Chapter 87: The Truth of What Happened Back Then
Wow, is this some serious stuff? Mother-son trope, neighbor trope, multiple people trope—I've never seen anything this outrageous in novels.
[My goodness! I want to know how those four get along peacefully? This Aunt Ge is something else! I argue with my boyfriend every day, but she can get three men to fall for her.]
Thanks to the amazing translations in the comments, Su Zhenzhen finally understood what "together" meant.
I couldn't process my emotions, and my ears turned bright red. That scene was already explosive enough, okay? And the comments section was still filled with stale, unhelpful remarks. My goodness, I'm just a hardworking office worker with a few personal dreams, why do I have to know all this stuff?
Su Zhenzhen took a few deep breaths, finally managing to clear her mind of all the junk thoughts and focus on the whole matter.
In other words, these two neighbors got along well with Chang Yuan, and they had no motive to kill him.
But who has the strongest motive for murder?
Once this issue is understood, the case of this miscarriage of justice is more than half resolved.
"Think carefully about everything that has happened since you were born, and tell me about it in a little while."
Chang Yuan was somewhat at a loss, but he still obediently started from when he could remember things, his words were incoherent and disjointed.
Su Zhenzhen was also very patient, searching for useful information from these scattered pieces of data.
But from fighting with dogs when I was a child to arguing with classmates when I was in school, these were all trivial matters that would never escalate to the point of taking someone's life.
As for his work, Chang Yuan was a night watchman, and when he was on duty, he hardly ever encountered anyone, let alone had any conflicts with others.
Seeing that Chang Yuan had been rambling on and on all day, spouting useless information, Su Zhenzhen knew that it would be difficult to make any progress with him.
"Have the night watchmen who died been buried?"
Chang Yuan thought for a while, "Probably not. They don't have any relatives or friends, and funerals cost a lot of money these days. Besides, the government hasn't come to a conclusion yet; it's still a brainless case. The body should still be in the mortuary."
Su Zhenzhen simply waited until it was completely dark before having Chang Yuan lead the way to the mortuary.
The mortuary was in the suburbs, but Su Zhenzhen still used the most simple and unpretentious method of climbing over the wall to get out of the city.
They sped all the way to their destination.
Considering that the mortuary might not look very nice, and to avoid scaring the viewers in the live stream, Su Zhenzhen stopped at a certain distance.
He performed a hand seal and incantation, chanting, "I use myself to guide the soul; may the soul return!"
The already pitch-black night sky seemed to have been splashed with ink, exuding a slightly chilly atmosphere.
Chang Yuan felt the wind whistling in his ears, as if it were about to blow his soul away, and then he saw seven ghosts appear out of thin air.
Su Zhenzhen counted, but something was wrong. Weren't there only six dead watchmen? Who was this extra ghost?
"Let's look at each other, do we know each other?"
One of the ghosts looked at Chang Yuan and asked uncertainly, "Are you the scholar's son?"
He was the oldest of the ghosts, looking to be in his fifties or sixties, and even as a ghost, he was hunched over.
Chang Yuan was a little embarrassed. "Are you Uncle Jiang?"
He then looked at Su Zhenzhen and said, "Uncle Jiang was a night watchman before I was even born. I've met the others a few times, but I'm not entirely sure."
Su Zhenzhen asked directly, "Were you all night watchmen who died in accidents not long ago?"
All six ghosts nodded, except for one that looked younger, which shook its head.
Su Zhenzhen then asked, "Then who are you? How did you die?"
"This servant was a palace attendant, and I have been dead for too long to remember."
Palace attendants, aren't they eunuchs? No wonder he looks young; it's because he doesn't have a beard.
This eunuch is also entangled in karma, and it seems that the matter involved is quite significant.
Do you remember the last thing you did before you died?
The eunuch thought for a moment, and perhaps because he had been dead for a long time, the color of his soul was somewhat pale, and when he was thinking, it seemed as if that wisp of his soul was about to fly away with the wind.
"By imperial decree, I will go to General Huo's residence to deliver the imperial edict."
Su Zhenzhen felt her heart leap into her throat. "Which General Huo? The one who guards the Northwest?"
The eunuch said in a serious tone, "Our dynasty has only one General Huo."
There was indeed only one General Huo, but Su Zhenzhen thought about it and felt something was wrong.
Weren't General Huo's father and grandfather both called General Huo?
"In what year did you enter the palace?"
This eunuch will never forget, after all, it was the day his own parents abandoned him.
"The third day of the winter month in the twelfth year of Emperor Chang's reign."
"Boom!" Su Zhenzhen felt like her head was about to explode.
It's clear that Huo Zhenyue wasn't born at this point in time, and his father hadn't even grown up yet. According to the timeline recorded in the Huo family genealogy, Huo Zhenyue's grandfather was just beginning to distinguish himself, being awarded the rank of general for his outstanding military achievements on the battlefield.
Now there is a question.
The time when the old man with the big knife mentioned that Miss Huo fled to the front line likely coincides with the time when the eunuch went to General Huo's house to deliver the imperial decree.
Moreover, Su Zhenzhen realized that she had overlooked another point. The old man with the big knife kept talking about joining the Huo family army, but judging from his age, General Huo at that time should have been Huo Zhenyue's father.
"When you first became a night watchman, you must have walked the street where General Huo lived, right? Who lived in his house back then?" Su Zhenzhen looked at the oldest ghost, a bold guess sprouting in her heart.
"General Huo's family has always had a small population. I remember that at first, there was a woman living there, who later brought a little boy with her. Not long after, the little boy passed away, and the woman, being old, adopted a maid. After that, the courtyard became empty."
Su Zhenzhen guessed that the woman should be Huo Zhenyue's grandmother, who was also the first wife of the first General Huo, and the adopted little girl was Huo Erniang, who was recorded in the family genealogy, and was also Huo Miss who fled to the front line.
Of course, we still need strong evidence to prove our suspicions.
"Chang Yuan, do you know when and how General Huo's family members passed away? After all, your family lives right next door to him."
Chang Yuan scratched his head. "To be honest, I've never seen anyone in the neighboring yard since I can remember. My grandma said that an old lady next door burned to death while cooking, and she could smell the smoke because she lived close by. At that time, she didn't know that the neighboring house belonged to General Huo, because there was a general's mansion on Zhuque Street, which was bestowed by the emperor for General Huo to use when he returned to the capital to retire. It wasn't until General Huo passed away peacefully and, according to custom, his body was to be laid to rest in the house where he was born, that we learned that the neighboring house was the ancestral home of General Huo's family."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
