After Pei Xia explained to the two catchers that there was no need to let the medicine pickers wait at home every day for summons, so as not to disturb the people too much, he returned to the county seat to say goodbye to Lord Qian, and then returned to Qiuzhou City.

If she went to Haozhou to investigate the case, she had to report to her superior, Lord Cao, and apply for approval. She was recommended by Mu Changan to come to the Criminal Prison Division, so she had to be more cautious, if someone with a heart caught her mistake, Mu Changan would be implicated, and it would be difficult to ask Mu Changan for anything in the future.

"Don't think about it, your request Lord Cao won't approve it." In the Criminal Prison Division, Lu Fang said after listening to Pei Xia tell about the case in Yutian County.

"But there's something wrong with that. It was unreasonable for Liu Wu to go into the mountain naked alone, and besides, he was facing up on his back, and there was no trace of struggle on the ground. If ordinary people step on the cliff, most of them will face ......down," Pei Xia argued.

"I know. Do you think he fell with his back to the cliff, maybe he was standing on the edge of the cliff and got into an argument with someone and was pushed down? ”

"Or maybe you're stunned......"

"Okay, let me ask you, is there a murder weapon at the scene? Are there another person's footprints? Are there any eyewitnesses? ”

Pei Xia was silent.

"Then it's possible that he was chased by a wild beast and fell when he turned back in a hurry."

"But he hasn't been bitten by wild beasts......"

"I know. You said that this man's death was strange, and I think so, but the point is that there is no evidence. You don't have evidence, what do you want Lord Cao to use to negotiate with the prefect of Haozhou and the Criminal Prison Division? If the negotiation fails, can you be allowed to go? ”

Lu Fang's words made Pei Xia very depressed, she knew that what Lu Fang said was the truth, but because of this, she was even more depressed, she was listless for two days in a row, Lu Fang couldn't stand it, and comforted: "Don't be too discouraged, count the days until tomorrow at the latest, Lord Cao should come back." Lord Cao is different from the previous Du Xiao, and he is very attentive to the case. If you fall into the hands of Du Xiao, it will definitely be no fun, and Lord Cao's words may be able to help you think of a way. ”

This Lord Cao's name is Cao Yanzhang, who was previously the counselor of the Qiuzhou Criminal Prison Division, one level lower than Du Xiao, after Du Xiao was removed, the imperial court promoted Cao Yanzhang, who was familiar with the situation of Qiuzhou Criminal Prison, and he took over Du Xiao's position.

"I also don't think there is much hope, but there are suspicious points in the case, just like a lump in my heart, and I can't rest assured if I don't understand it." There are not many affairs in the Criminal Prison Department in the past two days, but because this matter is in his heart, Pei Xia has no heart to manage anything else, so he is a little irritable.

"There really are such people, I thought Master Cao was talking nonsense." Lu Fang sighed, anyway, he didn't feel this way, at most he felt a little curious, and he didn't get to the point where Pei Xia couldn't eat well and sleep well.

"What did Master Cao say?" Pei Xia asked casually.

"Lord Cao himself is like this, when we used to talk together, we said why should he be so serious, he said that it was not that he was more serious, a good prison officer should be like this, and Pei Qifang Pei of Dali Temple was like this before."

This Master Cao actually knows Master, why hasn't he heard Master talk about it? Pei Xia wondered in his heart, and when he asked, he learned that Cao Yanzhang was just a scholar in the Kyoto Yamen, and he admired Pei Qifang's name for a long time, but he didn't have many opportunities to contact, and after learning that Pei Qifang was removed, he sighed for a long time, and then he was admitted to the fame and was sent to Qiuzhou.

If it's a person with the same temperament as Master, maybe there's a real chance! Pei Xia's heart, which had been cold for most of the time, suddenly became active again, and he was thinking about how to tell Lord Cao about this when he saw Lord Cao, when he suddenly heard a loud voice outside.

"Brother Lu! Yo Pei girl is also there, which is really good! Thanks to the help of your Prison Division, the prisoner has been caught. Let's go, I'll invite you to drink! "The person who came was Zhao Zhutou, whom Pei Xia had just met a few days ago, and it was different from the sad face last time, this time he was full of red light, obviously very happy.

The Criminal Prison Department has helped the arresters of the Qiu Zhou Mansion to solve the case not once or twice, Zhao Zhutou is very good at being a person in this regard, and every time the case is closed, the reward will come to invite the people of the Criminal Prison Department to have a meal with his brothers, first, to thank others for their help, and secondly, to ask for someone to speak after the relationship is good.

Lu Fang and the officers of the Criminal Prison Department pretended to refuse a few times and agreed, only Pei Xia didn't like to join in this kind of fun, but he couldn't stand Zhao Zhutou's enthusiastic invitation again and again, and it would be too shameless to refuse again. There was really no way, so Pei Xia had to go with him.

At the dinner table, Zhao Zhutou described the investigation of the case in the past few days to several people in the Criminal Prison Department: "Hey, who do you guess the murderer is? ”

"Is it the third child of his family?" One person guessed.

