The carriage was on its way out of the Ding Mansion.
Zhong Li frowned, gazing at the street scene.
Lu Wuxie looked at the woman opposite him, her mind clearly elsewhere, and asked, "What's wrong? No result?"
She shook her head, her gaze fixed on Lu Wuxie's slightly worried face. "No, it's just that the case has become more complicated."
"How so?" Lu Wuxie inquired.
"I'm now suspecting whether the corpse in the yamen's morgue is actually Tan Ling's," Zhong Li said, feeling a bit discouraged. She recounted everything that had happened at the Ding Mansion that day.
To be honest, since meeting Lu Wuxie, working with him on cases, and then transferring to Dali Temple, this was the first time she had encountered such a difficult case. There were too many deceased, and she felt they were being assigned to the wrong people, but upon closer consideration, these were all just her speculations.
"If you don't think it's Tan Ling's, then whose could it be?" Lu Wuxie asked.
Zhong Li pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and then dipped her fingertips in a bit of water to draw an arrow on the table in front of her, writing a few numbers above it: twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine.
Lu Wuxie merely glanced at it and already knew what she was doing.
"The first victim died in the autumn of the twenty-seventh year of Anhe. The second victim, the woman currently presumed to be Tan Ling, was murdered half a year ago, in the autumn of the twenty-eighth year of Anhe. The last victim, Qi Shuishui, was killed around the time of the Little Year festival in the twenty-ninth year of Anhe," Zhong Li said. Looking at the timeline before her, she noted the time intervals of a year and half a year, and continued:
"The killer's pace of murder is becoming more frequent. At this rate, there will be more victims before long."
Thinking of this, she looked up at the man opposite her. "The madam mentioned earlier that Tan Ling and Ding Xialan disappeared together. If that corpse is indeed Tan Ling's, and she has been dead for half a year, then where is Ding Xialan now?"
"If that corpse is not Tan Ling's, will finding Ding Xialan reveal the answer?" Lu Wuxie finished Zhong Li's thought.
Zhong Li nodded.
Following the killer's habit of disposing of bodies, she had instructed Dong Qing to lead the entire yamen in a thorough search of the southern suburbs. Half a day had passed, and the southern suburbs were not vast. Since Dong Qing had not yet sent back any news, she could already guess the likely outcome: no more bodies would be found.
"Alright, let's split up," Lu Wuxie said after a moment of thought, his finger tracing over the drying writing on the table.
Zhong Li looked up at him.
Lu Wuxie didn't answer immediately but instead took a sheepskin scroll from a small cabinet beside him and unfurled it, revealing a map of the entire Yongcheng.
His fingertip circled the southern suburbs and then pointed to a residential house closest to the southern suburbs when entering the city.
"Based on your deduction of the principle of 'far disposal, near burial,' this is the only residential area in Yongcheng that fits," he said.
Zhong Li followed his fingertip, her eyes tracing a circle around Fenghe Street. Indeed, as Lu Wuxie had said, this was the closest residential area to the southern suburbs. The rest were commercial streets and the yamen.
The possibility of the commercial streets being the location was slim. For one thing, Yongcheng had no curfew. Furthermore, when Qi Shuishui died, the commercial streets were brightly lit, and during the Little Year period, people were celebrating the new year, with crowds coming and going. If the killer wanted to dispose of a body, they would hardly choose such a time.
Therefore, only this residential area was a possibility.
"This is the wealthy district?" Zhong Li asked, having lived in Yongcheng for some time and making a judgment based on her memory.
Lu Wuxie nodded. "It is."
"So, the Prince's intention of splitting up is..."
"You and Master Dong will form a group. Strengthen defenses in this area to prevent the killer from committing another crime or… discarding a body. As for me," he paused, "Give me two days, and I will surely find out where Ding Xianglan took Tan Ling, or at least bring back some clues."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Li looked up at Lu Wuxie. She recalled that whenever she got stuck on a case at a critical juncture, he always brought her unexpected news.
There was the fake Qiao Fu earlier, then Peng Yong's information in the Miao Jie case, and Chu Mu's secret in the Lingshan case. He was like the anchor in her heart, as if with him there was nothing that couldn't be accomplished.
"Then... I'll leave it to you."
Zhong Li's lips trembled slightly. After a long deliberation, she spoke.
Lu Wuxie looked at the clear and beautiful face of the woman opposite him. The curtain outside the carriage was blown open by the gentle breeze, and the warm sun shone in, illuminating half of her profile. He couldn't help but curve his lips. Though it was a short sentence, he knew she had placed her complete trust in him.
Two days later.
Since Zhong Li and Dong Qing had increased patrols in the wealthy district, no more bodies had been found in the southern suburbs for the past two days.
During this time, Dong Qing, aware that the case had already alerted the higher-ups, had once again ordered his men to search the Southern Lake. Only after confirming that no new bodies were found did he feel somewhat at ease.
"Sizheng Zhong."
Zhong Li looked at the green ribbon in her hand, a little lost in thought. In the two days since Lu Wuxie had left, she had reorganized the case and discovered a detail she had overlooked – this ribbon in her hand. It seemed like an ordinary item, especially the coarse, inexpensive material it was made from.
However, upon closer examination, she found a flaw.
Most of the materials used by nobles in Yongcheng were brocade. As for those used by servants, they were generally hemp cloth.
Common hemp cloth was also divided into many types: linen, ramie, jute, sisal, and abaca.
Most of the hemp produced in Yongcheng was linen. However, the ribbon in her hand was made of sisal. This type of hemp was not common in the Southern Yue Kingdom, and nobles generally did not wear it. However, servants with a bit of wealth often used this fabric.
In Yongcheng, to her knowledge, only two establishments sold this type of fabric: Meng Family's ready-made clothing and fabric shop, and Xue Family's silk shop.
"Someone!" Zhong Li called out.
A young bailiff quickly entered the inner hall.
"Take this to the Meng Family and Xue Family shops and inquire which one can produce this color. Also, ask which maids bought this material half a year ago."
"Yes!" The bailiff took the ribbon from Zhong Li and hurried out.
"He's back, he's back!" Zhong Li finished giving her instructions and was about to pick up the autopsy report to continue her research when Dong Qing rushed in.
"Master Dong, why the hurry?" Zhong Li asked.
"The Prince, the Prince is back, and he brought a young lady with him," Dong Qing said.
Zhong Li felt a surge of joy upon hearing that Lu Wuxie had returned. Hearing that he had brought a lady with him, she guessed it might be Ding Xialan and got up to walk outside.
After seeing him again after only two days, she suddenly had a feeling, such was her anticipation to see him.
"Li'er." Lu Wuxie walked over to her, casually handed his heavy outer cloak to a servant, and looked at the familiar, pretty woman opposite him with a smile. "We haven't seen each other for two days. Did you miss this Prince?"
Zhong Li was taken aback. The anticipation that had been in her heart was instantly dispelled by his brazen remark.
She coughed lightly, her smile that had just appeared on her face slightly receding. "Since the Prince has returned, you must have found the result. Master Dong mentioned you brought a lady. I hope it's not some romantic entanglement, is it?"
Lu Wuxie looked at the stubborn woman opposite him and gave a wry smile. He still had a challenge with this block of iron.