Chapter 61 Murder Case 3 Isn't that female disciple the Empress Duofu?
In just one night, Yuan Chenghao seemed to have aged ten years.
He was originally in high spirits, but now he looks old and exhausted, which shows how much he is afraid of facing Chen Wan.
Seeing that he had relaxed, Xie Wuhen naturally treated him with courtesy.
He asked Wu Sheng to remove the torture instruments from him and brought him an official chair so that he could sit and talk.
Yuan Chenghao sat down on the chair, lowered his head and sighed, then continued, "You're right. That old man Zeng did come to Mingyue Mountain to look for me twice before he disappeared. Both times, he came in a rage, and all he could do was curse his unworthy disciple."
Xie Wuhen paused: "What happened to his apprentice?"
"It's a long story. Zeng Laoer took in two apprentices, a boy and a girl. The girl was an orphan he found while picking tea in the mountains. She was parentless and helpless, so Zeng Laoer took pity on her and raised her under his wing. The boy was Zeng Laoer's nephew. He heard that Zeng Laoer's brother had died and his sister-in-law had divorced, and the nephew had nowhere to go, so he followed him. Day after day, year after year, the apprentices grew up and learned the skills of making and boiling tea. By chance, the girl was noticed by an official family, who wanted to hire her as a tea master to stay in their mansion. This was a promising future that ordinary people could only dream of. Zeng Laoer naturally let her go, but the boy was reluctant to let her go, and he had a big fight with Zeng Laoer."
"Is this the reason why Zeng Wusheng went to Mingyue Mountain to look for you, Master?"
Yuan Chenghao shook his head and continued, "Two years later, the female apprentice's advanced tea art earned her the master's appreciation and she was sent to the palace to serve the emperor. Who would have thought that an orphan girl without a father or mother and no one to rely on would be able to soar to such a high position?"
There was a glint in Xie Wuhen's eyes. Wasn't that female disciple Empress Duofu?
She was indeed learning tea making from Zeng Wusheng.
"What happened next?" he asked.
"Later..." Yuan Chenghao laughed bitterly. "About two or three years later, Zeng Laoer suddenly received an urgent letter from the palace. It was written by a female disciple, saying that she was being persecuted by a villain and wanted to secretly leave the palace. She asked Zeng Laoer if he could take her in."
He sighed deeply, "Although Old Zeng is a kind man, he's also a coward. That's the Imperial Palace. Let's not even talk about the crime of leaving the palace without permission. Just picking any of the 'traitors' in there would wipe out his entire clan, wouldn't they? So, Old Zeng got scared and refused the female disciple's request. But the male disciple refused to give in and insisted on going to pick up his junior sister. The two of them argued furiously over this, and Old Zeng was so angry he had nowhere to vent his anger that he came to Mingyue Mountain to confide in me."
Xie Wuhen became more and more certain of his guess.
Perhaps Empress Duofu planned to escape from the palace because she knew that the Empress and Concubine Shu were planning to murder her.
He then asked, "Zeng Wusheng came to Mingyue Mountain to look for you twice. Was it both times for this matter?"
Yuan Chenghao nodded. "That's right, but the situations were different the first time. The first time, Zeng Laoer was just full of complaints, complaining about the male disciple's ignorance of the seriousness of the matter. But the second time, his emotions were obviously more intense. He even said that the male disciple was determined to go to the capital to pick up the female disciple. In his anger, he had to imprison the male disciple."
"Did the male disciple finally go to pick up the female disciple?"
"I don't know either." Yuan Chenghao shook his head with a sad look in his eyes. "I never saw Zeng Laoer again after that, and I don't know how this matter ended. After about a few months, I saw that there was still no news from Zeng Laoer, so I went down the mountain to Liuyang Mountain where Zeng Laoer lived to inquire about the situation, but I didn't know..." He choked and couldn't continue.
"What happened?"
Yuan Chenghao paused and took a deep breath. "Mr. Zeng died in the underground secret room of his residence. It was winter, and his body... was completely rotten, with insects and ants everywhere..."
"Did you notice how he died?"
