How could my childhood sweetheart be the current empress?

Miss Fox nodded slightly, walked around the area, thought for a moment, and then said calmly;

"The person you're looking for has been here before, but judging by the strength of the smell, it must have been left here last night."

“Any other strange smells?”

"No, it's just hers."

"That basically confirms that she ran away from home alone, and was not abducted."

Xu Chengling couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He was worried that Qian'er had been kidnapped, but it seemed that was not the case. She ran away alone.

He also tried to sniff like Miss Fox, but he smelled nothing. It turned out that people's physical constitutions cannot be generalized.

If anyone could do it, it wouldn't be Miss Fox's unique skill.

"A-choo, it's so cold."

Suddenly, the willow leaves on the shore were blown, and a cold wind blew quietly. Xu Chengling couldn't help but sneeze and shivered all over. He couldn't help but wrap the only cloth robe on his body tightly.

He didn't expect the temperature to change so much at night. If he had known, he would have put on more clothes before going out.

If he remembered correctly, when Xu Xiqian ran out last night, she was only wearing a thin dress.

I, a grown man, can hardly bear it, let alone a girl.

Being in this scene, he seemed to be able to imagine the pitiful appearance of Xu Xiqian shivering in the cold wind. The dreary night confused her way forward. She was like a stray cat that had lost its way. She had no direction and could only move forward aimlessly.

Thinking of this, Xu Chengling became more determined to bring her back.

"Mr. Xu, put this on."

Seeing this, Miss Fox took off her coat and handed it to him.

"Miss Fox, if you give me your coat, won't you be freezing?"

"It's okay. I'm in good health. But Mr. Xu, if you don't take precautions against the cold, you might catch a cold before you find the person."

Miss Fox raised the corners of her mouth slightly under the mask and put her coat on Xu Chengling.

The coat is warm, with Miss Fox's warm body temperature remaining on it.

This Miss Fox is quite kind.

I guess there must be a pretty and lovely face under this fox mask.

The moon is bright tonight, and the bright moonlight illuminates the earth like daylight. A man and a woman are walking straight along a path along the river bank, the woman in front and the man behind.

Miss Fox followed the scent all the way, and Xu Chengling followed quietly behind her, wondering if there was anything he could do to help her.

The two walked for a while and finally came to the end of the river bank, which was a lake.

Miss Fox stopped and looked at the lake in front of her. Her eyebrows under the mask slightly frowned and she said in a low voice:

"The smell disappears here, and the last place it disappears is... in this lake."

"How could it be, Miss, could it be that..."

Suddenly, Xu Chengling's heartbeat quickened.

This is a suburb of the capital city, surrounded by weeds. Looking around, there is only a cold lake in sight, and there is no place to hide around.

For some reason, Xu Chengling had a bad feeling in his heart. No way, Qian'er might be depressed.

"Mr. Xu, I found a pair of shoes, come and take a look."

At this time, Miss Fox's voice was heard, and she came to the lake with a pair of embroidered shoes in her hand.

Looking at the pair of embroidered shoes, Xu Chengling's heart sank. He walked closer and saw that they were the same pair of embroidered shoes that Xu Xiqian had worn.

The fact that her shoes fell here means that she had been here before.

But this was the outskirts of the capital, very far away from the Prime Minister's Mansion, and she was alone. It was the first time she had traveled so far.

Xu Chengling tightly grasped the embroidered shoes in his hand, and his mind couldn't help but think of Xu Xiqian's charming appearance. He was extremely anxious and just wanted to find her quickly.

If he had known earlier that she was going to get married, he would not have been so cold to Qian'er. It was his indifference that broke her heart.

"Qian'er, where are you? If you are here, come out!"

Xu Chengling couldn't help but shout loudly towards the front. His voice was heard far away and completely broke the tranquility of the night.

Miss Fox stood aside, saying nothing.

After all, there are some things she can't get involved in.

"Qian'er, are you there? Come out if you heard anything, and let's go home!"

But no matter how loudly Xu Chengling shouted, the only response he got was the dead silence in the night that seemed to drown out everything.

At this moment, the bad premonition in his heart was infinitely magnified.

Xu Xiqian's shoes were thrown here. Could it be that... she was so depressed that she jumped into the lake?

For a moment, Xu Chengling's heart was filled with grief, and he could only stare helplessly at the lake in front of him.

Suddenly, he seemed to have made a decision, took off his coat, and walked towards the lake.

The bone-chilling lake water instantly reached above his knees, but Xu Chengling ignored it and walked straight into the lake, going deeper and deeper.

"Hey, Master Xu, don't go into the water!"

Miss Fox turned around and suddenly saw no one. Then she found a figure on the lake.

It is the cold season now and the lake water is icy cold. If you go into the water rashly, you will probably get sick.

"We can't go any further, come back!"

Miss Fox shouted at Xu Chengling, but he seemed not to hear her, so Miss Fox didn't care about anything else and rushed towards the lake.

After a while, both of them climbed onto the shore, their lower body clothes soaked.

Looking at Xu Chengling who was acting on impulse, Miss Fox was furious and pointed at him and said:

"Are you stupid? No matter how eager you are to find someone, you can't be impulsive. If you rush into the lake like this, what if you fall into the water? What if your leg cramps? Can you come back?"

"Let's take a step back and say that even if you want to find someone, have you ever thought that so much time has passed? Even if the person is in the lake, you can only fish him out."

