Chapter 104 Night Exploration

During the day, distinguished guests came to Jingzhao Prefecture one after another, but Ming Huazhang seemed to be oblivious to the noise from the outside world. He sat alone in the quiet hall, and with his fingers, he carefully and steadily stuck a piece of debris to the bone.

There was an orderly knock on the door. Ming Huazhang did not look up. His hands kept moving, his fingertips were incredibly steady, and he said calmly, "Come in."

The door was slowly pushed open. Ming Huazhang put the fragments away and glanced at them casually, but this made him stop in his tracks.

Su Xingzhi, wearing a dark blue official robe, stood in the scattered sunlight and nodded to Ming Huazhang, "Ming Shaoyin, long time no see."

It had indeed been a long time since we last met. Ming Huazhang put down his tools, stood up and said, "I didn't know that Su Yushi had come. I'm sorry for not welcoming you. May I ask what Su Yushi has done for you?"

"What else can the procuratorate do? It's naturally about the serial murder case."

"Is Su Yushi referring to the cases of Cheng Siyue, Huang Caiwei, etc?" Ming Huazhang said coldly, "This case has been fully transferred to Jingzhao Yin. Su Yushi must have gone to the wrong place."

Su Xingzhi smiled faintly and looked into the hall. "Zhongcheng Yushi is discussing the case with Jingzhao Yin. I have nothing to do, so I looked around. I wonder what Shaoyin Ming was doing just now. Did I not disturb him?"

Su Xingzhi had already come here, so it seemed unnecessary to say much. Ming Huazhang did not hide the things behind him, turned around, and naturally revealed the bones that were mostly pieced together: "I am the one who has nothing to do, and I am sorry to make Su Yushi laugh at me."

Ming Huazhang returned to his desk and continued to piece together the bones, not paying any attention to the presence of another person in the hall. Su Xingzhi slowly walked over, watched his movements, and asked, "Whose bones are these?"

"The Buddhist treasures of Pudu Temple were stolen by Cen Hu," Ming Huazhang said calmly. "The abbot of Pudu Temple gave me a list, and I have visited each of them. Those families indeed followed their ancestors' wishes and donated their remains to Pudu Temple."

"Since Young Master Ming has already checked, why do we still need to fight for the bones?"

"I think the number of bones is wrong." Ming Huazhang said calmly, "Of course, this case is no longer under my jurisdiction. I have no evidence, so I am just making wild guesses."

Su Xingzhi had seen his ability and didn't think Ming Huazhang was just guessing. Su Xingzhi watched for a while and asked, "Does Ming Shaoyin really think that the murderer is Cen Hu?"

"The Jingzhao Yin has the complete files. If Su Yushi has any questions, he can go check. Why ask me?"

"As a prosecutor in the Censorate, I oversee criminal cases and naturally have the right to question any relevant official. Young Master Ming seems to have a lot of opinions about me?"

For all major cases, the Yushitai, the Ministry of Justice, and the Dali Temple would form the Three Judicial Departments to jointly hear the case. The Dali Temple would draft the verdict, the Ministry of Justice would be responsible for reviewing it, and at the same time report it to the Yushitai for supervision.

This is also the difficult part of Jingzhao Prefecture. Jingzhao Prefecture is responsible for a series of hard and tiring work such as solving cases, interrogation, law enforcement, arresting people, etc. Not only is it difficult to get credit for their work, but there are also a lot of people waiting to find fault with them.

Jingzhao Prefecture was most afraid of the Three Courts' review, and the most upset was the Procuratorate of the Imperial History Bureau. These officials looked low-ranking, but they had great power. If the Imperial History Bureau felt that any link was problematic and sent the case back for re-examination, then no matter how much hard work Jingzhao Prefecture had put in before, they would have to start all over again.

Therefore, among the many officials in the capital, they would rather offend anyone than offend the historian, especially the law enforcement department of Jingzhao Prefecture. However, Minghua Zhangsi had no self-awareness of facing the prosecutor, and still had a cold and indifferent look, saying, "I dare not."

But looking at his expression, he didn't seem to be afraid at all. Su Xingzhi didn't care about Ming Huazhang's attitude, and asked sternly: "I heard Jingzhao Yin talk about the details of the case, and I always feel that there is something wrong. I heard that you have been leading this case in the early stage. I don't understand some details. Can you ask Ming Shaoyin to explain it to me?"

"Please, Mr. Yu."

"Is Cen Hu really the murderer?"

