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Chapter 227 Trading Life for Truth

Cheng Ai was sitting at the dining table eating, muttering to herself:

"The white lanterns at the village entrance are inhabited by the spirits of two little girls; they can stretch their necks and open their mouths to bite people."

"The village chief has his own set of rules, and those who don't follow them will be punished."

"The villagers don't dare to show their faces, and they don't dare to turn on the lights after dark. Who is taking care of the vegetable gardens and poultry?"

Ye Jingke took the chopsticks from her hand and fed her a piece of braised beef. "Don't think about it, eating is the most important thing."

To avoid being discovered, the two of them only ate fruit last night when they returned to the Imperial Manor.

Cheng Ai hadn't eaten anything proper all day, which is why he suddenly decided to find Lü Hanmo.

The servants of the Lü family left after their masters finished their dinner, which was prepared by Lu Xiao.

Cheng Ai opened her mouth to catch it, then turned her gaze to Lü Hanmo, who was looking at a parenting encyclopedia on the sofa. "Brother Lü, could you personally investigate Qin Meilian's background for me? I suspect she's not an artist."

Ye Jingke doesn't have time to go online right now, and if he tries to contact Bai Jing, he'll call someone else. This matter seems to be of great importance, and the fewer people who know about it, the better.

Lu Hanmo immediately put down his book, got up and went straight to his study.

Although his computer skills are average, they are more than enough to investigate a person's background.

Cheng Ai ate the food that was served to her mouth one bite after another, while simultaneously forming hand seals to summon yellow paper and other tools to begin drawing talismans.

She had sent out too many talismans that morning, so she needed to prepare some more to avoid running out.

Ye Jingke grasped her trembling wrist and frowned. "You rest first, I'll draw the talisman later."

Cheng Ai gently pushed him away without looking up, "You've been cutting corn stalks all day, your back must be killing you, so let me do it."

Ye Jingke's face stiffened. He put down his chopsticks and pulled her onto his lap with displeasure. "Ai Ai, a man can't say no. Besides, my back is perfectly fine. You don't need to worry."

Cheng Ai glanced at her suspiciously, then struggled to jump down. "Hey, Ye Ye, stop messing around! I'm doing something important!"

Ye Jingke knew that Cheng Ai didn't understand, so he stopped trying to stop her.

However, he still didn't intend to let her draw the talisman. "Ai Ai, doesn't your hand hurt?"

It would have been better if she hadn't mentioned it, but once it was brought up, Cheng Ai really felt a lot of pain.

She looked down at her hands; each finger had tiny cuts, and her palms were bright red, burning hot to the touch.

Then she looked at Ye Jingke's large hand; it was uninjured, with only a tiny bit of redness.

"Someone is secretly plotting against us?" Cheng Ai's face flushed with anger, her fists clenching involuntarily. "Liao Yunyan? Or Liao Yunqing? Or perhaps Qin Meilian?"

Ye Jingke scooped up some rice with a spoon and fed it to her, explaining in a deep voice, "No one is trying to harm us. The edges of the corn leaves are very sharp. You need to use force to peel the corn, and you've never done heavy work before, so getting injured is inevitable."

He picked up another piece of shrimp and put it into her mouth, adding, "I'll ask Hanmo for two pairs of gloves tomorrow morning. If you work a little slower, nothing will happen."

Cheng Ai summoned the jade hairpin, casually inserted it into her hair, and asked in confusion while eating, "Why do you have to go slowly? I like things to be fast."

Ye Jingke, who was taking a break to drink soup, almost choked to death upon hearing this, his entire face turning red from coughing.

Ignoring the injury on her hand, Cheng Ai gently patted his chest to help him catch his breath, saying, "Why do you and Brother Lü both like to spit out your food? That's not a good habit."

Lu Hanmo, who happened to be coming downstairs, paused, then burst into laughter without exaggeration, "Jingke, stop lying all the time, or you'll suffer the consequences."

Cheng Ai's gaze darted between the two men before finally settling on Ye Jingke's face. "Are you hiding something from me?"

Ye Jingke suppressed a cough and shook his head repeatedly, "Don't listen to Hanmo's nonsense, how could I dare to hide anything from you!"

He then continued to act as the one feeding her, seemingly casually changing the subject, "Have you found out? Is Qin Meilian involved?"

Lu Hanmo's smile vanished, replaced by an unusually serious expression. "Xiao Ai'ai guessed correctly, Qin Meilian is indeed not a celebrity."

He sat down on the sofa with his laptop and summarized the information on it.

“I asked a friend at the police station, and he said that a large number of women go missing every year during the Lantern Festival in Lantern Village, and Qin Meilian is the police officer in charge of investigating this case.”

"No wonder Qin Meilian looks so dashing, she's a policewoman!" Cheng Ai took a bite of her chicken leg and instantly grasped the key point. "Why are all the people involved in these incidents women? Lantern Village is in constant turmoil, so why are there still so many tourists flocking there?"

Ye Jingke fell into deep thought, then looked up cautiously and analyzed, "I think the police are deliberately suppressing the news to avoid causing public panic and alerting the suspects."

After Cheng Ai finished eating and drinking, a thought suddenly struck her: "Where did Zhao Nan go? He didn't show up all day!"

Ye Jingke immediately tried dialing, and the call went through, but no one answered.

The next second, Lü Hanmo's phone vibrated.

Cheng Ai and Ye Jingke both turned to look at him.

Lu Hanmo coughed twice, took out his phone to check, and said, "It's a WeChat message from my friend. He said that Police Chief Fang Yanmu will contact me soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, the bell rang.

He turned on speakerphone and spoke in a deep voice, "Director Fang?"

"It's me." Fang Yanmu smiled and greeted him kindly, "Mr. Lü, how have you been lately? I heard your wife has been pregnant for several days now, that's truly wonderful news!"

"Thank you for your concern, Director Fang." Lu Hanmo smiled faintly, then abruptly changed the subject, "It's getting late, let's talk about the Lantern Village case first."

Fang Yanmu seemed somewhat displeased. "Excuse me for being so blunt, but why does Mr. Lü suddenly suspect Qin Meilian's identity?"

Lu Hanmo didn't hide anything, "It was Jing Ke and his girlfriend Cheng Ai who discovered the clues."

Fang Yanmu's expression brightened, even showing a hint of elation. "Miss Cheng? What's her phone number? Would you mind giving it to me?"

Lu Hanmo looked at Cheng Ai, who smiled slightly and said softly, "Director Fang, hello, I am Cheng Ai."

"Ahhh, Ms. Cheng!" Fang Yanmu exclaimed excitedly, almost incoherently. "My wife is a fan of yours, could you send her an autographed photo?"

Ye Jingke ate heartily without saying a word.

Cheng Ai looked helpless. "Director Fang, the strange things happening in Lantern Village are more important."

Fang Yanmu was taken aback for a moment, then quickly regained his composure. "To be honest, we started investigating this case five years ago, but it remains unsolved. The investigation team members are clueless and don't know where to begin. We had no other choice but to cooperate with Zhao Nan and have Qin Meilian infiltrate the investigation to find out the truth."

"Oh?" Cheng Ai tapped her finger lightly on the table, then quickly withdrew it when she felt pain. "Director Fang, your character seems questionable. At least twelve people are involved in this segment of the variety show recording. Are you trying to use our lives to get the truth?"