Chapter 52: Ghost Guidance

The Imperial College, which had finally calmed down, began to become restless again.

The Princess of Lingling County came to the Imperial College, and unlike before when she had cooperated with the Dali Temple in a low-key manner in investigating the case, this time she came with a large crowd, announcing that it was because she had a dream last night in which Yu Guangling told her that he was uneasy in the afterlife because his injustice had not been redressed. She asked the Princess to go to the Imperial College today to burn incense and pray for him, and he would surely appear in public and identify the murderer.

Now, not only the Imperial College, but everyone in the streets of Chang'an was alarmed. Many idle people ran frantically behind the county lord and his entourage, fearing that they would miss the good show of a ghost appearing and pointing out the real villain.

Unfortunately, the gatekeeper of the Imperial College kept the door tightly shut, blocking everyone outside and not allowing them to enter.

The idle people on the street could only crowd at the entrance of the Imperial College, watching the Lingling County Princess enter, and whispering, "That's impossible! In broad daylight, Yu Guangling will really show up and identify the murderer? Does that mean Jin Tang and Meng Lanxi were wrongly accused?"

"Who knows? Judging from the county lady's expression, she seems quite confident. So, it must be true?"

"Isn't the county lady wearing a veil? How do you know she's so confident?"

"Needless to say? Look at the momentum of her horse as she comes towards me. I'm sure the dream must be true!"

"No matter what, may the heavens see and the Buddhas bless me, Meng Lanxi must be wrongly accused, otherwise I will lose everything I have!"

Qiandeng led the officials in the palace and came to Zheng Junshan's bedroom in a mighty procession.

The Dali Temple had already arrived with the Jintang. Because his family was wealthy, he had not been tortured in prison. Instead, he had become even healthier than before because he had been eating and sleeping all day.

As soon as he saw Jian Anting, his eyes widened and he shouted, "Aren't you the poor fellow who always hangs out with Yu Guangling? What are you doing here with the county lady? You...you can't be..."

"I am one of the candidates to be the husband of the county lady who just entered the palace." Jian Anting bowed to him with a calm expression.

When Jin Tang was dumbfounded and angry, Meng Lanxi, dressed in mourning clothes, finally arrived.

He had suffered a miserable fate, his thin body was now emaciated, and his elegant aura like that of a spring tree or a new bamboo was almost completely lost.

"County Lady." His eyes were red and still had traces of tears. He bowed deeply to Qiandeng.

Qiandeng looked at him with pity. Seeing that everyone was there, he said nothing more. He signaled the servant to open Zheng Junshan's bedroom behind him and led everyone in.

The dormitory was very small, and with so many people entering, it was immediately packed.

Qian Deng walked to where Zheng Junshan's body was, raised his eyes and looked behind him: "Lord Yan, let's begin."

Yan Penglai, the Grand Astrologer, was dressed lightly and exuded an ethereal aura, but his expression seemed a little awkward.

He withdrew his silent gaze towards the bookstore, and with a helpless expression that said "I'm not a charlatan", he took out a piece of incense from his sleeve, lit it, put it on a porcelain plate, and placed it on the table.

The curl of smoke slowly flows out of the porcelain plate, and the backflowing fragrance is like clouds and mist, depicting an illusory scene in the air.

In the silence of the room, the smoke made the bloody crime scene appear indescribably eerie.

Shangluo shuddered and couldn't help asking, "What...what is this?"

Yan Penglai lowered his voice, which seemed particularly ethereal at this moment: "This is the Soul-Returning Incense. It can summon the soul of the wronged who died unjustly to temporarily return to the human world and point out their injustice to us."

As he spoke, the cigarette smoke overflowed from the porcelain plate and poured down from the corner of the table like mist.

Everyone in the room watched the movement of the incense mist. Jin Tang clasped his hands together and muttered, "Every wrong has its perpetrator. Guangling, Junshan, you must identify the murderer and show your wisdom..."

Meng Lanxi silently grabbed the linen clothes on her body, staring at the smoke in a trance, her eyes gloomy.

Jian Anting held his breath and stared at the direction of the smoke, as if trying to track its coming and going.

Qiandeng watched coldly and gestured to Yan Penglai.

Yan Penglai lowered his eyes, and gently waved his hand hidden under his sleeve. The air flow rolled up, and the dense smoke in front of him rushed towards the ground, instantly covering the word "Lan" that was still written in ink on the ground.

Everyone's eyes immediately focused on "Lan".

Jin Tang looked at Meng Lanxi with a certain gloating satisfaction, saying, "Well, Meng Lanxi, the imperial court and the Dali Temple didn't wrong you, did they? Look, even the wronged spirits have returned to identify you! Lan, besides you, who else in the Imperial College has the word 'lan' in their name?"

"I've already said that I was wrongly accused. You were in the prison across the street when I was being tortured that day. Don't you know how I confessed?" Meng Lanxi refuted him coldly. When she looked at Qian Deng, her voice choked with sobs, "County Lady, the Dali Temple can wrongly accuse me, and the murderer can frame me even more, but you've been running around for me all this time, so you must have already known that I am innocent!"

Seeing him pleading pitifully for mercy from the county lady, Xue Xiyang couldn't help but sneer, "If it was really the murderer's doing, why did Yu Guangling and Zheng Junshan specifically point this out after their spirits returned?"

"Xue Lecheng is wrong. If, as Meng Lanxi says, this is a frame-up, then it's only natural for the deceased to come back and point it out," Ji Linyou said, and then asked Qian Deng, "In your opinion, if Zheng Junshan truly knew about this in the afterlife, why would he point out this word?"

"There is indeed some inside story about this matter." Qian Deng responded and nodded towards Cui Fufeng.

Cui Fufeng signaled the Dali Temple officers to come in and bring out everything they had found in the bedroom and place it on the desk in front of the window.

Qiandeng raised his hand, lightly passed across the table, and stopped on the blood-stained inkstone.

There are still traces of ink on the inkstone, but the blood that was once glaringly bright red has now dried and turned brown.

"Ji Linyou, you came with us to look for Zheng Junshan and witnessed the scene firsthand. Please tell us what happened."

Ji Linyou responded and immediately recalled, "We were in the front row, in the Tianzi dormitory, when we heard a strange voice coming from the Dizi dormitory over here, as if someone was calling for the county lady. So we looked over here and saw a figure flash through the door. We immediately went over to check what was going on. When we pushed the door open, we saw Meng Lanxi standing blankly in front of the corpse, holding a blood-stained inkstone."

Jin Tang continued, "Yes, that's what my father and I said. Meng Lanxi was caught red-handed! What's more, the murderer left the word 'Lan' on his name, which is irrefutable. There's no doubt about it!"

Meng Lanxi gave him a cold look and said, "You are the suspect yourself, don't take this opportunity to throw mud at me. The county lady will make the final decision on right and wrong, and will definitely give me justice."

His voice was deep, but his gaze at Qiandeng was firm and burning, filled with his faith in her.

Ling Tianshui leaned against the wall with his arms folded, his eyes swept across Meng Lanxi calmly, and then fell on Qiandeng.

Qian Deng nodded slightly to Meng Lanxi, raised his hand to signal for silence, and said, "The situation at the scene is exactly as Ji Linyou described. It seems that the situation that day was indeed extremely unfavorable to Meng Lanxi. Almost everyone believes that he is the murderer, but-"

Qian Deng walked over to the last character "Lan" left by Zheng Junshan and said, "Everyone can take a close look at this character. When it was half dry, there were traces of it being wiped away with the tip of a toe. This shows that someone was present in the dormitory after Zheng Junshan's death and before Meng Lanxi entered."