The cousin is beautiful but ruthless.

Chapter 239 Servants of the Prefect's Mansion

"Things are progressing slowly, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Pei Du sat opposite Shen Hanyu, who had just finished reading a book.

"We need to carefully verify the truthfulness of Jiang Fengxiao's words, which will naturally slow down the progress. When we have time, let Lord Yu ask him if he knows Qi Liansheng."

Shen Yanzhi was investigating Qi Liansheng's case in private, and it was this investigation that led to Shen Yanzhi's death.

The information left by Shen Yanzhi is too disorganized; perhaps only those involved in the Lizhou incident at the time could piece it together.

Pei Du nodded and noted it down.

Miao Cui came in from outside. When she saw Shen Hanyu, she quickly said, "Miss, the people we sent out to find the servants of the prefect's mansion have returned, and they brought a few more people with them."

After the new prefect took office, the people in the original prefect's office were replaced. It took Shen Hanyu a lot of effort to find them, and she had to go through their household registrations.

"Let them in."

Shen Hanyu stood up, wanting to take a closer look; it would be easier if it was someone she knew.

They led the servants of the Shen family into the inner courtyard. Shen Hanyu glanced around and indeed saw a few familiar faces.

"girl."

One of the old women knelt down with a thud; she was the old nanny who used to serve her.

"Everyone, get up."

These people didn't seem to have been involved in the funeral process for Shen Yanzhi. Shen Hanyu mainly wanted to find the people who handled Shen Yanzhi's body.

Does anyone still remember Uncle He?

The group looked at each other in confusion. Finally, the old woman said, "I remember. After the master died, he left the prefect's mansion, and I never saw him again."

Uncle He was the steward of the prefect's mansion before. He was involved in many parts of Shen Yanzhi's funeral, so finding him would be the most useful thing.

“We went to the place where he is registered to look for him, but the people there didn’t say they had seen him.”

Uncle He is not young. After leaving, he didn't go back to his hometown. Where did he go?

"Well, I did see Uncle He last year."

One of the men spoke up and walked up to Shen Hanyu.

"Where did you see it?"

“It was in Suzhou city, but Uncle He was so thin back then, and he was living a miserable life. I even treated him to a meal.”

The man recalled how Uncle He had wolfed down his food; he must have been starving for a long time.

Shen Hanyu frowned. Since it was in Suzhou, there was no way she couldn't find it.

"I haven't seen him since. I asked him where he lived, but when I went to check, I couldn't find him."

That address was just a dilapidated temple, empty and overgrown with weeds.

He couldn't understand why Uncle He would live there. Uncle He used to be a housekeeper, so he should have saved up a lot of money.

Shen Hanyu realized something was amiss.

"He's probably dead," Pei Du whispered to Shen Hanyu.

Last year, when he was still in Suzhou, according to this person's description, Uncle He couldn't even afford to eat, let alone go anywhere else. If he couldn't be found, then it could only mean that he was dead.

That's most likely the case.

Shen Hanyu closed her eyes; it seemed the servants of the prefect's mansion wouldn't be able to extract any useful information from her.

"Miao Cui, take them down and ask them again."

Shen Hanyu was still unwilling to give up and asked Miaocui to inquire.

Miao Cui nodded and took everyone away.

Seeing Shen Hanyu sit down in disappointment, Pei Du comforted her: "If the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Zhao make a move, they are definitely thinking of eliminating any potential threats. It is already quite unexpected that others were able to see Uncle He. You have forgotten that you personally witnessed the body being placed in the coffin and buried, but when you went back, the body was gone. This means that someone went to Suzhou to clean up the mess afterward."

Shen Hanyu gradually realized that this made sense.

Shen Hanyu discovered this by accident during her trip to Suzhou, around the time Uncle He had probably already died.

“I’ll have Miao Cui ask about the time; if it matches, then he’s probably dead.”

Now that the leads in Suzhou have run dry, we can only look elsewhere and dig out everything that happened in Lizhou to find out the truth.

Miao Cui checked the time, and sure enough, Uncle He should have been murdered before Shen Hanyu and the others went to Suzhou.

"They acted quickly."

Shen Hanyu frowned. It was her oversight that she hadn't noticed anything amiss at first, and it was only after staying in Chang'an for so long that she went back to check.

In his previous life, he was even more wronged, and he never knew about this incident until his death.

Thinking of this, Shen Hanyu felt somewhat powerless.

"Let's talk to Yu Qi another day."

Seeing that Shen Hanyu was not in a good mood, Pei Du did not stay there any longer, but went to Dali Temple instead.

When Yu Qi saw him coming, he put down what he was holding.

"You're quite free, the Emperor hasn't assigned you any tasks."

“Although I wasn’t specifically assigned to this task, I’ve helped you a lot.” Pei Du sat down opposite him. “So, how was Jiang Fengxiao’s interrogation?”

"It's not easy to investigate. We need to verify what he said over a decade ago. We've already sent quite a few people to Lizhou. Oh, by the way, the eldest prince is returning to Chang'an. It's at the Emperor's request."

Li Sheng's return is quite unexpected.

"The Emperor sent his personal guards to protect him and ensure his safe return. If the Crown Prince were to bring this up, it would be much easier."

But after so many years, they still don't know what kind of temperament Li Sheng has now.

These ten-plus years are enough to change a person.

Pei Du listened and remained silent for a while: "When you have time, ask Jiang Fengxiao if he knows someone named Qi Liansheng."

Yu Qi guessed that it was something Shen Hanyu wanted to know.

"Alright, I'll ask around then. The Empress Dowager wanted to take action against Jiang Fengxiao earlier, so it must have been because Prime Minister Zhao sent someone to invite her. Princess Yongning is staying in Cining Palace, so the Empress Dowager has no choice now."

"The Empress Dowager dislikes girls' schools, so Prime Minister Zhao must have used them as a pretext."

Remembering the near-disaster at the Japanese girls' school a while back, Pei Du connected all these events together.

They were well-prepared, so Zhao Wanfu failed.

They have all these things under their control right now, and things seem to be going quite smoothly. But who knows what will happen when Li Sheng comes back.

After learning that Li Sheng was coming back, Li Huaijiang took the initiative to go to see Empress Wang.

Empress Wang could not hide her excitement.

“He has suffered in the borderlands. After so many years, I don’t know if he still recognizes you.”

In the blink of an eye, Li Huaijiang has grown up so much, she looks completely different from before Li Sheng left.

Li Huaijiang clenched her fists, feeling somewhat uneasy. Her elder brother's appearance only existed in her memory, and now this person was about to appear before her.

"Huaijiang, what's wrong?"

Li Huaijiang remained silent, which made Empress Wang somewhat worried.

"I'm fine," Li Huaijiang said, regaining her composure. "I was just wondering if my brother would blame us."

Empress Wang also fell silent. Did she blame them? Perhaps she did; Empress Wang also blamed herself.

The mother and daughter sat together, watching the sunlight streaming in through the window. Li Jiangui had been staying in the Imperial Study these past few days, listening to Yu Qi report on the progress of his work, and then dealing with government affairs. He hadn't been to the inner palace for quite some time.

At this point, Empress Wang dared not disturb Li Jiangui and could only wait anxiously.