Chapter 026: The Culprit Found

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This letter could not possibly have been written by her. The only explanation was that it had been written by the other soul dwelling within her body—Li Linghuan.

If that was the case, then on the night she went out, Li Linghuan must have gone to meet Li Xiaolian and delivered this paper crane into her hands.

Xiao Mucheng noticed that Murong Huan had been staring at the handwriting on the note, lost in thought, and leaned over curiously.

“What is it? Is there something unusual about it?”

With that, he snatched the note from Murong Huan’s hand. The handwriting upon it was like a forest mist suddenly dispersing, possessing a severe yet delicately austere beauty.

Fortunately, he did not recognize her handwriting.

Murong Huan pretended not to know anything. “Nothing. I was merely marveling at the sender’s mysteriousness.”

“Oh!”

Murong Huan turned back to Li Xiaolian. “Very well. I shall accept this precious object. I will also fulfill your wish on your behalf.”

Li Xiaolian’s eyes immediately brimmed with tears. Once again, she knocked her head several times against the ground before Murong Huan and Xiao Mucheng.

Xiao Mucheng, however, was completely dumbfounded. Had he said anything from beginning to end?

How had he somehow ended up agreeing as well?

Before he could utter a word of protest, Murong Huan had already taken him by the hand and bid farewell. Just before leaving, she turned back and glanced at the old woman beside Li Xiaolian.

The old woman’s back was bent, her body thin as kindling, and her gaze utterly unfocused. She was blind.

A sudden flash of insight struck Murong Huan. Somewhat shaken, she looked toward the blind old woman. At that moment, a little girl of seven or eight came running over, clutching a transparent object shaped like a glass sphere. She called out to Li Xiaolian in delight:

“Sister Xiaolian, look! The spider is spinning silk again. The threads are so beautiful!”

“Don’t touch it. It’s poisonous!”

Li Xiaolian hurriedly pulled the transparent sphere away and swept the little girl into her arms.

“Sister Xiaolian, are you really never going back to that place again? You’ll stay with us forever, won’t you? I don’t want to see you sad anymore. When you’re sad, Xiaonuan feels sad too!”

Tears burst from Li Xiaolian’s eyes as she held the little girl even more tightly. But when she lifted her head, her gaze inadvertently met those of Murong Huan and Xiao Mucheng.

As if she had realized something, her expression changed abruptly. She quickly comforted the little girl, then came forward to salute Murong Huan and Xiao Mucheng.

“Do the two gentlemen have anything else to ask?”

Murong Huan fell silent for a moment. Her thoughts surged like storm waves crashing against the shore. After a while, she finally said, “Nothing. Farewell.”

Then she turned and walked away without looking back, dragging Xiao Mucheng along with her.

Only after they had gone a considerable distance from the Shaohua Courtyard did Murong Huan stop. When she turned to Xiao Mucheng, she discovered him staring at her strangely.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Xiao Mucheng shifted his gaze to the hand she had been gripping tightly.

“I was just wondering how long you intend to keep holding my hand.”

Only then did Murong Huan release him, somewhat awkwardly. She gave an embarrassed laugh.

“My apologies. Vice Censor Xiao will keep what happened today confidential, won’t he?”

“Which matter do you mean?” Xiao Mucheng asked with a smile. “More than one thing happened today.”

What other matter could she mean?

Xiao Mucheng truly was a man of unfathomable schemes. He was even pretending to be foolish.

Murong Huan neither exposed him nor asked further. Since he had decided to keep the secret, there was no need to make everything too explicit.

Thus, she acted as though nothing had happened, clasped her hands in farewell to Xiao Mucheng, and began to leave. After walking a few steps, however, she suddenly remembered something and turned back.

“By the way, Vice Censor Xiao, when did your hair turn white? And why?”

Xiao Mucheng was momentarily taken aback, then smiled.

“Didn’t you say that, in order to cure my illness, you would first need to understand me?”

“There is no hurry. I will give you time to understand me.”

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Faced with his faintly teasing smile, Murong Huan could only let the matter drop. After cupping her hands and offering him a formal salute, she hurried away with Ashu in the direction of Luonan Ward.

