Chapter 73: When the Ruler Grieves, the Ministers Feel Shame

Prefect Yu arrived at Wang Fu with the government office's coroner and a group of Jinmen officials. At the moment, Prince Changting was so swamped he hadn't a moment to spare; he ordered his aides to take the coroner along to assist in examining the bodies, then left the rest to wait in the reception hall.

Sitting idle was no use for the officials, so they began arguing noisily in the reception hall—one moment cursing the Tianxin Sect, the next sighing and lamenting, unsure whether it was for the Crown Prince or for their own black official hats.

Prefect Yu, whose hair had still been mostly black the day before, had turned largely white overnight.

The Crown Prince had met with trouble in his jurisdiction; whether or not they could later redeem themselves by merit, they could not escape the charge of failing to guard him and of governing poorly.

The Crown Prince was fine everywhere else—how is it that trouble found him the moment he arrived at yours?

You say you blame the Tianxin Sect, blame those rebel assassins? You needn't open your mouth to mention it—the imperial court will single this out and interrogate you on its own.

For instance, how did Tianxin Sect rebels appear in Jinmen Prefecture, and how did they brazenly stab at the imperial carriage right under your very noses?

Put it lightly and it's Jinmen officials neglecting their duties, being slack in their work. Put it heavily, and it's collusion with outside traitors, deliberate indulgence, shielding and harboring.

If it's the former, they lose their black hats; if it's the latter, what they lose is the head on their neck!

The reception hall at this moment was like a vegetable market, in a noisy uproar.

Prefect Yu's head ached from listening; he could no longer suppress the pent-up irritation in his heart, and slammed the table: "Enough! His Highness the Prince hasn't even spoken—what are you all clamoring about?"

If the sky falls, there are taller ones to hold it up. Prefect Yu had already made his decision. A starved camel is still bigger than a horse; with Prince Changting as this towering great tree, why would they need these little saplings to step out and weather the Son of Heaven's wrath?

If the matter truly cannot be avoided—

Prefect Yu gave a long, quiet sigh. He had been tossed about in officialdom for several decades now; he was no longer the spirited young man of years past, nor did he have the heart to fight anymore.

For now, unless it was necessary, he truly did not want to stir up trouble again.

In the separate courtyard where the corpses lay, several coroners were examining the bodies one by one.

Apart from these, those who had engaged the assassins last night were also being interrogated in the side wing.

After Xu Qing was brought here by the guards, the other party gave him just one instruction—

"Stay here and don't wander about. If you have something important, report it to the guards, and someone will pass it along for you!"

Xu Qing was immediately displeased. Whether it's interrogation or questioning, there ought to be some procedure, right? What do you mean by leaving me hanging here?

How about you go fetch me some oranges, and I promise I won't run around!

The guards refused to answer any of Xu Qing's questions, their aloof manner as if someone owed them silver.

This really was a case of a Licentiate meeting soldiers—no way to reason things out.

Xu Qing stood by the moon-gate arch. On his left, a group of literati were queuing up to be interrogated; on his right was the place where corpses were laid out and examined.

The two groups kept a clear distance from each other; some eyewitnesses were led by the assistant staff into the corpse courtyard for identification.

These men were not only to investigate the ins and outs of the Crown Prince's assassination, but also bore an important responsibility: to organize and summarize the details of last night's incident and submit them to the capital.

The old Emperor's son was gone—this was a major event. If they did not present the case to the dragon desk at the first opportunity, they feared everyone would later be hit with yet another charge of failing to handle affairs properly.

In an imperial house there is no small matter, let alone such a nationally shocking event as the passing of the Crown Prince.

Xu Qing stood at the dividing point between the two wings of the courtyard and looked around. In the end, he still couldn't control his own feet, and took the lead in stepping toward the separate courtyard where the corpses lay.

Passing the neatly arranged corpses in the courtyard, Xu Qing arrived at the mortuary where the official in charge was stationed.

The moment he stepped inside, he saw four or five clerks and coroners gathered around several corpses, dissecting them.

"You gentlemen busy?"

Xu Qing walked up as if he were an old acquaintance; anyone who didn't know better might have thought he was a colleague assigned by the prefecture to investigate the case.

"This corpse is no ordinary one. From the look of it, the assassin must have used Gang Qi to shatter the chest bone, leaving the dead man unable to breathe freely and unable to mount a defense in time, allowing the assassin to run a long sword clean through his throat."

