Chapter 1299 - 1301 Her Sudden Outburst_1
"What are your thoughts?" After receiving the imperial edict, Yang Chuxia entered the room, her face grim with cold.
"So many people disappeared in Quanya County back then, yet there was no imperial edict stating heads would roll if the case couldn’t be cracked. What kind of situation is this? Could it be that you were the one who made those people disappear? Enough is enough. After this matter is settled, you will resign, and we will go home. What’s so great about being a County Magistrate? It costs not only silver but also so much effort, and there’s not a single benefit. Not to mention, you did so much for Mianyang, but what’s the outcome? If things go wrong, you could lose your head? It’s as if you hid those people yourself. I’m telling you, if the case isn’t cracked by May and someone comes to arrest you, I will immediately tie up a hundred girls and kill them! It’s better to be guilty of a real crime than to bear an unfounded charge."
By the end of her tirade, Yang Chuxia had slammed her palm onto the table and glared at the imperial yellow cloth set aside, wishing she could stomp on it several times.
"My lady..." Ye Zi’an was sweating profusely at her sudden outburst, and it took him a while to respond timidly, "It’s probably because of my relationship with Uncle and Cousin that the court is paying such close attention to me as a County Magistrate, hence this imperial edict. They are probably trying to take advantage of the situation to diminish Cousin’s power."
Indeed, Ye Zi’an’s guess was not wrong; that was exactly what the people at court intended.
Considering how well Zi’an had managed Mianyang, not only resolving the issue of flooding but also dealing with corrupt officials. They acknowledged Zi’an’s abilities, but sadly he was not one of their own. If he were to rise in power, it would undoubtedly aid Baili Yan.
So, they thought, why not nip it in the bud? After all, it wasn’t their own people who would be losing out. This led to certain court members initiating the motion, supporting it, and others opposing it, ultimately resulting in the imperial edict.
"Hmph, if that’s the case, we will just have to make sure to preserve his power," Yang Chuxia snorted coldly. "I’m going to take action now."
"My lady, what are you going to do?" Ye Zi’an asked as he saw her heading out.
"Don’t ask what I’m going to do. Go do your own tasks," Yang Chuxia said with a wave of her hand. "Continue searching for clues near the docks, and investigate that inn, as well as the one at the other dock. Hmph, I just realized, if there are strange ships coming and going from the docks, why would one inn notice it while the other does not?"
After saying that, Yang Chuxia left in a flash.
Ye Zi’an, upon hearing this, also went to his office.
What the lady said made sense, that inn really was suspect.
He recalled the other day, someone had come to report in secret that a woman, while washing clothes by the lower Yanghe River, had actually found a human hand skeleton, and someone else had washed up a skull.
At that moment, he immediately thought of those ships and the strong smell of blood that Ye Er had reported.
He had then ordered the best water-monkey monster to come and had many nets brought to dredge the river overnight. As expected, many fragmented skeletons were discovered. The coroner’s examination of the bone pieces indicated that they likely belonged to female corpses.
With this discovery, Ye Zi’an boldly speculated, could it be that those girls had been killed a long time ago, and these ships were here to dispose of the bodies, sinking them to the riverbed?
Yanghe River was so vast, if corpses were sunk at night, even after an entire night the river water wouldn’t turn red, so it was normal for no one to notice.
But how were the bodies taken to the dock, and why hadn’t anyone seen it?
At least after one of the docks was discovered by the inn’s people, they watched every day, and not a single soul was seen approaching the dock bearing anything.