Wei Shuxuan quickly rushed over and picked up the piece of cyan fabric she had spotted. It was a torn piece of high - quality cloth, presumably of top - grade material. There were white - edged patterns on it, and it seemed to have been torn from a young girl's dress.
"This must be from Dan Xueyao!" Wei Shuxuan was certain that the fabric had come from Dan Xueyao.
Clutching the piece of fabric tightly, Wei Shuxuan trotted forward. She found another piece of the same fabric ahead. It was all cyan with white hidden patterns, but this time the fabric was stained with a bit of blood.
Could something have happened to Dan Xueyao? If anything happened to her, Wei Shuxuan and Xin Zizhao would surely be held accountable by the prime minister. She didn't want to be blamed or go to jail!
Along the way, Wei Shuxuan found pieces of torn cyan fabric on the roadside bushes. Presumably, Dan Xueyao had done this to tell those looking for her about her location.
Thanks to Dan Xueyao's move, Wei Shuxuan had a direction to follow.
However, after picking up a few pieces of fabric, she found no more on the bushes. She thought that perhaps Pan Xintian had noticed what Dan Xueyao was doing and stopped her.
But it didn't matter, because Wei Shuxuan saw a faint trail of blood on the ground, leading forward. Eventually, she came to a fork in the road. She looked down both paths and found some blood on the left - hand path, so she took it.
After walking a few steps, Wei Shuxuan finally spotted an abandoned house by the roadside. The blood trail led right to the door. She hid to one side and peeked inside. There was still a little blood on the gravel path leading to the thatched cottage, but the door was tightly shut. She couldn't see or hear anything inside.
Wei Shuxuan had no choice but to use her light - footed kung - fu to fly into the cottage's yard and land on a big tree beside it. She stepped on a branch and leaned forward to look through the window. It was too dark inside to see clearly.
There was nothing else to do but get closer to the window.
Wei Shuxuan leaned forward to peer through the window. There seemed to be no movement at all, but in the shadows, she faintly saw a corner of a cyan dress. She used her inner strength to listen carefully to the sounds inside the room and faintly heard weak breathing.
There must be someone in the room!
However, she didn't know if Pan Xintian was inside. Just as she was hesitating whether to go in, the door of the thatched cottage was pushed open!
Seeing the door open, Wei Shuxuan quickly dodged to one side. She peeked inside secretly and saw Pan Xintian, covered in dirt, walking in from outside. He seemed to be holding a field mouse in his hand. He complained, "It's all your fault, woman. If you hadn't refused to tell me the location of the treasure on the treasure map, I wouldn't have to eat field mice here!"
For some reason, the man in front of her got angry as he spoke. He threw the captured field mouse down and quickly walked over to Dan Xueyao, who was lying on the ground. Dan Xueyao still seemed to have a weak breath. Her voice was soft but extremely firm. "I've already told you. It's not that I won't tell you. It's just that the treasure map your father had was a fake. There's no such treasure at all. This is the real secret of the treasure map!"
When Pan Xintian was so agitated, Dan Xueyao added fuel to the fire, which naturally enraged the man. He bent down, grabbed Dan Xueyao's chin tightly, and looked hideous. "I don't care if you're the prime minister's daughter. Even if you're the emperor himself, I'm not afraid of you. I just want to know the location of the treasure map now. Otherwise, I'll kill you."
People are truly ugly when faced with greed.
Wei Shuxuan was a bit nervous. She listened to the sounds inside, afraid that Pan Xintian would really kill Dan Xueyao. She just hoped that Dan Xueyao would pretend to show weakness so as not to make Pan Xintian so agitated.
But Wei Shuxuan's hope was dashed. Dan Xueyao spat at Pan Xintian. "I'm not afraid of you! Kill me if you dare! My father will never let you off. You'll go to hell and enjoy your so - called treasure then!"
Oh my god! There was no other way. She had to step in! This was so annoying. She was good at investigating cases, but capturing criminals was a bit beyond her capabilities.
Just as she was about to jump through the window, suddenly a stone whizzed by. Wei Shuxuan was startled and quickly looked up. She saw Wei Wei standing on the tree behind her. He motioned for Wei Shuxuan not to act rashly. Then, she saw him holding several small stones in his hand. In a flash, the stones flew into the room, and then came a cry of pain from Pan Xintian!
This was the moment!
Wei Shuxuan quickly jumped through the window from the outside. Against the light, she appeared in front of Dan Xueyao and Pan Xintian, who was covering his hand. Her agile figure seemed like a divine being descending to Dan Xueyao, stirring her long - dormant girlish heart. She looked at Wei Shuxuan's heroic and charming side - profile, and her heart fluttered.
However, Pan Xintian reacted very quickly. He took out a short dagger from his waist and dragged Dan Xueyao up from the bed forcefully. He put the dagger against her neck. "Don't come any closer, or I'll kill this woman right now!"
"Okay, okay, I won't come closer," Wei Shuxuan saw that Pan Xintian was extremely agitated and was afraid that he would accidentally cut Dan Xueyao's neck.
She thought for a while and remembered that a colleague who was very good at capturing criminals had once told her that when facing a desperate criminal, the best strategy was to use psychological tactics to make them fall into self - blame or remorse. As soon as they were distracted, one should rescue the hostage as quickly as possible.
Wei Shuxuan knew that the reason Pan Xintian had killed Pan Anping was that he had mistakenly thought that Pan Anping was his uncle, Pan Leping. He not only wanted to avenge his father but also wanted to get the treasure on the treasure map. She knew where to strike.
"Pan Xintian, do you know? When I examined the body yesterday, I found that the dead 'Pan Leping' was actually your father, Pan Anping. I've investigated in detail, and I also know that the first person who died was Pan Leping. Don't you see it?"
"You're talking nonsense! My father wasn't like that!" Pan Xintian clearly wasn't affected.
"Whether I'm talking nonsense or not, you'll know soon enough. Your aunt, Jin Yan, has told me everything. So you killed your father yesterday!"