Tumor Sword Immortal

Chapter 42 It’s all fake
From another perspective, given the current outcome, what would be the difference between Pei Xia solving the case and Chao Cuo solving the case?
It's really just a difference in status.

The eldest princess was wary of the Zhangsheng Palace, and Chao Cuo was Luo Xian's man. If he were to investigate such a shocking case, there was still no decisive physical evidence.

It's hard not to suspect something fishy going on among the high-ranking officials.

But Pei Xia's investigation came at just the right time.

He was the son of the deceased prime minister and had been away from Beishi City for ten years. He was seeking revenge for his father, and his pure heart was beyond reproach.

Therefore, I was chosen because Chao Cuo would not be able to bear the consequences.

"So can I understand that...she knew what the outcome would be from the very beginning?"

Pei Xia looked at Xu Shangxin.

Xu Shangxin did not answer; she knew Pei Xia wasn't asking her.

Pei Xia didn't ask her. He stroked his chin and muttered, "So, after Pei Xi died, Luo Xian realized what the Holy Palace had done and went along with it?"

Ke Luoxian's actions did not seem like a spur-of-the-moment decision based on the fact that others had committed the crime.

It took a whole month just to recall Pei Xia.

Moreover, the matter of the murder committed by the Palace Master cannot be proven without investigation. How could she be so sure that she would let Pei Xia investigate without any evidence?

The eldest princess was clearly hiding something from him.

Pei Xia thought back to the day when he was deducing the poisoning incident at the academy, and he asked himself a question: Could Xu Shangxin be lying to him?

It is possible.

What about Luo Xian? Could Luo Xian be lying to him?
"Xia'er, Xia'er" sounds very affectionate, but that was a friendship from ten years ago. In Pei Xia's memory, their relationship was far from close.

Xu Shangxin was still just an unmarried daughter-in-law of the Prime Minister's family, from a poor background, so perhaps she didn't have much scheming.

But Luo Xian is the daughter of an emperor.

Is it possible that this whole thing was her deliberate scheme from beginning to end, designed to severely damage the Holy Palace by taking advantage of Pei Xi's death?
When Pei Xia thought of this part, she was startled and quickly shook her head.

It wasn't out of any respect or fear of authority; he simply felt that sacrificing the life of a capable minister to carry out such a plan was putting the cart before the horse and utterly foolish.

Yes, it's absolutely impossible to kill Pei Xi in order to target the Holy Palace.

So, does that mean...?

As darkness fell, Pei Xia sat by the door, slowly stopping her self-talk and falling silent.

Xu Shangxin was puzzled, but she didn't insist on understanding what Pei Xia was thinking; she simply stayed quietly by his side.

Once Pei Xia's rambling subsided, she peeked at him and asked, "How about we eat first?"

Pei Xia wiped her face: "Okay, I'll have some sugar."

This was the first time in the past few days that Xu Shangxin had seen Pei Xia so troubled.

The girl felt that she had discovered another quality in Pei Xia besides "not being taken advantage of".

He doesn't like to dwell on things; if he really can't figure something out, he can eat first.

"Then I'll go check the kitchen," Xu Shangxin said.

Pei Xia stood at the door, watching Xu Shangxin's figure turn the corner of the courtyard.

Then his expression slowly turned serious.

He strode forward, walking alone through the front courtyard, through the main hall, and across the covered bridge.

Passing through the artificial hills and gardens, he glanced at the lake behind the Prime Minister's residence in the distance.

The lakeside residences lie quietly on the shore of the lake.

Following the cobblestone path, just like when she first returned to the Prime Minister's residence, Pei Xia walked towards the waterside residence.

This time, no one stopped him.

This, in turn, made Pei Xia clench her fists tighter.

The waterside gates were wide open, and the coffin sat quietly in the center. Pei Xia did not see the green-clad Ekui with black and white parting in her hair.

On the terrace by the water, there was only one figure dressed in a gray-blue long robe, holding a wine jug, staring motionlessly at the lake.

The man was extremely thin; his clothes looked like they covered his skeleton. His wrists, which were visible through his sleeves, were frighteningly narrow, and when he lifted the wine jug, it seemed as if they might break at any moment.

Hearing the noise, he turned his head, revealing a face with thinning hair and beard.

His shirt was open, revealing his clearly visible ribs against his chest. A gentle lake breeze stirred his dry, thin hair, causing it to rise and fall.

Looking at Pei Xia, he raised the glass in his hand: "Come and sit down."

Pei Xia took a deep breath.

This should be the first time he has truly felt "nervous" since leaving Weishan and returning to Beishi City.

As you walk past the coffin where the body lies, the magical artifacts that used to swirl around the four corners are gone, and the empty coffin exudes a suffocating sense of oppression.

Thinking about it is one thing.

Seeing it is another matter.

He walked to the old man's side but dared not sit down.

“I know you’ve entered the palace, and I’ve probably guessed it by now.” The old man’s voice was slightly hoarse.

Luo Xian would not kill Pei Xi just to frame the Zhang Sheng Palace.

But if we step outside the perspective of someone directly involved and look at the plan from a different angle, did Pei Xi really have to die?

Luo Xian can lie to him.

This means that the claim that "the enemy is in the academy" could be false, the "method of freezing blood" could be false, and even "Pei Xi is dead" could be false.

As long as she can deceive him, it won't affect Pei Xia's ability to make the judgment she needs.

“Summoned me from a thousand miles away, a journey of half a month would be enough for me to dispel all my doubts. The mess and decay of the Prime Minister’s residence only confirm one fact. As for the so-called ritual objects used to preserve the body, they are simply to conceal the aura.”

Pei Xia let out a long breath: "It only takes a few people, the imperial physician and E Kui, to set up this scheme. This is just a trick, a means for the princess to suppress dissidents and control the Holy Palace, right?"

The answer Pei Xia received was astonishing enough.

But the old man could simply shake his head and say, "Only a little bit right."

Pei Xia frowned at him, and the man second only to the emperor of the Great Ling Dynasty slowly spoke: "For example, you."

The old man flipped his withered eyelids and looked up at him with his unusually bulging eyes: "Why does Luo Xian have to use you?"

Pei Xia had asked himself this question, and he felt that it was because of his identity—he was Pei Xi's son—that the cases he investigated were more convincing.

But the old man just shook his head: "Then why not use Xu Shangxin?"

Adopted from the streets and treated as his own son, a student at the academy seeks revenge for his father.

As for whether he lacks a bit of intelligence, we can simply send someone to secretly give him some pointers.

That makes sense. Compared to spending a lot of effort and a month trying to persuade a person who has left home, it is obviously more reliable.

Pei Xia nodded: "So, why?"

"Because it was my request."

This was indeed something Pei Xia couldn't have imagined.

Remembering what Luo Xian had said at the time, that there would be a reward afterward, Pei Xia chuckled: "So it was paving the way for his son's official career."

His response was yet another question from the old man: "Is that so?"

The two men surnamed Pei locked eyes. After many years, Pei Xia saw that same deep and cold gaze in Pei Xi's eyes once again.

The lake water gently lapped against the terrace of the waterside residence. On the lakeside, where only the two of them stood, Pei Xi looked into his eyes and asked:
"Are you my son?"

(End of this chapter)