Chapter 48 Corpse

Seeing that he quickly integrated into the royal army, Qiandeng said goodbye and left with peace of mind.

Just after she walked out of the courtyard wall, the guards inside shouted in surprise and joy, clamoring to treat their new boss to a welcome drink. Some also said that they had a fisherman they knew and would catch a big carp tomorrow and ask the kitchen to stew it as a celebration for the New Year.

Seeing that he was doing well here, Qian Deng, who had forcibly transferred him here, felt relieved.

Liuli, who was waiting outside, also smiled and said, "The guards in our palace were selected by the prince and the crown prince. They are all upright and good men. Ling Sijie—oh, now Ling Dianjun—will definitely get along with them."

Qiandeng smiled and thought, but who would know, Ling Tianshui secretly seems to be very concerned about and cares about his father and grandfather's old subordinates, especially those who fought in the battle in Huangsha Valley eighteen years ago.

Eighteen years ago... it was exactly the time when six-year-old Ling Tianshui went to chase his mother.

It's unlikely that a young child would have intervened in the Yellow Sand Valley. The most likely scenario is that Madam Meng, who was still in the northwest at the time, had suffered some kind of...

A young and beautiful woman was tricked by her mistress into making a mistake when her husband left home to join the war, and was hastily sold to a passing merchant. What would become of her in the war-torn and desolate northwest wilderness?

Even though Qiandeng was just a girl who grew up in the beautiful Chang'an and grew up happily under the protection of her father and grandfather, the self-evident result, the rumor that Meng Lanxi was already in her womb before her father and mother got married, still made her subconsciously feel terrified and helpless. She tried her best to take a deep breath but could not suppress the fear and helplessness in her chest.

"County Master, what's wrong?"

A gentle whisper came to her ears, and she looked up to see Cui Fufeng's concerned eyes.

As if she had found support, she escaped from the suffocating feeling of drowning, and her mind gradually became clear.

"Master Cui..." Qian Deng tried his best to calm his mind and bring his thoughts back to the present. "Have you found out about the dispute between Ji Linyou and Jin Tang?"

"It's nothing important. I asked a few questions." They both knew that Ling Tianshui was just an excuse to get him out of the way so she could discuss something important with her alone. But seeing her look so bad, Cui Fufeng was still a little worried. "Did Ling Tianshui talk to the county lady about something important?"

"Nothing. I transferred him to the palace to serve as the military commander. He was a little resistant at first, but now he has agreed."

Cui Fufeng was caught off guard and asked in astonishment, "He's here to serve as the military commander of the royal palace?"

"Well, the transfer order has been issued. He has to come whether he wants to or not. I have no choice but to accept it." Qian Deng naturally couldn't reveal the key point. She was now in a state of confusion. She always felt that something was wrong, which made her feel scared and uneasy.

What is the source of fear?

Yellow Sand Valley.

Ling Tianshui obviously had an unusual concern for the former subordinates of King Changhua who escaped from the Huangsha Valley.

And Feng Yi's group of soldiers and bandits also served under the command of her father and grandfather before and after the battle of Huangsha Valley.

The bandits were punished by military law and expelled from the army, apparently because Yao Gaotu led them to rob the couple eighteen years ago.

The jade pendant with the same pattern... The woman poisoned the Uighur who bought her... The tea merchant who was with them...

When the soldiers and bandits heard the sound of horse hooves and looked up, who could it be that appeared in the wilderness?

Why were all the soldiers and bandits killed at this very moment, and the story of that year was cut short?

An indescribable panic suddenly surged in Qiandeng's heart.

Ling Tianshui, who has always kept silent, has been investigating the truth behind the Yellow Sand Valley for eighteen years and has refused to give up.

In fact, she didn't know why he wanted to investigate, but he was the person she trusted most in the world, so she didn't ask the reason and tried her best to help him and give him a chance.

But now that things have come to this, she can no longer let it go. She should look for traces of those soldiers and bandits as soon as possible and piece together the only remaining hope.

She tried her best to calm herself down: "Shaoqing Cui, are you free? Come out with me."

Cui Fufeng nodded: "Please tell me where you are going, sir."

Seeing that the county lady was accompanied by Cui Fufeng, Aunt Xuanji and the maids tacitly did not stop her.

Qiandeng put on his veiled hat and went straight out of Chang'an City with Cui Fufeng, running towards the dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the city where soldiers and bandits had gathered.

Captain Ma and Old Wei and his men have been loyal to their duties and have worked hard over the past few days, clearing most of the ruins of the collapsed temple.

They led Qian Deng and Cui Fufeng into the ruined temple and pointed to a marked spot on the ground. "This is the exact spot where those soldiers and bandits died. County Lady and Cui Shaoqing, please look! Although the four bodies have been taken away, traces of flesh and blood are still there. We've also marked the general outline."

