How could I possibly be confined in a cage?

Chapter 166 Revisiting the Zheng Family (2)

In fact, Qingru couldn't quite explain what she was thinking, but she felt that saying it now might cause a lot of misunderstandings.

After carefully searching every corner of the private vault, they actually found some omissions.

"What's this?" Guo Zixing asked, holding a section of gun barrel that his subordinate had found.

Qingru did not recognize the model number.

Jiang Shen, however, immediately recognized it upon arrival: "The Hanyang Arsenal belongs to the government."

The government? But this time, the government didn't do it; at least, Guo Dashuai was completely unaware.

Guo Zixing said, "Of course it wasn't us. They stole weapons to use, and that's commonplace."

That makes sense; you can't identify the killer just based on a single shell casing left at the scene. A weapon isn't necessarily used by the person who owns it.

Guo Zixing looked more closely and said, "The five-pointed stars here are larger than usual, and they're different from the ones we've used before. Is this a new batch?"

Jiang Shen shook his head. "I'm not sure, but we've checked, and it should be a new model. We've never seen it before; maybe it's from the government."

Never seen this before? This is news!

"Collect the spent cartridge cases and see if they are counterfeit or from a new batch that hasn't been distributed yet."

The Zheng family is almost completely destroyed, but the initial incident occurred here, so investigating here might yield more results.

Guo Zixing ordered his men to collect all the spent cartridges and firearms, and to register and catalog them one by one.

Next came the corpses. There were forty-two corpses at the scene, including guests, servants of the Zheng family, and men in black. Many of them were seriously injured, and this number might continue to rise into the evening.

The bodies were placed in an empty house, and Guo Zixing brought the coroner to examine them.

This used to be the Zheng family's kitchen, and it's the only intact one left now, so it's been converted into a temporary morgue.

The coroner examined each of them and found that most of them had died from gunshot wounds or from being crushed by bricks and stones after the bombs exploded.

But the causes of death for three of them were the most suspicious.

The coroner pointed to the body of a noblewoman and said, "This lady was killed instantly, probably by a sniper. You see, there is a bullet hole in her chest, and blood is flowing everywhere. However, the expression on her face is one of slight surprise, which means that she did not suffer much before she died and did not feel any pain."

Then the coroner walked over to a man dressed as a servant, lifted the cloth to show Guo Zixing, and said, “The cause of death of this body is at the neck. The face is cyanotic, the eyes are rolled back, and the tongue is slightly protruding. This is caused by being strangled tightly from behind.”

“And this one,” the coroner said, walking to the body beside him and lifting the sheet. “She died by seppuku.”

"Seppuku?" Guo Zixing asked in confusion. "I've only ever heard of committing seppuku."

"It's a similar principle. Look at this corpse; it's already very stiff, so she couldn't have fallen backwards after death. Judging from the posture, with her knees together and the body not tilting forward, this is the 'seppuku' method of death advocated by the Japanese samurai spirit. So you can see that she was forced to commit suicide, rather than actually committing suicide."

“How come you see?”

"A person doesn't actually die immediately after committing seppuku, because the cut is in the abdomen, which isn't a fatal wound. Instead, the pain lasts for a long time, eventually leading to death from the agony. But this corpse didn't seem to be in much pain; the knife was even inserted directly into the heart. It's like trying to draw a tiger but ending up with a dog—giving himself a quick death."

Qingru frowned. "You mean to say that this maid was put in this state?"

The coroner nodded. "Of course, I don't know if it was voluntary, but it was definitely the spirit of Bushido that I learned."

Just when we were about to find out something, new clues were discovered, pushing things in an even more complicated direction. What's going on?

"Can we start with this maid? If the Japanese are behind this, then it's hard to say what will happen," Qingru asked.

"Of course, this is not a joke."

Guo Zixing and Jiang Shen both became serious.

“We need to investigate the Zheng family for a while longer. Jiang Shen, let’s split up. I’ll go find my unfortunate brother, and you stay here and investigate the background of the Zheng family.”

"Aren't you afraid I'll say something inappropriate?"

"If you doubt someone, don't use them; if you use someone, don't doubt them. I still have that much confidence."

"Okay, don't worry." Jiang Shen agreed.

Guo Zixing left, leaving Qingru behind. He wanted to handle the case of Guo Ziyou himself.

After Guo Zi left, Qingru wandered around for a long time but didn't see any information about those weapons.

We'll probably have to wait until Guo Zixing returns to find out the answer to this question.

Qingru decided to leave for the time being.

"where are you going?"

