Chapter 18 Case Closed
Qiandeng pinched the small cake, remaining silent and unable to speak.
Shangluo rushed to say, "Now it must be Brother Lanxi! I heard that Zhang Laozhang also reported it to the authorities. Combined with Brother Lanxi's incident this time, Brother Jin's suspicion has almost been cleared!"
Everyone was curious: "Who is Zhang Laozhang? What did he report to the government?"
"He was a handyman in our Imperial College. When Cousin Jin said he threw the dagger, Zhang Laozhang discovered that the bamboo rake he used to gather the grass leaves was missing and suspected it had been washed into the ditch. When he went into the water to look for it, he vaguely caught a glimpse of Cousin Jin from behind the bushes and heard a "squeak" sound. You all know that Cousin Jin wears the most eye-catching clothes, embroidered with gold and silver. He is the only one in the entire Imperial College, so Zhang Laozhang would not make a mistake! After Cousin Jin left, when he came ashore, he saw a new white cut on the bluestone steps. It must have been made when Cousin Jin threw the dagger. It came out, but the water was muddy from the constant rain, so he didn't see if there was a dagger on the step underwater. Shangluo loved listening to storytelling (Note 1: a popular form of rap during the Tang Dynasty) from a young age, and he recounted the trivialities of the academy with vivid detail. "Old Zhang said he didn't know what it was at the time, but only later when he heard that cousin Jin had thrown the dagger into the ditch did he suddenly realize what it was. The sound he heard and the traces of bluestone should be proof, so he quickly reported it to the Dali Temple when they arrived. And... and I also heard..."
"What? Tell me now!"
"Old Zhang also said that after cousin Jin left, brother Lanxi walked by the river and lingered for a while, even washing his hands...but Old Zhang didn't go over to check, and he didn't find the dagger in the water later."
Xue Xiyang said coldly, "So, whether Meng Lanxi went to collect herbs or went into the water to feel for the dagger, no one knows."
Shi Jingning glanced at Qiandeng's expression. Seeing that she remained silent, he asked cautiously, "So, Jintang has been cleared of one suspicion, but Meng Lanxi has been given another?"
Shangluo nodded vigorously, turned to look at Qiandeng, and asked, "What do you think, County Master?"
Qian Deng sat quietly for a long time, finishing the cake and drinking half a cup of tea before he murmured, "I don't know yet. I just hope the truth comes out, so that the innocent will not be wronged, and the guilty will not be let off."
That night, Qiandeng slept uneasily as usual.
"Deng Deng, marry him... and take him home!"
When my father and grandfather turned to ashes, my mother pointed forward with blood flowing from her chest. The hoarse last words she squeezed out of her throat at the moment of death echoed in my ears again and again for a long time.
In the dark night, Qiandeng woke up from a nightmare, hugged the cloth tiger tightly, and tried his best to calm his breathing.
Pearl, who was on night watch, was startled and came over to see her sweating profusely. She knew she was having another nightmare and said softly, "County Lady, please sleep a little longer. It's not even four o'clock yet."
Qiandeng buried his face in the cloth tiger's arms, closed his eyes tightly, but could no longer fall asleep.
She got up and went to the mourning hall, burning incense and praying for her mother. She raised her hand and gently stroked the spirit tablet, and asked in a trance: "Mother, who was the person you pointed to me when you left?"
But the world is so cruel. She lives alone in the house to take care of her family. Even if her loved ones appear in her dreams, she will only feel pain and despair, and her mother has never told her who that person is.
But now, something unexpected has happened. Many of the people my mother pointed out have disappeared in the blink of an eye. Some committed suicide, some were killed, some were murderers, and some were suspected...
No relatives, and bad luck to husband.
On the night my mother passed away, the dozen or so shadowy figures standing in the dawn light were like phantoms that would eventually disappear and vanish into thin air.
She shuddered and looked up at her mother's coffin behind the curtain.
The black lacquered coffin lay gloomy and silent in the back hall.
My mother's grave is still being cleaned and tidied up. When the hundredth day comes, she will leave home and rest in peace with my grandparents, grandfather, and father.
By then, she would be the only one left in this world and in the Changhua Palace.
She only felt the cold fear gradually spreading throughout her body and she was unable to move.
But that won't work, Qiandeng. You are the only bloodline of the Changhua Palace, the only trace left in the world. If you also become depressed and weak, then the Bai family lineage will really be cut off at this moment.
"Bai Qiandeng, don't waste your life in useless misery. Think carefully about what you should grasp now!"
The cold warning from King Linhuai that day seemed to still echo in Qiandeng's ears, making him shudder and break out in cold sweat on his back.
She held her mother's tablet, touched it against her cheek, and stood up with her back straight.
Yes, the most important thing for her now is not to indulge in sorrow or mourn the deceased, but to find out the truth, to clear the humiliation for herself and the Changhua Palace, and to fight back against the rumors.
She couldn't succumb to fate.
You can't believe that a scar on her eyebrow will change her fate, the fate of her loved ones, and countless people.
Qiandeng sat down in the study and wrote a memorial to the queen.
Because she is the person involved in the incident and has the deepest knowledge of this matter and the people involved, I implore the Emperor and Empress not to worry about her reputation and ask the Dali Temple to thoroughly investigate the death of the candidate fiancé. The royal palace will fully cooperate to find out the truth.
After having the memorial delivered to the palace, she looked at the sky before dawn, so she stood up, took out her two guns, and practiced the gun skills passed down by her grandfather twice.
After washing herself and finishing her meal, she bent over her desk and copied more than ten pages of scriptures for her mother. Then the reply from the palace came down. The Queen's reply was sloppily written, with only a few words -
Don't worry, the Dali Temple has closed the case overnight and there is no damage to the Changhua Palace.
Qiandeng was stunned, wondering how the Dali Temple could close the case so quickly.
The day before yesterday, Yu Guangling died, Jin Tang was arrested, Zheng Junshan was killed yesterday, Meng Lanxi was imprisoned, and early this morning, the Dali Temple had already closed the case?
Knowing that the court was doing this to protect her and the palace's reputation, she didn't want to make the case public, so she closed the case privately and quickly. However, without the expected evidence, witnesses, summons, or trial procedures, how could the case be confirmed and the murderer determined?
Qian Deng, clutching the Empress's handwritten letter, wanted to go to the palace to inquire. However, with Chang'an plagued by bandits and floods, everything needed to be rebuilt. There was no reason to repeatedly disturb the palace with such a small matter in her mansion. She could only send someone to the Dali Temple to inquire about the situation first.
Less than a moment later, the doorman, Old Wu, returned with a report: "I heard that the palace urged them to do so, so Dali Temple's Gao Shaoqing combined the evidence from the two previous cases with Meng Lanxi's personal confession last night. The facts are clear and the evidence is irrefutable. They have already convicted Meng Lanxi of murder and will soon announce it on the procuratorate's list!"
Qian Deng immediately stood up without even asking whether the carriage in the mansion had been repaired. He grabbed his veil and told someone to prepare the horses. He then took two guards and headed straight for the Dali Temple.
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