The daily life of a space tycoon raising children, doting on his husband, and farming.

Chapter 141 Acquaintance
Whether it was intuition or something else, Luo Da walked over and pushed open the door. The smell was even stronger, somewhat foul, and made him feel nauseous.

He covered his nose and went inside, tentatively calling out "Grandma Gao" twice. He felt something shaking above his head, and when he looked up, he was so frightened that he fell to the ground.

Old Lady Gao was hanging from the roof beam, and two rats scurried down from her body, squeaking and running away quickly.

Luo Da immediately scrambled to find someone and also notified Village Chief Lin. Only after the villagers arrived did he put Old Lady Gao down.

After hearing about the discovery of the body and Gao Qi's mysterious disappearance, Shan Dajun also felt that Gao Qi was the most suspicious.

After examination by the coroner, it was determined that Old Lady Gao had been dead for more than three days, at which time Gao Qi had not yet left the village.

Since Gao Qi was home at the time, Old Lady Gao would have struggled and made some noise if she had been strangled. With only a wall separating them, how could Gao Qi not have known?
Therefore, the murderer who killed Granny Gao is very likely Gao Qi.

According to Village Chief Lin, it was Lu Xiucai's family who discovered that Old Lady Gao had not committed suicide. So Shan Dajun was not in a hurry to go back and report, but instead led people to look for Lu Chengjing and Shang Wan.

Unfortunately, Shang Wan went into the mountains, leaving only Lu Chengjing behind.

Lu Chengjing didn't let them into the wooden shed. Instead, he had Xiao Huan bring water, and they talked at the long table outside.

Dan Dajun glanced at the new house that was mostly built in the distance and smiled, "It looks like this new house is almost finished. Congratulations on moving in advance."

"It will take some more time to complete," Lu Chengjing said. "If you have time, sir, you might as well come over for a drink then."

This is a humble expression, like a friend saying "Let's have dinner sometime." Unless a specific time is agreed upon, it's just polite talk between adults and shouldn't be taken seriously.

Besides, it would take at least an hour to get from the city to Yushu Village. They had no personal relationship with Shan Dajun, so it wasn't worth traveling that far for a meal.

Lu Chengjing was expecting Shan Dajun to decline, but he didn't expect him to agree so readily, which was quite unexpected for Lu Chengjing.

He had noticed from their previous conversations that Shan Dajun seemed to be intentionally getting close to their family.

A little thought reveals that Shan Dajun's attitude is most likely related to Lord An.

The two exchanged a few more polite words, but Lu Chengjing, who never liked such things, steered the conversation back to the main topic.

Dan Dajun also disliked wasting time, so he asked, "I wonder how Madam Shang was able to tell that Old Madam Gao did not commit suicide but was killed by someone else?"

Lu Chengjing had already prepared his explanation and said slowly, "In my spare time, I like to read some miscellaneous books. I once read about the difference between being strangled and hanging oneself in a book. After hearing my wife's description, I felt something was amiss, so I went to ask the village doctor. Only after confirming it did I dare to be sure that Old Lady Gao had indeed died at the hands of someone else, and that's when I informed the village chief."

Dan Dajun wasn't a big reader, and of course, he didn't have the spare money. But he did know that some books did contain details related to autopsies.

Coroner Xu had several such books, which were also illustrated and easy to understand even for laymen.

He readily believed Lu Chengjing's explanation, asked a few more questions, and then took his leave with his men.

Because the cause of death was clear and Gao Laotai's body had begun to decompose, Shan Dajun did not take the body back to the county government, but instead asked the villagers to bury it as soon as possible.

The money for the coffin came from the Gao family's savings, and with the villagers pooling their resources, a simple funeral was arranged.

Gao Qi never appeared in the village again.

The county government has determined that Gao Qi fled to avoid punishment. Because they have been unable to catch him for a long time, they have posted wanted posters all over the city.

When Shang Wan went into town to sell medicinal herbs, she ran into Qiao Yu'an's servant, A'le, at the city gate. As soon as A'le saw Shang Wan, he praised the ointment she gave him as very effective. He was on his way to Yushu Village to deliver a letter to Lu Chengjing, and meeting Shang Wan made things easier for him.

Shang Wan carefully put the letter away and drove the oxcart to the familiar pharmacy. As soon as she stopped the oxcart, a familiar noblewoman came out of the pharmacy.

It was none other than the mother-in-law, Madam Lu, who gave the original owner headaches and fear upon first sight.

Standing beside Madam Lu was a young woman dressed in a begonia-colored spring dress. She had an oval face, delicate, arched eyebrows, and exquisite makeup. There was a hint of arrogance in her eyes.

Two ruby ​​hairpins were inserted diagonally into her hair bun, complementing the ruby ​​earrings on her earlobes and making her complexion rosy and her face as beautiful as a lotus flower.

This woman was also an acquaintance; she was Lu Chengyuan's wife, Madam Li.

The two main forces who bullied the original owner in the Lu family were Madam Lu and her.

The two were accompanied by a group of servants, some of whom were familiar faces.

The pharmacy was not very big to begin with, and as Shang Wan was sizing up the two of them, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law also saw her.

Madam Lu's brows immediately furrowed in displeasure, and the corners of her lips turned down, clearly showing her extreme dislike for the original owner of this body.

Li's expression remained largely unchanged, and her smile even seemed to deepen, as if she had a very good relationship with the original owner's sister-in-law.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law stopped, and the group of servants naturally stopped as well. All eyes were on Shang Wan, clearly waiting for her to take the initiative to greet them.

Shang Wan jumped off the oxcart, showing no intention of speaking to the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and went straight to call the pharmacy's clerk to unload the medicinal herbs from the cart.

She was a regular customer at the pharmacy, and the staff all recognized her face. Even before Shang Wan could call out, someone would come over to help her.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were left standing there, watching helplessly as Shang Wan treated them like they didn't exist.

Madam Lu's face, which had been reasonably presentable, instantly turned ashen. She glared at Shang Wan with her eyes wide open, her displeasure almost overflowing.

Li was a perceptive woman. Even though she harbored many grievances against Madam Lu, she never showed them on her face, thus portraying the role of a good daughter-in-law so convincingly that it resonated with the audience.

After thinking for a moment, she took the initiative to greet Shang Wan: "Third sister-in-law, why don't you go forward to pay your respects to Mother?"

Shang Wan ignored her completely, not even glancing at her, and stepped over the threshold of the pharmacy.

"Stop!" Madam Lu could no longer tolerate Shang Wan's disregard for her and reprimanded her with a stern face, "Is this how you treat your elders?"

Shang Wan secretly rolled her eyes. She's been kicked out of the house, yet she's still acting like a mother-in-law.

She turned her head, her gaze falling on Madam Lu. She glanced at her lightly, then parted her red lips and uttered two words: "Who are you?"

Upon hearing those two words, Madam Lu's face immediately darkened. She pointed at Shang Wan, her chest heaving with anger.

Li quickly helped her up, patting her back to help her catch her breath while staring disapprovingly at Shang Wan, "Third sister-in-law, how could you speak to Mother like that?"

Shang Wan chuckled, "Mother? What kind of mother is she? We're not even on the same family tree. I don't have the habit of randomly claiming mothers."

Li swallowed hard, looking at Shang Wan's delicate face in surprise. Was this still the woman she used to be able to mold and manipulate at will?