Volume 2: Female Corpse in Monk's Clothes Chapter 76: The Corpse of a Woman in Monk’s Clothes (Part 2)
"It's you!? Xu Pan... um..."
When Shen Xinglian saw Xu Zun coming towards him, he was about to insult him, but then he remembered the scene in front of Zhaoye Temple that day and quickly stopped talking.
"Jiying, why are you here?" Governor Li Yan was also a little surprised to see Xu Zun, and hurried forward to ask.
"Xu Zun greets the governor and the county magistrate." Xu Zun quickly bowed and replied, "I heard about the incident halfway here, so I rushed here as soon as possible."
"You've come just in time," Li Yan immediately introduced the venerable man in the indigo robe, "My Lord, this is Xu Zun, who solved the iron coffin case in Xinye County. Now he has been commended by the emperor and promoted to the position of Tangzhou Chief Justice. I have specially sent him to assist in this case!"
"ah?"
Shen Xinglian was surprised to hear that Xu Zun was already the chief judge of Tangzhou. As a Jingwu lieutenant, he was also a seventh-rank official, just on the same level as Xu Zun.
"Xu Zun pays respect to the Marquis of Changping!" Xu Zun bowed respectfully, "I have heard of your great reputation for a long time. I am honored to meet you today!"
"Oh..." Marquis of Changping Lu Jinlong nodded slightly and said sadly, "I remember that during the reign of Emperor Guizong, I celebrated the birthday of our emperor and had the honor of meeting Xu Siqing.
"Xu Siqing is a master at solving cases, and I admire him deeply. Now Master Xu has solved another strange case, and it is true that a good father will have a good son!"
"Your Excellency is too kind." Xu Zun thanked him.
"Xu Tixing, I hope you can take care of my daughter's affairs!" Marquis Changping was approachable and humble in his manners, without any aristocratic airs.
No wonder, in the Marquis of Changping's mansion, whether it was the guard Wei Beihui or the servants in charge, they all behaved modestly and politely.
"I will do my best and live up to the Marquis!" Xu Zun clasped his fists again.
At this time, the guards of the Marquis' Mansion who had followed Xu Zun also let down their guard after seeing that Xu Zun was indeed the Tangzhou Chief Justice.
"My Lord," Li Yan, the governor, said to Lu Jinlong, "this incident today has frightened and troubled you. You should go back and rest. I will take care of the rest!"
"Okay," Lu Jinlong bowed to the people present , "In that case, I'll trouble you all!"
"As you should, as you should..." The officials hurriedly responded.
The more polite the marquis was, the more frightened the officials became.
After saying this, Lu Jinlong bid farewell to the officials and left the Huguo Temple under the escort of his servants.
As the prince left, a large number of people immediately withdrew from the temple, leaving only officials and soldiers.
"Ji Ying!" Li Yan introduced other officials to Xu Zun, and first pointed to an officer with a thick beard and a slightly fat body, and introduced, "This is Yuan Xingtai, the left lieutenant of the Shangyuan garrison army!"
"Hello, Captain Yuan!" Xu Zun greeted.
Yuan Xingtai looked a bit fierce, but he was quite polite to Xu Zun and immediately returned the greeting respectfully.
"this……"
Li Yan originally wanted to introduce Shen Xinglian to Xu Zun, but he soon realized that he and Xu Zun knew each other, so he automatically bypassed Shen Xinglian and introduced a middle-aged man in white clothes, dressed like a swordsman, to Xu Zun.
"This is Shangyuan City's master detective Ju Ran."
"Detective Ju, I've long heard of your great name!" He said he had long heard of your great name, but in fact he had never heard of this person.
"I don't dare to call myself a master detective, I'm just a detective. But Xu Tixing's name is well-known, I have heard of him for a long time!"
Ju Ran politely returned the gift, also not knowing what he was thinking.
"Lord Li, Lord Tai, Lord Xu," after introducing them, the left lieutenant Yuan Xingtai stepped forward and said to everyone, "I have military duties to attend to, so I can't stay here for long. It's more important to find Miss Lu, so ..."
