However, the news stunned An Xin. The poultry were unharmed, but some of the villagers who had been settled by Yan Zhen had died!
An Xin didn't bother with breakfast and ran quickly toward the village that suddenly appeared on the outskirts of the city.
Just as she rushed into the street, a carriage sped towards her. An Xin couldn't dodge in time and was about to collide with the carriage when she saw it suddenly take off and fly right over her head!
An Xin's eyes widened suddenly. Then the carriage stopped, and a servant hurried over and apologized, "Miss, I'm so sorry, the carriage went out of control. Are you alright?"
An Xin said calmly, "It's nothing." But her gaze fell on the carriage.
The servant breathed a sigh of relief and said, "My master invites you, young lady. Please follow me."
An Xin did not hesitate and walked straight over. That move just now was something that no ordinary person could do. But she wondered who was sitting in the carriage. Could it be that bastard Yan Zhen again?
An Xin frowned.
The carriage curtain was lifted, slowly revealing a refined and graceful face. A faint smile graced the corners of her lips, like ink wash painting, causing An Xin to pause in surprise and exclaim, "So it's the Left Prime Minister!"
Jinglan smiled and said, "Miss An, you were frightened. Are you alright?"
An Xin smiled slightly and said, "Sir, your skills are superb, how could you let anything happen to me?" It seemed that she could never get angry in front of that face.
"That's good then. Are you going to the outskirts of the city, Miss An?" Jing Lan smiled slightly and stepped aside. "Let's go together."
An Xin did not refuse, and immediately got into the carriage and sat down casually: "Sir, have you also heard the news from the outskirts of the city?"
Jing Lan twirled the jade ring on her fingertip and said, "That person's death was somewhat different from the others; he died of suffocation."
An Xin's gaze suddenly darkened. Suffocated to death?! How come they were able to find out the cause of death after leaving Fengxian Village?! Everything depends on seeing the body.
"His Majesty has issued an imperial edict, and it is inappropriate for Lord An to openly defy it. He will be questioned in court this morning." Jing Lan's voice was like a clear spring flowing over jade, which was indescribably pleasant. However, An Xin felt a little choked up when she heard these words.
"Is my dad alright?" An Xin was inexplicably not worried, seemingly unaware that it was only because Yan Zhen was present.
"With the Right Prime Minister's strong protection, there's naturally nothing to worry about... The Right Prime Minister is very concerned about the affairs in the north of the city." Jing Lan smiled slowly and looked out the window.
An Xin knew that the Left and Right Prime Ministers were at odds, and even if she brought up this topic, it would probably be a downer. So she simply stopped mentioning Yan Zhen and just smiled and said, "Isn't the Left Prime Minister also very concerned? The safety of the people is of paramount importance. If this case is not resolved soon, who knows what the outcome will be."
Jing Lan smiled faintly and said, "Isn't Miss An here?"
An Xin was taken aback and looked at him, asking, "What do you mean?"
Jing Lan smiled faintly and said, "Miss An is so intelligent, such a case naturally cannot be kept from her."
An Xin smiled wryly and said, "To be honest, my mind is a complete mess right now. This matter is too bizarre, and I really don't know where to start."
Jinglan smiled and said, "If you have any difficulties, you can come to me. What the Right Chancellor can do, I can naturally do as well."
An Xin wondered why Yan Zhen was being brought up again. Was she being too sensitive about Yan Zhen?
An Xin gave a casual reply, and felt the road speeding by. In a moment, she arrived at the outskirts of the city. She lifted the curtain and jumped off the carriage. She saw that the temporary village on the outskirts of the city was crowded with people, and there were soldiers moving among the crowd.
An Xin squeezed through the crowd and saw a person lying flat in the middle of the crowd, eyes wide open, face bluish-purple, clearly from suffocation. Apart from that, there was no other injury on the body.
An Xin frowned and grabbed a soldier, asking, "Brother, where did this person die?"
The soldier glanced at An Xin and said, "Young lady, it's best not to go to such unlucky places, lest you attract evil spirits."
An Xin smiled slightly and said, "I'd like to go and see. Please tell me, brother."
The soldier recognized An Xin and after a moment of silence said, "It's that empty house up ahead. Someone died there, and apart from the coroner, no one has gone in yet."
An Xin's eyes lit up and she said, "Thank you." Then she walked towards the house. It's great that no one has disturbed the crime scene!
The house wasn't very dilapidated, and although the furnishings inside were simple, they were still quite complete.
An Xin carefully examined the surrounding grass, then her gaze swept over the footprints on the stone steps. There were several footprints, and An Xin casually grabbed a twig to measure the length between the footprints before entering the room.
The bed was empty, with no signs of struggle. An Xin narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze falling on a piece of wood by the window. It was a piece of wood about the thickness of a calf, casually tossed aside without anything special. An Xin glanced at the wood and then looked away. She then carefully examined the room. After a long while, her gaze returned to the wood, her eyes slowly narrowing. Suddenly, an extremely bold guess came to her mind!
Chapter Fifty-Four: Attack
An Xin walked towards the corpse again. The coroner was conducting a second examination of the body. An Xin paused to the side, her gaze sweeping over the corpse's arm. Although extremely faint, she could still see a ring of ligature marks. Because the corpse had a bluish tinge, even the coroner hadn't noticed them.
"Coroner, is there anything unusual about this corpse?" the assistant asked.
"He died of suffocation. There were no wounds on the body, nor any signs of struggle. It seems it was not caused by human intervention," the coroner said, standing up and frowning.
"Could it be that strange man from Fengxian Village has reappeared?!" The servant suddenly shivered, his face turning slightly pale. "Could that strange man have chased us all the way to the outskirts of the city to kill us?!"
"A strange person? What strange person?" the coroner asked, somewhat surprised.
Upon hearing the name again, An Xin's eyes suddenly flashed as she looked at the servant.
The servant stepped forward mysteriously and whispered, "Haven't you heard? A strange man appeared in Fengxian Village a few days ago, claiming he wanted to take revenge on the strange man in Fengxian Village! It's said that the strange man disappeared after staying in the village for a few days, and then people started dying in Fengxian Village. I bet he's hiding somewhere and secretly killing people!"
The coroner frowned and said, "There were no unusual occurrences after the deaths of the other people, but this guy named Niu Da died. How did the murderer slip up?"
The servant said confidently, "It must be somewhere in the village where someone can be killed without anyone noticing, but the outskirts of the city are not a good place for the murderer to do so, so it's inevitable that they'll give themselves away!"
An Xin's heart stirred, and she stepped forward to join the conversation, saying, "But I heard that the strange man is a cripple. It's unlikely that a cripple could kill people so easily, right? Besides, more than 500 people died in Fengxian Village in one night, and all of them died within an hour. Even a top expert couldn't kill so many people at the same time without disturbing others!"
The servant boy scoffed, "Isn't there the sound of water? If the poison is put in the water, not only will more than five hundred people die, but the entire village, anyone who has drunk that person's poison, will not survive!"
An Xin narrowed her eyes, then said nothing more and turned to walk away.
What the servant said was obviously wrong. If poison was used, there would definitely be poison in the body of the deceased. Moreover, if the poison was put in the water, then no aquatic creature could escape, and that would truly be a case of collateral damage.
But when she passed by the village's stream, she observed the water and saw that the fish were swimming around happily, so it was definitely not poisonous!