Chapter 23: Each Displays Their Unique Skills - Prime Minister Su's Glorious Moment, The Culprit Points...
As soon as Cheng Shun's name was uttered, Ying Xi immediately thought of him—the same young eunuch who had changed the lamp for him and played games with him, and who was a bit impulsive.
It was Cheng Shun who suggested to him that he prepare flower sachets.
Yingxi thought that if Cheng Shun himself was still alive, and his finger was accidentally injured and broken, and the maids mistakenly put it into a flower pouch, that would make sense.
However, Cheng Shun himself did not show up.
Even though Ying Xi sent more guards to search, Cheng Shun was still nowhere to be found.
The eunuch disappeared, leaving only a severed finger.
In an instant, more unknown mysteries made things even more complicated.
Imagination fuels fear, and within the Yichun Palace, the courtiers began to conjure up many supernatural speculations, their expressions revealing their deepest secrets.
Yingxi keenly sensed and captured these thoughts.
Now that he has found out this place, he has even less reason to stop.
Otherwise, if it were mistakenly believed that the emperor had stopped the investigation out of fear, all sorts of theories about divine retribution and prophetic pronouncements would be circulated.
He wasn't quite sure how to investigate.
Although he usually paid attention to the investigation department, as an emperor, he should know a little about everything he was supposed to know.
However, it's not that it's impossible or inappropriate for him, as an emperor, to personally investigate cases. For him, being good at using people is far better than doing everything himself; of course, these are insights he only gained in this lifetime.
Ying Xi said, "I have often heard that the Ministry of Justice has the talent to see things clearly. The Minister of Justice should be at the scene. Can he find the owner of the severed finger from this severed finger?"
After Ying Xi finished speaking, the Minister of Justice should have stepped forward, but there was no response.
Ying Xi suddenly realized that it was because of her recent anti-corruption campaign, which cracked down on corrupt officials throughout the court, that the Minister of Justice had become the one under investigation.
Not only the Minister of Justice, but also one of the two Vice Ministers of Justice has been dismissed. Recently, quite a few corrupt officials have been swept up by this storm.
The only remaining Vice Minister of Justice was not in charge of any official duties.
Although Vice Minister Sun eventually had to step forward with little confidence, he lacked the necessary knowledge and couldn't say anything. He didn't even get close to the severed finger, and just stammered his analysis on the spot:
"Your Majesty believes that since the severed finger appeared in the flower pouch, the maid who was responsible for putting the flower pouch was the last person to come into contact with the severed finger, and there should be clues."
After finishing his sentence, Vice Minister Sun tried his best to find evidence to support his deduction: "Eunuchs... Eunuchs and maids are the same kind of people, they get along very closely, and there are always rumors about them. Perhaps it was one of them who had some unclear relationship with Cheng Shun, which led him to take a dangerous path and hurt someone for love. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to cut off Cheng Shun's finger..."
After Vice Minister Sun finished speaking, all the maids in the room knelt down, pleading in pitiful voices, "Please, Your Majesty, investigate thoroughly! We dare not!"
For them, committing adultery in the palace was a grave crime.
What's more, how dare he harm others for love?
Besides, even if Cheng Shun's finger was cut off, how could he still be so audacious as to put the severed finger into the flower pouch that the emperor bestowed upon the court officials, deliberately spoiling the emperor's mood? Did he have a death wish?
The palace maids maintained a high degree of unity.
Vice Minister Sun looked embarrassed.
Ying Xi had her own judgment. The fact that the severed finger was put into the flower pouch could only mean that the palace maid was holding a large handful of flowers at the time and did not feel the foreign object at all. It was an unconscious act. What Minister Sun said was wrong.
As expected, many court officials shared the same skepticism.
Su Xueyi couldn't listen anymore.
He was the top official in the Ministry of Personnel, and if any of the six ministries of the Ministry of Personnel suffered a loss, he would suffer the same fate.
Chang'an Tongcai was arrogant and haughty; how could he allow himself to receive mocking glances from his colleagues?
Su Xueyi interrupted directly, saying, "Full of fallacies, utter nonsense!"
As soon as Su Xueyi spoke, before anyone could see who had spoken, Vice Minister Sun's face flushed red, and he was about to retort.
But upon seeing that it was Su Xueyi, there was no need to utter any further explanation, because if he said even one word, he would be met with ten or a hundred even more sarcastic remarks.
Su Xueyi came out of her seat, walked over, squatted down gracefully, and then took out a piece of snow-white silk from her sleeve.
His handsome brows furrowed slightly. He lowered his head, placed a silk handkerchief under his hand, and rummaged through the severed finger on the ground. He found a spot with little blood, picked up the severed finger, and examined it closely, especially scrutinizing the cut surface.
Sweet Tong: "How could he stand by and watch?"