Qiandeng and Cui Fufeng squatted down and carefully examined the vague traces on the ground.

The first thing she examined was the goateed man's body. He had been killed by a slit throat, so after sweeping away the sand, the blood splatter marks on the dilapidated blue brick floor were still there, but they had dried and turned dark brown.

She looked very carefully, while Cui Fufeng beside her seemed to be thinking about something. His eyes turned from the marks on the ground to her side, and he seemed to be hesitant to speak.

"What's wrong?" Qiandeng asked in a low voice.

"Surveying traces and tracking down trails should be what Ling Tianshui is good at..."

Qian Deng naturally knew what he meant. She bit her lower lip and said, "He just arrived at the palace today as the commander of the army. He's not familiar with the place yet. Let him take care of things over there first."

Cui Fufeng knew there must be a reason for this, but since Qian Deng didn't say anything, he didn't ask. He just accompanied her to carefully examine the angle at which the deceased's body fell, and compared the direction with the window.

Once they started examining it, they all realized something was wrong.

Cui Fufeng took the coroner's autopsy file and looked at it, frowning. "Strange. I remember that this man was tied to a pillar after Ling Tianshui kicked off his beard. If the murderer shot the knife from the window, it should have severed his carotid artery, but why is it his larynx from this angle?"

"Actually, Mr. Cui, there's something I've always felt is fishy." Qian Deng reviewed the files and confirmed that Goatee's throat had been cut. He lowered his voice and pondered, "Since the murderer wanted to interrupt this incident and hide the truth, shouldn't he have targeted Feng Yi, who was telling the story first? Why did he choose to target Goatee, who was already under control?"

Cui Fufeng recalled the situation at the time and agreed with her doubts: "Based on the perspective at the time, Feng Yi was tied up and thrown in the middle of the ruined temple. No matter if the murderer was inside the temple, outside the window, or from any other angle, Feng Yi's position was the most convenient for the assassin."

"Then why did the murderer abandon the most convenient and simplest method and choose to attack insignificant people first? And... this angle is definitely problematic."

Qiandeng said this, and stood up and walked to the opposite side to check the collapsed temple wall.

Unfortunately, after the temple burned down, the site was filled with burnt bricks and tiles, and all traces of what happened were gone.

Qian Deng thought for a moment, then turned back to ask Captain Ma, "Have you found the source of the fire? Where did it start?"

"The fire must have started from the woodshed in the back, right here." Captain Ma immediately took them to the back.

A makeshift shed had been built behind the ruined temple, which had previously been used as a firewood shed with some firewood piled up haphazardly. Now, after the fire, the ashes of the firewood and straw piled together, making the ground look like it was bulging.

Cui Fufeng lifted his skirt and squatted down in front of the mound. He picked up a stone and turned over the ashes, revealing traces underneath. "It looks like a new mound of earth. There must be something buried underneath."

Although covered with firewood and ashes, judging from the traces of sand and gravel between the cracks in the rocks and the growth of grass roots, the mound was only built two or three months ago.

Judging from the shape and size of the mound, a body could be buried underneath.

Cui Fufeng immediately called Captain Ma to bring his men over, picked up their tools and started digging the mound.

After digging less than three feet, a hint of indigo appeared below.

Xiao Wei was the first to reach out and pull out a faded indigo Shu brocade piece from the soil and put it in front of Qiandeng.

The color of the cloth had faded and the silk thread was torn to tatters, but Qiandeng had noticed this piece of clothing before and had taken silk threads of the same color to force the person wearing this clothing to confess his crime, so he recognized it at a glance.

Cui Fufeng also had a deep memory. He and Qian Deng looked at each other. Although they didn't say anything, the three words "Su Yunzhong" were already written in each other's eyes.

Captain Ma and his men quickened their digging speed, and soon a hastily buried corpse was revealed underneath.

Only bones remained of the body, and the clothes on the body were tattered, with some torn and some bitten by wild beasts.

Upon seeing this scene, Captain Ma and the others' faces turned pale. They quickly covered up and advised, "Please go to the side and rest first. You are a woman and a noble. You should not get close to these things."

Seeing Cui Fufeng's elegant appearance, he asked him to leave with the county lady and leave the dirty work to them.

"No need, Captain Ma, please go to the Dali Temple first and call a few coroners to perform an autopsy, and then go to the charity cemetery and ask people to collect the body." During his time working in the Dali Temple, Cui Fufeng no longer had the style of a son of a famous family. He instructed them to dig out the bones first and put them together on the ground.

Qian Deng thought for a moment, and finally added, "By the way, go to the palace and tell Ling Dianjun."