Chapter 69 Ashes

How come the Vermillion Bird Pendant he carved for Xiao Luo appeared here, burnt next to Zheng Raoan's body?

Suppressing his fear and panic, he glanced at the people around him and saw that they were crowded in front of the corpse, either crying or afraid. No one paid any attention to the incense burner behind the bookshelf. He quickly picked up the broken pieces of incense ash and stuffed them into his sleeves.

But after getting the thing, he didn't know what to do with it. Could this thing be related to Shangluo's disappearance?

If so, how can he find clues from it?

In the chaos, the figure of Lingling County Lord appeared before him.

When he was exiled to Jizhou, he still paid attention to the situation in Chang'an. He knew that the Princess of Lingling County was known as "unrelated to her relatives and unlucky in marriage." There had been several murders in her backyard, and everyone said it was caused by her damaged face.

But she is extremely intelligent and can solve all the mysteries by herself. All the truths that the evildoers try to cover up cannot escape her eyes.

She promised him that she would do her best to find Shangluo.

So, he gritted his teeth and hardened his heart, and ran to the Changhua Palace with the broken bird pendant he had dug out from the ashes.

After listening to the on-site statement, Qiandeng squatted down to look at the incense ash, bent down and personally collected all kinds of ashes after the incense burner overturned, brought them to the window, and sifted them carefully.

The most common substance in the incense burner is silver charcoal ash, left over from winter heating. The charcoal mixed with spicy peppercorns is probably burned for New Year's prayers. A mixture of sandalwood, moxa, and chamomile is used for dehumidification and insect repellent in the spring...

Ling Tianshui waited beside her and saw her holding a brush and carefully sweeping the mixed ashes to examine them. Her fingers, stained with ashes, were no longer white, but they were still slender and flexible, accurately separating the various colors of mixed ashes.

He waited for her quietly, his eyes moving from her hands to her lowered face, and then fixed on her eyes covered by thick eyelashes.

The scar on her brow bone lightly cuts through her delicate face, like the tiny mark left by a half-opened lotus flower damaged by wind and rain.

She identified the gray traces in the sunlight. The light slid across her eyelashes, like a ray of piano music across her heartstrings, stirring up an inexplicable tremor in her heart, which was uncontrollable and difficult to calm down.

But it was only for a moment.

The vigilance he developed on the battlefield forced him to immediately pull himself out of this momentary trance.

The undercurrent surged in the blink of an eye, and Qian Deng had already let out a sigh of relief, looking up at him with a cheerful smile.

She picked up a few strands of burnt fabric with the tip of a brush and carefully separated the ashes for him. "Look, these are scraps of wool, mixed with... the scorching smell is instantly recognizable as bird down. But judging by the remaining ashes, these down feathers are smooth, neat, and short. They must be extremely difficult to spin into thread. They are very rare."

Upon hearing this analysis, Ling Tianshui immediately spat out three words: "Duck Cheek Fur Coat."

Although he was not by her side on New Year's Day this year, he knew that in the rain and snow in front of the Daming Palace, Xiao Fuyu, wearing a duck-faced fur coat, had publicly mocked Qiandeng's green feather fur coat.

After all, the duck feather cloak in Princess Gao's mansion is made from the smallest down feathers near the eyes of mallards, twisted into wool and densely arranged into the shape of peacock feathers. Thousands of mallards can only be woven into a bright and shiny cloak that is not dampened by rain, snow or water.

And now, a rare duck-cheek fur coat appeared in Zheng Raoan's house and was burned in the fire along with the cinnabar pendant from Shangluo.

"I just don't know if this duck-cheek fur coat is the one from the princess's mansion."

Qian Deng got up and found Shang Nanliu, who was waiting outside, and asked him, "When you were picking up the Vermillion Bird Pendant from the ashes, did you see anything eye-catching?"

Shang Nanliu shook his head affirmatively: "At that time, the incense burner was overturned on the ground, and the incense ash was spread all over the ground. The broken Vermillion Bird Pendant was clearly visible inside. There was nothing else more eye-catching."

"Then... has Shang Biejia ever seen the area covered by the ashes?"

"To piece together the complete Suzaku pendant, I reached into the ashes and dug through them several times, but all I could find was charcoal ash and embers, nothing else."

Qian Deng nodded silently and exchanged a glance with Ling Tianshui.

After Shang Nanliu left, Ling Tianshui lowered his voice and said, "Strange..."

It's strange indeed.

Qian Deng said, "The emerald feather fur coat we found in Qujiang Pond had the insignia of the Gao Kingdom Princess's Mansion embroidered in gold thread on the outside of the collar. Logically, a rare duck-cheek fur coat should have been marked even more. But... how could the pure gold thread be burned by the furnace fire?"

Ling Tianshui said, "There's another strange thing. I heard that Princess Gao once ridiculed the Cui Yu fur coat at the palace gate. Why would the Princess's Mansion mark something she despised?"

"Furthermore, the Princess's Mansion has thoroughly checked the archives and found no trace of that emerald feather fur coat. Isn't that strange?"

By this time, the Wannian County yamen runners had finished interrogating the Zheng family servants, and Dali Temple Secretary Nie Hezheng had also arrived. He was familiar with Qiandeng and knew that she was investigating the case at Princess Gao's mansion. Therefore, although Qiandeng was not a member of the judicial department, he still took the confessions of each person and reported them to her.

"The Zheng residence has few servants, all of whom sleep together in common bunks. If anyone got up during the night, they would undoubtedly be noticed. However, Doctor Zheng made no sound last night, and none of the servants left. Furthermore, the study's doors and windows were locked from the inside, and the servants had to struggle to force the door open. Shang Beijia can also testify to this. Furthermore, after a thorough examination of the scene and the body, we found no signs of outsider involvement in Doctor Zheng's death."

Qiandeng looked at Zheng Raoan, who was covered with a white cloth on the couch, in silence.

Shang Nanliu then asked, "So Doctor Zheng committed suicide by burning charcoal?"

"It can't be called suicide. The most likely scenario is an accident." Nie Hezheng pointed to the cinnabar bird pendant he'd found among the ashes and said, "Doctor Zheng closed the door and burned something. The fire burned so quickly, and a large amount of smoke suddenly rose up. His old age and frailty couldn't handle it, and he lost consciousness, slumped over by the incense burner, already struggling to breathe. The burning contained cinnabar, which produces poisonous gas. He inhaled the charcoal ash mixed with the poisonous gas while unconscious, and died of natural suffocation."

Everyone suddenly understood what was going on after hearing this. Qian Deng and Ling Tianshui also thought that this guess was very reasonable.

After all, such a large duck-cheek fur coat was made entirely of bird feathers, and it would naturally be burnt and smelly when it burned. Even Zheng Raoan's hair and beard were burnt a lot. It would be difficult for ordinary people to resist, let alone a frail old man?

Only Shang Nanliu asked anxiously: "Then why is my son Shangluo's cinnabar pendant here?"

Qian Deng knew he was worried about Shangluo, but at this moment, he could only whisper soothingly, "It's indeed strange that Doctor Zheng burned the cinnabar pendant, but don't worry, Shang Biejia. The appearance of this cinnabar pendant here has confirmed my direction. I know which clues to follow."