84. Seize the throne
An old case from the Imperial Household Department, a vicious killer, and the prince of Prince Jing's Mansion.
The clues are intertwined together, but they do not make the puzzle of the truth clearer... Instead, it becomes more blurred.
Is there something wrong with the prince?
What caused the Wu family massacre and why was the murderer so vicious to the mistress of the Wu family?
Who is the killer?
After searching all night, I didn't get any answers, but instead had more questions.
The inner prison's filing cabinet was silent, the flames of the oil lamps burning straight, as if the air had stopped circulating.
It wasn't until the wick crackled and emitted tiny sparks that Xifeng whispered, "Sir, let's not touch this case for now. Let's wait until Master Jinzhu comes back."
Chen Ji, sitting across from the table, hummed and said with a smile, "This is definitely not a case we can handle. You and I will just treat it as the work of a ghost and not pursue it any further."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the flame of the oil lamp on the table flickering, and a cold wind was blowing up from the depths of the prison.
Chen Ji felt the icy stream surging from the depths of the inner prison. Just like last time, as long as he stayed in this inner prison long enough, the icy stream would naturally come to him.
Xifeng felt the cold wind and immediately stood up alertly, drawing his sword and looking coldly at the source of the cold wind: "Sir, did you feel that gust of cold wind just now?"
Chen Ji laughed: "I thought you really didn't believe in ghosts in this world."
Xifeng was embarrassed for a moment. "Everyone says there are ghosts. Although I've never seen one, I'm always wondering about them. There are even gods in this world, so what if there really are ghosts?"
This time it was Chen Ji's turn to be stunned: "Do immortals really exist? Have you ever seen one?"
Xifeng whispered, "Xu Shu, the deputy director of the Imperial Observatory of the Daning Dynasty, is a reincarnated immortal."
"Huh," Chen Ji was surprised. He had heard of this name.
On the previous Double Ninth Festival, when the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas paraded past the Taiping Clinic, Master had mentioned this Xu Shu. It was said that he was the only son of Xu Gong, the elder Xu. After his accidental death, Xu spent a large sum of money to have the abbot of Yuanjue Temple create a flesh-and-blood body for him using a seven-treasure lotus lantern, allowing him to be reborn.
How come when he got to Xifengkou, the other party turned out to be a reincarnated immortal?
Chen Ji asked in confusion, "I remember he was the son of Lord Xu, right? How did he become a deity?"
Xifeng thought for a moment and then said, "I don't know how he became an immortal, but this is what Master Wu Xiu told Master Jinzhu himself. Many people in the Imperial Household Department heard it. Master Wu Xiu wouldn't say anything nonsense."
"Wu Xiu?"
"I am the Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, now serving His Majesty, and a highly respected figure in the inner court. Let's go, sir. It's getting late. I'll take you back."
Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "Would you mind if Xifeng stepped aside for a moment? I want to take advantage of the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone in the inner prison to write a letter to a friend."
Xifeng said, "Okay sir, I'll wait for you outside."
Chen Ji picked up the brush from the table, carefully considered his tone, and wrote a letter on a piece of paper.
After the writing dried, he folded the letter in half and stuffed it into his sleeve.
After leaving the inner prison, Xifeng helped Chen Ji into the car.
I don’t know how long the carriage shook and swayed before it finally dropped him off on the side of the road in the East Market.
The carriage slowly drove away. Chen Ji gently took off the black cloth from his eyes, and his thin figure turned his head to look at the back of the carriage.
Chen Ji walked back for a long time, making sure that no one was following him, before he found a little beggar lying by the roadside.
He squatted beside the beggar and fed him gently.
The little beggar opened his eyes and saw the masked Chen
, and immediately shrank into a corner of fear: "Don't catch me..."
Chen Ji stretched out his hand, opened his palm, and revealed twenty copper coins in his palm.
The little beggar immediately reached out to grab it, but saw Chen Ji close his palm again and retract his hand. He pulled out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to the little beggar: "Send this letter to Taiping Medical Clinic tomorrow, and I will give you 20 copper coins tomorrow night. Remember, Taiping Medical Clinic."
The little beggar nodded quickly: "Okay, sir, I'll deliver it tomorrow morning!"
There was sporadic snow falling from the sky again, lightly landing between Chen Ji's hair.
The little beggar suddenly said, "Sir, please give me a copper coin so I can buy some bread. Otherwise, I can't stand it."
In the hazy night, Chen Ji threw down two copper coins, turned around, put his hands in his sleeves, and walked west.
…
…
Early in the morning, Anxi Street becomes bustling.
Liang Maoer, wearing a cotton-padded jacket, walked to the door of the clinic with sleepy eyes. He saw the palace's servants carrying buckets of salt and sprinkling them on the snow-covered bluestone road.
He wondered why the king was willing to spread salt, which cost thirty cents a pound, all over the street today when he only swept the snow in front of his house yesterday?
Not only that, Jianpu also carried a basket and distributed handfuls of red Yanmen dates to each household in the neighborhood, which was particularly festive.
Someone in the clinic asked curiously, "What is this for?"
Liang Maoer looked back and saw Chen Ji and Liu Quxing also dressed and came to the door.
At this time, Xibing passed by the Taiping Clinic with a basket in her hand. She came forward with a smile and said, "Chen Ji, put your clothes in your pockets. I'll give you some more dates."
Chen Ji smiled and lifted up the hem of his clothes, and the wedding cake girl poured half a basket into the hem of his clothes in one breath.
