Chapter 185 I Promise You (Part 2)
However, before the two of them could leave, Guard Lu knocked on the door.
"Sir," he reported, "something happened at Chong'an Temple."
"What is it?"
"This morning, the golden Buddha statue at Chong'an Temple collapsed, killing another person. The Ministry of Justice and the Jingzhao Yin have all gone there, and Lord Shen has sent someone to invite you over as well."
Hearing this, Pei Xingju looked at Zhuang Wan.
"I don't need you to accompany me, just go quickly." Zhuang Wan said.
After thinking for a while, he said, "Forget it, I'll go with you."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'll go take a look too."
Just a few days later, the Buddha statue collapsed again. This was no small matter. Zhuang Wan wanted to know whether the statue collapsed this time using the same method as before.
Pei Xingju nodded and immediately ordered someone to prepare the carriage.
Three quarters of an hour later, the two arrived at Chong'an Temple, which was already packed with people. After the previous public opinion fermentation, many people came out of curiosity to watch the fun.
When the people from the Ministry of Justice learned that Pei Xingju was coming, they hurriedly sent people to clear a path for him to pass.
When we arrived at the main hall, we saw that a huge Buddha statue about ten feet tall was broken at the heel. It collapsed in the same posture as the Bodhidharma Hall in Guangji Temple, and also crushed people to death.
Zhuang Wan saw a large pool of bright red blood under the Buddha statue and was so frightened that he turned his back. He whispered to Pei Xingju, "Who died?"
"It is said that it was an old woman and..." Pei Xingju glanced at the broken hand of a young child sticking out from under the Buddha statue, closed his eyes, and said nothing more.
But Zhuang Wan learned about the situation from the onlookers: it was an old woman and her two-year-old grandson.
Soon, Shen Yi came over.
"You're here?" He leaned closer and lowered his voice, "It's exactly as you said last time. I checked, and someone has tampered with the tiles on the roof of the Buddha statue."
"Besides, I found something else."
"What?"
"The rust on this golden Buddha statue isn't that severe, and there are some cut marks where it's broken."
"Take me to see it." Pei Xingju said.
Chen Yi nodded and led him in. Jingzhao Yin Fengfu Yin saw him and hurried over to bow, "Master Pei."
In just ten days, Lord Feng seemed to have lost weight and looked much more haggard, with sunken eye sockets and dark circles under his eyes. This case must have kept him restless for days.
Pei Xingju didn't have time to pay attention to him. He walked to the side of the Buddha statue, squatted down, and took a closer look. He did find traces of human cutting. The traces were not very obvious, and it seemed that only a small piece was cut to cause it to collapse.
Thinking of something, Pei Xingju immediately turned his head to look at the pool of blood under the Buddha statue. He walked over and touched some with his finger.
Shen Yi asked, "What's wrong?"
Pei Xingju looked at Feng Fuyin: "Where is the body?"
"I asked his family to take him away." said Feng Fuyin.
"Such a serious matter, the body is the evidence, and you actually let someone take it away?" Pei Xingju sneered: "I think you don't want to be an official anymore."
"Master Pei, please don't scare me," Feng Fuyin said. "I'm just following the procedures. I've already had the body examined by the coroner, and there's nothing wrong. Since there's no problem, the family can naturally take it away."
Pei Xingju glanced at him, didn't want to say anything more, and turned and left immediately.
"Hey hey hey... Lord Pei, you don't care anymore?" Feng Fuyin wiped his sweat and asked.
"You are the governor of Kyoto. This matter is not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice."
After saying this, Pei Xingju took Zhuang Wan away.
Chen Yi caught up with him and asked, "Where are you going? Are you leaving now?"
"Send someone to retrieve the body immediately." Pei Xingju said to him, "I suspect there's something wrong with the body."
"What's the problem?"
"The blood beneath the Buddha statue is not human blood."
Shen Yi was startled and nodded quickly: "I'll go right away!"
After Chen Yi left, Zhuang Wan asked, "It wasn't human blood? But...didn't it hit someone?"
"It did hit someone, but it wasn't a living person." Pei Xingju said in a deep voice, "Perhaps, the grandfather and grandson had already been killed."
When Zhuang Wan heard this, she couldn't help but tremble all over and felt a chill in her heart.
Pei Xingju felt it and squeezed her hand: "Are you okay?"
Zhuang Wan drooped her eyelashes and felt a tightness in her chest.
It wasn't anyone else who died, but rather the elderly and children, as if it were carefully planned. The elderly, the weak, women, and children are the ones who most evoke pity and sympathy. If it had been a beggar, perhaps the people wouldn't have been so angry. But it was a mother and daughter, a grandparent and a grandchild...
Before this, listening to the angry words of the people around, it can be seen that the purpose of the people behind the scenes has been achieved, and they have successfully achieved the effect they wanted.
"Pei Xingju," she whispered, "You can definitely help them get justice, right?"
Pei Xingju understood who these "they" were referring to. After a moment's hesitation, he nodded and said, "I promise you."
.
The golden Buddha statue collapsed again, and the people condemned the Queen Mother for her cruelty. The voices of condemnation were so loud that they seemed to be heard even in Yongning Palace.
This was obviously putting the Empress Dowager on the spot. She was originally just suffering from a minor cold, but she fell ill on the bed due to anger.
The Empress Dowager's illness made Liang Yixin even more busy. Coincidentally, someone from the Duke of Xin's residence came to ask Liang Yixin to return home, saying that the Duke's wife was ill and needed her to go back to care for her. Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager sneered and unceremoniously sent the person away.
He said directly: "I like Xin'er very much. Let her stay in the palace to keep me company."
This statement clearly meant that Liang Yixin was to be detained in the palace.
When the Duke's wife found out, she burst into tears and started arguing with Duke Xin: "Xin'er is my only child. If anything happens to her, I will die!"
Duke Xin was impatient and simply stayed in his concubine's room for several days.
Turning back, he asked his staff, "What happened to Chong'an Temple? It's clearly not the right time yet, why is it collapsing now?"
According to the plan, Duke Xin planned to add another fire two days before the start of the court session, so that he could take advantage of the blaze and preemptively attack the enemy in the court. However, unexpectedly, the Buddha statue in Chong'an Temple had a problem.
Although the problem was not serious and it happened earlier than expected, there was something strange about the matter.
The aide said, "I find this strange too and am sending someone to investigate."
"Check it quickly. Don't let anything go wrong at this time."
"Oh right..." He remembered something and asked again, "Is there any news about the prince?"
"We didn't find any trace of the prince, but we did find some other things."
"What?"
The staff had originally not planned to hand the things over to him now. After all, Duke Xin was so anxious about the Hezhou affairs these days that he was fussing at his mouth. But now that he asked, they had no choice but to take out the things they had found before.
"These are the account books we obtained from Liuli City earlier," the staff member handed them over. "They were all managed by a man named Shen Zongji. Later, Shen Zongji died, and these were found in his house."
Duke Xin flipped through the pages and looked even uglier at the end. "What do you mean? Liuli City actually has a secret account?"
"This..." the staff member said hurriedly, "Perhaps this account book was tampered with by that man named Shen Zongji, and the prince is unaware of it."
"Humph! Liuli City is his place, how could he not know?" His eyes were heavy. "Send someone else to investigate this matter, and make sure it's thorough."
"By the way, don't let anyone else know for now. If you find anything, report it to me quietly."
"good."
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