The case of the missing young women

Shen Shixu sat for a while longer before leaving under the pretext of being drunk. After returning to the little courtyard he rented, he had Xiaoshi, who attended him, prepare brush and ink, then wrote a long letter to his family.

Before bed, he instructed Xiaoshi to wake him early the next morning and send the letter off.

While he slept peacefully, the candles in the crown prince's chambers at the imperial palace burned until dawn. Xiao Jinyi stayed with Xiao Yuanqi the entire time, and Emperor Wu'an and Empress Lin also learned that the crown prince had been cheated on.

Emperor Wu'an was furious that the Yongning Marquis Residence had made fools of them, and Empress Lin was no less angry. She had personally chosen Yang Wenhui as her prospective daughter-in-law, never imagining that she would turn out to be such a two-faced, wanton, shameless woman.

The thought that this woman had nearly married her son and become her daughter-in-law filled Empress Lin with lingering dread and disgust.

Emperor Wu'an patted Empress Lin's hand to soothe her. "We really must thank Shen Shixu this time. If he hadn't bonded with that system, we might truly have married such a vile creature to Qi."

Empress Lin was also deeply grateful to Shen Shixu. "Your Majesty is right. We must properly thank this top scholar. I heard Jinyi gave him the position of deputy minister at the Court of Judicial Review. Whether or not he uncovers anything while investigating this case with Jinyi, I believe he should be allowed to keep the post."

Only Empress Lin dared say such a thing. Had anyone else in the imperial harem said it, Emperor Wu'an would already have flown into a rage.

"You're right, Wei. Besides, I suspect Shen Shixu won't need my help to secure his position as deputy minister at the Court of Judicial Review."

Fast asleep, Shen Shixu had no idea Emperor Wu'an thought so highly of him. He was merely enjoying a lovely dream in which he rose steadily through the ranks and married a beautiful, fair-skinned heiress. Only, why was this beautiful heiress taller than him?

The next day, Xiaoshi woke Shen Shixu, who washed up and changed into an azure robe. With an autumn bamboo fan in hand, he ate two meat buns, drank a bowl of sweet soup, and hurried to Prince Jing's Residence.

Shen Shixu had just reached the entrance to Prince Jing's Residence and was about to knock when a carriage stopped behind him. He turned to look, and Xiao Jinyi stepped out with dark shadows beneath his eyes.

Seeing that Shen Shixu had already arrived, Xiao Jinyi abandoned any thought of going inside for breakfast and took him straight to the Court of Judicial Review, buying two baked flatbreads along the way to munch on.

After they entered the Court of Judicial Review, a junior clerk in a blue-green robe approached. Xiao Jinyi ordered coldly, "Tell Deputy Minister Shen about the missing young women case."

The clerk paused and looked at Shen Shixu, who stood behind Xiao Jinyi. He had spent many years at the Court of Judicial Review. He was no expert at solving cases, but when it came to reading people, no one dared claim to be better than him.

He could tell at a glance that Shen Shixu was an exceptional man, not someone to be underestimated merely because he was young.

He quietly explained the case to Shen Shixu. "Lord Shen, this missing young women case began three days ago, when a rice shop owner discovered a woman in ragged clothes while fetching rice from his warehouse. She was still breathing at the time and begged him for help when she saw him.

"Before the rice shop owner could summon anyone to save her, she died.

"The shop owner, Mr. Qian, saw that her body was covered in wounds—whip marks, knife wounds, and burns—and immediately reported it to the authorities.

"The Capital Prefecture came to investigate first, but they had no leads, so they passed the case to the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice found nothing either and handed it over to our Court of Judicial Review.

"Later, His Highness Prince Jing heard about it and took over the case. It was only thanks to His Highness that we learned the victim's identity. Before that, we hadn't even known who she was.

"She was the younger sister of a vanguard officer serving under His Highness Prince Jing and had been missing for two years. Her family had searched for her before but found no news whatsoever. For her to suddenly turn up here, there was clearly something sinister behind it.

"Moreover, the coroner's examination revealed that she was no longer a virgin. Though she had many wounds, none of them were fatal. They looked more like the results of bedroom play."

The clerk did not even dare look at Shen Shixu as he said this. Lord Shen looked as though he had never experienced intimate relations, and the clerk feared that speaking of such sordid matters would sully his ears.

As they spoke, they reached the autopsy room. Xiao Jinyi had been worried that Shen Shixu might be frightened, but to his surprise, Shen Shixu walked straight over, lifted the white cloth covering the body, and bent his head to examine it carefully.

Shen Shixu first inspected the clothes on the woman's body. Although her own blood had soaked them until they were nearly black, he could still tell they were made of heavenly fragrance silk.

The woven floral patterns of heavenly fragrance silk easily grew fuzzy, making it unsuitable for frequent washing, so poor families would not buy this fabric to make clothes.

Someone who could afford such clothing would have a little money, but would not be exceptionally wealthy or highborn. That fit Shen Shixu's theory.

When he heard the clerk say that the woman had been missing for two years, with no news despite two years of searching, only to suddenly appear now, he realized that she must have been confined somewhere ever since she was taken away.

Recalling the wounds the clerk had described as the results of bedroom play, he could roughly guess what she had endured after being abducted. Someone who did such things would certainly not have held only one woman captive. There were probably many others still imprisoned.

The dead woman had likely gone to great lengths to escape, only to be pursued and injured. She had finally managed to hide in the rice shop, but her injuries were too severe, and she died from excessive blood loss.

The rice shop's location would give them a rough idea of where she had escaped from. With so many injuries, she could not possibly have run far. The place should be very close to the shop.

Seeing that Shen Shixu seemed to have formed a plan, Xiao Jinyi told him what he had discovered. "This woman was called Qiao Ying. She was my vanguard officer's younger sister and disappeared from their hometown two years ago. After she vanished, their parents immediately reported it to the authorities and searched for her themselves, but they found no news at all. No one imagined she would turn up in the capital, a thousand miles away.

"Her identification was also a coincidence. That vanguard officer had accompanied me to the capital and came to the Court of Judicial Review to visit a friend. He happened to see his younger sister's body, and only then did we learn who the dead woman was.

"After confirming her identity, I inspected the rice shop where she was last seen and sent people to make inquiries in the surrounding area to find out whether anyone had seen Qiao Ying.

"According to what we learned, no one had seen Qiao Ying nearby. It was as though she had appeared in the rice shop out of thin air. I searched the entire shop and discovered that a window in the warehouse had been opened. There were bloodstains on it, along with a strip of cloth. Several crates were stacked outside the window, and there was blood on them too.

"We confirmed that the strip of cloth came from Qiao Ying's clothing. She must have spotted the warehouse window while fleeing, stepped onto the crates, and climbed through it into the rice shop. She wanted to seek help, but she was too badly injured to move or even make a sound, and she died from excessive blood loss.

"That is all I have learned. Deputy Minister Shen, have you noticed anything?"