Chapter 36: The Third Death
The square house is surrounded by high walls. Looking up, you can't see what's outside the walls. You thought that all dangers could be blocked outside the walls, but you didn't expect that it would provide a hunting ground for the murderer.
Xun Shu and He Xuan returned to their residence under the escort of the Dali Temple.
The courtyard door slowly closed behind him. Xun Shu turned around and, through the gradually narrowing crack, saw the man outside making faces. He seemed not to have expected Xun Shu to turn around at this moment, and his expression froze on his face, looking both strange and funny.
Xun Shu turned around as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn't seen it, and sat down at the stone table under the tree, chin on his hand, in a daze.
The clouds were drifting, and the light flickered. He Xuan glanced up and said, "It looks like it's going to rain again. Let's go back to the house."
Xun Shu wanted to ask him if he was going to send her away, but she changed her mind and said something irrelevant: "I checked the sky last night, and it won't rain in the next few days."
He Xuan looked down at the person at the table. Her gaze was unfocused, as if she were watching the grass swaying in the wind atop a high wall, or the clouds aimlessly drifting across the horizon. His fingers stroked the rough fabric of his sleeves as he sat down on the other side of the stone table.
The light in front of her dimmed and brightened instantly. Xun Shu was dazed, then she realized He Xuan was sitting across from her. She pursed her lips and said slowly, "How much do you know about this old case from five years ago? Can you tell me about it?"
This matter was no secret, so He Xuan readily agreed. "Of course. This story begins five years ago. Five years ago, the Yangsui River outside Chaozhou City flooded due to days of heavy rain, and several counties along the river were devastated. Chaozhou, due to its high terrain, escaped the disaster. The court appointed a fourth-rank official as the governor of the river, and he and Yang Yong, who was then a sixth-rank lieutenant, came to Chaozhou to provide disaster relief."
Xun Shu was surprised and asked, "Since Chaozhou was not hit by the disaster, why did the disaster relief workers come here?"
At the time, the floods were severe, and residents of several surrounding towns, under the guidance of the local county and provincial governor's offices, were temporarily evacuated to Chaozhou. Even the provincial governor's office, severely damaged, had to be temporarily relocated to the Chaozhou county government office. When the relief officials sent by the imperial court arrived, the floods had not yet receded, so they had no choice but to rest in Chaozhou city while planning their next steps. The relief officials brought with them 500,000 taels of silver, which was stored in the county government office under strict security.
Ten days after the relief officials arrived in Chaozhou, the floods receded, and the River Governor decided to distribute the relief money to various counties. The day before the relief money was loaded onto trucks for shipment, everyone gathered in the backyard of the county government office, toasting and drinking. The feast lasted until midnight, and everyone returned to their rooms to rest. The next morning, an unexpected incident occurred: the River Governor was found hanged in his room, and the relief money was nowhere to be found.
"This was a major case, and everyone immediately sent word back to the capital. The late emperor was furious and dispatched Qin Yuan, then the Junior Minister of the Supreme Court and now the Supreme Court Minister, and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice to Chaozhou to investigate. The two men stayed in Chaozhou for several months, turning the city upside down, but the hundreds of thousands of taels of disaster relief silver seemed to have vanished without a trace. The two men delayed too long, and after Magistrate Zheng and his family were executed, they returned to the capital with regret. After their departure, Chaozhou left others secretly on the lookout, waiting for the silver to reappear. To their surprise, five years later, there was still no result."
Xun Shu was puzzled. "Since the relief money hasn't been found, how can we convict County Magistrate Zheng?"
"It wasn't because of the disaster relief money case. Because the money wasn't found, County Magistrate Zheng refused to acknowledge any involvement, leaving the case unsolved to this day. County Magistrate Zheng's crime was the murder of an imperial official. Lord Qin found evidence proving County Magistrate Zheng was the murderer, with all the physical evidence, and County Magistrate Zheng confessed."
"Then what was County Magistrate Zheng's reason for killing people?"
"I heard that some friction arose due to the disaster relief issue. However, because the relief money had not been found, the case was solved but not widely publicized. As a result, the people of Chaozhou believed that County Magistrate Zheng's crime was related to the relief money, unaware that the two incidents were separated into two completely independent cases."
“That’s how it is.”
Xun Shu sighed endlessly.
Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver for disaster relief...
Her thoughts went back to the heavy rain five years ago.
She was only ten years old that year, and suddenly faced with misfortune, she felt like a ghost, feeling the vastness of the world and unable to find a place to rest. She walked with the refugees for an unknown amount of time, and by the time she reached Chaozhou, she was exhausted and starving, unable to speak.
A wealthy businessman in Chaozhou was giving out porridge. She was thin and weak, and could not compete with the adults, so she fainted on the side of the road. Just when she saw a golden light flash before her eyes and thought she was going to see her master and brothers, Jiang Zheng suddenly appeared, helped her onto the cart, and carried her back to the coffin shop together with the coffin wood he had just found.
The coffin shop was extremely busy during that time, and after she recovered, she began helping Jiang Zheng make coffins. She was small and weak, unable to lift wooden planks, but she could carve patterns on coffins. From then on, she settled down in the coffin shop.
She remembered that not long after she entered the coffin shop, the heavy rain stopped, and the city was in chaos, with unfamiliar faces everywhere. Jiang Zheng warned her that something important had been lost in the city and told her not to go out to avoid being accidentally hurt. She obeyed obediently, and by the time the storm subsided, it was already months later, and snow had fallen.
Now, it has been another five years.
He Xuan looked at Xun Shu, who was lost in thought, and said, "I heard from Uncle Jiang that many children lost their families in the flood and became orphans. That's when you came to the coffin shop... Do you still remember what happened before?"
