A pure heart in a jade pot

Chapter 8

"I water it every four or five days, and sometimes I don't water it when it rains." The old official paused, "The autumn rain last day and night lasted for the past two days, so I haven't watered it."

"Was it raining the night of the accident?"

"yes."

Mo Yan's face lit up with joy. She circled the post station several times, sometimes bending down to take a closer look, and sometimes leaping onto the wall. After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, she squatted on the wall and waved to Zhan Zhao...

"Lord Zhan! Take a look at this!"

He jumped up as instructed, and following her finger, he saw several patches of moss flattened on the wall.

"footprint?"

Zhan Zhao's lips curled up slightly, a hint of approval in his eyes. In fact, he had already noticed the footprints on the wall when he came that day, but he kept quiet, just to see if she could find them.

Mo Yan reached out and traced the footprints, then frowned and said, "There were two people, both men, about seven feet tall..." She gestured with her palm at the footprints, "The other one was shorter, about six feet eight inches. There were only the footprints of the person who entered, so they must have left through the door afterwards."

Zhan Zhao nodded; her guess was exactly the same as his. Judging a person's height from footprints was something he had learned from Bao Zheng when he first entered public service. How could she have learned it from somewhere, or was it something she had mastered without a teacher?

"They're here too!"

Mo Yan lightly spun around and jumped down, gesturing for him to come down as well. She pointed to several places in the courtyard and said, "Although there are only footprints, you can tell that one went east and the other went northwest."

"The northwest side is the wing room, where Bai Baozhen died; the east side is the kitchen, where the officials and servants died," Zhan Zhao said calmly.

The old bailiff exclaimed in surprise, "Didn't they say they had already caught the murderer? Could there be two murderers?"

Mo Yan glared at him, annoyed: "Catching that isn't being fierce..."

"Miss Mo!" Zhan Zhao said in a deep voice, his eyes filled with authority, signaling her not to speak recklessly.

She snorted coldly, clearly unimpressed, and turned her face away without saying anything more.

"Let's go check out the side room."

Zhan Zhao walked past her and headed towards the back room, thinking to himself, "This girl has entered the public service, how come she still speaks so recklessly? There's a long road ahead, and with her personality, she'll not only suffer herself, but she might also implicate the Kaifeng Prefecture."

Pushing open the door to the side room, he saw that the floor was spotless, a stark contrast to the mess he had left when he first arrived. He was taken aback and was about to ask a question when the old servant rushed forward, smiling obsequiously, "I just cleaned this room yesterday."

"Who told you to clean this?" Zhan Zhao's face darkened.

“This…” the old servant hurriedly said, “I was thinking that people still need to live in this room, and it would be strange to leave bloodstains all over the floor.”

"Then you must have cleaned the kitchen too?" Mo Yan asked, peeking out.

"...Yes, I cook and prepare food every day. If I don't clean, it's really..." The old servant said with a bitter face. "To be honest, after my brother Song Li died, I lived here alone. It would be a lie to say I wasn't afraid."

Mo Yan, impatient with his rambling, went inside and looked around. She noticed that not only had the floor been cleaned, but the tables, chairs, and bedside tables had also been wiped clean. She couldn't help but sneer, "I didn't expect someone like you to be so meticulous about cleaning."

Sensing something amiss in her tone, the old official hesitated to respond.

"How much is your monthly salary?" she asked with a smile.

"One tael of silver per month."

"Only one tael of silver? How can that be enough to cover all the food, clothing and other necessities in this household?" Mo Yan turned her head to look at him and said, "You must have received quite a bit of tips from the guests on weekdays."

“Young lady, you’re joking. Our post station is small and remote, so naturally few people come. Sometimes we might not have anyone come for a month or two. Who would have thought that once someone comes, something bad will happen…” the old official said with a worried look. “Even if someone gives us a tip, it’s just a pittance to get rid of us. These years have been getting harder and harder.”

Mo Yan glanced at Zhan Zhao, who was staring at the old official's face, seemingly pondering his words.

"Getting harder and harder?" She turned to look at the old servant, still smiling, but her gaze suddenly sharpened. "How can things be so difficult? You can still afford to drink Xiaoyangchun tea?"

Xiao Yangchun was a famous fine wine in the capital, costing one tael and two mace of silver to buy half a jin of wine. Zhan Zhao didn't know how Mo Yan knew that the official was drinking Xiao Yangchun, but seeing the old official's flustered expression, he knew that she had hit the nail on the head.

"I am a lowly servant, I am a lowly servant... I am not drinking Xiaoyangchun wine, but homemade rice wine," the old official said, trying to remain calm.

“Your homemade rice wine smells like a miniature summer,” Mo Yan sneered. “Then your family should really open a winery; you’d surely be packed with customers. …Why don’t you bring me the rice wine you’ve been hiding under your bed to try?”

The old official was so flustered by her words that he didn't know what to do.

Zhan Zhao said calmly, "Hurry up and get it!"

"Lord Zhan..." The old official knelt down with a thud, not daring to take the wine. "This wine is indeed Xiaoyangchun, but... but... this matter really has nothing to do with me! This money was a reward from Lord Bai!"

Why did he give you the money?

He said that his trip to the capital was a very secretive matter, so he rewarded me with some silver and told me not to let the news get out.

Do you know why he went to the capital?

"I don't know..." he said quickly, but then he heard Mo Yan chuckle softly beside him, and hurriedly added, "However, he did ask Song Li to deliver a letter to the Minister of the Three Departments on his behalf."

Zhan Zhao and Mo Yan exchanged surprised glances and asked at the same time, "What does the letter say?"

"I truly do not know! I have never seen that letter; I only heard Song Li say that he was going out to deliver it. Besides, I am illiterate!"

Mo Yan squatted down, patted his shoulder, and laughed, "Get up, what are you afraid of? You only took some silver, it's not like you killed or set fires, so of course we won't eat you."

Seeing that the old official didn't seem to be lying, and unable to get any more information from him, Zhan Zhao and Mo Yan left the official post station. On the way back, compared to her relaxed and carefree appearance, he only frowned in thought.

After walking for a while, he suddenly asked, "By the way, how did you know he was drinking Yangchun tea?"

"He's an old drunkard. I could smell it as soon as he opened his mouth," she said, wrinkling her nose uncomfortably.

"Why can't I smell it?"

“How can your nose compare to mine!” she said matter-of-factly, then paused and added, “But it’s better not to smell this kind of scent.”