A Wang Fu martial expert asked in surprise: "Who are you? How can you tell he was killed by a Condensed-Gang martial master?"

Xu Qing did not answer directly, but turned and walked to another corpse, and spoke with reason and evidence: "The Tongmai-realm expert beside the Young Prince was over nine feet tall, and practiced horizontal hardening kungfu—tough skin and thick flesh. If not for the suppression of a Condensed-Gang martial master's realm, the cut on his neck would not have been so clean. Only a Condensed-Gang martial master could have done this, and moreover one skilled with the sword, able to attach Gang Qi to the blade—a truly formidable figure."

"As far as I know, only the Tianxin Sect's Bai Luo Protector fits these characteristics."

The recording clerk beside him, responsible for documenting the autopsy details, looked at the case file he had just written down and found it matched word for word with what this scholar had said.

"And this corpse here has three sword wounds on the body, but none fatal; the only fatal one is the piercing wound through the chest. Judging by the technique, it should be the same person as the previous few corpses. But this person was clearly of higher skill, which is why the wounds on the body are the most numerous.

A top expert like this shouldn't have been stabbed to death. It must be that he was trying to protect someone, and ended up in this state."

The coroner was astonished as if meeting a being from the heavens; even the Wang Fu martial experts beside him couldn't help sucking in a breath.

Could there really be such a capable official in this world, who could reconstruct the course of events with a single glance?

Yet, when everyone asked Xu Qing who exactly he was, they saw him sigh wistfully: "I am Xu Qing, a student ranked fourth in this year's prefectural examination. I was acquainted with the Young Prince. Yesterday, when the Tianxin Sect fiends slaughtered these brave men, I happened to be on the scene, which is why I know the details so clearly."

"..."

The expressions on everyone's faces visibly fell.

They had thought a colleague of outstanding professional ability had arrived, only to find it was an eyewitness brought in to assist the investigation.

A recording clerk called him aside and asked about several details, but got no useful progress from any of it.

So the clerk, just like the guards who had brought Xu Qing in, told him to stay put obediently here, and wait for instructions once the case file was organized.

Xu Qing couldn't sit still. He was now like a starving man who had wandered into a widow's house—his gaze drifted of its own accord toward the cold biers nearby.

Over there, a group of people were so busy their feet barely touched the ground. Over here, Xu Qing had at some point already crept up to the cold biers.

Pretending to be a man with nothing to do, he slipped his hand under the paper shroud covering the corpse's surface and fumbled around for a while; beneath, two cold little hands hooked up with each other just like that.

The pages of the Du Ren Jing turned; the image of the Wangchuan River's waters rushing through the netherworld flashed by.

The life of the corpse before him then surfaced along with it.

"What are you standing around here for?"

A Wang Fu guard frowned at Xu Qing, who was sitting leaning against the cold bier.

"Ah, my legs went numb from standing, so I'm leaning here to rest a bit. Please go on with your work. Even though I'm the Young Prince's friend, you don't need to give me any special attention."

The guard said helplessly: "There's a bench over there; why don't you sit on the bench and rest?"

"That wouldn't do. You gentlemen have worked hard on the case—that bench is for your rest. How could I have the nerve to sit there!"

"You scholar, you've actually got some manners."

"You bet! I'm a man of letters, a Licentiate who came out of the prefectural exam proper. Otherwise the Young Prince wouldn't have made friends with me, so the manners absolutely must be thorough."

Xu Qing could argue his way through anything, horizontally or vertically, so the guard simply let him be.

With the Young Lord suddenly struck by madness and not yet recovered, one never knew when they might need this friend of His Highness; naturally, the guard dared not offend him and even had to serve him well.

Seeing that everyone had stopped paying attention to him, Xu Qing became even more unrestrained.

One moment he touched the small hand of this corpse, the next he fondled the little foot of that one.

In short, he touched the hands of male corpses and the feet of female ones.

He had no taboos regarding the raw or the cooked.

When he touched a slender, tiny foot that was ice-cold and snow-white, Xu Qing froze.

"Well, well, an acquaintance!"

The person lying on the cold cot before Xu Qing was none other than Miss Shuyu, who had mixed into the banquet yesterday.

Xu Qing had already heard from Zhang Jun back at the Shuhuang Pavilion about the tangled love and hate between him and Miss Shuyu.

To put it plainly, it was just a clichéd story of an oil seller self-deluding himself while pining for a heartless, flirtatious woman.

