Chapter 187 He's Crazy
Chang Suining strode to the front yard. When he was about to leave the house and rush to the Dali Temple, he met Manager Bai who was walking towards him quickly with a letter in his hand.
"Girl!"
Manager Bai obviously already knew about it, and he looked anxious as he handed over the letter: "Young lady, please take a look at this first. It was secretly sent by a young man who did not reveal his identity."
Chang Suining took it and opened the letter without delay.
There was not a single word on the envelope, but as soon as Chang Suining unfolded the paper, he knew who wrote it.
It’s Yao Yi.
Yao Yi was the Minister of Dali Temple, and he was ordered to investigate the murder of Chang Sunxuan. He explained the progress of the case in the letter.
The reason why the Dali Temple arrested Chang Sui'an for interrogation was because a man's jade pendant was found at the place where Chang Sunxuan's body was buried.
After investigation, it was found that the jade pendant with a rare jade color was originally a tribute from Dong Luo. Many years ago, it was given to a certain official by the saint together with other rewards. The official was none other than Chang Kuo.
Chang Kuo was not in the capital, so the ownership of the jade pendant naturally fell to his son Chang Sui'an.
The Dali Temple secretly invited several sons of officials who were close to Chang Sui'an to identify the jade pendant. They all recognized that the jade pendant was undoubtedly Chang Sui'an's regular wear.
The appearance of a body-worn item in a burial pit could not be explained by coincidence. Even if it could not be used to immediately convict the person, it made the owner of the jade pendant the most likely suspect.
In addition, none of the people who were questioned by the Dali Temple in the past two days could prove that they were with Chang Sui'an at the time of the crime. On the contrary, many people recalled that they did not see Chang Sui'an much when they were picking chrysanthemums in the back mountain, and they did not know where he went for a long time.
Under such circumstances, it was inevitable that the Dali Temple would arrest someone.
This is the "evidence" that the Dali Temple now holds. Yao Yi probably expected that Chang Suining, who knew nothing about it, would go to the Dali Temple out of concern for Chang Sui'an's safety, so he sent someone to deliver the letter secretly at this time.
In the letter, he assured Chang Suining that as long as Chang Sui'an was in the Dali Temple, he would not allow Chang Sui'an's safety to be threatened by anything other than legal means.
In other words, Yao Yi had already thought of the possibility that Chang Sui'an was framed by someone. He would be on guard against someone secretly plotting to silence Chang Sui'an in order to prove his guilt.
In addition, at the end of the letter, he repeatedly reminded Chang Suining not to act rashly, and it was not appropriate to go to the Dali Temple at this time, otherwise it might bring greater trouble, which would not only fail to help Chang Suining, but would also involve her.
He knew that Chang Suining was not afraid of being "implicated", but Chang Kuo was not in Beijing at the moment, and there were only two siblings in the Chang family. If she was also imprisoned, Chang Suining's situation would only make him even more helpless.
Chang Suining knew this truth very well without Yao Yi's reminder. The reason why she rushed to the Dali Temple just now was not because she was impulsive, but because she was afraid that something might happen to Chang Sui'an.
Now that Yao Yi had written to her and explained the situation, she was able to calm down temporarily. She gave up the idea of going to the Dali Temple to look for someone, and then calmly thought about how to deal with the situation.
Not long after, the Qiao brothers and sisters who had just left came back, apparently having heard the news on the way.
Cui Lang, who had brought Doctor Sun back, also arrived soon.
That night, Qiao Jijiu and his wife hurried to Chang's house, and Yu Zeng also sent someone over.
At the same time, the rumor that Chang Sui'an, the son of General Chang Kuo, had murdered Zhangsun Qinnanzi was exposed and had been arrested by the Dali Temple spread like wildfire.
After only one day and one night of fermentation, Chang Sui'an already had a "reasonable" motive for murder in the mouths of the people -
It was rumored everywhere that the Chang family was dissatisfied and resentful about the fact that their daughter had no chance of becoming the Crown Princess. The young master of the Chang family was young and hot-tempered, impulsive and reckless, and always put his sister first. When he saw the eldest grandson, the seventh daughter, in the back mountain, they had a conflict over a few words and decided to kill her.
He also said that the Chang family girl was too ambitious and only wanted to be the Crown Princess, so she rejected Prince Rong and Commander Cui. Seeing that her dream was dashed, she became jealous of Zhangsun Qi Niangzi.
There were even people secretly spreading the rumor that Chang Sui'an committed murder because he was instigated or even instructed by his sister.
Similar rumors keep popping up.
