"Yes," the clerk nodded, "The County Public Security Bureau sent someone over, also specifically asking to see this file."

"What time?"

"About an hour ago," the clerk said, looking strangely at the file in Jiang Cheng's hand, "It was just dawn, and I was still sleeping when I was woken up by the knocking."

"The person came in and asked specifically to see the file for this case. How would I know about a case from so long ago? I had to search through the archived materials for a long time to find it."

"And now, just when I put it back, you guys show up," the clerk said, scratching his nose awkwardly, then whispering, "If I'd known, I wouldn't have put it back."

"What did the person look like?" Chen Xiaomeng asked.

The clerk blinked, as if not understanding the question, and said vaguely, "They were from the County Public Security Bureau, wearing their uniforms, and carrying a cloth bag."

"I'm asking what the person looked like?" Chen Xiaomeng seemed to realize something, her emotions becoming a little uncontrollable, and her voice rising, "Man or woman?"

"Woman," the clerk replied immediately.

Woman... A strange emotion flashed in the eyes of both Jiang Cheng and Chen Xiaomeng.

"One woman or two women?"

The clerk seemed unable to understand why the county leaders were interested in the person from the County Public Security Bureau, but he vaguely felt that this might be related to something very important, so he stopped thinking about it and recalled, "Only one woman came in to check the information. As for whether there was anyone outside the door, I don't know."

"Do you remember what the woman looked like?"

"This..." The clerk looked embarrassed, "She was wearing a wide-brimmed hat. I... I was just focused on finding the information for her. It was dark at the time, so... I didn't pay attention."

A woman who came to the Anping Town Gazetteer Office alone at this time to inquire about the Xiaoshijian Village abduction case from 20 years ago... Jiang Cheng's expression became more and more intriguing.

He immediately thought of the missing Yu Man and Li Lu.

Although the person was wearing a Public Security uniform, Jiang Cheng felt that, at least for him, getting such a uniform was not difficult.

Chen Xiaomeng obviously realized this as well, and asked quickly, "Do you remember which direction she went after she left?"

"I know this," the clerk swallowed and pointed outside the door, "She turned right after going out."

Chen Xiaomeng immediately got up and walked outside.

"Wait," Jiang Cheng called out to her, then looked the clerk up and down with a subtle gaze, making the latter's goosebumps rise.

"Did that person do anything else here?" Jiang Cheng asked seriously.

"She also borrowed the Xiaoshijian Village resident records," the clerk answered cautiously, fearing that he might offend the county leaders.

Chen Xiaomeng suddenly stopped.

"Where are the resident records?" Jiang Cheng tapped the table lightly with his fingers, his eyes slightly narrowed.

The clerk immediately went to find them, and in less than a minute, a book labeled "Anping Town Xiaoshijian Village Resident Records" appeared in Jiang Cheng's hands.

He pretended to flip through it.

But after only half a minute, Jiang Cheng's pupils suddenly contracted. He found a familiar name on it: Liu Cunyi.

The position column read "Village Chief."

He is the current village chief of Xiaoshijian Village, and the one who invited Jiang Cheng and others to Xiaoshijian Village.

But what Jiang Cheng was really interested in was not this, but the parenthesis after Liu Cunyi's name.

The words "Qian Jianguo" were scrawled inside the parentheses.

Seeing this scene, Chen Xiaomeng's face darkened. She immediately thought of the three memorial tablets found in the ruins of the Qian family ancestral hall: Qian Jianguo, Qian Jianshe, Qian Jianxiu.

So the current village chief of Xiaoshijian Village is Qian Jianguo, the son of the old Village Chief Qian who survived back then, but changed his name to escape the ghost's pursuit.

No wonder...

Now his behavior can be explained.

And the reason why Su Ying burned down the Qian family ancestral hall but left the memorial tablets of Qian Jianguo, Qian Jianshe, and Qian Jianxiu alone was like wanting to remind everyone that these three people had faked their deaths and were still alive.

According to the resident records, the Qian family had a total of 5 children, of which the eldest and second eldest had died, the cause of death was unknown, and Qian Jianguo, the third child, changed his name and became the village chief of Xiaoshijian Village.

Qian Jianshe is the fourth child, after him...

After Jiang Cheng turned a page, he suddenly discovered that the page with Qian Jianshe's information was missing, and the base of the page had jagged edges.

Obviously, it had been secretly torn off.

"Damn it," Chen Xiaomeng cursed softly.

Jiang Cheng didn't avoid the clerk and directly took out the photo he found in the Qian family's abandoned building.

After comparing some physical features, Jiang Cheng confirmed that the hunter with the shotgun was the eldest Qian Jianye, the one with the abacus was the second child Qian Jianlin, who was in business, and the one holding the book was the third child Qian Jianguo, who now goes by the name Liu Cunyi and serves as the current village chief of Xiaoshijian Village.

Then the remaining person wearing a light blue apron should be the fourth child, Qian Jianshe.

"It's the owner of the Anping Inn," Chen Xiaomeng said in a low voice.

She remembered that the owner's surname was also Liu, and he always wore an apron and was busy in the kitchen, and his cooking skills were quite good.

He is responsible for running the inn in the town, and then taking care of his disfigured sister, Qian Jianxiu.

At the same time, he is also responsible for guiding the "experts" who are attracted by the generous rewards. The previous dispute between him and the village chief was just a play put on by the two brothers together.

The purpose is to gain the trust of Jiang Cheng and his team.

Jiang Cheng took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

This should be the whole case.

Then they stopped talking nonsense with the clerk and got up and left.

The clerk, who had been raided by two groups of "big shots" in a row, breathed a long sigh of relief, and at the same time silently prayed to his ancestors to bless him so that he wouldn't lose his job because of this.

"But it's also quite strange," the clerk muttered to himself while tidying up the tables and chairs, "Why do their accents sound so strange? Could they all be assigned from other places?"

He shook his head and continued to wipe the tables and chairs, until the wooden tables were polished to a shine before stopping.

After leaving the Gazetteer Office, Jiang Cheng and Chen Xiaomeng immediately accelerated their pace and headed towards Anping Inn.

They originally thought that Li Lu and Yu Man were trapped in Xiaoshijian Village, and might even have met with misfortune.

But the facts told them that they were overthinking it.

One of them, or even both of them, had left Xiaoshijian Village before them. Chen Xiaomeng had not felt this kind of suppression everywhere for a long time, which made her very depressed.

There are many people who pretend to be weak to deceive others, and this time they were really fooled.

"Who do you think it will be?" Chen Xiaomeng asked coldly, "Or are they two working together?"

Jiang Cheng also put away his previous joking attitude and became serious, "It should be one person, two people are too obvious," he said as he walked, "And... do you think we could have left so smoothly without leaving someone in the village?"