Daming: Internship also counts as work experience

Chapter 177 is showing some promise.

Chen Mo waved his hand anxiously and said, "None of that matters. Who knows how long he'll sleep? We can't just wait here, can we?"

"He said he's going to check the accounts today, specifically the accounts of the herb-gathering bureau. He said the person behind it all wants to lead us to investigate the Prince of Han, because Jia Chuan kept mentioning the Prince of Han when he met Zhou Cheng. They think this is an opportunity. If they find anything similar to what's hidden in the accounts, or discover something during the audit, it will prove that the person behind it all wants our dynasty..."

"Commander Lu, come with me!"

Chen Mo understood what he meant and eagerly called Lu Baihu out of the house.

"Are you sure you can do it?" Gao Yuntian shouted, but his voice was met with silence; no one paid him any attention.

Gao Yuntian shook his head, and Shunzi said, "We're both in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but you haven't put in as much effort as Brother Chen."

"Nonsense, he needs to report back to Commander Liu in time. I don't need to. He's a commander of a thousand, and we all listen to him. If there's a mistake, he'll be the one to be punished. Sigh, I don't even know whose legs I have, and I can't even lift my arms, while he can still walk."

“A man lives for a breath of air, but he’s being held back by something. He doesn’t dare believe what I say. What if I misunderstand something? He has to wait for Jia Chuan to get up before he can send a message. I think he’s thinking that this matter is of great importance. I’m just an archer. Even if he tells me about the canal transport, I can’t understand it.”

Gao Yuntian straightened his back and was about to explain when Shunzi added, "He also said that he would go to piece together the corpses after waking up."

Gao Yuntian slumped into his chair.

……

Jia Chuan had something on his mind and thought he would just take a nap, but when he opened his eyes it was already noon.

He wondered why his whole body ached even though he hadn't moved his arms or legs last night. It was probably because he had too many stressful things to do yesterday, and his body had been tense the whole time.

He took a deep breath; thankfully, things were looking promising.

Jia Chuan felt he needed to check the accounts first, so he didn't wake Old Zheng. But when he went out, he saw several people sitting in the courtyard sunbathing. Except for Gao Yunduo and Dong Yuanyuan, everyone was there.

Chen Mo was unable to get up. He reached out to call Jia Chuan from the recliner, and Lu Baihu quickly got up to act as a mouth sitter.

They checked the accounts, but couldn't find anything on them. Chen Mo then realized that even if there was something, it couldn't be clearly written in the ledger; that would be too fake.

What would those people do? Chen Mo was very anxious, feeling that if Jia Chuan were here, he would surely be able to come up with a solution.

Unexpectedly, the clerk in charge of the accounts was even more anxious than they were. However, he overdid it and cried out that he had lost his balance, which led Lu Baihu to discover a hidden compartment. In the compartment, he found a thin ledger containing records of the medicinal herb exchanges between the herb collection bureau and the Han Prince's Mansion.

After hearing this, Jia Chuan first inquired about the health of Gao Yuntian and Chen Mo, and then went to the east wing to visit Gao Yunduo and Dong Yuanyuan.

Chen Mo had been waiting impatiently for a long time. Lu Baihu stepped forward to help him up. He stood shakily in the courtyard. As soon as Jia Chuan came out of the east wing, he asked, "Are you sure this case is related to the salt merchants and people in the canal transport?"

"Don't you also think these people are crazy? I can't believe it either, but putting aside their identities, they're rich. I was wondering why Zhou Cheng was so perfunctory when I met him, but immediately became respectful after learning that Gao Yuntian and Commander Lu were Jinyiwei. That means he doesn't really know who I am, maybe he's heard some rumors. Being able to greet me at the entrance of the herb-gathering bureau is already giving me a lot of face, at least that's what he thinks. But, that afternoon he went to the government office to get a travel permit, and that night he arranged for people to transport all the bodies from the drug trials to the herb garden for burial. Tell me, is he afraid of me or afraid of the Jinyiwei?"

Chen Mo couldn't stand up any longer and sat back down on the recliner, scratching his head anxiously.

"Did Zhou Cheng already want to kill you while he was still alive?" Gao Yuntian asked, puzzled.

"That's the key point. Why did he go to the government office to ask for a travel permit after seeing me? Wasn't the travel permit prepared for Baldy and the old man, and the men who followed Baldy? I asked them last night, and at least Baldy and his group got the travel permit halfway through their journey. In other words, Zhou Cheng and the fake Shunzi seemed to be on the same page at the time, so why did they want to kill me? We met, exchanged a few words, and it wasn't even about their lifeblood. Why did they immediately think of killing me? Besides, I am, after all, an official of the imperial court. If I die in Kaifeng..."

