Facing two pairs of bright eyes full of curiosity, Lin Dan couldn't help but smile. However, even if the two did not ask, she would tell the truth, not for anything else, just for the innocent souls who died.
"Actually, I'm not an immortal. I just know some medical knowledge." She was the first to confess.
"My uncle and I already know this, Immortal, please continue and get to the point." The little emperor urged, knocking on the small table in the carriage.
Lin Dan smiled again, and gained a deeper understanding of the little emperor. Although he had suffered a lot and endured a lot of pain, his character was not corrupted. Instead, he was very cheerful, energetic and upright. I heard that he once wandered in the Northern Wilderness with Prince Jin for several years. It can be seen that Prince Jin is a good person, otherwise he would not have taught a child who was in deep despair to be so sunny.
Lin Dan felt relieved to interact with them. After a little consideration, he slowly said, "Then let's get straight to the point. You know, I'm not an immortal, but a doctor..."
"I know, I know, Immortal. Why do you keep repeating this? This is not like your thunderous style. Please say it quickly, faster." The little emperor twisted his butt and spoke like a machine gun.
Lin Dan was completely helpless, and Prince Jin reached out and gave his nephew a slap.
The little emperor covered his forehead and cried out, then he became quiet and looked at Lin Dan with a pair of longing eyes. As a result of his noise, the extremely nervous Yao Bishui and Xu Miaomiao unconsciously relaxed and couldn't help but smile.
Lin Dan poured tea for several people in turn and continued, "I am a doctor, so when I walked into Young Master Cai's room that day and saw his bloody hands, I knew what disease he had."
"What's wrong with him?" The little emperor quickly leaned over and asked in a low voice.
Lin smiled and glanced at him, then said slowly, "He has a very rare skin disease called ghost skin tearing."
Yao Bishui was frightened by these three words and hugged Xu Miaomiao and exclaimed.
"Skin ripped by ghosts? I know this disease." Prince Jin seemed to have remembered something, and took the opportunity to take over the conversation: "When I was fighting in the Northern Wilderness, I saw someone in the military camp suffering from this disease. These people were responsible for cleaning the battlefield, and the most work they did was to collect the bodies of their comrades and bury them on the spot. Sometimes, a battle would drag on for several months before it ended. By then, the bodies had already rotted. They came into contact with the rotten corpses too much, and many herpes would appear on the surface of their skin, which then slowly festered and spread to the whole body, as if a layer of skin had been peeled off by ghosts. This is a terminal illness. Once you get it, you can only wait to die. At first, no one in the military camp realized the cause of the disease, but later they found the pattern, and then strictly ordered the corpse collectors to wear gloves when burying the bodies, thus cutting off the occurrence of this disease. Young Master Cai is a descendant of a famous family, a scholar, and has been staying in the prosperous capital for many years. How did he get this disease?"
"Yes, this disease can only be transmitted through long-term and frequent contact with rotting corpses, so guess how Young Master Cai got sick?" Lin Dan drank his tea slowly, with a calm expression as if he was talking about something very ordinary.
Yao Bishui quickly covered Xu Miaomiao's ears to avoid scaring her. Lin Dan held Xu Miaomiao in his arms and warned her, "As a doctor, the diseases you will encounter in the future will only be more terrifying. So, if you are afraid now, you might as well not learn from me. A doctor needs a kind heart and a brave heart."
Xu Miaomiao gnashed her teeth and said, "Master, I'm not afraid. That day, when I saw Young Master Cai's hand, it didn't tremble at all. Instead, it was my aunt who was shaking so badly that she secretly hid behind me."
Yao Bishui's face turned red with embarrassment, but Lin Dan smiled with relief and gently pinched her disciple's round face.
Prince Jin, who was still thinking about the strange case, somehow had his eyes attracted by Lin Dan. She has a very cold temperament, but when she faces people close to her, she suddenly reveals her incredibly gentle inner self. Faced with such a woman, those who are in the severe cold and trapped in the abyss of despair will always involuntarily approach her.
