to visit Xu Rongrong.
Xu Rongrong didn't know that her parents were scared, so she let them in without any precautions.
"These days, which dignitary would give gifts, including pigs, fish, and chickens? What a fool!"
Xu Rongrong mocked and spurned them, with the mentality of humiliating Shangguan Yuan and Qianru, and received them with a smile.
As before, Qianru politely presented the box with both hands and flattered Xu Rongrong, "I have long heard that the sisters of Xu Shibo's family are heroes among women. It's a pity that Qianru was in poor health and never had the opportunity to see them.
"This is a small gift, Madam, please accept it."
Xu Rongrong was not so polite and opened the box in front of them, which made the pigs scream.
"You, you actually got into trouble with me."
"No one has worshiped her in years, and this is all Qianru's property!"
"ah"
Xu Rongrong was so frightened that she ran away.
The maids in the Prime Minister's Mansion did not dare to accept their gifts, so they all returned them respectfully.
"Alas! What a waste of natural resources." Qianru sighed and picked up all the ghost papers scattered on the ground into the box.
The maids who were hiding in the corner and peeping saw her turning around, and they all staggered away.
After going out, Shangguan Yuan burst into laughter and said, "Ru'er, your tricks are really fun."
Qianru coughed a few times, reminding him to be more serious and to pretend to be lost.
Shangguan Yuan then regained his composure and fully cooperated.
But the pig was very uncooperative and was unwilling to move a step for a long time. He was forced to ask someone to buy some pig food to tempt him, and then he arrived at Ninghou Mansion in the afternoon.
Ninghou and his wife took their grandchildren out for summer vacation a few months ago, but they haven't come back yet.
Xu Huihui was blind and couldn't see the gifts they gave her, so she was still polite to them.
I thought it wouldn't cause any trouble, but when I was about to leave, Ning Zhiyuan came back.
By chance, the pig they sent had a heat stroke and caused a stinking mess all over the place.
Ning Zhiyuan suddenly became angry and cursed loudly.
Xu Huihui, who was extremely domineering a year ago, now has a plummeting family status and would hide away when she heard her husband's roar.
Qianru then concluded that Xu Huihui was definitely not the one who harmed others.
Ning Zhiyuan didn't want to deal with them, so he directly returned the gifts they gave him.
The heat is unbearable.
The couple had no choice but to go home for safety.
Shangguan Yuan said: "The old man looks like he is a thief with a guilty conscience. There must be something wrong with him."
Qianru also felt suspicious, so she took a pen and circled Xu Huaishan's name.
The fish used as gifts have become stinky, and the pigs and chickens have also fallen down, as if they were infected by plague.
The servants asked Shangguan Yuan how to deal with it.
Qianru rolled her eyes and Fuer told Shangguan Yuan: "Send them all to Xiangxiang."
Shangguan Yuan was surprised, "Do you doubt her?"
"No, I want to save some firewood for the house."
Sure enough, two hours later, the Hedong County Prince's Mansion sent someone to deliver a pig's head, four pig legs, two smelly fish, and the remaining chicken bones.
Qianru took a look and said: "Not bad!"
Then he asked people to stew the pig's head to replenish Shangguan Yuan's body, jokingly saying that the shape makes up for the shape.
Shangguan Yuan was unhappy, "Am I the same in your heart?"
"I know you're not willing to take it, so how about we give it to your mother that night?"
Shangguan Yuan's face suddenly dropped, he would come sooner or later.
So he followed her and went to visit his wife at night with a cooked pig's head.
Unexpectedly, Shangguan Liu said that no unrelated people could enter the house, so he easily blocked them out of the gate.
Qianru was unwilling to give in and ordered someone to find a ladder, planning to climb the wall and get in.