However, hearing about it was not as good as seeing it with one's own eyes; now, by flipping through the pages of the Sutra of Saving Souls, Xu Qing had truly become an audience member of a melodramatic soap opera.

When he saw the oil seller who had given everything for love being met with drawn weapons by his beloved, even Xu Qing, with his excellent control over his expressions, could not help but bare his teeth.

As the saying goes, thorns may hide beneath the flowers and leaves, and one can never guarantee that the human heart does not harbor poison.

A delicate flower, a girl who on the surface dared not even kill a chicken, had actually harbored murderous intent toward the person who treated her with sincerity.

Finally, when he saw Shuyu being killed in turn by Zhang Jun, who had suddenly awakened to the truth, Xu Qing smiled; at this moment, he felt both the comfort of having eaten the last bite of melon and a belated sense of relief.

After watching the melodrama, the Sutra of Saving Souls gave its evaluation: "Human Grade: Lower."

The reward was a charm technique called "Plucking Flowers and Breaking Branches"; this art was divided into Internal Charm and External Charm. The External Charm method applied to both men and women, mostly using walking, sitting, and lying down to display a certain allure and induce others to fall in love, or using charm techniques to create Peach Blossom Talismans that made the target feel affection.

Internal Charm, however, required special cultivation methods; one needed to rely on Qi cultivation, guiding exercises, and seated meditation, constantly regulating oneself to achieve a bone-deep allure that overflowed from within to manifest in spirit and form.

In the morgue, Xu Qing sat with half his buttocks resting on the edge of the cold cot, his long gown perfectly highlighting his tall and slender figure.

Just then, a Wang Fu guard looked in his direction; unconsciously employing his External Charm techniques, Xu Qing's eyes flowed with emotion, and his pair of peach-blossom eyes revealed an extraordinary allure.

"."

The guard shuddered all over, subconsciously tightening his grip on the hilt of his blade.

"This scholar's gaze is so scorching!"

In the rear courtyard of Wang Fu, the old eunuch Li Zhong and the Crown Prince's carriage driver were confronting Prince Changting and others.

"Your Highness, it is not that this slave disbelieves you; last night's assassins possessed extraordinary strength. Even though this slave and the guards before the carriage exerted all their effort, we failed to protect His Highness completely."

Li Zhong looked at the prince, whose face was as gloomy as iron, and as if he did not know how to write the word 'death', continued: "If even the Crown Prince suffered thus, what ability do the guards around the Young Lord possess that they could escape danger from Bai Luo's hands?"

"Your Highness should not claim that some expert stepped in to help; on the contrary, when the Crown Prince was assassinated yesterday, an assassin no weaker than a Martial Arts Grandmaster secretly aided him."

Upon hearing these words, a retainer beside Prince Changting could no longer suppress his anger and immediately spoke out: "The Young Lord has already suffered from madness due to the assassination attempt; could all of this be false? You say a Martial Arts Grandmaster assassinated the Crown Prince; could it be that you suspect..."

"Silence!"

Zhu Cheng frowned and scolded, and the retainer beside him immediately dared not speak another word.

"Li Zhong, apart from the fact that I have only one son, even if Huai'an were still in good health, I would absolutely never do anything detrimental to the sovereignty of the Yong Dynasty."

Zhu Cheng's words were neither fast nor slow, yet each one rang with force: "Your failure to protect your master is a dereliction of duty. Since the Crown Prince was assassinated within my residence due to my inadequate protection, I have already dispatched trusted aides to present a memorial of crimes to His Majesty for imperial judgment. Whatever punishment or penalty is decreed then, I, Zhu Cheng, will accept without a second word."

Hearing Prince Changting say he was derelict in his duty, Li Zhong was struck right in his sore spot.

His complexion changed drastically, and his voice became sharp and lost its tone:

"The Crown Prince is the heir to a nation; how noble is he! It is not that this slave intends to offend, but this concerns the dignity of the state, allowing not a shred of error. Since Your Highness says the Young Lord has contracted madness and is not like ordinary people, then this slave boldly requests that the Young Lord appear for a meeting. If this is indeed the case, this slave will naturally apologize to Your Highness. When we return to the capital in the future, this slave can also explain the matter to His Majesty and request the holy hands of the Imperial Hospital to diagnose and treat the Young Lord."

