Chapter 50 Seeking wealth? "They indeed died from the same secret. ...

Yan Siqing: "Yan Guangxue drank with court officials after leaving court and then returned home. General Xuanwei Chen Kaizhi discussed military intelligence with spies sent out from the army and then returned home. Junior Craftsman Liu Yu returned home late at night after working all night on goldware... Lord Zhao, the Earl of Zhongyuan, returned home from a night of drinking at a brothel and entered the alchemy room..."

Jian Wuliang has been observing her, judging her, and expecting her, trying to judge her views on the case from her words and actions. Although he has been humiliating himself in the process, it does not prevent him from continuing to observe her.

He hoped that she would never be embarrassed, and that she would be as precious and extraordinary as when she appeared, making even the princesses look at her with admiration.

So he savored her retelling based on the notes in the notebook, trying to guess what she meant.

Why single this out for retelling?

Is there anything unusual?

"Because they have all returned home?"

"But most of the incidents occurred at night, with the earliest being in the evening, around the time they finished classes or left court. It's not unusual for them to return home at that time."

Jiang Hui remained silent, but he understood Yan Siqing better. He discovered that Yan Siqing, due to her business experience, was very knowledgeable about everything in the world. In her eyes, everything had its merits and demerits, its price, and its corresponding usage.

If there was anything suspicious about these dead people, the only thing was their clothes.

He whispered, "What you care about is what they do as soon as they get home?"

Um?

Jian Wuliang paused and thought for a moment, then stepped forward to look at the clothes of the corpses. Since most of them were burned, it was actually difficult to find out what was wrong. He remembered the male prostitute Yan Siqing had mentioned before, who had left traces of different clothes stuck to the body after being burned. The male prostitute was naked, so naturally there were no traces of skin adhesion, but that was not the case with these dead bodies.

At the time, they were all wearing clothes.

He suddenly understood and looked up at Yan Siqing: "Whether attending court or school, these deceased people have proper clothing. They know etiquette and know what to wear for the occasion."

"Yan Guangxue, who had just finished his court drinking, should change out of his official robes and into casual clothes, as court law forbids officials from wearing official robes to various places to indulge in drinking and merrymaking, as this would bring disgrace upon the court. General Xuanwei Chen Kaizhi should wear his military armor, and Junior Craftsman Liu Yu should finish his work on goldsmithing and, in accordance with the rules of the Good Gold Bureau, take off his metallurgical robes and return home in casual clothes. Lord Zhao will remain as usual. Zhou Yuanxing, who was lecturing on calendar science at Xie Wengong Academy, should return home and change out of his academic robes into casual clothes."

"I have personally performed autopsies. Not much clothing remained of these deceased individuals, and the charred material makes it difficult to determine their identities. However, based on the testimonies of their family servants and the testimony of witnesses who last saw them, I can confirm the following.

"Yan Guangxue was indeed wearing casual clothes when he returned home, and he reeked of alcohol, appearing drunk. The remaining cloth on his body also matched this."

"Chen Kaizhi is indeed wearing military armor. He is the one who has the most remaining clothing because his military armor is thick and made of metal."

"Liu Yu's clothes were all burned and stuck to his body, making it difficult to tell what was real. However, his servants also confirmed that he was wearing Confucian robes when he returned home."

"Zhou Yuanxing returned to his residence alone. No one saw him, but a piece of his sleeve remained, confirming it was his college robe."

So, this doesn't sound like a problem. The other Dali Temple disciples and Xiaoyun were confused, but Jian Wuliang's eyes gleamed as he said in a deep voice, "That's the problem."

"I got drunk after leaving the court, went to the military training ground, worked in the metallurgy, drank wine, and went to school."

"After finishing all this, these people are extremely tired and want to go home to rest. The first thing they should do when they get home is to change clothes and take a bath. Liu Yu is hard to say, but the others all don't want servants to serve them. After returning home, they don't change clothes and are eager to stay alone in a secret room with the door locked. That means they are all in a hurry to do something, and it's something that outsiders can't know."

Yan Siqing: "The same thing happened with Liu Shaojiang. Because metallurgy is dangerous, one needs protective clothing, and the dress code is extremely high. Looking at the body, he did change his outer work clothes, but he was in such a hurry that he only took off the outer clothes, leaving the lining intact. These linings were contaminated with scrap metal powder, which burned a second time during the self-immolation. However, the temperature wasn't high enough to melt it off the body's surface, so it stuck to the fabric, leaving a smell that was different from the usual odor of decay."

"He's an experienced craftsman. He should have known that leaving this powder on one's body is harmful. Furthermore, he left with the inner garments of the clothing that the Charity Bureau required to be replaced. If any gold and silver were stolen, he wouldn't be able to explain it. So, if he wasn't desperate, he wouldn't have acted so frivolously."

When she said this, Jiang Hui immediately asked someone to bring a silver needle and carefully and meticulously separated the cloth on Liu Jiang's body. Sure enough, there was some black powder and even fine gold powder in it.

He looked at Jian Wuliang, who also looked at him for a while, "Then now, these five people are the same, all eager to do something secret. Perhaps this thing is the reason why they were burned to death."

"They did die from the same secret."

Yan Siqing had already found the case records at the back of the autopsy register, including what the five people did before their death, how they interacted with others, the confessions of other people, and the inspection of related objects in the secret room. This was the basis for the above speculation, and Jian Wuliang also agreed. He was now wondering what these five people were doing secretly to bring about their deaths.

