Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 91: Ghost Face Man

It's getting dark.

Yuan Bozheng, the chief judge of the Dali Temple, finally returned home from his job as judge. Sitting in the sedan chair, he sighed tiredly.

Normally, he wouldn't be so busy until so late, but he has been working on a major treason case lately and has been very busy.

When he got home, as soon as he entered the house, the housekeeper came forward and handed over the visiting card of the person who came to see him today, and said, "There is another person who does not have a visiting card. He calls himself Ying Shilun and says he has something important to report to the master. He has been waiting outside the door."

"not see."

Yuan Bozhen waved his hand coldly.

He didn't even have a business card, which showed that he had no status and was naturally not worthy of meeting him.

Recently, he has been involved in investigating major cases, and there are many people who want to use their connections and find ways to deal with him. Even the Third Prince, who was afraid of being implicated in Lu Yanning's case, sent his retainers to show his goodwill to him.

He couldn’t even meet the royal family, how could he meet an unknown person?
The doorman went to drive away the uninvited guest, but Yuan Bozheng could not have imagined that if he made a different choice at this time, he might be able to change his fate.

He ate a quick meal and returned to his study early, where he took out his account book and abacus and calculated his considerable income in recent days.

In order to investigate major cases, many people gave him money. At the top of the account book was a sum of three million yuan, and below it there was a lot of gold, silver and jewelry. At the end of this account, he wrote the word "Zong".

As the sky gradually darkened and it was late at night, Yuan Bozheng rubbed his eyes, put down his pen, opened the door and told the servants to call his son Yuan Shanhe over.

Yuan Shanhe had already gone to bed. He got up, put on his clothes, and hurried to the study.

He also knew that Yuan Bocheng had recently waited for an opportunity to make rapid progress in officialdom, so he was not sleepy at all, and there was even a hint of joy in his eyes.

"Father, do you have anything to tell me?"

"That's right." Yuan Bozhen said slowly with a serious look on his face, "I dreamed of your grandfather last night."

"Oh?"

"When I was young, your grandfather taught me earnestly, which enabled me to serve my country today. However, I was so busy with my case that I forgot to go to his grave to show my filial piety. He told me last night that he felt uneasy living in the family tomb in Qingyun Mountain. You should go back to your hometown tomorrow and rebuild his tomb, and observe filial piety on behalf of your father."

"Father, I..."

When Yuan Shanhe heard that he had to leave the capital, he immediately became unhappy and was about to beg.

Yuan Bozhen raised his hand to stop his nonsense, called him forward, and whispered a few words.
"Some items, you temporarily put them in the ancestral tomb..."

After hearing this, Yuan Shanhe understood and nodded repeatedly.

Yuan Bozheng then told him that he would arrange for guards to move a few boxes onto the carriage tomorrow, with books on the top of the boxes, so he was asked to take good care of them.

The voices of the father and son talking gradually died down, and there was silence outside the study.

suddenly.

There were faint screams in the distance.

Yuan Bozhen raised his head, thinking he had misheard, and continued, "If nothing unexpected happens, your father will be promoted soon..."

"who?!"

Suddenly, there was a scolding voice from the security guard outside the study.

Yuan Bozheng opened the door and looked out, only to see three guards holding single swords and slowly retreating, and in front of them was a man wearing a ghost mask.

The mask was not very sophisticated, as if it was bought casually from the street market. It was painted with an evil ghost with a green face and fangs, with only a pair of cold eyes showing.

The man was tall and held a single sword in his hand. He slowly approached the guard. Judging from his aura, he seemed to be very skilled in martial arts.

The next moment, the man with the ghost face was chopped by the security guard.

He didn't care at all and chopped the guard to death with his backhand. In the process, he was stabbed in the heart. Others thought he was going to die, but he chopped the remaining two guards to death like cutting vegetables.

"Damn it, monster."

This unwilling roar was the only sound left in the yard, which was already covered in blood.

Yuan Bozhen was terrified and shouted, "Someone come!"

The ghost-faced man then walked towards him, and as he walked, he pulled out the knife that was embedded in his body and threw it to the ground with a "clang", giving him a huge sense of oppression.

"Oh!"

Yuan Bozheng closed the door of the study.

Unfortunately, the ghost-faced man had already stretched out his hand, and the door frame hit the hand covered with burn scars heavily, and the sound of bones breaking could be heard.

The door was not closed and was kicked open by the ghost-faced man. He shook his broken left hand and swung the knife with his right hand, chopping at Yuan Bozheng's hand that was still holding the door frame.

Four fingers fell to the ground.

"what!"

Yuan Bozheng screamed in agony, grabbed his severed hand and fell to the ground, kicking his legs in fear and taking several steps back.

Yuan Shanhe wanted to run, but the ghost-faced man slashed his thigh with a knife and stabbed him twice, making it impossible for him to get up.

"Call again."

The ghost-faced man shouted coldly, his voice hoarse and low.

The screams of the father and son stopped abruptly.

"I ask, you answer." The ghost-faced man said, "If you answer slowly or incorrectly, I will chop him to death and then chop you, okay?"

Yuan Bozheng hasn't reacted yet.

The ghost-faced man slashed at Yuan Shanhe's hand with a knife, chopping off his entire palm.

"well!"

Yuan Bozheng quickly agreed, and at the same time scolded his son who was howling like a ghost: "Stop crying! Shut up!" Yuan Shanhe was in so much pain that he burst into tears and his face turned red. He did not dare to cry out loud, so he could only cry silently, pressing his abdomen against the broken wrist.

The ghost-faced man asked, "Are you involved in Lu Yanning's case?"

