Chapter 36: Breaking the Greed and Opening the Coffin
"Stop all those people for me!" Qin Yanheng jumped off the carriage and shouted sternly to the soldier guarding the gate not far away.
At the city gate, paper money was flying everywhere. There were not many people in the funeral procession. Apart from the young girl leading the group with white silk, there were only four men carrying the coffin. There was no relative or friend at all. It was indeed strange.
Qin Yanheng removed the prince's token from his waist and raised it above his head to identify himself. Seeing this, the city guards immediately obeyed Qin Yanheng's command. From the walls on both sides, sword-wielding soldiers rushed down in a flurry, quickly surrounding the funeral procession, their blades pointed at the young girl and the four coffin bearers.
Nearby, the people queuing to enter the city were whispering among themselves, pointing at Qin Yanheng and discussing something. Luo Qingling was also somewhat confused, but she still put on her veil and followed Qin Yanheng. As they passed through the crowd, someone couldn't suppress their voices, and the entire conversation reached her ears. Luo Qingling ignored it, believing that Qin Yanheng must have his reasons for doing so.
"That's Prince Rong An, right? Why is he so arrogant and domineering? Why is he still investigating so strictly even though someone is dead?" someone in the crowd suddenly said. "I think the Saint is too fond of this young prince. In the past, he only dealt with minor incidents, but now he's not even letting the dead go. He's truly lawless."
"The young prince is now the saint's only son. I wonder if the prince who died suddenly is..."
The voices stopped abruptly, perhaps out of fear of Luo Qingling, who had just emerged from the carriage. The latter's head was covered with a veil, obscuring his features. Everyone had different thoughts. Someone raised their chin towards Luo Qingling, squinting their eyes and signaling to the person who had just spoken to pay attention, lest anyone around Young Prince Qin overhear.
No one knew who the young girl wearing a veil who got out of the little prince's carriage was. Judging from the fact that his prince never approached women, this girl must be either a royal relative or the future princess - no matter what her identity was, she was not someone they could afford to offend.
Everyone stood around, watching helplessly as the girl, Mi Li, walked up to Prince Rong An and whispered a few words. Prince Rong An, who usually had a sullen expression, rarely managed a smile. He glanced coldly at the crowd and then raised his hand to straighten the white veil covering Mi Li's face.
She covered it more tightly...I couldn't see the woman's face at all.
Paper money fell from the sky, a black coffin was placed on the ground, and the funeral procession surrounded by officers and soldiers were waiting with their heads down for Qin Yanheng's interrogation.
"Prince Rong...Prince Rong'an."
The young girl leading the funeral procession out of the city had red eyes and clutched her clothes with both hands. Her face was very sad. She looked at Qin Yanheng, who had suddenly ordered them to stop, and said tearfully, "My mother was seriously ill and passed away at the hour of Yin this morning. The village has regulations that the funeral must be done before noon, so we hurried out of the city."
"Please, Prince Rong'an, let me go so that my mother can rest in peace." The girl said this in one breath, then wiped her eyes, lowered her head and did not dare to look directly at Qin Yanheng.
Qin Yanheng remained silent for a long while. He slowly walked around the coffin, stretched out a finger and weighed the coffin board. He turned and raised an eyebrow at the girl with the white silk. He sneered and said, "I haven't told you why I stopped you yet. Why are you explaining so much?"
Hearing this, the girl who had been weeping suddenly looked up at him. She opened her mouth but couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time. She replied in a trembling voice, "Your Highness, aren't you doubting our identities?"
Qin Yanheng laughed: "Maybe I'm just curious. The person died suddenly, so how could a new coffin be made in just two hours?" He just checked it and found that the coffin didn't look like stock. It looked like it was made overnight. The marks from the cutting of the wooden board hadn't even been smoothed out.
"Because my mother has been dying for a long time, it's only a matter of time before she dies, so...that's why I prepared the coffin in advance." The girl said stiffly.
As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Yanheng said "Oh" and nodded, with an expression that said "Let me see how much more nonsense you can make up." With a smile on his face, he asked again, "So you knew she would die today, and you hurriedly made the coffin in the past two days?"
"This..." The girl said in a hoarse voice.
Seeing this, Qin Yanheng didn't bother to talk too much. He pulled a handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped his fingertips. When he had examined the coffin lid just now, he could even feel the dew on it. Who would leave a coffin out in the open overnight? So, it seemed that this coffin had been made overnight.
"Open the coffin." Qin Yanheng's tone was calm, his expression unquestionable.
The officers and soldiers surrounding them were about to step forward and push open the coffin lid, but one of the older men who had just carried the coffin suddenly stood up to stop them. He placed his hands across the front of the coffin, not caring about the sharp knife pointing at his neck. The man widened his eyes and spoke in a stern voice.
"My wife is already dead, why do you still want to bother her? Just because you are a prince, you can manipulate us ignorant poor people at will?" The man said in a loud voice, as if he wanted to use the sympathy of the people around him to suppress Qin Yanheng.
But he never expected that Qin Yanheng had been known as the lawless little prince that the people loved to talk about since he was a child. How could a few words from a man change his mind?
Qin Yanheng sneered without responding. He glanced at the officers and soldiers beside him, raised his chin towards the coffin, and said coldly, "Open the coffin."
“Who dares!”
The mournful girl screamed, pushed the soldiers aside, and knelt down in front of Qin Yanheng. Tears streaming down her face, she looked up at the young prince who was in such a difficult situation. Her lips trembled as she spoke, "Please, Prince Rong'an... let us go, and let my mother go in peace."
The surrounding people's discussions gradually became louder. Even if you were not in the crowd, you could still vaguely hear a few words scolding Qin Yanheng. Luo Qingling silently glanced back at the crowd, and understood.
