Chapter 57 Grand Tutor He fell ill as soon as he left the palace…
Gao Zheng propped himself up on the bed and looked at Gao Pei, his eyes dry and red from drinking, his voice unusually hoarse: "Father, do you know too?"
Gao Pei was taken aback upon hearing this, then his face showed shock: "You suspect me? You think I conspired with your grandfather to scheme against you?"
He was incredulous, and his words carried a hint of heartache.
Gao Zheng remained silent, pursed his lips, and turned his head away.
Gao Pei stood up angrily, paced back and forth by the bed a few times, took a few deep breaths, and then said, "Don't you know how my relationship with your grandfather is? Why did I bring you to my post and raise you myself all these years instead of leaving you in Jiangzhou? Don't you understand why, after coming to the capital, I would rather volunteer to be a seventh-rank editor in the Hanlin Academy than a damn vice minister in the Ministry of Justice? Don't you know why? It's fine if others don't understand, but you, A-Zheng..."
As he spoke, he flicked his sleeve, his eyes reddening as if tears were about to fall.
The room fell silent, and the father and son faced each other in silence. After a long while, Gao Pei sighed helplessly, sat back down on the edge of the bed, wiped his eyes, and said, "Fine, it's understandable that you resent me."
“I saw long ago that you had feelings for Miss Shen, but I didn’t mention it because I knew your grandfather wouldn’t agree and my agreement would be useless. But if I were willing to try, even if I acted first and reported later, perhaps your marriage would already be arranged by now, and you wouldn’t miss out on the person you love.”
“I…I was always timid and cowardly in front of your grandfather, otherwise I wouldn’t have been unable to protect your mother and caused you to lose your mother…”
"Father," Gao Zheng felt remorseful for reminding his father of past painful memories and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, it's my fault. This is my own marriage, and I should have fought for it myself. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you."
"Strive for"
Gao Pei chuckled lightly: "The father is the head of the family. If the father is unkind, the son can only run away to another place. What else can he do? When it comes to marriage, which must be decided by the parents to be legitimate, isn't he still controlled and manipulated? Although I am your father, I have another father above me. I can't even make decisions for you..."
“Ah Zheng,” he said, reaching out to put his hand on Gao Zheng’s shoulder and pressing it firmly, “I only gained some freedom when I was nearly forty. I don’t want you to be like me, and I’m even more afraid that you will develop a submissive nature in the clan, which is why I’ve kept you by my side all these years. Now… now you have indeed grown up very well, daring to talk back to your grandfather and daring to stick to your own choices. But you are still young after all, and it’s not yet time for you to support the family and make your grandfather back down.”
"Don't rush, wait patiently. When you grow up and are truly in charge, your grandfather will naturally be unable to do anything to you, and you can do whatever you want."
Gao Zheng smiled bitterly, thinking to himself, "How long will that take? Besides... besides, I've already lost what I wanted."
He sobered up a bit and didn't want to upset his father by talking about these things anymore, so he kept his thoughts to himself and nodded, saying, "I understand, Father."
Then, changing the subject, she asked about what the father and son had discussed a few days earlier.
"By the way, Father, have you found anything with the Dali Temple besides Wang Zhao? Are there any other suspicious people?"
When Gao Zheng returned from the Shen family that day, he told Gao Pei what he knew, wanting to see if he knew anything, especially about the Dali Temple.
Although he is now working at the Dali Temple, he has only been in the capital for a short time and has not been there as long as his father, nor does he have as many connections. It would be more convenient for him to ask his father or ask him for help with some things.
Gao Pei was on good terms with Shen Mingshan and had considered helping to investigate when the Shen family got into trouble. However, he was working at the Hanlin Academy and, due to conflicts with his clan, was unwilling to get involved in criminal investigations. After arriving in the capital, he avoided places like the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice. He wasn't very familiar with the people in these two government offices, so it was difficult for him to get any truly useful information and he couldn't find anything out.
Later, when Gao Zheng went to the capital, he asked him for help again, specifically mentioning the Dali Temple. Although he was in a difficult position, he agreed and had been secretly investigating for the past few days.
When his son asked, he replied, "Everything is normal at the Dali Temple. Even Wang Zhao, whom you mentioned, doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong. However, something strange happened at Miss Shen's wedding banquet yesterday. Lord Zhuang of the Dali Temple was drinking peacefully when someone came in to deliver a message to him. I don't know what he said, but he left in a hurry."
"Although the messenger was dressed in plain clothes, I recognized him as a constable from the Dali Temple. I suppose he had some urgent matter that he needed Lord Zhuang to handle."
"But I know Zhuang Cheng a bit. Although he is the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, he is usually very idle. He usually handles cases before they even reach his hands, and rarely needs to show up in person."
"Yesterday was the wedding of Prince Ping. For the officials to summon him back on such an occasion, something serious must have happened."
"But today at court, everything was calm and quiet. No major cases were mentioned, as if nothing had happened..."
Gao Zheng was completely confused and asked, "Father, do you think something happened yesterday, perhaps related to Sister Shen and Prince Ping?"
Seeing that he still called Shen Yan "Sister Shen," Gao Pei wanted to say a few words of advice, but then he remembered the unpleasant conversation between the father and son earlier, so he swallowed his words and said, "In a place like the Dali Temple, it is impossible to keep major cases completely secret. Some information will inevitably leak out. Even if it does not involve the details of the case, we can always find out the general situation."
