Chapter 520: We Are Principled People of the Heaven Prison

"My lords, please forgive us. The reason so many corpses have been left lying here is mainly that Jail-Director Lei is about to step down and stop handling affairs, so the paperwork wasn't handed over in time. The Ministry of Justice has been busy with the altar explosion case, everyone's run off their feet, they couldn't spare a thought for such a trivial matter. There wasn't time to mark them off, so they just kept piling up."

The jailer bowed at the waist, fawning with a smile, and spoke with great caution.

Chen Chen Guanlou feared not the Brocaded Guards, gave them no face, but the jailers had no such guts. They still had to tread carefully, to serve them with care.

"The registry, let me see it."

The Brocaded Guards were experienced, trying to inspect the registry to find something amiss. It wasn't the peak season for deaths in summer or winter, there was no reason for the Heaven Prison's mortuary to be piled with corpses in the off-season.

This defied common sense.

The jailer handed over the registry with both hands.

No matter how they checked, they could find no problem. They gave up decisively.

"Which corpse is Jiang Tu's?"

Hearing this, the mortuary handyman pointed at one of the bodies piled together. "That's the one."

"Jiang Da was a court official, after all. Even dead, how could you treat his body like this? It's too much. Carry him out, I must personally verify the identity."

Reluctantly, the handyman hauled Jiang Tu's body out from the pile.

A chill ran through the air!

Everyone shivered.

It really was cold!

It's already the third month, spring is warm and flowers bloom, how can it still be this cold? Then again, this is the mortuary, and Jiang Tu reportedly died of severe untreated wounds — he must be full of grievance.

"My lord?"

"Shut your mouth!"

The Brocaded Guards' leader silenced his man, stepped forward covering his mouth and nose to examine the body, and confirmed it was that bastard Jiang Tu, no mistaking him. The physical features all matched, the birthmark matched too. Especially the singed cheek — that shape, those characters — it had been specially crafted for Jiang Tu, no one else had it.

"Died of severe untreated wounds?" The Brocaded Guards casually asked the jailer.

The jailer let out a dumb "Ah," then quickly explained: "Jiang Da was tortured and refused treatment. No matter who applied medicine, he wouldn't allow it, otherwise he'd threaten to kill himself. We had no choice but to watch helplessly."

"Why was he fine before Jail-Clerk Chen came back? The moment Jail-Clerk Chen returned, he died."

"Maybe he was holding on for one last breath, wanting to see Lord Chen one final time?"

"Why? When did that Chen fellow become friends with that bastard Jiang Tu? Aren't the two families sworn enemies? Back in the day, Chen Chen Guanlou killed plenty of Jiang Fu's martial artists. And Jiang Tu killed plenty of Chen's people too."

"Our Lord Chen has always handled affairs impartially, repeatedly stressed that he takes money and does the job, treats everyone the same."

The Brocaded Guards raised an eyebrow and gave a cold laugh. "What a strange fellow. The Heaven Prison actually prides itself on treating everyone the same — why doesn't he just fly up to the heavens."

The jailer dared not make a sound.

Unable to find anything more, the Brocaded Guards had no choice but to leave in frustration.

Chen Chen Guanlou still stood beneath the eaves. "Gentlemen, you've seen Jiang Tu's corpse. Any questions?"

"Why are there so many corpses in the mortuary? It's not reasonable."

"The cells have been tight lately, a few extra deaths is normal. The neighboring Imperial Prison's mortuary must have even more bodies than ours. Let's all show a little understanding, shall we?"

Chen Chen Guanlou spouted nonsense with a perfectly straight face.

The idea of piling up corpses wasn't something Chen Chen Guanlou came up with himself — it was Lu Lu Da Tou who thought of it for him. The moment Lu Lu Da Tou heard Jiang Tu was dead, he immediately played the role of armchair strategist, came up with the plan overnight, and had a pile of unclaimed corpses hauled in overnight from a friend in the funeral trade.

These past two months, Jingcheng has been in chaos, plenty of people have died. Many unidentified bodies, with no time to bury, all piled up at the charity burial grounds.

