Proud Feather

Chapter 91 Stigma
Chu Ling waited outside the Funing Palace for a while when the chief eunuch rushed over to report: "Princess, Your Excellencies, His Majesty requests your presence."

She nodded and stepped into the palace first.

They arrived at the perfect time; a meeting was being held inside the hall, with all the ministers of the Council of State Affairs present, including the Censor-in-Chief.

—Was Lin Wenyu deliberately choosing this time? Chu Ling increasingly felt that today would be a tough battle.

"My son, I will meet my father."

"I see your Majesty."

The emperor raised his hand, gesturing for them to rise, and asked, "A-Ling, I heard you've found the murderer?"

Chu Ling replied, "Father, I only just learned of this myself. Minister Lin said the case has been solved and he wanted to come see you, so I was naturally delighted and came with him."

The emperor nodded and beckoned her over: "Sit next to me."

"Yes."

A servant brought over a chair, and Chu Ling sat down calmly.

Upon seeing this, some of the officials frowned.

Your Majesty's favoritism towards the princess is excessive. On occasions like this, the princess is allowed to sit beside you. How is this any different from sharing the emperor's glory?

Some people didn't care. "His Majesty is the Son of Heaven. His affection for his daughter doesn't affect his official duties. Why bother with so much?"

So everyone sat down and looked at Lin Wenyu and Gao Mian.

"Let's begin!" the emperor declared.

The atmosphere in the hall became solemn. Lin Wenyu stepped forward first and reported, "Your Majesty, gentlemen, on the day of the funeral, after examination by the coroner and deliberation by the imperial physicians, it was determined that His Highness the Crown Prince was poisoned, which led to his accidental fall into the water. I believe you all have no objections."

Everyone in the hall nodded in agreement, and Gao Mian also acquiesced.

Lin Wenyu continued, "In this way, the investigation into the real culprit will focus on who poisoned the Crown Prince. There are two directions to investigate this matter: one is to start with the poison itself, whoever has the poison is the real culprit; the other is to start with the Crown Prince's whereabouts, and investigate who could have contacted the Crown Prince..."

"The first approach was to have the Ministry of Justice search the entire capital, but they couldn't find any poison, so we put it on hold for now. The second approach was to have Lord Gao and I investigate all sorts of people since we took over the case. We first investigated the Crown Prince's Palace, then the officials the river patrol might have come into contact with, but we've come up empty-handed."

Upon hearing this, the emperor grew somewhat impatient and asked, "And then? Where did you find the clue?"

Lin Wenyu bowed apologetically and quickened his pace: "Speaking of which, we have to thank Lord Gao for this. When investigating the Crown Prince's whereabouts, Lord Gao wrote down detailed notes. In the three months before the Crown Prince's death, all the whereabouts that could be found were recorded. When he got up, when he ate, when he went out... everything was clear. So I found a hidden flaw in it."

Gao Mian looked over in confusion. He had watched the Crown Prince's movements countless times, scrutinizing every detail. What flaws could Lin Wenyu possibly find?
Thinking this, Lin Wenyu took a booklet from his subordinate and showed it to Gao Mian: "Lord Gao, are you familiar with this booklet? Can you see anything in it?"

Gao Mian glanced at it and immediately knew which day the Crown Prince was on, replying, "Forgive my ignorance, I did not understand Minister Lin's meaning."

Lin Wenyu then handed the booklet to the guard, who then presented it to the emperor. After the emperor finished reading it, he distributed it to his officials for circulation.

Zhang Ji was the last to finish reading and said, "What is the mystery? Please explain, Minister Lin." Lin Wenyu pointed to one of the lines and explained, "Your Majesty, please look. The Crown Prince left the government office at the end of Shen Shi (3-5 PM), went to the street to buy velvet flowers, watched some street performances for a while, and then returned to the Eastern Palace. However, the Eastern Palace did not see the Crown Prince return until the end of You Shi (5-7 PM). It only takes a quarter of an hour to get from the government office to the street where the velvet flowers were sold. As for the street performances, they usually end at You Zheng (5-7 PM), because the entertainment venues open at this time, and most people go to the entertainment venues to have fun. So, from You Zheng to the end of You Shi, does it take half an hour to walk from the street back to the Eastern Palace?"

