Chapter 25: Midnight Visitor

Chapter 25: Midnight Visitor

Jiang Yunxin accompanied Fang Mingyan back to the Criminal Bureau. Seeing that there were no cases to attend to, she went to the kitchen to chat with the cook and the maid who helped with chores.

She lent a hand in chopping vegetables while engaging them in lively conversation.

She had experience in this.

To truly understand a place, one couldn't rely solely on documents and records; it required talking to the local people extensively.

The masses might not deceive you, but their words couldn't be taken at face value either, for each person's perspective was different. Sometimes, they weren't trying to deceive, but their view was shaped by their position and angle. One needed to sort through and evaluate the information oneself.

Newly arrived, Jiang Yunxin was still uncertain about her future path. She needed more information to prepare herself for potential challenges.

Auntie Zhao, the head cook in her fifties with a kind demeanor, adored hardworking and sweet-tongued girls like Jiang Yunxin.

She was also familiar with Ma Xiuneng.

Upon hearing that Jiang Yunxin's stepmother intended to marry her off to Ma Xiuneng, her sympathy and anger reached its peak.

Aunt Zhao was chopping vegetables, her knife slamming fiercely onto the cutting board.

"How heartless can your stepmother be? Isn't she pushing you into a pit of fire?" Aunt Zhao exclaimed indignantly. "If it were her own daughter, I bet she'd strangle anyone who dared suggest marrying into the Ma family."

Jiang Yunxin nodded repeatedly.

On this matter, everyone seemed to share the same opinion.

From the elders to the kitchen aunties, it was clear that there were still more decent people in the world.

To be fair, her stepmother could be excused. She wasn't his biological mother and didn't care about his well-being. But her father—while not the current Jiang Yunxin's father, but the late one—he also didn't object to the marriage. This thought always made Jiang Yunxin's heart turn cold, and she grieved for the man who had passed away.

The officers of the Criminal Bureau weren't as stern as one might imagine. While they were serious during investigations, they were quite approachable in their daily lives.

Thus, everyone in the kitchen began to recount Matthew's despicable deeds.

Jiang Yunxin realized that her knowledge of Matthew was far less detailed than Aunt Zhao's. She only knew that he was generally despicable, but Aunt Zhao's vivid storytelling painted a specific and infuriating picture. The listeners couldn't help but grit their teeth in hatred, wishing they could drag him over immediately and throw him into a pot to boil.

On that day, Jiang Yunxin moved out of the room she had been staying in with the young servant girl.

Fang Mingyan nodded in approval. She was now an official employee and, naturally, her treatment would differ from that of a mere errand runner.

Satisfied with her monthly wage of two taels of silver, Jiang Yunxin felt content.

She wasn't blinded by the extravagant sums of tens or even hundreds of thousands of taels mentioned in the novels she had read before.

In the capital city, unless one visited shops dealing exclusively in high-end goods like jewelry, antiques, or calligraphy, it was rare to see people using banknotes for transactions. Banknotes were typically used for large-scale deals, while small silver pieces or copper coins were more commonly circulated in daily commerce.

An ordinary family might earn only five or six taels of silver a year, and some impoverished households might never even touch silver in their lifetime, relying solely on copper coins for transactions.

The Criminal Justice Bureau provided food and lodging, and Jiang Yunxin didn't have any extravagant hobbies. Planning to save one tael each month, she aimed to accumulate enough in a few years to buy a small house in the capital, which would serve as her home.

That night, the candlelight flickered in Jiang Yunxin's room until the wee hours. The air was filled with the scent of ink, but nobody knew what she was writing or sketching.

Covered with numbers, the paper held her final result. Jiang Yunxin looked at it, nodded in satisfaction, and was just about to sleep when suddenly, someone knocked on her door.

In the dead of night, could it be that there was some urgent case?

Jiang Yunxin, who hadn't changed her clothes yet, hurried to open the door.

It was a bailiff from the Criminal Bureau. Though they weren't close, they had greeted each other on numerous occasions.

"Brother Wang," Jiang Yunxin said in surprise, "What's the matter at this hour?"

There were no scoundrels like Ma Xiuneng in the Criminal Bureau who would knock on a maiden's door in the middle of the night.

If Ma Xiuneng were to approach women on the streets, Fang Mingyan might not intervene as long as nothing untoward happened. However, he maintained strict control within the bureau.

Should any bailiff, be it Long Qiao or Xue Dongyang, behave improperly or deliberately provoke the maidservants, stern action would be taken.

They'd be beaten half to death and then expelled.

After observing stealthily for about ten days, Jiang Yunxin had confirmed that there were no cases of bullying or harassment in the Criminal Bureau. Perhaps they were well-hidden, but she found everyone to be decent, making for a pleasant working environment.

Jiang Yunxin was genuinely grateful for this and felt that, despite her peculiar circumstances, she still had a good life. As an orphaned girl, she would have inevitably suffered if the bureau fostered a culture of bullying and intrigue.

The officer replied, "Coroner Jiang, do you know a girl named Cui Yun?"

Cui Yun? Jiang Yunxin pondered for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't think so. Why do you ask?"

Wang, the officer, continued, "There's a girl named Cui Yun waiting outside the Criminal Justice Bureau. She says she's looking for you."

But Jiang Yunxin truly didn't recognize anyone by that name, as she had inherited all the memories of this body.

Or at least, all that she believed she had. After all, if there were any gaps in her memory, she wouldn't be aware of them.

"Oh, I see," Wang added. "Perhaps you two aren't very close, as she doesn't even know your name. She just mentioned that she's looking for a young lady within the bureau."

Intrigued, Jiang Yunxin asked, "There are other girls working here at the Criminal Justice Bureau too, Brother Wang. Why do you think she's looking for me?"

The officer explained, "She described the young lady she's searching for as someone dressed quite well, clearly from an affluent family."

On this point, Jiang Yunxin had to admit, Wang had hit the nail on the head.

Indeed, there were several girls employed at the bureau, but they were all maids dressed in simple, modest attire. If there was one person who could be described as well-dressed and clearly from a noble background, it was only her.

After all, Jiang Yunxin's father was a third-rank official in the imperial court.

A young lady from a family of third-rank officials, no matter how disliked she might be, could not appear too shabbily in public. It wouldn't be her own reputation at stake, but that of her entire family.

If others were to see her, they wouldn't comment on her being disliked; instead, they would say her family lacked propriety. Besides, Jiang Yunxin's mother was a stepmother. No matter how ill she treated Jiang Yunxin, she had to keep it hidden, not showing her true colors openly.

Jiang Yunxin responded, "I'll take a look."

The servant's description was vague, and only an actual sighting would reveal the truth. What if she did know the person? If it was truly an urgent matter that brought them to her doorstep in the dead of night, she couldn't afford to delay.

So, Jiang Yunxin hastily followed Servant Wang to the entrance, where she indeed spotted a familiar figure—it was Cui Yun.

She couldn't exactly claim to know her, nor deny recognition. This Cui Yun was the girl who sold fruit at the teahouse earlier that day and nearly fell victim to Ma Xiuneng's mischief.

It seemed Cui Yun had left before learning Jiang Yunxin's name or her occupation as a mortician.

Jiang Yunxin found it odd. Why would she come looking for her, and at this hour?