It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"Thank you."

Xiang Zhehua was very confused.

Before coming here, she had also thought that Xiang Geling arranged her to the investigation team, maybe he wanted her to help cover up something. However, because Xiang Geling did not explain it specifically, and she encountered indiscriminate assassinations along the way, she always thought that "the peace faction's revenge on Jiang Yuesheng" was just a false news released by the hostile forces. However, when she just arrived in Jinxiu City, she met her own family here, which made Xiang Zhehua start to wonder if the mastermind behind the blood-stained clothes case was her grandfather.

If so, is she leading the case in the wrong direction?

At the very least, she can't handle cases with her best efforts like before.

Xiang Zhehua recalled a piece of news she had heard, saying that her grandfather had tried to sell her to the new Lord of Yunyang at the welcome party. If that was the case, then her grandfather had sent her here to... seduce her?

Xiang Zhehua was thinking wildly, following Li De, looking at his back with a complicated expression. Over the years, she had rejected many outstanding young men in Nanchu because she was indeed arrogant and looked down on those noblemen who put on airs. But if her family really encountered a crisis and had to let her sacrifice her looks, Xiang Zhehua would not be stingy.

The problem wasn't whether she was willing or not, but... she didn't know how to do it.

Xiang Zhehua, a girl who had never paid for others, suddenly had to do this kind of work. Although it was not possible to judge whether Xiang Geling's purpose was to sacrifice her to win over Li De, Xiang Zhehua had an advantage, which was to plan ahead for everything so as to be prepared for any eventuality.

Thinking of this, Xiang Zhehua let out a breath and stretched out his hand towards Lid's back. When he was about to touch it, he pulled it back with a hesitant look on his face. After thinking for a long time, Xiang Zhehua made a simple and plain decision.

Anyway, I don’t know how to pursue boys, so I just don’t want to think about it too much.

Tonight, just put him to bed.

33. Unparalleled Achievement

Li De naturally had no time to think about what Xiang Zhehua was thinking. After he arrived in Sai'an Village, he began to ask the villagers about Jiang Yuesheng's past.

When they heard that they were here to investigate Jiang Yuesheng, all the relatives and friends in the village immediately gathered at the entrance of the village.

"Jiang Yuesheng... is a very good person... but he is too impulsive..."

"Generally speaking, he's not a bad person. He just has a bad temper. We can all tolerate it..."

"I heard that his son is quite dissatisfied with the Lord, and often complains in the village that Nanchu is unfair to their family..."

"It is said that he once secretly watched the widows in the village taking a bath..."

Li De pretended to take notes, and Xiang Zhehua followed him with a cold look in her eyes. Even though she had no experience in investigating cases, she could tell that these comments were actually meaningless. However, Li De didn't seem to dislike them. He always gave people a good-tempered feeling, listened very patiently, and would occasionally express a few thoughts. In the blink of an eye, they chatted for an entire afternoon.

In the evening, the villagers invited Li De to their home for dinner, and Li De happily went, bringing Xiang Zhehua to the banquet. The dishes here were much better than expected, but there was still a big difference from what Xiang Zhehua usually ate. Xiang Zhehua forced herself to eat half full out of politeness, and then it was completely difficult to swallow. On the contrary, Li De ate everything on the table like a whirlwind, drank some wine with the villagers, and then stopped asking about Jiang Yuesheng, and instead began to ask about the family who was killed.

"The family that was killed was headed by Yuanye, a well-known nobleman in our area. He often did charity work and built a porridge shed in the winter... He was considered a man with a conscience."

"He went to brothels quite often, and several courtesans had relationships with him..."

"I don't remember any bullying of men or women, but among the nobles, there aren't many good people..."

Lid listened silently and continued to record. When it was late at night, Lid stood up and said goodbye. He looked around the yard and left with Xiang Zhehua.

When there were only two of them, I asked Zhehua Lide:

"Did you find out any news?"

Lid shook his head and said to Zhehua with a smile:

"I'll take you somewhere."

