Unlimited estates for rural beauty-Chapter 542: Suicide by Poison (3)

"Yes, I’ll leave her to you, but today, she must not be allowed to bleed, not even a single drop," Feng Xuxu warned her excitedly daughter.

"No problem." Yueyue winked at Wan Hun. A big one and a small one, plus a person who had fainted, left the hall.

Qi was boredly fiddling with her fingers, pouting in frustration because her sister had something to play with, but she had nothing.

Before she could wallow in her discontent for long, Xuan Yue and Huang Yi returned, "Master, the man has been locked up in the dungeon, waiting for the final interrogation before execution. However, we just received news that Cao Kun has just committed suicide by poison."

"What? Dead, how could this be?" Dugu Chen raised an eyebrow. He had just been caught; his sudden suicide was too abrupt.

"We’re not sure. He was very quiet during the time we escorted him to the dungeon. It was only after we left that we were told he was dead."

"Mmm." Dugu Chen nodded his head. He probably didn’t want to suffer and thus chose to end his life.

"Has his family’s property been confiscated?" Dugu Chen asked lazily while propping up his chin with one hand and sitting in a chair.

"We’ve confiscated three million taels of silver and one thousand taels of gold, along with countless jewels. However, while searching his study, we found a letter. The content seems plain, but the envelope has been specially treated, and we found it in a very hidden place, so I brought it back," Xuan Yue reported.

"Oh, bring it here."

Xuan Yue handed over the letter she had been carrying, and Dugu Chen opened it to read carefully. After examining it, he found no hidden secrets. Frowning, he read it again but still found nothing, then glanced at his wife and passed it to her.

Feng Xuxu received the letter and glanced at its contents, which read, "The matters regarding your cousin have all been well handled; father is very pleased." Just a simple sentence, revealing nothing. It wasn’t an acrostic or a code, leaving Feng Xuxu speechless. She shook her head at Dugu Chen, "It does seem to be just a family letter."

"No, it’s not. Cao Kun’s father has long been dead."

Feng Xuxu looked at him in surprise, "How do you know?"

"He was closely associated with those who disguised themselves as grain merchants."

Feng Xuxu nodded, taking the letter to scrutinize it carefully once more, but still found nothing. She flipped it back and forth, just a few words.

"Xuan Yue, where is the envelope?"

"Here with me." Dugu Chen took out the envelope and handed it to Feng Xuxu.

Feng Xuxu examined the envelope back and forth, not noticing anything wrong as Xuan Yue had mentioned. "Husband, what’s wrong with this envelope?"

"Compare the color of the flap of the envelope with the rest of it, and you’ll see."

Feng Xuxu observed that indeed one color was more yellow, the other whiter, "What of it?"

"The yellowed area has been exposed to heat from a fire!"

"Oh~ I see." Feng Xuxu had an epiphany.

"Now that you know, why don’t you take it and toast it to find out?"

"We tried that, and all we got was a string of numbers, not a single word," Huang Yi said, looking as dejected as a frostbitten eggplant.

Feng Xuxu looked at Huang Yi. A string of numbers? Could it be some code? Her interest piqued, she gestured, "Baihe, go get the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone!"

"Yes, miss."

"Huang Yi, write those numbers on the paper later."

"Yes, mistress."

"Xuan Yue, when you searched the study, what book was placed together with this letter?" Feng Xuxu immediately followed up with another question.

Xuan Yue thought for a while and then shook her head, "Mistress, this letter was alone in a small brocade box; there were no books with it."