Chapter 63 Another Death
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone immediately remembered the deceased who had left a blood letter of accusation on the boat the prince was inspecting, saying that the Princess of Lingling had killed him.
The body was completely disfigured and had been kept in the charity cemetery with no one claiming it. Everyone was shocked when they heard Qian Deng suddenly determine that it was Meng Yongshun who was far away in Dongting.
"How ridiculous!" Xue Xiyang said indignantly, "That Meng Yongshun, he was clearly selected in the first place, but he deliberately got injured and escaped. Now that he's died at the hands of Meng Lanxi, he's still trying to frame the county lady. What's his intention?"
"Because he did die outside the Changhua Palace, and on the night of the sacrifice to my ancestors, he died from the food I gave him. Because Meng Lanxi killed him in my name, Meng Yongshun believed that I was his murderer until his death."
"But I remember... that day, except for Ling Tianshui, all the young men were in the palace accompanying the Crown Prince and the County Lady for the sacrifice. No one left the others' sight." Cui Fufeng carefully recalled the events of that day and expressed the question on everyone's mind. "Because of the Crown Prince's arrival, the palace was heavily guarded that day, making it impossible for outsiders to enter. So, how could Meng Lanxi, who was in the palace, kill Meng Yongshun outside?"
"The clue to this matter appeared in a letter from Meng Yongshun. Meng's parents showed me a letter he wrote a month ago, and I found pine pollen on it. But this year, with the cold snap south of the Yangtze River, the weather hadn't warmed up and the flowers hadn't bloomed yet a month ago. How could there be pine pollen when Meng Yongshun wrote the letter? The letter paper was a new style that had been released after the turmoil in Chang'an, and hadn't been released before last summer. There's no way it could have been contaminated before then.
"Yet, Meng's parents didn't notice anything unusual about this letter, which shows that the writer was very familiar with Meng Yongshun and could imitate his handwriting and tone perfectly. I think that Mr. Meng, who started his education with him at the Meng family private school and went to the Imperial College together, would definitely be able to do it. What's more, it just so happens that Mr. Meng was in the military camp outside Beijing recently, treating soldiers suffering from pine pollen. With such abundant pollen there, it's inevitable that some pine pollen would have stained the paper and pen he wrote with."
Ling Tianshui asked in a deep voice, "Isn't it too arbitrary for the county lady to conclude that Meng Lanxi murdered her cousin based on just one letter and the so-called pine pollen in it that no one noticed?"
"Why are you so anxious, Ling Dianjun? I haven't even told you the contents of the letter yet." Qian Deng stared at Meng Lanxi, unhurriedly saying, "In the letter, Meng Yongshun changed his dandy ways, announcing that he had found a renowned teacher and would be studying full-time for a year or two before returning. His parents were delighted with their son's transformation, but to us outsiders, it undoubtedly conveyed only one message: the writer knew he would disappear and never return. So, may I ask, Mr. Meng, who forged that letter, how did you know Meng Yongshun wouldn't be coming back, and how did you deliberately forge his letter to deceive and stabilize the Meng family?"
"So, another thing came to mind. In his last letter home—of course, the one that wasn't forged—Meng Yongshun mentioned that he'd heard some news about me and knew I wasn't the disfigured she-yaksha the legend had it. He was quite indignant that Meng Lanxi had taken advantage of him, and he vowed not to let you off. Mr. Meng, it seems he believes you were the one behind his injury and withdrawal from the son-in-law selection. I'm afraid he'll hide this from his family, drop his studies, and run back to the capital to seek justice from you. Of course, he'll keep this a secret from his family. After all, you're the one the Meng family relies on now, and the reason he keeps asking for money from his family is to study. How dare they know I've dropped my studies to come and cause trouble for you?
"He came to Chang'an looking for you, presumably to threaten you with the evidence that you broke his leg, in order to destroy everything you own now. When you replaced him, you handed over the Phoenix Sign, a token of loyalty. Now that he's coming to threaten you, he'll naturally demand that you return what originally belonged to him. Forced by the situation, you had no choice but to hand over the Phoenix Sign to keep him in check. Therefore, the Phoenix Sign, which belonged to my husband's candidate, was found on the body recovered from the canal—that is, Meng Yongshun's body."
This inference was reasonable and everyone nodded silently.
Cui Fufeng asked, "But when we went to collect the Phoenix-Attracting Sticks from the gentlemen that day, Meng Lanxi handed over his stick just like everyone else, and there seemed to be nothing unusual. If his stick had already been taken by Meng Yongshun, then where did his later stick come from?"
"I'm sure Young Master Cui remembers that we dug up Su Yunzhong's body near the ruined temple, but we didn't find the Phoenix-Attracting Scraps Stick on him. The soldiers said the person who helped them hide was a young master from my mansion. I didn't know who it was before, but now it seems it can only be Young Master Meng, who got Su Yunzhong's Phoenix-Attracting Scraps Stick."