"I remember there were a lot of dried blood on the floor tiles, and a tea knife was thrown next to the body. Perhaps... he was hacked to death?"
"Cha Dao!" Xie Wuhen asked again, "Where is that male disciple?"
Yuan Chenghao shook his head: "I didn't see any male disciples, let alone any female disciples. The whole house was empty."
He paused and said, "However, in that underground secret room, I saw some broken iron chains. I guess they were used by Zeng Laoer to imprison his male apprentice."
Xie Wuhen frowned: "The male disciple ran away?"
Yuan Chenghao still shook his head: "I don't know."
"Since you had already discovered Zeng Wusheng's body, why did you conceal it? Why didn't you report it to the authorities?"
Yuan Chenghao smiled bitterly. "Even if we report this to the authorities, Zeng Lao'er won't survive. Besides, he was a renowned tea master in Liang State. How could I bear to let others know...his untimely death? I also believe Zeng Lao'er himself wouldn't want anyone to know the manner of his death. It's just like...I didn't want to see Chen Wan. Although we live in poverty, we still want to maintain some dignity. Therefore, I kept this a secret, buried him secretly, and returned to Mingyue Mountain. I never mentioned it to anyone again."
Finally, he sighed, "I have told you everything I know. I have nothing else to say."
"Sir, do you know the name of Zeng Wusheng's male disciple?"
"I haven't asked about this, but it's definitely the Zeng surname." Yuan Chenghao then asked, "Could it be that the Master wants to track down that male disciple?"
Xie Wuhen admitted: "That's right, but there are no clues yet."
Yuan Chenghao thought for a moment and said, "There's something I want to know. I wonder if it could be considered a clue."
"What is it?"
"I once heard Mr. Zeng casually mention that all the men in the Zeng family suffer from a hereditary migraine disease. Any doctor can diagnose this."
Xie Wuhen's expression brightened, and he said, "Thank you, sir."
He then had someone send Yuan Chenghao a set of clean clothes and a bag of silver. After some polite exchanges, he sent Yuan Chenghao out of the Dali Temple prison.
After all the planning, I finally got some results.
Wu Sheng also breathed a sigh of relief: "I didn't expect this old donkey to be so honest after he gave in."
Then he sighed again, "I never expected Zeng Wusheng to have passed away so many years ago."
Xie Wuhen answered irrelevantly and ordered in a cold voice: "Go to the palace to find the imperial physician Qi Huai."
Wu Sheng was puzzled: "What do you want to do, boss?"
Xie Wuhen replied: "Go to Wuyou Teahouse and take Zeng Wusheng's pulse."
When Xie Wuhen arrived at the gate of Wuyou Teahouse with the imperial physician's order, Zeng Yidao on the third floor had already spotted him from the window.
At that time, the sky was gloomy and dark clouds covered the sun. A cold wind swept over from the other side of the street, making his clothes rustle and adding a sense of arrogance and murderousness to his figure.
Zeng Yidao sighed, "It's going to rain again."
He remembered that the last time the Shaoqing came, it was also a rainy day.
He turned and walked to the tea table, took out a porcelain bottle from the secret drawer, poured out a pill, swallowed it with the tea, and then returned the porcelain bottle to its original place.
When Xie Wuhen walked into the tea room, he had already boiled new tea on the stove.
He stood up to greet him: "I didn't expect that the Shaoqing would be free to come over for tea today. I apologize for not welcoming you in person. I hope you will forgive me."
Xie Wuhen also responded politely: "Mr. Zeng, you are too polite. However, I didn't come here for tea today."
Zeng Yidao looked outside the teahouse in a puzzled manner.
Standing outside the tea room were several of Xie Wuhen's followers and the imperial physician Qi Huai.
He recognized the Imperial Hospital official uniform immediately, but his expression remained calm. "I wonder why the Shaoqing has come here so specially?"
Xie Wuhen smiled, but his smile was distant: "It's not a particularly important matter, I just wanted to take Mr. Zeng's pulse."
Zeng Yidao was stunned for a moment and asked, "Why?"
Xie Wuhen replied perfunctorily: "Due to the needs of the investigation, I would like to ask for Mr. Zeng's cooperation."
