The mansion in front looked no different from the mansions of some powerful and noble families in the capital. With its high walls and vermilion gates, it was imposing and magnificent. In Dongli Town, it was truly the residence of a local magnate.
Although Ye Wanmian had never been to this place before, she knew that the only person who could own such a wealthy and imposing mansion in Dongli Town was none other than the wealthy and influential Master Chen.
Xiao Jingcheng concealed himself in the darkness. Looking at the mansion in front of him, he also guessed what kind of place it was.
Compared with the grand mansions in the capital, there were only two guards patrolling outside this mansion. The security didn't seem very strict.
However, it was precisely this place where a brown - haired dog that had sneaked into the yard to gather information had been killed, brutally cooked, and eaten.
It was evident that the security inside the house was the most crucial part, rather than outside.
He simply couldn't believe that there was nothing fishy going on inside.
At first, Ye Wanmian didn't understand why Sangbiao had led her here. Just as she was feeling puzzled, a figure suddenly appeared in front of her. It was a guard patrolling the mansion of Master Chen.
She quickly took a step back. Concealing her figure with the cover of the night, Ye Wanmian was secretly shocked.
If she wasn't mistaken, the guard who had just appeared was Zhou Wang, who had once sent a matchmaker to her home to propose marriage.
She remembered that Zhou Wang had told her that he had found a good job in the town, working as a guard in Master Chen's mansion, earning five taels of silver every month.
It was said that Master Chen's youngest son had been possessed by evil spirits and couldn't recognize people. He would go crazy every night, so no one dared to serve beside him.
At that time, she had thought there was something strange about this matter.
Five taels of silver was no small amount. Who would be so generous as to hire a guard specifically for this?
Ye Wanmian crouched down and waved to Sangbiao. Sangbiao glanced at Xiao Jingcheng, then lowered his head and carefully approached. Ye Wanmian took out the handkerchief from her bosom again and asked:
"Does the smell on this handkerchief have something to do with the mansion in front?"
Xiao Jingcheng translated Ye Wanmian's words into dog language for Sangbiao. Sure enough, Sangbiao nodded his head and let out a soft bark to Xiao Jingcheng.
[General, there's more to it.]
More to it?
Xiao Jingcheng's heart skipped a beat. He seized the opportunity and led several of his trusted dog generals. Taking advantage of the moment when the guards outside Master Chen's mansion turned away, they quickly ran forward and carefully sniffed the scents on the ground at several entrances and exits of the mansion.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Jingcheng really found some clues.
There was no such thing as an air - tight secret in the world. As long as something was done, there would surely be traces left behind.
Normally, the scents on people's shoes came from the ground and the soil. Master Chen was a wealthy and influential gentry in Dongli Town, with a large number of servants in his family. Therefore, the mansion was kept very clean, and the scents were easy to distinguish.
Among these servants, there were those in charge of shopping, running errands, and guarding. These people often came in and out of the mansion, and their shoe soles would pick up scents from outside. These scents came from different places and had their own unique characteristics.
For example, the most popular restaurant in the town would surely have the smell of cooking oil and smoke.
For example, the bookstore in the town would surely have the smell of ink.
Amidst all these complex scents, Xiao Jingcheng smelled two familiar scents.
One was the smell of the black mud on the handkerchief in Ye Wanmian's hand.
The other was the smell of the mud on the river beach where the body was found.
Thanks to Ye Wanmian's stay on the river beach that day, he had a deep memory of this smell.
This meant that when the body appeared on the river beach that day, someone from Master Chen's mansion must have been on the scene.
Of course, to be precise, this didn't prove anything. The appearance of the Crown Prince's "body" was such a sensational event that most of the townspeople had gone to watch the excitement that day. Maybe someone from Master Chen's mansion had also heard the news and gone there to find out.
However, the number of people who could actually go down to the river beach and see the body with their own eyes was extremely small. Coupled with the identical smell of the black mud, it was completely possible to prove that the dead body was related to the Chen Mansion!
Before the guards came back around, he led the dogs back to the darkness and returned to Ye Wanmian's side. He let out two soft barks to her.
Ye Wanmian rubbed the yellow dog's head and looked at the mansion in front of her, frowning.
Although these dogs couldn't talk, she could tell something was amiss from their behavior. Big Yellow had clearly become more vigilant towards the mansion in front, which meant it must have smelled something just now, and this smell was related to the body in the morgue.
The Caisang River was a flowing river, with the sand and mud at the bottom constantly being washed downstream from the upper reaches. Dongli Town was located beside the Caisang River, and many of the small streams in the town were branches of the Caisang River. Naturally, most of the sand was yellow.
However, the black silt hidden under the nails of the body was more like the sediment at the bottom of a stagnant body of water.
Ye Wanmian remembered that many years ago when she was still in the Ye family in the capital, one year the lotus pond had emitted a terrible smell, making everyone miserable. Lord Ye, the censor, had invited someone to clean the lotus pond.
The laborers had bailed out the water in the lotus pond, revealing the muddy bottom. The rotten lotus roots had been dug out of the black silt and thrown on the shore. There were also many dead fish bodies that had been dug out. The stench had come from those dead koi fish.
If the dead body was a decoy, it might have been kept in a stagnant pond full of black silt before it was discovered.
It was hot these days, and the temperature of stagnant water was higher than that of flowing water, which would accelerate the decay of the body.
When her master had examined the body, he had determined that the body had been dead for more than fifteen days. Maybe that wasn't the case. If her speculation was correct, the body had actually been dead for a very short time. It had been deliberately made to look this way to mislead the coroner and cover up the real intention!
However, it wasn't an easy task to transport such a body to the river beach.
How had they managed to avoid the patrolling guards and other townspeople and quietly transport the body to the river beach without leaving any traces or being noticed?
Ye Wanmian rolled her eyes and scanned the Chen Mansion. Suddenly, her gaze stopped.
Maybe the Chen family had another exit that allowed them to do this secretly.
Then another question arose.
— Why did they go to so much trouble to throw out a fake body to impersonate the Crown Prince?
Could it be because...
The real Crown Prince was in Master Chen's mansion at this moment?
With the arrival of the Prince of Mu and others, the news that the Crown Prince was in Dongli Town might not be able to be hidden. The appearance of this fake body had diverted the attention of the Prince of Mu and others. After it was confirmed that the body was the Crown Prince, the Prince of Mu would take the body away tomorrow. Then the defense in Dongli Town would become lax, and the real Crown Prince could be sent away naturally.
Ye Wanmian's mind was racing, and her thoughts were becoming clearer and clearer. Her heart was beating faster and faster.
Even though it was a summer night, the breeze made her shiver.
Anyway, this was just her speculation. There was no evidence to support it. To prove whether her thoughts were correct, she had to try to gather more information about the mansion.
She didn't know martial arts and had no means to defend herself. She couldn't sneak into the mansion. What could she do?
Up ahead, Zhou Wang's figure appeared again.
Ye Wanmian's gaze fell on him again, and an idea suddenly came to her mind.