The truth is getting closer
"So your solution is—for me to pretend to chase the wind?!"
His injuries were almost fully healed. After Cheng Junshi finished dealing with Zhang Dong's case, he came over to ask him to go to the cabinet together. After changing into the clothes that Cheng Junshi had thrown at him, Tang Qi finally asked incredulously.
"Let me correct you. Zhui Feng is resting today. You were just pretending to be an ordinary subordinate," Cheng Junshi replied calmly.
"Your uniforms from the Criminal Law Department are so impressive!" Tang Qi touched his clothes a couple of times; the fabric was clearly not ordinary.
"Hmm." Cheng Junshi nodded lightly.
Actually, not everyone's clothes are of such good quality.
The two quickly arrived at the palace. Tang Qi, carrying the tools Cheng Junshi had given him, swaggered behind him, while Cheng Junshi showed off his token in front. The two moved freely without hindrance. Tang Qi curled the corner of his mouth and teased, "How impressive, Shaoqing."
Cheng Junshi ignored his smugness, but still managed to retort at the cabinet entrance: "Speak less, do more, and leave within an incense stick's time."
Tang Qi raised an eyebrow at him and smiled, saying, "Yes, sir."
There were so many cabinet files, densely packed in front of him. Tang Qi froze on the spot as soon as he entered, feeling utterly hopeless, and said, "How...how come there are so many?"
Just kidding, he's never read that many books in his entire life.
"You don't get dizzy when you read, do you?" Cheng Junshi's unexpected question made Tang Qi freeze on the spot and let out an "Ah." Cheng Junshi then chuckled and suppressed a laugh, saying, "Oh, it's nothing. I just remembered that when I was in school, I always saw you sleeping. I thought you had some kind of hidden illness."
Tang Qi choked up. He naturally understood the teasing in Cheng Junshi's words, so he laughed and deliberately said to him, "Every day? I really didn't expect Shaoqing to care about me so much. I am overwhelmed with trepidation. You weren't secretly observing me all along, were you?" He thought that after he finished speaking, he would receive a glare from Cheng Junshi or be scolded by him, which would make him feel better. But nothing happened. Cheng Junshi just chuckled and said lightly, "Yes, always."
"You...you...really?" Tang Qi was startled and immediately chased after him, asking, "Cheng Wang, you weren't secretly watching me before, were you? Really?" He was practically pressed against Cheng Junshi. Cheng Junshi didn't answer him, but gently pushed him forward and walked ahead, shushing him, "Stop talking, let's get down to business. I'll go put Zhang Dong's file away first. You handle it yourself."
Tang Qi sighed as he looked at the thousands of books and scrolls. Originally, they did not have such extensive access rights, but Cheng Junshi submitted a memorial requesting that Zhang Dong, Lang Ce, Li Wuyuan, and others be included in the same case and recorded in the history books. As the chief strategist, he naturally received higher access rights.
"Come on, let's get started."
Tang Qi went straight to the historical records of Zhaoming, and the densely packed text from beginning to end left him dazzled. He could only look at the signatures in the endnotes one by one.
Xi Kai's name appeared most often, which is not surprising, since His Majesty has only had this one historian since ascending the throne. Tang Qi found the historical records of the first year of Zhaoming's reign, which contained very simple records, only briefly stating that the fourth prince, who is now His Majesty, ascended the throne.
When Tang Qi tried to find Zhaoming's previous records, he discovered that the historical records had a gap.
This puzzled him. The year before Zhaoming was the era of the late emperor, which should be the Taiming era. Logically, major events during the Taiming era should have been recorded, but Tang Qi couldn't find any historical records about the Taiming era when he searched.
It's as if history has suddenly been cut off.
Just then, Cheng Junshi arrived after finishing his business there. Tang Qi immediately said to him, "Cheng Wang, have you seen the historical records from the Taiming era?"
"During the Taiming era?" Cheng Junshi said as he walked towards him, "Aren't all the historical records here? The historical records from the Taiming era should be at the beginning of this section."
Tang Qi shook her head: "I looked all over, but I didn't see anything."
“How could that be?” Cheng Junshi frowned slightly. “The historical records are complete. How could there be any gaps? If that were the case, it would have been reported long ago.”
Although Cheng Junshi did not believe it, he was extremely shocked to find that what Tang Qi said was true when he actually walked closer and followed Tang Qi's gaze.
The historical records of the Taiming era have truly disappeared.
"How is this possible?" Cheng Junshi searched around several more times, still not believing it, and finally murmured in disbelief.
"Was there no record of this during the Taiming era?" Cheng Junshi muttered to himself, still looking down.
"Impossible. My father conquered the northern frontier during the Taiming era, and he was also enfeoffed as a marquis and established his own government in the same year. These are all recorded in history. How could no one have recorded them?" Tang Qi cut off the fantasy in his words.
"When did the Marquis of Jianbei begin his campaign in the northern frontier?" Cheng Junshi suddenly asked again.
"The thirty-sixth year of Taiming."
Cheng Junshi glanced up and his brows furrowed involuntarily: "The year the late emperor passed away?"
Tang Qi hummed in agreement, then looked at Cheng Junshi, who was lost in thought just like he had before. He knew what Cheng Junshi was thinking, so he said, "The thirty-sixth year of the Taiming era, the late emperor passed away, the crown prince died, and the new emperor ascended the throne. Such an important period would be lost from the historical records?"