Prince Jin looked away, looked at the back of his hand which had become thin and shapeless, and couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly.
The young emperor did not notice anything strange about his uncle. He slammed the table and said in shock, "I understand! Young Master Cai must have been exposed to rotting corpses frequently to get sick. I sent people to investigate him. In order to prepare for the imperial examination, he has not left his house for more than half a year. Even if he occasionally had social events, they were mostly in other people's houses or restaurants. How could he have had the opportunity to come into contact with rotting corpses? He must have contracted the disease in his own home! There are rotting corpses hidden in the mansion of Duke Cai! Immortal, am I right?"
"Yes," Lin Dan guided, "From his illness, you have guessed that there is a rotten corpse hidden in the Duke of Cai's mansion. Then can you determine the specific location of the rotten corpse?"
Prince Jin looked at Lin Dan with a smile. He knew that she was playing puzzle games with her little nephew, which was exactly what her nephew loved to do most. She is a wonderful person who can always clearly see into your heart at the first moment, but this kind of insight is not offensive. Of course, her gentleness and tolerance are not unlimited. If she thinks you have misbehaved, she will abandon you without mercy, just like her ex-husband and two children.
The little emperor was indeed in high spirits. After a moment's silence, he said with certainty, "In Cai Yi's courtyard, and very close to his bedroom. Otherwise, he would not have been able to hide it from Duke Cai."
"That's right. So, the first time I saw Young Master Cai, I knew there was a corpse hidden in the flower bed outside his house. The flowers in his yard were more beautiful than anywhere else in the mansion, because the roots of these plants were nourished by the rotting corpses. The plants in one of the flower beds showed signs of withering, and the soil was also fresh. If I picked up a handful and put it to my nose, I could clearly smell the stench of decay. It can be seen that he often dug out the rotting corpses in this flower bed and played with them. There are at least three corpses buried in his yard, and the root of his illness is here."
The little emperor exclaimed in amazement as he listened to Lin Dan's words. This is much more interesting than marking memorials!
"But why did he do this? Where did these bodies come from? Did he kill them all? This is too, too..." The little emperor couldn't find the right words to describe Young Master Cai's actions.
"Yes, why? This is the third question I considered, so I lit a calming charm to make everyone sleepy, wanting to test whether Young Master Cai even has a problem with his heart."
“Why is it that when everyone is sleepy, you can tell that something is wrong with Young Master Cai?”
"Because sleepiness is the most contagious feeling. If everyone is yawning, you will also feel sleepy and yawn as well, right?"
"Yes, yes, I know this very well. When the tutor is teaching, as soon as my classmates yawn, I will also feel sleepy! I say it's not my fault, it's others who have influenced me. The imperial uncle even scolded me for quibbling!" The little emperor looked at Prince Jin aggrievedly.
Lin Dan shook her head and smiled. Prince Jin said helplessly, "Then shall I apologize to you?"
The little emperor was immediately pleased with himself, blinking his eyes as bright as stars as he looked at Lin Dan: "So, what's the secret behind this yawn?"
"The secret is that those who are particularly cruel and cannot feel the sorrow and pain of others will not be infected by your yawns. Because they don't know that you are sleepy, and they will not be affected by you. They only have themselves in their hearts, and their feelings are the most important. Others are dispensable, or ants that can be stepped on at will."
The little emperor exclaimed, as if he found it unbelievable, but when he thought about it carefully, he felt that it made a lot of sense.
"Is Cai Yi such a cold-blooded person? As expected, those people were killed by him, right?"
"I thought it was too arbitrary to test Mr. Cai's heart with just a yawn, so I went to his study and looked at his paintings. His paintings were full of large blocks of black, gray and red, with twisted and violent lines, which showed that he admired dark and passionate things. Hidden under his perfect appearance was an extremely aggressive heart, which made me more suspicious of him. However, calligraphy and painting alone could not fully explain the problem, so I read his articles. He was very good at making interpretations, and almost every article quoted many allusions or words of saints, which were very exquisite at first glance. "When you look at his writing, you will find that it is just a pattern. All his articles are piled up according to the same pattern, without any substance. On the other hand, his poems and essays are all disordered words, and the reader cannot feel what he wants to express from them. This is the most important characteristic of people with cruel hearts - they cannot express emotions because they simply do not have them. They are helpless in all activities that require rich emotions, such as writing poems and essays, such as feeling sad for the death of someone close to them."
