Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 174 Yan Song's Personal Visit (Second Update)
"confirmed!"

"Sun the Chatterbox has really disappeared!"

"The time of their disappearance was around the same as Young Master Yan's!"

The Deer Cry Banquet was held around noon. The students would enter the Minglun Hall of the Examination Hall at 9 am and the banquet would usually last for two hours, ending around 1 pm.

Sun Suizui was a night watchman at the examination hall. He patrolled at night and rested and slept during the day. He slept in his room until noon before getting up. After getting up, he ate a meal. Everyone saw him at the time, but then he disappeared.

Just then, Yan Shifan got up and left his seat. It was after noon, and he did not return until after 1 p.m. His servant, Alu, found the letter again. The chief examiner, Li Mo, reported it to the Shuntian Prefecture. By the time the prefectural judge, Shen Mo, brought people to search for him, they found nothing. It was already evening.

After confirming that the person had mysteriously disappeared, Haiyue pushed open the door of a house in the west corner, and a musty smell mixed with the stench of cheap liquor hit her.

Sun Suizui has lived here for over a decade; the room is small and quite old.

On the crooked half-open window frame, the oil paper had long been soaked by the rain into a hazy grayish-yellow color. A sliver of moonlight leaked through the hole, shining directly on the copper lamp on the wooden table, its flame frozen in time.

The bedding on the bed was in a mess, and a wine pot lay askew beside the pillow. The remaining wine had left dark stains on the mat, mixed with some roasted soybeans and melon seed shells. Under the bed were a pair of open soap boots, the uppers of which were covered with dried mud.

The gaze then shifts to the iron nails embedded in the mud wall, where in the center is a tattered almanac, covered in circles and marks on every page. To the left and right are a clapper, a gong, a straw raincoat, a bamboo hat, and a long stick.

After observing the object, Haiyue asked, "What are these hardwood sticks for?"

It wasn't A-Lu who answered, but the other watchmen who had been brought along: "Replying to you, sir, watchmen also need to have weapons for self-defense. A few years ago, we were issued watch knives, but now we've been given these watch sticks. We carry them with us when we go out; they support our bodies as we walk at night, which is very convenient!"

Another watchman said, "Old Sun is also skilled with a stick. He's the one we rely on to drive away stray dogs every time. Once he even chased away a thief at night!"

Haiyue's brows furrowed: "So, Sun Suizui actually has some martial arts skills?"

The other watchmen nodded repeatedly: "Yes! Yes!"

Haiyue looked again: "Is Sun Suicui living a very frugal life?"

"He was really struggling financially! He had no wife or children, and he had enough to eat and live on by himself, but he still kept asking us for money. Eventually, none of us lent him any more!"

"With hands and feet, why do you live your life like this?"

"I heard he went gambling! And lost it all..."

"I heard? You saw him go to the gambling den with your own eyes?"

"No...no, that's not it..."

"Since this person is such a gossip, hasn't he ever talked about his own affairs?"

"In response to your question, sir, this Sun is indeed a chatterbox, but he only talks about other people's affairs. He never talks about his own. At first, we asked him about it, but when we saw that he was all alone and had nothing to say, we stopped talking to him."

"Is that so?"

Hai Yue nodded slightly, wanting to learn more, but A Lu hurriedly walked in and whispered in her ear: "Lord Hai, Minister Yan has arrived!"

Yan Song was still alarmed, and without waiting for news, he set off directly for the examination hall.

You must know that Yan Shifan was his only son!
Putting aside his love for this son, at Yan Song's age, and with only one wife, Ouyang, and no concubines, if something were to happen to Yan Shifan, his lineage would end.

However, when Haiyue came out to greet him, she saw that the old man, who had been busy with official duties lately and had become increasingly thin, was still calm and composed. When he saw her, he immediately said with great relief, "With Mingwei here, my heart is at ease! It is a great blessing for Qing'er to have such a close friend!"

Haiyue didn't mince words and handed over Liu San and Zhao Kuaitui's confession regarding the rumors about the imperial examination: "I have investigated and found out something. Please take a look, Uncle Yan!"

"It's easy to dodge a spear, but hard to guard against an arrow from the dark!"

After reading it, Yan Song did not show much shock or anger. Instead, he calmly commented and returned the confession.

The next moment, he turned towards the Forbidden City, cupped his hands in a gesture of respect, and raised his voice, passionate and impassioned: "How can the despicable acts of treacherous villains shake my loyalty to Your Majesty? I would rather bear the condemnation of a thousand men than betray my duty to the emperor. Even if the whole world criticizes me and I am beheaded, I will still devote myself to the cause until my dying breath!"

Alu, who was not far away, was thrilled by what he heard, and Haiyue couldn't help but admire him.

Even after losing his son, he still hasn't forgotten to pledge his loyalty to Jiajing Emperor. No wonder you've made progress.

In that case, he responded in kind: "Even if there are thousands of people against me, I will go. My heart is as clear as the sun and moon. I should also learn from this. This kind of unwavering loyalty is hard to shake, no matter how many villains try to frame me!"

Even in his grief, Yan Song couldn't help but feel a sense of kinship and mutual respect.

Ever since he heard his son Yan Shifan say that he was determined to shout his loyalty to His Majesty in his own handwriting, he knew that this son had a bright future. Now it seems that this is indeed the case: "Mingwei is right! Even if we encounter all kinds of difficulties, my heart is as firm as iron, and I will swear to serve Your Majesty to the death!"