"Oh... Captain Yuan, thank you for your hard work!" Li Yan understood Yuan Xingtai's meaning and said quickly, "Let's leave this case to the Tai County Magistrate!"
"Goodbye!"
"Goodbye!"
Yuan Xingtai and Shen Xinglian bowed to everyone and left the temple with their soldiers.
Before leaving, Shen Xinglian stole another glance at Xu Zun, his eyes were extremely complicated...
Xu Zun was best at observing people's words and expressions. Although the meeting just now seemed harmonious, it was obvious that everyone knew their own thoughts and ideas.
Moreover, among all the people, Tai Min, the governor of Shangyuan County, and Ju Ran, the great detective, were the most obvious.
The two men looked extremely unhappy, and it was obvious that they were worried and anxious.
After all, the young lady of the Marquis's Mansion disappeared in Shangyuan City, and now a female corpse has appeared, so the pressure on them is undoubtedly the greatest.
"Master Li," Xu Zun pointed to the depths of the temple and asked, "that corpse..."
"Oh... Fortunately, fortunately," Li Yan said thankfully, "This body is not Miss Lu. I was so nervous just now!"
"Sir," Taimin said, "Since the deceased is not Miss Lu, let Ju Ran and the others handle it! Right now, the most important thing for us is to find Miss Lu!"
"Hmm..." Li Yan nodded and said to Xu Zun, "Ji Ying, this case is really too difficult, so I sent you here when you first took office. Now I'll leave this case to you!"
"Oh..." Xu Zun said "oh", but seemed to be thinking about something else.
"Ju Ran," Taimin said, "You have to cooperate with County Lieutenant Xu. Oh no... look at my mouth, I mean cooperate with Chief Justice Xu!
"I have personally witnessed Xu Tixing's ability to handle cases, so no matter what Xu Tixing asks or assigns, you must fully support him and cooperate unconditionally. Do you understand?"
"Yes!" Ju Ran agreed.
"Then..." Li Yan pointed outside and said, "Ji Ying, let's go back to the government office now. I'll prepare your official documents, and then let them report to you about Miss Lu's disappearance!"
Having said that, Li Yan was about to walk out.
"Wait a minute," Xu Zun waved his hand and said, "Master Li, I haven't seen the body inside yet!"
"Hey?" Taimin quickly took over the conversation, "Xu Tixing, although the body inside is a woman, it is not Miss Lu. It's just an ordinary homicide case."
"Yes," Li Yan agreed, "There's no need for us to be distracted. We can just hand this case over to the local detectives!"
"Master Li," Xu Zun smiled faintly and asked, "How can be so sure that the female corpse inside has nothing to do with the young lady's disappearance?"
"this……"
Upon hearing this, Taimin's face became even uglier.
"Sir," Xu Zun said again, "you won't forget so quickly that we didn't think that You Dalang's murder was related to the Iron Coffin Case at first, right?"
"This..." Li Yan thought about it for a while, nodded and said, "Okay, Ji Ying's words make sense. It's not normal for such a case to appear at this time. Let's go and take a look!
"But..." Li Yan was embarrassed. "I am too old to witness such a tragic scene. I'd better let Captain Ju take you to see it!"
oh?
Seeing Li Yan in such a dilemma, Xu Zun was already mentally prepared.
"Well..."
Taimin and Ju Ran exchanged glances, and Ju Ran gestured with his hand, "Xu Tixing, please follow me! I'll take you to see the scene..."
So, under the leadership of Ju Ran, Xu Zun and Zhao Yu walked into the backyard of the Huguo Temple.
In fact, they were all ruins, so where was the backyard? They just walked around the broken pagoda and came to a ruin.
At this moment, there were constables on duty on both sides of the ruins, and a circle of canvas had been set up to block the view.
Seeing Ju Ran coming, the constable hurriedly lifted the canvas.
Melted snow dripped from the broken walls, making the ruins extremely humid.
Xu Zun followed Ju Ran into the scene, but saw a person sitting cross-legged on a stone platform!
Even though the man's back was facing outward, only his silhouette could be seen.
But Xu Zun only took a glance and still felt his hair stand on end. The atmosphere was extremely strange...