Xier told Chang Suining everything she had heard.
Maids like Xier were also very clear that this was a matter of life and death for their husbands, and they could not hide anything. They had to tell the girl the truth.
Hearing these rumors that "make sense and have a cause and effect," Chang Suining sneered, "It seems that someone has put in a lot of thought and is eager to use the gossip of the public to help convict my brother."
The story was well-founded and combined with the impression her brother had in the eyes of the public, she portrayed him as a murderer who acted out of reckless impulse.
These statements will naturally have loopholes if carefully examined by those who are interested. But most people don't know too much and just rely on hearsay.
Therefore, it was enough to use this to stir up public opinion and establish her brother's motive for murder in the eyes of the world.
"Uncle Blade——"
"I am here."
"Take your men to secretly investigate the source of these rumors and see if you can find any clues."
Chang Ren responded seriously and immediately went back to investigate.
Chang Suining then instructed A Che: "Take Xiao Duan, Xiao Wu and the others with you to sneak into the beggars and refugees and keep an eye out for any possible incidents."
The beggars and vagrants scattered in the alleys of the city are sometimes the ones that those who commit crimes neglect to guard against.
And then there is…
"Manager Bai, have someone send a letter to Mr. Yu privately, asking him to help investigate the source of these rumors."
If we want to clear Sui An of suspicion, we must do our best to dig deep to find the source of these rumors, or a breakthrough.
No matter what unknown betrayal had happened between Li Shang and Yu Zeng, she could not miss any useful opportunity to save Chang Sui'an.
Yu Zeng was an elder who had watched Sui'an grow up. She believed that the other party's promise to do his best when he sent someone to the door yesterday was not false, at least not entirely false.
She is now just a young girl who has just come of age in the general's mansion. She has no power or influence. If she wants to save Chang Sui'an, she must use all possible means without implicating other people.
Chang Suining thought of Yao Yi.
The intuition of the investigators was indeed sharp. Yesterday, Yao Yigang had reminded her in a letter to be careful about her words and actions so as not to be dragged into this. Sure enough, her shadow was mentioned in today's rumors, implying that Chang Sui'an was instigated and instructed by her to murder Chang Sunxuan.
"Girl."
At this time, Ah Zhi returned and said, "I have carefully questioned the servants in your courtyard. According to their recollections, the last time they saw you wearing the jade pendant bestowed by the emperor was a month ago."
"One month ago..." Chang Suining looked thoughtful.
A month ago was around the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Was the jade pendant "lost" at that time? Now that the jade pendant was used as evidence of her brother's murder, if she could find out where it had been during this period, she could find out who had framed her brother.
Under Chang Suining's arrangement, although everyone in the Chang Mansion was still worried about her husband's affairs, they were not running around like headless flies. Everyone in each place had their own things to do, and they were all busy running around. Even though they were anxious, they had a clear direction.
"Girl." A servant walked in quickly: "This is the list of people who picked chrysanthemums in the back hills of Dayun Temple that day that the girl asked for!"
Chang Suining took it.
The Chang Mansion was shrouded in crisis, and everyone in the Changsun Mansion was filled with grief and anger over the death of Zhangsun Qi Niangzi. At the same moment, in the Yingguo Mansion, from the courtyard where Prince Mingjin lived, the sound of a musical instrument was heard.
Ming Jin was a womanizer, and although he had not yet married a wife, he had already collected a number of concubines with no official status in the courtyard. The one playing the piano at this moment was one of his favorite concubines.
Ming Jin lay sideways on the couch. After listening to the news brought back by the servant, he closed his eyes and said, "Come to think of it, this time the Chang family's little bitch got off easy..."
"She was lucky. She happened to be praying in the Heavenly Maiden Tower that day... If she was also in the back mountain at that time, she would definitely be charged with conspiracy. She would probably be waiting to die in the Dali Temple prison with her useless brother."
His tone was dark and a little regretful.
He immediately opened his eyes and suddenly smiled: "It's fine, let her see what happened to her brother first... It's more fun to keep such a stubborn and thorny little girl and play with her slowly."
If you die too soon like Chang Sunxuan did, you will lose a lot of fun.
Ming Jin smiled and closed his eyes again. Now when he closed his eyes, the girl's appearance when she was dying appeared before his eyes.
Whenever he recalled that scene, he couldn't help but sigh - the eldest granddaughter who rejected his proposal, sneered at him, and thought herself so noble in front of him, turned out to be as embarrassed and fearful as those ordinary maids when she died.
He admitted that he had lost his mind due to the effects of the drugs, and the other party's appearance was too sudden, which made him a little impulsive.
