Ning Dao Covered with Snow

Chapter 392 Bole
The constable wiped the sweat from his face and said truthfully, "I have carefully questioned the two bodies about their appearance and clothing, and they are basically the same as those of Master Fu and Fu Hui. I suspect that they are likely the people we are looking for, so I rushed here to report this to you."

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review couldn't help but ask, "The Crown Prince's mausoleum you mentioned, could it be the mausoleum of Crown Prince Renxian located on Taiping Mountain?"

The constable nodded vigorously: "That's right, that's it!"

Jiang Qiuyu glanced at the setting sun and turned to the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review beside him.

"I need to go out of the city to see if those two corpses are indeed the people we're looking for."

"But once the sun sets, the city gates will close, and you definitely won't be able to come back today."

"It's alright, I can just find a place outside the city to spend the night and come back when the city gates open tomorrow morning. Now that we have an important clue, I need to verify it as soon as possible, otherwise I won't be able to feel at ease."

After a moment's thought, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review decisively said, "I'll go with you!"

The case was strange in every way, and he was worried that he might encounter something unexpected, so he brought extra people with him.

A group of people rode out of the city.

By the time they arrived at Victoria Peak at top speed, it was already completely dark.

There are more than sixty guards responsible for watching over the Crown Prince's mausoleum. They are all on high alert to prevent any unidentified people from sneaking into the mausoleum.

When they saw a large group of people approaching the Crown Prince's mausoleum, they became even more vigilant. It wasn't until Jiang Qiuyu revealed his identity and explained the purpose of his visit that the captain of the Thousand Bull Guards ordered them to pass.

Led by the team leader, Jiang Qiuyu and the others entered a dimly lit room, which was originally used to store miscellaneous items, but was now being used as a temporary place to store corpses.

Two bodies lay stiffly on the ground. Jiang Qiuyu approached with a lantern to examine them closely and confirmed that the two were the missing Grandpa Fu and Fu Hui.

Because he had been dead for some time, Fu Hui's body had begun to decompose, and the room was filled with a foul stench.

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review glanced at it twice and then turned his head away. He asked the captain of the Thousand Bull Guards for information.

"Could you describe how you discovered these two bodies?"

The captain recounted the entire process, which was basically consistent with what the constable had said earlier.

Jiang Qiuyu straightened up, turned to the team leader and said, "Take us to the place where the body was found."

"Okay, come with me."

The team was leading the way, and Jiang Qiuyu and his group followed closely behind, carrying lanterns. Soon they arrived at the front of the Crown Prince's Mausoleum.

"When we found them, the two of them were lying right here," the team leader said, pointing to the ground at his feet.

Jiang Qiuyu crouched down and carefully examined the ground by the dim light emitted by the lantern. The ground was clean and flat, with nothing unusual about it.

He looked up and saw the tombstone of the Crown Prince's mausoleum from this angle. The tombstone was about two zhang tall and was inscribed with the posthumous title of Crown Prince Renxian. Next to it was an inscription written by Emperor Wen himself.

Something flashed beneath the tombstone.

Jiang Qiuyu immediately stood up, strode over, and after some searching, found a white jade Buddha pendant under the tombstone.

The flash he saw just now was the light reflected from the moonlight falling on the Buddha amulet.

Beneath the white jade Buddha amulet lay a piece of paper. Jiang Qiuyu unfolded the paper and saw two lines of blood-written characters on it—

"He murdered his brother to seize power, and Zheng became his accomplice. Justice prevails, and he will finally face retribution!"

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review walked over, intending to ask him what he had found, but when he saw the paper in the man's hand, he was immediately terrified by the scarlet blood-red words on it.

He shouted, "This must be a prank! Quick, tear it up!"

Jiang Qiuyu did not move.

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review reached out to snatch it, but Jiang Qiuyu dodged it.

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review immediately became anxious: "Do you know that if the contents of this paper are spread, our heads may very well be in danger!"

Jiang Qiuyu stared intently at him and asked, "If what's written on this paper is true, what will you do?"

"What do you mean?"

Jiang Qiuyu repeated, emphasizing, "What do you intend to do?"

"What else can I do? I'm just a fourth-rank Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. I studied hard for decades to get this opportunity to enter officialdom. I have elderly parents and young children to support, dozens of people in my family are waiting for me to feed. I can't ruin everything because of this piece of paper! Give me this thing, and tear it up before anyone else knows!"

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review extended his hand to Jiang Qiuyu, his tone extremely stern, yet his eyes revealed a pleading look.

Jiang Qiuyu took a step back and slowly said, "You are the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. It is your duty to find out the truth and give the deceased justice. Now you know that there are doubts about the old case from thirty years ago but you do not investigate. This is dereliction of duty."

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review really wanted to kneel down before him.

"So what if I neglect my duty? At worst, I'll lose my job, but that's better than losing my life!"

“When I took the imperial examination, the chief examiner that year happened to be Crown Prince Renxian. The question he gave us was, how to be a good official? This question seems simple, but it is actually very difficult. I was well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics, but none of them told me how to be a good official. In the end, I could only put myself in the shoes of ordinary people and think about this question from their perspective. I quickly found the answer, and as a result, I came in first place in that exam. After I passed the exam and became a Juren, I went to the Crown Prince's residence with my fellow candidates to express our gratitude. Crown Prince Renxian hosted a banquet for us, and he publicly took out the essay I had written and ordered someone to read it aloud word by word. He praised my essay as exemplary. Do you know how excited I was at that moment?”

Jiang Qiuyu turned to look at the tombstone next to him as he finished speaking.

The tombstone is very, very tall, just as tall as the image of Prince Renxian in his heart.

He said, "Talented horses are common, but discerning judges are rare. Prince Renxian is my discerning judge in this life."

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review looked at him as if he were a madman.

"Do you even know what you're saying? It's fine if you're tired of living, but I still want to live!"

Jiang Qiuyu said slowly, "Rather than numbly prolonging my life, I'd rather risk my life and take a gamble. I've been waiting for this opportunity for far too long."

Seeing that he could not persuade him, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review had no choice but to leave quickly.

He led his subordinates down the mountain overnight and rode back to Chang'an at top speed, but the city gates were already closed, and no one could open them unless there was an extremely urgent report.

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review could only wait anxiously outside the city gate. Finally, dawn broke, the drums on the city tower sounded, and as soon as the city gate opened, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review led his men and rushed in impatiently. Because of their speed, the passersby were frightened and scattered, and complaints rose and fell.

They didn't have time to think about anything else, they quickly crossed the street and rushed to the palace gate as fast as they could.