Chapter 23 It's me
After taking over the Zhao family's murder case, the Mingjing Division quickly uncovered the truth.
Four people died in the Zhao family overnight. Zhao Ming's parents had their hands and feet smashed in their bedroom and struggled all night before dying from the pain. Zhao Ming and his mistress Su Yao were skinned alive in the inner room of the study.
Zhao Wenqi's night watch maid said that he had left his room in the middle of the night. His bloody footprints were also found at both crime scenes.
On the wooden stool in Zhao Ming's parents' room, there was a child's bloody handprint, the same size as Zhao Wenqi's hand. A dagger with the same bloody handprint was also found in the inner room of the study.
Zhao Wenqi was brought before Bai Xiuming. After witnessing the gruesome corpses of his parents, the young child became dazed and dull, no longer possessing his former cleverness.
The scars on his face have never been treated, and even if they heal eventually, his appearance will likely be ruined.
“My lord, he won’t say anything when I ask him anything. He’s probably frightened.” Feng Yang said with some difficulty.
Bai Xiuming turned to look at him, his tone icy: "Haven't you learned how to interrogate a prisoner like this?"
Feng Yang's body tensed instantly. He had only felt sorry for the young child who had suffered such a thing. If he used the Soul-Shocking Technique to forcibly wake him up, he probably wouldn't be able to bear the reality.
At that point, I'm afraid I'll go completely insane.
Feng Yang dared not think any further. He bent down to meet Zhao Wenqi's gaze. Zhao Wenqi seemed to sense something; his unfocused pupils suddenly contracted, and his body trembled, as if he had suddenly come to his senses.
Feng Yang asked, "Tell me, what did you see last night?"
"Someone broke my grandparents' legs with a stool, and they kept screaming." Zhao Wenqi's eyes were filled with terror.
"Anything else?"
"And...and people cut off pieces of their own flesh from their parents, ah—ah—"
Zhao Wenqi seemed to recall everything he had seen last night, scratching his hair with both hands and screaming incessantly.
Left with no other choice, Feng Yang used the Soul-Shocking Technique on him a second time, forcibly waking him up.
Do you know who killed them?
"It's...it's...Qiao Niang, it was this bitch who misled me, I was deceived by her." Zhao Wenqi's expression suddenly changed, he pointed in a direction, and even his demeanor and tone were like those of a completely different person.
Zhao Wenqi seemed to have drifted back into his own thoughts, repeatedly saying, "Qiao Niang, please let me go. Qiao Niang, I'm so sorry, please. Qiao Niang..."
Feng Yang turned to Bai Xiuming and said, "My lord, the Qiaoniang he mentioned should be Zhao Ming's deceased wife, Lin Xiaoqiao."
He did not use the Soul-Shaking Technique on Zhao Wenqi again; the other party had completely collapsed and could not be saved.
The case is now quite clear: Zhao Ming's deceased wife, Ms. Kobayashi, has become a vengeful ghost and possessed Zhao Wenqi, using his body to kill all the adults in the Zhao family except for her daughter.
Although Zhao Wenqi was let go, judging from his current state, it would have been better if he had died last night.
Even if he wasn't insane, even if he was possessed by a ghost, he still killed his grandparents and parents with his own hands. This world cannot tolerate him.
What kind of deep hatred could drive Ms. Kobayashi to resort to such methods of revenge?
"Bring the Zhao family's steward here." Bai Xiuming finally showed some interest in the Zhao family's grudges and feuds.
The steward was led into the study. Upon seeing Bai Xiuming sitting behind the desk, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "This humble subject, Zhao Fu, greets Your Excellency."
Bai Xiuming propped his head up with one hand and said lazily, "Tell me about the Zhao family, starting from after your wife's death."
"Yes." Zhao Fu secretly wiped the sweat from his forehead and said truthfully, "Not long after the madam died, the old master and the old lady came, along with young master Wenqi, saying that they wanted to adopt the young master to the master."
I sensed something was wrong then, and it wasn't until the day before Madam Su's funeral, when she arrived, that I overheard the young master calling her "Mother," and that's when I learned that Master had been keeping a mistress all these years.
"continue."
Zhao Fu swallowed hard and continued, "On the day of the madam's funeral, the master summoned Master Jingyun of Pingnan Temple. The old Taoist said that the madam might become a vengeful ghost, so everyone in the mansion agreed to suppress the madam's soul in the coffin."
Bai Xiuming raised an eyebrow: "The people in the manor agree? So, some people disagree?"