Liu Quxing suddenly felt jealous: "Miss Xibing, why are you so nice to Chen Ji? Pour some for me too!"
Xibing rolled his eyes at him and said, "This is for all of you. If you want some, go grab some from Chenji. Let's go. There are still many other families to distribute it to."
Chen Ji looked at the figure of the wedding cake girl from behind and asked doubtfully, "Is there a big happy event in the palace?"
Liu Quxing thought for a moment and said, "Is the prince coming back? The neighbors on Anxi Street all say that when the prince is around, the palace is very generous, but when he's not around, they become stingy..."
As he was speaking, he saw the strong servants fetching bamboo brooms and sweeping the long street spotlessly, as if there had been no snow.
There was a sound of climbing over the wall in the backyard, and the princess shouted, "Who took the ladder away? Help, bring the ladder over here."
Liu Quxing hurried to the back and said, "I'll do it, I'll do it!"
Chen Ji looked back and saw the princess climbing down the ladder. Standing at the foot of the courtyard wall, she untied the small purse hanging from her waist, took out a silver coin and handed it to Liu Quxing: "Buy six baskets of meat buns and four baskets of vegetarian buns. I saw Brother Mao'er eat four baskets by himself yesterday and he still wasn't full. Buy some more today."
Liang Mao'er smiled innocently and said, "The princess truly has a kind heart."
As soon as he finished speaking, a dirty little beggar, dressed in rags, holding a letter, tried to rush into the clinic.
Liang Mao'er quickly grabbed him by the back of his neck and asked, "What are you doing?"
The little beggar hurriedly said, "Someone asked me to deliver a letter here. There will be a reward if I deliver it!"
Chen Ji took the letter, spread it open and read: "My brother, the Crown Prince, respectfully received... A letter to the Crown Prince?"
He walked to the backyard with a calm expression and handed the letter to the prince: "Prince, this is a letter for you."
"For me?" The prince took the letter in surprise, and his expression became gloomy after just two glances.
Chen Ji carefully observed the prince's expression and asked curiously, "Prince, who wrote the letter? You don't seem very happy?"
The prince sighed, "It was Zhang Ping, Wang Quan, Wang Wu, and Li Bo who drank with us earlier. They... they have to leave Luocheng for something, so they can't drink with us anymore."
Chen Ji suddenly felt that the prince didn't seem to know that these four people were dead.
The letter was written by Chen Ji. He wrote this letter to see how the prince would react when he saw a dead person writing to him.
If the prince knew that these four people were dead, no matter how realistic the other party's performance was, there would always be some doubt in his eyes.
But the prince's first reaction was not doubt, but sadness.
As they were talking, even Bai Li came over. After reading the letter, she looked disdainful and said, "These people left because they couldn't face us. Why are you so sad, brother?"
The prince said softly, "After all, we were friends for a while."
Chen Ji suddenly felt that the prince should be fine.
Let's talk about the first point first. The night before, Jin Zhu led the Jiefan Guards to surround Hongyi Lane. The Jingchao Military Intelligence Department had clearly received the news in advance. Even the madam of Jinfang and Miss Yan'er had escaped, but the prince still foolishly walked into the trap. This is not normal at all.
Secondly, the prince has been in Donglin Academy for three years. If he is really ambitious and courageous, he should be patient and make friends with scholars instead of going to the tavern at the foot of the mountain every day to make friends with people from all walks of life.
etc.
Chen Ji suddenly felt that he might have been thinking in the wrong direction: the prince went to the Golden Square in Hongyi Lane not necessarily because he wanted to go there, but because the four people in the martial arts world knew that the Golden Pig was going to surround the Golden Square and deliberately led the prince there.
If the Crown Prince was arrested and imprisoned, who in the palace would benefit from this? Naturally, it would be Concubine Jing and Concubine Yun.
Prince Jing is obviously still fertile. If the only son in the mansion dies, he will naturally find a way to have another child to continue the family line. At that time, the one who inherits the title of Prince Jing will be the offspring of Concubine Jing and Concubine Yun.
And who in Prince Jing's mansion would have received the news of the impending siege of Jinfang in advance? Concubine Yun!
A chill suddenly rose in Chen Ji's heart!
Concubine Yun!
If the whole thing was planned by Concubine Yun to send the prince to the inner prison in order to seize the throne, and then sent people to kill four people from the martial arts world to silence them, it seems that many things make sense.
He had heard about the ferocity of the fight for the throne in ancient times, but he had only regarded it as an artistic processing of the story in novels and had never really experienced it himself.
And now, he truly felt the cruelty of the fight for the throne in the royal palace.
No, no.
Chen Ji turned around and laughed at himself for his wild guesses... You have to know that Bai Li was also in Jinfang the night before yesterday. Bai Li is Concubine Yun's biological daughter. Even if the other party wanted to seize the throne, she would not sacrifice her own daughter.
Moreover, what if the entire palace is implicated after the prince is arrested and thrown into the inner prison?
Chen Ji gave up this conjecture.
Bai Li came over and saw that he seemed to be lost in thought, so he asked in confusion, "What are you thinking about? I see you're not in a good mood."
Chen Ji smiled and said, "It's okay. I'm in a good mood, especially good."
As he spoke, Liang Mao'er carried a tall steamer, steaming with white steam, and trotted back to the clinic: "Chen Ji, Princess, come and have some buns."
Chen Ji smiled and replied, "Coming."
He looked at the prince, then at Bai Li. As long as the prince was not a cunning and vicious person, it would be fine.
(End of this chapter)
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