Xun Shu raised her eyes and glanced at him. Her eyes were as clear as the first melting winter snow, as if they could illuminate the dark corners of people's hearts, making He Xuan feel ashamed unconsciously. He was about to say something when he heard her say, "I remember, but I don't want to recall the past." She paused and softened her tone. "That year, many people lost their loved ones and their homes in the heavy rain. Fang Yan and I were lucky. We found a place willing to accept us, but many people who were less fortunate couldn't get food because they were too thin. They contracted typhoid fever because they had nowhere to shelter from the wind and rain, and died because they couldn't afford medicine. He Xuan, do you know what purgatory on earth is? It's not being tortured by setbacks to the point of losing hope of living, but wanting to live but having no way to live. You can only die in despair in anticipation.
"If the disaster relief money hadn't been lost, wouldn't so many people have survived? Would so many children have grown up..." Xun Shu shook his head, "I don't want to think about it anymore."
The pain of the past will never fade away with time, but will only give us the courage to face it as we grow older and mature mentally.
He Xuan wanted to pat her head to comfort her, but there was a stone table between them, and he couldn't cross it. He sighed and changed the subject: "Isn't Fang Yan the child of the funeral clothing store next door? He is also an orphan from the flood?"
"The aunt and uncle who owned the funeral clothing store originally had two children, both of whom died in the plague. Later, they met Fang Yan, who had lost his parents. Seeing how pitiful and obedient he was, they took him home and provided for his education. Now that Fang Yan has made it out, the aunt and uncle are very proud. It's also a good thing that good people have been rewarded."
"Have you ever read Fang Yan's fortune?" He Xuan asked curiously.
Xun Shu glanced at him and saw that he had a bright smile and a normal expression. He then slowly said, "He suffered a disaster in his youth and was later adopted by a noble. His fate is not stable, but his heart is not bad and his face is kind. He will be rewarded in the future."
She was unwilling to tell Fang Yan's fortune and spoke rather vaguely, so He Xuan did not ask any further questions.
A breeze blew, dispelling some of the oppressive heat and rustling the leaves. Xun Shu raised his head and stared at the swaying leaves for a moment. The gloom in his heart dissipated a little, and he thought of what had just happened in the backyard. He asked, "Do you really think General Yang is not the murderer?"
"I don't know." He Xuan shrugged, speaking confidently. "We currently have too few clues to easily convict someone, nor can we easily rule out a person's suspicion. Let's wait a little longer. The people from the Dali Temple—rumors say they're incredibly powerful. I'm sure it won't be long before they can find General Yang's whereabouts."
-
Xun Shu's astronomical observations were correct. By dusk, the clouds had dispersed, and the setting sun was sinking towards the horizon, its faint glow suffusing half the sky. He Xuan's predictions about the Dali Temple were also correct; they had indeed found General Yang before nightfall.
General Yang was found in an abandoned woodshed in the corner of the back garden, not far from the courtyard of the second daughter of the Zhao family, and rarely visited. When the Dali Temple officials entered the woodshed, they found General Yang hanging from the beams, his eyes wide open, his tongue lolling out, his body covered in wounds, and his bottom wet.
His body swayed slightly in the air due to the airflow from the opening and closing of the wooden door. It was obvious that he had died long ago.
After the Dali Temple discovered the body, they invited the last few surviving guests in the house to the scene.
Since the case was being handled by the Dali Temple, why were they summoned here? Xun Shu stood in a corner, quietly watching Li Song in the crowd. He felt that his behavior was rather strange, but he couldn't think of a suitable reason.
Li Song's sharpness was comparable to Qiu Anping's. He instantly locked onto Xun Shu's inquiring gaze and then revealed a gentle smile. Xun Shu shuddered in fear, thinking that this smile was like a weasel greeting a chicken, absolutely harboring ill intentions.
She blinked, looked away stiffly, and turned to observe the crime scene.
General Yang's body had been removed and set aside for a brief on-site examination by the coroner. A belt, resembling General Yang's belt, had been left hanging from the beam. Beneath it lay an overturned stool, and the floor beneath it was covered in dust and a confession written in blood, admitting to the murder of County Magistrate Feng.
Perhaps written in a hurry, the confession's handwriting was rather sloppy, and the stool had pressed it down, blurring it into a mess. Xun Shu tilted his head, squinting his eyes as he read it carefully.
General Yang's confession stated that he and County Magistrate Feng had arranged to meet by the pond and had an argument over Magistrate Zhao's case. During the argument, he accidentally killed County Magistrate Feng by slashing his throat with a dagger.
After the incident, he blamed himself and felt remorseful, unable to accept that he had killed his friend. Just as he was at a loss as to what to do, County Magistrate Bi discovered the body. Forced into this situation, he had no choice but to end his life.
He Xuan lowered his voice and asked softly, "What do you think?"
There were so many questions in this confession that Xun Shu didn't know where to begin. Scratching her head, she hesitated and spoke, "Although County Magistrate Feng had a knife wound on his neck, it was very minor, far from the claim of a slit throat as stated in the confession. Furthermore, General Yang was a general accustomed to life and death. How could he panic and lose his composure over a murder? Even offering death as an apology? This is completely unreasonable." She covered her lips with her hand, leaned towards He Xuan, and lowered her voice. "Finally, this dagger should have been taken away by those three men. How did it end up in General Yang's hands? There must be something fishy about this."
Xun Shu's eyebrows and eyes were lively, rising and falling as the case progressed. He Xuan inexplicably wanted to laugh, but he suppressed the smile from the corners of his lips and imitated her, covering his lips with his hands to block the shape of his mouth: "I think Ah Shu has made up her mind, am I right?"
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