Firefly Journey

Chapter 251 Apricot Blossoms in the Misty Rain of Jiangnan (11)

"Is it really an old friend?"

The shrewd madam immediately recognized the two men's extraordinary nature. At first, nothing seemed amiss, but it wasn't until the two men remained unmoved by the courtesan's advances that she belatedly realized what was going on.

These two people may be distinguished guests, or they may have ulterior motives.

Duan Feibai frowned. He hadn't expected the madam to be so cunning. Being too curious and too clever wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Whatever you ask, just say it. If you say another unnecessary word, you won't see tomorrow's sun."

Duan Feibai abandoned his gentle and refined demeanor, his expression turning cold, which frightened Granny Jin so much that her face turned pale.

She had already realized that the two men were definitely not guests looking for fun; from the very beginning, their target was Gu Bingyan.

"Before you, has anyone been to the crime scene?"

Aunt Jin shook her head and recalled, "The maid who knocked on the door was Cui Rong. She has always been timid, and when no one opened the door, she came to find me."

I led a bunch of servants and forcefully broke down Yan'er's door. When I went in, I was terrified.

Yan'er lay on the ground, her clothes disheveled, with damp wine stains still clinging to her body. I sent someone to check on her, but she was already lifeless.

The Second Young Master Lu, the one from earlier, was fast asleep in bed; we had to wake him up.

Aunt Jin's statement was consistent with what Su Lai and the other two women had said earlier, only with a few more details, but no key clues.

Duan Feibai thought for a moment and said, "Lead the way, I want to see the room from that day."

Normally, that room is the crime scene, and it should be preserved intact until the matter is fully investigated.

To everyone's surprise, Granny Jin hesitated for a moment before saying, "The government officials came, and some professional officers investigated sporadically for a few days. I don't know if they found anything. In the end, the prefect ordered that everything was fine, and so..."

"So what?" Duan Feibai felt a surge of blood rushing to his forehead.

"So...so I had someone clean out that room and reopen it for business."

Snapped!

Duan Feibai slapped the armrest of the chair, startling the madam once again.

Duan Feibai's anger surged. This He Changqing was truly a piece of trash! He knew He Changqing was afraid of the Lu family and the powerful clans of Yunzhou, but he never expected that He Changqing would disregard the laws of the court for his own safety. He was a disgrace to the officials of the Great Chu!

Suppressing his anger, Duan Feibai, who was fiercely opposed to evil, stood up and asked, "Besides Lu Huai, did anyone else enter the deceased's room that day?"

The madam thought for a few seconds: "No, after Young Master Lu went in, he locked the door from the inside, so we had to break down the door the next day. Besides, he was afraid of being disturbed, so he arranged for his entourage to stay in the outer rooms, so the people in our building dared not approach."

"Besides the people in your building, who else does she usually associate with?"

Duan Feibai added, "Not counting those guests, I mean the people outside who get close to her, especially men."

"This..." Aunt Jin seemed to have something difficult to say.

"explain."

Aunt Jin gritted her teeth and said, "Actually, of the three girls who are skilled in playing the qin, xiao and di, only Shuixiu and Ping'er were raised by me since they were little. Yan'er was bought two years ago."

The man who brought her there was also surnamed Gu, and he said he was her brother. I only met that man once, and he never came to see Yan'er again, but Yan'er would visit him every few days.

Strangely, even after Yan'er's incident, he never came, and he didn't even show his face.

Duan Feibai and Lin Yuanran exchanged a glance, finally finding some useful information, and continued to press for answers:

Where does that man live?

The madam was utterly terrified and confessed everything: "I worked as an accountant at the Green Pine Inn."

Duan Feibai nodded: "Does the government... know anything about these things?"

The madam shook her head: "The statements they took were very simple, and they didn't ask many questions. I didn't dare to say anything because I thought it was better to avoid trouble."

Duan Feibai almost laughed out of anger. "You, He Changqing, you're too perfunctory! A living, breathing human life, and you just go through the motions? Fine, fine, let's see how I deal with you."

It's time for a change in the officialdom of Yunzhou.

Duan Feibai asked some more questions, but made no progress, so the two decided to go back first.

The man who sold Gu Bingyan to the brothel was staying at the inn where they were staying. After going around in circles, the clue turned out to be right next to them.

Before leaving, Duan Feibai didn't forget to tell the madam: "Keep the questions I asked you to your heart. If anyone asks you for confirmation later, just say what you said before."

Of course, if I were the one contacting you, I would have to tell you everything.

Grandma Jin nodded hurriedly, "I understand, I understand."

Having found the clue, the two stopped and jumped out of the window, leaving without a trace.

The madam hurriedly closed the window, patted her chest in shock, and pondered the identities of the two men.

After thinking it over and over, I still couldn't come up with a solution, so I had no choice but to push open the door and go out.

……

Lin Yuanran and Duan Feibai returned to the inn and sat facing each other in Duan Feibai's room, lighting a kerosene lamp.

“Tomorrow, I think we should go see that accountant,” Lin Yuanran said.

"No rush, someone will come to visit tomorrow," Duan Feibai said meaningfully.

"You mean..."

“That’s right. Given Lu Huai’s spoiled nature, he’ll take his revenge no sooner or later. But I think it’s late at night, and his elders are probably resting, so his revenge will be tomorrow.”

Lin Yuanran smiled nonchalantly: "Just a clown, he can't cause any big trouble."

"And you, when he comes to your door tomorrow, are you going to reveal your identity?"

Duan Feibai said, "We've investigated everything that needed to be investigated. There's nothing left to hide. It's time to teach them a lesson."

"Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the king; on the shores of the earth, all people are subjects of the king. The State of Chu belongs to the people of Chu, and Yunzhou belongs to the people of Chu. It is by no means the private garden of the Lu family and other powerful clans."

Lin Yuanran remarked with emotion, "It seems His Majesty takes this matter very seriously."

“It’s impossible not to take it seriously. His Majesty is an upright man who cannot tolerate any wrongdoing. He used to like Lu Xianju very much, but I never expected that after retiring to his hometown, he would be so indulgent towards his descendants.”

"If it's not indulgence, but rather that he was originally a bad person who is only now revealing his true nature?"

Lin Yuanran stumped Duan Feibai with his question. After a long while, Duan Feibai finally replied, "Then let's handle it according to the law. Seniority is not a weapon to escape the law."

……

Lin Yuanran chatted with Duan Feibai for a while, and seeing that it was late at night, he returned to his room.

He didn't notice as he closed the door that someone was standing in the shadows at the corner of the stairs.

The man was wearing a plain-colored, patched robe, and there was a look of satisfaction on his face.

The middle-aged man walked down the stairs and back into the cramped room, where he also lit the kerosene lamp.

He took out a dish of peanuts from the cupboard, and then pulled out a bottle of aged liquor that had been hidden under the bed for who knows how many years, and began to drink it with relish.