"Master, you made my hair stand on end! However, I do remember a little thing from my childhood. Cai Yi was once my playmate and often came to the palace to play with me. One time, we found a nest of wild rabbits that had just been born in the imperial garden. Each one was only the size of a finger and was quite cute. I wanted to take them back to the bedroom to feed them, but was stopped by the palace maid. Cai Yi said he would help me take them back to raise them, but a few days later he told me that the rabbits had died of illness. But I knew he was lying because another playmate told me that Cai Yi had just walked out of the palace gate and dropped a nest of rabbits to death at the foot of the wall. At that time, I was only seven years old, and he was one year younger than me. I thought he did that because he didn't hold them firmly, but now I think he did it on purpose."
The more the little emperor thought about it, the colder he felt in his bones. He never expected that he would become friends with such a person.
Lin Dan nodded and said, "Killing small animals is an early symptom of this bloodlust disease. I think Madam Cai must have known about it a long time ago, but she concealed it and indulged her son, which made him even worse. If she hadn't often covered up for her son, her method of dealing with the aftermath wouldn't be so sophisticated that she could even hide it from Duke Cai."
The little emperor agreed deeply and nodded, "Yes, her incense should be always prepared to prevent Cai Yi from killing people. But even if you are aware of Cai Yi's nature, how do you know he will attack the old lady?"
Lin Dan shook her head and said, "This is the second sin that Madam Cai has committed. After covering up for Young Master Cai for many years, she may have slowly realized that her son would not get better. In order to control his condition and protect him, she decided to send him away. But Cai Yi didn't want to leave, so he ran over to argue with her, but the old lady was persuaded by Madam Cai and decided to send him away without any room for maneuver. As luck would have it, Cai Yi remembered that the old Duke would be leaving mourning in a few months, so he used this excuse to want to stay."
"When you mention the removal of uniforms, what do you think of?" Lin Dan looked at the little emperor.
"Death, of course." The little emperor said without thinking.
"Yes, at this moment, Young Master Cai finally realized that death could solve this dilemma. The death of the old Duke, the death of his mother, the death of his grandmother, or even the death of his father, no matter which one, as long as someone died, he could stay. So, I tried to put myself in his shoes and guess which target he would choose. Duke Cai was a strong man who was difficult to conquer for him, and he didn't dare to touch him, so there were only two choices left. Madam Cai knew too many of his secrets, and Old Lady Cai insisted on sending him away. Both of them hindered him, and one was weak and the other was old, which was the most suitable prey for him. Yes, people like him dare not provoke the strong, they will only vent their killing desire on the old, weak, women and children. What they did seemed cruel, and they showed their strength everywhere, but in fact, they were just cowards through and through."
"People like him will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. When I saw him coming to argue with the old lady and the first lady in anger, but not getting the desired result and leaving in high spirits, I guessed what he would do, so I told the old lady those words, hoping that she would be warned."
Lin Dan sighed and said, "It's a pity that I am powerless and can't salvage anything in the end."
"So that's how it is!" The little emperor was fascinated by what he heard, and he clapped his hands repeatedly: "Master Lin, I have learned more from you than what the Grand Tutor has taught me in several years! You have a pair of eyes that can see through people's hearts. Do you know that even though you told me that you don't know any magic, I still think you are a god! You are really amazing!"
Prince Jin listened to the conversation between the two in silence. Although his face was expressionless, his heart was filled with shock.
Yao Bishui and Xu Miaomiao clearly experienced this incident personally, but if Lin Dan had not exposed it, they would not have noticed any clues at all. This is probably the gap between ordinary people and wise people, right?
