Su Fei nodded, picked up the chopsticks, and ate the delicious duck blood vermicelli soup while thinking about the next step.
Go to Fang Wenhan's outer house and have a look, maybe you can find some clues.
As the night got darker, the guests in the restaurant gradually dispersed. Su Fei paid the bill, walked out of the restaurant, and merged into the Heaven-Answering Prefecture night.
Su Fei rode along the street towards Heaven-Answering Prefecture Office. The gate of the government office was particularly solemn at night, with two red lanterns hanging on both sides of the door.
The two doormen at the door were wearing blue government uniforms and carrying long knives at their waists. When they saw Su Fei, who was wearing a blue robe and looked young, not like an official or a rich man, their eyes immediately turned contemptuous.
"Stop. This is Heaven-Answering Prefecture Office, not a place you can just enter."
The guard on the left stepped forward, stretched out his hand to stop Su Fei, and sounded impatient.
"I want to complain and come back tomorrow. The government office is closed now."
The doorman on the right also echoed, with a mocking look on his lips.
"You're not here to cause trouble, are you? Hurry up and don't wait for us to take action."
Su Fei looked calm and slowly took out a black token from his arms.
The front of the token is engraved with the four seal characters "Imperial Guard Thousand Households Officer", and the back is an eagle with spread wings, glowing coldly under the lamp.
He handed the token to the guard with a calm voice.
"The yamen is not open day and night, so how can you say that it is closed? Why are you so lazy?"
"Open your eyes and see what this is."
The two guards were still disdainful at first, but when they saw the words on the token, their faces turned pale in an instant. Their legs were weak and they knelt on the ground with a thump, banging their heads.
"You are so young that you don't know Mount Tai. I didn't know it was Imperial Guard, and I ask for your forgiveness."
The name Imperial Guard is known to everyone in the Great Xuan Dynasty.
They are the pro-army who are directly responsible to His Majesty. Not to mention the two Xiaoxiao gatekeepers, even the Heaven-Answering Prefecture prefect Fang Wenhan is still alive, and he has to be polite when meeting Imperial Guard's Qianhu adults.
How could the two of them dare to stop him? One of them crawled on the ground and ran towards the government office, shouting as he ran.
"Go and inform Associate Prefect Gao that Master Imperial Guard Thousand Households Officer is here."
After a while, there was a rush of footsteps in the government office, and a middle-aged man wearing a crimson official uniform and a somewhat fat figure ran out panting. This person was none other than Heaven-Answering Prefecture, fellow intellectual Gao Feng.
He was about fifty years old, with beads of sweat on his forehead. He was obviously running in a hurry. When he saw Su Fei standing at the door, he immediately stepped forward, clasped his hands and bowed in salute, with a respectful tone.
"Heaven-Answering Prefecture, I know Gao Feng, pay my respects to Viscount of Eternal Peace County, Imperial Guard Thousand Households Officer Lord Su. I didn't know that your lord is here, but I am a little disappointed to welcome you from afar. I hope you will forgive me!"
Su Fei heard the words "Viscount of Eternal Peace County", and his heart moved slightly. He almost forgot that he had just received a title. This status has some weight in the local area.
"Associate Prefect Gao There is no need to be polite. I am here this time for Prefect Fang's case."
When Gao Feng heard about Prefect Fang's case, his face immediately showed joy and he said quickly.
"It's great that Lord Su can come. Since Prefect Fang's accident, people in the government office have been in panic. The lower officials really can't control the situation. With you here, we Heaven-Answering Prefecture finally have a backbone. I wonder what your lord is going to do next?"
"First go to the outer house where Fang Wenhan was killed."
Su Fei's tone was straightforward.
"Go now, I want to see the scene for myself."
Gao Feng was stunned for a moment and nodded quickly.
"Master Qianhu is not in charge of the government office? He wants to investigate this case. I will arrange two sedan chairs and we will go over there right now."
As he spoke, he was about to call someone to prepare the sedan, but was interrupted by Su Fei raising his hand.
"No need."
"It's too slow to ride in a sedan chair, but it's faster to ride a horse. You can ask someone to bring the horse over, and we'll leave now."
Gao Feng suddenly showed a troubled look on his face.
He usually lives a pampered life and seldom rides a horse, let alone travels at night. But how dare he refute Su Fei, so he can only bite the bullet and answer.
"Yes! I will listen to you, sir!"
After saying this, he immediately ordered his subordinates to bring in fast horses, and called four more constables to accompany him, saying that they would be escorted along the way.
Su Fei turned directly onto the horse with neat movements.
Gao Feng, with the help of the policeman, finally climbed onto the horse's back. As soon as he sat firmly, he shook. He was so frightened that he quickly grabbed the reins and turned pale.
When the group of people left the government office, Su Fei raised his whip and the horses started to gallop. Gao Feng hurriedly urged the horses to follow, but they rode crookedly. From time to time, the guards had to step forward to help them. They looked very embarrassed.
Fortunately, Fang Wenhan's outer house is not far from the city, and the group of people arrived there in about half an hour.
It was a house located in a bamboo forest. The walls were not high and a copper lock hung at the door.
Gao Feng gasped and got off the horse, wiping his sweat and said to Su Fei.
"Lord Su, this is the outer house of Prefect Fang. After the body was found, the lower official had people seal the place. No one except Zuo dared to come in."
Su Fei looked at the surrounding environment and said something casually.
"Although the environment here is good, it is quite far from Heaven-Answering Prefecture's official office, so it is not convenient. Why would Prefect Fang choose this place to house his foreign residence?"
Gao Feng thought for a moment.
"I really know this. Prefect Fang likes this foreign house Liu Niang very much. After he redeemed her from the brothel, Liu Niang said he liked the place with bamboo, so he bought a house here."
"Prefect Fang died, and Liu Niang disappeared."
Su Fei nodded.
He was such a passionate person, but it was a pity that he played himself to death for some reason in the end.
Gao Feng quickly winked at the policeman behind him. One of the policemen stepped forward quickly, took out the key from his waist, and opened the copper lock with a click.
The door made a slight creaking sound when it was pushed open.
A faint fragrance floated out from the crack of the door - like the fragrance of powder commonly used by women, with a bit of elegant bamboo fragrance.
"Sir, please."
Gao Feng stepped aside and respectfully led Su Fei in. Su Fei stepped into the front yard and scanned the scene in the yard.
The ground was paved with bluestone slabs, which had been swept clean, without even a fallen leaf. There were several clusters of green bamboo planted on both sides, with two stone benches placed under the bamboos, and a celadon tea cup placed on the stone table.
The tea in the tea cup has already cooled down, but it has not fallen into dust.
"Who takes care of this outer house on weekdays?"
Su Fei stopped and looked at Gao Feng.
"I heard from people in the government office that Prefect Fang wouldn't let servants come over, so Liu Niang took care of it himself."
Gao Feng replied quickly.
"On the day we found out that Prefect Fang had an accident, we came to take away the body. The place was as neat and tidy as it is now."
Su Fei nodded and continued walking inside. Passing through a moon gate, you will find the living room in the middle courtyard.
The door of the living room is ajar. After pushing it open, the furnishings inside are clear at a glance: there is a pear wood Eight Immortals table in the middle, with four chairs around it. The table is covered with a plain tablecloth with very few wrinkles.