It was already evening when they arrived at Ningzhou, and the sky began to rain again. Qi Lu thought of this and had already bought an oil-paper umbrella in town. At this time, Ye Meng had to share an umbrella with him, and the original pattern of walking in front and behind was broken.
Qi Lu snickered a few times and Ye Meng glared at her a few times.
Although Ning Province was far away from the Great Wei Imperial City, it was quiet and rich. Most of the people in the city made a living by weaving brocade, and there was no lack of outstanding families in the brocade industry.
For example, the Yuan family and the Luo family.
"I heard that the Yuan family's mansion is similar to those Public Houses in Xingjing. It's even more imposing than the Ningzhou government.”Qi Lu said. Since he was already in Ningzhou, he had to mention the landmark buildings.
The Yuan Mansion in Ningzhou was like the Forbidden City in Beijing or the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai.
"I'll only take office tomorrow, and the inn I'm staying in has also been arranged. Why don't I bring you to see how grand the Yuan residence is?”Qi Lu asked on a whim.
Coincidentally, the rain wasn't heavy and Ye Meng was still in high spirits. The two of them hit it off and decided to take a look at the famous Yuan residence. Although it was a private residence, it was still possible to stand at the door and take a look.
It was drizzling nonstop in Ningzhou City. There were very few pedestrians on the road, and even fewer when they reached the entrance of the Yuan residence. Ye and Qi stood on the street opposite the Yuan residence and couldn't help but be dumbfounded.
It wasn't because the Yuan Residence was magnificent, but because the former prosperity was long gone.
In front of them were broken walls and ruins, and wisps of green smoke were still rising from the ruins.
"How did this happen?" Qi Lu could not help but exclaim.
Ye Meng was silent for a moment." It was caused by the fire," she said." The traces are still fresh. It shouldn't have been more than three days."”
Qi Lu could also see that the carved beams and pillars had burn marks.
"Do you think it's a natural disaster or a man-made disaster?”Qi Lu lowered his head and bit his index finger.
Ye Meng took a few steps closer and said,""Recently, Ningzhou Province has been flooded with rain, and there's no abnormal weather. I can't believe it's a natural disaster in this season.”
"Who has the guts to do this?”Qi Lu rubbed his chin and asked.
"We'll know when we go in and take a look." While Qi Lu was thinking, Ye Meng had already grabbed the umbrella and walked to the entrance of the Yuan residence alone.
"Hey! " You…" Qi Lu wanted to stop her, but Ye Meng had already pushed the door open and entered.
The interior of the door was filled with decay, the vegetation withered, and the exquisite-looking front yard was in ruins.
The main houses had collapsed, and the rest were scattered, silently telling everyone how terrible the fire was.
Ye Meng wanted to see where the fire started. Usually, the place where the fire started could provide a lot of clues.
"If you were the arsonist, where would you set the fire?”Ye Meng asked without turning her head because she knew Qi Lu had already followed her.
"Me?" Qi Lu was stunned for a moment before he reacted and said," If it were me, I'd choose the kitchen.”
Ye Meng nodded. It was just as she had thought. It was normal for a fire to start there. Moreover, there was a lot of fuel, so it was easy to start a fire.
Thus, the two of them began to search for the kitchen of the Yuan Manor.
To her disappointment, there were only traces of a regular fire in the kitchen in the northeast corner, and the fire did not spread to this side. Other than an empty oil can on the ground, the kitchen was still clean.
" If only there was fingerprint recognition technology..." Ye Meng grumbled unhappily. She then looked around the yard, but there was no sign of a fire.
However, there were a few special black marks on the east wall, which were basically mixed with the charred marks around them. If one did not pay attention, they would not be able to notice them.
" This is..." Ye Meng frowned. She carefully traced the marks with her hand. There were three similar marks in total and they were of the same size. Ye Meng closed her eyes and a picture quickly appeared in her mind.
A person who was between 1.78 and 1.83 meters tall stepped on the wall and jumped out of the courtyard. Then, he left a shoe print. Then, the fire blackened the wall, and the shoe print was almost buried.
Ye Meng opened her eyes. At least she knew that someone had climbed out of this place. To determine if it was left behind in the past few days, she would have to go to the other side of the wall to take a look.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Qi Lu kept asking when he saw that she was not saying anything.
Unfortunately, Ye Meng ignored him and didn't respond to him at all.
There was a huge gap in the wall, which allowed Ye Meng to flip over effortlessly, saving her a lot of time.
"As expected!" Everything was not much different from what she had thought. There was indeed a light mark on the red soil outside the wall with the shoe print. It was the shoe print left by the person who jumped over the wall.
"Ye Meng! What did you discover?" Qi Lu flipped over and said angrily.
"Qi Lu, I really don't know how blind the magistrate was to choose you as the constable.”Ye Meng looked up at him with a contemptuous smile in her eyes." Listen, according to my judgment, the arsonist is very likely to be 1.8 meters tall... a man about your height.”
"What makes you think so?" Qi Lu was confused." There's nothing on the way here," he said indignantly." Give me a reason."”
