Chapter 187: Efficient Case Investigation
The weather was cold.
Early in the morning, before Father went to work, they enjoyed a round of “fatherly love and filial piety” in a painting session.
After seeing the portrait she drew last time, Father likely thought she was a painting genius, so he prepared to teach her how to paint.
Things like splash-ink artistic conception. Holding the brush.
Jiang Changtian unexpectedly discovered that his little girl’s aesthetic sense was a bit rigid.
She simply couldn’t appreciate the beauty of splash-ink. It was as if it had been fixed in place by someone.
After a whole morning of “fatherly love and filial piety,” Jiang Changtian almost roared out loud.
It was only after Mother glared at him twice that he went to work.
Jiang Mianmian still felt lingering fear.
What kind of dynasty was this where parents’ hearts weren’t very good when teaching their children?
She couldn’t help it, either. Father made an ink dot and asked her what it was—even if the Heavenly King himself came, it would still be an ink dot. Could she lie?
She always felt that Father’s aura was a bit off at that moment.
After Father went to work, the air felt much more comfortable.
Jiang Mianmian really wanted to tell Mother, “You should manage your husband; could it be that he’s reached menopause because of his old age?”
But Mother hit people very hard, so she decided against it.
After the meal, Jiang Mianmian followed Great-Aunt to watch her arrange the gifts to be sent to the capital.
Their family now had relatives in the capital.
Brother-in-law’s family was from the capital.
Mainly, Great-Aunt was instructing Elder Sister on what to send, Mother was learning, and she was just watching.
“Winter Solstice is coming soon, and the capital is cold in winter, so you can send some things to keep warm. Although they aren’t here in person, what should be prepared must be prepared; the etiquette must be thorough.” Great-Aunt instructed The Eldest Miss to put the items away.
Jiang Yu looked at Mother and smiled, saying, “It feels like stealing things from home.”
Qin Luoxia tapped her forehead. “What nonsense are you talking about? You’re already married, yet you’re still so rash. Your Great-Aunt is right. If you send these things with sincerity—Little Meng came from so far away, and his parents must be worried. If the things you send are good, at least it will let them worry a little less.”
Jiang Yu nodded. “I know, Mother~~”
Anyway, all kinds of warm furs were prepared, as well as the scarves, gloves, wool socks, knee pads, forehead bands, and furry slippers that Little Sister had made.
There were also various foods, long-lasting dried vegetables, dried meat, noodles, and so on.
None of it was expensive, but it was very practical and miscellaneous.
Several carts were also sent to Grandfather Meng, who was stationed at the border, primarily focusing on warmth + food.
Jiang Mianmian also took the opportunity to have gifts sent to Uncle Gong and Little Bug.
By the way, she also had a gift prepared for that Eunuch Duan. He liked tea, so she had some tea prepared.
Eunuch Duan said there was a Eunuch Yan in the palace who was the Emperor’s favorite, but they didn’t know if it was the same Eunuch Yan they were talking about, so they would ask for help when they went back. Anyway, it was about reciprocity.
The life of a young lady of a wealthy family: she spent the whole morning looking at the gifts in the storeroom.
Jiang Mianmian realized belatedly that they had gone from having no food reserves in the house to having a whole storeroom. The progress was truly fast.
There were many birthday gifts for her older brothers in the storeroom, including a lifelike golden mouse. The workmanship was excellent, and it was incredibly heavy.
She didn’t know who sent it, but it was truly generous. Even a fingernail-sized piece of gold had some weight, and a whole little mouse was heavy; if she weren’t strong, she wouldn’t have been able to lift it easily.
There were also vases and such that people had sent. Jiang Mianmian didn’t study them and didn’t know if they were particularly expensive, but she figured that with current craftsmanship, firing a pair of identical vases with matching patterns was quite difficult.
After touring the storeroom, she rummaged through it to see if there was any particularly soft cotton cloth; she wanted to make sanitary pads.
“Elder Sister is bleeding. I want to make clean pads for her to use and throw away—no need to wash them, and she can change them several times a day,” Jiang Mianmian said.
Jiang Yu was still a bit shy when mentioning her period, but hearing what her little sister said, she couldn’t help but feel moved, hugging her little sister and kissing her hard.
“It wasn’t in vain that Elder Sister doted on you, you little worrier.”
When Mother and the others heard her words, they thought she was wasteful.
Using something once and throwing it away was too extravagant. Ordinary people definitely couldn’t afford it.
They didn’t even have good clothes; how could they make something to use once and throw away? It could still be used after washing.
This was just like how young people later on were used to diapers, while the older generation still liked cloth diapers—wash them and use them again; it was about the same.
Jiang Mianmian felt she had been a bit presumptuous again.
Fortunately, her parents were progressing fast enough; if they were still living in bitterness, she, who liked to stir things up, would be very depressed.
Anyway, she didn’t care if others used them or not; she would first persuade her own family to use them.
For the whole afternoon, Jiang Mianmian studied what kind of core to use for good absorbency, health, and hygiene. She was earnest and very serious.
It was just like when she wanted to make soap bubbles and ended up making soap.
Whenever this happened, Ant obediently took its Ant colony to play on the side, not disturbing her.
Pang Ya helped by holding things on the side, earnestly accompanying her as she busied herself.
In the spacious room, with sunlight, a little girl who didn’t want to tie her hair, wearing it loose with a pretty hair clip on her forehead, had many white cloth strips in front of her. The little girl held a water cup, pouring water cup by cup to test, very seriously.
The little Ants wandered around in groups, also very seriously.
…
Lord Sima seriously observed the cliff where Official Yu had fallen.
He also planted a flag on the edge of the cliff, hanging a piece of white cloth. It was to signal to be careful. Of course, Lord Sima was very careful.
Why would Official Yu be standing here for no reason?
Looking at this place, someone else should have been standing next to Official Yu at that time.
Official Yu’s attendants were standing outside, all saying they didn’t know.
They just heard a sound, Official Yu fell down, and there was a scream. They didn’t see anyone.
Then, Lord Sima indeed discovered a pair of footprints nearby. And they were somewhat small. They looked like a woman’s footprints.
Before Official Yu died, he was investigating a case. He was investigating the case of the missing nuns from Shangqiu Temple.
Commander Jiang said seriously, “Brother Yu went to my house to take a look; those two nuns miraculously disappeared. Brother Yu was investigating this case, and I don’t know if he found something extraordinary and was silenced—these footprints are the proof.”
Thus, all the evidence pointed to Shangqiu Temple.
Commander Jiang was very efficient. He didn’t let Official Yu die with regrets.
Before Official Yu’s body was even buried, while it was still lying in state, he led a large group of people to surround Shangqiu Temple. He demanded they hand over the murderer.
On this day, the pilgrims who went to Shangqiu Temple to offer incense were terrified.
The nuns of Shangqiu Temple were also terrified.
A dense crowd of people stood at the entrance of Shangqiu Temple, ready for battle.
A sparrow, startled, flew out from the courtyard, was shot down by an arrow, and fell straight back into the courtyard.
The cold wind blew.
The tips of Commander Jiang’s hair and the hem of his clothes fluttered.
Sunlight shone on the plaque at the entrance of Shangqiu Temple, with a row of golden characters: Do not abandon your own path, do not disturb the hearts of others.
The fallen leaves at the entrance of the temple were swept very clean.
The incense smoke rose thickly into the sky. The fragrance permeated the air.
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