Zhao Fu nodded: "The old woman Sun who was serving the lady was crying and making a scene, so I chased her away. There was also the lady's niece, Miss Ji. She didn't approve at first, but our young master said a few words and persuaded her."
"What did he say?" Bai Xiuming asked with great interest.
He's been busy lately, and the reports his spies submit are always concise, only highlighting the key points. He never expected that the Zhao family would stage such a show.
"The young master said that the madam was kind-hearted when she was alive and would never have wanted to harm anyone. But what if she really turned into a vengeful ghost? He also said that the people still alive in the mansion are the most important. Everyone agreed with the young master's words."
Bai Xiuming lowered his eyes, concealing the fleeting glint of shrewdness within them. He didn't believe Ji Chan would be persuaded by these few words.
"What kind of person do you think your young master is?"
The butler instinctively wanted to offer some praise, but then he remembered that the master was no longer alive, so there was no need to boast. He simply said, "The young master may seem intelligent and polite, but he is actually a very selfish person. He is well aware that he occupies the status of the eldest young master, but he feels that he deserves it all. He has even insulted the madam."
Is there anything else?
Zhao Fu hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and finally said, "This humble subject has always suspected that the death of the lady may be related to the master."
"Is there any evidence?"
"This humble one has no evidence, but... the young master is sometimes carried away with his pride, as if he already knew that the eldest son would be in trouble and that he would be adopted into the family. But if the madam were still alive, this matter would never have succeeded."
After all, Zhao Fu had been the steward of the Zhao family for so many years, and there were some things he understood, but he was simply pragmatic.
"Alright, you may leave."
Zhao Fu kowtowed again and hurriedly left the study.
This time, Feng Yang looked at the dazed Zhao Wenqi again, and his feelings became somewhat complicated.
If what the steward of the Zhao family said is true, then everything that happened here can be explained.
However, one thing remains strange: if Kobayashi's soul was sealed, how did she manage to come out and kill people?
Bai Xiuming spent most of the day at the Zhao family's residence. By the time he returned to the Mingjing Division, it was already late afternoon. The people he had sent out to search for Xiao Lin's tomb had also returned.
What they brought back wasn't good news.
The dispatched commander of the Mingjing Division reported: "Sir, no one has touched Lin's coffin since it was buried. It has seven specially made coffin nails driven into it, seemingly to suppress the soul. After opening the coffin, the resentment inside was extremely strong, and it should have turned into a vengeful ghost. However, I tried to capture the soul three times, but to no avail."
After saying this, the centurion felt uneasy.
Ordinary people's souls are very fragile after death and cannot be bound. Only when they become vengeful ghosts or higher-level ghosts can their souls be forcibly bound. However, Lin Shi has clearly become a vengeful ghost but has lost his soul. He is worried that the governor will think he has failed in his duties.
Bai Xiuming merely chuckled, "Interesting."
He turned to Feng Yang and asked, "Where is Master Jingyun?"
Feng Yang immediately replied, "He's already waiting outside. He's been staying in the capital recently and hasn't returned to the Taoist temple."
"Let him in."
The old Taoist priest Jingyun was still wearing his ceremonial robes, suggesting that he was taken away by the Mingjing Guards while performing a ritual.
When he saw Bai Xiuming, he lost all trace of his otherworldly demeanor and immediately knelt down and kowtowed.
"This humble Dao Jingyun greets Your Excellency, the Garrison Commander."
Bai Xiuming raised his eyelids and asked him, "Zhao Ming, the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief, once invited you to his home to perform a ritual. Is that true?"
Master Jingyun dared not lie in the slightest, and without Bai Xiuming asking any further questions, he told everything as if pouring beans from a bamboo tube.
“That is indeed true. My lord, I am just a liar who does things for money. Lord Zhao came to me and said that his first wife had been cursed by a demon. He was worried that his deceased wife’s resentment would not dissipate and would turn into a vengeful ghost to cause trouble in the house. He hoped that I could seal her soul into a coffin and even hinted that it would be best to make her soul disappear.”
"When you sealed the coffin, did Lin show any signs of turning into a vengeful ghost?"
Jingyun hesitated for a moment before saying, "I sensed at the time that the Lin family's resentment was considerable, but it did not turn into a vengeful ghost."
"If she becomes a vengeful ghost, will she be able to leave the coffin?"
“Absolutely impossible.” Master Jingyun said decisively, “My skill in making coffin nails has been passed down from generation to generation in my sect. It can subdue fierce ghosts below the level of ghost general. I have never failed in hundreds of years. Even if Lin Shi were to become a fierce ghost, she would not have the ability to break free.”
