What surprised Lu Yanluo was that Xiaobao actually brought her all the way to the gate of the Confucius Mansion. After the previous fire, the Confucius Mansion was already in ruins.

It was night time now and everything was pitch black all around. The Confucius Mansion, standing abruptly in the darkness, looked like a haunted house, eerie and creepy.

Maybe because someone died, people around said this place was haunted and no one dared to get close.

Lu Yanluo pulled Xiaobao to continue walking inside and said, "We can't live here anymore. Your mother lives in the other courtyard now. Can I take you there?"

Xiaobao shook his head firmly and refused: "Home, Daddy is here, Xiaobao wants to find Daddy."

Lu Yanluo was helpless: "But Daddy is not here either. Xiaobao, have you forgotten that this place caught fire before? Daddy and Mommy are not here anymore."

No matter how Lu Yanluo tried to persuade him, Xiaobao still insisted on staying in the abandoned Confucius Mansion and refused to leave. Lu Yanluo had no choice but to take him in to take a look.

That day, the fire burned down the main part of the Confucius Mansion, but the few courtyards at the back were left intact because they were far away from the fire. Lu Yanluo watched casually, walked into a room, and suddenly found a strange place.

The fire was over, Kong Chenyang was dead, and the Kong family was no longer here. The Kong Mansion had been vacant for more than half a month, but why was the house, which had been vacant for half a month, spotlessly clean, as if someone cleaned it every day?

This sudden discovery shocked Lu Yanluo. In order to find out the truth of the matter, she actually moved into the Confucius Mansion.

She stayed there for several days, and some bad rumors gradually appeared in the capital. They said that for some unknown reason, Lu Yanluo refused to live in the prince's palace and insisted on living in the abandoned Confucius Mansion.

Everyone speculated that Chu Xuan was disgusted with Lu Yanluo and drove her out of the palace. Lu Yanluo had nowhere to go, so she went to the long-abandoned Confucius Mansion.

Some people also said that Lu Yanluo left the palace because of Kong Chenyang.

In short, there are many different opinions and everyone is just watching the fun.

Confucius Mansion.

Chu Xuan followed Lu Yanluo and looked around. Apart from the suspicious house that Lu Yanluo mentioned, he didn't find any clues anywhere else.

"What are you going to do?"

Lu Yanluo replied: "I suspect Kong Chenyang is not dead, but I don't have any evidence yet, and I don't know what his purpose is in faking his death. I always feel that things are not simple."

Chu Xuan thought for a moment and said, "It's simple. Since we want to confirm whether Kong Chenyang is dead or not, we can open the coffin and do an autopsy. We will know at a glance."

But to put it simply, the people here respect the dead very much, so how could they agree to open the coffin? This is tantamount to desecrating the dead, and the Kong family would never agree to it.

Chu Xuan didn't care about blasphemy or not. The next day, he wrote a letter to the emperor, requesting that the coffin be opened for an autopsy.

As soon as the news came out, the whole court was in an uproar, and the emperor was even more puzzled: "Why do you want to open the coffin? Does Kong Chenyang have a grudge against you?"

Chu Xuan shook his head: "No, but I suspect that Kong Chenyang is not dead. We need to open the coffin and perform an autopsy to reach a conclusion."

"What? You said Kong Chenyang is not dead?" The emperor was surprised: "Then who was burned to death? Kong Chenyang, why did you fake your death?"

Chu Xuan bowed and replied: "All this still needs to be done by your son. After the coffin is opened and the body is examined, I can give an explanation to the emperor."

After a while, the emperor relaxed and said, "I can agree to this, but I need the consent of the Kong family. You must not open the coffin without the consent of the family."

Chu Xuan agreed, took the imperial edict and went to the villa where the Kong family lived with Lu Yanluo.

Sure enough, when the Kong family heard that they were going to open the coffin for an autopsy, they immediately refused vehemently and firmly disagreed.

The housekeeper of the Kong Mansion stood in front of Chu Xuan and Lu Yanluo, and said with a gloomy face: "My master has been buried, why are you disturbing him for no reason! The Kong Mansion has never had any grudges with the Ye'an Mansion. It would be fine if you took away the young master, but now you want to disturb my master. I'm sorry that I can't obey you!"

Lu Yanluo knew very well that this was indeed a bit too much to ask of the people here, but in order to find out the truth of the matter, she had no choice but to resort to this last resort.

"We suspect that Kong Chenyang is not dead. The body found in the sea of ​​fire that day was not Kong Chenyang's at all. That's why we have to open the coffin to confirm. We have no intention of disrespecting the deceased. I think the housekeeper doesn't want your master to be so unclear and criticized by others."

The housekeeper angrily said, "Except you, no one has criticized my master. You should leave immediately. Don't think that you can act recklessly just because you are the prince. If you push me too far, I will file a complaint in front of the emperor! No one will have an easy life then!"

Just as the three were confronting each other, a woman came out from the yard. Lu Yanluo remembered her. She was Kong Chenyang's wife, Zhou.

Zhou came closer, looked at Lu Yanluo, and then said, "I promise you, I will open the coffin and examine the body, but you have to promise me to return Xiaobao to me and never disturb our lives again."

"Madam, no!" The housekeeper hurriedly stopped her, "The master has just been laid to rest, how can we disturb his sleep so easily? You must not agree to this!"

Zhou glanced at the housekeeper and said calmly, "I have made up my mind. There is no need to say more. The person is already dead. It's just a matter of opening the coffin. If it can be exchanged for Xiaobao and I to live a peaceful life in the future, I believe the master's spirit in heaven will agree."

"Madam..." The housekeeper wanted to persuade her further.

"Thank you, Madam, for your understanding." Lu Yanluo suddenly spoke up, interrupting the housekeeper: "Xiaobao is doing well now. He is in the Kong Mansion. He said he would wait for his father there. As for the matter of opening the coffin... we will talk about it when the truth comes out."

Since Zhou agreed to open the coffin, things became simple. Chu Xuan sent the guards from the palace to dig out the coffin where Kong Chenyang had just been buried in front of the Kong family.

The coffin was still new, and the guards pried open the lid little by little. The moment the lid was opened, everyone present was shocked, because the coffin was empty!

On the contrary, Lu Yanluo looked at Zhou and the housekeeper without any surprise. Zhou's expression changed drastically, and it didn't look like she was pretending. As for the housekeeper...

Lu Yanluo guessed that this matter was definitely related to the housekeeper.

"What happened? Where's the master? Where is he?" Zhou was excited: "I clearly saw the master being buried with my own eyes, where is he?"

Lu Yanluo took a few steps forward and said soothingly, "Kong Chenyang is not dead. The previous fire, including the body dug out from the fire, were all prepared by Kong Chenyang in advance. That's why I opened the coffin. I want to make sure whether Kong Chenyang is dead or not."

[Now it seems that they really did conceal the truth, but I don’t know why. ]

Chu Xuan and Lu Yanluo looked at each other and understood.

"Go back first. I will go to the palace immediately to meet His Majesty and explain the situation in person."

The Kong family did not dare to say anything and returned to the villa as instructed. Chu Xuan immediately went to the palace. Lu Yanluo thought about it and went to the abandoned Kong Mansion.