The cousin is beautiful but ruthless.

Chapter 118 Turning the Soil

Shen Yanzhi once dealt with a local bully who was causing trouble in the village. The bully held a grudge and, as soon as he was released from prison, he found Shen Yanzhi and pushed him into the lake.

Shen Yanzhi couldn't swim, and there was no one around at the time, so he drowned.

Although the man was eventually punished, Shen Yanzhi never returned.

Recalling the past, Shen Hanyu couldn't help but feel sad; sometimes, accidents just happen so suddenly.

Upon arriving at the Shen family's ancestral tombs, Shen Hanyu walked inside, with Miaocui following behind, watching to see if anyone was coming this way.

Now that she has this face, Shen Hanyu is not afraid even if someone comes near.

She looked around and found Shen Yanzhi's grave.

The grave is well taken care of; it's clean and tidy with a few flowers on it.

Shen Hanyu squatted down and took the things she had bought from Miaocui's hands.

These are some of the things that Shen Yanzhi loved to eat when he was alive. Shen Hanyu also brought a pot of wine.

"Father, you can't hold your liquor, you can only drink this kind. I've finally come back, have a drink with me."

The wine was poured in front of the tomb. Shen Hanyu looked up, but suddenly noticed the soil behind the tombstone.

She walked over, and the soil there was clearly fresh, unlike the other graves.

Miao Cui was also puzzled: "They've already been buried, why do they need to renovate the soil here?"

I've only heard that they'll pull out the weeds growing here, but I've never heard that they'll turn the soil over.

The soil was a very dark color, completely different from the colors of other places, so it's no wonder Shen Hanyu became suspicious.

Shen Hanyu reached out and touched it, then grabbed a handful of soil.

"Could it be that someone has tampered with it?"

There are people guarding the ancestral graves. Shen Hanyu called over the people hiding in the shadows to bring over the person in charge.

The manager was drunk, his eyes glazed over as he looked at Shen Hanyu.

"Why, why is someone else coming in?"

Shen Hanyu looked at him: "Who has visited the Shen family ancestral graves in the past six months?"

The steward half-opened his eyes and couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time.

Shen Hanyu took a deep breath; after such a incident, she couldn't stay calm.

"Take him back first, wake him up, and interrogate him thoroughly."

After glancing at Shen Yanzhi's grave, Shen Hanyu left first; she couldn't stay there too long.

The ungrateful Shen family members usually don't come to pay their respects, and she's not afraid of being discovered.

Lin Yunshan was unaware of this matter after the person was taken back to the prefect's residence.

Jin Chui was somewhat surprised to see Shen Hanyu go out and bring someone back.

"This is?"

Shen Hanyu briefly explained the situation at the ancestral graves, while also suspecting that this might be what Li Huaijiang wanted her to see.

Did you visit the ancestral graves when you came back last time?

"I just lit incense as the girl told me to, and I didn't pay much attention to anything else. I don't remember what the soil looked like back then."

The new soil looked like it had been there for a while; the top layer was dry, but the bottom layer was still about the same as when it was first dug out.

It will take about a month.

Shen Hanyu ordered someone to bring the drunken steward over.

After being doused with cold water and given hangover soup, the manager became noticeably more sober.

Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, the manager quickly asked, "Who are you all?"

Miao Cui stepped forward: "Don't be afraid, we just want to ask you something."

The steward swallowed hard: "I'm just someone who looks after the Shen family's ancestral graves. I don't know anything about it."

Jin Chui closed the door, gesturing for Miao Cui to continue asking questions.

"Tell me, in the past six months, who has visited the Shen family's ancestral graves?"

Upon hearing about this matter, the steward turned his attention to Shen Hanyu, who was in the main seat.

Shen Hanyu had disguised herself, and the steward didn't recognize her. But judging from her demeanor, she must be an important person from somewhere, and he couldn't afford to offend her.

He was well aware that the Shen family was not what it used to be, so he quickly revealed what he knew.

“I have been taking care of the Shen family’s ancestral graves with all my heart every day. In the past six months, apart from a few members of the Shen family coming to pay their respects during the Qingming Festival, no one else has come.”

Jin Chui sneaked in without being discovered by the manager, so perhaps others could do the same.

"Do your best," Shen Hanyu scoffed. "Drunk during the day, is this all he does? Nobody knows if he's gone into the ancestral grave."

Since they couldn't get anything out of this guy, Shen Hanyu waved her hand, knocked him unconscious with a golden hammer, and then secretly sent him back to the ancestral graves.

"Young lady, how should we proceed with this investigation?"

After thinking about it carefully, Shen Hanyu realized that Li Huaijiang probably wanted her to see this scene. Li Huaijiang might know something. In Shen Hanyu's eyes, her deceased father was also the most important person to her.

But we can't rely entirely on Li Huaijiang, that would be too passive.

"Tonight, I'll go to the ancestral graves again."

Shen Hanyu wanted to confirm some things.

What exactly happened in Suzhou?

Upon hearing that Shen Hanyu was going to go again that evening, Miaocui quickly made arrangements.

The golden hammer came in from outside.

"Young lady, Magistrate Lin says he needs to speak with you and is asking if you have time."

Shen Hanyu got up, preparing to go and see what Lin Yunshan had to do.

Upon arriving at the study, Shen Hanyu stood outside, and the servant gestured for her to enter.

When Lin Yunshan saw Shen Hanyu arrive, he handed the things on the table to her.

"Since you and Miss Shen are good friends, I would like you to pass this on to her."

Shen Hanyu looked at the thick stack of envelopes in her hand, which seemed to have some yellow soil on them.

"these are?"

There was a very conspicuous character 'Shen' on the envelope. Judging from the calligraphy, it was indeed written by Shen Yanzhi. She couldn't be mistaken.

“Last time, someone came to the prefect’s mansion but couldn’t find what Miss Shen wanted. So I thought I’d search the mansion thoroughly. This thing was found some time ago. Since you’re here, I’ll trouble you to give it to Miss Shen.”

The envelope hadn't been opened. Lin Yunshan was a very polite person, and he hadn't looked at what was inside.

"Thank you, Prefect."

Shen Hanyu put the envelope away.

Having handed over the items, Lin Yunshan had nothing else to do and let Shen Hanyu go back.

Back in her room, Shen Hanyu opened the envelope. Inside, it wasn't related to Shen Yan's death as she had expected; it contained only a few letters and some miscellaneous documents.

The letters were all signed Qi Liansheng. Shen Hanyu had heard Shen Yanzhi mention Qi Liansheng a few times; he was Shen Yanzhi's close friend and later went to Lizhou.

Before Shen Yanzhi passed away, upon hearing that Qi Liansheng had unfortunately died, Shen Yanzhi went to pay his respects several times.

Shen Hanyu carefully looked at the letters. The earliest one was from Qi Liansheng, who said that he had just gone to Lizhou and talked about some things about Lizhou.

The rest were just some trivial matters, and because of the long distance, there were only five letters.

Five letters later, news of Qi Liansheng's death arrived.

Looking at it this way, it really is quite unexpected.

What's pressed down below are some things that Shen Yanzhi found out, all from Lizhou.

What is Aye investigating? Is he suspecting the cause of Uncle Qi's death?

It was easy to see Shen Yanzhi's intentions from those things. Shen Yanzhi seemed to suspect that Qi Liansheng did not die accidentally in the battle of Lizhou.