Chapter 569: Investigation
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The troops Yuan Jin sent to chase after the assassins finally returned empty-handed.
Regarding this, Yuan Jin was uneasy, afraid that Duke Lang would blame him for not doing his job well.
However, in fact, Xiao Juan had already expected this outcome, so he did not say anything.
The group of assassins was all experts and their whereabouts were secretive. After the assassination failed, they must have quickly fled.
Xiao Juan ordered to issue a wanted order for those assassins in Bashu County. As long as they could provide the whereabouts of the assassins, not only could they guarantee the safety of the person who reported the case, but they could also provide a thousand taels of silver as a reward.
When the head official took the wanted order from the county governor, he could not help but be tempted when he saw the amount of the bounty on the wanted order, let alone those ordinary citizens.
The next day, Lo Pingsha gave the test results.
“This donkey was poisoned when it was alive. This is a rather special poison.”
“After taking it, it would not act up immediately. It would only act up after an hour or so.”
“On the way, the donkey’s poison acted up and it ran off crazily, falling down the hill with the family in the cart. This led to the tragedy.” This result further confirmed Yu Niaoniao’s guess.
Sun Dalang’s family had indeed been silenced.
First, it was Li Niang, then Sun Dalang’s family, and Li Jia…
These people died one by one.
The people who killed them were trying to silence them.
Obviously, someone did not want Yu Niaoniao and Xiao Juan to continue investigating.
Yu Niaoniao clenched her fists. No matter who the mastermind was, she had to find that person!
Not only was it to give Madam Xie and Feng Lianghan an explanation, but it was also to give justice to Sun Dalang’s family, which had been innocently implicated!
After the arrest warrant was posted, it immediately caused a heated discussion among the commoners.
They were all coveting the reward of a thousand taels of silver.
Many commoners would never see so much money in their lives. If they could obtain this bounty, it was equivalent to not having to worry about food and drink for the rest of their lives!
Money talks was a common principle since ancient times.
In order to obtain the bounty, as long as the commoners were free, they would look for traces of assassins everywhere.
The wanted poster had the appearance of assassins. Although those assassins were masked, the author had drawn their eyes vividly.
As long as one searched carefully with his eyes, one might be able to find the assassin.
Soon, someone provided clues to the county governor’s residence.
Someone had seen the assassin on the wanted list in the city.
Xiao Juan and Yu Niaoniao immediately received the person.
The person who came was a middle-aged woman. She looked fair and chubby.
She shook the embroidery handkerchief and said vividly.
“I have several unused houses in the city that I usually rent out.”
“A foreigner came to me not long ago. He claimed to be here to do business in Bashu and wanted to rent my house.”
“He was very generous. Not only did he not bargain with me, but he also doubled my rent.”
“His only request was that no one should disturb him usually because he liked peace and quiet and hated being disturbed by people he did not know.”
“At the time, I thought it was strange. How could a businessman have such a quirk?”
Didn’t business involve dealing with all kinds of people?
Otherwise, how could he earn money?”
“However, the rich man was the boss. He had given so much money. As long as the house was not damaged, he could do whatever he wanted.
Until this morning, when I saw the wanted order posted on the bulletin board.
Only then did I realize that the strange man who rented the house looked very similar to one of the people on the wanted poster.”
With that, she took out the wanted order she had taken off the noticeboard and pointed at the portrait of the man on it, indicating that it was him. Yu Niaoniao asked, “Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”
The fat Madam said without hesitation.
“I have very sharp eyes. I can’t be wrong. It’s these eyes. It’s definitely him!”
They quickly found the small courtyard the fat Madam had mentioned.
On the surface, this small courtyard was very ordinary. There were even shops doing business around it. There were people coming and going on the road in front of the courtyard door. No one would expect a nest of assassins to be hidden here.
Xiao Juan ordered someone to kick open the courtyard door and rush in with his men. Yu Niaoniao brought another team to guard the courtyard door in case there was a trap inside.
Not long after, Yu Niaoniao saw Xiao Juan come out again with his men.
She asked hurriedly, “Did you find him?”
Xiao Juan said in a low voice, “No.”
Just now, he had searched the house and its surroundings with his men, but he did not find any traces of the assassin.
Yu Niaoniao frowned. “Could the information be wrong? The assassin doesn’t live here at all?”
At this moment, Xiao Juan took out a medicine bottle.
The cap had been opened. There was still blood on the bottle.
“I found this in the house. There were also the night clothes that had been changed out. They were stained with blood.”
Yu Niaoniao took the medicine bottle and looked at it to confirm that it was a Golden Creation potion used for treating external injuries.
She took the opportunity to speculate. “So this is indeed where the assassins stayed. They came back last night and bandaged their wounds here, but then they ran away.”
Xiao Juan nodded slightly in agreement with her guess.
Yu Niaoniao wiped the bottle with her fingertips and caught a little blood. “The blood hasn’t dried yet. They might not have run far.”
In the name of the county governor, Xiao Juan ordered more people to strictly investigate everyone who left the city.
The reason he didn’t seal the city gate was to give the assassins a glimmer of hope that they might be able to escape.
Only then would the assassins walk into a trap.
The truth was indeed as Yu Niaoniao had guessed. After the failed assassination last night, Qin Jun brought people back to the small courtyard in the city.
Qin Jun was seriously injured, but he could not go to the medical center. Fortunately, they had prepared medicine to treat external injuries.
He treated his wounds himself in the small courtyard.
At the same time, he instructed his subordinates to kill Li Jia to prevent him from revealing their whereabouts.
He had thought that when he was done, it would be fine. They could continue to hide in this small courtyard.
Unexpectedly, the government suddenly issued a wanted order, and there was a portrait of them on it.
When Qin Jun saw himself in the portrait, he felt terrible.
Even though the man in the portrait was masked, his eyes were too recognizable. One could recognize him at a glance!
He was so angry that he tore the wanted order into pieces.
However, he quickly calmed down. He could not stay here for long. He had to leave immediately!
Qin Jun could not care less that he had yet to recover from his serious injuries. He did not even have time to pack the things in the house before quickly leaving the small courtyard with his subordinates.
They disguised themselves as a funeral procession and planned to sneak out of Jinguan City without anyone knowing.
In the end, when they approached the city gate, they realized that there were a large number of soldiers standing next to the gate. Anyone who wanted to leave the city, no matter their identity, had to be strictly interrogated..