Chapter 45: Keep a Watch, Leave with No Results 2/2

“What?” Yue Er suddenly shook. She could not understand, “The fifth, fifth young master? I… I have never seen the fifth young master!”

“Never seen? Guards! Bring her to the master and the lady! I shall see if she would still be so insistent when the birches land on her!”

The instance Yue Er heard she had to be flogged again, she lost her cool, “Elder Maid Qin, Elder Maid Qin, I am wronged! I really just went out for a walk. I did not know what happened to the fifth young master. Elder Maid Qin, Elder Maid Qin. I really do not know……”

Her pleas for forgiveness slowly went far. Until when Elder Maid Qin personally took men to detain Yue Er into the inner courtyard, the scattered cleaning servant girls started in the outer courtyard began discussing.

“Yue Er is really unlucky. By right, she can leave the residence to play since it is her rest day. But because she was not in the residence and the fifth young master went missing, all the fault falls on her.”

“Well, what to do? The fifth young master is the lady’s lifeblood. The lady only had the fifth young master when she had just passed forty and hence, he has always been pampered as the apple of her eye. And now, the fifth young master suddenly went missing without a reason. But luckily for Yue Er, she is just under suspicion. I heard that there are a few of them that are under suspicion just like her, but they are not dead yet. However, I heard that three of all the aunties and servant girls who were taking care of the fifth had been flogged to death. The rest of them are still being punished.”

“This is so scary. Do you all think that the fifth young master had been abducted by someone from the residence? Why do I feel that it is……”

“Shh…” The other person covered her mouth and warned, “Do not babble nonsense. At this time, the master and lady would rather believe it is done by a mole in the residence. If it was taken away by ‘that’, I fear that the fifth young master is probably dead……”

As the servant girls gossiped, they broke out in cold sweat and a chill went down their spine. They trembled uncontrollably and quickly dispersed, no longer dared to continue.
……
And just then, inside the capital magistrate’s Yamen, Liu Wei had a pile of papers in her hands as she browsed them seriously.

These are the official matters which she had come to the capital for. As she glanced through each line, her brows became tighter and tighter.

In the past three years, many children in affluent families with and without important government officials had continuously been missing. When the emperor knew of this, he was furious. Initially, he had sent the capital magistrate to investigate, but after a few months, they did not find the culprit. Instead, they found the missing children’s corpses. And because it involves human lives, the ministry of justice and ministry of war had joined the investigation. They found many suspects these three years but none of them was the real culprit. And additionally, there had been children who went missing again within the year which includes……

Liu Wei read one of the lines. She suddenly raised her head with her eyes looking in shock, “The Sixteenth Prince went missing too?”

Rong Leng at her side put down his teacup and nodded, “Sixteenth brother was kidnapped while accompanying his mother consort back to her parent’s residence during last year mid-autumn.”

Liu Wei continued to read the records and saw the description detailed by the witness on the page. In the identity section, it wrote “Sixteenth Prince, Rong Yun”; and in the age section, it wrote “One-year-old”.

A one-year-old child went missing just like that. And till now even after one year, his life status is still unknown.

She let out a sigh and asked, “How is the result of the investigation by the capital magistrate?”

Rong Leng shot a glance at the capital magistrate, Lord Lin, who was patiently waiting to be called.

Lin Sheng came forward when he heard. He dropped his head, ashamed, “Reporting to the lord, at present…… there is no progress. But I have already sent people who can be sent. Even so, those thieves were like demons and ghosts; no clues were left behind. Not only our capital’s YaMen, but even the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of War have no progress too.”

This sentence had pulled the Ministry of Justice and War into the hot soup too.

Liu Wei put the papers down and asked, “Are there any corpses now?”

Lin Sheng stunned for a while and shook his head, “No, those are children of important officials. Once discovered, they are immediately fetched by the respective families. The most recent corpse is half a month ago, which is the son of the Duke from Yue state. It has also been fetched away and buried ten days ago.”

Liu Wei looked at Rong Leng, “I cannot investigate without a corpse.”