"Yes Yes."

"Where is his wife?"

"I don't know...don't!"

It was too late. The ghost-faced man chopped off one of Yuan Shanhe's feet without saying a word.

Yuan Bozhen knelt down immediately and cried, "I really didn't know. When this case came to my hands, Gu Si Niang was no longer on the list of prisoners transferred to the Dali Temple. My superiors told me not to worry about the specific reasons. These are all true!"

"Where is Lu Yanning imprisoned?"

"I don't know. It could be the Imperial Army Prison or the Heavenly Prison. The Dali Temple has not tried him yet."

"Where are the families?"

"My family is in the Dali Temple prison."

"What's going on with this case?"

The ghost-faced man asked questions too quickly and his voice was hoarse and unpleasant. Yuan Bozheng was afraid that he would be stabbed for not hearing clearly, so he listened attentively, and cold sweat the size of beans broke out on his forehead.

Once he heard the question clearly, he didn't dare to pause and answered whatever came to his mind.

"In the beginning, it was the Gu family who came to inform on us. At that time, Gu Beiming had not yet rebelled. It was Gu Jiye who went to the Dali Temple in person and sued Lu Yanning for plotting treason. The matter was of great importance, so the court ordered the Imperial Right Army and the Imperial Guards' Left and Right Armies to investigate Lu Yanning. As a result, he led his people in rebellion and intended to attack the palace. Just as he was about to take action, he was captured... That's what happened."

"Has the court never thought that he was wrongly accused?"

The ghost-faced man didn't want to say much, but there were obvious problems in this case, so he asked, "Gu Beiming is a traitor, and Gu Jiye is also a traitor. His testimony is not valid, so why don't you overturn Lu Yanning's case?"

"Gu Jiye sacrificed his own family for the greater good and also reported Gu Beiming's crimes. He testified that Gu Beiming and Lu Yanning were in the same gang." Yuan Bozhen had understood the Ghost-faced Man's position by now and hurriedly added, "But I don't think so. I think Lu Yanning was wronged!"

"In that case, how do you plan to clear Lu Yanning's name?"

Yuan Bozhen's eyes quickly turned and he said, "Start with Gu Jiye and prove that he is a false accuser. Yes! I have evidence to prove this. Gu Jiye once bribed me with three million yuan and countless gold, silver and jewelry. I recorded this in the account book and plan to find an opportunity to make it public and clear Lu Yanning's name!"

The ghost-faced man stretched out his left hand that was pinched off, picked up the account book on the table, took a look at it, and asked, "Where's the money?"

"In the box behind the wall."

Yuan Bozhen answered very readily.

He was willing to spend money to avoid disaster, and thought that these words would be able to appease the ghost-faced man in front of him.

However, after the ghost-faced man stuffed the account book into his arms, he did not believe him as he thought, but asked: "Who is dealing with Lu Yanning?"

"what?"

Yuan Bozheng was stunned for just a moment, and the ghost-faced man swung his knife again, directly cutting off Yuan Shanhe's other foot.

"what!"

"I said, I said."

Yuan Bozheng did not expect that the Ghost-Faced Man was so sharp. He could see at a glance that the problem was not just Gu Jiye’s false accusation. How could the court handle such a big case based on one-sided testimony?

This is indeed the case. If no one had instructed him to do so, Gu Jiye would never have dared to sue, and it would have been useless even if he had.

Similarly, the problem cannot be solved by simply finding loopholes in Gu Jiye's testimony. Yuan Bocheng was just deceiving the ghost-faced man just now.

"I also feel that someone wants to deal with Lu Yanning... But, I am a low-ranking official and I really don't know the conspiracy behind this."

"What do you guess?" asked the ghost-faced man.

Yuan Bozhen was in a dilemma and said slowly, "I guess, maybe it's the prime minister? Maybe the other princes want to get rid of the Third Prince? I really can't guess for sure."

The ghost-faced man asked, "You can't guess it? Who can guess it?"

Yuan Bozhen thought quickly and decided to shift the blame to his superior, so he responded, "Chang Jinxian, the deputy minister of the Dali Temple, is one of the chief judges of this case and a close confidant of the prime minister. He must know the truth behind the scenes. I can ask him what he thinks for you."

"Okay." The ghost-faced man said, "Can you make the decision to release the people in the Dali Temple prison?"

"I can't do that." Yuan Bozhen said, "This is the authority only those above the level of the Temple Secretary have. I can..."

"puff."

The ghost-faced man didn't wait for him to finish his empty words and stabbed him in the heart with a knife. To prevent him from dying, he stabbed him twice more.

"father!"

Yuan Shanhe was stunned and said anxiously: "How can you go back on your words..."

"puff."

The ghost-faced man never said that he would let them go if they answered the questions. He killed Yuan Shanhe with a few slashes.

He put away the knife, wiped his hands, rummaged through the table, took out all of Yuan Bocheng's command tokens, opened the partition wall, packed the light and valuable items in the boxes into a bundle, put it on his back, walked a few steps, and disappeared into the clothes.

Not long after, servants ran out screaming to report the case, leading teams of officials to inspect the horrific scene in the study.

Until the next morning, the people around heard that Yuan's family had been robbed at night, and they gathered outside the streets, pointing and talking.

"It's almost the New Year, and thieves are rampant. We still have to be careful."

"This is killing an official."

Among the onlookers, a sloppy and ugly old man squeezed in with a cane. It was Ying Shilun, who wanted to see Yuan Bocheng yesterday.

He listened to people's discussions with his ears perked up, sighed, and turned to find someone else to help the master...

(End of this chapter)