Su Xingzhi finished speaking and stared at Ming Huazhang. Ming Huazhang calmly put a piece of bone together, and his breath was so steady that Su Xingzhi suspected that he did not hear what he said.

Fortunately, Ming Huazhang heard it. He put down the tweezers, raised his eyes, and looked at Su Xingzhi with his clear black eyes: "If I say no, can Su Yushi help me delay this case and not make a final decision?"

Su Xingzhi raised his eyebrows: "I am the one who came to check on you, right? Are you actively admitting that you made a wrong judgment? Are you trying to drag me into this?"

"My superior has given an order. I am powerless to reverse the situation on my own," Ming Huazhang said. "But I have found evidence. If you can help me buy time, I should be able to catch the real culprit soon."

Su Xingzhi raised his eyebrows and did not continue: "You have no evidence now, just empty words, why should I believe you?"

Ming Huazhang spread out his slender and delicate fingers and pointed downwards: "Based on this pile of bones. I have been looking everywhere during this period of time. I can confirm that I have searched every household on the list, but the number of bones does not match."

"Less?"

"No, there are more." Ming Huazhang said, "There are two more tibias, one male and one female. Because there is too little information, I can only confirm that the man is about six feet tall, about thirty to forty years old, and has a slight limp because of his right leg injury. The woman is about five and a half feet tall, and her age is difficult to judge. I can only roughly confirm that she is middle-aged."

Su Xingzhi became more and more confused as he listened. He crossed his arms and asked, "How did you make that judgment? Just based on one bone?"

"The body is often the most accurate evidence." Ming Huazhang ignored Su Xingzhi's questioning and said calmly, "The male's bones are thicker than the female's, so they are easy to identify. There are cracks on the male's bones, and the marks are very old, not new injuries, which shows that the man had leg problems before his death. I guessed his age based on the growth of the bones. As for his height, I observed the tibias of people around me and found that people with long calf bones are often tall. I measured the length of their leg bones and roughly estimated it."

Su Xingzhi had heard of it at first, but he was only impressed by it at the end. Ming Huazhang was so persistent in digging into this matter that Su Xingzhi couldn't think of a way to estimate the height of the owner of the bone flute by measuring the length of the tibia of the people around him.

With such meticulous observation and careful thinking, he said that if he was given a few more days, he would be able to catch the real murderer. Su Xingzhi actually believed him. Su Xingzhi asked, "What did you find?"

"I checked the death records of Chang'an in the past ten years and found a couple who died unexpectedly and met the above conditions. The reason I noticed them was because they were Lu Du's parents."

Su Xingzhi was puzzled: "Who is this?"

Su Xingzhi did not participate in the investigation and did not know that Lu Du was once an important suspect, but he was ruled out. Ming Huazhang said: "He was the teacher of Cheng Siyue's brother Cheng Dalang. Four years ago, he was recommended by Huang Jijiu and entered the Imperial College as a doctor. He lived in Pudu Temple in his early years. Four years ago, his parents died in a fire, and he was the only survivor. After being hit by this, he donated his family house to Qingchan Temple and bought another mansion. From then on, he settled in Chang'an. However, after my private investigation, he did not have a good relationship with his parents, and he once had a younger sister who was raised in seclusion and rarely saw people. One day, she suddenly died of an acute illness. Even the body was not allowed to be seen by people and was hastily buried. Since then, Lu Du's physical condition has plummeted, and he had to move to Pudu Temple outside the city to recuperate."

Su Xingzhi listened very carefully. He frowned and sorted out the relationship. After thinking for a long time, he said, "He is Cheng Dalang's doctor. He was recommended by Huang Jijiu. Four years ago, he lived in Pudu Temple. So it seems that he had every chance to know Cheng Siyue, Huang Caiwei and the female beggar."

"That's right." Ming Huazhang said, "And I also discovered unexpectedly that Pudu Temple was donated by Zheng family of Xingyang, and Lu Du's mother's surname happened to be Zheng."

Qingchan Temple and Pudu Temple are both related to Lu Du. If the murders were to be committed in these two places, Lu Du would undoubtedly be the one who knows the environment best. Su Xingzhi was successfully persuaded. He straightened his sleeves and said with his hands behind his back, "I will try my best to remind the Minister to slow down the investigation, but no matter what, I must give His Majesty an answer before the end of the year. Whether you can find the murderer, calm His Majesty's anger, and keep your official positions depends on you."

Although the case was finally snatched away by Jingzhao Yin, and the murderer was also determined by Jingzhao Yin, but if the case was wrongly judged, His Majesty and the people of Chang'an would be angry and would not care whether Ming Huazhang was innocent or not. Ming Huazhang accepted Su Xingzhi's kindness and bowed: "Thank you."

