Chapter 152 The Great Secret
With the death of the owner of Lelai Tower, the turmoil in Yuyin Pavilion was completely settled.
This result was beyond the expectations of many people.
The owner of Lelailou has been working for the Han Palace for nearly ten years.
Over the past ten years, Lelailou alone has earned countless amounts of money for the Han Palace.
It can be said that the label of the Prince of Han's Palace is firmly attached to her.
Because of this background, even some dignitaries in Chang'an, or officials below the fourth rank in the court, had to give her some face.
With the reputation of the Prince of Han's Palace, she has been acting recklessly over the years.
Some small music halls and brothels would finally cultivate a famous girl, but she would soon be poached by her.
If they don't cooperate, after a while, the girl, or even the brothel owner, will disappear inexplicably and be out of people's sight.
No one expected that the one who died after getting into trouble with Yuyin Pavilion this time was Manager Sun.
Some of the inside stories have long been known to everyone.
Lelai Tower is used to being domineering, and this time it has set its sights on Yuyin Pavilion.
Although the rumors about the master of Yuyin Pavilion and the son of the Dali Temple Minister were proven to be false, out of caution, even Tianyin Academy only tried to poach a small number of people.
Lelailou is so good that they just come to our door and bully us.
Not only did they find many ruffians and idlers to cause trouble in Yuyin Pavilion every day and drive away the customers, making it impossible for them to do business.
The shopkeeper of Lelai Tower even came to Yuyin Pavilion in person, trying to force Miss Fenghuang to transfer Yuyin Pavilion at a very low price.
A few days ago, the Dali Temple inexplicably issued an order, which set off a wave of eliminating evil in Chang'an, and a large number of ruffians and idlers were dealt with.
The Dali Temple's direct action undoubtedly confirmed their relationship.
Behind Yuyin Pavilion is the Li family.
The background of Lelai Tower is King Han.
Everyone is waiting to see the show.
No one expected that the King of Han would be the first to give in.
The guards at Lelai Tower were so strict. Who could have gotten past the heavy guards and sneaked into Manager Sun's room in broad daylight, killed her, and then left safely without being discovered by anyone?
In this matter, Shopkeeper Sun was undoubtedly treated as a discarded pawn.
The King of Han was unwilling to come into conflict with Li Xuanjing because of him.
Li Xuanjing is well-known for being protective of his son. If he takes action, it will not be difficult to wipe out Lelai Tower.
Most people only knew that Li Xuanjing was a powerful and treacherous official. Only through this incident did they have a clearer understanding of his power.
It can make the prince who is most likely to inherit the throne kill his confidants of ten years and bow his head and make concessions.
Throughout history, the number of powerful officials who have been able to do this can be counted on one hand.
Han Palace.
A young figure, frowning, strode into a hall.
It was extremely cold outside, but inside the hall, it was unusually warm.
The young man took off his cloak, and two maids immediately reached out to take it.
The young man looked at a figure on the brocade couch, frowned and asked, "Father, why did you kill Manager Sun? She has been working for the palace for so long, and even if she has no merit, she has worked hard. Now people outside say that you are afraid of Li Xuanjing. Aren't you bringing shame to our Han Palace?"
On the brocade couch, a middle-aged man climbed up from two plump women and said, "It's not that I'm afraid of him, but I don't want to provoke him. Anyone can be the shopkeeper of Lelai Tower. If I don't give Li Xuanjing an explanation, I don't know how he will retaliate in secret. You also know how much your royal grandfather trusts him..."
The young man could not hide the disappointment on his face.
How could a prince be afraid of his subjects?
When will my father be able to show some strength...
He waved his hand, took back his cloak, and said angrily: "Forget it, I'm leaving. Really, how could I have such a shameful father like you..."
When he left, he passed by a middle-aged official, who saluted him slightly and he also symbolically clasped his fists.
The middle-aged official walked into the hall. The King of Han got off the bed and ordered the two plump women to leave. Then he smiled and said, "Fuzhi is here. Please sit down."
The middle-aged official did not sit down. After closing the palace door, he said, "Your Highness, you are a little impatient."
The King of Han raised his eyebrows and said, "Do you think I have made any mistakes?"
The middle-aged official said, "In the past few months, first it was Zheng Tianxing, then Zeng Yan, and then Sun Jin. Your Highness has been acting too frequently. I'm worried that someone will notice."
The King of Han said disapprovingly: "Zheng Tianxing was killed by a concubine, Zeng Yan died at the hands of thieves, and Sun Jin offended Li Xuanjing's son. I killed her to give Li Xuanjing an explanation. Do you think there is any problem?"
On the surface, there is naturally nothing wrong.
But in the Zheng Tianxing case, Butterfly was arrested.
The Zeng Yan case was almost exposed, and in order to remedy the situation, an additional assassin was lost.
Both cases were almost discovered by Li Xuanjing's son.
This time, the case is directly related to him.
If there is any failure, the layout of the past ten years will be ruined.
