Five Elements/6
Things were far from as simple as Ye Xuanling had expected.
In the Five Elements Case, as a Jinyiwei, Ji Yan should not have intervened in this matter, but Ji Yan used the excuse of corruption case involving royal relatives to force himself into the case. The governor of Dianhai and the captain of the criminal case team could do nothing to him.
They could only bow and scrape and arrange for people to participate in the case.
Ji Yan raised his hand: "No need for more manpower, this team leader is very efficient, he alone is enough."
The wrinkles on the squad leader's face burst open, and he bowed and said, "Yes, sir."
After finishing the chores, Ji Yan and the squad leader waited for Ye Xuanling and the others by the government office. Linxi was quite a distance away, so when the squad leader brought a few horses from the stable, the two of them arrived.
Sanqi led a horse over and said to Ye Xuanling, "Miss Ye, how about we ride on one together?"
Ye Xuanling nodded: "Okay."
Sanqi smiled when she heard her answer, and nodded slightly to Ji Yan.
When Ye Xuanling was at the inn, she first asked Sanqi where the pile of corpses he had seen when he received the bounty order in Dianhai was.
Linxi. Sanqi told her that it was in Linxi, behind the Buddha statue.
But those corpses had been there for several months, and even if they were engraved with black Nuo masks, they had long since turned into a pool of mud.
That’s right, Ye Xuanling said, but she wanted to take the squad leader to take a look.
Ji Yan only brought a few people with him, including the young coroner from the yamen.
When they reached Linxi, they tied their horses to the corner of a dilapidated temple. The sun was rising in the east, and the mist hadn't completely dissipated. She could feel the ground in Linxi was moist, and it hadn't rained recently, so it wasn't because of the rain.
Even if it were like jade snow on a cold day, the current snow was so thin that it wasn't enough to distinguish Linxi from the city. No one had repaired the foundation and roof of the dilapidated temple, and all the wood had rotted and decayed.
The yellow-green weeds were covered with black spots. The grass was already as high as a man's waist and was drooping. Ye Xuanling stepped over it.
The squad leader asked respectfully, "Sir, aren't you going to look for the herbal remedy in Zhang's stomach? Why are you here in this dilapidated temple?"
Ye Xuanling answered first: "I heard from the people in the city that Shisi grass grows next to this temple. Feel free to look for it."
Ye Xuanling was not in a hurry to look for Shi Sicao. The most important thing now was to check the body first. She said this just to see the reaction of the squad leader. As she expected, the squad leader next to her seemed relieved.
There were several holes in the roof, and a beam of morning light shone in through the door. The four people walked in a little. Due to years of disrepair, the bottom of the Buddha statue was covered with green moss. Silk nets were formed everywhere in the temple, making the whole temple even cooler.
There are several damaged spots on the bluestone floor, and it looks like if you're not careful, you'll be damaged by these dents.
Ye Xuanling glanced at Ji Yan and Sanqi, then casually said, "Is there not many people in Linxi, squad leader?"
The squad leader scratched his head and immediately replied, "Doctor Ye, I don't know about that. I'm not from Linxi."
"This Buddha statue is so strange." Ye Xuanling walked to the front of the Buddha platform and said in a light tone. After taking a look, she walked to the back of the platform and asked, "Why is the bluestone slab behind the Buddha platform a little loose?"
Following her words, the other three also went around to the back.
The squad leader didn't respond, but glanced at her sharply.
Sanqi asked, "Could anyone have moved here before?"
Ye Xuanling squatted down: "Let's lift it up, come and help."
None of them brought any tools. Ye Xuanling took out a dagger from her leg strap and tried to loosen the soil next to the bluestone slab, including the side that was in contact with the slab.
The bluestone slabs are not loose. These words are just said for the team leader to hear.
Ye Xuanling called out to a few people, and soon, the bluestone slab was lifted easily. A strong stench of decay emanated from it.
"It stinks." Ye Xuanling feigned surprise and wrinkled her nose. "Is there something in here?"
As she spoke, Ye Xuanling used a dagger to dig up the soil, but she felt that this was too slow. She rubbed the soil on the dagger on the bluestone slab and then returned it to its original place.
She pretended to dig with her hands.
But the squad leader stopped her at this moment: "Doctor Ye, let me do it. How can you let a medical officer do this?"