Ming Huazhang got Su Xingzhi's promise and knew that Yu Shitai would help him delay the case, so he went to look for evidence without any worries. When the court was dismissed in the afternoon, Ming Huazhang quietly left the city without notifying anyone and went to Pudu Temple.

He had previously inquired about the schedule of Pu Du Temple and knew that at the hour of Xu all monks had to attend evening classes, including the abbot. This was the best opportunity to spy on Pu Du Temple.

It was embarrassing to say that three murders had occurred, but no murder scene had been found. Ming Huazhang looked over the map of Chang'an many times, and finally, he returned his gaze to Pudu Temple.

The tibia of Lu Du's parents was clearly made into a bone flute, but when the abbot of Pudu Temple wrote the list, he deliberately omitted the names of the Lu couple.

Pure lies are easy to spot, but the worst thing is when there is some truth mixed with some falsehood, or some falsehood mixed with some truth. The people on the list are all real, their bones have been smashed, and if one or two people are missing, it would be impossible to detect.

But the abbot probably didn't think that someone would actually put the bones together piece by piece and go door to door to ask. During this investigation, Ming Huazhang really found the loophole.

The abbot of Pudu Temple wrote down so many names at once, it doesn't make sense that he only forgot Lu Du's parents, it could only be that he was deliberately hiding it. Something must be wrong when something is abnormal, Ming Huazhang wants to see what secrets Pudu Temple hides today.

Ming Huazhang was the Shao Yin of Jingzhao Prefecture and also a member of the Xuanxiao Guard. He sneaked into the Pudu Temple easily without disturbing any monks. At this moment, everyone was chanting in the main hall, and the abbot's room was cold and dark, with no one in it. This was the best opportunity.

Ming Huazhang fell into the meditation room silently and walked straight to the dark room. At this moment, the wall had returned to its original state. A golden Buddha statue was placed in front of the wall, with a colorful crown and ribbons, and it was difficult to tell whether it was male or female. It was so gorgeous that if you didn't know it in advance, it would be difficult to guess that there was a door here.

Unfortunately, Ming Huazhang was not among them. In fact, Ming Huazhang had noticed when he came that day that the Buddha treasure was stolen, but the pure gold Buddha statue on the other side of the wall was intact.

Buddha treasures are different from property. They are valuable only in the eyes of believers. In the eyes of non-believers, they are just a pile of bones. Cen Hu, a thief who dared to take risks and rob government silver for money, left the golden Buddha statue in the abbot's meditation room and stole the Buddha treasures instead?

Ming Huazhang didn't believe it. He recalled the location he saw that day, knocked lightly on the wall, and soon found the secret door.

Ming Huazhang only opened a small gap and fell in like a piece of snow. Then he closed the secret door. The Buddha statue outside did not move at all, and it was as quiet as if nothing had happened. Ming Huazhang lit the fire and looked around the dark room for the second time.

The arrangement had been restored to order, but the table was empty and no Buddhist treasures were visible. Ming Huazhang lifted the silk cloth on the table and indeed saw dust underneath.

The firelight flashed across Ming Huazhang's eyes, and his pupils were sometimes bright and sometimes dark, like a deep pool. He discovered this when he first came here. Although the place seemed to be in a mess, only things were knocked over, and nothing was actually damaged. Would a thief be so careful about the importance of things?

The silk cloth on the table was clean, but the table below was covered in dust. All signs indicated that this was not a place for worshipping Buddha treasures. The other party wanted to create a scene where Buddha treasures were being robbed. The silk cloth was temporarily laid up, and the wooden frame was also knocked over by humans.

Therefore, the claim that Cen Hu stole Buddhist treasures and fled for fear of punishment is completely untenable, and the claim that he fell to his death on the mountain road is a complete lie.

Since the theft of the Buddhist treasure is false, where were the human bones originally enshrined? Since there is a secret room in the abbot's room, are there other secret doors?

Ming Huazhang searched the walls inch by inch. As he felt the walls, he felt something strange under his feet. He squatted down quietly and knocked on the floor tiles with his knuckles.

Yes, there is nothing down there.

Ming Huazhang put the fire stick aside, took out his short knife, and carefully pried open the brick seam. The cold and heavy floor tiles were quickly lifted up, and Ming Huazhang held the edge with one hand and looked down.

A flight of stairs appeared before my eyes, dark and winding, and I didn't know where it led to.