Lu Lu Da Tou took silver to buy corpses, and the funeral trade people immediately cooperated. Because Lu Lu Da Tou promised to help pay to bury these unidentified bodies afterward.

As for the registry, that was even simpler. He simply had the clerks under him whip up a brand-new registry overnight, mixing real and fake entries, with aging techniques applied — unless one went to the Ministry of Justice to check the original files, it was impossible to spot any problem.

The Heaven Prison truly is a treasure trove of talent! Every walk of life, you can find someone to help with anything.

You say it's fake!

Produce the evidence!

If you can't produce evidence, it's slander.

When the time comes, the two yamen will sue each other, drag up old grievances, haha, just like two women grabbing each other's hair, never to be sorted out.

"I heard Jiang Tu held on for one last breath, waiting until Jail-Clerk Chen returned to see him one final time. I never expected the two of you to be so close."

"You're too kind! In the Jia-ranked prison, I treat every single official prisoner impartially. Any dying prisoner who wants to see me, just say the word. We uphold the principle of taking money and doing the job — since we've taken the money, we will certainly satisfy the customer. Surely you Brocaded Guards don't just take money and not do the job? That won't do, people will curse you."

Chen Chen Guanlou looked at the other party with a smile, secretly mocking the Brocaded Guards for their ugly greed.

Brocaded Guards: ……

It seemed they couldn't refute it.

Trying to out-tough them wouldn't work either! They couldn't win!

Enough, they could only take their leave, returning empty-handed.

Once the Brocaded Guards were gone, Lu Lu Da Tou sidled up to claim credit. "Chen-ge, want me to swap in a few fresh corpses? In the Bing-ranked prison, a few are about to kick the bucket, we could do them a favor and send them off early."

"Within a single day, in such a warm season, several people dying one after another — you think the Ministry of Justice officials are all fools and blind men? Don't do anything unnecessary. Those corpses are more than enough!"

"Yes, yes, yes, Chen-ge really has the foresight. Only, when the Ministry of Justice people arrive later, we won't be able to stop them!"

The Ministry of Justice was the supervising authority, they couldn't use the same tactics against them as they did against the Brocaded Guards. They'd have to cooperate obediently.

Chen Chen Guanlou looked at the sky. "Let's wait."

Hopefully there'd be good news from Qian Xu Fugui's side.

Usually, only family members would spend money to bribe the coroner, or low-level investigators obsessed with uncovering the truth. Counting on a superior to bribe the coroner was slower than waiting for a sow to climb a tree. Unless the coroner had reservations and had received prior orders, otherwise faced with gleaming silver, he couldn't possibly be unmoved.

This wasn't some murder case.

This was Jiang Tu — Jiang Tu, who was like a rat crossing the street, Jiang Tu whose reputation stank to high heaven.

The Heaven Prison just didn't want unnecessary complications, took the money and cooperated properly, wasn't that reasonable, wasn't that fine. It didn't violate the coroner's conscience or morals, did it.

When the sun hung high, the Ministry of Justice officials arrived at last. As expected, they brought a coroner, and more than one.

Damn it.

Chen Chen Guanlou felt very fortunate, fortunate that he had reminded Qian Xu Fugui in advance to cast the net and catch the fish.

Qian Xu Fugui hid in a corner and secretly nodded at him.

Seeing this, Chen Chen Guanlou immediately felt a weight lift from his heart. The silver had been sent out, the matter had been handled.

Then what else did he have to worry about?

A smile on his face, he led a group of jailers forward to give them a warm welcome.

"Tiring my lord to come in person is our failure to do our job properly. We accept the punishment, we accept the punishment!"

"As for the matter of responsibility, we'll discuss it later. The higher-ups heard that the fellow Jiang Tu is dead and are very angry. I have been ordered to come and verify. Lead the way!"

"Yes, yes, yes. My lord, this way please."

Chen Chen Guanlou personally led the way, escorting the people from the Ministry of Justice to the morgue.