Haiyue couldn't take it anymore and quickly changed the subject: "In Uncle Yan's opinion, what is the motive of these thieves who both slander and plunder?" Yan Song thought for a moment, lowered his voice, and spoke frankly: "Spreading rumors in the examination hall to slander me for cheating in the imperial examinations is the way of officialdom. Even more despicable things have been done by those despicable people who will do anything to get promoted!"

“But kidnapping someone directly inside the examination hall is not the style of an official. Even if Qing’er is my only son, I would not do such a thing. It breaks the rules!”

"So for a moment I don't understand what's behind all this..."

Haiyue pondered for a moment: "I suspect that these two things, which seem contradictory, are actually closely related."

Yan Song quickly said, "Mingwei, please speak frankly, I believe you!"

Haiyue said, "The list of candidates for the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination was announced yesterday. The rumors started at the examination hall that night, but according to Liu San and Zhao Kuaitui, Ni Jie, the clerk of the rites department, bribed them four days ago."

"This is because the list of those who passed the provincial examination was not made public, but the examination hall already knew about it. That clerk in the rites department, Ni Jie, probably knew that Donglou was ranked last, so he came up with this malicious rumor!"

He didn't say whether there were any instigators behind it, only that it was Ni Jie, a clerk in the Ministry of Rites. Because of the varying degrees of importance and urgency, the rumors had already been refuted by a swift and decisive action, and the most urgent task was to rescue Yan Shifan.

Yan Song was also aware of this, so he didn't dwell on it and nodded, saying, "Mingwei is right!"

Haiyue said, "This means that the list of those who passed the provincial examination was leaked long ago. If the Shuntian Prefecture's rites office knew about it, could others have found out as well?"

Yan Song was getting on in years, and he hadn't risen to power by solving criminal cases, so he was momentarily taken aback: "So what if I know?"

"The key point is that Donglou disappeared without a trace, and this happened in broad daylight!"

Haiyue then mentioned another strange point: "The Deer Cry Banquet is a major event for the imperial court. If the East Tower had put up any resistance, it would have made a sound and attracted the attention of those coming and going. However, when we asked around, no one witnessed any conflict. This made me wonder if there was ever any conflict in the first place?"

Combining these two points, Yan Song finally understood: "Mingwei's intention is that someone used the rumor of cheating in the imperial examinations to lure Donglou out?"

Haiyue nodded and said, "That's right!"

The letter left by the thief reads: "Gentlemen sit in their grand halls, feasting on delicacies, yet can you hear the cries of hunger from the common people? I plead for the people's lives, requesting to borrow the Yan family's son for a short time. Do not worry about him!"

"Since there were no delicacies on jade platters at the Deer Cry Banquet, this letter has already revealed its flaws. It can be seen that it was written in advance, which also shows that their goal is very clear: to target the East Tower."

"So I suspect that the kidnappers knew through a channel that rumors about the imperial examinations would circulate in the examination hall before the Deer Cry Banquet, and cleverly took advantage of this."

"Donglou was eager to prove his innocence, which is why he followed the thieves away without any conflict, allowing them to successfully carry out the kidnapping in broad daylight!"

This reminded Haiyue of the blood totem case in her hometown of Qiongshan. Wu Lin, the Guangdong Provincial Inspector, was suspected of being kidnapped by the Li people and left behind a blood totem to provoke the government. However, it was later found that Wu Lin had left on his own.

Under normal circumstances, Yan Shifan would not leave on his own during the Deer Cry Banquet. However, if he heard people discussing that his ranking was added to the list and involved cheating in the imperial examination, that would be a different matter.

"Deliberately plotting! Deliberately plotting!"

A cold glint flashed in Yan Song's eyes, his wide robe sleeves fluttered in the evening wind, like an enraged old wolf, his beard and hair standing on end, his voice as piercing as an ice pick: "Mingwei's deduction is very reasonable. You can investigate all you want. Whoever is involved in this case, I will fight them to the end!"

The implication was that the person behind it all was the Grand Secretary who held the reins of power in the cabinet, and he would never back down.

Haiyue knew very well that Yan Song would do this, and that he was confident of victory.

After all, kidnapping someone else's son did break the rules and cross the line, and Jiajing would not sit idly by.

Yan Song's words were meant to reassure Hai Yue, but little did he know that once he decided to investigate, he wouldn't give up halfway before he knew the truth. He cupped his hands in greeting and turned back to Sun Suizui's room.

Distracted by Yan Song's arrival, he had only observed half of the scene and vaguely sensed a disharmonious feeling, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

Now, back inside, after a moment's thought, still without a clue, Haiyue simply went out and said to the other watchmen, "Let's go and take a look at your rooms."

Upon comparison, the differences were immediately apparent.

The other watchmen's rooms were sometimes even dirtier and more dilapidated than Sun Suizui's, but in each one they had a few similar items, such as "Sheng Penglai", "Tiangong Juechang", "Yuanyang Mipu", and "Huaying Jinzhen"...

"Since Sun the Chatterbox has no wives or concubines, he must use these things to pass the time, right?"

The watchmen were somewhat embarrassed: "Yes...yes..."

"But it wasn't in the room just now!"

Haiyue identified the missing item: "Search! Find the erotic picture book that Sun Suizui collected!"

(End of this chapter)