"According to you, she should be in the coffin now, but her soul has disappeared."
"How is that possible?"
Master Jingyun looked completely bewildered, and his reaction didn't seem feigned.
Because he failed to provide a satisfactory answer, the Taoist priest Jingyun, who used Taoist arts to aid and abet evil, was sent to the Zhenyu Prison to reflect on his actions.
Bai Xiuming flipped through the case file of the Zhao family massacre that he had just finished organizing. The only thing left to close the case was the real culprit, Lin, who had turned into a vengeful ghost. But the murderer had vanished into thin air.
He closed the case file and tossed it aside, then picked up a stack of books and flipped through them, casually asking Feng Yang beside him, "Guess where Lin went?"
Feng Yang had considered many possibilities, the most logical being that the soul had been captured or sealed by someone else. But their people were capturing the soul next to Lin's corpse; if such a possibility existed, they would surely have sensed it.
The remaining two possibilities are either that Lin's soul was scattered, or that he went to the underworld.
"I believe that perhaps someone discovered Lin's evil deeds and scattered her soul?"
The reason we didn't guess the last one is that vengeful ghosts cannot enter the underworld on their own. Sending a vengeful ghost to its final rest is not something that can be done overnight. It requires highly accomplished monks and Taoist priests to perform a ritual to help it pass on, which is very troublesome.
Bai Xiuming flipped through the booklet in his hand, neither confirming nor denying his guess.
The booklet was presented to him by the spy he had sent to monitor Ji Chan. It was written like a diary, with only a few sentences on each page and large blank spaces on the rest.
Especially in the last ten days or so, only two pages were filled with notes. One page recorded her meeting with Granny Sun, who served Lin Shi. Granny Sun overheard the cause of Lin Shi's death and told Ji Chan about it, but Ji Chan's reaction was very cold.
The second page records what Ji Chan bought at the hunting shop in the West Market, the day after she learned the truth about Lin's death.
Having spent a large sum of money on seemingly useless things, was she truly indifferent to Kobayashi's death?
The following pages contain almost identical content: Ji Chan uses three materials she bought to make incense at home. After the incense is made, she burns it every night at midnight until dawn.
Bai Xiuming searched his memory to make sure he had never seen or heard of the same ritual.
What exactly is she doing? And is Kobayashi's disappearance related to her?
Just then, Jiang Kai's voice came from outside the door: "My lord, someone from the Ministry of Justice has come and says they want to see you."
Bai Xiuming looked up, and Feng Yang immediately understood and stepped forward to open the door.
Who is coming?
"Yan Liru, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice".
Bai Xiuming stood up, straightened his sleeves, and strode out, with Feng Yang and Jiang Kai following behind him on either side.
Outside the Mingjing Division's yamen, Yan Liru, though over forty, still stood tall and straight, dressed in a purple official robe, his expression serious. The Mingjing Division guards seemed oblivious to the murderous glares of the Ministry of Justice officials following behind him.
In any case, without prior notification, even a third-rank official cannot enter their Mingjing Division's office.
Yan Liru only turned his gaze towards Bai Xiuming as he walked over with unhurried steps.
Their eyes met, and Bai Xiuming spoke first: "May I ask what brings Lord Yan to my Mingjing Division?"
"I have heard that Xue Mingtang, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice, has been taken back to the Mingjing Division by Lord Bai. I hope that Lord Bai can give me an explanation."
"What is the justification that Xue Mingtang destroyed evidence at the scene and obstructed the investigation?"
“If Xue Mingtang is at fault, it should be punished by my Ministry of Justice, not by the Mingjing Division.” Yan Liru’s attitude was firm, and he was unwilling to back down in the slightest.
Bai Xiuming said meaningfully, "Lord Yan seems to care a lot about this subordinate."
"I treat all my subordinates equally. I urge Lord Bai to release Xue Mingtang immediately, otherwise I will have no choice but to report this to Lord Bai."
After a brief standoff with Yan Liru, Bai Xiuming finally spoke: "Men, release Xue Mingtang."
The clerks from the Ministry of Justice behind Yan Liru were all delighted, but when they saw Xue Mingtang being dragged out, their delight turned to anger.
Yan Liru merely glanced at Xue Mingtang, noticing only superficial injuries, and then looked away.
"I've disturbed you today, farewell." With that, he turned and left with his men.
Behind him were several old clerks from the Ministry of Justice who had served Xue Mingtang. Seeing their superior suffer such serious injuries after a single visit to the Mingjing Division, they were filled with indignation and couldn't help but speak up: "Lord Yan, the Mingjing Division must have tortured our lord... they..."
