The purple brocade robe was outlined with gold and silver threads, and the patterns were exquisite and beautiful. However, what truly made the brocade robe shine like a brocade was the stunning beauty of the woman.
The word "beautiful" alone is enough to disrupt all rational reasoning!
An Xin's gaze fell on his fan, where ink wash painting depicted distant mountains and rivers, with peach blossoms in full bloom, stretching for miles, a breathtaking sight. On the fan, a pictographic character "真" (zhen, meaning true) was outlined in vermilion ink.
Hieroglyphs are not common, and ordinary people naturally cannot recognize them. Anxin once solved a murder case involving hieroglyphs with her father. She had studied hieroglyphs in detail and could recognize them at a glance.
An Xin's eyes flickered almost imperceptibly. No, this person's identity is impossible to guess! She knows too little about this world; after all, many deductions are based on reality.
However, being able to move freely in the county government office, his identity must not be simple. She naturally could not rule out the possibility that this person was that extraordinary person from the palace!
"If Shui Yue Rou dies, wouldn't we have to take responsibility? After all, she was a candidate for the imperial concubine selection!" An Xin said casually.
He shook the embroidered folding fan in his hand, his eyelashes curving slightly as if shimmering light had shattered into fleeting shadows. In an instant, the mortal world before him melted into a clear stream beneath the flowers, and every inch of air seemed to be filled with the fragrance of red spider lilies.
Is he trying to subtly discover his identity?
Sharp-witted and intelligent, indeed contrary to the rumors.
"Hmm?" He uttered a soft sound, the quality of which was like a note flowing from a string, extremely beautiful and wonderful.
Hmm?
One word was enough to completely thwart her probing!
An Xin quickly realized that the person in front of her was a formidable adversary after a brief probing. However, they were just casual acquaintances and she expected that they would not have any further interaction. The reason she got involved in this case was simply to satisfy her own curiosity.
As for who the person in front of her was and what their identity was, she was too lazy to waste her brainpower to find out.
Her gaze fell on his face, then she smiled innocently at him and said, "The morgue must be guarded by soldiers. How do we get there?"
He smiled again, his eyes shimmering with the light of spring, radiant with youthful beauty like the morning glow of dawn. He said, "Let's go over there."
An Xin: "..."
He strolled leisurely, his clothes brushing against the flowers, a graceful dream unfolding before him.
An Xin held the back of her head, squinted slightly as she sized up the handsome man in front of her, and thought to herself: Bastard!
It seems that getting information out of this person is even harder than getting a dead person to talk! However, by walking openly to the morgue, we will surely encounter people from the government office, and we can find clues from their expressions!
An Xin rolled her eyes and looked up at the sky. Why did she have to find out this person's identity? She had already said it had nothing to do with her!
"Where is An Xin?" he asked casually. An Xin, who was preoccupied with her own thoughts, instinctively replied, "Who knows!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, An Xin was stunned!
These thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant, and she regained her composure, saying calmly, "Heaven knows where the cowardly and incompetent An Xin from back then went! Why are you asking this? Could it be..."
He smiled lazily, and the emotion in his expression made An Xin narrow her eyes!
No, he knows An Xin!
She had no memory of this body, yet the emotions he displayed startled her—a wistful longing. Could it be that this person and this body had many tangled emotional debts that were impossible to unravel?
No, Dewdrop said that this body originally pursued Ling Xiyao very closely and had already married Ling Xiyao. It shouldn't be able to cheat on Ling Xiyao and make him a cuckold!
Could it be that this person harbors a youthful, unrequited love for this body?
Her thoughts stirred, and An Xin said calmly, "She will probably never come back." If he truly harbored feelings for this body, she might as well let him give up on that idea. After all, she wasn't this body, and aside from the obligation to be filial to her parents, she didn't need to endure this body's unwanted romantic advances.
He did indeed show a hint of disappointment, and said lazily, "Ugh, that's really bad."
An Xin felt a little guilty. After all, she was the one who occupied this body. Maybe it was just a lie that this body liked Ling Xiyao. The person she truly loved was this person. It was just that Ling Xiyao was a high-ranking official and had no choice but to marry him in place of his sister because she had gone missing.
Thinking of this, An Xin comforted herself, "There are plenty of fish in the sea..."
He smiled lazily and casually, saying, "Paying back debts is a matter of course. It seems she's going to try to renege on her promise!"
Anxin Petrochemical.
He covered his lips with his folding fan and smiled meaningfully, "Three thousand taels is enough for the people of Yi'an County to live on for a year!"
An Xin's lips twitched, her smile stiff: "Hey, three thousand taels can't support an entire county!"
A deep ripple of light rippled in his eyes, and his eyelashes curved slightly as he said, "I'm talking about gold!"
An Xin stumbled!
gold!
An Xin suddenly felt a headache coming on. No way! Was this body burdened with a huge debt?! No way, the Ling family seemed quite wealthy; she didn't seem to need to borrow any more money!
Besides, what would a mere Lady Zhan Shi need so much gold for?
Upon closer reflection, it seems that he showed a sense of familiarity with her from the moment they met, and he seemed to know a great deal about her affairs. However, Lu Zhu and her husband An Youwei never seemed to mention this matter, so it is conceivable that they were unaware of it.