Watching Murong Huan’s swiftly departing figure, Xiao Mucheng’s lips curved upward. After indulging in a quiet laugh, he turned to Xuanyu and said solemnly:

“Come. Let us go see how things are unfolding in the sacred hall of the Ziwei Palace.”

“Yes, my lord. Have you discovered something?” Xuanyu came over and asked.

“The murderer of Zhou Jiulang has been found. However, there is no need to investigate the matter further. Arrange for several people to keep a close watch on this woman named Li Xiaolian. Also…”

He looked toward Murong Huan’s distant back.

“Keep a close eye on Su Minghe’s daughter. Do not relax your vigilance for even a moment. Whatever happens, inform me at once.”

“Yes.”

…

Lu Ling personally reported the case of the corpse found at the bottom of the well to the Empress. By then, all kinds of horrifying rumors about the case had already begun spreading rapidly through Luoyang. For a time, the entire city seemed to boil over, causing a tremendous uproar and unsettling the people.

Shangguan Wan’er also brought the rumors circulating among the populace before the Empress.

At the same time, the Censorate, quick to sense which way the wind was blowing, submitted impeachment memorial after impeachment memorial against Zhou Xing. The Empress was enraged and immediately dispatched the Imperial Guards to drag Zhou Xing before the palace hall.

“Vice Minister Zhou, what exactly happened in the case of Zhou Jiulang? Why does the dossier submitted by Assistant Minister Lu say that your adopted son became a menace, and that you concealed his crimes while indulging him in countless acts of oppressing innocent people, seizing their property, and brutally murdering innocent girls?”

Zhou Xing’s face turned ashen. Sweat poured down his back as he hurriedly pleaded guilty before the Empress.

“It was all because I failed to educate my son properly. I truly had no idea that my son had committed so many vile acts behind my back. Had I known, I would certainly have slain the wretch with my own hands and confessed my guilt before Your Majesty!”

The Empress’s anger indeed eased somewhat after hearing this.

“Enough. Since Zhou Jiulang is already dead, consider the case closed. Confiscate his property and announce his crimes to the realm, so that justice may be done for all the girls he murdered.”

Lu Ling answered, “Yes.”

“Go back. The Court of Judicial Review surely has more than this one case to deal with. Attend to your duties. I am tired as well.”

Lu Ling glanced at Zhou Xing, who stood there with a sinister expression and a twisted smile at the corner of his mouth, then bowed and withdrew.

When Xiao Mucheng arrived at the Ziwei Palace, he saw Lu Ling emerge from the main hall with an anxious look upon his face.

“How did it go?”

“Just as Vice Censor Xiao predicted. This case is not enough to bring Zhou Xing down.”

“Then return. Her Majesty dislikes being coerced or pressured into action.”

“Thank you for the reminder, Vice Censor Xiao.”

After Lu Ling departed, Xiao Mucheng walked toward the main hall. Just as he was about to enter, he heard Zhou Xing wailing before the palace steps:

“Your Majesty, I have always been utterly loyal to you! Yet because I come from a humble background, those scions of the great families resent me for rising to such a high position and repeatedly attack me. Even when I have done nothing wrong, they insist on digging out some fault to pin on me!”

“I failed to educate my son, but I truly knew nothing about Zhou Jiulang—no, he was not even surnamed Zhou. He was merely a scoundrel. I pitied him in the past and took him in, but I never imagined he would commit such atrocities!”

“Yet over this one case involving that wretch, Assistant Minister Lu clearly intends to make me bear the blame for him! Those scions of the great clans, relying on the prominence of their families, clearly hold neither the Great Zhou, nor the imperial house, nor Your Majesty in their eyes!”

“Enough. Stop crying. What sort of person you are, do you think I do not know? Do not put on this aggrieved and righteous performance. The case is settled, and Assistant Minister Lu has said nothing further. Do not trouble me with such a minor matter again.”

“Yes. I deserve ten thousand deaths for disturbing Your Majesty’s peace.”

Zhou Xing paused, then suddenly changed the subject.

“However, I have recently uncovered another grave matter!”

“What matter?”

“I believe the Su family must be investigated. The former second master of the Su family, Su Minghe, was originally a partisan of Crown Prince Zhanghuai. After the Crown Prince’s death, he stubbornly resigned from office and refused to serve again. Now that his son, the Fourth Young Master Su, has returned to Luoyang, my son Jiulang has been murdered. I suspect that this Fourth Young Master Su harbors treasonous intentions. I respectfully request that he be arrested and brought to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation!”

