The Ming Dynasty's henchmen, working from nine to five

Chapter 25 is here!

Although Luo Wenzhou had retired and returned to the capital, he had served as a prefect for many years and still enjoyed considerable prestige among the Qingliu faction.

His daughter was brutally murdered, and the authorities naturally dared not neglect the matter, immediately launching a thorough investigation.

Then it was discovered that three other women had died by the same means before this.

As a result, the Military Commandery, the Censorate, and other departments were all held accountable, and the case was eventually handed over to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The people in charge were Liu Baichuan and several other colleagues.

Having sorted out his thoughts, Shen Lang persuaded the old woman to come back inside, citing the strong wind outside.

Then, he activated the Real Sight Domain, his figure transforming into a phantom and merging into it.

This time, he set the timeframe as the day before Liu Baichuan came to investigate.

The faded red silk and fragments of joss paper were the first things Liu Baichuan found.

Checking backwards saves some energy; frequent backtracking has already exhausted him.

Time and space reversed rapidly, arriving at the dead of night that day.

Shen Lang habitually sped up the flow of time, but after less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he immediately switched it back.

"Um?"

Unexpectedly, the red silk and joss paper he had been searching for appeared just like that!

"They managed to stage the scene before the Imperial Guards arrived; their intelligence network is quite efficient..."

Before he could finish speaking, Shen Lang's pupils suddenly contracted!

"What's going on?!"

A small piece of faded red silk and a few torn pieces of joss paper floated from outside the courtyard wall to the very center of the courtyard.

They hovered eerily in mid-air, paused briefly, and then slowly dispersed and flew away.

The red ribbon flew towards the top of the woodpile in the corner, and the layers of firewood automatically made way for it, sandwiching it in the center.

The joss paper flew into the house through the large hole in the window frame and landed in the corner behind the cupboard.

Shen Lang was shocked because what had just happened violated the rules of the True Sight Domain.

Within the domain, flesh and blood cannot manifest, nor can anything brought in from outside the domain.

For example, the clothes, shoes, and jewelry one wears, and so on.

The jade pendant tassel was also briefly revealed the moment Huang Cuier pulled it off and it slipped from her hand, and Shen Lang caught it precisely.

Logically, the same should be true for red silk and joss paper.

But the current situation is somewhat unexpected.

"If these things were brought here by someone..."

"Then they will never be revealed before they leave that person's body."

"In other words, they weren't brought in by people."

"Do ghosts really exist in this world?"

A glint of light flashed in Shen Lang's eyes, and he immediately reversed time and space, activating the rewind function once again!

This time, he slowed down the time flow to the slowest speed, examining each frame one by one.

Unfortunately, no clues were found.

The red silk and joss paper floated in from the wall, just like before, swaying and wobbling. After a brief pause in mid-air, they dispersed and hid.

"That's interesting."

Shen Lang lowered his gaze slightly, a playful smile appearing on his lips.

This unknown "ghost" piqued his great interest.

"The original red silk and joss paper should be placed in the Ministry of Justice's evidence hall at this moment."

"I wonder if the defenses there are strong. I'll have to find some time to go and check it out myself."

Pulling his thoughts back, Shen Lang, out of caution, went through the process again.

Although the result remained the same, he still firmly believed in his initial judgment.

The killer's true identity was a young master from a prominent family.

Live.

As for this ghost, it was merely a means to help him cover up the truth.

"Could it be that someone was standing outside the courtyard and used their internal energy to send them in?"

The idea had barely surfaced when Shen Lang rejected it.

A master who can control internal energy so exquisitely has absolutely no need for anything more.

"No wonder the Ministry of Justice dared to make such a judgment; there really was something fishy going on."

"This is probably why the Embroidered Uniform Guard tacitly approved it."

Shen Lang withdrew his True Sight Domain and quickly repaired the thatched hut before entering to find the old woman.

"After Huang Cuier's murder, did anything unusual happen in the vicinity?"

The old woman paused for a moment, then slowly said, "A strange thing did happen the night before your two colleagues arrived."

Tell me more.

The old woman put down her work and recalled, saying:

"That night, I was just about to lie down and go to sleep when I suddenly felt short of breath and a tightness in my chest."

"I went outside to get some fresh air, but I found that it had gotten foggy outside."

"My wife has lived for decades and has never seen such thick fog before; you can hardly see your hand in front of your face."

"The next day, I heard from the people living in the west that all night long, there were intermittent cries coming from the mass grave. The cries were mournful and very eerie."

Seeing Shen Lang deep in thought, the old woman cautiously asked:

"Sir, why are you asking these questions?"

Shen Lang said, "This case has now been handed over to the Ministry of Justice for trial, and their current conclusion is that it was caused by a ghost."

"Is it the work of ghosts?"

"Does that mean this case will just be dropped?"

The old woman's expression became somewhat agitated: "This old woman has lived here for decades and has never seen any ghosts."

"New rumors keep circulating about the mass graves every few days, but they can't be taken seriously. Who has actually seen it with their own eyes?"

"My lord, Cui'er's injuries... were definitely inflicted by those villains!"

"Please, Your Honor, do justice for her!"

The old woman was about to kneel again when Shen Lang stopped her, saying:

"You can rest assured that now that I have taken over, this matter will not remain unsolved."

It was getting late, so Shen Lang got up to say goodbye, and the old woman saw him to the door.

Before leaving, he casually asked, "Where is Huang Cuier's body buried? Has anyone disturbed her during this time?"

The old woman hesitated for a moment, then said hesitantly, "No one will disturb us."

"Unable to afford a coffin, they wrapped the body in a straw mat and buried it in the swamp. Fearing that wild dogs would dig it up, they surrounded it with firewood and burned it."

"We are all rootless people, there's really nothing we can do, and we can't care about anything else."

Shen Lang stopped in his tracks, frowning, and asked, "Didn't she leave behind some money before she died?"

At that time, the prevailing ideology was that burial was the best way to ensure a peaceful death, and cremation was an act that was explicitly prohibited by the authorities.

However, among ordinary people, there are often those who take the risk.

The reason is just as the old woman said, there's nothing we can do about it.

Even if a traditional burial is kept simple, a coffin, funeral clothes, and a burial plot are still necessary.

The combined expenses were too much for many impoverished families to bear, leaving them no choice but to defy the ban.

But Huang Cuier's family situation shouldn't be like this.

According to Shen Lang, the Marquis of Yong'an was known for his generosity. Huang Cuier worked as a maid in the Marquis's mansion and received a considerable amount of money in rewards every year.

How could a grandfather and grandson who live such a frugal life not even be able to afford a coffin?

The old woman sighed and said, "It used to be there."

"Later, they were all given to the magistrate of the Military Affairs Bureau."

Shen Lang instantly understood. His gaze darkened, and he asked, "You paid him money, so he agreed to send someone to investigate?"

The old woman nodded.

Shen Lang narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a deep voice, "May I ask how this gentleman is addressed?"