Xiang Zhehua was puzzled, but she followed Lid anyway. The two of them walked along a deserted dirt road. Xiang Zhehua looked at the stars in the sky, wondering what she was thinking. After a while, she heard a low sigh from beside her:

"really……"

Looking forward to Zhehua, she found that Lid had led her to the paddy field at some point. There were all kinds of crops planted here, but because no one had taken care of them for a long time, almost all of them had wilted. It rains a lot in the south, so even if no one takes care of the crops in the fields, they can survive for a long time, but with weeds growing everywhere, the life of each crop was not very satisfactory.

Xiang Zhehua looked at Lid, Lid turned around and smiled, saying:

"Don't you think the people in the village today are very strange? We ate so much of their food, but they didn't feel bad. In fact, they are already dead, but they haven't been buried yet. After all, some people died at the age of eight and were not buried until they were eighty."

Xiang Zhehua only felt a cold wind blowing from behind, and his shirt was instantly soaked with cold sweat.

Various legends instantly came to her mind. Witchcraft was prevalent in Lingnan, and it was said that it could control the dead. Lide's words made Xiang Zhehua think of many things that she couldn't think about. She felt like a group of people were invited to a meal when they passed by a cemetery. Everyone at the same table was eating happily, but she was the only one who suddenly realized that the food in front of her was actually rats, eyeballs, and wriggling maggots...

Lid dusted off his legs and laughed:

"I'm kidding. But these people in the village are not born and raised here. It seems that Xiang Linglong is very vigilant and replaced the people in Sai'an Village in advance. The new people are disguised as villagers of Sai'an Village, but they are not the natives here. They will not spend time taking care of the flowers and plants in the homes of the natives, nor do they come here to continue farming."

He frowned and said to Zhehua:

"Then the clue here is not..."

Lid nodded and said:

"Yeah, it's broken again."

Xiang Zhehua had mixed feelings. She vaguely felt relieved in her heart, but she also felt a little ashamed of herself for being relieved; at the same time, she also realized that Lid was smarter than she thought. She didn't find any flaws throughout the whole process, but Lid had a rough guess after just chatting with the villagers for a few sentences.

If he were allowed to continue investigating, he might actually find out something.

Xiang Zhehua had something hidden in her heart. She was already taciturn and was even more unwilling to speak. She followed behind Lid with her head down.

Li De and Xiang Zhehua returned to Jinxiu City and found a hotel to stay in.

That night, Li De lit a candle in the house and sorted out the events of the blood-stained clothes case. From the current description, the blood-stained clothes case itself is not complicated. It is probably that Jiang Yuesheng saw someone robbing a woman and stepped forward to stop him. After failing to stop him, he was angry and killed the other person's family. Afterwards, he found out that the woman was not a good person. He was thrown into prison for killing 32 people by mistake. In this case, all 32 members of Yuanye's family died, and the prostitute who pretended to be a woman also hit her head against the wall and died. The villagers who had lived with Jiang Yuesheng for many years were all replaced, and all the witnesses and evidence have been buried in the sea.

The most difficult cases in the world are not necessarily complicated, because the more complicated the case, the more likely it is that something will go wrong. Looking at the bloody clothes case, it is not difficult to see that the so-called forced abduction of a woman was a trap set by Yuanye and the prostitute for Jiang Yuesheng, but Yuanye and the prostitute were all dead, so their confessions before their death were equivalent to confirming the case, and there was no possibility of overturning the verdict.

Reed sat at the table with a calm expression, and it was difficult for others to tell what he was thinking.

In the hotel, Xiang Zhehua lived next door to Li De. What she wanted to do most now was to go to the City Lord's Mansion and ask Xiang Linglong whether this matter was done by the peace faction. If so, she would try to delay Li De, if not, she would follow Li De to investigate the case wholeheartedly. No matter which one, it was better than the current situation where there was no way forward.