"Logically speaking, their identities and situations are very different, and we don't even know each other personally. How could they be connected to a secret?"

Jian Wuliang and Jiang Hui exchanged a glance, both thinking of the Ministry of War, but they were hesitant to tell Yan Siqing about it - those in office should have integrity, knowing what they can and cannot say, even to their closest relatives and loved ones.

But they didn't know that Yan Siqing had already known it, because Xu Junrong gave her a hint through Jiang Rong's unusual inference.

Thinking about it now, Yan Siqing guessed that Yan Guangxue and Chen Kaizhi might have experienced something in the Ministry of War in their official resumes, and later went to different places and departments to serve. However, the resumes of these two people could be reviewed by Jiang Hui. Since Jian Wuliang was investigating this case and was the emperor's favorite, he had the authority and should have also checked the files and knew about that incident, so he had some doubts.

But for Yan Siqing, the last three deaths had nothing to do with the Ministry of War, so it was a bit far-fetched for her to use this as a basis to doubt the Ministry of War's secrets.

Asking this question is tantamount to admitting that she had received the information in advance.

So she pretended not to know and didn't ask, but when she turned to the back of the book...there were sketches.

Um?

Everything else is easy, as the records can be copied from previous records, but these sketches are so detailed that they must have been copied by going back to the site to observe.

The position and shape of the furnishings in the house at the time, the posture of the corpse, and the simple lines, but the best efforts to depict the scene, concise and generous, show the artist's strong painting skills.

Yan Siqing knew that this was drawn by Jian Wuliang himself.

This reveals two things.

First: Jian Wuliang’s worst plan is to ask her for help.

Second: The on-site sketch must have been copied in Chang'an, so he was sure that she could not go to the scene, so he had to take the sketch to another place to show her, and the place was of course the White Horse Temple.

Yan Siqing looked at Jian Wuliang, "Master Jian is very prepared."

Jian Wuliang raised an eyebrow and said calmly, "Entrusting the ceremony to the gods and ghosts is a helpless move. Investigating the case is the serious matter. If we can use the prostitute's corpse to test Mr. Yan's ability, and the situation is extremely urgent, I am alone and can only ask for your help. Since you have asked for help, you must do your best to solve the case as soon as possible."

During the period of the incident, from the death of Yan Guangxue to the present, Jiang Hui had already left Chang'an for Yancheng. He was unaware of the inside story and had never been to the scene. Only people from the Dali Temple had been to the scene.

But now, it is obviously impossible for Yan Siqing to go directly to Chang'an to see the place where the five deceased died. Moreover, after such a long time, although the scene is still under surveillance, they are not sure how many traces are left.

Even with this sketch, Jian Wuliang was not sure whether it would be useful to Yan Siqing.

Yan Siqing looked through it carefully. After a while, she was confused. She looked at it again and again and compared it with other scene sketches.

"When Lord Zhao's case broke out, how long did it take for your people from the Dali Temple to arrive?"

Jian Wuliang: "It's recorded there. Since Zhong Yuanbo's mansion is only two blocks away from our Dali Temple, we arrived there very quickly after the incident was reported. I went there in person."

After all, the person who died was a count, which was a very serious matter.

Yan Siqing understood: "Then, Master Jian, when you went there, did you notice the candles in Lord Zhao's room?"

Pointing his finger at a spot in one of the pictures.

"It's common sense that the candles in other people's rooms would burn out. After all, they were discovered some time after death. Liu Yu's house was also burned because most of the house burned down, along with the candles. But in Zhao Jue's case, it was discovered by his concubine by accident, and she saw the scene inside the house at that time. So the candle... was almost burned out."

Jiang Hui raised an eyebrow. "The lord's mansion has rules. Except for the very few who are frugal, candles and other items are changed daily. The unburned ones are given to the servants. The master's regular places must be replaced with new candles. This is to ensure that if the master needs to stay up late reading or working somewhere, there will be enough candles. Old, broken candles will never be used. The meaning is clear. Zhao Yue is not a frugal person. He can even be considered extravagant."

That's strange.

Jian Wuliang stroked his chin in thought. After a while, he said, "I remember Zhao Yue was the first one home. It was only dusk then, and the sky was still light. It got dark an hour later. But he went straight to the alchemy room. A place like the alchemy room, with the stove, is scorching hot. The surrounding area is open and has enough lighting. He wouldn't have lit a candle as soon as he entered."

"So, the thing he was anxious to get home for had something to do with candles?"

The Dali Temple adjutant was puzzled, "Could it be that he wanted to use the candlelight to read some secret letter?"

This doesn't make sense. It's said that the alchemy room has excellent lighting. What secret letter needs candle lighting?

Everyone was speechless.

Jiang Hui: "What kind of secret correspondence could a dandy with no official duties but a noble title have? Unless he inherited some secret from his father and is eager to gain some benefit from it... Just like his father's request for medicine and elixirs, he inherited them to nourish his body and indulge in pleasure. He also wants to sell these elixirs to other friends to make money and fill the deficit of the mansion... Have you investigated the Zhao family's finances?"

Jian Wuliang had naturally checked it out. "It's not good, even dangerous. The new Zhong Yuanbo is spending money at a rate that would bring shame to his ancestors."

"Your Highness is saying that Zhao Yue was desperate for wealth, and that the root cause of these five people's deaths was related to money?"

Jiang Hui didn't say that, but looked at Yan Siqing.