Yang Shaoyin paused and opened his eyes slightly. "If the murderer is really a woman, considering that the victims she is looking for are all children from wealthy families, and the clothes she sews are all made of the best fabrics, the woman must have also come from a wealthy family before...

There are many wealthy women who have lost their children recently. Even if we include the areas near Xinjing, the number is not that large!"

Su Liuyue looked at him and said, "That's right, so Yang Shaoyin might as well send someone back to Jingzhao Prefecture to check which women in Xinjing and the surrounding areas have lost an eight or nine-year-old boy in the past year..."

The router at the side couldn't help but ask: "Within a year? Isn't this time span too long?"

"not long."

Su Liuyue said calmly: "When a person suffers a major blow, he or she usually goes through five stages of emotions. The first stage is the denial stage, which means that one knows intellectually that this thing has happened, but cannot accept it emotionally.

The second stage is the anger stage, where the victim may complain about the injustice of God, or resent his family and friends and even everything around him. If the blow he suffered was man-made, he will point the finger at the person who caused it.

The third stage is the negotiation stage. What does it mean? The victim may get lost in the imagination of "If I had known earlier...", "If I had done that...", imagining that the tragedy in reality did not happen, and imagining that there is still room for everything to turn around.

The fourth stage is the depression stage. At this time, the victims actually begin to face the pain they have suffered. They know clearly that the tragedy has happened and it cannot be compensated no matter what. At this time, huge pain will hit the victims. For the victims, this is the beginning of real sadness.

But if the victim can survive this stage, it means that he has truly come out of the pain and entered the fifth stage of grief - the acceptance stage. "

This is a theory proposed by American psychoanalyst Kubler-Ross.

Although Su Liuyue did not explicitly say what would happen if a person could not survive the first four stages, they already knew it.

Those who cannot endure it will most likely turn into evil spirits holding butcher knives. Whether it is for venting or revenge, they are completely lost in grief.

Everyone was stunned after hearing this. After a while, someone said, "Indeed... My mother died of illness, and that's how I got through it..."

"You know what, there was a little girl in our village who was abducted by human traffickers. Her mother looked numb at first, and she looked quite calm. We secretly said that she was really cold-blooded towards her daughter.

Who would have known that one night half a year later, she suddenly committed suicide by jumping into a well.

It turns out that her previous calmness was only on the surface, a sign that she had not yet accepted the fact that her daughter had been abducted."

Su Liuyue nodded and said, "The length of these stages varies from person to person. Some people may go through these stages very quickly, while others may take a longer time. So I think it is more appropriate to extend the time span of the investigation.

And...about a year ago, there was unrest in Xinjing, and many people died in the war, especially the wealthy families."

Yang Shaoyin suddenly looked at Su Liuyue, and said with a subtle expression: "Could it be that Young Master Su is referring to..."

Although it is only their speculation that the murderer targeted the children of the new dynasty's dignitaries, if this speculation is true, a woman who comes from a wealthy family and who may have lost her own children to the new dynasty's dignitaries may very well... come from one of the families that have now declined or have been hunted down and killed by the new court!

Generally speaking, the imperial court's extermination would only target the male members of a family. In order to demonstrate the court's benevolence, the court would spare the women and children of families whose mistakes were not very serious.

However, the women and children who were left behind were usually controlled by the court, such as being sent to the Jiaofangsi like Miss Zhong, or becoming slaves. But this murderer was obviously free, which means that even if she was really one of the women and children who survived the family, she was not controlled and probably ran away before her family was searched.

Yang Shaoyin was silent for a moment, then said, "We still need to check if any women who meet the requirements are missing from the families whose properties were previously confiscated."

This way, they have more things to investigate.

Yang Shaoyin immediately called Feng Dali and said, "Feng Dali, go back quickly and find a few more people. Make sure to submit the list before tomorrow."

Feng Dali immediately bared his teeth in some confusion, but did not neglect it. He responded and quickly turned back to Jingzhao Prefecture.

Su Liuyue and the others rushed to the home of the next missing child - the Wei family.

But who would have thought that they would meet an unexpected person there.

Seeing the tall man walking over with the ladies of the Wei family, Su Liuyue asked in surprise: "Your Highness the Prince of Chu? Why are you here?"

Who else could that be but the King of Chu Zhou Jingming whom she had just met yesterday!

The King of Chu smiled slightly, stepped forward and bowed respectfully, saying, "Jing Ming greets my sister-in-law. I happened to be on leave today, and was a little worried about Xier, so I came to the Wei family to check on Xier's situation. Unexpectedly, I ran into my sister-in-law who came to investigate a case."

Everyone in the Wei family was startled at once, and looked at the handsome young man in front of them with doubt.

The old lady of the Wei family was calm. She quickly came up on crutches and bowed deeply to Su Liuyue. "I didn't expect that the Crown Princess would take over this case personally. I have heard that the Crown Princess is very good at solving cases. I hope that the Crown Princess can find the murderer who killed my Ze'er and comfort my Ze'er's spirit in heaven!"

As she spoke, she couldn't help but feel her eyes turn red with excitement.

Su Liuyue quickly asked them all to stand up, and after having them sit down, she said, "Madam Wei, I will do my best to investigate this case. I came here today because I have a few questions for you. I hope you can answer them truthfully."

Madam Wei nodded quickly and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, please feel free to ask us anything. As long as it can help you solve the case, we will tell you everything we know."

"Well, I heard that Young Master Wei is a very well-behaved person. He probably has never done anything like sneaking out before."

"Correct."

Madam Wei couldn't help but tear up again, her lips trembling as she said, "My Ze'er is the best. Families in the north give their children a certain amount of freedom after they turn eight. If they want to go out, they can go out by themselves, and they can come home on time.

Many children just go out directly, but us, Ze'er, perhaps because he is afraid that we will worry, always tells us in advance before going out, and always brings servants and guards with him.

This was the first time that he went out without anyone and without telling us in advance... Not to mention, due to the frequent disappearances of children during this period, all major families were very vigilant. We also specifically told Ze'er to try not to go out during this period, and to be extra careful even if he had to go out for something.

I can’t figure it out! I don’t know if he has been in contact with other families’ children more often and has become playful. Children of this age are more easily tempted…” (End of this chapter)