"Shut up." Yan Liru swept his cold gaze over them, and the group immediately dared not say another word.
After everyone had gone far away, Jiang Kaicai said, "Just as you predicted, the Ministry of Justice has come to ask for people. I didn't expect it to be Lord Yan. I heard that Xue Mingtang is a student of the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice."
Bai Xiuming watched Yan Liru's retreating figure, narrowing his eyes: "What did he say?"
Jiang Kai said regretfully, "Xue Mingtang is very stubborn. He didn't say anything, and we couldn't find any Snow Needle Snakes on his body."
"It's alright." More than Xue Mingtang, this nobody, he was curious about who was behind Xue Mingtang.
Those who can steal things from the Great Xia's forbidden treasury and have the ability to plan and orchestrate such schemes will surely hold high positions for a long time.
Could Yan Liru, who has an excellent reputation as an official, be one of them?
Because of the disturbance caused by the Ministry of Justice, Bai Xiuming left the yamen at 5 PM.
After a busy day, with his two subordinates watching him expectantly, he had no choice but to take them to a restaurant for dinner.
When his boss treated him to a meal, Jiang Kai didn't hold back when ordering food, and the table was soon full of dishes.
Bai Xiuming's current cultivation level means he no longer needs food to replenish his energy, so he doesn't eat much.
Jiang Kai and Feng Yang finished off all the dishes on the table in no time.
When the three of them walked out of the restaurant, it was already dark, and there were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the street.
"My lord, where are we going?" Jiang Kai was only focused on following Bai Xiuming and didn't know their destination.
"Changpingfang".
Jiang Kai scratched his head. Why did this place sound so familiar?
All three walked, but at a considerable pace, and arrived at Ji Chan's house before 7 PM.
Upon seeing Bai Xiuming arrive, the Mingjing Division spy, who had been hiding in the shadows, stepped forward and reported, "Sir, Ji Chan did not leave home today. She went upstairs this morning and has not come downstairs since."
Bai Xiuming grunted in acknowledgment, and the spy disappeared back into the shadows.
Go knock on the door.
Bai Xiuming gave the order, and Jiang Kai stepped forward and knocked on the door. He pounded on the door twice with his large, fan-like hand, causing the entire door to shake.
However, the room was completely quiet, and looking up from the outside, there was not a single ray of light on the second floor.
"My lord, shall I break down the door?" After all, opening the door would only take one palm strike, and Jiang Kai preferred to save trouble.
Bai Xiuming pushed him aside, pressed his palm on the door, and then the door opened.
The latch was nowhere to be found, leaving only a layer of sawdust on the ground.
The room was dark, but that didn't prevent the cultivator from seeing everything clearly.
On the only table was a bowl containing rice grains mixed with incense ash, which should be the "incense burner" that Ji Chan used to burn incense.
Whether it's honoring ancestors or worshipping spirits, it's all too rudimentary.
Bai Xiuming left his two subordinates on the first floor and went up to the second floor himself.
Achan had a fever again, and in her hazy state, she seemed to be having a dream.
I dreamt of the past, when I was still on the mountain.
At that time, she was in good health and never got sick, but she would get beaten up.
Because of her grandmother's cold treatment, she and her sister were disliked by their own clan and were constantly ostracized by them.
She was alright; she was a natural eight-tailed fox. Even though her grandmother didn't acknowledge her, her clansmen were still somewhat wary of her. But her younger sister only had one tail and sometimes couldn't transform into her original form at all.
Among a group of foxes, there is a human-shaped one who is always ostracized.
They not only bullied her, but also wanted her dead.
She was always getting hurt while protecting her younger sister. Every time she got hurt, her sister would cry incessantly and run all over the mountain to find herbs for her.
She lay in the cave, looking at the sunlight outside, always thinking that one day her parents might come and take her and her sister away, but they never did.
Later, her younger sister disappeared. When she was hurt, no one cried in her ear anymore, and no one cared whether she lived or died, just like now.
Achan lay in bed, her breath scorching. This illness was particularly severe; she was so weak that she couldn't even get out of bed, let alone call a doctor.
She was actually a little scared that she might die here from her illness, and that her body might not be discovered until several days later.
It sounds a bit bleak.
Just then, something touched her cheek.
Achan opened her eyes. The room was pitch black. By the moonlight, she could only see a dark shadow: "Who is it?"
Her voice was hoarse; she could only make breathy sounds.
Bai Xiuming slowly bent down: "It's me."
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