Chapter 5: Why don't we ask the magical Miss Wang?

"So, in the residences of both brothers, no clues or evidence were found, right?"

Chu Qingqing pressed her chest, feeling a slight sense of loss, but more relief.

If neither of the brothers was the mole, then the next step would be to investigate the eldest uncle's lineage.

At the same time, because a 'boyfriend' suddenly appeared around me, my father's gaze would definitely shift over due to reports from my two older brothers.

I explained to my second brother in the restaurant that I met Cheng Jinyang during 'Tianluo Mission'.

As soon as this message reaches my father's ears, with his rich bureaucratic experience, he will probably immediately infer the truth: that inviting a Tianluo into the family estate was not for romantic purposes, but to fulfill the terms of the previous contract, to apprehend the mole within the clan who has yet to reveal themselves.

Even if, by some chance, Father can't figure it out, I can drop hints subtly later on... Of course, if we can catch the mole, everything will become clear, and there won't be a need to explain much more.

"By the way, there's something else," Xing Yuanzhi added. "From Chu Xifu's call records yesterday, we found out that your eldest uncle, Chu Mouyuan, urgently left the family estate at 11 p.m. last night."

"What?!" Chu Qingqing and Cheng Jinyang were suddenly startled.

Emergency departure from the clan could mean two things: either there was indeed urgent business outside, or as a mole, he felt the situation was too dangerous and fled back to Wuchang for safety.

"Where did he go?" Cheng Jinyang asked cautiously. "Just to some place within Jiankang City? Or outside the city?"

"Outside the city," Xing Yuanzhi replied. "It's said that he was going back to Yuzhang Commandery."

"Maybe it's just an excuse," Chu Qingqing frowned.

Cheng Jinyang: ???

Usually, when he and Ah Zhi is thinking hard, there will always be a certain very smart and almost demonic young lady next to him, who will always point out the key point and give the answer directly with a look of disdain. It feels strange to suddenly have a girl with insufficient IQ by his side.

By the way, why not ask Miss Wang?

"Ask her?" Xing Yuanzhi hesitated. "Because this is a Tian Luo mission, leaking information to someone unrelated to Tian Luo might not be appropriate, right?"

Cheng Jinyang's reasoning was simple:

Anyway, Miss Wang is bound to us for reasons everyone understands. We rise and fall together. What's the harm in borrowing her intelligence and wit for a moment?

Chu Qingqing heard only a few words from the side and couldn't help but be curious.

Miss Wang? Who's that? Could it be the Taiyuan Wang family... No, impossible. Despite the Tianluo Department's reputation, the Cheng and Xing families are only fifth-grade aristocrats. How could they possibly associate with someone from the Five Great Families? Hmm, it must be a commoner detective with the surname Wang.

So, Cheng Jinyang left the two of them and found a secluded corner to make a phone call. On the other end, Miss Wang answered impatiently:

"Hello?"

"I want to ask you something."

"I'm busy."

"O astonishingly beautiful and intellectually remarkable Lady Wang Wanrou, with your vast knowledge of the heavens and the earth, and your omniscience and omnipotence capabilities, please enlighten me with your wisdom."

"Fine... I'm listening, go ahead."

Cheng Jinyang recounted the whole situation, expressing uncertainty about whether Chu Mouyuan truly had urgent matters in Yuzhang or if he was using the pretext of returning to Yuzhang to secretly escape to Wuchang seeking asylum.

"That's easy, just check the train tickets!" Wang Wanrou suggested without hesitation.

Cheng Jinyang: .....

Wait a minute, why didn't Ah Zhi, Qingqing and I think of such a simple method? Could it be that the world is actually a novel, and Miss Wang is the true protagonist, while the rest of us supporting characters have had our intelligence downgraded?"

"Well, checking train tickets may not be reliable," he tried to analyze, "If this guy first went to Yuzhang, and then transferred to Wuchang..."

"Why go through all this trouble?" Miss Wang smirked. "Can't you just buy tickets to Yuzhang, then minutes before departure, change them to tickets to Wuchang? And if there's an especially cautious spy, they could just set their destination as Sichuan, then get off in Wuchang midway. You wouldn't be able to confirm, right?"

Cheng Jinyang thought for a moment and had to admit that what she said did make some sense.

"If the destination is Yuzhang, then there's basically no issue of 'traitors escaping.' If not, then it's reasonable to have some suspicion," Miss Wang summarized. "However, in either case, with your mediocre skills, finding conclusive evidence of a traitor is almost impossible — unless that traitor is foolish beyond my ability to predict, or your luck suddenly skyrockets."

"I guess that Chu Qingqing doesn't really expect you guys to catch the mole, does she? Well, you guys just keep supporting her, I have other matters to attend to. I'll hang up now."

The call ended, and Cheng Jinyang sighed.

Indeed, whether or not she find's the mole, as long as Chu Qingqing's efforts in this regard can make her father aware, wouldn't the goal be achieved?

He returned to the two of them and relayed Miss Wang's response.

So, Chu Qingqing and Xing Yuanzhi felt briefly disheartened. However, what she said was indeed correct; there was no need to dwell too much on that matter.

"Leave the task of checking the train tickets to the Ground Network. You two stick to the plan, skip Chu Mouyuan, and go check on the next one, Chu Debiao," Xing Yuanzhi said. "I'll go search in Chu Debiao's residence."

"Where is Chu Mouyuan's residence?" Cheng Jinyang asked.

"He usually stays in Yuzhang, and there's only a temporary residence on the family's land. He hasn't been back there for six or seven years," Chu Qingqing replied. "This time he was staying at an inn outside, so it's unlikely that he left anything behind."

"As for Chu Debiao, I'm ashamed to say I don't know much about him. Although we both come from humble backgrounds, we were raised in different branches, so we rarely interacted. However, I've heard that despite losing both parents, he has a seriously ill younger sister who is currently undergoing treatment at the Purple Gold Hospital."

"Treatment?"

"Yeah," Chu Qingqing replied with some sadness. "They were originally refugees from the north, fleeing here. On the eve of arriving at the outskirts of Jiankang in the north, his sister was accidentally bitten by a puppet."

"Does a puppet's saliva carry viruses?" Cheng Jinyang asked in astonishment, wondering if this low-level demon also had the setting of a zombie.

"Well, sort of," Chu Qingqing sighed softly, "Anyway, he goes to the hospital at this time every day to visit his sister and stays there for about an hour."

"I think this person is very suspicious," Cheng Jinyang suddenly had a whimsical idea and said to the two girls, "Could it be that because his sister was bitten, he wants to retaliate against the family?"

The two girls were speechless at his words. They had just been touched by the deep affection between the siblings, but Cheng Jinyang threw out a suspicion, completely ruining the atmosphere.

"Is there any necessary connection between the two?" Xing Yuanzhi asked impatiently.

"He was originally from a refugee background, extremely poor. If it weren't for my Chu family's citizenship, he wouldn't even be able to afford his sister's medical expenses. Are you suggesting he's biting the hand that feeds him?" Chu Qingqing retorted, equally agitated. "That doesn't make sense!"

"The poison of the puppet demon is incurable once it penetrates the bone marrow. His sister has been able to hold on until now thanks entirely to the resources provided by the family. You see, many northern refugees, once poisoned, would collapse and die on the streets, only to be dragged away by the Western Factory for cremation, without even a chance to receive treatment!"

"Don't get too worked up, I was just speaking casually," Cheng Jinyang couldn't stand it anymore. With his closest relative's life hanging by a thread and him feeling powerless on the outside, that guy is indeed quite miserable. "How about this, let's go visit him first, understand the situation, and then decide."