Chapter 1501

Sun Daojing hurried back to the Ministry of Justice.

Before he could even drink a cup of tea, his face was cold as frost, and he said angrily, "Go to the Heavenly Prison and call Chen Guanlou for me. Tell him to get here as fast as he can."

"My lord, if Warden Chen asks what the matter is, what should this subordinate say?"

"You tell him he has poked a hole in the sky. The trouble he caused, he can solve it himself."

Bang!

Sun Daojing slammed his fist onto the table.

How infuriating!

He clutched his chest, as if suffering from angina. Sooner or later, he would be angered to death by that man surnamed Chen!

Either he was asking for money and grain every day, or he was poking out a major case for him. He didn't even give a heads-up beforehand.

Recalling the content of Imperial Zhang Yushi Liu's impeachment at the morning court session today, his vision went black, and he almost fainted on the spot. Fortunately, he was old and steady, so he held it together and didn't let anyone see the clues.

Chen Guanlou was currently in the Heavenly Prison office, drinking tea and singing, feeling quite content.

He didn't yet know that because of his operation, the imperial court had been shaken!

Seeing the valet from the Minister's side come to invite him to the Ministry of Justice for a talk, his heart skipped a beat, and he immediately asked, "What happened? There haven't been any major cases these past few days; why is Lord Sun calling me over?"

"The lord told this subordinate to tell Warden Chen: you have poked a hole in the sky, you have caused a great disaster, and you must solve it yourself."

He realized instantly that the case had been exposed!

The impersonation of Dou Anzhi had been exposed, and the Dou family case had been dug up.

He really hadn't expected Imperial Zhang Yushi Liu's speed to be so fast and his ability to act to be so strong.

He had thought it would take a few more days for the case to be exposed.

He wiped his face. "Fine, I'll go over right now."

"The lord told you to get there as fast as you can."

"A little earlier or a little later makes no difference; I need to take some things."

He brought the evidence—the gold ring—along with the autopsy report, the complete investigation report, the original confession, and the original copy with fingerprints.

Once packed up and put into a cloth bag, he finally set off for the Ministry of Justice.

Sun Daojing had been waiting very impatiently.

The moment he saw Chen Guanlou, his anger flared up.

If it had been anyone else, the teacup in his hand would have been thrown. It was only because it was the man surnamed Chen that he could restrain his violent temper again and again and control the urge to throw things at people.

His face was cold as frost. "Look at the good deed you've done! You're relaxed, but you've left me, the official, to suffer for you. Do you know that at today's grand morning court, that man surnamed Liu took everyone by surprise, suddenly jumping out to impeach Qiu Gui and revealing the Dou family case, catching everyone off guard. His Majesty was even more furious and scolded this old man severely.

You're doing great, drinking tea and singing, while this old man takes the scolding for you. Chen Guanlou, this old man asks himself that he has treated you well; why didn't you tell this old man beforehand so I could have been prepared? Why did you backstab this old man like this? You are truly heartless!"

He was furious, gritting his teeth.

He didn't know if he was more angry at Chen Guanlou for hiding it from him, or at the Emperor for scolding him, or perhaps both.

"Old Sun, calm down, calm down! At your age, having such a temper—take care of your health. I don't want you to die suddenly in the office."

Chen Guanlou was indeed very good at adding fuel to the fire.

Sun Daojing was so angry that his rage soared. He clutched his chest and scolded, "No need to wait for the future; this old man will be angered to death by you in the office right now. You heartless thing, it's a pity that this old man protects you everywhere, and this is how you anger me. Are you doing this on purpose to anger me to death?"

"Wronged! It's a misunderstanding! Old Sun, look into my eyes; there is only respect for you and an exploration of the truth, absolutely no other intentions. Don't just focus on being angry; calm down first and think about what to do next."

Chen Guanlou was reckless with his words, but he knew how to handle things with care. He helped Old Sun sit down, poured him tea, and patted his back, with just the right amount of force. He was truly afraid of angering Old Sun to death!

If Old Sun were gone, where would he find another Minister of Justice who supported and indulged him so much?

Those two Vice Ministers didn't give him many good looks. Once one of them took the position to replace Old Sun, he couldn't even guarantee he would remain in the Heavenly Prison as a Warden.

Sun Daojing was panting heavily from anger. He glanced at Chen Guanlou and said with neither joy nor sorrow, "Consider that you still have a bit of conscience and didn't think about angering this old man to death."

"You just love to overthink and always wrong me. Even if I hoped for the Emperor to die, I couldn't possibly hope for you to die."

"Nonsense!" Sun Daojing almost had his breath cut off and could have died on the spot. "I just praised you, and in the blink of an eye, you come at this old man with something fierce. Is His Majesty someone you can arrange at will? Let this be the last time!"

"Yes, yes, yes, let this be the last time!" Chen Guanlou agreed fully, appearing very sincere.

Sun Daojing didn't believe a single word; the other party definitely let it go in one ear and out the other.

"Old Sun, think on the bright side. Since the case has already been exposed, let's make it an ironclad case. To save you trouble, I've brought all the investigation materials. This is the autopsy report, this is..."

"Wait, where did the corpses come from?" Sun Daojing was very confused.

They had been dead for over ten years; how could there be corpses?

How much had Chen Guanlou done in private, and how could there be so many investigation materials?

Chen Guanlou categorized all the materials and placed them on the desk, saying unhurriedly, "According to the investigation, Dou Anzhi was most likely murdered in the Qingyang Prefecture area. I privately sent people to investigate and visited a large number of people, confirmed three locations, and hired hundreds of local residents to dig three feet into the ground, finally finding the remains suspected to be Dou Anzhi and his loyal servant.

Facts prove that we didn't look in the wrong place; the identity of the remains is Dou Anzhi. The evidence is this gold ring. We have already gone to the Dou family's ancestral home to confirm it; this is a ring that the Dou family paid to have crafted, and there is even the Dou family emblem on the inside. These are all confessions. The chain of evidence is complete! The Ministry of Justice only needs to verify the authenticity of the evidence once more and obtain the confessions of Qiu Gui and his wife, and the truth of this case will be revealed!"

Sun Daojing picked up the gold ring through a handkerchief.

"Where was it found?"

"Found on the remains. The people I found were very reliable; the remains were excavated along with the soil and transported to the capital as a whole. This ring was discovered in the soil. The remains are currently being kept in the Heavenly Prison morgue; the Ministry of Justice can send people to verify it at any time."

Sun Daojing narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the inside of the gold ring. "This ring doesn't look like a ring worn daily; it's more like a family emblem or a family token."

"Old Sun, you're amazing! I had to investigate to confirm that this ring was highly likely a token; I didn't expect you to know just by looking at it."

Sun Daojing snorted coldly. Although his expression was serious, the content he spoke was slightly smug. "This old man has worked in criminal justice for decades and has handled thousands of major and minor cases. I have seen more than one ring of this type; they are usually used as tokens. Wearing them daily is slightly inconvenient. Did that Qiu Gui not realize this point?"

Chen Guanlou said, "His background limited his knowledge. Although he was a personal valet, there were certainly many things he didn't understand."