But she didn't dare go because Reed had prohibited the members of the investigation team from acting alone in private from the first day.

Xiang Zhehua thought about it until midnight, and finally gritted her teeth and started dressing up in front of the mirror.

At the same time, in Jinxiu City, Xiang Linglong blew away the tea leaves in the cup, took a sip, and looked at the night sky in the distance. One of his arms was fixed with a splint and could not move, but he did not look painful or anxious, and he still had a smile on his face:

"How far do you think the investigation team can go this time?"

The captain of the guards did not answer directly, but whispered:

"Xiang Zhehua's identity..."

Xiang Linglong replied calmly:

"She's just a niece, not that important. What we have to do this time is to solve the major problems both inside and outside of our country at once..."

The chief guard looked at Xiang Linglong quietly. Xiang Linglong's eyes drifted away, and he muttered to himself:

"This is an unprecedented achievement. An unprecedented achievement..."

34. Night Raid

That night, Xiang Zhehua knocked on Reed's door.

At this time, Reed was still sorting out the various unreasonable things behind the blood-stained clothes case, so his attention was not on Xiang Zhehua.

It is said that if you want to know who is behind the scenes, you only need to see who wins in the end. However, this method is not applicable at present. All parties are hiding in the dark, and no one will show up easily. If one party wins, it means the game is over. What is the point of finding out who is the murderer behind the scenes?

The most difficult part of solving a puzzle is real-time reasoning, not reviewing it afterwards.

Lide deduced all the possible outcomes, and when he came to his senses, he found himself sitting on the bed, with Xiang Zhehua standing in front of him. She leaned over, held Lide's arms, and pushed him down on the bed; then she sat on him, her expression calm and somewhat scary. If her body hadn't been trembling slightly, Lide would have thought she was a skilled person.

"You're not sleeping in the middle of the night and come to my room to do this?"

Lid asked. He then noticed that Xiang Zhehua was wearing makeup, and the makeup surprised him. Xiang Zhehua was a cold person, not unkind, nor was she detached from the world, but she had a kind of pride in her heart. Just like the most hardworking female student in the class, she was not serious, but she held her breath and put most of her energy into studying, so she looked out of tune with others.

But Xiang Zhehua's makeup tonight was very seductive, which made Lid realize that this girl was indeed a bit charming from the inside. She had a pointed chin and a pair of seductive eyes. Although her figure was not particularly hot, her waist was very thin and her legs were very elastic after training. When riding on him, it gave people the feeling that no one would sleep tonight and the king would not hold court early from now on.

Xiang Zhehua said nothing, but stared at Lid.

Reed also looked at her silently. The two looked at each other, and after a moment, Reed stared into those eyes and asked softly:

"does it worth?"

Xiang Zhehua's face turned slightly red as if she had just drunk some wine. She began to unbutton her shirt and answered quietly:

"In Nanchu, family is everything to a person. When one prospers, all prosper; when one suffers, all suffer... We are all birds in a cage, unable to escape, and will perish with the destruction of the cage. Everyone is the same, living on a boat, and can only do everything we can to prevent the boat from sinking."

Lid laughed and said:

"So you are willing to..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

Xiang Zhehua interrupted him forcefully, perhaps realizing that if Lide continued to speak, he might be shaken, or perhaps he simply didn't want to listen to so many big truths. Lide had just finished saying half a sentence when Xiang Zhehua suddenly leaned over and blocked his mouth.

Reed narrowed his eyes slightly.

Although Origami was a terrible kisser, she did try her best.

After a long time, she moved her lips away from Zhehua, distanced herself from him again, stared into his eyes, and said in a hostile tone:

"You talk too much."

Lid said nothing. After a moment, Xiang Zhehua added:

"I am the one molesting you now, please behave yourself."

Lid thought for a long time and replied with two words:

"...You please?"

