There is a god in the sky

Chapter 138

The sky was overcast, and it started snowing again in the afternoon.

Knowing that the secret passage was accessible, they no longer needed to guard the warehouse, but instead went out in groups to search for people.

Lunch was served at the inn. Steward Jiang prepared plenty of food for them and also provided each officer with a pot of hot wine.

"Let the adults have a drink to warm themselves up, and then we can take our time investigating the case and finding the people."

Xiao Ji didn't stop everyone from drinking, as long as they didn't get drunk.

"Manager Jiang, is the road leading out of this dock easy to travel?" Xiao Ji asked.

"Sir, send someone a mile to the east to take a look. There are roadblocks there, and you can't get through without a pass from the dock."

This is also why their employer was able to monopolize the dock business.

Unless people walk on water, they have to pay their employers a fee before they can leave.

Shen Lan suspected that his employer had government connections, otherwise he wouldn't dare to accept money privately.

This matter could be considered a serious offense if it were taken to the authorities.

"So that means the woman couldn't have left by land. Could it be that she got back on the ship?"

After eating a few bites of food, Chen Shi led his men to continue their search.

Shen Lan and the others sat in the inn waiting for news. It was more lively and warmer than the warehouse.

The heavy curtain was lifted, and three men wearing straw hats entered.

They stood at the doorway and brushed the snow off their clothes.

The waiter went up to them and said, "I'm sorry, sir, our inn is full of guests, but we still have food."

"If you're not staying at the hotel, just give us three catties of mutton, three catties of flatbread, and three catties of liquor. We'll leave after we finish eating."

"Okay, please find a seat. The food will be served shortly."

The three of them sat down in a corner on the first floor.

One of them was clearly a monk; his gray robes were faded from washing, and his exposed hands were red from the cold.

Perhaps it was too warm in the inn, because he rubbed his hands together and put them inside his sleeves.

Shen Lan couldn't take her eyes off the monk; she wanted to see his face.

Even while eating, the three of them did not take off their straw hats.

Shen Lan's gaze was very direct; logically, a sensitive person should have noticed it long ago.

But the three men seemed oblivious, not caring about her gaze.

Why is she still looking?

"Little monk, don't turn around, she's been staring at you."

Liao Chen knew, of course; the first thing he saw when he came in was Shen Lan.

He never expected to run into her here.

If this dock hadn't been an unofficial dock with boats that could go to Bianjing, they wouldn't have come here.

The food was quickly finished, and the three of them left the inn with the silver and wine.

Fu Qingyan followed Shen Lan's gaze and said knowingly, "Miss Shen, are you thinking of Master Chen?"

"Does he look like him?" Shen Lan asked him.

Fu Qingyan stared at the monk's back for a while, then shook his head and said, "He's dressed so bulky and wearing a straw hat, you can't tell at all."

He stood up and called out, "Hey, Master Liaochen, is that you?"

Liao Chen paused slightly, and the two people beside him quickly pulled him out normally.

"It wasn't him; he didn't even turn around."

The curtain fell, and Shen Lan withdrew her gaze.

Before long, the people who went out returned one after another. They had not found Miao Niang, but they brought back someone else.

"Sir, this man has come to report that a body was found on his boat."

The man seemed to have seen a savior and said tremblingly, "Sir, I am just a fisherman. That boat is for fishing. It has been moored on the shore for the past few days. When I went on board today, I found a corpse. I definitely did not kill the person."

Xiao Ji stood up and said to Shen Lan and Sui Ying, "You two come with me. The rest of you can rest at the inn."

Fu Qingyan also wanted to go, but Xiao Ji refused.

"It's snowing outside, are you sure you want to go out and freeze?"

In this kind of weather, no one wants to go out unless absolutely necessary.

Fu Qingyan instructed, "When you come back, you must tell me about the case."

Xiao Ji waved his hand and led his men away from the inn.

They hadn't kept their conversation private, and now the guests in the inn were all talking about it.

"In this weather, most of the bodies on the ship probably froze to death. What's the point of investigating?"

"Officials actually came to this run-down place? Could it be a fake?"

"Bah! Have you ever seen a fake official travel with so many officials?"

"Could it be that some major case has occurred here?"

Upon hearing about the dead, everyone became somewhat frightened, and those who had planned to go out for a walk abandoned their plans.

Shen Lanshen followed Xiao Ji, her steps unsteady.

Many boats were moored on the shore, with their official boat being the most conspicuous.

The river was covered in snow, but it was not yet frozen over. A small boat swayed and drifted away.

Shen Lan saw the three people who had just left. The monk was sitting at the bow of the boat, while the other two were rowing the oars. Like a small boat in the heavy snow, they bravely ventured out.

Arriving at the fisherman's boat, Xiao Ji jumped aboard and turned to extend his hand to Shen Lan.

"Watch your step."

Shen Lan took his hand and jumped over, then they crawled into the cabin together.

It's called a cabin, but it's really just a space separated by curtains hanging at the front and back of the awning boat.

The space was small, crammed with things, and contained a small bed that could only accommodate one person lying on their side.

The corpse lay on the small bed, its back to them, but the clothes on it clearly belonged to Miao Niang, and the body shape was exactly the same.

Shen Lan found it hard to accept that the person who had been lying next to her last night was now a corpse.

“It’s Miao Niang.” Shen Lan found her voice to be terribly cold.

A chill crept up from the soles of her feet, instantly stiffening her body.

There weren't enough people to stand in the cabin, so Xiao Ji and Sui Ying were in charge of observing the surroundings, while Shen Lan went to examine the body.

She gently turned the corpse over and saw Miao Niang's face, and a pair of eyes that hadn't closed in time.

"The place is too small and dark, so I'll take the body outside to examine it."

Shen Lan picked up Miao Niang's body and carried her outside.

Miao Niang was very thin and light; she didn't weigh much when held in one's arms.

Chen Shi, accompanied by several officials, waited on the shore to meet her. Upon seeing the person in her arms, he angrily exclaimed, "Well, so she was hiding here!"

The officer next to him quickly grabbed him.

"Wait, boss, it looks like a dead person."

They made way for Shen Lan.

Shen Lan found a tree and put Miao Niang down, then said to Chen Shi, "Let's go to the inn and borrow a piece of oilcloth to build a shed."

Xiao Ji went ashore and took the fisherman aside to ask him questions.

Their voices came through intermittently, but Shen Lan wasn't really listening.

She was looking at Miao Niang.

She took her hair out of her bun before going to bed last night, and she didn't comb it when she sneaked out in the middle of the night; her hair was still loose.

She was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, with no changes whatsoever.

When Shen Lan held her, she discovered that her body was stiff, indicating that she had been dead for several hours.

At such a temperature, the body decomposes slowly after death, but stiffens quickly.

The cause of death was also obvious: his neck was broken.

What a coincidence.

It's so coincidental that it makes one think that Miao Niang isn't the murderer of Xiao Yi.

The murderer killed Xiao Yi first. Miao Niang ran away for some reason and encountered the murderer again, where she also died at his hands.

If that's the case, it means a second person was in the warehouse last night.

With so many of them, they didn't even notice.