Ye Meng looked at Qi Lu sympathetically and patted his shoulder.""Qi Lu, I'm worried about your future. As a constable, how are you going to solve cases in the future? There are three scratches of the same size on the wall, including the one on the ground now. They are all the footprints of a person. Based on the size of the footprints, I can determine the height and gender of the person.”
"Yo! That's amazing. You can tell if I'm a man or a woman just by looking at my shoe prints?”Qi Lu was unconvinced.
"It depends on the ratio." Ye Meng said," Such a wide footprint is usually male. Multiply the size of the footprint by the ratio and you can get a height range."”
" This..." Qi Lu clearly did not understand.
Ye Meng glared at him and had no intention of continuing the story. She accidentally caught a glimpse of something yellow on the broken brick in the wall.
"Is it cloth?" Ye Meng carefully took it off. Did someone come here? Was this rag related to the fire?
"Stunned again?" Qi Lu pushed Ye Meng's shoulder.
"None of your business!" Ye Meng shouted at him and then said," Let's go back to the police station and report the case to the…uh…yamen."”
"It's not us, it's me." Qi Lu looked at Ye Meng meaningfully." I'm the constable of Ningzhou. You're just a little girl..."
"Qi Lu!" Ye Meng roared. She was obviously looking down on her!
Qi Lu waved his hand and explained," You're indeed a little smart, but this is none of your business. Besides, your white shirt is full of mud spots. It's not elegant."”
"Humph!" Ye Meng also saw that her white coat was covered in mud, and her shoes were also covered in mud." You're right this time. It's none of my business. I won't care anymore. You're on your own."”
After saying that, Ye Meng took the umbrella and walked away, leaving Qi Lu alone.
" Such a bad temper…" Qi Lu muttered to himself before heading to the yamen.
After returning to the inn, the servant boy served hot tea enthusiastically. Ye Meng casually asked,"Why is there a fire at the Yuan residence?"
Oh no, he couldn't help but ask…
The servant replied," Judging from your attire, you can tell that you are a foreigner. The Yuan family is one of the wealthiest families in Ningzhou City. A while ago, they took on a big business deal. If this accident doesn't happen, they will definitely become the richest."”
"Do you know…what happened?”Ye Meng was deep in thought. She picked up the teacup and took a sip of hot tea.
Ye Meng didn't realize that she had an occupational disease.
"To vent my anger." The servant wiped the table beside him as he spoke." The imperial court sent officials to Ningzhou to purchase brocade. The Yuan and Luo families both wanted to compete for this purchase. Originally, the Luo family had the right to purchase, but somehow, it was taken away by the Yuan family.”
The word " vent " remained in Ye Meng's heart, but she also made up her mind not to help Qi Lu. Didn't he look down on her? Ye Meng just went along with him and let him go!
Ye Meng went back to her room to rest. The next day, Qi Lu knocked on her door at dawn.
"Just returned?" Ye Meng asked when she saw his tired face.
Qi Lu nodded, his eyes fixed on her clothes. Ye Meng's clothes were dirty yesterday, so she had to change into the clothes Qi Lu bought.
"I'll pay you back when I have money in the future." Ye Meng tried her best to hide her embarrassment and pretended to be indifferent.
Qi Lu shook his head and went in to drink a big bowl of water before saying,""This matter is not important. Yesterday, I went to tell Magistrate Zhang about your guess. I didn't expect you to be right. Two days ago, a fire broke out in the Yuan residence and all eleven members of the Yuan family were burned to death. I went to the Luo family to arrest them just now. The arsonist was the third young master.。”
Ye Meng looked out of the window and asked absent-mindedly,""Do you think I'm right now? Alright, the case is closed. Are you satisfied?”
"Three nights ago, the night watchman saw the third young master of the Luo family on the street.”Qi Lu looked at Ye Sprout and said," But I feel that something is wrong.”
"What?" Ye Meng turned her head. Her judgment had always been right. Could it be someone else? The image of the yellow cloth flashed across her mind.
"Third Young Master Luo also confessed, but I feel that something is wrong.”Qi Lu lowered his eyes, deep in thought.
"Men are the most handsome when they are serious." Ye Meng raised her eyebrows. This sentence was indeed correct.
"You can tell me." Ye Meng said coldly, but she was obviously interested.
"Third Young Master looks to be in his early twenties. He's wearing a scholar's outfit and has a gentle and weak appearance. Although his height matched, he didn't look like someone who could climb over a wall. As for the reason-his fingers were long and slender, without any strength.”Qi Lu rubbed his chin and said.
Ye Meng frowned. According to Qi Lu's description, Third Young Master Luo's temperament and appearance were exactly like the " powerless " scholar in TV dramas!
"What I'm trying to say is that climbing over the wall requires arm strength.”Qi Lu added.
"Do you still remember the confession from the interrogation?" Ye Meng asked after a moment of silence. I want you to repeat it to me word for word.”
Qi Lu finally relaxed.""Words are not difficult for me.”
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]