Ning Dao Covered with Snow

Chapter 391 The Missing Remains

By some strange twist of fate, Si Buping strayed from the path home.

Fu Bai couldn't help but remind him, "Grand Commander, this isn't the way home."

"I'm not going home for now; I need to go to the Imperial Guard."

It was already night, and the gates of the ward were closed. But there are always exceptions. As a special department directly under the emperor's jurisdiction, the Inner Guard often had to carry out its duties at night. Therefore, the emperor had long ago issued an edict granting the Inner Guard the special privilege of handling special matters and exempting it from the curfew at night.

The minor official in charge of guarding the gate saw that it was the Grand Secretary and quickly opened the gate to let him pass.

Si Buping arrived at the Inner Guard's Office without any obstacles.

He dismounted, casually tossed his riding whip to Fu Bai who was following behind him, and strode into the Inner Guard Mansion.

The moonlight is very bright tonight, and even without lanterns, Si Buping can see the road ahead clearly.

He went straight to the innermost part of the Inner Guard Bureau, the Secret Warehouse.

The Imperial Guard collects a large amount of information every day, then filters out the useful information, and the most important confidential information is recorded and stored in the secret archive.

The minor official in charge of guarding the secret storehouse had already gone to sleep. Upon hearing that the Grand Master was going to enter the secret storehouse, he hurriedly got out of bed and rushed out without even having time to put on his outer clothes.

"Your subordinate pays respects to the Grand Secretary."

Si Buping said directly, "Open the door."

"Yes."

The clerk took out a key and stepped forward to open the door to the secret vault.

Si Buping took the lantern from his hand and said, "You don't need to go in. Just wait here."

"My subordinates know."

Si Buping carried a lantern into the secret archives and searched through the mountain of documents. He quickly found Emperor Wen's daily records from thirty years ago.

The palace has a "Daily Record of the Emperor's Activities," which records the emperor's daily words and deeds. The original is kept in the Imperial Study, and a copy is kept in the Secret Archives.

He opened the thick "Daily Records of the Emperor's Activities" and read it quickly. When he had read two-thirds of the way through, he finally came across the passage about Crown Prince Renxian's advice to Emperor Wen. Crown Prince Renxian suspected that Si Buping was taking the blame for someone else and that the real person who forcibly took the women was someone else. He then listed several suspicious points one by one.

After listening to Crown Prince Renxian's analysis, Emperor Wen found it very reasonable and immediately agreed to the Crown Prince's suggestion, allowing the case to be reinvestigated.

This passage is only a few words long and is inconspicuous in the thick "Daily Records of the Emperor's Activities". Unless someone is looking carefully, it is difficult to notice such a small matter.

But this small incident changed Si Buping's entire life.

He slowly closed the "Daily Records of the Emperor's Activities," put it back in its original place, and then walked to the bookshelf where the files of the Jingzhao Prefecture were kept. This shelf contained the files of major cases handled by the Jingzhao Prefecture over the years.

Thirty years ago, the case of the eldest son of the Si family forcibly abducting a woman and causing her to jump into the river and commit suicide shocked Chang'an, and was therefore recorded in these case files.

Si Buping found the case file and examined it carefully. The entire process, from the start of the investigation to the final conclusion, was clearly recorded in the case file.

The final signature of the person closing the case was written as Li Baizhou.

Li Baizhou is the former fifth prince and the current emperor.

This file makes no mention of Prince Renxian from beginning to end.

It was as if this case had nothing to do with Crown Prince Renxian, and all the credit belonged to Li Baizhou alone. Si Buping put the case file back in its original place.

He stood alone in the depths of darkness, carrying a lantern, as if he were about to be swallowed up by the darkness.

But in the end, he still took his first steps and walked out of the darkness.

He walked out of the Migku and looked up to see the bright, clear moon hanging in the night sky.

The gentle and tranquil moonlight reminded him of the person who had once covered him with a cloak.

At that time, the cloak not only covered his wounds, but also preserved his last bit of dignity as a human being.

……

Recently, a series of major events have occurred in Chang'an. First, General Fu's only son suddenly met with misfortune, and before the murderer could be found, the Fu residence inexplicably caught fire, and Old Master Fu tragically lost his life. Then, news spread from the palace that the Crown Princess had contracted a serious illness and suddenly died.

Before the people of Chang'an could even process all these major events, the Fu family was struck by another mishap.

Early this morning, the steward of the Fu family ran to the county government office in Chang'an to report that the bodies of Old Master Fu and Fu Hui were missing!

Magistrate Jiang ordered notices to be posted throughout the city, offering a large reward for anyone who could provide clues about the whereabouts of the two bodies of the Fu family, an old man and a young boy.

In addition, Magistrate Jiang sent people to search the city house by house to see if they could find the suspect who stole the body.

This matter is too strange. The people in the city are all talking about it, wanting to know who would not even spare the dead.

The news quickly reached the palace, and the emperor ordered the Dali Temple and the Chang'an County government to work together to find the body as soon as possible and give General Fu an explanation.

Xiao Wenyi holds the official title of Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, but in reality, the person in charge of the affairs of the Court of Judicial Review is the Vice Minister. Unless there is a particularly important case, he is not usually required to handle it personally.

This time was no exception. Xiao Wenyi entrusted the task of finding the body to the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. The Vice Minister gave General Fu face and personally led people to the county government office in Chang'an County to search for the body together with Magistrate Jiang.

They started their investigation from the Fu family, trying to find out exactly when the two bodies disappeared.
But when they asked everyone in the mansion, they got nothing.

Everyone said that the two bodies were still lying properly in the coffins until last night, but when they went to check again this morning, they found that the coffin lids had been opened and the bodies inside had disappeared.

No one knows how the body disappeared, and no useful clues were found at the scene.

The investigation stalled as soon as it began.

With the sun about to set, the officials from the Dali Temple and the Chang'an County government had no choice but to temporarily halt their operations, planning to go back and organize their thoughts before continuing the investigation the next morning.

No sooner had they left the Fu family than a constable rushed over, shouting.

"The body has been found!"

Jiang Qiuyu perked up and immediately asked, "Where is the body? How was it discovered?"

The constables had run all the way here, and were exhausted, covered in sweat and panting.

"It was discovered by the Imperial Guards responsible for guarding the Crown Prince's mausoleum. This morning, during their routine patrol, they found two people lying in front of the mausoleum of Crown Prince Renxian. At first, they thought they were tomb robbers, but upon closer inspection, they realized that they were actually two dead people! This matter was too strange, and they were worried that there might be some kind of conspiracy, so they sent someone on horseback to report to the authorities, hoping that we would investigate the matter."

Everyone present was surprised. How could those two bodies have appeared near the Crown Prince's mausoleum? This matter was getting stranger and stranger!

Jiang Qiuyu asked again, "Are you sure those two dead people are Old Master Fu and Fu Hui?"