Nan Shiying brought Gouzi and the others to Yunlan Street and arranged for them at Tongji Pharmacy.
Feng Quan led men to re-examine the scene on Sishui Street that evening.
"Boss, we've found something!"
In the morning, the officials believed the culprit was dead and the case solved, so they hadn't searched thoroughly. Of course, it was also possible that the officials brought were from the Ministry of Justice, while Feng Quan brought his capable subordinates.
Behind the courtyard, beneath a pile of straw from a demolished house, there was a secret passage leading underground. Feng Quan, holding a torch, descended into the passage and discovered a dark chamber the size of a room.
At first glance, there was nothing amiss.
However, a faint, foul odor could be detected.
Feng Quan moved closer to the wall and sniffed carefully. The stench became more pronounced only when he approached the east wall. He handed the torch to a subordinate behind him, tapped the wall with his knuckles, and instead of a dull thud, he heard a crisp, hollow sound.
A hollow wall!
There must be a space hidden behind the wall.
Feng Quan felt along the wall and indeed found a protruding spot not far from it. He pressed down forcefully, and with a muffled thud, a crack appeared in the fitted wall, and the wall was pushed open.
The moment it opened, a foul stench rushed out, a mixture of blood, sweat, and excrement. Even Feng Quan's face paled slightly.
Under the torchlight, he finally saw the scene inside.
"Bastards!"
He cursed furiously.
The cramped, hidden room was filled with scantily clad girls. The blood on the floor had long since coagulated, mingled with vomit, excrement, and other unspeakable liquids. Their exposed skin was covered in bruises and contusions, and their tattered clothes offered no concealment whatsoever.
Feng Quan's intrusion did not elicit any reaction from them. They were listless, their eyes vacant, having lost even the most basic survival instincts, like broken dolls devoid of souls.
Feng Quan finally understood why the man had committed suicide so resolutely. The sins he had committed were so heinous that even slow slicing to death would have been too lenient.
Scoundrel!
"Go summon Wang Sheng from the Jingzhao Yin's office!"
Wang Sheng was dragged from his bed. Upon hearing about such a heinous case in the capital, his scalp immediately went numb.
The Jingzhao Yin's office had rarely handled missing persons cases, after all, being in the capital, under the Emperor's watchful eye, criminals, no matter how brazen, dared not act with impunity here.
Now, seeing so many girls hidden underground in an ordinary residence on Sishui Street, even Wang Sheng, accustomed to such foul and filthy environments after years of handling cases, couldn't help but gasp. His anger surged, his furrowed brows tightening like a guillotine blade, wishing he could drag the deceased scumbag out and dismember him.
Under the cover of night, Wang Sheng brought the victims back to the Jingzhao Yin's office. He knew the Ministry of Justice's intention was to return these victims according to the missing persons cases reported to the Jingzhao Yin's office, but in their current state, how could they be sent back?
After Feng Quan led his team back to the Ministry of Justice, he went to see Zou Chengyi.
Zou Chengyi had been staying at the Ministry of Justice for several days and hadn't returned home.
"Damn it!"
Even just hearing Feng Quan's account, Zou Chengyi could imagine the horrific scene. But if the man had committed suicide because of this, would that mean his case had no connection to Liu Ling's?
"Perhaps he wasn't the one who poisoned Liu Ling, but he was definitely involved in this matter. At the very least, he purchased the herbs for making the Fuyou Banri San!"
Feng Quan still believed he had a hand in it.
"Tomorrow morning, I will investigate the neighbors on Sishui Street to see who he was closely associated with recently."
"Yes, thank you for your hard work!"
"You flatter me, sir. This is my duty!"
The next day, before heading to Sishui Street, Feng Quan first went to the Ministry of Revenue to retrieve the culprit's household registration.
The culprit, Wang Er, had lost his father in childhood. His mother died of illness three years prior. Since then, he had been living alone on Sishui Street, unmarried, and without siblings.
This meant Wang Er was not someone who had moved to Sishui Street later, but had always lived there.
However, the address... The household registration address was not the residential building near the ancestral hall, but the East District of Sishui Street, three hundred meters away from the ancestral hall.
"Oh, him. I heard he got into gambling and lost the house his parents left him. He used to live in an alley. But I don't know what stroke of luck he had about a month ago that he suddenly had money. It's strange though, he didn't buy back his old house, but bought the one next to the ancestral hall."
"Don't look down on Sishui Street being poor, but the layout of the houses here is quite particular. The East District, close to Yunlan Street, has the best houses. The houses near the ancestral hall are a bit less desirable. When Wang Er first moved here, we thought he didn't have enough money. Later, we saw him spending money so freely, not at all like someone who was broke. We privately wondered why he didn't buy his old house."
Aunt Wang, who was buying vegetables at the street corner, started talking and told them everything she knew about Wang Er. At the end, she couldn't help but gossip, "Officer, what crime did this Wang Er commit?"
"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask!"
A subordinate scolded her sternly, and Aunt Wang dared not say more, only nodding timidly.
Feng Quan walked over and asked, "What's the situation with those children in the ancestral hall?"
Aunt Wang looked at Feng Quan, her earlier enthusiasm gone. She said, "They are a group of pitiful children. I heard, I just heard, that they are children who ran away from the black market some time ago."
"Homeless, so they had to live in the black market."
"Only these children? Are there any adults?"
Aunt Wang replied, "I don't know about that!"
Feng Quan asked no further questions. He walked to the ancestral hall and knocked on the door. After waiting for a moment, he pushed the door open.
The children in the ancestral hall were gone. Feng Quan inquired with the surrounding neighbors, whose reactions were all the same: surprised and worried.
It seemed they truly didn't know.
...
The Wang family received news of what happened on Sishui Street last night immediately. Nan Shiying had anticipated that the Ministry of Justice would go to Sishui Street to investigate the culprit's situation today.
Although she had taken Gouzi and the others away in the middle of the night, she had not concealed their whereabouts. The Qingli Division of the Ministry of Justice would be able to find out where they went with a little careful investigation.
Nan Shiying had done this intentionally.
Poison Elder heard about this matter but did not express any opinion. He merely said to Nan Shiying, "Protect them well."
Clearly, he understood what Nan Shiying was trying to do!
Nan Shiying squatted beside Xiao Man, watching her use a small stick to dig open the soil on the ground, excavate a hole, and then pour a pile of yellowish-brown liquid into it.
Shortly after, a swarm of ants crawled out of the hole.
Then, they watched as they all died around the entrance of the hole.
"This is called 'luring the enemy into a trap'!" Xiao Man said.
Nan Shiying: "..."
Should she hire a tutor for Xiao Man?!