"Oh, okay." The reason why Sanqi and Ji Yan didn't say anything was because Ye Xuanling hadn't made up her mind at all. She just wanted to see how the squad leader would react when he saw the corpse.
Looking forward to it.
Ye Xuanling stood up and stood next to the class leader not far away from him.
The squad leader's movements quickened, and white gradually emerged from the brown, moist soil. Then, a hand bone appeared. The squad leader, startled, stepped back. "What!? Sir?"
Ji Yan took a look and said, "Continue."
The foreman did not stop until all the bones under the soil on the lifted stone slab were cleared out, revealing the upper body and skull of the person.
The lifted bluestone slab is about three feet wide and long, and it seems that other slabs need to be lifted.
"This man is truly audacious. How could he kill someone and bury the body behind a Buddha statue? Isn't he afraid of retribution from the gods and Buddhas?" Ye Xuanling asked, "Let's not touch the bones first. Let's lift these pieces first."
The skin and flesh corroded, turned into blood and melted into the brown soil. The gas emitted was really pungent, but after getting used to it over time, it was no longer so smelly.
The bluestone slabs near the skeleton were lifted one by one, and after digging the soil, several white bones appeared in the mud.
Ji Yan signaled the coroner to come forward and check, and the squad leader stepped back and watched the coroner's movements carefully.
"How?" At first, Ye Xuanling was very puzzled why Ji Yan brought the coroner with him. She was not in a position to say it out loud when there were many people around. Once the coroner was brought along, it would prove that their trip to Linxi was not just to find the cause of the poison.
But at this time, a coroner was needed. She probably knew what excuse Ji Yan used. It was simply that she, as a "medical officer", might not know the poison.
It's a pity that she is not a coroner.
"What caused these people's deaths?" Ye Xuanling asked. Uncorrupted clothing remained beside the skeletons. She, the coroner, and the officers carried the bones out. "Can you identify them now?"
The coroner shook his head. "I came out here because Lord Ji said that Doctor Ye needed cooperation. I didn't bring any tools with me, so I still need to send the bones back for a thorough examination."
She needed cooperation. Ye Xuanling was stunned. As the two of them carried out the last skeleton, she realized that something was wrong.
There is a wooden plaque under the human bones.
Her hands were not free, so she gestured to Ji Yan to put the wooden sign away.
After everything was sorted out, the squad leader and the coroner carefully examined the bones, while the other officers stayed nearby. Sanqi leaned against the wall, observing their movements.
Only then were Ye Xuanling and Ji Yan able to carefully examine the wooden sign, and Ji Yan handed it to her.
It looked like it should be made of paulownia wood. The wooden sign was missing a corner and was incomplete. There were patterns carved on it. Ye Xuanling wiped off the excess mud with her sleeve, leaned in to smell it, and it tasted bitter.
She stretched out her fingers and slid them across the wooden sign, twisting it with her fingertips. Then she whispered to Ji Yan, "Something's not right. The thing on it needs to be inspected."
Ye Xuanling couldn't tell what exactly it was. Perhaps it was because the rotten smell affected her sense of smell, making her unable to tell if there was anything else on it besides the smell of bitter grass.
These corpses are related to Shisi grass.
Ye Xuanling turned to the other side, but there was nothing there. Then she turned it over again and scraped off the dirt on the front. "Do you have a cloth with you?"
"Yes." Ji Yan took out a cloth, spread it out in his hand, and caught the dirt on the wooden sign. "What is this?"
Ye Xuanling lowered her voice: "Water ripples?" After saying that, she turned her head to look at him.
All the clues, all the connections, everything came too strangely and too easily, as if something they couldn't see was pushing them forward.
"Something to do with water? Water?" Ye Xuanling muttered to herself. "Have them take the bones and these two items back and have them examined by the coroner first. One of you and Sanqi should stay with me, and the other should stay with them to prevent these items from being destroyed."
This temple must be hiding something else.
The two of them stood outside the temple, a cold wind chasing ice and snow as it rushed towards them, slightly easing the rancid stench around their noses. The weeds swayed in the wind, and suddenly a few of the taller ones kept rubbing against the corner of Ye Xuanling's robe.
"I'll stay." Ji Yan's voice was like the clear spring water in a lotus pond, and his face was warm.
"It won't work if you stay. Sanqi has no status, how can she possibly order and observe them doing things?" Ye Xuanling refused.