"Quickly turn the carriage back. I want to go and see in person the flower beds, articles and paintings that Immortal Lin mentioned." The little emperor commented on the whole story with great interest, and then knocked hard on the wall of the carriage.
The guards quickly turned the car around and returned to Duke Cai's mansion. The officials from the Dali Temple were still interrogating Young Master Cai. He refused to say a word, but just stared at these people and smiled coldly, looking like he really deserved a beating. But he was a seriously ill man and the Duke's biological son, so the officials did not dare to torture him.
The eldest lady was under too much mental pressure and failed to commit suicide. She was then taken to the old lady's coffin by the officials and asked to talk to her while looking at her remains. She couldn't bear the condemnation of her conscience and had to confess.
Young Master Cai's actions of brutally murdering his grandmother were worthy of being sentenced to death by slow slicing. But Duke Cai seemed to still be struggling. He locked the door and refused to let the officials take his son away. He also invited the Minister of the Supreme Court into his study for a secret talk, as if he wanted to ask him to show some leniency.
"My Lord, it's not that I don't want to help you, but this case has been recorded by the Emperor and the Prince. If we don't handle it impartially, how will we report it to them another day when they ask about it? On one side is the mother, and on the other side is the son. I know you are in a difficult situation, but you must know that the grace of giving birth to a child is far greater than the love of licking a child."
Duke Cai fell into a long silence, as if it was difficult for him to choose between the two.
At this moment, the young emperor and Prince Jin actually returned, personally inquired about the trial, and reviewed the case. They found that the eldest lady had only confessed to one murder, and immediately showed a very dissatisfied expression.
"Someone, come and dig up all the flower beds in Cai Yi's yard!" the little emperor shouted.
Although the Dali Temple officials found the order incomprehensible, they still quickly pulled out all the flowers and plants and dug up the soil. The Dali Temple Minister thought the young emperor was making trouble again, and couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, why did you want to raze Young Master Cai's courtyard? This has nothing to do with the case, right?"
"Because the death of the old lady is just the tip of the iceberg of this case." The little emperor had just finished speaking when the officers dug out three rotten corpses in the flower bed. One had already decayed into white bones, and judging from the clothes, it should be a woman; another one still had rotten flesh hanging on it, and had a very thick skeleton, so it was a man; the last one turned out to be a child less than three feet tall, and his decay condition was similar to that of the man, but he was wearing brand new clothes, which should have been changed just a few days ago.
The young emperor and Prince Jin had been to the battlefield several times and were used to seeing dead bodies, so naturally there was nothing unusual on their faces. The Chief Justice of the Dali Temple was fine, he just covered his nose slightly, but Duke Cai stared at the corpse for a few seconds, then ran to the corner and vomited.
"Look, open your eyes and look at me! Is this how the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple investigates a case? If I hadn't come, this shocking case would have been solved by you in a muddle, right? Continue to interrogate Madam Cai and Cai Yi, and you must give me an explanation!" The little emperor pointed at the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple's nose and scolded him. He looked unhappy, but he was actually very happy in his heart. These ministers always used his young age as an excuse to reject his policies. If it weren't for the million-strong army under the control of his uncle, he would not have been able to sit firmly on the throne.
Now, for the first time in his life, he has trained these ministers like his grandsons. This is simply the peak of his life!
"May I ask how the emperor knew that there was a corpse buried in this yard?" The Dali Temple Minister asked curiously while wiping his cold sweat.
“Humph, this is easy…” The little emperor processed Lin Dan’s words, made them his own, and passed them on to the Minister of Dali Temple. The Dali Temple Minister said sincerely, "Your Majesty is indeed wise. If it weren't for your insight, I would have been deceived by these two prisoners! I will go and interrogate them now!"
After saying this, the way he looked at the little emperor had completely changed. No wonder Prince Jin was determined to support this man to ascend the throne, even at the cost of killing several other princes. It turns out that this man is indeed extraordinarily intelligent and will surely become a wise ruler in the future!
Noticing the admiration of the people around him, the little emperor coughed and felt secretly happy.
Prince Jin glanced at him with a smile, then walked into Young Master Cai's study to check out his paintings and articles.
