“Let’s analyze from the beginning. If you were Zhou Min, how would you handle this matter?” Xu Qi An looked around and asked.
The night watchmen began discussing:
“Use the night watchmen yamen’s code?”
“Didn’t we just say that this code isn’t confidential enough?”
“If it were me, I’d hide it where no one could find it.”
“Nonsense, if no one could find it, what’s the point of hiding evidence?”
At this point, everyone was stunned, and the scene fell into a brief silence.
Xu Qi An snapped his fingers, looking at the bronze gong bearer who had inadvertently revealed the key, “Correct, Zhou Min’s purpose in hiding evidence was for it to be found, found by us. Follow this line of thought and think again.”
Provincial Governor Zhang clapped his hands together, praising repeatedly, and said with slight excitement:
“That’s right, Zhou Min wouldn’t hide the evidence where no one could find it. So the item containing the clue wouldn’t be valuable, but very conspicuous.”
Suddenly, everyone’s thoughts opened up, feeling as if they had touched the door to a new world. They excitedly began to brainstorm.
A few minutes later, the night watchmen looked at each other in confusion, “But we’ve checked all these items. There’s no code, and nothing that matches the jade pendant.”
The door to the new world slammed shut, and they began to doubt themselves again. So, everyone turned their gaze towards Xu Qi An.
… There are too few preliminary clues and nowhere to start. However, investigation is about finding clues, and a good criminal investigator is good at speculating from various angles and finding clues in the details.
While novices would just be like children, their heads full of question marks… Xu Qi An ignored the gazes of everyone, immersed in his world.
“Do you have any leads…” a silver gong bearer couldn’t help but ask, but before he could finish, Jiang Luzhong covered his mouth.
“Don’t disturb him,” Jiang Luzhong said in a deep voice.
Provincial Governor Zhang also pressed his hand down, indicating everyone to remain calm. He had placed all his bets on Xu Qi An. This young bronze gong bearer had proven his worth and ability with his “track record”.
Provincial Governor Zhang couldn’t help but wonder if Lord Wei had sent Xu Qi An because he had anticipated the changes in Yun Province.
Because he had foreseen the difficulty of this case… so he sent Xu Qi An, this case-solving prodigy, to assist me… Lord Wei is indeed far-sighted, with deep planning.
“Correspondingly, if the ingenious Lord Wei sent Xu Qi An, it means he must be able to solve the case.” Provincial Governor Zhang was secretly excited, feeling his mood suddenly improve, no longer so irritated.
He came from a background as a censor, and solving cases was too difficult for him, fortunately, there was Liu Nianyan…
Xu Qi An was unaware of Provincial Governor Zhang’s rich inner thoughts, immersed in his deductions:
Is there a clue among these belongings? If I were Zhou Min, I would find a way to leave clues for the night watchmen… but not necessarily among the belongings, because that’s too easily destroyed, just one big fire could turn everything to ashes… But not leaving clues wouldn’t work either, so the safest method is to operate on two lines, not putting all eggs in one basket.
Yes!
In the two-line operation, Yang Yingying is Zhou Min’s other basket.
Yang Yingying was an unexpected gain, not a clue Zhou Min left for the night watchmen. Since no clues were found among Zhou Min’s belongings, why not try to break through from Yang Yingying?
Thinking of this, Xu Qi An’s spirits lifted, feeling a sense of sudden enlightenment.
The silver gong bearers at the Spirit Refining realm keenly noticed Xu Qi An’s emotional change, and they also perked up. Just as they were about to ask, they found Xu Qi An’s eyes darkening again, sinking back into deep thought.
The deduction of the famous detective Liu Nianyan had hit another bottleneck, which was that there were too few clues about Yang Yingying.
“It’s still the same problem, too few clues. Just half a jade pendant at most suggests it’s some kind of token… Let’s reorganize the threads, exclude Zhou Min’s other line, and focus on Yang Yingying’s basket…
“Suppose Yang Yingying reached Qing Province, found the Ziyangju Master, and presented the jade pendant, explaining the circumstances…” Xu Qi An simulated the process in his mind:
“What should the Ziyangju Master do? He would also face the dilemma I’m in now: lack of clues.
“In a situation of confusion and lack of clues, he would certainly try to obtain more information. So how to obtain information? Of course, by asking the person who brought the jade pendant… Yes, yes, yes! It’s about questioning the person who brought the jade pendant.
“I’ve got it, I’ve got it!” Xu Qi An shouted.
“Got what?” Everyone asked almost in unison.
“Not so fast,” Xu Qi An instructed, “Call Yang Yingying over, I have questions for her.”
“Hurry, hurry!” Provincial Governor Zhang urged.
A bronze gong bearer immediately went upstairs and invited the plump young woman who had been staying in her room after meals.
