TGCFNM -Chapter 200 Guess Who’s Here

The rain grew heavier, relentlessly drumming against the carriage, creating a constant pattering sound.

The coachman urged the horses forward without looking up. When they finally reached the city gate, he let out a huge sigh of relief.

But at that moment, another carriage burst out from inside the city, quickly disappearing into the sheets of rain.

Curious, the coachman glanced over and muttered, “Who’s running out in this rain?” Then, raising his whip, he drove the horses into the city.

Once inside, Wan Sanjin paid the agreed fare one by one, and the coachman delivered them back to the government office.

Xiao Hua, who hadn’t gone along, had already prepared hot water and brewed ginger tea.

After Chu Ling and the others returned to their room, took hot showers, and with their hair half-dried, came to the front hall for tea, they saw Xiao Hua running over with a mysterious look.

“Master, Master Wan, guess who’s here?” Xiao Hua asked in a hushed, excited tone.

Chu Ling blew at the droplets clinging to the tips of her hair. “The ghost?”

“Master Fu is here!” Xiao Hua exclaimed.

Chu Ling was momentarily stunned, while Wan Sanjin immediately strode forward.

“Qingyu, what are you doing here?” Wan Sanjin called out happily.

Fu Qingyu smiled. “Headmaster Qi, the scholar from Danbo Academy, was my first teacher. Over the years, we’ve kept in touch through letters. This time, it’s his seventieth birthday, and as his disciple, I must attend. So I took leave from Headmaster Shu and brought a gift.”

Wan Sanjin’s eyes lit up with understanding. “Ah, that’s why.”

Chu Ling also stepped forward, nodding slightly at Fu Qingyu in greeting.

“You didn’t come at a good time,” Chu Ling said with a smile. “You’re about to get soaked.”

Fu Qingyu looked at his own appearance and chuckled softly. “I was delayed along the way. Otherwise, I should have arrived a couple of days ago.”

Only then did Wan Sanjin notice that the hem of Fu Qingyu’s clothes was wet. He quickly stood up, worried. “You should go change into dry clothes in my room. Come with me… By the way, Qingyu, do you have somewhere to stay? If not, you can stay at the office for now. How long will you be in Dongle City?”

As he spoke, he pulled Fu Qingyu along without waiting for a reply.

Qingtong, carrying the book basket and his bag, hurriedly followed.

Xiao Hua brought Chu Ling a bowl of ginger tea and teased, “Our Master Wan is still especially nervous around Master Fu.”

Chu Ling clicked her tongue, looking at Xiao Hua. “In the future, we’ll have to prepare a wedding dowry for Master Wan~”

Su He sat opposite Chu Ling, taking the ginger tea Xiao Hua handed over, and sighed. “Master, don’t tease Sanjin. He’s genuinely flustered today.”

Thinking of Ma Zhao’s tragic case, Chu Ling composed herself and said to Su He, “I know you might find it strange, but Ma Zhao’s case must be investigated.”

“Yes, Master.” Su He nodded and handed over the autopsy report. “Master, inside the bones, there’s a bamboo tube about the thickness of a little finger. It was probably swallowed to keep something secret.”

“Can it be opened?” Chu Ling asked.

Su He frowned. “It’s a bit difficult. Opening it hastily might destroy whatever is inside, so it will take some time.”

Chu Ling nodded. “Alright. If it can be opened, that might reveal why Ma Zhao was killed.”

She opened the autopsy report and studied it carefully.

The more she read, the more something felt off—and strangely familiar.

The ghost scholar, pointing his fan at the section describing the broken bones, said, “Doesn’t it look like torture to extract a confession?”

Chu Ling widened her eyes and immediately nodded. “Yes! It’s torture to extract a confession!”

Although the method differed from how Song Shisheng was tortured, both were designed to extract confessions through suffering. Song Shisheng couldn’t endure it and died, while Ma Zhao was trapped in a coffin, slowly poisoned to death.

Su He, upon hearing Chu Ling mention extracting confessions under severe interrogation, withdrew the autopsy report. After carefully reviewing it, he said in a low voice, “It seems… that’s actually true.”

“An acquaintance of mine said that this Ma Zhao was a military officer. His wife, Mrs. Tian, remarried after his death—she married into the Xuanyuan family,” Chu Ling explained.

Su He suddenly looked up. “No wonder there was so little fabric left in the coffin. So Ma Zhao’s armor must have been taken away, right?”

Chu Ling frowned. “Why would anyone take the armor? Can you hide things inside armor?”

“Yes!” Ghost Scholar turned to Ma Zhao and spoke deliberately, word by word: “Military intelligence was hidden inside the armor.”

Chu Ling instinctively glanced at Ma Zhao.

Ghost Scholar immediately realized and gave a wry smile. “Although you can see ghosts and even touch them, a ghost is still a ghost. What he wears is intangible to the living—you can’t use a ghost to find evidence.”

Chu Ling lowered her head with slight regret, stirring the ginger soup before her.

“Your soup’s getting cold, sir!” Xiao Hua called out.

Chu Ling immediately stopped stirring, picked up the bowl, and drank the ginger soup in one gulp, then slammed it down on the table with a thud. “Got it!”

“Got what?” Wan Sanjin came over. “Sir, now that you’ve exhumed two sets of remains, what’s your plan?”

“First, investigate Old Master Cheng for money, then Ma Zhao, then the Xuanyuan family,” Chu Ling said, her eyes shining.

Wan Sanjin sat down and took the ginger soup handed by Xiao Hua.

Chu Ling felt a warmth in her chest, and her thoughts became clear: Ma Zhao’s armor had been taken, which meant the killer thought the item was hidden inside—but Ma Zhao had long swallowed it, so the evidence was already in their hands.

After enduring inhumane treatment, Ma Zhao’s ex-wife married into the Xuanyuan family. Doesn’t that clearly point to Xuanyuan as the hand behind Ma Zhao’s death?

A collateral branch, daring to kill a government official, and a city-guard general at that… there had to be direct orders from the main family.

The only reason the main family would take the risk of committing murder was that the item Ma Zhao swallowed could potentially shake the Xuanyuan family’s foundation.

Chu Ling stretched her back, a triumphant look on her face. “Now, the Si family and the Xuanyuan family—both great houses are in my hands.”

The remaining ones were the Nangong and Shangguan families.

These two could wait, as there was not yet a breakthrough.

“The rain is too heavy today. Tomorrow, Su He will find a way to bring the remains back. I and Master Wan will visit Old Master Cheng’s residence and also ask Qinglong when the Nangong and Baihu groups will arrive,” Chu Ling said.

Su He nodded in agreement.

Wan Sanjin asked, “Sir, do we still need to leverage the Nangong family’s influence?”

“Yes!” Chu Ling said. “Not just the Nangong family, but the Shangguan family as well.”

Wan Sanjin still didn’t quite understand and was about to ask when he saw Fu Qingyu arriving with Qing Tong, so he held his tongue.

After all, he trusted their master.

“Old Master Cheng’s case will be easy to judge. It definitely involves Si Qing,” Wan Sanjin said.

Chu Ling nodded. She wasn’t worried about the verdict; her concern was that Cheng Yunshu might not tell the truth… “We need to find a way to contact her wet nurse and get her dowry list…”

“Sir!”

“Sir!”

Zhang Dong shouted loudly, drenched from the rain and covered in wounds, protecting a woman as he rushed inside.

“Sir, the other constables have been captured. Lord Jiang Wu is rescuing them.”