"Didn't you deduce before that killing Zhou Cheng was to make you investigate the Herb Gathering Bureau? If you didn't care about the Herb Gathering Bureau, there would be no need to consider so much when killing you. I just can't understand why you had to be killed?" Gao Yuntian interjected.

"Who are you talking about? Why would Zhou Cheng want the herb-gathering bureau to be in trouble? The 'them' you're talking about definitely doesn't include Zhou Cheng." Jia Chuan sat down in the chair Shunzi had brought out and continued, "I was just being direct with Zhou Cheng that day, asking about our dealings with the Prince of Han's mansion and whether there were any secret accounts to check. Why was Zhou Cheng in such a hurry? I didn't see the fake Shunzi that day. Logically speaking, if Zhou Cheng hadn't made things sound so alarmist, the fake Shunzi wouldn't have thought of killing me..."

"You mentioned the other day that you wanted to see some good medicines from southern Yunnan," Gao Yuntian reminded him.

Jia Chuan nodded and said, "I still can't quite understand Zhou Cheng's thought process. Anyway, he told the fake Shunzi about our conversation, and then they both agreed to kill me..."

"What road did he say?" Gao Yuntian turned to ask Shunzi.

Jia Chuan waved his hand and said, "It's not important. What's important is that if I die in Kaifeng, who will be unlucky?"

Chen Mo said weakly, "Naturally, it's the Prince and the Prefect."

"So, they have nothing to do with the Prince's Mansion or the government office. What if I were murdered on the road to Kaifeng? No matter where I was on the way, who would you suspect first?"

"King of Han!" Gao Yuntian blurted out.

"That day, I talked most about the relationship between the Herb Gathering Bureau and the Prince of Han's Mansion, and I also mentioned auditing the accounts."

Chen Mo took a deep breath and said, "Today it's confirmed that they were indeed well-prepared and just waiting for you to check. That clerk pretended to lose his balance and fell so convincingly that it couldn't be more fake. I reckon they thought you would check the accounts soon, but they didn't expect to wait so long. That clerk couldn't wait any longer either. This proves that they really want you to go to the King of Han..."

“It’s not about me,” Jia Chuan shook his head, “What happened between me and the Prince of Han in Le’an may have already spread, but at least for now, the Prince of Han is still the Prince of Han. Officials, especially those in the capital, know that this is the darkness before dawn. It seems calm on the surface, but in reality, right? Who would misjudge? Or who would think that if they presented the Emperor with evidence of the Prince of Han’s crimes at this time, the Emperor would definitely take action against the Prince of Han without hesitation? Don’t be surprised, if the Prince of Han knew that he had been framed, he might really lose his temper…”

“If you were murdered in the street in Kaifeng, the prefect of Kaifeng would certainly be implicated. But when the Emperor orders a thorough investigation, he will find that the prefect only had dealings with Zhou Cheng,” Shunzi said. Jia Chuan nodded and said, “That’s where they think they’re being clever. It’s like a closed loop. After I die, no matter where you investigate, it will always point to the Herb Collection Bureau and the Prince of Han. And the way I died was very peaceful, like ironclad evidence. Even if the prefect implicates Zhou Cheng, Zhou Cheng is already dead. Who else can they turn to?”

“They never expected you would find out who killed Zhou Cheng, let alone that Mu Lian would poison the fake Shunzi as well. Baldy and the others originally didn’t need to come to the herb-gathering bureau; they were planning to kill you on the street. Although they were all trying to kill you, since you’ve come this far and you’re staying at the herb-gathering bureau and not leaving, they have no choice but to let you die there,” Shunzi summarized.

"Where they die doesn't matter. They think it's more convenient to do it at the herb-gathering bureau. Zhou Cheng considers the herb-gathering bureau his life, but in those people's eyes, it's useless."

"You mean they've already figured out the drug they want?" Chen Mo asked.

"I don't know. Maybe they figured it out, or maybe they know this method is useless. In any case, they must think the herb-gathering bureau is useless right now."

Chen Mo opened his mouth, looked around, and then closed it again.

Jia Chuan continued, "They're not afraid to make a big scene because they believe that as long as I'm dead, the Emperor will only focus his attention on the Prince of Han. As for what I've done or found out these past few days, they're confident they won't be held responsible..."

"So, they brought you the evidence." Old Zheng said, rubbing his eyes as he stood at the door. "If they hadn't made this trip, you wouldn't have even considered the salt merchants."

"Why don't you sleep a little longer?" Jia Chuan asked.

"I was afraid you wouldn't call me for meals. Didn't you want to work together to finish the meal? Hurry up and get back to work after you finish eating!" Old Zheng came out and stretched.

Chen Mo struggled to stand up again, and Lu Baihu quickly stepped forward to help him.

Chen Mo stood up and asked, "Can you now conclude that..."

