Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 447 - 446: Peculiar

"Did you notice something?" After stuffing the notice into his chest, Yan Daoxin finally couldn’t help but ask Lu Qing beside him, "Those people’s eyes are quite peculiar when looking at us."

"Probably think we’re the type who covet money, traveling all this way only to seek death," Lu Qing replied indifferently. From the expressions and eyes of the soldiers guarding the gate when they entered the city earlier, he more or less already guessed it.

Rather than worrying about how many doctors had died before, he was more curious about what stubborn illness or strange disease afflicted King Fan, such that even his own Medical Officer was helpless and they had to resort to casting a wide net like this in desperation.

After speaking with Yan Daoxin, he quickly realized that Zhu Yu was also very quiet, constantly frowning slightly, looking around, as if searching for something, or confirming something.

"What’s wrong?" He turned his head and asked softly.

Zhu Yu shook his head, "Hard to say, I need to observe more."

Lu Qing glanced around, said no more, and continued walking with the group. They went through a bustling street market, inquired from a fabric shop assistant about where they could find an inn, then left the bustling area and headed straight for the inn.

The fabric shop assistant directed them to the only inn in the county, though being the only one, its business wasn’t very prosperous. When they entered, the young assistant was sleeping drooling on a table near the door.

The shopkeeper was also behind the counter, supporting his head with his hand, dazed and listless.

Seeing the group of five coming in, the shopkeeper finally sobered up a bit and asked, "Are you here for a meal or a stay?"

The shopkeeper had a typical appearance of a Fan Country person, not tall, with a lean build, a narrow long face, and somewhat dark skin tone.

The people here seemed not very sociable; even the innkeeper did not know how to attract business like those in places they’d passed through, with an air of "Stay if you want, if not, get lost."

Zhu Yu had never dealt with Fan Country people before and was a bit surprised by such an attitude, wondering if this shopkeeper had especially bad temper.

Thinking back, even when they asked the fabric shop assistant about the location of the inn, his attitude was just to quickly answer and send them away.

At the time, Zhu Yu thought it was because they weren’t customers choosing fabrics, so the assistant didn’t bother much, but now even the inn people were like this...

Could it be that Fan Country people are generally like this?

In the room, once everyone settled their luggage, they gathered in Lu Qing’s room, and Zhu Yu finally asked Lu Qing why people here seemed unsociable, displaying a languid, uninterested demeanor, and whether this was typical of their customs.

Lu Qing shook his head, "Fan Country people have always been most unique, adept at hiding their true thoughts, carefully managing things without a flaw, making it very difficult to see their intentions clearly from the surface."

"So shouldn’t they be rather smooth in their dealings with others?" Zhu Yu asked.

"Logically, yes," Lu Qing had noticed the expressions and attitudes of people along their way, "So your curiosity throughout the journey was focused on this?"

Thinking he had guessed Zhu Yu’s confusion today, he was surprised when Zhu Yu denied it, "No. I discovered something very strange outside today. Throughout our journey from outside the city, whether entering the city, in the bustling market, or finding an inn to stay, did you notice any slightly younger women in the streets?"

Upon this remark, not only Lu Qing, but also Yan Daoxin paused, and along with Fu Lu, all four recalled the passersby they barely noticed on their way.

They hadn’t paid much attention to such things initially, but upon Zhu Yu’s prompt, they recalled quickly what the peculiarity Zhu Yu saw was—they saw no more than three or five women outside before settling into the inn, and all were wrinkly like old walnuts, hunched over like shrimps.

Apart from that, not to mention young ladies, even women in their thirties or forties were nowhere to be seen.

Realizing they understood, Zhu Yu continued, "Not only are there no signs of women, especially young women, out and about in the streets, but when we inquired at the fabric shop about the inn, I noticed despite its size, it only stocked some somber-colored fabrics like gray, black, and indigo. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The materials are either sturdy fabrics preferred by men for clothing or simply cheap coarse linen. There’s not a bit of brocade, silk, satin, embroidery, or gauze.

Even ordinary cotton fabrics with colors suitable for women were nowhere to be seen.

We passed a bustling market street; there were book offices, tea houses, shops selling stationery, and blacksmith’s, grain stores among others.

But there were no cosmetic stores, no confectionery stores, no jewelry or accessory shops anywhere.

In short, nothing related to women, especially young women, could be found at all."

As someone who spent much of his time wandering in rural areas, Yan Daoxin did not frequent county towns much, so Zhu Yu’s observations were perceivable to him without particular impact.

However, Fu Lu was different; neither brother married yet, remaining bachelors since birth to this day. But having stayed long in the Capital under Lu Qing’s wing, especially with Lu Qing’s reputation as Prince Xiaoyao, necessitating occasional efforts to bolster his name, meant they had some familiarity with the various shops and stalls in bustling markets.

In lively market streets, shops were essentially opened to earn money from men, apart from book offices and specialty stores for scholars focusing predominantly on taverns and tea houses.

Women’s money was the easiest to make.

The market in the Capital, the most prosperous businesses were always those few cosmetic boutiques competing in grandeur, also jewelry shops announcing the arrival of fine goods, drawing maidens and young wives to flock.

Even in Shuo Country, a place not much concerned about women, the situation wasn’t much different either.

Comparing like this, the oddities of this small county in Fan Country became all the more evident.