The royal capital, Jiqingfang.
Lu Anran sat all night. When the sun shone on the tip of her nose, the window sill vibrated, and a white dove drew a graceful arc in the air and landed accurately in front of Lu Anran.
She opened her palms, and the white dove stepped on them with reserved steps, lowering her head to peck at the few grains of rice that Lu Anran had scattered.
Lu Anran took out a piece of paper from the mailbox tied to Bai Ge's leg. After reading it, he held it in his palm. The hesitation in his eyebrows gradually faded away and turned into determination.
Before Yun Qi left, he asked Guan Yue to arrange two secret guards for her. Later, Lu Anran withdrew one and reluctantly left the other.
Just last night when she asked Lu Taotao to chase someone, she had secretly signaled to the secret guard to take the first step. Because she knew firsthand from the old cat incident that there were countless eyes and ears in the capital city, so she told Lu Taotao that it was just for the sake of appearance.
Now the news from the secret guard came back, in just one sentence——
"No trace. There are traces of fighting hundreds of miles away from the royal capital."
Lu Anran was not only worried, but also deeply annoyed. She only looked at Wu Fang's martial arts skills and thought she was arrogant. She thought that even if Wu Fang asked people to follow her, she could keep herself safe with her martial arts skills.
However, leaving aside the fact that there are people outside who are unable to defeat the four punches with both hands, where does she get the confidence that she is 100% sure of what she thinks.
Was it because she had been overconfident after coming to the royal capital to investigate a series of cases, or was it Yun Qi's words of 'trust' that made her lose herself.
As a result, not only were we trapped in danger, but the danger was also carried to the southwest like mobile explosives.
Lu Anran stroked the white dove with his fingers and his eyes calmed down: There is only one way for now.
—
In the Jingzhao Mansion, Yuan Fang was interrogated for a day and a night. Even though the emperor was under pressure, he couldn't stand it anymore.
After finally sitting down to drink a cup of tea and prepare to catch up on some sleep, drums suddenly sounded at the door of the mansion. He was shocked and fed all the tea to his chin beard.
"Run quickly." Yuan Fang lifted the hem of his official robe, "I'm not here!"
Next to him, Si Lu joined the army, dumbfounded, and said, "Sir, it's broad daylight now." It doesn't make sense for the dignified governor to be out of business.
Yuan Fang pointed to his pair of black eyes, "What do you think I look like right now? A zombie! Zombies are afraid of the sun!"
"Sir, it just so happened that we caught someone at a critical moment to make a grievance. Maybe it was related to the case of secret prostitution." Si Lu joined the army and said, "It's not like you didn't find anything useful last night, and we can't explain it to the emperor." , if there are any clues, we can’t let him go in vain.”
Yuan Fang stood still and touched his beard.
"Take a step back." Seeing that he had a chance to join the army, Si Lu continued to say: "If it's an unrelated matter, sir, please accept the petition first. The government pays attention to the regulations when doing things, and it doesn't say how long it must be done within a certain period of time."
In fact, Yuan Fang is just complaining and can really ignore it. After all, when the drum of grievance is sounded, the people within a ten-mile radius will hear it. If he ignores it, it will not only be a bad reputation, but also he may be called the emperor. Shi Tai’s impeachment was a piece of cake.
Yuan Fang waved his hand and said angrily: "Let people come in."
As soon as they met, Yuan Fang almost spit out the tea he put in his mouth.
The woman who came was dressed in elegant soft clothes and had a refined temperament. Her hair ornaments were simple, but the hosta looked very valuable. Her face was covered, revealing a pair of clear and beautiful eyes, as calm as autumn water.
These are not important, the problem is that this woman Yuan Fang looks a little bit familiar.
"Lu Anran, daughter of the Lu family, has met Fu Yin." When Yuan Fang was surprised, Lu Anran said politely and politely.
Yuan Fang simply stopped drinking tea, threw it aside and said, "Can you play the drum?"
"yes."
"What's the grievance?" Yuan Fang didn't understand. He had a conflict with the Chief of Punishment, and even the woman who was with a certain Sicheng was also trying to harm him?
Lu Anran said in a low voice: "I have no grievances. I am here to appeal for others' grievances."
"Nonsense, why don't you come in person if you have a grievance?" Yuan Fang grabbed the tree in his hand, "Besides, where is your petition?"
Lu Anran shook his head: "I don't have the certificate, but I have the certificate in my hand."
If it had been anyone else, Yuan Fang could have thought that the noble son of the royal capital was bored and just looking for fun in Jingzhao Mansion, but Lu Anran's eyebrows were solemn and her cold black eyes were far away and deep. When she stared at him, he could even feel the glare in his eyes. A bit bit cold.
"On the day of Shangsi Festival, Yaxianju found a male corpse at the bottom of the lake." Lu Anran took out a book with a blue background.
"The examination stated: The corpse of a man, aged 20 to 25, was buried at the bottom of the lake and tied with stones. From the shape of the corpse, it was determined that he had been dead for more than one year. There were cracks in the hyoid bone, and hot water was poured into the skull. , no sand or soil. After steaming the bones to examine the injuries, it was found that there were minor injuries on the chest bones."
Yuan Fang went from being careless to gradually concentrating, and listened to Lu Anran's final definition calmly, "It is suspected that the murderer restrained him, strangled his throat, and penetrated his chest with a sharp weapon."
Yuan Fang remembered, "The body found in Yaxianju last time?"
At that time, when he heard that something happened to Yaxianju, he directly blamed it on Yunqi. He never thought of going around in circles, but the case eventually came to him.