"Oh." The smile on Ji Yan's face faded. "So you don't want me to be with you at all? Then why did you say that?"
Ye Xuanling's eyes evaded: "I..."
"Don't worry, Doctor Ye, I will make the arrangements."
Ye Xuanling sighed softly. A moment later, Ji Yan had arranged everything. The officers returned with the remains and the wooden plaque. Ye Xuanling said to Ji Yan, "Let's split up and check to see if there's anything else in this temple."
Ji Yan nodded.
He found two faded banners on the surrounding walls, one on the right side of the gate and the other on the left side of the Buddha statue. He unfolded them and looked at them.
In the same way, there is a "Kan" hexagram symbol in the middle of the square of the flag, and in the five elements, "Kan" corresponds to water.
Ye Xuanling pulled out the damaged altar. There was nothing inside. The temple had been destroyed, and she didn't care about the gods or Buddhas. She just used brute force to pull out the drawer of the altar and put it aside.
She continued to explore the altar. The sunlight was strong now and the roof was damaged, so the temple was not dark when the light shone through it. However, she could not see clearly what was inside and could only grope around blindly.
“Click—”
Before Ye Xuanling could react to the sound, her feet suddenly felt empty and she felt a strong sense of weightlessness, which carried her down.
"Ah--!" Ye Xuanling screamed in shock. She wanted to reach out and grab the stone wall in the passage, but it seemed that everything was in vain. She fell too fast, and the hard stones peeled off a layer of skin from her entire arm, and blood oozed out.
Now, Ye Xuanling felt heartbroken and had no choice but to protect her head from the cold wind and curl up into a ball to reduce the severity of the injury.
"Ye Xuanling!!" With this anxious and hurried shout, she fell into the water without warning.
Ye Xuanling's curled up body was able to stretch out. It was the coldest time of the year and she was afraid of the cold, so she quickly swam to the shore.
It was too cold, her body was a little stiff and twitched from time to time.
"A-choo——" She sniffed and squeezed some water out of her wet clothes. The winter clothes were too thick and heavy, and she couldn't wring them out even if she wanted to.
She looked around and shouted upward toward the hole: "I'm fine! There's water down there!"
It looked like a pool of water, but it was flowing outward. Was it living water? Groundwater? She noticed something golden ahead. Just as she was looking ahead, Ji Yan jumped in front of her.
Ye Xuanling was startled: "You?! Why did you come down here?"
"I can't leave you here alone, right?" Ji Yan replied.
"No? How come you didn't fall into the water?"
He took off his outer robe and threw it on Ye Xuanling. His tone was filled with a bit of deliberately suppressed urgency, and his eyes lightly swept across her wet hair: "It seems that you really hope that I will fall into the water?"
The person in front of me looked much more obedient than usual after falling into the water.
"No, just surprised."
Ji Yan took out the two faded flags he had just found and handed them to her: "Take a look, do you recognize the things on them?"
The light in the cave was dim, with only a little light peeking out from the exit and a ray of light coming in from the front. Ye Xuanling's face was expressionless, and he simply tightened his clothes around himself.
"It's too dark to see clearly." Ye Xuanling said, "Let's go outside and look."
He thought for a moment and put the flag in her hand: "Then hold it for me."
After Ye Xuanling took it, she said to him, "This water seems to be flowing forward. It seems to be groundwater. It's really strange that there is an empty area under the temple, yet it still stands tall above the ground."
The underground water was about seven or eight feet deep, and there was indeed a two-foot flat road next to it. The sound of water was slow, clear and pleasant. The two walked towards the light, and the golden color that Ye Xuanling saw suddenly appeared in front of them.
This is a three-foot shrine!
The shrine had a base, beautifully carved, and a cotton and linen curtain. Ji Yan opened it and saw an incense burner, sticks, candles, and other incense utensils placed in front of the deity, but none of them were lit.
Ye Xuanling took a closer look. They seemed to be no different, but she didn't give up. Together with Ji Yan, she moved the incense burners to the ground.
There was a secret compartment under the base. Ye Xuanling took it down and placed it on the ground. It was a little dark, and Ye Xuanling only saw a book and two bags of things.
Tearing open the bag, Ye Xuanling twisted it with her hand, then put her nose close to it and sniffed it. It was powder, and the smell was the same as that of Shisi grass. It might be made from it.
The other bag contained alkali blocks.
And the last thing in the secret compartment was a roll of paper.
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