Yang Yingying was still in the coarse cloth dress from when they first met. She curtsied gracefully, “Why has the official called this humble woman downstairs?”
Xu Qi An asked, “When Zhou Min gave you the jade pendant that night, did he say anything else?”
Yang Yingying shook her head, “Apart from what this humble woman has said before, Official Zhou didn’t give any additional instructions. If he had, this humble woman wouldn’t have forgotten.”
She alternated between calling Zhou Min “husband” and “Official Zhou”, which was an extremely insecure behavior. In her heart, she considered Zhou Min her husband, but she felt she had no official status, hence the inconsistent address.
Xu Qi An fingered his teacup, thinking there must have been instructions, otherwise even if the Ziyangju Master were a celestial, he would be at a loss. Zhou Min was an experienced undercover agent, his intelligence was online… Hmm, Yang Yingying doesn’t know, perhaps she didn’t notice.
“Recount everything Zhou Min said to you that night.”
“This…” Yang Yingying said with difficulty, “How could this humble woman remember…”
“You don’t need to repeat it word for word, just give a general idea,” Xu Qi An comforted her, while his heart sank slightly. The reason Yang Yingying didn’t remember was probably because that night they only talked about trivial matters.
It’s like when you walk on the street, seeing all kinds of people, you don’t remember their appearance, and even forget the color of their clothes as soon as you turn away.
The more ordinary, the less likely it is to be remembered.
“That night when Official Zhou came to find this humble woman, it was the same as usual. He brought me some rouge and face powder and small gifts, as well as a jug of wine and a few jin of pig head meat…
“While drinking, he chatted with me as usual about some matters in the official circles and the bandit problems in Yun Province…
“But because this humble woman is just a woman, not interested in these things, Official Zhou didn’t say much. Then we played word puzzles…
“After dinner, while I was serving him, he told me about that matter and gave me half of the jade pendant.”
Xu Qi An asked her to focus on the “official circles” and “bandit problems”, but found that it was just Zhou Min’s complaints.
“What about the word puzzles, what were they?”
Yang Yingying thought for a moment, then said softly, “Ten mouths, one heart.”
Xu Qi An was about to think when Provincial Governor Zhang rushed to answer: “Si (思, to think)!”
“That’s right.” Yang Yingying continued, “Throw away one from a thousand li, throw away one from a hundred li.”
Provincial Governor Zhang: “Bo (伯, uncle).”
Yang Yingying nodded, then said, “Swallow the tail of an ox in one bite.”
Provincial Governor Zhang: “Gao (告, to tell).”
“The Governor is impressive,” the night watchmen and Tiger Guard soldiers looked at him with admiration.
For some reason, Provincial Governor Zhang felt a sense of vindication, a feeling of finally not being useless, that he too was outstanding, and couldn’t let Liu Nianyan steal all the glory. This sense of satisfaction arose spontaneously.
For scholars, guessing word puzzles is completely commonplace.
Xu Qi An was dissatisfied with Provincial Governor Zhang’s constant interruptions, breaking his train of thought. He tapped the table and said in a deep voice:
“Governor, I also have a word puzzle that has been troubling me for a long time.”
Provincial Governor Zhang nodded slightly, indicating him to pose the puzzle.
Xu Qi An said, “Miss Wen gets married.”
Provincial Governor Zhang first frowned slightly, then frowned deeply, then his face stiffened, and finally, he became completely bewildered, standing there in a daze.
Xu Qi An nodded with satisfaction and looked towards Yang Yingying, letting her continue.
“The last two-word puzzles were: ‘White jade without flaw’ and ‘Sun and moon in the same sky’. The former is the character ‘Huang (皇, emperor)’, and the latter is ‘Ming (明, bright)’.”
Xu Qi An instructed a colleague to bring paper and pen, spread them out on the table, and write down: Si (思), Bo (伯), Gao (告), Huang (皇), Ming (明).
Five large characters.
Jiang Luzhong looked at them repeatedly, “What do these five characters mean?”
The five characters couldn’t be linked together, each was independent. What did Zhou Min want to express? Or were they just casual word puzzles?
Xu Qi An turned to look at Provincial Governor Zhang, who was immersed in his world…
Never mind, these five characters were not word puzzles, so the Governor’s role was over. Let him wrestle with Miss Wen.
Then, Xu Qi An also immersed himself in his world: “If this is the clue Zhou Min wanted to reveal to the Ziyangju Master, it wouldn’t be too profound or obscure. It must be something that even a person coming to Yun Province for the first time could easily discover.
“What is something that newcomers can easily discover? Think from another angle, what do newcomers to Yun Province need…”
Got it!
Xu Qi An let out a long breath, “I’ve unraveled the mystery.”