"But isn't this...the Criminal Division is investigating?" Yuan Fang didn't know much about it later, but he also heard that the case went unsolved, and even the identity of the deceased could not be found.
So many people died in Daning Dynasty every year, and eighty-nine out of ten cases in the backlog of the Criminal Division could not be solved. Everyone was used to it. Originally, Yuan Fang thought that this case would become an old case. As time went by, there were Who remembers.
Lu Anran did not answer directly, but said: "Your Excellency arrested many people in Jiuqu Alley yesterday."
"That's right." Everyone in the capital knew about this, and there was no need to hide it. Yuan Fang said, "Prostitutes are not allowed to do business privately without the permission of the government."
"But the person you are looking for is not a prostitute."
Yuan Fang's eyes widened and he looked at Si Lu Canjun beside him, wondering if he really asked them to talk.
Seeing Yuan Fang's expression, Lu Anran felt doubtful and puzzled in her heart. She originally thought that as long as Yuan Fang interrogated the clandestine prostitute, Xue Qing and others, her visit to the clandestine prostitute would be revealed quickly, but now it seems , I can’t say that people there are tight-lipped, it’s really not just talk.
Thinking in his mind, Lu Anran said: "I dare to ask again. Your Excellency is looking for someone, but it's for the fake banknotes that are circulating in the market."
This time, Yuan Fang not only opened his eyes wide, his beard almost stood up, "How did you know?!"
"Because the person you are looking for is in my hands."
Yuan Fang stood up suddenly, and before he could speak, Lu Anran said again: "But he's gone now."
"You..." Yuan Fang was almost vomiting blood from her anger, "Miss Lu, why don't you just tell me, why did you come to my Jingzhao Mansion today?"
Lu Anran stood quietly in the lobby, his expression calm and calm, and there was a faint sense of grace, "The person you are looking for is named Wang Degui, but everyone usually calls him Lao Mao, and his brother is Jiang Chao. He has a pair of eyes that are difficult to find in the world." Very skillful."
What Lu Anran said was combined with what Yuan Fang verified, but he intuitively felt that the second half of her sentence was the key point.
Sure enough, I heard Lu Anran say: "The so-called dexterity means that he can do things that others cannot do, such as Qian Mo."
There seemed to be a string in Yuan Fang's mind that broke with a 'zheng' sound.
"The banknotes printed on the money mold he made are almost difficult to distinguish between genuine and fake, but after the money mold came out, he disappeared." Lu Anran's expression was calm, and his tone was neither salty nor bland, but every word was like a real thing. On Yuan Fang's head, "Old Mao accidentally got a banknote and discovered the truth about Jiang Chao's disappearance. After many twists and turns, he approached the murderer as a tattoo artist and successfully obtained the money model."
Yuan Fang's heart skipped a beat, "Did he get the money model?"
"Yes, it's in his hands."
"No, you just said you found the old cat." Yuan Fang rationalized in his mind, "How did you know this? If he told you, why did he trust you? How can you prove that he said it? Are all the truth?"
Of course Yuan Fang is not stupid, otherwise he would not be able to stay in the position of the governor of Jingzhao Mansion for so many years.
Lu Anran didn't want to completely fool Yuan Fang. She took out another piece of paper from her sleeve pocket and gave it to Yuan Fang, "Can you tell the difference between the banknotes printed with money molds?"
Yuan Fang touched the paper and looked through it for a long time, then sighed: "Except for not using Sichuan paper, it's exactly the same."
"In order to verify the truth of what Lao Mao said, I asked him to print it on the spot."
Yuan Fang raised his eyes: "Where are they?"
"Southwest." Lu Anran met Yuan Fang's gaze and said, neither humble nor overbearing: "He took Qian Mo and fled to the southwest."
Yuan Fang lowered his gaze and pondered for a long time, then asked again: "But I don't quite understand, why is a boudoir lady like you suddenly involved in these things?"
When Lu Anran came, he knew that Yuan Fang would definitely ask these questions. He didn't need to think for long before he replied: "Your Excellency, you should have at least heard that Liu Changhe of the Liu family is dead."
Of course Yuan Fang knew that not only this, but also a brothel girl who was related to Liu Changhe was also dead. It turned out that the brothel called Qiongxian Tower had a group of rogues break in and cause trouble and kill people two days ago.
It was his Jingzhao Mansion who sent people to capture those rogues. They were all still in prison and had no time to interrogate them.
"Including Mr. Liu, three people died in total. They all did the same thing before they died." Lu Anran said: "Old Mao gave them tattoos on their arms."
After investigating suspicious points in the case, Lao Mao was discovered. Due to a strange combination of circumstances, Lu Anran captured him. By the way, who knew he would find out so many secrets.
Yuan Fang was dubious and couldn't tell what was wrong.
"Since he printed counterfeit money in front of you, why didn't you seize it on the spot and let him escape with the stolen goods?"
Lu Anran said matter-of-factly: "I am not a member of the government, so I am not qualified to search him. I originally planned to hand him over to the government at dawn, but I didn't expect that he escaped during the night."
It was said that Lu Anran was a noble daughter of Mengdu and the legitimate daughter of the dignified Lu family. It was too late to avoid others when she encountered her. It was really unreasonable to come to Jingzhao Mansion, so Yuan Fang believed most of it.
"This matter is of great importance. I have to go to the palace to report to the emperor. Miss Lu, on your side..."
Lu Anran saluted: "Don't worry, sir. I am just complaining for the deceased. Now that you have accepted the grievance, my mission has been completed."
—
After leaving Jingzhao Mansion and getting on the carriage, Lu Anran relaxed and found that there was a layer of sweat from his back to his palms.
