Tangyuan eating fried rice in a bowl said, “Ěrguāng Chǎofàn.”

Liu Yuan said “Oh” and muttered “The name is weird”, then looked at the golden fried rice on the counter. The fried rice with distinct grains looked over.

The salty and fresh aroma in the air was truly rich and enticing. Liu Yuan and a few bailiffs couldn’t wait and eagerly took a portion of Ěrguāng Chǎofàn along with stewed eggs, finding a place to sit and enjoy their meal.

After being interrupted by Liu Yuan, Tangyuan put the spoonful of stewed eggs into her mouth. The soft and tender stewed eggs were like tofu. With a slight exertion on the tip of his tongue, they broke into pieces and slid from the tip of her tongue into the depths of her throat.

The aroma of the egg filled her whole mouth, and she couldn’t help but squint her eyes while eating.

Meanwhile, Liu Yuan and the others were also admiring the nearly “perfect” bowl of stewed eggs in front of them. The surface of the eggs was smooth and almost mirror-like, with a drizzle of sauce and sesame oil. In the center, there were two or three pieces of chopped green onions, making it incredibly tempting.

“This stewed egg is excellent,” Liu Yuan couldn’t help but exclaim as he observed, “even better than my mother’s! The stewed eggs she makes have watery broth, the egg surface has holes.”

Wen Mingtang said, “This stewed egg may look simple, but there are nuances like how much water to add, whether to use warm water, hot water, or boiling water, skimming off the foam, and there are various opinions on how long to stew it.”

“It really seems that no matter how simple an item is, it is very difficult to make it well! “Liu Yuan took a spoonful of Ěrguāng Chǎofàn, praised it as “good”, looked at Tangyuan who was eating fried rice seriously and winked at Wen Mingtang.

Wen Mingtang received Liu Yuan’s look and shook her head at him.

Liu Yuan was extremely disappointed: Was the confession of this little girl Tangyuan still so outrageous?

Thinking of this, he could only sigh helplessly and then started chatting with a few guards while eating.

“The person’s identity must be confirmed. Look at his slender fingers and the calluses left by no heavy or menial work. Even if he is not born into a wealthy family, he should be considered a person who does not do menial work.” Liu Yuan said to several bailiffs.

Wen Mingtang was idle on the sidelines, listening to them talk about the case behind the counter: Are they talking about the “painted-skinned monster” at the entrance of the alley? It looked like the ghostly makeup on the man’s face had been wiped off.

“The person fought with someone before their death, leaving scratch marks on their arms and extensive bruising on the chest. The one who fought with them was not weak, likely someone who would use direct punches, not a woman. It must be a man and a man with more strength than him…” The bailiffs were discussing when Tangyuan on the side suddenly spoke up, interrupting them, “Why can’t it be a woman who would use direct punches?”

The interrupted officer said casually: “Have you ever seen a woman fight with her fists? Don’t they usually pull their hair or something?”

Tangyuan choked at the officer’s words. Seeing this, Wen Mingtang said: “Not necessarily! The female general Liang of the ganzhiwei uses fists.”

Officer Liu Yuantong: “…”

Wen Mingtang added: “And the female general Liang is extremely skilled. She can beat four or five ganzhiwei!”

Officer Liu Yuantong: “…”

Was General Liang an ordinary woman?

After successfully silencing Liu Yuan, Tangyuan happily glanced at Wen Mingtang who had “revenged her exit”. Wen Mingtang reached out and touched Tangyuan’s hair and smiled. Just as she was about to speak, she heard a voice coming from outside.

“In a moment, someone will ask General Liang what she was doing when this person died.” Lin Fei walked in, followed by Zhao You who couldn’t help nodding.

Glancing at Wen Mingtang who paused for a moment, Lin Fei said again: “It sounds like she is quite suspicious.”

Wen Mingtang: “…”

Zhao You, who entered with Lin Fei, exclaimed, “Who knows! After all, when the person died, there must have been a woman present, and General Liang is a woman too.”

The ghostly face was painted like that, and it really didn’t require any makeup skills. Naturally, it couldn’t be proven whether the person who painted this makeup was a man or a woman.

So…how did Lin Shaoqing know that a woman was present when the man died?

Lin Fei walked to the stage, took fried rice and stewed eggs, walked over to Liu Yuan and others, and sat down.

Upon seeing Shang Feng unusually approachable, visibly, the expressions of the bailiffs stiffened. Even their eating gestures became restrained.

Lin Fei was eating, and before doing the ritual of “eating without saying a word”, he said again: “When he fought with someone, he should have been almost naked.”

Not even an inch of clothing! When everyone heard this, they immediately looked at each other, and their expressions became subtle: That was quite a picture!

After Lin Fei said this, he continued to eat with his head down. Liu Yuan, who did not have the gift of “eating without speaking”, heard this, but couldn’t help but say: “In this case, I have thought of a very possible guess.”

A guard thought for a while and said: “The guy was probably having a good time with some woman he shouldn’t have been with, so he wasn’t wearing clothes. Then, halfway through, the woman’s husband or lover stormed in and gave him a beating or something like that?”

This guess was reasonable, even the fist scars on the deceased’s body made this explanation make sense.

But…

“How did Lin Shaoqing conclude that the man was naked?” Liu Yuan looked at Lin Fei who was eating in confusion.

Lin Fei glanced at him but did not speak. It seemed that he was going to practice the “eating ritual” to the end, but his eyes glanced at Wen Mingtang, who was sitting behind the counter and watching the fun, nodding her head.

After Liu Yuan caught this glance, he immediately understood. He quickly turned to Wen Mingtang, who was nodding, and asked: “Master Wen, why are you nodding? How do you know that the person was naked?

Wen Mingtang glanced at Lin Fei, who was eating with his head down, met Liu Yuan’s eager gaze, pondered silently, and said, “I think Brother Cai’s speculation is highly likely to be true.” The girl lifted her own arm, pointed to it, and said, “The scratch marks on this part of the arm you mentioned are the ironclad evidence that he was almost naked at the time.”

“Why?”Liu Yuan didn’t understand, so he continued to ask.

Wen Mingtang glanced at Liu Yuan and saw Tangyuan getting up after eating, so she waved to Tangyuan and motioned for her to come over.

Tangyuan exclaimed, “Oh,” and walked over to Wen Mingtang. However, when she reached him, she saw Wen Mingtang suddenly reach out and grab her clothes, pulling her towards him.

“If I were to hit someone, I would instinctively grab their clothes and pull them closer,” Wen Mingtang released Tangyuan’s clothes, rubbed her hands, and said, “It’s more convenient this way!”

“Not grabbing the clothes and going for the arms would be a bit inconvenient. However, if that person wasn’t wearing clothes at the time, then you have nothing to grab onto, and you could go for the arms,” Wen Mingtang remarked.

After hearing this sentence, everyone suddenly came to their senses. One of them even slapped his forehead and said: “No wonder there is a footprint wound on this man’s back. I guess the attacker rushed in and kicked him first.” He kicked the man down from behind, and before he could react, he reached out and grabbed the man’s arm, pulled him up, and then punched him in the chest. This can also explain why there was a footprint on this man’s back, but his chest was full of punch wounds.”

From this point of view, everything was reasonable.

“So, it’s highly likely that there was another woman present at that time?” Liu Yuan rubbed his chin and said, “Find out the name of this person, and we might discover some relationship entanglements in his daily life.”

(End of chapter)