A female coroner arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Chapter 240 Headless Female Corpse (28)

Chenjiacun.

Master Chen was the richest man in the village, and his magnificent red-walled mansion stood out among the tiled houses and thatched huts of the village.

Constable Luo drove his carriage and stopped outside the gate of the house.

After glancing at the large characters "Chen Residence" on the plaque above the door, Officer Luo got out of the car and knocked on the door knocker.

The person who opened the door was an old man. Officer Luo took out his waist token and explained his purpose. The old man was so frightened that he hurriedly invited the man into the house and went to inform Master Chen while his legs trembled.

Mu Qingcheng and his entourage walked and looked around, passed through the courtyard, entered the main hall, and took their seats under the guidance of the servants.

In a short while, Master Chen and his steward, Lao Liao, arrived in haste.

The middle-aged Master Chen, with a beard and wearing a hat, was very polite and courteous: "I was unaware of your arrival, sir. Please forgive my lack of hospitality!"

Constable Luo introduced, "Master Chen, we are from the Jingzhao Prefecture. This is Clerk Mu. We are here today to question Steward Liao. Please cooperate with the government in handling the case!"

"Alright, I will definitely cooperate!" Master Chen was surprised, especially when he saw that the clerk was a woman. He immediately lowered his head and cupped his hands towards Mu Qingcheng. "I will have someone serve you tea and snacks. Please continue your work here, Master Mu. I will stand guard outside and be ready to answer your orders at any time!"

"Tea is fine, nothing else is needed." Mu Qingcheng returned the greeting, "I'm sorry to have troubled you, Master Chen."

Master Chen was flattered and said, "Master Mu, you are too kind. I dare not accept such praise."

"Butler Liao, please stay. Everyone else, you may leave."

"Yes!"

Looking at the five people in the hall, Old Liao felt a little scared. "I wonder why Your Excellency has summoned me? I am law-abiding and have absolutely not done anything illegal!"

Lin Shuban spread out Xuan paper, prepared a shorthand pen, and nodded to Mu Qingcheng. Mu Qingcheng then said, "Steward Liao, you don't need to be nervous. I'll ask you some questions, and you just need to answer truthfully."

"Yes, yes." Butler Liao bowed and kept rubbing his hands, his inner fear still lingering.

Mu Qingcheng asked, "I heard that you have a daughter named Liao Ruyi, who married into a noble family in the capital more than three months ago as a concubine. Is this true?"

"Yes, that's right," Butler Liao hurriedly replied.

"How old is Liao Ruyi? Who is her husband's family?"

"Ruyi is sixteen years old this year, and has just passed the coming-of-age ceremony. Her fiancé is the heir of the Pingnan Marquis's mansion."

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces were filled with complicated expressions. Although Liao Ruyi's age did not match the deceased's, she was related to Wu Fei!
Mu Qingcheng narrowed her eyes, her gaze sharpening. "Steward Liao, I've heard that the young master of the Marquis's new concubine broke off the engagement before even entering the household, and went to marry someone else to become his wife."

"Alas, sir, you are unaware of what has been troubling me lately!" Steward Liao's face fell, his brow furrowed with worry. Mu Qingcheng said, "Don't be afraid, sit down and talk."

However, Butler Liao knelt down before Mu Qingcheng with a thud, his cloudy eyes quickly welling with tears. "Sir, please help me! We clearly handed Ruyi over to the people from the Earl's mansion to fetch her, but now the Earl's mansion says that Ruyi broke off the engagement halfway, betrayed her promise, and went to be someone else's wife! But we have no idea who Ruyi married or where she went. She's nowhere to be found, neither alive nor dead!"

"Does that mean Liao Ruyi has disappeared?" Mu Qingcheng's brows furrowed.

Butler Liao nodded tearfully, "Yes, we can't find her, and she hasn't come back."

Mu Qingcheng's tone turned serious, "Why didn't you report it to the authorities?"

“How can we report this? That’s the Pingnan Marquis’s mansion! We have no evidence and no connections. If we dare to report this to the authorities, Ruyi may never come back!” Butler Liao said, tears streaming down his face.

Hearing this, Bai Zhizhi retorted angrily, "Do you think your daughter can go home just because you don't report it to the authorities? If someone is determined to do evil, they won't have a change of heart whether you report it to the authorities or not!"

"Officer Bai!" Mu Qingcheng called out, "Watch your words!"

All that could be done was cry and plead, "Please, sir, save my daughter!"

Mu Qingcheng suddenly remembered something, reached out to help Butler Liao up, and asked, "How did you discover that Liao Ruyi was missing? Did someone from the Earl's mansion inform you?"

"About a month ago, I received a letter from Brother Ruyi... Oh, I forgot to mention, Ruyi is not my biological daughter, but an adopted child. Ruyi has a biological brother who was separated from her when she was young. A month ago, her brother suddenly wrote to me, saying that he would be coming to the capital soon and wanted to see Ruyi. I then wrote back to inform him that Ruyi had already married into the Pingnan Earl's mansion as a concubine."

At this point, Steward Liao suddenly became agitated. "After Brother Ruyi arrived in the capital, he immediately went to the Pingnan Marquis's residence to request an audience. Unexpectedly, the people of the Pingnan Marquis's residence told him that there was no such person as Liao Ruyi in the residence at all! Brother Ruyi immediately rushed to Chenjia Village to find me. We hurriedly went to the matchmaker to inquire, and the matchmaker said that she had indeed handed the person over to the Pingnan Marquis's residence. Brother Ruyi went to the Pingnan Marquis's residence to ask for the person back, but unexpectedly, he was chased out with sticks, who said that Liao Ruyi had broken her promise and regretted not being a concubine at the last minute, and had remarried to someone else to become the main wife."

"Just like that, Ruyi disappeared without a trace! These days, Ruyi's brother has been searching for him everywhere, and I have also received the favor of the master, who has borrowed servants from the master's mansion to search for him in every village, but so far there has been no news!"

Registrar Zhang asked, "You've made such a big commotion looking for someone, so why didn't our Jingzhao Prefecture send anyone down to investigate?"

"To be honest, sir, a young lady's reputation is of paramount importance. How could we dare to make a big fuss about it? Once people find out that Ruyi has been missing for several days, what will they think? Her reputation will be completely ruined, and everyone's spittle could drown her!" Steward Liao said, becoming more and more heartbroken. "At that time, even if we find Ruyi, all that awaits her is hanging herself or jumping into the river!"

"Nonsense!"

Bai Zhizhi's anger, which she had just suppressed, erupted again. "What do you mean by reputation being more important than anything? We're about to lose our lives, what do we care about reputation? How incredibly old-fashioned!"

The housekeeper was so stunned by the scolding that she forgot to cry.

This time, Mu Qingcheng did not stop Bai Zhizhi. She sighed and said, "Butler Liao, a person only counts if they are alive. Reputation and honor are insignificant compared to life."

Butler Liao covered his face with his hands and collapsed to the ground.

Mu Qingcheng waited for him to calm down before continuing to ask, "How did you manage to get this marriage? Logically speaking, when the heir of the Marquis's mansion takes a concubine, she should at least be the daughter of a merchant family. How could they have chosen your daughter? You are a servant in Master Chen's mansion, with no family background or wealth whatsoever. Why would the Marquis's mansion want a poor girl?"

(End of this chapter)