Ying Xi did not answer.
But Su Xueyi clearly had her own ideas.
Su Xueyi lowered his eyelashes and pondered for a moment. Then, wrapped in silk, he put down the severed finger, placed his right hand in front of his forehead in a blocking posture, nodded slightly, pursed his lips, and took a deep breath.
No one can deny Su Xueyi's talent.
Even though many people dislike his arrogant temperament.
Su Xueyi finally got up.
He looked around and, before reporting to the emperor, asked the eunuchs who were picking up flowers, "Has any of you picked up the flower basket?"
The officials hesitated, exchanging glances.
They exchanged glances, and then one of the eunuchs mustered his courage and spoke up: "Reporting to Prime Minister Su, one of us did indeed find the basket."
Su Xueyi: "Why?"
His tone was slightly hurried, and the eunuch leaned back, unsure of the Right Chancellor's meaning, his voice becoming even weaker: "This servant... while picking flowers on the floating island, saw an unclaimed basket under the flowering tree."
“Eunuch Chengshun said that we should be quick in our work, and the more we pick up, the more money we will be rewarded, so I hurriedly picked them up.”
Which floating island?
Some of the buildings in Shanglin Garden are modeled after the fairy islands in ancient mythology.
According to legend, there are three fairy islands in Penglai, named Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou.
All three floating islands have gardens and parks. They are arranged in a triangular shape around Yichun Palace, and the islands are covered with lush flowers and trees, and are not far from Yichun Palace.
The official replied, "It is Yingzhou Island."
Ying Xi frowned slightly, remembering the direction from which the strange light had appeared—it was also Yingzhou Island.
The official said, "We've split up and arranged our directions. Yingzhou Island has many flowers and trees, and lots of fallen petals. We're short on money, so after we've finished exploring our own side, we thought we'd like to take a look at the island."
After finishing his report, the eunuch burst into tears, saying, "I didn't see Eunuch Chengshun on the island; I only saw that basket of flowers."
"Besides, Eunuch Chengshun is now a favorite of His Majesty, how could I possibly offend him..."
The little eunuch cried incessantly.
However, Su Xueyi waved her hand, and the other eunuchs took the man away.
Su Xueyi then said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, regarding the matter of the severed finger in the flower sachet, I have this conjecture."
"you say."
Su Xueyi said crisply, "I heard that Your Majesty's gift of the flower pouch was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and no one knew about it beforehand, so I will temporarily rule out that this is a premeditated act of revenge."
"If it wasn't premeditated, then it was accidental."
"Cheng Shun witnessed something he shouldn't have seen and had someone silence him."
Upon hearing the word "silence," Yu Jing, Cheng Shun's master, couldn't hold back and clutched her chest, frowning for a long time before letting out a long sigh.
However, Su Xueyi's speculation was still questioned, with some saying, "Why would someone leave a severed finger if they were silenced?"
"Could it be that they deliberately left clues for others?!"
This shows that Su Xueyi is not well-liked.
His colleagues, fearing him, might not dare to utter a word against him.
However, if someone already dislikes him and there is little interaction between their departments, they certainly won't give Su Xueyi any face.
Su Xueyi sneered, "That wasn't left there on purpose."
The other party didn't believe it.
Su Xueyi: "Come here."
The man, of course, was no less formidable than Su Xueyi. He was a military officer who swung his arms and approached Su Xueyi, saying, "What are you doing!"
He was aggressive.
Su Xueyi said without any politeness: "Squat down and turn around."
The military officer thought Su Xueyi was playing a trick on him and was about to get angry, but he was afraid that the emperor was present.
The military officer looked at the emperor, who nodded, meaning he would do as he was told.
The military officer blushed with embarrassment, not understanding why, but having no choice but to comply because of the imperial edict.
When the military officer squatted down with an air of authority, Su Xueyi stood behind him, holding a flower basket.
The military officer was still squatting.
Su Xueyi followed closely, approaching cautiously.
When she got closest to the military officer, Su Xueyi suddenly shouted, "Who are you! What are you doing there!"
The military officer, who had been crouching with his back to Su Xueyi, already appeared suspicious. But when he suddenly heard Su Xueyi's question, he immediately stood up and turned around, facing her instead of back to her.
The military officer raised his hand to attack!
At the same time, Su Xueyi's flower basket fell to the ground.
Su Xueyi raised her right hand in front of her to block, but to avoid accidentally injuring her colleague, she used her other hand to block the military officer and deflect the force of his punch.
Both sides took half a step back!
The flower basket was placed between the two people.
Ying Xi suddenly understood: "His finger was severed while he was defending himself, and then it fell into the flower basket!"
Then the flower basket was placed under the flowering tree, and more petals fell, covering the bloodstains on her fingers.
At first glance, it was not visible, so it was naturally picked up by another junior eunuch.