Under normal circumstances, he probably wouldn't have been able to kill someone directly, especially since the other party was the eldest daughter of the Zhangsun family.
But thinking back now, he did not feel any regrets, instead he only felt unspeakable excitement and relief in his heart.
What’s even more satisfying is that not only did he not have to bear any consequences, but he also made Chang Sui’an bear the crime of murder!
Is there anything more joyful in the world than this?
Ming Jin thought about it and couldn't help laughing twice.
The laughter was not loud, but it was strange. It fell into the ears of the maid who was playing the piano, making her even more nervous and uneasy.
Ever since he was injured at the Mid-Autumn Banquet in Hibiscus Garden, the prince's temperament had become more sinister on top of his brutality. Beating and kicking his servants was the least of his worries, and he no longer spoke to her in a gentle and soft voice as before. She even felt recently that... the prince who used to dote on her often looked at her with an inexplicable cold hatred in his eyes.
But why did the prince hate her? She had clearly done nothing wrong.
The maid accidentally played a wrong note while she was daydreaming.
Sensing that cold gaze sweeping over, the maid hurriedly knelt down and begged for mercy: "...Prince, please forgive me!"
Ming Jin made a “tsk” sound and looked at the shivering maid with interest.
"Qinshuang, why are you so afraid of me now?"
Ming Jin stood up slowly, barefoot, and said with a smile: "You were the most daring one in the past. You even acted like a spoiled child with me and bit my ear."
He used to like the cuteness and boldness of this little concubine the most.
"Qinshuang was ignorant before, now she knows she was wrong..." The maid said anxiously, "Please don't blame Qinshuang, my lord."
Just two days ago, another maid who used to compete with her for favor was carried back covered in blood after "serving" the prince, and she hanged herself the next day.
Although there was one less rival for her favor, she did not feel the slightest bit of relief or joy, but only fear.
"How can I blame you? You are my favorite."
Ming Jin bent down and extended a hand to her.
The maid held out her hand tremblingly.
Ming Jin pulled her up and dragged her towards the couch.
The other servants in the room understood, lowered their heads, and walked out, lowering the bamboo curtain.
"It's been a long time since I asked you to serve me closely. Do you miss me?" Ming Jin asked with a smile.
The maid dared not to nod.
Ming Jin opened his arms: "Come, help me undress."
The maid suppressed her fear, forced a stiff smile, and answered "yes". As usual, she first took off his outer clothes, then his underwear, and finally his trousers.
But when she knelt in front of him and took off her panties, what she saw was no longer the same as usual.
The maid's eyes changed and she retracted her hand in fright.
Didn't the prince say... that he's already recovered?!
She tried hard not to scream, but her reaction still angered the man.
Ming Jin kicked her.
The maid was just about to sit up when she saw Ming Jin picking up the zither beside him and smashing it hard on her head and face.
"Why, are you scared? Are you disgusted?"
"You feel disgusted...you think I am useless, right?"
"Speak, I ask you to speak!"
“…”
Hearing the noise coming from the inner room, the servants guarding outside all turned pale.
Half an hour later, Qinshuang was also carried out.
Her body was covered in blood, and her face was cut by the strings, leaving horrifying gasps.
But her expression was numb.
She understood. The moment she saw it, she understood.
Now I understand why the prince always has hatred in his eyes when he looks at her now...
The more beautiful something is that he can't use, the more he hates it.
The reason he let her watch it was so that he would have a reason to torture her.
He's already crazy and will only get crazier.
She also understood why the other concubine was tortured like that and why she chose to hang herself... Because the same torture would never stop, and it would only have the possibility of stopping on the day they died.
What should she do? Should she die as soon as possible and be free?
Qinshuang was carried back and lay on the bed, letting the maid treat her wounds, with big tears rolling down her desperate and confused eyes.
After venting his anger, Ming Jin, who was almost exhausted, sat on the couch, gasping for breath, and watched the servants quickly clean up the mess and bloodstains in the room.
At this time, Ming Jin's personal servant came in from outside and nervously handed over a letter: "Prince...your letter."
Ming Jin raised his hand, took the letter from the servant, and opened it impatiently.
Seeing what was written in the letter, he laughed sarcastically.
Thank you all for feeding me cat food and dog food. I’ll post a recent photo of my cat to let it thank you all!
We are still short of two hundred to three thousand for monthly tickets. Does anyone have any in their pockets? Can you please take some out and see?
(This plot has just begun, everyone can save up some money and enjoy the May Day holiday first (of course, I will definitely not take a day off!) (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