"Yes, but he's not the only one. If you want to say that Miss Pei guessed correctly after the autopsy that day, he still has a helper, it is his sister-in-law! ”

"Miss Pei, can you call it a guess? This is reasonable inference! Lu Fang corrected. After getting along in the past few days, he could feel that although this girl was a newcomer, she was smart and intelligent, able to endure hardships, willing to work, and she was also pleasing to the eye.

"Yes, yes! Deduce! Oh, we rough people are not as cultured as you, that's what it means! Zhao Zhutou hurriedly changed his words.

"Why is my sister-in-law still involved? Could it be that the third child and his sister-in-law ......," the other asked hesitantly.

"Just what you think! The two of them originally hid it very well, but unfortunately let the second lady find out. The two of them are afraid that the matter will be exposed, so they simply don't do anything in total, and they will strike first! The original plan was to kill someone and then report an emergency to die, and wait for the two to be buried in a hurry, so that the second child will only have a grave when he comes back, and what else to check, I didn't expect the second child to come back ahead of schedule, if he didn't relentlessly make trouble to investigate, maybe the two would have succeeded. ”

Everyone sighed, Zhao Zhutou suddenly turned the topic to Pei Xia, everyone was very curious about this new female governor, but they were all too busy to know each other before: "I heard that Miss Pei just went to Yutian County to investigate a rotting corpse case?" ”

The case has not been solved yet, and even now I don't know if it can be counted as a case, Pei Xia is inconvenient to say more, and said a few words vaguely. Everyone is on an errand boy, and the rules are clear, and Zhao Zhutou was not originally curious about this.

"Le Zhong's kid's brother is on an errand in Yutian County, and he came to see Le Zhong yesterday, and I heard him say that Miss Pei can not only perform an autopsy, but also weave bamboo strips?" As soon as these words came out, the people in the Criminal Prison Division were very surprised, no matter how you look at a character like Pei Xia, she is a young lady from a big family, even if she is not, she feels that she can't be connected with doing these rough chores.

Zhao Zhutou's tone of inquiry was really curious, not intended to despise the offense, Pei Xia didn't think it was angry, and smiled helplessly: "My family used to be poor, and I learned some crafts from the aunt next door, but I didn't expect it to come in handy this time." ”

"Well, not really. In the past, several of our families were poor. Zhao Zhutou sighed, and many people present nodded: "But now it is slowly getting a lot better, now the curfew is not as strict as before, the business in the city is easy to do, and the things from the countryside are also sold at a good price when they are transported into the city, and life is much better than before......

Hearing Zhao Zhutou say this, everyone also talked about the changes in their respective families in the past few years, Pei Xia listened silently on the side, feeling very uncomfortable. Over the years, she has grown older, and she has gradually learned that although her father is generous and kind to the people, he does not have the ability to bring the people to get rich, and Dayu has his own reason for being strong in the country over the years. When Qiu Heguo first died, many people were still very sad and angry, but after a long time, everyone's life was better, and they gradually stopped missing Qiu Heguo in the past.

"Humph! I see that you people have been dogs and legs in the Yu Dynasty government for a long time, and they have forgotten what your surname is! The two strong men at the next table suddenly slapped their chopsticks and said angrily.

Pei Xia looked up in surprise, these two people were very faced, she was sure that they were not the old people of Qiu and the palace back then.

Seeing that the two tables were about to clash, the owner of the tavern hurriedly ran out to persuade him, and the two strong men snorted coldly, turned their heads and went out, and the boss followed behind and watched.

Pei Xia noticed that the two people hadn't given the wine money yet, and they were talking to Qiu Heguo, so she couldn't help it, and took advantage of Zhao Zhutou and Lu Fang and others to get up, she secretly walked down the table to find the boss and helped the two give the wine money.

"Boss, do you know those two guests?" Pei Xia casually chatted with the boss after paying.

"I don't know, I've never seen them before."

"Hmm...... Doesn't it sound like you're a local? ”

"Girl's ears." The boss smiled and said, "I am indeed not a local, I originally lived in Peiling County." ”

When Pei Xia heard this, he suddenly came to his senses: "Do you know the old tree village in Peiling County? ”

"Yes."

"I heard that there is a legend of a mountain god in Laoshu Village?"

"I don't know, I've never been there......"

Coming out of the tavern, Lu Fang looked at Pei Xia with an absent-minded look and asked, "What did you just mumble to that boss?" ”

"It's nothing, maybe I'm thinking too much......"

"Let's go. The proprietress of this tavern made a braised lion head that is called a must, but unfortunately recently said that he went back to his mother's house, and he has not been there, and you will try it again next time you have the opportunity. Zhao Zhutou saw that the two were left behind, and urged.

Pei Xia hurriedly answered, and looked back at the tavern before leaving. At night, the tavern was dimly lit, and the proprietor was limping away from the table. I can't say where there is a problem, but Pei Xia always feels that this boss seems to be hiding something.

At the same time, Suiyuan Palace.

Mu Changan was looking at the candle flame, he was still holding a letter in his hand, and in front of him, Wei Yizheng was hunched over and wanted him to report Pei Xia's recent whereabouts.