"I forgot many things after my forehead injury last time. What do I need so much silver for?" An Xin thought to herself, let alone An Youwei's current impoverished state, even if he were still a minor official, three thousand taels of gold would be far from enough to repay the debt!
If this body really borrowed so much gold, then where is the gold?
He shook his folding fan, raised his lips and smiled, "What I'm going to do, only you probably know."
An Xin looked up at the sky, thinking, "Now only heaven truly knows..."
Wait a minute, who borrows such a large sum of money without asking why? Since this body has spoken, it must give a convincing reason. Otherwise, even one's own parents wouldn't lend money so easily for no reason!
Is this person lying?!
An Xin's eyes darkened, and she asked, "Why did you lend it to me?"
He paused, then looked up at the sky and sighed, "Only heaven knows."
An Xin: "..."
Could this person truly have a crush on this body? Now, it seems that only this reason makes sense: love can indeed drive people to do countless crazy things!
Besides, if this is just a joke, would anyone be so bored as to make such a joke?
"There's an IOU, right?" An Xin calmed down. Whether it was real or fake, she could find out by looking at the IOU.
"No."
"With such a huge loan, aren't you afraid the other party will renege on the agreement if you don't issue an IOU?"
"I'm not afraid."
"..."
Sure enough, this person and this body have a secret that must be told but cannot be told!
Since the relationship is so deep, it's not impossible for her not to return the gold! After all, three thousand taels is no small sum, and it would be a huge waste for her to use this body to repay a loan!
An Xin calmly said, "So, this is just a lie all along?" Playing the victim, denying it, shameless—simple!
He turned slightly to the side, a hint of pleasure in his eyes and brows, and smiled, "Ah, you noticed that!"
"..."
If someone could give her a club, she would beat this shameless scoundrel to death!
---Aside---
Chapter Fifteen: A Perverse Interest
The morgue was empty, and surprisingly, Shuiyue Rou's body was found very easily.
The beauty of yesteryear is now just a cold skeleton.
Her face was bruised, her lips were purple, her eyes were wide open, there was dried blood at the corner of her lips, and there were deep strangulation marks on her neck. She was wearing a bathrobe, which An Xin casually untied. Because she had been dead for a long time, there were already signs of rigor mortis on her body, but these were not the focus of An Xin's examination.
When she saw a scar on her chest, the corners of her lips suddenly lifted, and a smile appeared in her eyes.
"She was indeed murdered. Hmm, but to find the killer, we still need to unravel the remaining mysteries." She muttered to herself for a moment, then looked up and saw him examining something on the table. A thought struck her, and she immediately went over, took the document from his hand, glanced at it, and exclaimed with delight, "It's a suicide note."
He shook his folding fan and said, "This was left by Shui Yue Rou. I've heard she's skilled in plum blossom calligraphy."
An Xin flipped through the suicide note; the handwriting was elegant and beautiful. The content was nothing more than a statement of unwillingness to enter the palace, preferring to die a glorious death rather than live a life of dishonor—nothing particularly remarkable.
But the less unusual something is, the more suspicious it is!
The most suspicious thing was that there was a seal on the suicide note, which was Shui Yue Rou's seal. An Xin suddenly looked up at him and said, "If you wanted to commit suicide, would you still put a seal on the suicide note after writing it?"
His eyes sparkled with a lively smile: "Hmm? I probably wouldn't even write a letter. I'm already thinking of dying, so how could I possibly have the mind to write a proper farewell letter?"
An Xin praised, "Smart!"
He covered half his face and smiled lazily, saying, "You're the first person to praise me for being smart."
An Xin seemed not to hear him, staring intently at the suicide note. After a while, she said, "I'll secretly take this suicide note to study. Keep it a secret."
"...You can also conduct research openly and honestly."
"...Who are you? Someone who dares to speak like that is no ordinary person!"
"...You should just take it and study it secretly!"
When Yang Hu returned and found An Xin missing, he was shocked and searched for her. An Xin saw Yang Hu in the distance and hurriedly pushed the person next to her, saying, "Oh no, Brother Yang is here! Get out of the way!"
"Why should I dodge?" A kid who's never dodged before is too vulnerable to this!
An Xin clutched her stomach and said, "If you don't want to get diarrhea..."
He immediately realized that this woman had a rather wicked sense of humor!
An Xin saw him disappear behind the flowers and trees and shouted, "Brother Yang, I'm here! Ouch..."
Yang Hu was shocked and rushed over, asking, "What's wrong?"
"My stomach hurts, and I can't find a toilet anywhere!" An Xin stamped her feet, looking extremely anxious.
Yang Hu blushed and stammered awkwardly, "This, this... I'll find someone to take you there!"
An Xin grabbed him and said, "It's too late, take me there, quick!"
Yang Hu blushed all the way to the tips of his ears, but he dared not linger any longer. He hurriedly pointed in a direction, and An Xin rushed forward. After a few steps, she looked back and saw a riot of flowers and lush greenery, with willow branches budding with green. The man stood behind the dense flower shadows, smiling as he picked a flower. His posture was captivating, like a flower curtain or the moon in the mist. He gently waved his folding fan, and the embroidered fan seemed to float with countless light and shadow, exquisitely beautiful.
An Xin's expression suddenly changed! Damn it, she hadn't had time to pay attention to the reactions of the government officials while talking to him the whole way!
That bastard!!!
******