The King of Han patted him on the shoulder and said, "Fuzhi, you are still too timid. The files from that year have been destroyed. Only the Ministry of Personnel and the Shanggong Bureau have kept them. We have also arranged people there. If someone checked them, you and I would not be unaware..."
The middle-aged official said nothing.
If it were someone else, he would naturally feel relieved.
But he always felt uneasy when it came to anything to do with Li Xuanjing.
He looked at the King of Han and said seriously, "For the sake of caution, Your Highness should not take any action recently. Li Xuanjing's son has been practicing in the Ministry of Justice. If there is another murder case, it must be him. This man is extremely smart and has solved many strange cases. I am worried that something might go wrong..."
The King of Han laughed and said, "No matter how smart he is, he can't be smarter than Li Xuanjing. Even if it's Li Xuanjing, we have used him before, but he didn't find anything, right?"
He smiled disapprovingly and said, "You all say that Li Xuanjing is smart. If he is really smart, why would he choose the useless Prince Chun? Can't you see that among all the princes, my father would not choose Prince Chun? You all say that Li Xuanjing is extremely smart. In my opinion, Li Xuanjing is just a name with a false reputation..."
The middle-aged official sighed inwardly.
The lack of background is exactly why Li Xuanjing chose Prince Chun.
If Prince Chun was like the other princes, with various forces behind him, His Majesty would not trust Li Xuanjing so much.
But he couldn't say these words directly.
Seeing that he was still frowning, the King of Han could only say: "Okay, I promise you that I will not take action again in the near future. Don't worry, this matter is watertight and there will be no mistakes. Stay for dinner later. We haven't had a drink together for a long time..."
Thinking of something, he asked again: "By the way, do you want to deal with the chess piece you planted in the Ministry of Personnel? I am not worried about Li Xuanjing, but I am worried about him..."
"No need. I don't think he has the ability. Besides, he is from the same hometown as me. I can recruit him for my own use in the future. After a while, I will find a way to transfer him away..."
"Then I'll listen to you..."
…
Ministry of Personnel.
Several officials were discussing in low voices.
"Have you heard about that?"
"What?"
"The shopkeeper Sun of Lelailou has died."
"I didn't expect that the King of Han would make such a concession..."
"Maybe he doesn't want to offend Lord Li for a small shopkeeper..."
Zhao He, the head of the case library, listened to the discussions of these people and left without leaving a trace.
He came to a government office and saw that there was no one around, so he took out a handwritten list from the drawer.
These files are filled with names.
The big shot had been asking him to pay attention to the files of an official.
He secretly kept a watchful eye.
After returning, taking advantage of his position, he found an opportunity to check it out himself.
This investigation actually allowed him to find some clues.
The Qinghe County Magistrate, Gu Wenhan, whom the lord asked him to pay attention to, was a former proofreader in the Eastern Palace's Jingju.
And that time, when he mentioned "Zheng Tianxing", the third-rank official of the dynasty had a big gaffe.
Zhao He did some further research and found out that this official named Zheng Tianxing had once worked as a clerk in the Eastern Palace's Neizhi Bureau.
Eastern Palace, it’s all Eastern Palace.
Out of curiosity, he secretly copied a list of officials in the Eastern Palace.
After a secret investigation, he found that several of these former Eastern Palace officials had died in recent years.
Some committed crimes and had their property confiscated by the imperial court, some were killed by their concubines, some drowned when their boats accidentally fell into the lake, and some were even accidentally poisoned by eating pufferfish...
The ways these people died were all strange and bizarre, and no two were the same.
The names of several female officials in the inner palace were also mentioned sporadically in those files.
There was a woman named Zeng Yan, who used to be the treasurer of the inner palace.
Zhao He had just started paying attention to her, but a few days later he learned that she was dead, killed at home by a burglar.
There was also a female official named Sun Jin, who was the head of the inner palace. She was previously in charge of the jewelry and clothes of the concubines in the inner palace, and later became the manager of Lelai Tower.
Now she is dead too.
Are the deaths of these people really just a coincidence?
Zhao He vaguely felt that he seemed to have discovered a huge secret.
Although he doesn't know what the secret is yet, he feels that whether he can get promoted and make money may depend on this secret...
Although Lord Jingzhao Yin was in a high position of power and was also his fellow townsman, he only made empty promises for him.
Your own destiny still has to be in your own hands...
Dali Temple.
A young man walked in and said, "Sir, the shopkeeper of Lelai Tower is dead. It must be the King of Han who took the initiative. I'm afraid someone will put the blame on you again..."
He could guess how the news would spread outside.
Li Xuanjing was so powerful that even the King of Han had to bow down to him. In order to give an explanation to Li Xuanjing, he even ordered the death of his long-time confidant...
After the young man left, Li Xuanjing took out a piece of paper from under a pile of files and circled the name "Sun Jin" with a red pen.
You can see that there are already several names circled in red on this piece of paper.
He showed an interested expression on his face, looked at the remaining names, and whispered: "Gu Wenhan, Zheng Tianxing..., Zeng Yan, Sun Jin, who's next?"
(End of this chapter)
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