Zhou Xing’s words were filled with righteous indignation and impassioned fervor. But no sooner had he finished speaking than a derisive laugh came from behind him.

“Vice Minister Zhou, aren’t you going too far? He is a fifteen-year-old boy with no office, no rank, no soldiers, and no horses. He has only one foolish little maid by his side, yet you claim he harbors treasonous intentions? What could he possibly use to rebel?”

After saying this, he added mockingly:

“Do not elevate your personal grudges into a grave case of treason.”

“Xiao Mucheng, you—”

Xiao Mucheng did not spare him another glance. He offered a salute toward the Empress, who sat behind the pearl curtain in ceremonial robes.

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“Your servant Xiao Mucheng pays his respects to Your Majesty.”

“Rise.” Empress Wu Zhao’s voice carried a hint of languor. “Zicheng, have you also come because of the case of Zhou Jiulang, or the case of the corpse found at the bottom of the well?”

“No. Zicheng has come regarding the case of Pei Judo.”

“Oh? Have you uncovered any leads?”

A trace of warmth gradually entered the Empress’s originally cool voice. She then ordered Zhou Xing to withdraw before turning to Xiao Mucheng.

“Zicheng, continue.”

…

After leaving the Ziwei Palace, Zhou Xing quickly wiped the ingratiating smile from his face. Accompanied by several attendants, he flung back his sleeve and climbed into his sedan chair, hurrying toward his residence in Xiuwen Ward.

The moment he returned to the Zhou residence, Zhou Xing bared his teeth and vented his fury, smashing a coral branch standing nearly ten feet tall.

“Good, Lu Ling! Good, Xiao Mucheng! You want to oppose me, do you? I think it is time you had a taste of the Ministry of Justice’s tortures!”

The servants painstakingly gathered the broken pieces of coral, only to be kicked to the ground by Zhou Xing.

“Why are you still picking it up? You are useless at accomplishing anything and expert at ruining everything! That wretch is dead, yet he still brought me such enormous trouble. Guards!”

Several henchmen kept by the household came running from all directions and knelt before him.

“What are your orders, Master?”

“Go and kill that boy from the Su family—the Fourth Young Master Su. The brat still has milk on his lips, yet he dares to meddle in this affair. I could not kill him before because an old relic was protecting him. Now that the old man is gone, let us see who can shield him!”

“Yes!”

Several assassins in black were about to leave when Zhou Xing suddenly shouted angrily:

“Wait! And that little slut Huo Xiaolian as well. I would wager that she betrayed me. Otherwise, how could she have lured Xiao Mucheng to the Shaohua Courtyard?”

“Go. Bring that little slut to me as well!”

“Yes!”

…

“A-Huan, why did you tell that white-haired gentleman to keep the matter secret today? Did you discover something there? Have you found the murderer?”

Murong Huan was halfway back to the Su residence. Night had quietly descended, and the crowds in the streets had gradually dispersed. In the end, only she and Ashu remained, walking through the night.

“Yes. The murderer has been found. But it is a very sad story—a group of humble people trapped in the mire, resisting the injustice of fate and rebelling against those who wield power.”

“So, Ashu, we must never mention this matter to anyone again.”

“Oh! Then who exactly was the murderer?”

Murong Huan suddenly stopped. Her expression became solemn and wary.

The street abruptly fell silent. There was no one in sight in any direction, and Ashu began to feel frightened.

Then Murong Huan suddenly said, “This is bad. ‘The wind whistles bleakly, the Yi River runs cold.’ So that line of poetry she left behind was meant as a final farewell!”

Murong Huan was about to turn toward Tenderness Ward when, without warning, a fierce killing intent surged in from every direction and surrounded them.

A dazzling streak of deadly light suddenly slashed through the darkness. Ashu let out a terrified scream.

Murong Huan moved Ashu behind her and looked toward the black-clad figures advancing from all sides with blades in hand.

As the killing intent drew near, her dark eyes gradually deepened, becoming cold and terrifying. Boundless fury and murderous intent gathered within them.

“You want to assassinate me?”

She raised her head, the corners of her lips slowly curving upward.

“Are you looking for death?”