"Of course not," the ministers replied inwardly. This was a route they all knew well, and fifteen minutes would be more than enough.

The emperor was intrigued: "Does Minister Lin mean that after watching the acrobatics, A-Yi went to another place?"

Lin Wenyu did not answer immediately, but took out another booklet: "And here, the Crown Prince went to the banquet that day and left early, but he was still half an hour late when he returned to the East Palace. All these things are very clear in Lord Gao's report."

All eyes turned to Gao Mian.

Gao Mian pursed his lips and carefully read through each of the booklets Lin Wenyu handed him, his brows furrowing even more.

Minister Lin was right; there is indeed room for ambiguity.

“That’s not necessarily true,” Zhang Ji said. “Minister Lin didn’t say it was a long time. Maybe the Crown Prince just strolled around the streets for a while, had some tea, and bought some flowers before the time was up.”

“Yes.” Lin Wenyu admitted with a smile, “What Minister Zhang said makes a lot of sense, so this is just corroborating evidence and cannot prove anything. But what is needed in investigating a case is to be bold and meticulous. Regardless of whether it is reasonable or not, first assume a result, and you may be pleasantly surprised when you investigate. This case is too thorny, and I have exhausted all my options. So I simply drew a line on the Crown Prince’s daily whereabouts, and that’s how I came to this result.”

He then took out a booklet and passed it around for everyone to read.

Chu Ling's heart sank when she saw the booklet. Sure enough, the next moment Prime Minister Zhang Dingyuan said, "His Highness the Crown Prince's whereabouts these past few days have one thing in common: he has passed through Jinpan Street the entire time."

“Not bad.” Lin Wenyu couldn’t help but show a hint of pride. “So I wondered, what is it about Jinpan Street that makes His Highness the Crown Prince keep going back and forth? I walked the whole street many times and finally found the Crown Prince’s place.”

He took out a simple map and pointed to a spot.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Ji blurted out, "This is impossible!"

The others also looked puzzled, especially Zhang Dingyuan, who questioned him directly: "Minister Lin, is this just wild speculation? The Crown Prince has always been strict with himself and rarely even attends banquets. If you are making baseless accusations to solve the case, not only His Majesty, but the Council of State Affairs will not tolerate it!"

Lin Wenyu said confidently, "Prime Minister Zhang, rest assured, everything I've said has been verified."

He pointed to the location on the map again: "Xianle Tower!"

Xianle Tower was one of the top music halls in the capital. It housed a large number of musicians from the Jiaofangsi (Imperial Music Bureau). These people served high-ranking officials and nobles on a daily basis. Although they were called entertainers, how many of them hadn't earned money through prostitution? No matter how clean and self-disciplined they were, their lowly origins were ultimately unavoidable.

But that's the Crown Prince! A diligent and studious prince who is respectful to scholars and has almost no flaws!
The emperor's face also turned cold: "Minister Lin, are you implying that the Crown Prince has a habit of going to Xianle Tower? He goes there every three or four days, is that right?"

Lin Wenyu said with trepidation, "Your Majesty, please calm down. I went to see the servants of Xianle Tower, and it is indeed the case."

The emperor remained silent for a long while, and the atmosphere in the hall quickly turned cold. Veins throbbed on his forehead, and he pressed his fingers on the table every now and then, as if suppressing his anger.

But the anger did not subside in the end. A paperweight was slammed down at Lin Wenyu's feet with a "thud," accompanied by the emperor's angry shout.

"How dare you! You slander the Crown Prince's reputation! Seize him, or I will not let you off!"

The investigation is complete.