Chapter Thirty-Two: The Mystery of the Key

  Coming out of Wu's wife's room, Zhou Shiming swept his eyes around and ordered several house slaves: "You guys work hard tonight, keep a close eye on the courtyards of the wives to prevent thieves from entering."

  Several servants replied: "Yes! Please rest assured, sir, we will not slack off."

  Zhou Shiming turned to the butler and said, "You bring people to search carefully again, pay attention not to miss a single corner or crevice, try to catch the thief, I want to see who dares to play tricks on the Zhou family."

  "Yes, sir. I'll take some men to search right away." Liang the steward replied. He immediately ordered the servants, "Leave a few to protect the master, the rest follow me."

  The Zhou family was busy all night, but they didn't catch a single person...

  Just as the sky was getting light, Liang Guan's family and Yang Biao of the Black Clothes Team came to see Zhou Shiming together.

  "Master, the thief has still not been caught." Liang Xingchu reported to Zhou Shiming.

  "Xingchu, tell me about the search situation." Zhou Shiming said to Liang Xingchu while adjusting his clothes.

  "Just now, I analyzed it with Yang Biao. The thief escaped to the courtyard of the lady's house and disappeared. We immediately surrounded the courtyard. It can be confirmed that the thief did not escape from Zhou Fu. However, we were busy for a whole night and still didn't find his trail. I guess either he hid in a place we couldn't think of at all, or it was someone inside our Zhou Fu. Last night, our encirclement never withdrew, and the thief should still be inside the mansion."

  "From the appearance of the thief, he is of medium build and has good martial arts skills. He is a male. Just as we were about to surround and capture him, several flying daggers suddenly came our way. As we dodged them, the thief took advantage of the opportunity to escape, and his accomplices also disappeared without a trace. However, one thing we can confirm is that he was shot in the left arm by an arrow and was bleeding." The leader of the Black Clothes Squad, Yang Biao, added.

  "This is indeed a bit suspicious, was it done by someone inside?" Zhou Shiming speculated.

  "Master, is this possible?" Liang Xingchu said with a more affirmative tone.

  "It seems we have to start investigating from within. Zhou Shiming shook his head helplessly, "Let's just follow our old method and take a look around. What do you think?"

  "For the time being, there is no good solution. I'll gather them together first and see if any family members are injured by arrows, then mobilize the servants to report any unusual situations, how about that?" Liang Xingchu suggested.

  "Alright, you guys go and arrange it." Zhou Shiming instructed.

  In a short while, all the servants in the Zhou mansion were gathered in the courtyard. Liang Xingchu ordered all the servants to line up, with men and women separated. The servants were whispering among themselves, their hearts filled with anxiety, fearing that disaster would befall them. Liang Xingchu ordered the male servants to take off their shirts and inspected each of them carefully, but found no one was injured. Then he asked the night watchmen from last night to step forward and questioned them about who they were with during the night, asking them to find witnesses for themselves. As a result, they all had alibis and were not alone. Liang Xingchu encouraged them to report anyone with unusual behavior, but still no one came forward.

  The case had reached an impasse, and just as Master Leng and others were at a loss for what to do, several madams arrived.

  The lady quietly called Zhou Shiming aside and whispered: "Sir, I found that the keys to the garden and the ancestral hall have been moved."

  Zhou Shiming was shocked in his heart, "Really?"

  The madam nodded slightly.

  "Who came into your room yesterday?" Zhou Shiming asked.

  "During this time, only Xiaowu and a few maids came over. However, they didn't find them touching the key, and their behavior was not unusual either. Besides, they didn't even know where the key was placed... This is really strange..." Madam recalled.

  "Take out the key and let me see it."

  The old lady took out several keys from her pocket and handed them to Zhou Shiming. Zhou Shiming took the keys and examined them carefully, and the old man was surprised to find that one of the keys had some ink marks on it. He pointed it out to the old lady. The old lady looked at it and a look of surprise appeared on her face, almost shouting "ah".

  At this moment, Zhou Shiming was certain that someone must have made a copy of the key to open the garden and ancestral hall doors. Therefore, whoever made the key must have left the mansion, and every entry and exit from the mansion is recorded. Thinking of this, he called over the butler: "Go check who went out yesterday afternoon to today. Also, I need you to take care of something for me..." He whispered in the butler's ear, and the butler nodded and left.

  At this time, a servant came to report, "Master, County Magistrate Wang has arrived!"

  What is he doing here? I'm busy now. Zhou Shiming was puzzled in his heart. Anyway, please come to the house first and then talk about it later. "Please hurry up!" He ordered.

  Before long, Wang Xiancheng came to Zhou Shiming's front with several yamen runners, swaggering. Zhou Shiming stepped forward and saluted, "It's County Magistrate. I don't know what instructions you have for visiting my humble abode today?"

  "Haha... Lord Zhou is too polite, Magistrate Wang heard that your mansion was robbed last night and specially ordered me to come and take a look, and help Lord Zhou solve the case." County Magistrate Wang explained with a bow.

  "Thanks to you and County Master. Our house indeed had some trouble last night, I didn't want to bother County Master and County Lieutenant, but it still disturbed you." Zhou Shiming said politely.

  "Don't be polite, investigating cases is our duty anyway. How's the investigation going now?" asked Wang Xiancheng.

  "Alas, there's no progress at all." Zhou Shiming sighed.

  At this time, Liang Guanjia returned and handed a note to Zhou Shiming. After reading it, Zhou Shiming asked quietly: "Are these the people?"

  "Yes, I've carefully checked. From the day before yesterday afternoon to yesterday, only nine of them went out, three maids, two cooks and four house guards."

  "Bring them over."

  "Alright." Liang Guan turned around and waved his hand at several servants, "Bring them here."

  Several people lined up in front of Zhou Shiming and Wang Xiancheng. Wang Xiancheng said sternly, "In the past few days, after investigation, it was found that all of you have gone out. Why did you go out? Is there anyone who can testify for you? Tell me one by one." He pointed to a male servant standing on the far left and said, "You start talking from here." Then he ordered his subordinates to take down what they said.

  "I'm the head chef here, called Wang Erchuzi, in charge of cooking. Yesterday, there was no food left in the mansion, and it was the steward who ordered me and Sun Santu to go buy some. If you don't believe me, you can ask the steward." said the person called Wang Erchuzi.

  "Who is Sun Sanhu?" asked Wang Xiancheng.

  One of them stepped forward, nodding his head and saying: "Sir, it's me."

  "Are you two going out to buy vegetables? Where have you arrived?" asked Wang Xiancheng.

  "We just went to the vegetable market in the county town and came back after buying vegetables." Sun Sanhu said.

  "They were sent by you." Wang Xianchang turned around and asked Liang Xingchu.

  "Yes, sir. It was I who sent them out to buy vegetables yesterday." Liang Xingchu replied.