c110 (1/2)

Chapter 110: Earth Shattering Secret (Part 3)

After a few days of through investigation and the identification of the deceased personal items, the ident.i.ty of the deceased was confirmed. She was a palace maid in the Imperial Palace by the name of Yi Yue. She had been missing for three days before the body was found in the well of the Eastern garden. As the Eastern garden was far off the Inner Palace, the well was rarely used and would only be use as an emergency to put out the fires in the eastern part of the Inner Palace.

Yan Hong Tian did not hand this case to the Board of Investigation thus Gu Yun also did not call upon Dan Yu Lan’s personnel, so she transferred Ge Jing Yun and Leng Xiao to her side.

“Kou kou kou.” When Zhuo Qing and Gu Yun was quietly discussing the case, the knocks at the door suddenly rang and Gu Yun loudly called out, “Come in.”

Leng Xiao pushed open the doors but did not enter, “Boss, I have found a palace maid that said that she had seen the deceased a few days ago.”

Gu Yun’s eyes lit up as she said, “Invite her in.”

In a short moment, Leng Xiao led a seventeen or eighteen girl in. When that girl just came in, she was constrained and dare not even lift her head up and immediately knelt down when she reached Gu Yun and Zhuo Qing, “This servant Fei-er greet both Furens.”

Faced with such a scenario, Gu Yun was not used to it and stepped forward to pull her up before pointing at the chair by the side, “Sit down and talk.”

The girl quickly took two steps back and urgently said, “This servant dare not.”

Gu Yun lacked of a better option and forced the girl to the chair and pressed her shoulders to sit her down before saying, “Answer truthfully to whatever question I ask.”

The girl swallowed her saliva nervously and nodded her head.

“What is your relations.h.i.+p with the decease and when was the last time you saw her?”

Gu Yun’s stern voice scared the girl till her voice was trembling badly as she submissively replied, “Yi Yue is… This servant fellow villager. The last time this servant saw her… Was the night three days ago.”

Zhuo Qing cast a funny glance at Gu Yun. Gu Yun’s lips curled up as she thought of reviewing herself. She was already so used in staying in the General’s residence that even her manner of speech was loud and her tone was somewhat chilling, which made other people frightened. Gu Yun cough lightly and tried to put on a softer voice to speak, “Don’t be afraid, just say what you know in detail will do.”

The girl looked up slightly and when she saw Zhuo Qing’s and Gu Yun’s warm expression, she settled her state of mind and replied, “That night just after Hais.h.i.+ (modern timing: 9 – 11 pm), Yi Yue suddenly came over looking for this servant frantically and asked this servant to lend her one hundred taels of silver. This servant do not have this much money and so this servant asked her what had happened. She said that she knew a earth shattering secret and must immediately escape from the Palace else she would definitely die. This servant asked her what secret was it but she was unwilling to say. This servant had no other choice but gave the ten taels of silver on oneself to her. This servant really though that she had escaped from the Palace as there was no news of her these days. Who knew… Who knew…”

“On the last time you seen her, did she had any scars on her body?”

The female thought for a while before shaking her head, “No. Her face was just pale, like she was frightened and scared.”

“Did she give you anything?”

“Yes.” The female immediately nodded and pulled out a light purple handkerchief from her sleeve and handed over to Gu Yun respectfully. “A silk handkerchief, so as to let this servant remember her by.”

Gu Yun took it over and look at it at the front and back. Other than the pattern at the lower right corner, there was nothing special.

Gu Yun looked carefully at the pattern and felt that it was a word but was specially designed. There were some deformation in it. She could understand common traditional Chinese words but she could not understand this. Zhuo Qing was like her and helplessly shook her head.

Gu Yun thought for a while before beckoning Leng Xiao from her side and asked without embarra.s.sment, “What word is this?”

Leng Xiao paused for a bit and took a look before replying, “It is a ‘Lan’ word.”

After looking carefully at the silk handkerchief again and seeing no other clues, Gu Yun said to the restless girl, “Go back first. If there is anything else to ask of you, we will call for you.”

“Yes. This servant will retire.” The girl sighed and bowed before exiting. Leng Xiao also followed her out.

Gu Yun place the handkerchief on the table to study when Zhuo Qing suddenly laughed, “You are not afraid of them saying that you are illiterate?” The surprised expression that Leng Xiao just gave made her want to laugh, it was most likely that he did not believe that the renowned female talent couldn’t read!

“The word was twisted till like that, I naturally do not recognise it and would not be afraid of them saying. But…” Gu Yun smiled strangely, “I guess that they won’t dare.”

Seeing her proud look, Zhuo Qing rolled her eyes at her before looking at that piece of silk handkerchief for a closer inspection.

“Earth shattering secret?” Zhuo Qing muttered to herself, wondering what kind of thing that could have happen in the Palace to be considered an earth shattering secret.

Gu Yun pointed to the words on the handkerchief and said, “It seems that we have to start from this ‘Lan’ word. The material of this handkerchief is not bad and does not seem to be what a palace maid would use. Maybe there would be a clue if we ask the Weaving Department in the Palace.”

The way Gu Yun did things was like the thunder pa.s.sing and wind moving, once there was a clue, she would not let go of it, thus both of them took the handkerchief to the Weaving Department. This time they were investigating with the Imperial decreed, so Gao Jing a.s.signed an old eunuch to them. With someone leading the way, they quickly found an old mama who had work in the weaving department for thirty to forty years.

Gu Yun picked the silk handkerchief and handed to her as she asked, “Do you recognise this silk handkerchief?”

The old mama took the silk handkerchief over and felt it for a while. When she touch the word ‘Lan’, her fingers paused and quickly returned the silk handkerchief back to Gu Yun and replied, “This old servant do not recognise.”

That moment of strange look in her eyes did not escape Gu Yun. She did not take the silk handkerchief but instead replied blandly, “If you do not recognise, why are you afraid then?”

The old mama looked up with some panic and saw Gu Yun’s clear bright eyes and helplessly kept her head bowed as she pointed to the corner of the silk handkerchief, “This old servant recognise the ‘Lan’ word.”

Gu Yun had a hunch that this old mama must had known something and did not pressed her on her lie and just continued asking, “What is so special of the design pattern of the Lan word?”