Xiang Zhehua took off her coat and threw it on the bed, then tried to undress Li De. However, because her hands were shaking, she couldn't untie him after a long time. Finally, even Li De couldn't stand it anymore. He felt that if she continued to procrastinate like this, Xiang Zhehua wouldn't be able to solve the problem by tomorrow morning, so he took the initiative to hold Xiang Zhehua's hand and help her undress him.

Xiang Zhehua's face suddenly turned red, but she didn't say anything.

Lid said to Origami with a sigh:

"You are so unprofessional. Can you show some professionalism? How can you molest someone and make them take the initiative?"

He clenched his fists and whispered:

"Once is strange, twice is familiar..."

After taking off her clothes, Xiang Zhehua didn't know what to do and sat on Lid, at a loss as to what to do.

Lide sighed, turned around and pressed Xiang Zhehua under him. Xiang Zhehua breathed a sigh of relief and removed her hand from her chest. Then she found that Lide had pulled the quilt over her and wrapped her up like a cocoon with only her head exposed. Lide found a rope to tie her up, got up and sat at the table to drink a cup of tea, calmed the blood in her body, and said to Xiang Zhehua:

"Then wait until you are more proficient before you come. Otherwise, I always feel that I am at a disadvantage, both physically and technically. No matter how I look at it, you are taking advantage of me. My home minister once told me that there are too many bad women out there, and boys must protect themselves when they are out there."

Smoke was coming out of Zhehuaqi's head.

Lid sat at the table, half-dressed, and continued to think about the blood-stained clothes case. He did not shy away from Zhehua, but instead said to her who was struggling:

"Don't worry about it. Even if you succeed tonight, it's useless. I got nothing. Besides, I advise you not to get involved. With your status and ability, not only can you not help your family, but you may also drag down the peace faction standing on the dry shore. If I wasn't sure that you had no contact with outsiders, I would have reason to suspect that you and Xiang Linglong had colluded tonight, which would interfere with my judgment."

Xiang Zhehua bit her lip and said in defense:

"It has nothing to do with my family. I want to do this myself."

Lid nodded:

"Let's just take it as it is. After all, my charm is really too great, and a girl like you will inevitably lose control. But you should still restrain yourself, so as not to ruin my reputation. If I can't find a wife, you will be the first to bear the blame."

He turned his head towards Zhehua and ignored Lid.

Li De did not suspect that Xiang Zhehua was following orders, because the two of them spent a lot of time alone on the way, but Xiang Zhehua did not express anything. This means that she was not aware of this at all. It was only after she arrived in Jinxiu City and met her uncle that she began to realize that something was wrong and began to actively look for opportunities. However, Li De did not relax his vigilance against the peace faction, because many calculations in this world do not require the parties involved to know. As long as you have a better understanding of the psychology of the parties involved, you can integrate many conspiracies into coincidences.

Lid tapped his hands on the table twice, and suddenly had an idea. He said to Zhehua:

"You sleep here for one night, and we'll go meet Xiang Linglong tomorrow. Remember, when we meet tomorrow, your face should be flushed, your eyes should be a little moist, your clothes should not be so neat, and your steps should be smaller..."

Xiang Zhehua turned back and stared at Lid:

"You want to test my uncle? But I'm afraid it's hard for me to behave as you wish. Blushing, with wet eyes and all that, I can't do it."

Lid rubbed her head and replied with a smile:

"This is easy. Just slap yourself twice."

35. An explanation

The news that Xiang Zhehua spent the night in Lid's room naturally could not be hidden from Jinxiu City Lord Xiang Linglong.

The whole city is someone else's territory, so it's normal to place some spies there. However, because Lid's specific strength is unknown, these spies are basically far away from the rooms in the inn, so no one knows what happened in the room.

After listening to his subordinates' report, Xiang Linglong narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then said:

"interesting."

He stood up, walked around the room with his hands behind his back, and continued:

"He plans to join the peace faction to test our reaction? Does he think we are the peace faction? Or does he just want to test our identity? No matter which one it is, he will definitely come to see me tomorrow. What we have to do is to set up a new situation and make the water here even more muddy."