29. Open the coffin
No one knows whether Old Master Liu is dead or not.
Now, apart from the Liu family, no one has ever seen Old Master Liu's body.
The inner prison was quiet and a little depressing. Yun Yang waved his hand, and all the spies in the room retreated silently.
He suddenly stood up and paced around the room: "Old Master Liu is not dead. We must have found the key point. The Liu family is panicking and can only use this method to force us to stop."
Chen Ji feigned surprise and said, "Old Master Liu isn't dead? No way! Would the Liu family lie about something as important as this? I see that Liu is clearly in great sorrow."
Yun Yang sneered, "Officials across the government and the country have done even more outrageous things in their quest for power. It's not surprising that a ninety-year-old man faked his death to protect his family's descendants. And then there's Liu Mingxian. Those civil servants are used to posturing."
As he said that, he turned to look at Chen Ji: "What do you think I should do?"
Chen Ji lowered his eyes and replied after a moment: "Open the coffin and perform an autopsy."
Yun Yang was shocked. "Old Master Liu is the current Empress Dowager's biological father. I have no problem investigating the Liu family, but opening his coffin is courting death! I just realized that you are braver than me. What if he is really dead?"
Chen Ji held the Bagua Lantern in his hands and looked up at Yun Yang. "Master Yun Yang, even if Old Master Liu is truly dead, would you be willing to accept this without opening the coffin and taking a look?"
Yun Yang paced quickly around the room, quickly thinking about all the possibilities after opening the coffin and conducting an autopsy. Finally, he stopped and said word by word with certainty: "Open the coffin and conduct an autopsy!"
At this time, a cold wind blew from the depths of the inner prison, causing the Bagua lamp in Chen Ji's hand to sway.
Just now, Chen Ji only took Bingliu from cells A and B, and did not dare to check on the cells of other numbers.
But at this time, as the cold wind swept across, the icy streams from cells C, D, E, and F deeper in the inner prison were ready to move and were rushing up on their own!
There was a faint tendency for the ice flow in Chen Ji's body to be unable to be suppressed!
It's not advisable to stay here for long.
Chen Ji stood up and walked out: "Master Yunyang, I've been out for so long, my master must be worried, please take me back first."
Yun Yang smiled sinisterly and said, "You came up with the idea. You want to leave now? Let's go together. It's not appropriate to bring other coroners with you. You happen to have some talent in autopsies. If Old Master Liu is in the coffin, you can also investigate his cause of death. If something really goes wrong, no one can escape."
Chen Ji hesitated: "Master Yunyang, the credit belongs to you and Master Jiaotu. I was just offering advice."
"What if I don't take you with me and your plan ends up killing us?" Yun Yang sneered, "Let's go quickly and pick up Jiaotu. We need to reach the Liu family's ancestral tomb before nightfall."
Yunyang and Jiaotu are not good at catching spies, but they are good at protecting themselves, shifting the blame, and taking credit.
He blindfolded Chen Ji again and asked in surprise, "Why do you always hold this Bagua lamp?"
As he said that, he snatched it away and put it back where it belonged.
Chen Ji let Yun Yang pull his clothes and stumbled out of the inner prison.
In the wobbly carriage, he sat upright and gritted his teeth. Without the Bagua lamp, Bingliu became unbridled.
The gray cloth curtains of the car windows were blown up by the wind from time to time, and the setting sun outside the window shone on his face, but he could not feel any warmth.
After an unknown amount of time, someone lifted the carriage curtain, and a cold fragrance filled the air. Jiaotu got inside and asked, "Hey, Yunyang, why are you bringing this kid with you?"
Yun Yang was driving the carriage in front: "It was this guy who came up with the idea, so of course we have to take him along."
Jiaotu pulled off Chenji's blindfold and plucked the cotton from his ears. She asked curiously, "Yunyang, I heard you exiled all the jailers in Luocheng's inner prison to Lingnan. I bet Prisoner won't be mad at you for taking matters into your own hands. After all, the inner prison is her territory."
Yun Yang sneered, "She should think about how to face the wrath of the Minister of Internal Affairs. The inner prison has been infiltrated like a sieve, and information is leaking out at will. I will definitely report her for this matter."
Jiaotu pondered, "But being exiled to Lingnan is very hard. It's a long way to go. I heard malaria is rampant there. If you get it, you will suffer for several days before dying."
Yun Yang was stunned for a moment: "Ah...what should I do then?"
"Just kill him in Luocheng, why run so far?" Jiaotu said seriously.
"That makes sense."
After saying that, Jiaotu looked at Chen Ji and said seriously again: "You won't cheat us, right? If you do, we will die."
Chen Ji laughed and said, "Master Jiaotu, if I cheat you and Master Yunyang, who am I going to make money from?"
"That's good to know!" Jiaotu said with a smile. She raised her wrist and put it close to Chen Ji's nose: "Smell the incense I just bought at the Daughter Pavilion. Is it fragrant? It's expensive."
Yunyang frowned: "What do you want him to smell?!"
Jiaotu glanced at him and said, "Drive your car and mind your own business."
Yun Yang was so angry that he shut up.
Along the way, Chen Ji saw white paper money scattered all over the ground. It was the money thrown into the sky by the Liu family on the day of the funeral.
Yun Yang said disdainfully, "They lived in luxury while alive, yet they have to scatter so much paper money after death. They want to continue to enjoy wealth and glory in the other side, yet you don't see that poor students can't even afford paper."
Jiaotu said jokingly, "Seeing how much you hate evil, you should ask the Minister of Internal Affairs to transfer you to the Chief Criminal Department. They are investigating corrupt officials every day."