"That's not all," Su Xueyi said. Being able to get along with the emperor further fueled Su Xueyi's interest in the matter. "I suspect that after the first attack missed, the opponent would definitely pursue, and the second move would have killed Cheng Shun. But Cheng Shun's body is nowhere to be found. Where would it have been dumped?"
"In the water." Su Xueyi answered herself before Ying Xi could guess.
"Your Majesty! I request permission to send men to search the area around Yingzhou Island. Cheng Shun should be in the water."
"Granted."
Ying Xi stood up, and the guards surrounding him also tensed up.
The head guard exchanged a glance with the emperor and asked, "Your Majesty?"
"Set out for Yingzhou Island, you all hurry and salvage it."
The head guard nodded: "Yes!"
With the emperor's guards on his side, the emperor went to the island, Yingzhou Island, which was very close to this place.
Before the emperor even arrived at Yingzhou Island, the guards who went ahead went into the water and had already arranged their tasks.
Then the emperor landed on the island, followed closely by some important members of the court. Su Xueyi was the guide, leading the way.
Yingzhou Island is covered with lush trees and flowers, which sway in the wind and fall like snow.
The petals lay down in layers, like a carpet, and were surprisingly thick.
The young eunuch who found the flower basket followed closely behind Su Xueyi. He suddenly stopped in the middle of Yingzhou Island, pointed to the ground, and whispered, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Su, this servant... this servant found Eunuch Chengshun's flower basket near this flower bush."
As soon as the eunuch finished speaking, everyone stopped in their tracks.
Ying Xi's boots slammed against the ground, and she remained silent for a moment.
Then Su Xueyi squatted down, picked up the bottom of the petals with her five fingers, and turned the flower layer over.
Su Xueyi examined it carefully and showed it to others, saying, "There are blood droplets inside."
This is the scene where Cheng Shun was murdered!
In an instant, many of the officials who had followed felt a chill run down their spines. Some of them mustered their courage and squatted down, picking up the petals to examine them carefully, and they too saw blood at the bottom of the petals.
At this moment, the guard raised his voice and reported, "Found it—we found Eunuch Chengshun's body by the water."
Just as Su Xueyi had predicted, Cheng Shun was killed and then thrown into the water.
At this moment, Cheng Shun was covered with a white cloth and lay quietly by the water.
Yu Jing remained silent, wanting to hurry over but unable to shake off the emperor, her red lips pressed tightly together.
Ying Xi was no slower than him and had already reached Cheng Shun, ordering someone to lift the white cloth covering Cheng Shun.
The guard lifted it.
Cheng Shun had already disappeared without a trace, and he had not yet become arrogant.
A knife wound on his right side severed his throat diagonally. The cut was so deep it almost decapitated him.
Cheng Shun's brow was still furrowed, as if silently telling of the intense pain he was in before death.
Sweetie whimpered, but because Cheng Shun was an acquaintance, it wasn't too scared: "So pitiful."
So a familiar, vibrant life.
I was changing his light bulb yesterday, and he was talking to me just now.
He is impulsive, kind-hearted, and possesses a rare childlike innocence.
Now he is dead, a cold corpse.
The difference between this life and the previous one is that, having let go of many political affairs, his mind has unconsciously shifted to the people around him.
Ying Xi's heart felt exceptionally heavy.
His fingers tightened inside his sleeves, gradually clenching into a fist, and the emperor's expression darkened.
"Find out the cause of his death," Ying Xi said.
"What did they see that could drive them to commit such a heinous act?"
After Ying Xi finished issuing the decree, the guards made other discoveries. One guard shouted, "Your Majesty, we've retrieved other things from the water!"
Before the guard could finish speaking, Ying Xi looked over.
The guards in the water were throwing scattered parts onto the shore: silk threads, wooden frames, tuning pegs... and freshly whittled arrows, some of which were deep in the mud and could not be retrieved, but what they could retrieve was enough to illustrate the point.
The killer wanted to make a crossbow!
Aim from Yingzhou Island and snipe from a concealed position.
A ray of light reflected off the crossbow during assembly happened to enter Ying Xi's eyes.
If the crossbow's range was sufficient, he could see the pavilion in front of Yichun Palace from where he was picking up the flower baskets.
It wasn't the eunuch who died, but rather the eunuch who died in his place.
Cheng Shun stumbled upon the battlefield where the murderer was about to assassinate the emperor, and was subsequently killed and his body disposed of by the murderer, thus disrupting the murderer's assassination plan!
The killer's target was... himself.
Ying Xi felt a chill run from the top of her head to the soles of her feet.
Suddenly, someone in the arena shouted, "It's Xie Qianli! Who else could be so proficient in military weapons besides Xie Qianli!?"
"The Duke of England has committed regicide and treason; his crimes are heinous!"
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