"The immortal is right. His interpretation seems brilliant, but it is actually just a model. He does not have his own experience in it. Oh, is this a poem he wrote? What the hell! This "Setting Sun" makes me feel uncomfortable no matter how I look at it. It's too dazzling!" The little emperor looked through all the things Lin Dan mentioned one by one, muttering to himself.
Prince Jin looked for a while and then went out, his eyes staring into the distance, no one knew what he was thinking about. When the little emperor came out, he asked in confusion: "Tell me, how could such an extraordinary person like Madam Lin end up being divorced by her husband?"
"I don't know about this either. It's probably because Xu Zuguang is blind. Speaking of which, uncle, didn't you say you wanted to repay Madam Lin for saving your life and seek justice for her? Then why haven't you taken action against Xu Zuguang yet?"
"Don't worry, wait until the imperial examination comes. It will be a good opportunity for me to solve some of the hidden cancers in the Imperial College for you." Prince Jin spoke in a gentle tone, but the meaning of his words indicated that Xu Zuguang would face an even more tragic experience than in his previous life.
When the two returned to the front hall, both Young Master Cai and Madam Cai had confessed. It turned out that the first person he killed was the maid who climbed into his bed. During the lovemaking, Young Master Cai suddenly became excited and strangled the maid's neck fiercely... This was the ultimate pleasure he had never experienced in his life, but after he woke up, he was afraid again. Fortunately, it was late at night and the house was quiet. Even if the servants heard the maid's screams, they only thought that the two of them were deeply in love. I couldn't control my desire and didn't think much about it. He secretly asked Mrs. Cai to clean up the mess, so the body was buried in the flower bed. He also made up an excuse to cover up the disappearance of the maid.
The second corpse was the maid's brother, and he was killed just to silence him.
The third body was a child from an ordinary farmer who was abducted by Young Master Cai while he was out playing. He saw the child playing on the roadside. She was so cute that he suddenly had the urge to strangle her. After committing the crime in the carriage, he ordered his wet nurse to hide the body in a box and carry it back to the courtyard to bury it on the spot. However, he could not resist digging it out and playing with it, and thus he became ill. It’s a pity that the child’s parents still don’t know that she is dead. They just think she is lost and look for her every day.
While transcribing the confession, the Dali Temple's back felt chills again and again. Duke Cai, who was listening in, grabbed his son by the collar several times and forced him to ask why.
Young Master Cai naturally could not answer his father's question because he did not think there was anything wrong with what he did. Isn't it normal to want to destroy something cute? Besides, his grandmother was in his way, so naturally he wanted to eliminate her.
Duke Cai was unable to communicate with his son. When he walked out of the side room, he seemed to have aged dozens of years and his spirit collapsed. He knew that his wife and son could not be saved, and the Cai family's reputation was completely ruined. The family was falling apart at this moment. If he had listened to Master Lin's warning and sent his son away immediately, nothing would have happened. It's a pity that there is no "if" in life, and he was stubborn and missed this only chance.
Thinking of this, Duke Cai fell into deep regret and asked the emperor to retire the next day. The tragedy in his family had spread throughout the capital. Seeing that he couldn't even manage his own family, the emperor naturally no longer trusted his ability to do his job and agreed immediately. In fact, Duke Cai, as the regent, has been acting more and more arrogantly recently, and the young emperor's patience with him has long come to an end.
No one in the court spoke for him because the case was too tragic and the details behind it were so horrific that it was simply unheard of and unseen. It is said that if a son is not well educated it is the fault of his father. As Duke Cai raised a beast like Cai Yi, his character has been strongly questioned.
Yongxin Hou, who was recuperating at home, said to the guests who came to visit him proudly: "See, I told Taoist Lin that he was a living god and told him to obey Taoist Lin's orders, but he refused to believe it!"
The guests responded by classifying Lin Dan as someone who must not be offended and who must be befriended. For a time, her fame spread throughout the entire capital. From the royal family to the common people, no one failed to show respect when they mentioned her.
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