"I'm not going. The Chief Criminal Division is a bunch of old-fashioned people. They're so boring."
…
…
At night, Yunyang and Jiaotu took over driving, and he got into the car to guard Chenji.
"Oh, right," Yun Yang looked directly into Chen Ji's eyes. "During interrogation, the Liu family member said that Liu Shiyu had a very close relationship with a prominent figure in Prince Jing's Mansion. I suspect Prince Jing's Mansion is also involved, and there may even be Jing Dynasty spies operating in the mansion... Have you found any clues in the mansion?"
Chen Ji's heart tightened. "Master Yunyang, are you sure there are spies in the palace?"
The air in the carriage suddenly froze, as if an invisible hand was pulling at everyone.
Yun Yang asked thoughtfully, "Do you think Imperial Physician Yao could be a spy for the Jing Dynasty? He's highly respected in the Imperial Hospital in the capital, and many dignitaries want him to come for consultations. Even the Emperor wanted to summon him to the palace to reside permanently. But he refused and actually ran to Luocheng three years ago to become the Imperial Physician for Prince Jing's Mansion... Don't you think that's strange?"
"Strange," Chen Ji asked curiously, "Has my master changed in these years?"
"Dr. Yao is known in the capital for his harshness, but the Minister of Internal Affairs once said that he was not like this in his early years. Back then, Dr. Yao was kind and generous, even willing to treat patients for free."
Chen Ji pondered for a moment. "I don't think my master is a spy. Previously, someone in the palace wanted to see him for a consultation, but he refused to go. If he was a spy, how could he give up the opportunity to meet such an important figure in the palace?"
"That makes sense," Yun Yang paced forward again. "What about your two fellow apprentices? I've checked them out. Liu Quxing is from a branch of the Liu family. Is he a possibility?"
Chen Ji took a deep breath, a puzzled look on his face: "Master Yunyang, you are not doubting me in a roundabout way, are you?"
Yun Yang laughed and said, "How could it be you? I have absolute trust in you, I just want you to be careful with the people around you."
Jiaotu suddenly said, "Park the carriage in the woods nearby. We're almost at the Liu family's ancestral tomb. Let's go over this mountain and walk there."
The three of them got off the car and climbed along the mountain road beside the official road to the top of Zhuangyuan Mountain.
Yunyang and Jiaotu were running very fast. Chen Ji originally thought that he would be exhausted and out of breath, but he didn't expect that he didn't even break a sweat when he reached the top of the mountain.
He lay on the hill, panting heavily, and asked exhaustedly, "Can we see the Liu family's ancestral tomb from here?"
Yunyang pointed forward and said, "That's it, the highest point of Beimang."
Chen Ji propped himself up and looked around, only to see that at the highest point of Beimang Mountain there were a series of stone tablets and stone-built tombs, stretching for dozens of acres. The Liu family's ancestral tomb was very magnificent.
In front of each tomb, there are stone men, stone sheep, stone tigers, and stone watchtowers. Some of the tombs are more than ten feet high!
You must know that the Ning Dynasty had a strict hierarchy. Ordinary people were not allowed to ride in sedan chairs, common people were not allowed to wear boots, and non-officials were not allowed to wear conical hats. Every written law and decree proclaimed the etiquette and hierarchy.
For example, the Liu family's tombs are more than ten feet high, and the emperor must have been of the third rank or above during his lifetime.
Yun Yang looked at the ancestral tombs and sighed, "My Ning Dynasty's civil servant family has been a noble family for thousands of years, riding on the heads of the common people and drinking their blood, accumulating a huge fortune, which is why we can achieve such glory."
Chen Ji subconsciously felt that something was wrong. How could the Ning Dynasty have lasted for a thousand years? This was an incredible thing. According to the laws of history, it was impossible.
Unless there is external force.
At this time, Jiaotu said, "There's indeed something fishy about the death of the old man of the Liu family. Look at the ancestral tomb. There are actually hundreds of private soldiers stationed there, and there may even be officials guarding it. The last time we sent spies to Luocheng to investigate, we investigated here. At that time, there were only about ten people stationed at the Liu family ancestral tomb."
"Then we can't force our way in," Yunyang frowned and looked at Jiaotu, "You take action? I can't open the coffin."
Jiaotu glanced at Chen Ji and said, "Blindfold him and turn his back to me. You guard me."
Chen Ji turned his back on his own initiative. He understood that the way an official practices cultivation should not be known to others.
But after he blindfolded himself, Jiaotu sat cross-legged on the top of the mountain, drew the dagger from his waist and cut his eyebrows.
Yunyang cut his own finger and put the finishing touches on more than ten paper shadow puppets, staying closely beside Jiaotu.
The next moment, a shadow suddenly emerged from between Jiaotu's eyebrows and broke away from her body like a crab shedding its shell.
The shadow stood still, looking exactly like Jiaotu, but wearing black light armor, holding a Qinglong Yanyue Sword in his hand that was taller than a human!
The Jiaotu deity remained motionless, while the Yin spirit looked at Yunyang and said, "I'm going."
After saying that, the Yin God walked to the cliff and jumped down, landing on the treetops at the foot of the mountain as light as a feather. Each jump could easily cross more than ten big trees and head straight for the Liu family's ancestral tomb!
Gradually, the sky became completely dark, and the Yin Spirit merged into the night.
When the Jiaotu Yin Spirit arrived in front of the tomb of the old man of the Liu family, it took advantage of everyone's inattention and crashed straight into the stone tomb!
The stone wall seemed to not exist!
After a long time, the Yin Spirit quickly retreated and disappeared into Jiaotu's brow. She suddenly opened her eyes and said in surprise, "There is really no one in the coffin!"
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