Zhu Cheng looked indifferently at the Crown Prince's close attendant, who was biting down relentlessly; after a long pause, he slowly said, "Then please follow me to the Young Lord's residence."

The courtyard where the Young Lord of Prince Changting resided.

Zhu Huai'an was being chased around the yard by maids and servants.

In the pavilion, the Princess of Prince Changting wiped away her tears, withdrew her gaze, and looked at the Wu brothers standing before her, who appeared somewhat constrained.

"This consort knows you are Huai'an's friends, and furthermore, you were among the top three in this year's prefectural examination; that Huai'an could befriend you brings this mother great comfort, it is just that Huai'an nowadays..."

The Princess of Prince Changting sighed softly and entrusted them: "This consort must ask you to stay here for a few more days; if you can help the Young Lord restore his sanity, that would be best of all."

Just as they were speaking, a huge crowd surged into the courtyard from outside.

The Princess sent someone forward to inquire, but was ordered back by the Prince, who only instructed his subordinates to bring Zhu Huai'an before the crowd.

"Hehe, immortal pill, my immortal pill, I won't let you eat it!"

Zhu Cheng looked at his beloved son, who was holding a pebble, constantly sucking and gnawing on it, and the corner of his eye could not help but twitch.

"What are you all standing there dumbfounded for? Hurry up and get that thing out of the Young Lord's hand!"

The little fatty had enjoyed good food in Wang Fu since childhood and had cultivated a body full of brute strength; how could the maids and servants compete with him when rushing forward to snatch it?

One by one, they were instead knocked to the ground by the Young Lord, and the courtyard instantly became a scene of chickens flying and dogs jumping.

The Wang Fu guards did not dare to use heavy hands; constrained and tied down, the group expended great effort before finally prying the Young Lord's mouth open and removing the pebble covered in saliva.

Li Zhong approached Zhu Huai'an, forcibly putting on a smile, and probed: "Young Lord, do you still recognize this slave?"

Upon seeing Li Zhong's yin-and-yang face, Zhu Huai'an immediately puckered his lips and let out a "Wah!" before bursting into loud wails.

"Immortal pill! The old monster stole my immortal pill; I can't become an immortal anymore!"

Li Zhong's smile stiffened; he stood up and looked toward Prince Changting.

"Your Highness, the Young Lord does indeed seem to have contracted madness..." While Li Zhong formulated his words, he subconsciously looked toward the real old Crown Prince.

The carriage driver, who had maintained a poker face the whole time, continued to stare intently at Young Lord Zhu, as if trying to confirm whether the other party was truly foolish.

Seeing this, Li Zhong simply gritted his teeth and said: "This slave understands some medical principles; please, Your Highness, move aside and allow this slave to examine the Young Lord's condition carefully."

Zhu Cheng frowned and asked: "What do you intend to do?"

"Your Highness speaks thus; would this slave dare to harm the Young Lord? It is merely that this slave wishes to confirm once more, so that when we return to the capital in the future, I can testify on behalf of Your Highness and, incidentally, speak some good words for Your Highness before His Majesty."

Recalling the senile appearance of Emperor Longping, Zhu Cheng hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "I will trust you this once. Remember, you have only the time it takes for half an incense stick."

Having said this, Zhu Cheng ordered the guards to remain and monitor Li Zhong's every move, while he proceeded alone to the pavilion to wait.

On the spot, Li Zhong beckoned to his subordinate and whispered something into his ear.

When that subordinate returned, he held a cloth bundle in his hand, inside of which seemed to be wrapped a clump of wet, soft mud.

"It stinks! What is that in your hand?!"

Li Zhong took the cloth bundle, ignoring the Wang Fu guard who had spoken up; wearing a fawning smile and bowing low, he approached the Wang Heir, then spread open the cloth bundle and said, "Heir Apparent, the old monster has returned the elixir; it's still soft. Would you like to taste it?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Huaian's eyes lit up, and he leaned closer.

"Yi!" The little fat boy leaned back tactically, covering his mouth and nose tightly with both hands as he said, "This elixir stinks!"

Li Zhong's smile widened: "Good medicine tastes bitter but benefits the illness; this elixir was meant to stink. If Your Highness doesn't eat it now, the elixir will lose its efficacy!"

Zhu Huaian, face full of curiosity, endured the foul odor, pinched his nose with one hand, dipped the other into half of the 'elixir,' and stuffed it into his mouth.

Two-in-one chapter





(End of chapter)