Chunyang quietly organized the details of the case and said, "It's said that this seems to be just an ordinary case of a pedestrian being run over and killed.
Just six days ago, a merchant who owned an antique shop went out of town to procure goods. On his way back, it was already very late, and he wanted to return home quickly, so he kept urging the coachman to drive faster.
Who knew... who knew that just as they were about to enter Anping County, their carriage seemed to run over something. The merchant immediately made the coachman stop the carriage and got off to take a look. That thing turned out to be... a person!
And that person was already dead!
At the time, their carriage was carrying a lot of antique porcelain furniture and such, and the carriage was very heavy. If someone got run over so straightly, they would be either dead or half-dead.
The merchant knew he had caused someone's death and was terrified, immediately having the body thrown into the nearby bushes, trying to pretend that nothing had happened.
However... the body was quickly discovered, and according to the timeframe of death determined by the forensic doctor, the only one who had passed through that area was the merchant's carriage, so he was immediately arrested.
The aunt who sells vegetables has a niece working in that merchant's household, so she has some understanding of this case."
After all, she was a woman, so talking about these death cases made her a bit nervous, and she spoke with some stammers.
But Xu Jing listened very carefully, and after hearing it all, couldn't help but fall into thought.
Listening to what Chunyang said, it seemed like this was a case of a pedestrian being accidentally run over. Why would Xiao Yi still specifically come over here?
It can only be said that there is something unusual in this case. It's very likely that the person was not accidentally run over, but was murdered.
And Xiao Yi, as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, came here specifically to investigate, perhaps there is some unknown secret in this case?
Xu Jing was so deep in thought that she didn't come to her senses until Chunyang called her two or three times, and she couldn't help but cough lightly.
There, her occupational habit acted up, even at this time, she still had space to think about the case.
Chunyang looked worriedly at her mistress and said, "Mistress, are you thinking about Vice Minister Xiao? Vice Minister Xiao doesn't know that we've come here, and when you were previously in the mansion, Vice Minister Xiao ignored you, let alone now.
Mistress, you should just forget about Vice Minister Xiao quickly."
In such a class-distinguished ancient time, servants generally could not meddle in their master's affairs, let alone guide them on what to do.
But these two servants grew up with the original owner, long since akin to family, so her worry was as real as possible.
Xu Jing couldn't help but smile faintly and said, "Don't worry, I've let it go. I promised not to let you and Chunxiang worry about me again."
Seeing the indifference and calmness in her mistress's eyes, Chunyang was still somewhat incredulous but also comforted.
It's good that her mistress is willing to let go, as long as she decides to live well, no matter how difficult the road ahead, she and Chunxiang will always be by her mistress's side!
The only thing she can't be at ease with is the little lord left at Xiao Mansion.
The little lord is only four years old this year, a time when he needs his mother the most.
Although... although the mistress used to be indifferent to the little lord and often vented her frustrations on him, she knew that the little lord still yearned for his mother, often sneaking over to their courtyard to look for her and running off in a panic when discovered.
It is said that blood is thicker than water. The mistress used to be confused, but that is a child she carried for ten months and gave birth to. Chunyang could never believe the mistress truly didn't care about the little lord.
Furthermore, the mistress's temperament has slowly improved now, she believes that the current mistress would no longer treat the little lord as she did in the past.
However, it's feared that they will have a hard time seeing the little lord in the future.
The more Chunyang thought, the more she felt saddened, sneaking a glance at Xu Jing, seeing her calm demeanor and bright eyes, she feared bringing up the little lord would sadden her, so she said nothing.
Later in the evening, Chunxiang came back too.
She couldn't help but exclaim angrily as soon as she returned, "That pawnshop keeper is too much, that gold bracelet was crafted by a famed artisan in Western Capital that Madam personally sought out, inlaid with premium jade, yet he said it was just an ordinary gold bracelet and only willing to pawn it for twenty taels of silver!
I spoke until my mouth was dry but he wouldn't budge, and even said... even said, if I wasn't satisfied with the price, I could find another pawnshop!"
Chunyang looked at her strangely, "Then why didn't you go to another pawnshop?"
"Because the other pawnshops offered even lower prices!"
Chunyang: "..."
That's like picking the tallest among the dwarfs.
No way around it, most who pawn items to pawnshops are those facing difficulties and urgently need silver to get by. It's rare to find a conscientious pawnshop that doesn't take advantage of the situation.
Xu Jing was rather satisfied. From the original owner's memory, she knew that here, the price for one tael of gold was approximately ten taels of silver, and this bracelet weighed about a tael. The pawnshop indeed was exploiting, but not excessively so.
She took out a string of copper coins from the silver Chunxiang brought back, handed it to Chunyang, and said with a smile, "It's rare we have money, let's have a good meal tonight and forget about those troublesome matters for now.
Chunyang, while the sun hasn't set yet, go buy a chicken from the village market, we'll make chicken soup tonight.
The remaining money is for household expenses, I know it's been hard for you these three months."
She had just arrived here, and even if she was leaving, she needed to familiarize herself with the world first to make a comprehensive plan.
Fortunately, there was still a little over half a month until the eighteenth, giving her time to carefully consider her future path.
Chunyang was stunned, profoundly cherishing the heavy string of copper coins, her eyes reddened, "Mistress... Chunyang thanks Mistress, but Mistress is Chunyang's master, taking care of you is Chunyang's duty..."
"Oh," Chunyang was interrupted by the carefree Chunxiang, "don't cry at a time like this, it's such a buzzkill. It's rare to have chicken tonight, I haven't had meat in days and have almost forgotten its taste!"
Chunyang, being interrupted, couldn't keep her sentimental thoughts and couldn't help but roll her eyes at Chunxiang.
Xu Jing glanced at the two, her lips curving upwards.
Although she arrived inexplicably in this world, having companions around felt nice.
That night, the mistress and her two servants spent a peaceful and warm evening, temporarily casting aside those bothersome matters.
However, the next morning, just as daylight broke, Xu Jing was woken by a terrified scream from outside.
"Ah—there's a dead body! There's a dead body! Somebody come, there's a dead body!"
Xu Jing sat bolt upright, realizing the sound seemed to come from outside their house, she was taken aback, hurriedly getting out of bed to put on her shoes.
It was at this moment that Chunyang and Chunxiang hurriedly entered, seeing Xu Jing already up, they said somewhat panicked, "Mistress, something bad has happened, Peng Shi... Peng Shi is dead in our yard for some reason!
Now the Peng Family has come over, insisting that we killed Peng Shi, bringing a bunch of people to blockade our front door, demanding an explanation!
What... what should we do now!"