Luo Qingling didn't dare to guarantee whether there was really a dead person in the coffin, but the girl in front of him was obviously using public opinion to confront Qin Yanheng - the girl was betting that Qin Yanheng would not dare to open the coffin in public, and that Qin Yanheng did not want to leave a bad reputation among the people.
"Prince Rong'an, you don't want the late prince to encounter this situation when he is buried, right?" The girl became bolder and bolder, and even dared to mention the late prince in front of Qin Yanheng.
After he finished speaking, Qin Yanheng was stunned for a long time, with an unclear expression on his face. Just when everyone thought he was going to withdraw his troops, Qin Yanheng waved his hand and pushed the coffin lid open through the air.
The wooden board suddenly fell to the ground with a heavy sound.
"Mother—" The girl screamed and threw herself in front of the coffin, but she couldn't pull it away. She turned back to look at Qin Yanheng and said with tears in her eyes, "Prince Rong'an, you have such a cruel heart!"
Seeing this scene, the people around were in an uproar. Some of them pursed their lips and shed tears, looking at the girl whose mother had died with emotion. Some people were ready to make a move and wanted to disrupt the situation.
"Pull her away."
Qin Yanheng walked past the girl and went straight to the coffin. He lowered his head slightly and looked inside. A pair of pale legs came into view. The corpse spots on the skin were clearly visible. It was obvious that the person was dead.
Is he really dead?
Qin Yanheng's heart sank. Could it be that he guessed wrong? Could there really be a corpse in the coffin?
The people behind him pointed and talked, their voices getting louder and louder. Some people even hid in the crowd and cursed loudly, relying on their numbers, "Even people from the royal family shouldn't embarrass the dead like this." It made people feel very uncomfortable.
Luo Qingling looked over at the sound, but saw only a crowd of civilians, unable to pinpoint who was behind the incident. Even though there was indeed a body in the coffin, she felt something was amiss.
Thinking of this, Luo Qingling stepped forward to check the bottom of the coffin. Just now, after Qin Yanheng ordered to stop the funeral procession, the four men carrying the coffin placed the coffin in the mud on the side of the road. Now, the four corners of the coffin were deeply stuck in the mud... It's just a corpse, how could it be so heavy?
Moreover, although it is the beginning of spring, it is a late spring cold. Why are the four men carrying the coffin sweating profusely? Even if the coffin is heavy, it shouldn't soak their collars with sweat - unless there is something else in the coffin.
Luo Qingling turned to look at Qin Yanheng, who was staring at the coffin with a thoughtful look on his face. She hurriedly said, "Young Prince, the corner of this coffin is stuck in the mud. The body inside can't be that heavy."
"Mrs. Luo is right."
Qin Yanheng nodded, and then suddenly reacted. He looked at the four coffin bearers who were wiping their sweat around him, and immediately understood what Luo Qingling meant. He walked forward to the coffin and lifted the white cloth covering the corpse amid everyone's discussions.
"Mother..." The crying girl's face was full of despair.
"Prince Rong'an is truly shameful—" someone shouted, then suddenly fell silent.
This is……
In the black coffin, the female corpse was surrounded by gold, silver and treasures, with several pieces of jade the size of a head placed at the feet. The jade was crystal clear in the sunlight, and it was obvious at a glance that the treasures in the coffin must be top-grade goods - only the homes of high-ranking officials in the capital could have them.
Qin Yanheng raised the corner of his mouth and turned to look at the man carrying the coffin. He raised his eyebrows and spoke in a voice that was neither too loud nor too low, but was clearly heard by everyone present: "You just said that you were from a village outside Beijing. How could a village woman have so many burial objects? Besides, your wife is dead, so why don't you have a trace of sadness on your face? Your tone of voice is raised when you speak, which makes you look very proud?"
"explain!"
A long knife was placed across the necks of the five men, forcing them to kneel on the ground. The man in the lead remained steadfast, gritting his teeth as he replied, "When have I not been sad? Besides, my wife's family is wealthy, so what if she gave me some burial objects?"
"Then how do you explain the word 'Sun' on this piece of jade?" Qin Yanheng casually picked up a treasure, glanced at the man, and continued with a sneer, "Are you still not telling the truth? The chef of Hua Manlou?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd burst into an uproar.
Seeing that Chef Cui kept his head down and said nothing, Qin Yanheng suddenly lifted the white cloth covering the female corpse's face. After a closer look, he found that there was no female corpse in the coffin, but Sun Zhenbao's wet nurse!
The people followed suit and stretched their heads to look, until they saw the woman lying in the coffin holding a pile of silver, her eyes closed and she dared not open them, her face red, and it was obvious that she was not dead. Only then did everyone believe that Qin Yanheng was not joking, but was catching a fugitive, and the topic of conversation changed direction.
"His Highness truly has a sharp eye. That fugitive couldn't escape his sight. He truly deserves to be the renowned Prince Rong'an of the capital!"
Someone said, and everyone echoed.
Luo Qingling rolled her eyes secretly. She just felt that the young prince sometimes had a good attitude.
She was so distracted that she didn't hear Qin Yanheng calling her. When Luo Qingling came to her senses, she saw Qin Yanheng standing in front of her with his arms folded, looking at her with a calm expression and a hint of smile in his eyes.
He raised his chin towards the carriage, unable to suppress the smile on his face. "Let's go to the Dali Temple and listen to the nonsense these 'relatives of the deceased' have to say."
look.
This person still cared about being misunderstood just now, otherwise he would not have mocked them.
Luo Qingling returned a brilliant smile and moved to catch up with Qin Yanheng.
Even though the young prince's behavior was somewhat reckless, when had he ever wronged a good person?
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