Cheng Junshi remained silent.
If historical records couldn't possibly be lost, then it proves they were hidden away.
It goes without saying who hid it.
Cheng Junshi wasn't incapable of thinking about it; he simply chose not to.
Tang Qi sighed and was about to take two steps forward to speak to Cheng Junshi when suddenly a footstep sounded not far away. Tang Qi was so startled that he immediately stood still and lowered his head. Cheng Junshi also quickly took two steps to his side and flicked his sleeve to completely cover him.
"Eunuch You."
"Oh, Young Master Cheng." A eunuch-looking man carrying several scrolls of bamboo slips came in from outside and greeted Cheng Junshi with a cheerful smile.
"What is this, Eunuch You?" Cheng Junshi asked.
“Oh,” seeing him look at the bamboo slips he was holding, Eunuch You smiled before explaining, “His Majesty transferred some things away a few days ago, and now I’m bringing them back.”
Tang Qi frowned, but standing behind Cheng Junshi, he couldn't help but secretly glance at the bamboo slip.
It can't be such a coincidence, can it?
After Eunuch You left, Cheng Junshi picked up the bamboo slips and burst out laughing.
Okay, it's just such a coincidence.
"His Majesty treats you like a fool," Tang Qi commented, leaning against the side.
Cheng Junshi tossed a bamboo scroll to Tang Qi, and as the latter slowly unrolled it, he continued, "This is a classic case of hiding something."
The above records the historical facts of the thirty-sixth year of the Taiming era.
His father's name was clearly visible.
Tang, Mian.
Tang Qi slowly touched his father; it had been a long time since he had seen him.
Tang Qi glanced down again, but her brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
“It seems His Majesty already knew why you came here,” Tang Qi said with a smirk. “That makes things rather pointless.”
Cheng Junshi glanced at Tang Qi and said casually, "He knows why I'm here, but he doesn't know why you are."
"Huh? What's the difference?" Tang Qi stared at Cheng Junshi, bewildered. "Aren't we aiming for the same thing?"
“You’re only with me today; before, I was always alone.” Cheng Junshi put the bamboo slips back in their places one by one and continued, “These are things I’ve been investigating.”
Tang Qi paused, as if thinking of something, and hesitantly asked cautiously, "...Your mother?"
Cheng Junshi gave a faint "hmm".
Tang Qi swallowed hard, scratching his head as he spoke more cautiously, "I've heard you mention it before, but I never knew how...uh...how your mother left." Afraid of touching on Cheng Junshi's painful past, Tang Qi chose a less offensive word.
"He was murdered in my own yard." Cheng Junshi spoke calmly, revealing no emotion whatsoever, as if he were talking about someone else's business.
Has the murderer been caught?
"If I catch them, I won't investigate for twelve years."
Tang Qi realized something was wrong as soon as she finished speaking, and she almost laughed at her own stupidity.
"How was the case closed back then?" Tang Qi asked.
“Breaking into a house to rob, then killing in a fit of rage.” Cheng Junshi’s tone remained calm.
Wasn't your father home at the time?
Tang Qi heard Cheng Junshi chuckle softly, and then he heard him continue, "That was at night. His Majesty summoned him to the palace, and only my mother and I were at home."
Cheng Junshi's emotions finally began to fluctuate: "My mother hid me very well, no one saw me. She died right in front of me. She could have run away, but she did it to protect me—I killed her, I killed her."
He seemed to recall the previous scene, and his hand trembled involuntarily. Tang Qi saw this, grabbed his hand, and shook it violently twice: "Alright, what's past is past."
"Your aunt wouldn't think you killed her; she'd only be glad she saved you. If she knew how you've grown up, she'd be very proud."
Cheng Junshi was amused by his words of comfort and withdrew his hand from his grasp, laughing as he said, "I'm fine. I just want to find out the truth about my mother's death, that's all."
"So," Tang Qi suddenly seemed to remember something, tilting her head to look at Cheng Junshi and said, "the reason you didn't dare stay in the cave before was because...?"
Cheng Junshi didn't answer directly; he just turned his head away—this was usually how he tacitly agreed when he didn't want to answer but was unwilling to lie.
Tang Qi closed his eyes, tilted his head back at a 45-degree angle, and felt guilty.
What kind of mess is this? He really wanted to slap himself a few times. He had actually mocked Cheng Junshi before, but it turned out that Cheng Junshi was afraid because of this.
Is it too late to apologize now?
"When did your mother pass away?" Tang Qi suddenly asked again.
"The first year of Zhaoming."
"One year after His Majesty ascended the throne?" Tang Qi held up the bamboo slip in his hand and pointed to a spot for Cheng Junshi to see: "The historian for the year Zhaoming was Xi Kai—he was also the historian for the year Taiming."
"What do you mean?" Cheng Junshi asked, bewildered.
“I remember telling you that the historians were a family system. From Taiming to Zhaoming, spanning two dynasties, the Xi family must have produced more than just Xi Kai to be a historian. Besides him, can you name any other historian with the surname Xi?”
Cheng Junshi remained silent for a long time, lost in thought.
“You can’t, right? You can’t believe it. I can’t believe it either. Do you know what this means?” Tang Qi looked at Cheng Junshi for a long time before speaking in a sinister tone: “This means that the Xi family has only recently begun to control historical records.”
"There's only one reason for the change of historian families—" Tang Qi paused, then slowly uttered, "confiscation of their property."
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