Who in the world does not know you?

Chapter 7 Implicates

Yun Luobai didn't plan to go anywhere in particular. He originally intended to go out and find a breakfast stall to eat something to fill his stomach, and then go straight home.

He now guessed how the female thief had vanished from the prison. The problem was that knowing how she disappeared was useless; the important thing was to bring her to justice in order to solve Yunping's current predicament.

Normally, petty thieves would only be locked up in the government jail for a few days, but in the eyes of the government, escaping from prison was a provocation against the law and was certainly not tolerated.

To be honest, if Ma Ben hadn't interfered, Yun Ping would have only been fined a few months' wages at most. If the female thief hadn't been found, the matter would have simply been dropped.

Yun Luobai doesn't like to meddle in other people's business, but since this matter concerns his father, he has to take it to heart.

Standing there with a sigh, Yun Luobai was about to leave the yamen when he stopped in his tracks because of someone's loud shout.

"Second brother! You're here!"

Yun Luobai looked in the direction of the sound and saw Ning Qi walking quickly toward him with a smile on his face.

He secretly took a deep breath, but still tried his best to appear gentle.

"Big brother."

"You came with Uncle Yun, right? It seems you know about the missing prisoner?"

Ning Qi stood in front of Yun Luobai. He looked older than his age, and the two of them together made them look more like an elder and a younger person interacting.

"Um."

Yun Luobai responded softly, knowing that Ning Qi had already learned about this when he came to his house yesterday.

"Don't worry, I will send more people out to search for that female thief and try to bring her to justice as soon as possible. As the saying goes, it's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost."

Ning Qi reached out and patted Yun Luobai on the shoulder, his words conveying a message of reassurance.

Although Ning Qi was just an ordinary constable in the Ningzhou government office, his father, Ning Mu, was the head constable.

The father and son were both constables, and with this connection, Ning Qi could easily send more people to search for the mysteriously missing female thief.

Ning Qihui said this not to show off his status.

He slowly suppressed his smile, and his expression became more serious.

"Second brother, we're brothers, so I won't hide anything from you. A murder happened at the Rouge Pavilion the other day. The most famous courtesan there was named Mu Li, and she was the one who was killed."

"On the way here, my father and I passed by Rouge Pavilion and saw that it was indeed closed. I even asked him about it, so I already know about this..."

Yun Luo was halfway through speaking when she looked up at Ning Qi.

As their eyes met, Yun Luobai recalled what Yun Ping had said to him before. Combining the two, he suddenly realized something, and his heart sank.

"Could it be... that the female thief who vanished from the prison is connected to the murder that occurred at the Rouge Pavilion?"

"Yes, that female thief was the one I encountered in the Rouge Pavilion when I went to investigate after receiving the report."

"But I heard from my dad that she turned herself in..."

"That's right. She was in the Rouge Pavilion at the time, and no one caught her in the act. After the murder, when people heard that someone had died, the other guests in the Rouge Pavilion all fled, but she stayed inside. She even told us that she came to steal things and asked us to arrest her and lock her up in jail as punishment."

"You believe that? Maybe that girl is just lively by nature, so she made such an inappropriate joke?"

"That's what I thought at first too, so I didn't want to pay any attention to it. But when she opened her palm, there were several pieces of jewelry belonging to the other girls in the Rouge Pavilion. If she didn't say anything and left, it would be tantamount to theft. She showed us the stolen goods, so in our eyes she was caught red-handed, which is why we brought her back to the prison."

"My father didn't know she was kidnapped from the Rouge Pavilion?"

"When prisoners are registered, it usually only says what crime they committed and were arrested, without recording where they were arrested. Besides, since he was just a petty thief, there was naturally no need to mention that."

"Now..."

Yun Luobai suddenly had a bad feeling.

Ning Qi looked at Yun Luobai in front of him and sighed softly.

"Alas... the murder case remains unsolved, and Rouge Pavilion is extremely famous in Ningzhou Prefecture. As time goes on, the entire city will surely be talking about this case. The prefect has already ordered us to solve the case within ten days. But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that the prefect knows we caught a female thief at the crime scene, and now this thief has mysteriously disappeared from prison. It's hard not to connect this to the death of the courtesan at Rouge Pavilion..."

"Does the Prefect mean that he suspects the female thief was discovered by the courtesan when she broke into the Rouge Pavilion, and in desperation, she chose to kill her to silence her?"

"That's right."

"If she really did kill the courtesan of the Rouge Pavilion, then the person who vanished from the prison is not just an ordinary female thief, but the real murderer. As the prison warden, my father bears even greater responsibility for negligence."

Yun Luobai said leisurely, looking back at the direction of the prison cell with a calm expression, seemingly deep in thought.

Ning Qi didn't want Yun Luobai to be troubled by this, so he could only offer words of comfort once again.

"Not necessarily. Although there's been no progress in the Rouge Pavilion murder case, I still feel that the killer shouldn't be that female thief. If she really committed the murder, she could have easily escaped. There was no need for her to turn herself in for theft, which makes it even more disadvantageous for her to remember her face. But since she turned herself in and then mysteriously disappeared, it's just causing trouble for Uncle Yun. Sigh..."

"Brother, may I participate in the investigation of the Rouge Pavilion murder case? If the truth of the case is revealed and the murderer is not that female thief, my father will likely be less implicated. I thank you in advance."

Yun Luobai bowed to Ning Qi in front of him, and the latter quickly reached out to lift him up.

Normally, government officials and other unrelated personnel should not get involved in handling cases.

However, Yun Luobai cannot be considered an outsider.

Their fathers knew each other and had a deep bond. This matter also involved the punishment from above for Yun Ping, the jailer, for his poor supervision. Therefore, Ning Qi had no choice but to accept Yun Luobai's request, both morally and logically.

"Second brother, there's no need for thanks between brothers. Don't worry, I've entrusted this matter to you. You've been exceptionally intelligent since childhood, and with your assistance, I believe the truth of this case won't be revealed for long."

"Thank you, brother."

Yun Luobai looked at Ning Qi with a smile, a glint of unreadable light flashing in her eyes.

This scene of brotherly affection seemed both real and unreal to him.