"But today, everyone at the Dali Temple is just like usual, with no difference whatsoever. Even the constables at the gate are as lazy as ever, which shows that they really don't know anything."
"The fact that Zhuang Cheng was alerted, yet the people below were kept completely in the dark, suggests it's probably something that happened in the palace."
"But I can't think of any other major events in the palace recently besides those related to Prince Ping."
Gao Zheng suddenly realized, but his brows remained furrowed: "But Prince Ping was getting married yesterday, and he wasn't in the palace. I attended the entire wedding, and I didn't see anything go wrong. What could possibly happen in the palace that's related to him but wouldn't alarm him?"
Upon hearing this, Gao Pei sighed, got up, went to the table, poured a cup of tea, and handed it to Gao Zheng: "I think you drank too much yesterday and your mind isn't working properly. You can't even remember this. Didn't Prince Ping arrest a man surnamed Lin and send him to the palace for His Majesty's interrogation? I guess yesterday either that man surnamed Lin revealed some important clues, or... he was eliminated. The latter is more likely."
Gao Zheng was drinking tea from the cup his father handed him when he heard this and was shocked, suddenly looking up.
“Yes, Lin Si, Lin Guangmao… he’s in the palace. But… but why must this matter be related to him? Father, why do you think he was… eliminated…”
Gao Zheng's voice grew softer and softer until he finally realized what was going on and understood the reasoning behind it.
Qi Jingxuan was the emperor's most beloved son. Yesterday was his wedding day. Although the emperor was not present in person, he must have been very happy, and the palace must have been very lively. When things are lively, trouble is likely to arise.
If the person who had been hiding behind the scenes wanted to eliminate Lin Si to prevent future troubles, yesterday was the best opportunity.
"What... what should we do? Sister Shen said Lin Si is the only clue they've found so far. If this clue also goes cold, then..."
"That may not necessarily be a bad thing."
Gao Pei said.
Gao Zheng looked up at his father and saw that he was just silently looking at him without saying a word. He pondered the meaning of his father's words and understood after a moment.
“Yes, yes,” he murmured. “Lin Si is under the personal supervision of His Majesty. No matter where he is kept, he will be heavily guarded and will not be easily taken advantage of.”
"To get rid of him, we need to use people, and we need people who can speak and act within the palace. Once we use people, there will be traces, which will be new clues..."
He became more and more excited as he spoke, the alcohol in his eyes dissipating and shining brightly: "The person behind the scenes is very well hidden. The worst thing about hunting down such a person is that he doesn't move. If he doesn't move, it's hard to find any clues. But once he starts moving, once you catch him red-handed, he will make a second and a third move... It becomes increasingly difficult for him to hide his whereabouts."
"I'm going to tell Sister Shen this news; she'll be so happy!"
He said this as he rolled out of bed, slipped on his shoes, and headed out.
Gao Pei reached out to stop him, but before she could touch him, he stopped again, saying to himself, "No, no, no, although things are probably as we suspect, the palace hasn't released any information yet, and we don't have any concrete evidence. What if we're wrong and she gets her hopes up for nothing?"
"Yes, we can't tell her yet. I'll investigate first, and then tell her after I confirm it. We can also see if we can find out who killed Lin Si, and then tell her everything once we've found out."
Seeing his son talking to himself like this, Gao Pei put his hand to his forehead and said, "You've only just arrived in the capital and are currently just a judge in the Dali Temple. This matter involves royal secrets, and very few people in the Dali Temple know about it. What can you find out? Saying too much will only make people aware of your relationship with Miss Shen and further wary of you."
Gao Zhengxing felt like he'd been doused with cold water, and he froze, sitting back on the edge of the bed and muttering, "Yes, where am I even supposed to begin investigating this..."
He was able to access so many cases in the past because he was his father's son, a member of the Gao family. People didn't shy away from him and were happy to have his help in investigations. But now Gao Pei was no longer a local official, but worked in the Hanlin Academy. Even he himself wasn't very involved in criminal investigations. How could Gao Zheng use his name to investigate anything?
Without Gao Pei's banner, who would bother discussing confidential matters with a mere judge of the Court of Judicial Review like him?
Upon realizing this, Gao Zheng immediately wilted like a frostbitten eggplant.
Seeing his son looking dejected again, Gao Pei couldn't bear it and told him something else: "Grand Tutor He rushed into the palace last night and fell ill as soon as he came out. He didn't attend court today. The He family is also keeping their doors tightly shut, and there's a lot of tension, as if something serious has happened. If you want to investigate, you might as well start from here."
The maternal family of Consort Hui, Grand Tutor He...
Could it be... that Consort Hui killed Lin Si?
Gao Zheng's eyes lit up again, and he excitedly grabbed his father's arm: "Dad, you're amazing! You could guess so much from such a small clue! No wonder Grandfather was so eager for you to inherit our family's legacy!"
Gao Pei liked the first part, but he almost rolled his eyes at the second. He had never liked the field of criminal justice; he had only been forced to study it for so many years.
But his son was just trying to praise him, so he didn't take it to heart. He only said to his son when he was about to rush out again, "At least wash your face and change your clothes. If you run out like this, you might scare people."
Gao Zheng then remembered that he had been drunk since yesterday and hadn't properly washed up. He hurriedly went to the bathroom to wash and change, and then had a meal with his father before leaving the house with light steps.
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