Chapter 432

This Lu Datou has some skills.

Without much effort, he found the Jiang family's address. It's just a pity that the place was empty.

But he didn't give up; after chatting with the surrounding neighbors, he learned that not long after Jiang Fangxiu's incident, the Jiang family moved back to their ancestral home. However, two servants who had worked for the Jiang family stayed behind and were now working for a wealthy family nearby.

After some twists and turns, Lu Datou finally found the former servants of the Jiang family, spent a little silver, and finally pieced together the truth from the two people.

"Brother, Brother, everything about the Jiang man has been asked clearly."

After finding out the truth, Lu Datou didn't delay for a minute; he didn't even eat, and hurried back to the Heavenly Prison with the remaining silver.

"Everything is clear. As soon as Jiang Fangxiu had an incident, the Jiang family moved back to their hometown. Fortunately, two servants remained in the capital to make a living. I've asked everything clearly. Jiang Fangxiu was unlucky and offended Princess Qingyang; to be precise, he offended a guest retainer in Princess Qingyang's mansion."

Princess Qingyang?

Princess Qingyang is the old Emperor's eldest daughter. It is said that she was quite favored when she was young, but her marriage was not very satisfactory; she married a good-for-nothing playboy who lived off his parents. The couple's relationship was not good, and each played their own games, which was known to the whole court. The old Emperor had asked about it several times, and even wanted to punish the Princess's husband, but in the end, it was left unsettled. The couple continued to live a marriage in name only.

It is heard that Princess Qingyang keeps several male favorites in her mansion.

However, all these male favorites combined are not as good as a certain guest retainer in the Princess's mansion.

This guest retainer's surname is Su, and he comes from an official family, with both talent and appearance. The book describes a man as a graceful and elegant gentleman, and these words were tailor-made for Guest Retainer Su.

However, this Guest Retainer Su had a bad life; his father died when he was young, his mother was weak, and the mother and son were bullied by their clansmen. Fortunately, he was intelligent from a young age and was called a child prodigy in the local area, showing extraordinary talent for reading. It wasn't until he passed the imperial examination and gradually gained the attention of the clan that his life got better.

Later, he successfully passed the imperial examination, taking the top spot in the second rank, which is the fourth place.

This ranking was already extraordinary.

Most importantly, he and Jiang Fangxiu were in the same imperial examination cohort. But Jiang Fangxiu's ranking was at the bottom.

Perhaps that's how the grudge was formed.

Later, Guest Retainer Su, introduced by his mentor, married and had children. It was also because of his mentor's involvement that he and his father-in-law's family all suffered bad luck, were thrown into prison, and were subjected to severe torture. Most of the men in his father-in-law's family didn't survive and died in prison. Most of the women also hanged themselves, and even the children were gone.

Guest Retainer Su was also supposed to die, but he was too good-looking, so good-looking that Princess Qingyang thought of him after seeing him only once. Upon learning of his incident, she risked being punished by the old Emperor to save him, and kept him in the Princess's mansion as a guest retainer to offer advice to Princess Qingyang.

As for the grudge between Jiang Fangxiu and Guest Retainer Su, according to the Jiang family servants, when Guest Retainer Su was imprisoned, Jiang Fangxiu had kicked him while he was down, deeply offending the Su man.

Once Guest Retainer Su had established himself in the Princess's mansion, he set about taking revenge on Jiang Fangxiu.

Princess Qingyang fully supported Guest Retainer Su, and Jiang Fangxiu was thus thrown into the Heavenly Prison. The Jiang family was worried that Guest Retainer Su would continue to take revenge on them, so they hurriedly moved back to their ancestral home, not daring to stay in the capital.

Now that Jiang Fangxiu is dead, whether his corpse is buried or fed to wild dogs depends on the Princess's mansion's wishes. As long as the Princess's mansion doesn't speak, Jiang Fangxiu's corpse must remain in the morgue.

That is roughly the sequence of events.

Lu Datou drank two cups of tea in succession and wiped his mouth.

"Brother, if you still want to know the details, I'll go find their fellow failed candidates to ask; I'll definitely be able to find out more. If that doesn't work, I'll go to the Princess's mansion and use connections to ask."

"Look at you, actually wanting to use connections at the Princess's mansion. Is the Princess's mansion that easy to inquire about? Be careful you lose your life. Alright, that's enough for this matter. There's still silver left, right?"

Lu Datou smiled and made a move to take out the silver, "There's still some silver left."

Before he could take out the silver, Chen Guanlou directly said, "Keep the remaining silver for yourself and buy something good for the children. By the way, how old is this Guest Retainer Su this year?"

"He should be under forty. I heard he was quite young when he passed the imperial examination, with a limitless future. Who knew disaster would fall from the sky? If it weren't for Princess Qingyang saving him, he would have died in prison long ago."

"Hmm, I know now; you go get busy. Be discreet and don't let Xu Fugui catch you in a trap."

"Thank you for the reminder, Brother; Xu Fugui is nothing to fear." Lu Datou had accomplished the task and also got silver, so his mood was wonderful, and he left happily. He probably had to take care of the gambling house business again tonight.

After Wang Bantou learned the truth, he kept scratching his hair.

"Are we really just going to let the corpse stay there? What if the Princess's mansion never speaks? Won't it start to stink?"

Fortunately, it's winter now, and fortunately, the temperature has dropped these past few days.

If he had died in the summer, Wang Bantou wouldn't dare imagine that scene; it would be too horrifying! He suddenly remembered the time they whipped the corpse, and the whole Heavenly Prison was filled with a smell that didn't fully dissipate for half a month.

That feeling was something no one could stand.

Moreover, it also affected his bonus.

"First, watch the movements of the Ministry of Justice. If that doesn't work, we'll find a way to notify the Princess's mansion ourselves."

"My lord, do you have an idea? Could it be that you know someone in the Princess's mansion?"

"Where would I know someone in the Princess's mansion?" Chen Guanlou hummed twice; he didn't know anyone in the Princess's mansion, but he knew one person who definitely did.

Brother Xiang!

Chen Guanxiang!

As a gatekeeper of the Hou Fu, he was truly well-informed.

The Princess's mansion must have dealings with the Hou Fu.

As a gatekeeper, Chen Guanxiang might not be able to talk to others, but he could definitely talk to the stewards of the Princess's mansion.

However, everything waits for the notification from the Ministry of Justice.

Fearing that the morgue wasn't cold enough, Chen Guanlou ordered people to put in a few more large blocks of ice.

Since the Jiang family is not in the capital, notify Jiang Fangxiu's friends and relatives; regardless of who it is, let them be prepared to collect the body.

The Ministry of Justice dragged it out, and there was no movement for several days.

Chen Guanlou arranged for people to go to the Ministry of Justice to urge them, but it didn't work.

If the matter wasn't so small, he would have wanted to go find Sun Daoning himself to talk about it.

He didn't find Sun Daoning, but he found Master Fan, the former Prison Warden Fan.

Master Fan told him that there was no other way for this matter; he could only wait.

Chen Guanlou could afford to wait. But the corpse couldn't.

According to the rules, before the corpse is checked off, it must be kept in the Heavenly Prison morgue and is not allowed to be moved.

This is very fatal!

"The corpse cannot be kept for long, my lord. If you go to the Heavenly Prison, you will know that the smell can no longer be covered up."

"There's no other way. That's the job in the Heavenly Prison. If you have connections, hurry up and notify the Princess's mansion and let them speak."

"Where would I have any connections?"

"Don't be humble. Such a small matter certainly won't stump you."