Chapter 264 Six Suspects (Part )
Feng Dali's task yesterday was to screen the list of women in Xinjing and its vicinity who had lost a boy aged eight or nine in the past year.

Su Liuyue immediately looked at him and asked, "What do you mean?"

Feng Dali said excitedly: "Didn't I do a big screening yesterday? Although this matter took us a whole night, we did find out a lot of things.

During this year, there were quite a few women in and around Xinjing who lost a boy aged eight or nine. We have thirty-six cases on record.

Most of the women lost their children during the war in Xinjing. Some children are definitely gone, while others are still missing.”

This is just the data recorded in Jingzhao Prefecture.

I can’t imagine how many more there are that are not recorded.

No matter what dynasty it is, war is always a terrible massacre for the people.

Feng Dali continued, "Among them, there are twelve women from wealthy families. Because the murderer only targeted powerful families, we did not include women from minor official families in our statistics."

As Feng Dali spoke, he spread out a file in his hand on a table next to him, picked up the brush on the table, dipped it in ink, and gently drew circles next to several women. Finally, he said, "And if we add the condition that those women are missing or dead, there are only six women who meet the conditions!"

Su Liuyue immediately leaned over to check, and was surprised to find that she recognized the surnames of several of the women there.

That almost... covers all the surnames of the powerful people of the old dynasty that she had heard during this period.

Feng Dali had already introduced the people on the list to her one by one, "The first suspect is the third young lady of Gu Jijiu's family. She has two sons and a daughter. Half a year ago, during the riot in Xinjing, her eight-year-old son was frightened and ran to the street. He happened to meet a group of people who were also frightened and fleeing in panic, and was... trampled to death.

The people were frightened that time because... the emperor led his troops into the capital, and the people did not understand the situation. They thought that the enemy had invaded, so they fled in all directions, leading to this tragedy.

The third young lady of the Gu family was heartbroken and died of illness soon after.

The second suspect is General Shen’s fourth young wife. She has only one nine-year-old son, whom she has always treated like a treasure. However, during the turmoil more than half a year ago, her son ran away. The fourth young wife of the Shen family was so anxious that she plunged directly into the chaotic battlefield in order to find her son. Until now... she has not returned. The Shen family has been looking for her for so long, but they still can’t find her whereabouts.

However, her son's body was found. He was caught in the battlefield between the remnants of the old dynasty and the emperor's troops and was accidentally hacked to death.

The third suspect is the second young lady of the family of the current Minister of Rites, Liu Shangshu. She has two sons..."

Among these six suspects, except for one suspect who is from the richest family of the previous dynasty, the Luo family, the other five suspects are all powerful people from the old dynasty who are now thriving in the Daqing Dynasty.

In addition to the Gu family, the Shen family and the Liu family, there are also the Wei family and the Xin family.

Among them, the Shen family, the Wei family and the Xin family, like the Zheng family, were once among the five major families of the previous dynasty.

Almost all of their children were lost in the turmoil in Xinjing half a year ago.

The second young lady of the Liu family also died of excessive grief later.

The one who lost her child in the Wei family was the third young lady's wife. At that time, she and her son returned to her parents' home. The mother and son finally managed to survive until Xinjing settled down and then set out to return to Xinjing. Unexpectedly, they encountered bandits on the way. The two have not been seen since then, and their bodies have not been found.

The most special one is the sixth wife of the Xin family. The child she lost was her old son. After losing her child, she decided to become a nun and asked everyone not to disturb her.

Therefore, no matter whether it was her husband's family or her own family, no one saw her again after she became a nun. She truly made the decision to detach herself from the mundane world.

The one who lost her child was the fourth young lady of the Luo family. She was a young woman with only one child. After losing her child, she became a little crazy and stupid, and was sent to a separate courtyard outside the city by the Luo family. Because the Luo family had previously colluded with the party of the former dynasty's in-laws, the Lu family, they almost gave away half of their property to survive. They had a very difficult life in the past six months and had no intention of caring about the fourth young lady who was locked up in the separate courtyard.

In a sense, the fourth young master's wife is now free from the Luo family's control.

However, even if the suspects can now be narrowed down to six people, it will still be a big challenge to solve the case.

Before Su Liuyue came, the yamen runners were discussing this. One of them couldn't help but said, "Oh my God, everyone I see is suspicious now. How can we investigate this?"

"Hiss, isn't the biggest problem that, except for the Luo family, the families of the other suspects are all quite powerful? No matter which family the suspects come from, it's conceivable that it will cause quite a stir..."

Su Liuyue stared at the list for a while, then looked at Yang Shaoyin and said, "Except for the fourth young lady of the Shen family and the third young lady of the Wei family who have disappeared and have not been found yet, it shouldn't be difficult to find the others."

Yang Shaoyin nodded immediately and said, "That's right, but just now, we haven't deduced that the murderer may have escaped the family's control over her, so I only asked people to check the list of twelve people one by one.

I will call the people back immediately and focus on investigating these six people."

Having said that, he went out and told people to do things.

Su Liuyue turned to Feng Dali and asked, "Could it be that some children of wealthy families are missing and we don't have any records on this side?"

"probably not."

Feng Dali shook his head and said, "When something happens in a family of a powerful person, it is very rare that it can be concealed. The cases that are not recorded here are usually those of ordinary people."

That too.

Su Liuyue lowered her head, looking at the list, tapping it lightly with her finger for a while, and finally said, "Now, we can only wait for someone to check the whereabouts of the four suspects. If those four suspects are not the murderers, things will be more troublesome."

The two young ladies from the Shen family and the Wei family have been missing for almost a year.

If the murderer is actually among them, the process of finding him will be much more tortuous.

Lu Lu also thought of this, frowned, and said: "If... the murderer is not among the four suspects who know his whereabouts, the possibility of rescuing Sun Xiaolang will be very small. At that time, we may only be able to wait at the edge of Xiaogushan Mountain to see if the murderer will transport Sun Xiaolang there to bury him.

However... the murderer must have known that we had discovered Xiaogushan. Given her cautious nature, unless Xiaogushan meant something to her, she would definitely not go there again."

When the yamen runners heard this, their hearts sank.

Su Liuyue couldn't help but smile and said, "It's not that serious. Didn't I say that? The murderer must have contacted someone in the family to find out who is the most prestigious among the children of the new dynasty's dignitaries.

Even if the murderer is really among the two missing women, they must have been secretly in contact with someone at home."

It’s just that it’s a little more troublesome to check.

Next, there was nothing they could do but sit in Jingzhao Prefecture and wait for news.

It was not until the afternoon that a bailiff finally walked in quickly. Everyone was delighted. However, the bailiff turned to Su Liuyue with a strange expression and said, "Young Master Su, someone is looking for you outside."

Ding ding ding, it’s time for a guessing game with prizes. Can you guess who the murderer is?