After being criticized by Miss Fox, Xu Chengling realized his impulsiveness just now, but he just couldn't control himself.

But now he has calmed down and apologized to the concerned Miss Fox in front of him:

"I'm sorry to have made you worry."

"At least he's OK. Don't be so impulsive next time."

Miss Fox stood up from the ground. She was wearing a one-piece cloud-patterned brocade dress with a pair of trousers underneath, but they were all soaked.

"Turn your head away first. Oh, and remember to wring out your trouser legs before putting them on, or you'll catch a cold."

The two of them stood back to back. Miss Fox took off her trousers, revealing a pair of slender, white legs that were frozen by the cold wind and turned rosy.

While taking off her trousers, Miss Fox accidentally touched the mask on her face and it fell to the ground.

"Don't look back. If you look back, I will kill you!"

Miss Fox's pretty face was unusually panicked. She quickly picked up the fox mask on the ground and put it back on.

"it is good."

I don’t know why Miss Fox is so excited. Is there something invisible on her face?

After all, this is someone else's privacy. If she doesn't want to show it to you, then don't show it.

After a while, both of them wrung out their trouser legs and put them back on to avoid catching a cold.

At this time, Miss Fox also calmed down and blamed Xu Chengling for his impulsiveness just now, like an old woman who liked to preach.

After blaming her, Miss Fox said:

"Master Xu, please don't be impatient. I haven't finished what I was saying just now. I just walked around the lake and made a new discovery."

"Well, go on."

"First of all, I want to explain why there were embroidered shoes left by the young lady by the lake. Based on my many years of experience in handling cases, this is very likely something the murderer did on purpose in order to fake the appearance of suicide by jumping into the river."

"As for why the murderer did this, he might have wanted to escape the engagement by faking his own death and then go into hiding."

Miss Fox transformed herself into a famous detective and analyzed each one. Of course, this was just her assumption.

When Xu Chengling was confused, Miss Fox continued to analyze:

"The reason why I think the murderer didn't jump into the river is because I made a new discovery. There was a place by the lake where the weeds were flattened, as if they had been stepped on by something."

"It's obvious that the murderer took off his shoes and stood by the lake for a while before walking away in another direction. However, the murderer was obviously inexperienced and left too many clues."

At this point, Miss Fox pushed her non-existent nose bridge, pointed at Xu Chengling and said confidently;

"There is only one truth, the murderer is not here!"

Xu Chengling was stunned after hearing this. What the hell is this murderer? He is just a famous detective and I am killing myself.

But it seems that what the famous detective Miss Fox said makes sense.

Chapter 58: Be a good person in the next life

"So Miss Fox, what you mean is that the eldest lady deliberately faked the illusion of jumping into the river and she is not actually here?"

"Well, I've been handling cases for so many years, I can't go wrong with this."

Miss Fox nodded. As a famous detective, she would never miss any clues.

Xu Chengling looked at the woman in front of him wearing a fox mask and had to admit that she was indeed more experienced in reconnaissance.

If it weren't for the other party's help, he might have continued searching like a headless fly.

"All we have to do now is follow the direction of the footprints and continue tracking them to find her whereabouts."

Miss Fox said this and walked to the footprints. Looking at the direction where the footprints extended, she couldn't help but frowned.

She had just been transferred to the Beijing Tianshi Office not long ago and was not very familiar with the place, so she looked at Xu Chengling and asked calmly:

"Master Xu, where do you think this direction will lead to?"

Miss Fox pointed in a direction to the west and asked, "The moon was bright tonight and the stars were sparse. A tall and ancient building could be vaguely seen standing in the distance."

"This direction, let me think, could it be Lingyin Temple?"

Xu Chengling frowned and thought for a while, then an idea suddenly came to his mind and he soon had an idea in his mind.

If you want to know what is to the west of the capital, Lingyin Temple is located in that direction.

Coincidentally, Xu Chengling had accompanied Ling'er to Lingyin Temple before, so he still had some impression of it.

Could it be that Qian'er went to Lingyin Temple?

This is not impossible. She went to Lingyin Temple some time ago to pray for a lucky charm and to predict her marriage, so she should know the location of Lingyin Temple.

As long as there is such a possibility, Xu Chengling intends to give it a try.

"I know the location of Lingyin Temple. I'll take you there."

"Okay, let's go take a look."

Miss Fox nodded and accompanied Xu Chengling towards Lingyin Temple.

The weather happened to be good tonight. Under the bright moonlight, they could see the way forward clearly and would not accidentally fall into the ditch.

Xu Chengling walked in front, and Miss Fox held the goose-wing knife at her waist in her arms and followed him slowly.

"Ms. Fox, thank you so much for helping me tonight."

Xu Chengling turned around, looked at Miss Fox beside him, and thanked her.

With someone following you, at least you have someone to chat with along the way.

When I first met Miss Fox, I thought she was a cold person, but in fact Miss Fox is very enthusiastic, helpful, and a little gossipy.

Miss Fox shook her head slightly, the corners of her mouth raised slightly under the mask, and she said slowly:

"No need to thank me. Finding people is one of the duties of the Heavenly Supervisor. Besides, I admire your love with the young lady. I hope you two can finally get married."

"hope so……"

Xu Chengling couldn't help but smile bitterly. In fact, he had always regarded Qian'er as his own sister. He was just afraid that the other party's blessing might be in vain.