Hearing that the rebels he had been pursuing were actually related to Meng Lanxi, Ling Tianshui looked at him with a colder gaze: "Why are you related to them?"
Meng Lanxi hesitated for a moment, but finally answered: "After the rebellion in early autumn last year, I was on my way back to the city from the farm. Since I often collected herbs in the suburbs, I was familiar with the road and took a shortcut alone... It was then that I saw Su Yunzhong fall from the cliff... I followed the trail and saw the rebels searching his body and taking away the Phoenix Sign. I thought the county lady was already troubled by the rumors, and if the Phoenix Sign for choosing a son-in-law got out, it would be even more troublesome. So I helped those soldiers hide in a safe place, and later sent them rice and flour several times, asked them to help bury Su Yunzhong, and took the Phoenix Sign back from them..."
"If that's the case, why did you continue to linger with them and not leave until now?"
"I... I discovered that they were the soldiers who were expelled from the Yellow Sand Valley by King Changhua..." Meng Lanxi looked at Ling Tianshui. His originally stiff and slightly blue face was now covered with a layer of self-abandoned despair. He muttered a few words through his teeth, "Because I... want to know where I came from. What is... what is..."
He was so broken down that he couldn't say anything more.
No one else understood what he meant, only Ling Tianshui and Qian Deng knew what he wanted to say.
He knew what his mother had gone through and that his own life story must not be revealed to others. In fact, like Ling Tianshui, he had been persistently searching for those who had insulted his mother.
However, he did not want to avenge his mother, but wanted to know whose blood was flowing in the body of this bastard.
Ling Tianshui stared at him intently and asked, "Did you find it?"
"No..." He shook his head blankly and muttered, "Each of them has done so many bad things in the desert, and each of them is so cruel..."
Everyone is as vicious as he is, killing people like crazy and committing heinous crimes.
He simply couldn't figure out who was the person most like him.
The other gentlemen were all confused and had no idea why he collapsed.
Only Qian Deng asked word by word, "Then why did you ask them to investigate the 'well fence' outside the capital?"
"Whether you believe it or not, I just... wanted to do something for you." He stared at her intently, his voice trembling like a whisper. "I truly hope you'll stop tossing and turning in sleep, sinking into depression... Although my abilities are limited, I've always hoped to help you solve the mystery that haunts you every night... But in the end, the 'well curb' traces Shi Jingning mentioned were nowhere to be found, and I've never known how to tell you. I just didn't expect Meng Yongshun to come and threaten me, giving me the perfect opportunity to use that Phoenix Sign..."
"So, when you gave the Phoenix Sign to Meng Yongshun, you had already made up your mind to murder him?"
"Yes. What does he think of being the county lady's husband? If he doesn't want it, he can just withdraw, and if he wants it, he can come and demand it?" A hint of cruelty flashed in Meng Lanxi's eyes, covering up all his fear and pain, as if finally revealing his nature that he had been deliberately hiding. "He doesn't know his place, and he actually dares to threaten me!"
Seeing his almost paranoid hatred, Qian Deng asked, "Presumably, that was when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was coming to my house to pay his respects, and the kitchen asked you to help prepare the dye for the dishes? I remember that of all the dishes, only Nanyue Blowing the Flute to Attract the Phoenix used large clumps of silver-red, while the others were only lightly embellished with silver-red. Presumably, this was the opportunity you found?"
"Yes, I told him that I would help convey the truth to the county lady. When everything is ready, I asked him to wait at the east corner gate for the county lady's token. The palace has strict rules, so it is not convenient for the county lady to express her opinion directly. But she will put her intention into the flute to attract the phoenix, and he will know it after trying it."
So that night, when the East Kitchen of Changhua Palace distributed offerings, Meng Yongshun, who had been waiting long in advance before the crowd vying for "Fu Lu", naturally seized the initiative. He immediately noticed the most vivid and eye-catching red-dressed Nong Yu among the 72 Su Steamed Sound Parts, and determined that "Blowing the Flute to Attract the Phoenix" was the answer given to him by the county lord. He grabbed it and happily squeezed out of the crowd.
But once you get the thing, what does it mean to “know after one try”?
Unable to figure out the secret of this pastry, he would naturally break it open to see if there was anything inside. Obviously, there was nothing inside.
So, he firstly tried to figure out whether the county lady wanted him to try it, and secondly, he had been waiting outside the door for so long that he was naturally hungry, so he ate the freshly steamed soft dough man.
The poison of the aconite took effect quickly. He only had time to reach the canal not far from the chemical workshop before the poison took effect, he vomited blood, became numb, and fell into the water.
Unfortunately, he failed to fulfill Meng Lanxi's wish and died silently in a corner of Chang'an.
Before the ship sank, he was filled with resentment and used his last bit of strength to cling to the hull beside him, leaving behind a blood letter accusing the Princess of Lingling. This letter was eventually seen by the prince and his entourage, causing a huge uproar.
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