Chapter 349 - 347: The Beginning of the Descent into Hell (First Update)

Chapter 349: Chapter 347: The Beginning of the Descent into Hell (First Update)

Xu Jingjing paused for a moment, nodded and said, "We understand, you may leave first."

After Sun Chef left, Mr. Yao quickly turned to Xu Jing and said, "If Sister-in-law Wu is indeed very averse to men, then she would likely avoid any contact with Mr. Song and Mr. Qiao. However, there’s no direct evidence to prove this..."

Xu Jing recalled what the innkeeper had told her on their return to the Western Capital, and said calmly, "I actually think Sun Chef’s intuition may be right. Besides her, the people who interact with Sister-in-law Wu here are mostly men, and it’s normal for men to be less perceptive than Sun Chef. Moreover, Sun Chef is the one who has the most contact with Sister-in-law Wu, thus she would be more sensitive to any changes in her behavior.

Earlier, she mentioned a very crucial point—Sister-in-law Wu suddenly changed her plans from going to Famen Temple to Jingyuan Temple about three years ago. If Sister-in-law Wu really underwent some changes, something must have happened during that time. Mr. Yao, can you please send someone to White Jade Village to check if the villagers know anything about what happened to Sister-in-law Wu during that period."

Mr. Yao immediately said, "That’s no problem!"

"Next..."

As Xu Jing spoke, she stood up and said, "We need to pay a visit to Jingyuan Temple."

They certainly had to visit Jingyuan Temple.

Mr. Yao hesitated and asked, "What about the Ministry of Justice? Are we just going to ignore it?"

"We’ll head to Jingyuan Temple first. If we find out that the deaths of Sister-in-law Wu and Jiang San are unrelated to Qinghui Garden, why should we bother with the Ministry of Justice?"

Xu Jing raised her eyebrows and scoffed lightly, "We’ll just let Wang Shaoqing and his people investigate as much as they want."

Mr. Yao: "..."

He inexplicably felt that there was a hint of schadenfreude in Miss Xu’s words.

If those two deaths indeed have nothing to do with Qinghui Garden, and Wang Shaoqing was still obsessively circling around it, deliberately irritating them by taking the two people related to the case before they could, wouldn’t Wang Shaoqing be furious when he learns the truth one day?

Of course, whether Wang Shaoqing gets furious or not is of no concern to him.

After all, his job is to find out the truth about the case~

Jingyuan Temple was located to the south of the Western Capital. By the time they reached Jingyuan Temple, the government official Mr. Yao sent to White Jade Village had already returned. He saluted them and said, "Mr. Yao, Miss Xu, I just arrived at White Jade Village to ask the villagers if anything happened to Sister-in-law Wu three years ago. Their faces immediately turned very strange, showing a reluctance to talk about it.

I intimidated them with the fact that they were obstructing the investigation, and they reluctantly spoke. Apparently, about three years ago, the village head’s eldest son broke into Sister-in-law Wu’s house at night intending to assault her. Sister-in-law Wu went mad and ran out, attracting many villagers.

Sister-in-law Wu was very unstable at the time, holding a pair of scissors, announcing she would report the incident to the Western Capital authorities and then kill herself to prove her innocence. Fortunately, the village head was a reasonable person and beat his eldest son severely, pleaded with Sister-in-law Wu not to report, promising to send his unworthy son away from White Jade Village, never to appear before Sister-in-law Wu again.

Later, other villagers used Mr. Qu to persuade Sister-in-law Wu, and she finally put down the scissors and agreed not to report. Afterwards, she begged the villagers not to tell Mr. Qu about this, saying as long as her son could study well, she wouldn’t mind enduring any grievances. The village head kept his promise, sending his eldest son away to live with his brother in the north. To this day, he hasn’t returned.

Since the village head also told the villagers not to speak of this, it became a forbidden topic in the village.

The villagers said Sister-in-law Wu became even more reclusive afterwards, especially avoiding interactions with men."

This matched what Sun Chef had said.

Xu Jing couldn’t help but sigh.

The so-called troubles at a widow’s door are plenty.

No one expected such an incident to occur back then.

But based on what the innkeeper said, Sister-in-law Wu has certainly encountered other unpleasant things over the years, it’s just that the incident with the village head’s eldest son was particularly severe.

After hearing the official’s report, Xu Jing looked up at the Jingyuan Temple quietly standing at the top of the steps, and said, "Let’s go in and have a look."

Now, the likelihood that Sister-in-law Wu’s death is related to Qinghui Garden is even lower.

The possibility that the criminal is in Jingyuan Temple has significantly increased.

Not wanting to alert the culprit, Xu Jing and Mr. Yao decided to enter separately, posing as ordinary pilgrims. Mr. Yao went in first, with Xu Jing following closely behind.

Jingyuan Temple was far less grandiose than Famen Temple; its layout was more exquisite and intricate. Most visitors here were women, and any men present were generally accompanying their female family members.

As Xu Jing walked into the outer courtyard of Jingyuan Temple, a young nun in blue-gray robes with a delicate face approached her. Xu Jing quickly stepped forward, smiling, "Reverend, I’m here for the first time. I’ve heard that the Bodhisattvas here are very efficacious. Is there anything I should be aware of during my visit?"

The young nun appeared to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, with a hint of naivety in her eyes, yet she behaved earnestly, giving a Buddhist salutation before saying, "Benefactor, if you simply wish to worship, you may proceed in our main hall following the usual process. If you’re interested in listening to Master Xuan Yin’s sermon, you’ll need to wait until 5 p.m. (You Shi)."

Before coming, Xu Jing had done some research and knew that Master Xuan Yin was the current abbess of Jingyuan Temple.

After a pause, the young nun suddenly said, "However... Jingyuan Temple is situated on the mountain, surrounded by several paths leading into the woods. Benefactor, please be careful and do not wander, getting lost is minor; encountering any danger would be problematic. A little over a month ago, a benefactor staying here accidentally wandered into the woods and fell off a cliff. If not for the snow that day with her footprints visible in the snow, who knows when she would have been found."

Xu Jing’s heart skipped a beat.

Snow, footprints, falling off a cliff...

No wonder! No wonder! Last night, she had asked Mr. Yao to investigate if there had been any similar female suicide cases recently. Mr. Yao said no; cases discovered were either observed by friends or family as suicides or involved men, and a female hanging case was found only three months back, which apart from being a suicide, didn’t resemble Jiang San’s case at all!

Initially, a similar case to Sister-in-law Wu’s had indeed occurred, but it wasn’t classified as a suicide, rather just an accident, hence Mr. Yao didn’t find it!

This place was indeed where Sister-in-law Wu and Jiang San began their descent into hell!

The criminal is right here, in Jingyuan Temple!