20demayo Chapter 246 Touching
Chapter 246 Touching
Chapter 246, Touching
"There has been a murder here. Immediately cordon off this area!"
At Magistrate Feng's command, the constables of Shuntian Prefecture quickly surrounded the matchmaker's villa and the small hill.
The matchmaker was awakened from her slumber by the noise. When she opened her eyes, she found a knife against her neck and was so frightened that she almost fainted again.
"Sir, sir! I'm innocent! I didn't kill him!" She thought the officials had come because of Zhao Yuanwai's death, and hurriedly cried out.
"Shut up and behave!" The constable behind her moved his knife, the sharp blade slicing a gash across her neck, blood gushing out immediately. Terrified, she quickly shut her mouth and knelt there trembling.
“You certainly didn’t kill him,” Feng Ling said coldly. “But what about the girls in that house downstairs whom you drugged? Hmph, bring them all back to the yamen and hold a trial immediately!”
Without a word, the constables stepped forward and tied up the matchmaker, Wang Bao, and the others, preparing to take them down the mountain. At this moment, Min'er, who had been hiding behind Ye Lingyue, stepped forward, knelt down in front of Feng Ling, and said:
“My lord, I was misled and bought poison to poison that Master Zhao. Although he did not die, the evidence against him is conclusive. I am willing to go back to the government office with you to be tried.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Bao turned around with a moved expression and exclaimed, "Min'er!"
"Shut up, don't call me." Min'er didn't even look at him and said coldly, "You and I have nothing to do with each other anymore. You have your sins, and I have mine. This is our retribution."
Feng Ling stroked his beard and nodded, saying, "Hmm, knowing you're guilty and not trying to escape is good. Take them with you."
The matchmaker, Wang Bao, Min'er, and others were taken down the mountain, while some of the yamen runners stayed behind to move the bodies of Xue Ling and Master Zhao.
Once everything was arranged, Feng Lingcai walked up to Ye Pianran, sighed with emotion, and said:
"Young lady of the Ye family, thanks to you this time, the truth of this case has finally come to light. Otherwise, who knows how long these evil people would have been able to get away with it."
"It's nothing, but it's kind of Uncle Feng to make the trip himself." Ye Pianran smiled kindly at Feng Ling.
She had simply picked up a random person on the street, given him some silver, and asked him to report the case to the Shuntian Prefecture. However, she never expected that Feng Ling would personally lead the group to the scene.
The last time Aunt Zhao tried to frame their Lanxin Courtyard with a dead cat, it was Feng Ling who arrived in time with the bribed assassin, which completely cleared them of suspicion. She still trusted and was very grateful to Feng Ling.
"That scholar surnamed Wang has been reporting the case to the Shuntian Prefecture for so many days, and we've been searching for his wife's whereabouts, but we haven't found any clues. I never expected that it would end up being related to that Master Zhao. Alas, fate is truly unpredictable," Feng Ling sighed.
"If my master hadn't intended to train me and assigned me the task of visiting Master Zhao's mansion to treat patients, I wouldn't have been able to discover this matter," Ye Pianran said. "Uncle Feng, I also found some suspicious points at Master Zhao's mansion."
"Oh? What's the problem?" Feng Ling looked at her with a smile.
"Everyone outside says he has nine wives and concubines, but when I was at his residence, I didn't see any other women besides the ninth concubine. Whether he hid the women in different places or killed them to silence them like Miss Xue did, Uncle Feng needs to investigate further."
After a pause, Ye Pianran continued, "And those new graves on this mountain without tombstones, I wonder who is buried inside..."
"Don't worry, everything will come to light in court," Feng Ling said. He turned to look at Ye Pianran and sighed, "Good girl, you have a kind heart. If your grandfather knew, he would be very pleased."
Ye Pianran smiled but did not reply.
Thanks to the intervention of Shuntian Prefecture, the innocent women hidden in the villa by the matchmaker were also rescued. The yamen runners of Shuntian Prefecture escorted the prisoners, carried the corpses, and led a group of weeping girls back to the city. The procession was very grand and attracted the attention of the people as soon as they entered the city.
It was said that Master Zhao colluded with the matchmaker to kill the girl. The people's faces were filled with hatred. They were so enraged that they spat on Master Zhao's corpse and threw rotten eggs and vegetable leaves at it. The scene was truly spectacular.
Ye Pianran followed beside Feng Ling, and was deeply moved by the scene before her.
"First time seeing such a scene, isn't it?" Feng Ling turned to look at her and smiled. "You may not know, but in this vast world, the common people seem insignificant, like ants, yet they possess the power to overturn everything. Take this as an example: if they think you're a good person, they'll welcome you with open arms; if they think you're a bad person, they'll gang up on you and hurl insults. But who knows whether a good person is truly good, or a sinner is truly sinner? As officials of the court, everything we do and everything we seek is to gain the people's approval."
Feng Ling's words were deeply moving, which reminded Ye Pianran of her maternal grandfather, Gongsun, who had been falsely accused of conspiring with Prince Yue to rebel in her previous life. She remembered the scene of them being paraded through the city by the emperor's men, and how they, like Zhao Yuanwai today, had rotten vegetable leaves hanging from their heads, were cursed by the people of the world as "traitors to the country," and died unjustly with a bad reputation. In the end, all of this turned into a sigh.
Reborn into this life, she came to change her destiny. Now, she and her mother have avoided the calamities of their past lives; only the fate of the Gongsun clan remains. But now, everything that was meant to happen has happened, and everything that shouldn't have happened has also happened. The trajectory of fate has clearly deviated from its original control. She can no longer predict whether Prince Yue will rebel. If that day will inevitably come, she only hopes that everything is still in time!
"Qin Wu, go to Wangjiang Tower and find that scholar Wang. Tell him to come to Shuntian Prefecture to identify the body," Feng Ling said to a constable.
Upon hearing these words, Ye Pianran suddenly came to her senses and said, "Wait a minute!"
Feng Ling looked at her: "What's wrong?"
Ye Pianran said, "Uncle Feng, let me handle the task of informing Wang Shusheng to identify the body."
Feng Ling was somewhat puzzled: "Why?"
Ye Pianran said, "It was that scholar Wang who initially entrusted me to find his wife. I promised him that I would inform him as soon as I had any news, and I cannot break my promise. Besides, he had already fallen ill once because he was thinking too much. If he were to find out about his wife this time, he would probably be heartbroken and contemplate suicide. If I were here, I could still use my medical skills to treat him and prevent him from being so grief-stricken."
Feng Ling nodded and said, "That's fine. The dead are done with it, but the living are the ones who suffer the most. You should appease him first, and then let him come to Shuntian Prefecture. Anyway, there are witnesses and physical evidence in this case, so he definitely can't escape."
"Alright," Ye Pianran replied, turning her horse around and instructing Ye Lingyue to drive the carriage towards Wangjiang Tower.