Evening.
Xingyun, who was eating, seemed a bit restless.
Where?
Where did it go?
Xingyun bit his chopsticks, utterly perplexed.
After he returned, he had cheerfully tidied his desk, only to discover that his latest creation had vanished.
Had he forgotten where he put it? Or...
Xingyun's bright, cat-like eyes began to scan everyone at the dinner table one by one.
Sensing the gaze, Nian Jiaojiao, with her mouth full of rice and cheeks puffed out, looked back.
Three seconds later.
Xingyun withdrew his gaze.
It seemed it wasn't his wife...
Then, Brother Yu Chuan...
Yu Chuan happened to look up, meeting Xingyun's gaze. He was momentarily startled, then offered a faint smile.
Hmm...
Xingyun had now officially marked Yu Chuan as "Suspect Number One."
Then, Elder Brother...
Elder Brother definitely not, as he had left with Xingyun.
Lastly, Third Brother...
Nan Qing naturally felt the scrutinizing gaze from across the table. He continued to eat his food calmly, without looking back.
Xingyun, looking at Nan Qing's elegant demeanor and refined aura, immediately dismissed him in his mind.
He knew his Third Brother.
Third Brother wouldn't do such a thing!
...
The meal concluded with Xingyun's incessant speculation.
Later, Nan Qing returned to his room, glanced at the door, and after a moment of thought, gently lowered the bolt.
He then walked to the bed, removed the neatly folded clothes from the headboard, revealing a stack of drawings.
Leaning against the bed frame, he began to flip through them.
The drawings were colored in the front half and black and white in the latter half, likely awaiting coloring.
The female protagonist in these drawings was someone Nan Qing knew all too well: Nian Jiaojiao.
Nan Qing sighed inwardly.
His third brother's talent for painting was indeed remarkable. Not only did the portraits resemble the subject, but they were also incredibly lifelike, as if the person themselves had been captured on paper.
Nan Qing instinctively reached out to touch a drawing, then immediately withdrew his hand, staring intently at the first page for a long time.
Then...
The second page...
The third page...
The fourth page...
...
As the page numbers increased, the protagonist's attire in the drawings became progressively more revealing.
While Nan Qing's expression remained unchanged, his increasingly rapid flipping of the pages indicated his inner turmoil.
After a while, Nan Qing closed his eyes, resting his head against the bed frame, contemplating who knew what.
That evening, Xingyun unexpectedly discovered his drawings in a drawer on the other side of his desk.
Had he put them there himself and forgotten?
Xingyun couldn't figure it out. His unfinished drawings were always kept in a specific place.
However, despite his confusion, Xingyun felt relieved.
As long as no one had seen them!
Little did he know, his Third Brother now had another stack of drawings.
However, unlike the previous ones, this stack was colored, and judging by the colors, they had been finished some time ago.
Indeed, these were Xingyun's completed works.
But because they were finished and he didn't want anyone to see them, Xingyun had tucked them away.
Now, however, these drawings were in Nan Qing's possession.
Still, Xingyun would likely not notice the disappearance of his paintings, as he had already archived them and was now working on "new creations."
...
Qingzhou Prefecture Yamen.
After two days of investigation, Leng Luo had three people imprisoned in the yamen's jail.
The incident occurred at night, and with numerous yamen runners present in the examination hall, all candidates were under their supervision as they slept. Therefore, the suspects were almost exclusively limited to non-candidates.
The yamen runners patrolling each area had fixed positions.
The yamen runners who patrolled the scene of the incident had been thoroughly vetted by her, and that small team could mutually corroborate their alibis, thus clearing them of suspicion.
Among the servants in the adjoining rooms and nearby, there were five individuals. Two of them, however, also had corroborating alibis.
This process of elimination revealed that three servants lacked any alibi.
Of course, Leng Luo had questioned everyone individually and in isolation to prevent collusion.
"You three are now the prime suspects..."
In the jail.
The surrounding walls were lined with torture instruments.
Leng Luo sat in a chair in the center, with the three suspects kneeling below her.
She was deliberately creating immense psychological pressure on them.