Then he called out, "Master Qi, come in."
Hearing the sound, Qi Huai walked into the room carrying a medicine box, glanced at Xie Wuhen, and then looked at Zeng Yidao.
Zeng Yidao was still puzzled: "Zeng is in good health, why is he taking my pulse?"
Then he asked, "Could it be that... Your Excellency suspects Zeng of having violated any law?"
Xie Wuhen's tone was calm, yet it contained a hint of cruelty: "Mr. Zeng, don't worry too much, just follow my orders." Then he winked at Qi Huai.
Qi Huai understood and stepped forward to nod towards Zeng Yidao, "I hope Mr. Zeng will sit in the official hat chair and allow me to carefully feel his pulse."
Although Zeng Yidao couldn't resist, he still bowed elegantly with his fists clasped together, then sat down on the official hat chair inside the room. Qi Huai also moved a chair to sit beside him, put down the pulse pillow, and began to feel his pulse.
While taking the pulse, a strong wind was blowing outside.
The sky was covered with dark clouds, and the trees seemed to be uprooted. A pot of flowers on the terrace was blown down with a "bang", and the soil and flowers in the pot were scattered all over the ground.
Then there was a loud thunder and the rain poured down.
This summer, it seems to rain a lot.
Xie Wuhen raised his eyes to look at the sky outside the house, remembering that it was a rainy day like this the last time he came to this teahouse. He also remembered that his wife played chess and drank tea with Mr. Zeng on such a rainy day. He felt inexplicably stuffy in his chest.
Forget it, don’t think about it anymore. He turned to look at Qi Huai who was taking his pulse.
Qi Huai had just finished taking the pulse and was standing up to nod towards Xie Wuhen. "Thank you, sir. If my diagnosis is correct, Mr. Zeng should be fine."
Zeng Yidao also stood up and bowed humbly again: "Thank you, sir."
Then he nodded and saluted towards Xie Wuhen: "Zeng is indeed in good health. No matter why the Shaoqing suspects me, Zeng has a clear conscience."
Xie Wuhen stared at him inquiringly, his tone still indifferent: "I'm sorry for disturbing you this time, I hope Mr. Zeng will not be offended."
Zeng Yi replied, "Your Excellency, you are too kind." He glanced at the sky outside and said, "It's raining heavily right now. How about I make some tea for you and your companions so we can leave when the rain subsides?"
Xie Wuhen refused bluntly: "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Zeng, but I still have official business to attend to, so I'll take my leave first." After saying that, he stopped talking nonsense, clasped his fists and bowed, then led everyone down to the third floor.
Zeng Yidao watched the group leave, a hint of cruelty surfacing in his usually gentle eyes...
When Xie Wuhen reached the entrance of the teahouse lobby, he paused, looked up at the rain in front of him, and asked Qi Huai beside him: "I have something I want to ask you, sir."
Qi Huai replied respectfully: "Thank you, sir, if you have anything to ask, please feel free to ask."
"I wonder if there is any medicine in this world that can mask the pulse condition?"
Qi Huai smiled and said, "People come to see doctors to seek medical treatment. Why would they deliberately conceal their pulse in front of the doctor?"
He replied, "What if it's to hide his illness from others?"
Qi Huai was startled, then turned his head to look at the staircase leading to the third floor. He seemed to understand something: "Such unorthodox methods do exist." He sighed and said, "To be honest, I once had a useless senior brother who delved into this method and was expelled from the sect because of it."
"May I ask where this senior brother is now, sir?"
Qi Huai sighed again, "I heard he opened a pharmacy in West City called 'Cure All Diseases'. I haven't seen him in years, so I don't know if it's still open."
Xie Wuhen's expression slightly restrained, he already knew what was going on, and said, "Thank you, sir."
Then the group got on their respective carriages and gradually left the Wuyou Teahouse.
As soon as he entered the public housing, Xie Wuhen ordered Wu Sheng: "Hurry up and go to the West City to check the medicine shop called 'Qubaibing'."
Wu Sheng clasped his fists and replied "Yes", then turned and left.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
