Chapter 98: The end of a prison guard is death

After his shift, Chen Guanlou took Xiao Jin to the place where Hong Zhuangshi's incident occurred.

Hong Zhuangshi's home was outside the city, but for the convenience of his duties, he rented a small courtyard inside the city to live in.

The courtyard was very small, with only three rooms in total. Entering the courtyard gate, one could see the layout of the entire house at a glance. One main room, one side room, and one kitchen.

The struggle took place in the main room; tables and chairs were overturned on the ground, and there was a pool of blood on the floor.

Xiao Jin was a bit confused. "Chen Tou, what are we investigating?"

Chen Guanlou looked at the roof. "Where do you guess Hong Zhuangshi would hide his valuables?"

Xiao Jin was clearly stunned for a moment, then said, "Wouldn't the roof beam be too obvious? If it were me hiding things, I would either dig a hole in the bedroom wall, hide it in the kitchen, or hide it in the courtyard."

"Fine, let's search according to your line of thinking."

What?

Xiao Jin was bewildered.

He scratched his head. "Chen Tou, are you serious? But Hong Zhuangshi shouldn't have had any money."

"Don't worry about whether he had money or not; just search around according to your own logic for hiding things. I will explain it to you later."

"Oh!"

Xiao Jin still honestly obeyed orders and began to grope around these few rooms.

Chen Guanlou came to the courtyard, climbed over the wall, and got onto the wall top.

Sure enough, he discovered a somewhat unclear footprint.

He squatted on the wall top, pondering. Inadvertently, his gaze swept over the firewood pile under the eaves, which was very messy. A ray of sunset glow swept over, and his eyes were dazzled.

He hurriedly jumped off the wall top and came to the firewood pile, rummaging through it.

Found it!

A purse!

Three bulging purses.

"Found it."

Hearing the commotion, Xiao Jin hurriedly came out from the room.

Chen Guanlou picked up one of the purses and opened it; it was full of silver. He picked up another purse, which contained various gold and silver jewelry. He picked up another purse; besides silver, there were also gold nuggets.

Xiao Jin opened his mouth wide, feeling extremely shocked. "This, this, this... adding these up, there must be at least several hundred taels of silver."

"Two or three hundred taels is certain. Only more, not less." Chen Guanlou weighed it and estimated a value.

"Where did Hong Ergou get so much money? His death..." Xiao Jin's face turned gray, and his pupils dilated; he was clearly frightened.

Chen Guanlou signaled him not to be afraid and said, "Without accident, he died because of this wealth. You just need to know about this matter. I know you have a tight mouth and won't go around talking nonsense."

"Chen Tou, rest assured, I won't say a word to anyone. Hong Ergou was so quiet, yet he secretly made so much money. Indeed, one cannot judge a person by their appearance." Xiao Jin sighed repeatedly. On weekdays, he really hadn't seen that Hong Ergou had this ability.

Chen Guanlou, however, said, "To lose one's life for a mere few hundred taels—it's not worth it!"

He knew who gave the money, and he knew who killed Hong Ergou, but he had no evidence. When Hong Ergou had colluded with Yu Zhaoan, he had no way of knowing.

A prison guard had died; even if he had evidence, it wouldn't hurt Yu Zhaoan in the slightest. Reality was just that cruel.

Yu Zhaoan's ruthlessness and insidiousness could be seen from this. This person was in the Heavenly Prison, yet he could still manipulate the political situation, dreaming of being the hand behind the scenes, stirring up trouble and toying with human hearts.

"Chen Tou, what should we do with this money?" Xiao Jin asked in a low voice.

Chen Guanlou came back to his senses and said, "Give it all to the Hong family. You know what to say, right?"

Xiao Jin nodded. "Chen Tou, leave this matter to me; I will certainly handle it properly." He gave his word, but his expression appeared somewhat hesitant.

Chen Guanlou looked at him. "If you have something to say, just say it."

"Chen Tou, should we continue to investigate Hong Ergou's case?"

"No need."

"Oh!" Xiao Jin looked relieved, clearly letting out a sigh of relief. As an old hand in the Heavenly Prison, although he hadn't read books, he knew deeply that the less one knew and the less curiosity one had, the longer one lived. Also, one should never fall behind others in taking wealth that should be taken, but one should never reach out for wealth that shouldn't be taken.

Don't think that those officials locked in the Heavenly Prison were fish on a chopping block that could be manipulated by a lowly prison guard. If one really reached out secretly, the outcome would be just like Hong Ergou, dying in an unclear way. One should take the money of disgraced officials, but it must be done through proper channels. As for money from dark channels—those officials were so greedy, how could they be willing? Sooner or later, something would happen.

Hong Ergou was just too greedy, thinking he was an exception. Little did he know, in the eyes of officials, lowly prison guards were all exceptions, and all deserved to die.

Xiao Jin sighed secretly. He was an old hand; without Chen Guanlou saying it, that money was enough for him to understand what had happened.

"Ergou was muddled! He took his older brother's position to enter the Heavenly Prison as a guard, and he had been in the Heavenly Prison longer than you, Chen Tou—five or six years, he could be considered an old man in the Heavenly Prison. Yet he still couldn't escape the word 'greed'."

Xiao Jin sighed with emotion.

"Tomorrow, when I go to the Hong family, I will burn more paper for him."

Chen Guanlou took out five taels of silver and handed it to him. "This is my funeral gift; help me take it to the Hong family."

"Chen Tou isn't going to deliver it personally?"

"I won't go."

"Sigh, too many things have happened recently; it's hard on you, Chen Tou."

Chen Guanlou looked around, closed the courtyard gate himself, and left the small courtyard. Halfway there, he parted ways with Xiao Jin. On the road, he bought a package of braised meat—braised beef, braised pig head meat, braised pig ears, braised pig tail—and a pot of wine, swaying as he arrived at Master Du's house.

Master Du's old servant was cooking dinner, all vegetarian, no meat. Seeing him carrying a package of braised meat, he was so happy he couldn't see his teeth, and he invited him in with great enthusiasm.

Master Du was grading the students' essays. Seeing him, he greeted him to drink tea while complaining, "What kind of dog-fart essays are these? This old man must have failed to cultivate virtue in a past life to encounter this bunch of useless things in this life."

"As long as there is money, it's fine," Chen Guanlou comforted him casually.

He had also studied in the Chen Clan School and knew the situation inside. Parents sent their children to the clan school without expecting them to achieve anything. As long as they could recognize a few words, read, write, and calculate, and not be illiterate, it was fine. If they wanted to take the imperial examinations, they had to go to a proper academy; that was the place to learn knowledge and take the imperial examinations.

Master Du threw the brush in his hand. "Not grading anymore, not grading anymore. Not a single essay is worth looking at. The younger generation of the Chen clan is really not good. Not a single one can read."

"Are those young masters of the Hou Fu also not good?"

Master Du smiled bitterly. "Good? What good? They are all pampered sons of wealth, never expecting to take the imperial examinations. A few days ago, I saw the Master once and mentioned that the children's martial arts lessons should also be picked up and not wasted. The Master said he had the same intention. The Hou Fu started with military merit, and military merit is the foundation. Reading is only to stand in the court and at least understand what the civil officials are saying. When arguing, one can occasionally quote classics to refute a few sentences."

Chen Guanlou burst into laughter; this was the happiest moment he had had in recent days.

He laughed, "The Master is indeed a pragmatist. He is right; the young masters of the Hou Fu don't need the imperial examinations to become officials, but they still need to read, just so they aren't considered illiterate and can't even understand what is being said. So, Master Du, your requirements can be appropriately relaxed." ===== CHAPTER 99 =====