The Plough - Chapter 18

It’s hard to send a deity away after asking for help.

After much effort, the doctors and nurses finally left and the two sisters settled down. Ling Shu was exhausted in body and mind.

Ling Yao looked at Ling Shu’s haggard expression and, although she said nothing, she felt a little guilty in her heart.

She put down the orange, reminded Ling Shu to rest well, and led the way out of the battlefield.

Yue Chunxiao also found it boring and left soon after Ling Yao.

Ling Shu let out a breath and looked at the cold sweet and sour fish in the food box with regret.

“It’s really not reassuring!”

Yue Dingtang’s rice was not finished either, because the pig’s feet were cold, the taste had changed.

He got up, put on his coat and scarf, touched his injured arm, and picked up an apple from the fruit basket and took a bite.

“I’m going to go to the detainment area to ask Yuan Bing some questions. I’ll come back later. You should rest first.”

He put on his hat and went to the door, but he turned back.

“Oh, Happy New Year.”

Ling Shu smiled wryly.

This New Year’s Day was really eventful.

It was the first time spending New Year’s Eve in the hospital.

As the afternoon approached, the sun shone through the window, the ice and snow melted, and a warm atmosphere was felt.

From the outside, the sound of firecrackers could be heard, transmitting a bit of the flavor of the city’s fireworks.

But the corridor outside the ward was very quiet, probably because most of the patients had been taken away by their families to spend the New Year.

In previous years at this time, he should have been driven out of the door by his sister to go door to door visiting their relatives for the New Year, or he should have followed them to his elder sister’s husband’s home, eating the freshly baked New Year cake with a sip of tea and chatting around the stove.

Thinking of his unexpected misfortune coming from the sky, Ling Shu couldn’t help but sigh again.

“What are you doing? It’s the New Year, and you’re sitting here sighing. Be careful not to sigh away all your luck!”

Accompanied by the sound, the visitor pushed the door in.

Ling Shu raised his eyebrows.

“What wind blew you in?”

“East, west, north and south wind!” Cheng Si smiled. “You can still joke, I guess it’s not serious?”

Ling Shu extended his hand without hesitation.

“It’s not serious, but there’s a minor injury. I bumped my head and I might lose my memory at any time. Don’t you have to comfort me?”

“Yes.”

Cheng Si handed him the paper bag in his hand.

“Candied chestnuts, just out of the oven, still hot, enough sincerity!”

Ling Shu reached into the paper bag without hesitation and took out one, throwing it to Cheng Si.

“Help me peel it.”

Cheng Si stared at him: “You bumped your head, did your hands break too?”

Ling Shu raised his hand that was being injected, indicating.

Cheng Si reluctantly helped him peel it, and then handed him the sweet chestnut meat.

“It’s all your fault! If you had gone to the dance hall that night when I asked, not running to Xiaoji Noodles to eat noodles, I could still help you be a witness, and you wouldn’t be in such a situation now, having to bear the crime of murder!”

Ling Shu said meaningfully: “If it had been you with me that night, it’s likely that I wouldn’t be able to see you now.”

Cheng Si was stunned for a moment. He didn’t even have the mood to peel the chestnuts.

“Don’t scare me! Who has such a deep hatred for you, driving you to such a corner?!”

Ling Shu: “It doesn’t have to be against me, I just happened to be a suitable candidate. How is it outside now? Has the news of Du Yunning’s death spread across the entire Shanghai beach? What did the news say?”

Cheng Si came to his senses.

“You really said it. Big newspapers and small newspapers have all reported it. It’s very mysterious now. Since yesterday morning, when a female servant in the Yuan family died, it has been almost the top news in the whole city, everyone is talking about this news…”

“Who died?” Ling Shu interrupted him.

“A female servant in the Yuan family.”

Ling Shu had a bad feeling.

“What’s the name, how did she die?”

Cheng Si said with a hoarse voice, “I didn’t pay attention to the name…the newspapers said it was found hanged in the front hall of the Yuan family this morning. The corpse was cold, there was no saving her.”

Ling Shu replied, “The front hall has been locked, the servants all live in the back house.”

Cheng Si sighed, “So what the newspapers wrote is true, that Lady Du’s vengeful spirit won’t rest and she’s using this maid as a substitute?”

Ling Shu said, “You were also in a modern school. To actually believe these stories, how well did the newspapers write it?”

“Many versions are being said.”

“Some say that this maid wanted to go for greener pastures, climbing into the bed of the male master while serving the mistress, and even secretly married him. After Lady Du found out, the couple had a quarrel and Yuan Bing killed her by accident. Lady Du’s ghost won’t rest and is coming back for revenge on the maid.”

“Some say that this maid caused the destruction of the Yuan family, and felt guilty in her heart. She would dream of Lady Du coming everyday to take revenge and she died because of it.”

“There’s even more bizarre ones, saying that Lady Du was trying to get her husband’s heart, so she sent the maid to seduce Yuan Bing. After all, the child born in the Yuan family was better than an unknown wildflower outside. But who knew the maid was strong-willed and wouldn’t yield, and was defiled by Yuan Bing…”

“Stop!”

Ling Shu became more and more speechless.

But he was sure of one thing.

The maid that Cheng Si mentioned was most likely the mute girl Ah Lan who was serving Lady Du.

“What kind of nonsense is this? I’ve seen the maid before, she’s beautiful, but Yuan Bing is a playboy who has seen it all, not even Lady Du could tie him down. How can Ah Lan possibly do it? The talk of her vengeful spirit and ghost looking for revenge is even more ridiculous!”

Cheng Si spread his hands innocently: “What do I know? But the good thing is that your name wasn’t mentioned much. Except for the first few reports suspecting you, the public’s attention is now focused on the quarrels between the two couples, and how much of the Yuan family’s assets are still left.”

Cheng Si’s ideas represent those of the general public. For a straightforward description of the case, many people would rather read the analyses and imaginations that take a different route. To them, it’s a real story to be enjoyed and talked about after a meal.

Some small newspapers even launched the Yuan Family’s Three-Part Series, starting from Yuan Bingdao’s rise to power. Its contents are two-parts true and eight-parts fictional, with exaggerated and fantasy contents. But it won the favor of many people, and the newspaper sales increased significantly.

The Yuan family is gone, the whole family scattered after the death of Yuan Bingdao, and Yuan Bing himself is not fighting for it, still in prison. If the Yuan family still had some power, this fictional story wouldn’t be able to see the light of day.

Under the influence of public opinion, the thinking of the investigation room may also be affected, which may be a good thing for Ling Shu.

But Ling Shu was lost in thought.

They had just encountered an assassination last night, and now Ah Lan was dead.

In terms of time, Ah Lan should have met with misfortune after midnight yesterday.

As Lady Du’s personal maid, Ah Lan must have known many things. But why wasn’t she dead before, and now she is?

Did the killer think she knew something and couldn’t let her live, afraid that she would reveal it?

Ah Lan’s identity meant that she was the key to their inquiry.

But before they didn’t suspect her too much, because she was a mute who couldn’t read and was a weak woman who couldn’t have the strength to kill Lady Du.

Now that Ah Lan is dead, her relationship with the case was exposed.

The dead can’t speak, and they’re the safest. Even if they realized this, it was hard to make a breakthrough.

Yuan Bing, the Yuan family.

It now seems like the truth is getting further and further away, but from another angle, it’s actually helping them slowly filter out the truth.