Qingru looked at Jiang Shen and said, "We're not going anywhere, just going to get something to eat."

"Oh, you can actually eat with so many corpses in front of you?"

"You have to live, right? I don't believe you, Commander Jiang, haven't seen a dead person before."

Jiang Shen touched the bridge of his nose. "That makes sense. Hey, leave some for me."

Qingru handed Jiang Shen a few steamed buns, which made him choke and roll his eyes.

Qingru finally found an opportunity to mock him, "You've eaten tree bark on the battlefield, and now you're choking on a big white steamed bun? You're like a wild boar that can't eat fine chaff."

"You... cough cough, such a pretty mouth with such a sharp tongue, what a waste."

After Qingru finished eating a steamed bun and felt full, she clapped her hands and stood up.

"I haven't asked you what you were doing sneaking around last night yet!"

Jiang Shen was taken aback. "I thought you wouldn't ask."

Qingru snorted, "What, shouldn't I ask?"

"That's not quite it. Let me ask you, do you think the comprador class was good or bad for the people?"

Qingru raised an eyebrow. "Compradors, as a link between foreign and domestic merchants, are merely a means of doing business. I cannot judge whether they are good or bad. Throughout the history of this term, there have been good compradors who promoted industry to save the country and its people, as well as bad compradors who colluded with foreign merchants to suppress and exploit the masses. You're asking me this because you want to know my opinion on Zheng's compradors, right?"

Jiang Shen readily admitted, "Yes, do you think his actions are beneficial to the country and its people?"

"As far as I know, Zheng, the comprador, has always worked for the government. Apart from goods, he supplies all the weapons to the military. If he is wrong, it is because his stance is wrong."

Qingru stared intently at Jiang Shen until he looked away.

"Don't glare at me. I don't deny what you said. I'm just asking for your opinion on Zheng the comprador."

"Does my opinion matter? In my view, as long as we are sincere in wanting to save the country and its people, we are all on the same side and are all people of the same country. Why should we distinguish between us?"

“Because of some people…” Jiang Shen quickly covered his mouth, “Never mind, it’s nothing.”

Qingru had already roughly guessed what was going on. She chuckled and said, "So what? Even if you're from that side, it doesn't stop you from doing good deeds. So what? What's your purpose in doing this? Why are you harming people?"

"Where did I harm anyone?" Jiang Shen blurted out, inadvertently giving himself away.

He was discouraged and tried to persuade Qingru.

"Actually, Zheng the comprador is not as good as you think. He colluded with foreign countries and imported a lot of harmful things. They are just... acting on behalf of Heaven."

"Opium?" Qingru immediately thought of this, and combined with the photo of Guo Ziyou smoking opium, it was as if something was about to surface.

"Are you telling the truth?" Qingru's voice turned cold.

Jiang Shen was intimidated by Qingru's sharp aura, but he still gritted his teeth and said, "Yes! Why would I lie to you? Didn't you see that Zheng, the comprador, has injured an arm, but he didn't shout or make a scene about killing people? If he didn't have something to hide, would he remain unmoved by such a big matter?"

Qingru wasn't that she didn't believe it, but... "Is there any evidence?"

“The dock…” Jiang Shen quickly covered his mouth.

Qingru heard this. A dock? But Sifang City didn't have a dock by the sea, only small docks along the waterways. Over there were rows of warehouses, mostly storerooms for various shops. People were coming and going. Did Zheng, the comprador, have some extraordinary connections, managing to transport opium without being discovered by Commander Guo?

"Does Commander Guo know?"

"The commander-in-chief holds a high position and is extremely busy. Even if someone reports this matter, with so many things piling up, isn't it normal for one or two things to be forgotten?"

"Then how do you know?" It wasn't that Qingru suspected him, but how could an outsider like him know about such a secret matter, especially since he wasn't a high-ranking official?

Seeing Qingru's hesitant look, Jiang Shen quickly explained, "I may be a low-ranking official, but my father is a division commander. He and the Marshal have a bond forged on the battlefield. There are some things that are not for me, an outsider, to say about his family."

Although Jiang Shen was tight-lipped and seemed resentful, Qingru still guessed some of it.

The second wife is the apple of Marshal Guo's eye. It seems reasonable to try to get things under pressure from her.

Not to mention, the second wife's beloved son himself was an opium addict. Under Commander Guo's tight control, it seems not so unreasonable that Guo Ziyou could still obtain opium right under his nose.

The problem lies not with what's right under your nose, but simply with the fact that Commander Guo never suspected his second wife.