Jia Chuan waved his hand and said, "Don't rush me. I also need to write a letter to the Emperor, but we can only write with peace of mind after we've made sure our deductions are correct. Where were we? Oh, the Herb Gathering Bureau isn't important to them, the Kaifeng Prefecture isn't important to them, and the Prince's Mansion is even less important. So the question is, who has the ability to control the Herb Gathering Bureau without relying on the government?"

"From what you're saying, paying with money is enough?" Gao Yuntian asked.

“Money is useless to Zhou Cheng; what he needs is a son,” Jia Chuan replied calmly.

Gao Yuntian's eyes widened as he asked, "You mean someone came to claim a child as a relative?"

Jia Chuan looked at Gao Yuntian speechlessly, sighed, and said, "Take a break."

Shunzi said, "Someone made Zhou Cheng understand that his lack of offspring was his own problem, and that they could cure him."

Gao Yuntian frowned.

Jia Chuan said:
"On the day Zhou Cheng was murdered, he went home and took a set of jewelry. Why didn't the fake Shunzi stop him? Because no matter who was investigating the case, they would have asked about this clue, but they weren't afraid because even if they knew, they couldn't trace it back to the source. In other words, they couldn't find out who Zhou Cheng gave the jewelry to, so they didn't stop him. Although the fake Shunzi was already prepared to kill Zhou Cheng at that time, this also told me that Zhou Cheng was secretly working hard outside, cooperating with the doctor those people found for him, drinking medicine to conceive. In other words, on the night of the incident, Zhou Cheng had a date with a beautiful woman, and he unsuspectingly drank the medicine that the fake Shunzi had prepared for him, thinking that he would soon display his great power..."

Everyone gasped.

Jia Chuan stood up, put his hands behind his back, and began to stroll around the yard while talking.

"Mu Lian said that the heat poison was a powder. The first poison Zhou Cheng drank should have been this. Soon Zhou Cheng realized something was wrong. The fake Shunzi pretended to care, and when Zhou Cheng roared or groaned in pain, he gave him another pill called 'Red Beauty's Death.' Zhou Cheng thought it was the antidote and took it happily. He had no suspicion of the fake Shunzi. From this, it seems that their antidote has been successfully developed. At least it can relieve some poisons immediately, but only for certain poisons. They dare not continue. I personally think it may be because they have found that this kind of thing that costs money to do may not be of much help to them."

"That's true. Poison isn't so easy to administer. If someone can get close to you, you can just kill them with one strike. But if someone can't get close... well, you can just bribe a servant. You know, if you think about it that way, it should work. But whose life do these people want?"

"I feel like you've got some energy now; you're talking nonsense with quite a bit of gusto."

After Jia Chuan finished speaking, he looked towards the door, where several members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard brought in lunch.

Gao Yuntian spoke again, "You just finished eating, and you're eating again?"

Jia Chuan shook his head and pointed to the main room. Several Imperial Guards carried the food to the main hall.

Mu Lian had been silent the whole time, but at this moment she was very eager to go into the room to serve rice to Gao Yunduo and Dong Yuanyuan. But Dong Yuanyuan didn't need her help at all. She might not have heard anything else, but she did hear Gao Yuntian's words, "Eating again?" The moment Mu Lian walked into the room, Dong Yuanyuan had already reached the door of the east wing. Shunzi saw this and quickly went to greet her.

Old Zheng was hungry, but he wasn't as quick as Mu Lian. After entering the house, he shouted, "Don't take it all away! We have several mouths to feed here."

The courtyard suddenly became lively.

Chen Mo's mind was entirely focused on the case. He pondered Jia Chuan's words for a while, and with Lu Baihu's help, he walked towards the main house while asking, "You deduced the possibility of Zhou Cheng's murder, so how can you determine that the drug production at the herb-collecting bureau is related to that salt merchant or the people on the canal?"

“If I had power, I would seal off the city right now! Unfortunately, I am just a lowly deputy envoy, and asking you to do so would only cause you trouble. The prefect is also a criminal, and it is impossible to expect the prince to give the order. Therefore, I can only find out where the dismembered body I saw yesterday came from. The small house was not the primary crime scene, and there were no bloodstains. If it was transported from the secret passage, most of the bloodstains should have been spilled on the road. However, there was blood all over the small house, and I did not hear you mention any bloodstains in the secret passage.”

By this time, the others had already entered the house. Gao Yuntian said he couldn't eat, but he picked up his rice bowl without hesitation. When he heard Jia Chuan describe the scene, even though he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he couldn't help but imagine it himself, so he put the bowl down again.

"A city lockdown? Do you think they still have people in the city?" Chen Mo asked.

Jia Chuan nodded and said, "They should still be here at least this morning. Right now, if I were them, I would definitely run away, unless they are so confident that we can't find them, in which case they will definitely leave people behind. Gathering information here is much faster than elsewhere."

(End of this chapter)