An hour later, in a village on the outskirts of Yangqiu County.
Li Mu could not stop Zhang Shan in the end and could only let him come along.
Zhang Shan stood at the entrance of the village and looked at Li Mu. He asked in surprise, "This is not your jurisdiction. What case are you investigating here?"
Li Mu did not answer immediately. He looked at a dilapidated house at the entrance of the village.
Lin Wan had lived here when she was alive. More than ten years ago, the Lin family and the Zhao family were both wealthy local families. Their marriage was also set at that time.
After that, the Lin family's business failed and gradually declined. The Zhao family's business, on the other hand, thrived and expanded by more than ten times. In the entire Yangqiu County, they were considered a wealthy family.
Zhang Shan stood beside Li Mu and muttered, "That's strange. You said you were investigating a case, but you didn't wear your uniform. You didn't let me either. You even said this case was very dangerous. What's so dangerous here …"
Li Mu did not explain too much to Zhang Shan. He only said, "Don't say anything. Don't ask anything. Just stay by my side …"
"Alright, alright. You saved me today. You have the final say …" Zhang Shan shrugged and stopped talking.
Li Mu walked to the dilapidated house. The yard was surrounded by a fence. Weeds had already grown in the yard and the door was locked. Clearly, no one had been here for a long time.
Creak …
Just as Li Mu was about to ask someone, the door of the house next door suddenly opened. An old man walked into the yard and saw two strangers standing outside. He asked curiously, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Li Mu walked forward and smiled. "Old man, I'm Lin Wan's distant cousin. May I ask if Cousin Lin Wan lives here?"
"You're Wanwan's relative …" The old man's expression softened when he heard that. However, he sighed and said, "Two months ago, Wanwan disappeared. The Zhao family came to look for her, but they couldn't find her until now. No one knows where she went …"
Li Mu pretended to be surprised and asked, "My cousin is missing?"
The old man said regretfully, "If Wanwan was still here, she would have married into the Zhao family immediately. Marrying into the Zhao family, she would have enjoyed the rest of her life. What a pity, what a pity. I don't know where she is now or if she's still alive …"
Li Mu didn't need to ask any more questions. He already knew what he wanted to know.
The Lin Family and the Zhao Family did indeed have an engagement. Up until now, what he had heard from the old man was completely consistent with what Lin Wan had said.
In other words, the rumor that Zhao Yong killed his fiancée in order to climb up the big tree of the County Premier was most likely true.
Li Mu didn't stay for long. He bid farewell to the old man and left.
The most difficult thing right now was how to give Lin Wan justice.
Naturally, it was impossible for her to go to the yamen as a ghost to redress her grievances. Not to mention whether the yamen would dare to accept the case, even if they accepted it and reported it to the higher-ups, there was a high chance that it would be suppressed.
As long as the Governor was willing to protect the Zhao Family, no one in the North County could touch them.
At the moment, Li Mu still hadn't thought of a suitable solution.
Li Mu was deep in thought as he walked. Zhang Shan followed behind him and finally couldn't help but ask, "Li Mu, when did you have a cousin? Why haven't I heard of her before?"
Li Mu casually said, "I just met her …"
Zhang Shan's interest was piqued. "Is she pretty?"
"She's alright …"
"Compared to the boss?"
"I can't compare to her."
"That's enough. Although the boss is pretty, she only cares about cultivation. She's not the same as you. You can't always think about the boss and end up sad like Li Si …"
As the two of them chatted, a short man stood in front of Lin Wan's old residence in the Lin Family Village and asked the old man not far away, "Old man, is Miss Lin Wan home?"
The old man scratched his head and said, "Why are there so many people looking for Wanwan today?"
The short man raised his eyebrows and asked, "Is there anyone else looking for her?"
The old man nodded and said, "There were two just now. They said they were Wanwan's cousins and just left …"
The short man smiled and said, "We were originally together, but we accidentally got separated two days ago. Where did they go?"
The old man pointed to a path on the left and said, "It's in this direction. They just left not long ago. If you chase after them now, you should be able to catch up."
"Thank you, old man." The short man smiled at him and turned to chase in the direction he pointed.
The old man watched his figure disappear and muttered, "His legs look quite short. How can he run so fast …"
…
On the way back to the county, Zhang Shan finally couldn't suppress the doubts in his heart and asked Li Mu, "What case are you investigating?"
Since he couldn't hide it from Zhang Shan, Li Mu simply said, "Lin Wan's disappearance case."
"Why do you suddenly want to investigate this?" Zhang Shan was still puzzled. "This isn't your jurisdiction. If there's a case, it's not under your jurisdiction. Moreover, there are many cases like this every year. Most of them are related to demons and ghosts. Now that the boss isn't here, how are we going to investigate?"
"It might not necessarily be related to demons and ghosts." Li Mu asked, "Do you still remember what the old man said just now?"
"What did he say?"
"Lin Wan and Zhao Yong are going to be married."
"What's wrong with being married …" Zhang Shan asked blankly. Then, as if he realized something, he quickly said, "Wait, Zhao Yong? Which Zhao Yong?"
Li Mu said, "The Zhao Yong you saw just now."
Zhang Shan was stunned and said, "Isn't he going to be married to the county minister's daughter?"
Li Mu nodded and said, "Yes."
After all, he was a constable and was used to seeing people's hearts. Zhang Shan quickly realized something and murmured, "Lin Wan just disappeared, and Zhao Yong is going to be married to the county minister's daughter. Could it be that Lin Wan's disappearance was caused by the Zhao family?"
Li Mu nodded and said, "I suspect so, too."
Zhang Shan thought for a moment, and his expression suddenly became serious. He said, "Don't tell me you want to get involved in this matter. Don't blame me for not reminding you. We are just constables. If we get involved in such trivial matters, we will be doing our job well. This case is not something we can handle. Not to mention us, even the county magistrate doesn't dare to get involved …"
If he could sit in the county government peacefully, Li Mu wouldn't be willing to risk his job or even his life.
Unfortunately, justice for Lin Wan was not only related to the hurdle in Li Mu's heart, but also related to the hurdle in his life.
Lin Wan was the key for him to condense the first spirit. The emotional power of a resentful spirit was equal to that of hundreds or thousands of old ladies supported by Li Mu. Time was life for Li Mu. He couldn't waste most of his time on helping old ladies cross the road.
This case was extremely dangerous. Li Mu didn't want to implicate anyone.
He looked at Zhang Shan and shook his head. "Go back. Don't get involved in this matter anymore."
Zhang Shan was surprised and said, "You really want to get involved?"
"I have to."
Zhang Shan looked at him for a long time and said slowly, "Sometimes I really wonder if you are still the Li Mu I know. It seems that you have changed a lot since you died last time. You used to be the most timid person. No matter what case you encountered, you would hide as much as you could. You never took the initiative to provoke these things …"
Li Mu said, "It's because I died once that I understand how to live …"
As his voice fell, a gloomy voice suddenly sounded behind him.
"Since you have died once, why don't you cherish your life? Why do you have to touch things that you can't touch?"
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