A female coroner arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Chapter 236 Headless Female Corpse (24)

Upon hearing this, Song Shuyu's expression stiffened slightly. Whether he was genuinely thirsty or simply wanted to avoid Mu Qingcheng, he got up and went to the door under the pretext of drinking tea, calling out, "Someone, bring more tea."

Mu Qingcheng was puzzled.

The servant replied and went to make preparations.

"My lord?" Mu Qingcheng rested one hand on the armrest of the armchair, half-covering his lips, and squinted, pondering, "You know the Pingnan Marquis's mansion like the back of your hand, you wouldn't be unaware of Wu Fei's marriage, would you?"

"Cough cough." Song Shuyu coughed twice, his expression clearly strange, but he was also a stubborn person, so he immediately said, "Of course I know, I'm just thirsty and want to moisten my throat before I talk."

Mu Qingcheng smiled, "Alright, no rush, I'll wait patiently."

Song Shuyu sighed inwardly, thinking that finding a wife who was exceptionally intelligent was not necessarily all a good thing!

Soon, a servant came in with a tray, served three bowls of fresh tea, and then took his leave.

Thinking back to the fact that she hadn't seen any other maids in the main courtyard besides Liu Mama in recent days, Mu Qingcheng couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Sir, where have all the maids in the back courtyard gone?"

She knew that Xue'er had been exiled to the estate, but now that only the servant was left, it was puzzling.

Song Shuyu didn't intend to hide it from her, so he pointed out, "Haven't you noticed that the number of servants has increased?"

"The master has replaced all the maids with servants?"

"Ah."

"Why?"

Song Shuyu glanced at Bai Zhizhi, who was writing a letter at her desk, but did not reply.

Mu Qingcheng had a general idea of ​​what was going on. Her face flushed slightly, and a smile played on her lips. "My lord, there's no need to act like this. I haven't complained about you."

“As the saying goes, if you don’t have something to worry about, then you should strive to do it. Some things you should think about and do in advance. I can’t wait until you have complaints before I correct them.” Song Shuyu walked over, sat down on the armrest, and looked at Mu Qingcheng with deep affection in his eyes. “Qingcheng, no matter what you think, I will not allow even the slightest crack between us.”

"Cough-cough-"

Bai Zhizhi coughed violently and couldn't help but tease, "Lord Song, this is too sweet! It's sickeningly sweet!"

Mu Qingcheng pushed Song Shuyu away in embarrassment, forcing herself to remain calm, and said, "My lord, was Wu Fei married or not? This is crucial for me to determine the identity of the deceased!"

“Wu Fei got married.” Song Shuyu quickly replied, “He got married at the beginning of last year.”

Mu Qingcheng frowned slightly. "Your Excellency is truly an all-knowing person, knowing so much."

"Hehe, even among officials and nobles, weddings and funerals require banquets." Song Shuyu's smile was somewhat forced.

Mu Qingcheng said "Oh," and then asked, "So, what's the background of Wu Fei's wife?"

“It is Xu Yuying, daughter of Censor Xu Cheng.” Song Shuyu paused for a moment before replying. “Does she have any concubines or maids?”

"I don't know about that."

"Oh, so the master only cares about Wu Fei's legal wife."

"Mu Qingcheng!" Song Shuyu jumped to his feet, his handsome face flushed with excitement and nervousness. He said, "I wasn't paying attention on purpose, it's because... because of Xu Yuying, she is, is..."

He stammered for a long time without getting a result out. This unusual behavior even made Bai Zhizhi's eyes widen, and she asked, "Lord Song, who is Xu Yuying? Is she related to you in some way?"

Song Shuyu rubbed his temples, meeting Mu Qingcheng's scrutinizing gaze. He explained guiltily, "Xu Yuying is the noblewoman from the official family who bumped into me at the Hundred Flowers Banquet. Although Lu Xun resolved the matter in time, the Xu family later asked someone to find my grandmother, wanting to marry Xu Yuying to me. I disagreed, and the Xu family then sought help from the Empress Dowager. Even Xu Yuying herself privately approached me, confessing her love and saying she would even be willing to be my concubine. I... I was so persistent that I deliberately went to brothels to drink and create a reputation for being a libertine. Who knew that Xu Yuying would still not give up and would pester me repeatedly. In the end, my father intervened and wrote a letter of refusal to the censor, which finally put an end to the matter."

Mu Qingcheng nodded repeatedly as she listened, "So, the story you told me before was just the beginning. I didn't expect the sequel to be even more exciting."

"I... I was just afraid you'd overthink it. Besides, things have changed, and there's no point in bringing up unimportant people," Song Shuyu said urgently.

Bai Zhizhi clicked her tongue and exclaimed, "Oh my, I never imagined that Lord Song had such a romantic past, with a devoted suitor!"

"Officer Bai!" Song Shuyu gritted his teeth, "As your subordinate, please always remember not to falsely accuse or slander your superior, or put him in an unjust position!"

Bai Zhizhi laughed heartily, "I'm sorry, Lord Song, from tomorrow onwards, I will be your subordinate, Constable Bai. Right now, I'm just Sister Mu's good younger sister!"

Song Shuyu felt a lump in his throat; he had truly made a fatal mistake!
Mu Qingcheng was afraid that Song Shuyu would upset her so much that she would hurt herself. She tugged at his sleeve and said with a laugh, "My lord, I was just teasing you. How could I possibly hold such a grudge? Besides, the fact that a young lady likes my lord means that my lord is outstanding enough."

"Yes, it was Xu Yuying's wishful thinking. I had absolutely no feelings for her." Song Shuyu felt relieved, and her expression improved somewhat.

Mu Qingcheng was still puzzled, "Then why is the lord so concerned about Xu Yuying? And about the Pingnan Marquis's residence?"

“In the capital, a place surrounded by tigers and wolves, knowing yourself and your enemy is the primary condition for survival. The Xu family and Xu Yuying are sparing no effort to curry favor with the Duke’s mansion, so I naturally have to have a complete grasp of the people and things related to the Xu family, in order to prevent them from harming our Song family behind our backs.” Song Shuyu frankly revealed, “Qingcheng, you know that censors are not easy to offend. Unless absolutely necessary, it is best not to make enemies with censors.”

Mu Qingcheng nodded. "I understand."

At this moment, Bai Zhizhi waved the envelope in her hand, "Sister Mu, I've finished writing the letter. I'm going back to the Bai Family Trading Company to find Old Zhang and have him arrange for a messenger to send it out immediately."

"Okay, be careful when you go out." Mu Qingcheng reminded him, but still felt uneasy. "Why don't you ask Officer Jiang or Officer Liu to go with you, just in case?"

Bai Zhi said "okay" and then took his leave.

Mu Qingcheng frowned and pondered, "It's too late today. Tomorrow morning, I need to gather the officials to review the information we've collected from various sources, cross-reference it, extract all the parts related to the Pingnan Earl's Mansion and the Xu Imperial Censor's Mansion, and then discuss and analyze them."

"Yes, go ahead and do it."

Song Shuyu agreed with her idea. After finishing their business, he looked at her familiar features and couldn't help but ask tentatively, "Qingcheng, after you turned seven, have you ever had any accidents?"

(End of this chapter)