There is a god in the sky

Chapter 5 Adopted Daughter Lanxiang 5

Inside the Ding residence, Madam Ding was holding her son's baby clothes and crying bitterly.

She only had this one son, whom she cherished and raised with utmost care. He was intelligent, filial, and praised by everyone, but unexpectedly, he died young.

After finally burying her son, she found a letter in the curio cabinet. The letter said that her son had not drowned accidentally, but had been murdered.

She was both shocked and furious. After asking the servants, she learned that the letter had been placed by the Wei family's daughter.

Why did she leave this letter? And why did she claim her son was murdered? Does she have any evidence?

Mrs. Ding had countless questions, so she had no choice but to ask the person involved to come back and inquire.

When the maid who went to fetch someone returned, there was only one person. She asked anxiously, "Why didn't you bring Miss Wei back?"

The maid pursed her lips and said, "Madam, Miss Wei said it's not convenient for her to meet you at home. She would like to talk to you at the teahouse on Zhengfang Street. She's waiting for you there."

Madam Ding frowned.

She had someone inquire about this Miss Wei; she was a girl picked up and raised by an old Taoist priest. She had just come of age and seemed to have no other skills besides collecting corpses.

The father and daughter had lived outside the city for ten years, which was known to the nearby residents, so it couldn't be a trap.

Madam Ding secretly led her people out of the mansion through the back gate and headed towards Zhengfang Street.

Wei Lanxiang requested a private room and, despite the waiter's suspicious gaze, ordered top-quality Da Hong Pao tea and several plates of pastries.

The waiter glanced at her patched clothes and asked with disdain, "Miss, do you have money to pay? What you ordered will cost a string of cash."

Don't be fooled by the small quantity of items; everything is expensive.

"Someone will pay the bill in a bit."

The waiter was skeptical, but ultimately didn't kick the person out.

Upon meeting Madam Ding, Wei Lanxiang cut to the chase: "Madam Ding, do you wish to avenge your son?"

Madam Ding left the servants outside the door and glanced at the simply dressed young girl in front of her.

Her son was submerged in water for several days before being found. He was disfigured, and it was this young woman, Ms. Wei, who helped with his burial and makeup.

"Why do you say that? You say he was murdered, but do you have any evidence?"

Wei Lanxiang poured herself a cup of tea, took a small sip, and said, "To be honest, I have been gifted since childhood with the ability to see ghosts."

Her eyes were dark and she looked at Madam Ding, who inexplicably shuddered.

This was obviously not true, but Madam Ding, out of love for her son, asked anxiously, "Did you see Ji'er's spirit? Was he in a lot of pain? How...how did he die?"

Mrs. Ding was overwhelmed with grief and collapsed into a chair.

Wei Lanxiang waited for her to calm down before saying, "It was your son who told me the cause of death. He did not drown, but died of poisoning. Then someone pushed him into the river to make it look like he accidentally drowned."

This is not a particularly sophisticated method of committing the crime.

However, several servants of the Ding family said at the same time that they saw the young master slip and fall into the river, but when they went into the river to rescue him, he could not be found.

The river runs through Qingmu County, and the section where Young Master Ding fell was a fast-flowing part of the river; he was quickly swept away.

In the following days, the Ding family sent their servants to search the river, reported the incident to the authorities, and asked the yamen runners for help. Finally, they found the young master, who was swollen from being soaked in the water, in a crevice in the rocks downstream.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, their accounts were consistent. Although Madam Ding was angry and grieving, she did not doubt the cause of her son's death.

"He has been dead for four days."

Although it's difficult to determine the time of death when the body is submerged in river water, Wei Lanxiang carefully examined him when dressing him in his burial clothes, and based on the information from the Ding family servants, we can determine that he died four days ago.

"He only had some scratches on the back of his hands and face, which were caused after his death."

Although the body was soaked until it turned white, the color of his lips and tongue indicated that he had died of poisoning.

Someone poisoned him and then pushed him into the water.

The fact that his stomach contained river water indicates that he was still alive when he fell into the water, but the amount of water was not much. If he had drowned normally, he wouldn't have only drunk that little bit of water.

If he hadn't been poisoned, he should have been able to struggle and call for help. But according to the servants who served the young master, he disappeared after falling into the river.

It must be a deadly poison.