They gazed eagerly at Olivia Miller, wishing they could come over immediately, but still first greeted the woman with a curtsey: “Greetings, Madam Sullivan.”

“Ha ha ha ha…” Madam Sullivan pressed a hand to her forehead, and after a while finally said, “Oh my, this must be ‘Shaodaozi’, ha ha ha ha, speaking of which, it’s my fault for giving you such a name, ha ha ha ha…”

Daozi bowed her head even lower.

The Sullivan Family laughed for quite a while, and Olivia Miller almost thought she would laugh herself out of breath.

After a moment, The Sullivan Family took off a bracelet from her wrist and stuffed it into Daozi’s hand.

“Consider this my apology to you,” The Sullivan Family said with a smile. “But the name I gave you, ha ha ha ha, it’s just too funny, I really am… so clever.”

“Here, this is for Lily.” The Sullivan Family took off another piece of jewelry.

“Olivia, are you not angry with me now? This child, ha ha ha, still won’t let me call Lily a silly girl…”

Olivia Miller was rather annoyed; if it weren’t for the fact that he was supposed to be feeble-minded, he would have loved to ask The Sullivan Family, “Is your sense of humor growing on the soles of your feet?”

After chatting for a bit, once The Sullivan Family and her two maids had left, Lily hurried over and grabbed Olivia Miller’s hand.

“Young master, was it Auntie who took you out? Why didn’t you say anything? You scared me.”

Olivia Miller didn’t deny it; he was happy to let The Sullivan Family take the blame.

“Young master, you won’t let Auntie call Lily a silly girl? But Lily really is silly, I’m not good at needlework at all…”

Olivia Miller had thought today’s plan to go out was ruined.

However, after lunch, an unexpected turn of events arrived.

The maid Daisy from Jane Miller’s side came running to invite Olivia Miller.

“The eldest young master wants the third young master to come over? Why?” Lily was quite surprised.

Daisy said, “I don’t know why either, just that four guests have arrived, and the eldest young master asked me to fetch you.”

So Olivia Miller was led by these two pretty maids all the way to the reception hall in the front courtyard.

“Young master, go on in, Lily will wait for you outside.”

Olivia Miller nodded and entered the hall, where he saw a young man seated in the main seat—this must be his eldest brother, Jane Miller.

Jane Miller was twenty-eight, dressed in a scholar’s long robe. He had a dignified appearance, was slightly plump, and exuded a scholarly air, with a gentle and amiable demeanor.

The other four were seated as guests; though their clothing styles differed, they all seemed to be some kind of constable.

One of them Olivia Miller actually recognized—it was the head constable Emily Foster from the Qingshui Ward yamen.

Surely they weren’t here to arrest him? he thought.

“Third brother, you’re here, come and sit,” said Jane Miller.

Olivia Miller obediently went over and sat down.

Jane Miller had only just arrived himself, and was in no hurry to speak. He first had someone prepare tea and snacks, then leisurely turned to the guests.

The first to stand was the clerk Richard Benson from the Five Cities Constabulary.

Richard Benson cupped his hands, his manner somewhat humble, and said, “Please don’t blame us, eldest young master. There’s a case we need to ask the third young master about, so I’ve brought three officers to pay a visit. Sorry for the disturbance.”

Then everyone exchanged formal greetings.

Olivia Miller watched for a while and more or less figured things out.

Richard Benson, this clerk from the Five Cities Constabulary, was basically the city management of this era.

Emily Foster, the head constable from Qingshui Ward, was more like a local police station chief.

The other two were from the Capital Patrol Camp, which would be the equivalent of detectives.

The whole thing was roughly this: Emily Foster from the police station found the case tricky and passed it to the detectives, so the city manager Richard Benson brought them to take his statement.

“So, Grace Taylor really did blow this up… no, blew the case up…”

Chapter 6: The Patrol Camp

After the founding of the Chu Dynasty, the Five Cities Constabulary was established to manage the capital’s public order. Later, as thefts in the capital increased, the Five Cities Constabulary gradually proved inadequate for the task, so the Capital Patrol Camp was added. Over the following dynasties, the Patrol Camp was continually improved, gradually replacing the Five Cities Constabulary as the main office for patrolling the capital and handling theft and public security.

By the previous dynasty, as border wars intensified and rebellions broke out across the land, the capital’s security became ever more chaotic. Thus, the Chu Dynasty’s secret police agency, the Taiping Office, also became involved in managing the capital’s security. With so many offices overlapping in authority and function, the result was even more bloated bureaucracy, lax discipline, and widespread shirking of duty.

By the current Yan’guang era, the capital’s public order had become even more corrupt. Those daring to commit crimes under the emperor’s nose were mostly highly skilled bandits or desperate fugitives. The court, unable to cope, introduced a new system of rewards and punishments to motivate the Patrol Camp: for each real thief captured or killed, an officer would be promoted one rank and awarded twenty taels of silver. Conversely, if more than three murder cases went unsolved in a year, the officer would be demoted one rank.

As a result, the Capital Patrol Camp became a very strange place: on one hand, some highly capable officers stood out; on the other, there were also plenty of officers drawing pay for no work and soldiers too weak to be of any use.

The two members of the Patrol Camp who had come to the Wang family this time, however, seemed rather competent.

Of the two, the older was named William Grant, a minor captain in his forties, and the words “in the prime of life” seemed written right on his face.