A female coroner arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Chapter 250 Headless Female Corpse (38)

So as not to disturb the three injured people's recovery, Mu Qingcheng led Jiang Zhan out of the guest courtyard before asking, "Why are you so flustered? Has everyone returned?"

"They're all back." Jiang Zhan's expression was unusual, his eyes filled with indignation. "But as soon as we entered the city, Lu Shaoqing was arrested by Xu Ning, the chief constable of the Dali Temple, who had been lying in ambush!"

Mu Qingcheng stiffened, "Explain yourself!"

Jiang Zhan recounted the whole story.

Mu Qingcheng strode briskly towards the front office.

"Master Mu!" Jiang Zhan caught up with him. "Are you going to see the Lord? The Lord has already left to meet the Emperor at the palace. Constable Duan has also been ordered by the Lord to go to the Censorate to see Lord Ji Yue."

Mu Qingcheng paused, took a deep breath, and said, "Give the order that I be informed immediately once the magistrate returns to the yamen."

"Yes!" Jiang Zhan replied, reassuring her with relief, "My lord is deeply favored by the Emperor and will surely be able to get Lu Shaoqing out. Master Mu, please don't be too anxious."

Mu Qingcheng nodded, then suddenly remembered something and instructed, "Don't let news of Lu Shaoqing's matter reach the guest rooms, lest it affect their mood while they are recovering."

Especially Bai Zhizhi, the young girl is currently infatuated with love, and it's hard to guarantee that she won't do something impulsive out of worry.

"Understood." Jiang Zhan assumed it was because of Mo Yu, so he readily agreed.

On the way to the Office of State Affairs, Mu Qingcheng inquired about the progress of the mission: "What were the results of the search? Did you find out everything about Wang Ruhua?"

“We’ve found something.” Jiang Zhan pulled a parchment scroll from his pocket. “This was found at Wang Ruhua’s house.”

Mu Qingcheng took the parchment scroll, but the pungent smell hit her nostrils, and she couldn't help but frown. "Why does it smell so bad?"

"Master Mu, do you know where this thing is hidden?" Jiang Zhan's expression was quite interesting. "In the kitchen swill bucket! But, to my shame, it wasn't one of our people who found it. It's all thanks to Young Master Lu."

"Ok?"

“We searched Wang Ruhua’s house from top to bottom, but found nothing. Finally, Lu Shaoqing discovered a hidden compartment at the bottom of the swill bucket and found the parchment scroll.”

Mu Qingcheng smiled and said, "He's always been meticulous, especially when it comes to finding things; he's very talented."

"It sounds like Master Mu knows Young Master Lu quite well." Jiang Zhan's bloodshot eyes suddenly lit up, his teasing words were direct and bold.

Mu Qingcheng's eyes paused, then he smiled enigmatically, "Captain Jiang, watch your words!"

"Thank you so much, Master Mu, for saving my life!" Jiang Zhan suddenly realized that he had forgotten about his master, who was a very jealous man!

Mu Qingcheng chuckled and said, "Alright, let's get back to business. Any other gains?"

"We only found this one piece of physical evidence. Regarding Wang Ruhua, we interviewed the villagers in Xiahegou and learned that she was a widow whose husband had died more than ten years ago. She had no children and lived alone in the village. She had two mu of paddy fields, but she was too lazy to farm and rented them out. She relied on her talk to arrange marriages for people. However, she didn't have a good reputation. Rumor had it that several girls she arranged had died of illness or falls to their deaths within a few months of marrying into her husband's family. It was considered very unlucky."

"She died just a few months after getting married?"

"Yes, that's why very few people have asked her to be a matchmaker these past two years. The village head said that they were very surprised to hear that the Pingnan Marquis's family had actually asked Wang Ruhua to be their matchmaker. They were all talking about it in private, wondering which family's daughter was so unlucky and what misfortune might befall her."

After Jiang Zhan finished speaking, he handed over a folded piece of paper. "These are the names and addresses of the girls who died violent deaths, provided by the village head and the villagers."

Mu Qingcheng examined the documents carefully. "Four girls, all from the outskirts of the capital? Officer Jiang, you and your men rest first. Tomorrow, find these four families and find out who the girls married into, when they married, and what exactly happened." "Yes!" Jiang Zhan took his leave.

When Mu Qingcheng arrived at the Office of State Affairs, he saw the painter that Lin Shuban had found asking the Liao steward and his wife about Liao Ruyi's appearance.

"Master Mu," Lin, the clerk, greeted him, "Have Constable Jiang and Young Master Lu returned? How did it go? Did they find any clues?"

Mu Qingcheng's gaze fell on Butler Liao and his wife, but she swallowed back the words that were on the tip of her tongue. "Let's talk about this later. Take a look at this first."

She handed Wang Ruhua's last words to Lin Shuban.

"Shenmo Village".

"White egrets float and fly, while black egrets enter Wolf Mountain."

Lin Shuban silently repeated it twice, still puzzled. "What does this mean?"

Mu Qingcheng raised her chin and said in a low voice, "As the saying goes, a dying man's words are good. I suspect this is an important clue that Wang Ruhua left for us before she died, to help us find Liao Ruyi."

"Oh?" Lin Shuban's expression tightened. "I'll go find Dou Zandian right away. The county annals and maps of all the counties under the jurisdiction of Jingzhao Prefecture are managed by Dou Zandian."

After saying that, Lin Shuban couldn't wait to go find Dou Changwen.

Mu Qingcheng sat down at the table and unfolded the parchment scroll.

It seemed to have been made not long ago; you could still faintly smell the gamey, fishy odor, mixed with the stench of swill, making it quite unpleasant to the nose.

This parchment scroll is irregularly shaped, as if it were a scrap cut from a whole parchment, and is about the size of a man's palm.

There wasn't a single word on the parchment; it was all drawings in red ink, but they were messy and showed no skill whatsoever. There were also many markings, including triangles, hollow circles, squares, and crosses.

Mu Qingcheng carefully examined the painting and discovered that although it appeared to be a single whole, it was actually composed of several independent objects. There was a large tree, a bull's head, but the form was similar but the meaning was different, and a wall with coffins of various sizes hanging on it.

And those marks are placed on these few things!
Mu Qingcheng was momentarily confused. "White egrets float and fly, black egrets enter Wolf Mountain. Nothing in the painting corresponds to anything mentioned in the poem!"

"Master Mu, when can we identify the body?"

A voice interrupted Mu Qingcheng's thoughts. She looked up and saw that Butler Liao was standing in front of the desk at some point, looking awkward and tense.

Mu Qingcheng replied gently, "If you are prepared, we will go to identify the body now."

"Just admit it, you'll have to admit it sooner or later." Butler Liao raised his sleeve, wiped the tears from his eyes, and then pulled Liao's mother over. "Master Mu, thank you for your trouble."

Mu Qingcheng put the parchment scroll into her sleeve pocket, stepped out from behind the table, and said, "You're all coming with me to the morgue."

Because of the passage of time, to prevent the headless female corpse from decomposing, it has been placed in an underground cold room for freezing.

Mu Qingcheng instructed the yamen runners to bring the body out.

She didn't rush to lift the white sheet, but first asked about the general situation: "Does Liao Ruyi have any birthmarks or tattoos?"

(End of this chapter)