Chapter 68: Chopped Chili Fish Head (Part 19)
Leng Yue couldn't quite grasp what was going through Jing Yi's mind, but one thing was certain - he wasn't speaking nonsense at the moment.
"Do you have any evidence for what you're saying?"
If Jing Yi claimed he'd dreamed it while asleep, she wasn't sure she wouldn't beat him to death. Fortunately, Jing Yi didn't answer, merely raising his hand to point at the door leading to the outer room.
Wang Tuo had been left waiting long enough.
When the two went out, Wang Tuo was still obediently balancing the vase on his head, though he was swaying slightly, making the vase teeter precariously on his head, looking quite pitiful.
Since Leng Yue didn't tell him to put it down, Wang Tuo didn't dare move without permission, just gazing pleadingly at Leng Yue while shooting a rather resentful glare at Jing Yi who stood beside her.
Jing Yi cheerfully accepted Wang Tuo's unfriendly look, nodding at him while reciting a Buddhist chant. "Brother Shenxiu mentioned that the benefactor wished to speak with this humble monk?"
Wang Tuo pressed his lips together without making a sound, turning his eyes to Leng Yue instead. After contemplating Wang Tuo's "please judge fairly for me, Bodhisattva" expression for a moment, Leng Yue narrowed her eyes with sudden understanding. "Have you forgotten what you wanted to say to him earlier?"
"Yes..."
His mind wasn't sharp to begin with, and having focused all his energy on the vase atop his head, he'd accidentally let his original purpose fly to the far reaches of heaven. Now when he tried to recall, he couldn't remember anymore.
Wang Tuo's "yes" was so faint it was almost inaudible, yet it made Jing Yi's face flush red from suppressing laughter.
His earlier decision to let Wang Tuo wait had been nothing more than a common interrogation technique - when people were worn out and annoyed, they often became more talkative. But this was the first time he'd encountered someone who came to settle accounts with him, found the person, but lost the accounts themselves.
Leaving him waiting for that incense stick's worth of time certainly wasn't wasted.
Seeing Jing Yi's barely concealed smile, Wang Tuo quickly said to Leng Yue, "I... I wrote it on paper, it's with me, you'll know if you look... Can I put the vase down first?"
Leng Yue smiled slightly, speaking kindly, "Well... there's no hurry. Keep balancing it a while longer. Let's chat about something else first. You two can talk about your matters after I leave."
Wang Tuo nodded obediently, gazing respectfully at Leng Yue as if waiting for her to decide what they should discuss now.
To be honest, Leng Yue had nothing particular to say to Wang Tuo - she just wanted to stretch his patience a bit longer, ideally making him forget even the paper he carried in his robe. However, Leng Yue could tell that Jing Yi probably had questions for him.
Judging by Jing Yi's earlier expression of sudden realization, whatever Jing Yi wanted to ask him undoubtedly related to Zhang Lao Wu. Jing Yi had guessed eighty percent of it - the remaining twenty percent might be stored away in Wang Tuo's belly.
Although Prince An clearly didn't want them involved in this case, matters had reached this point. Either they could muddle through and clarify this confusing case, or they'd be muddled to death by this confusing case.
Government officials spent their whole lives treading on knife edges, with meager salaries and usually no great prospects. What they pursued was simply living with clarity and dying with understanding.
So Leng Yue casually broached the subject, "Have you found the murderer who killed the Porcelain King?"
With the vase on his head, Wang Tuo didn't dare lower it, merely dropping his gaze as he mumbled, "No... they all wrote very similar things."Leng Yue nodded with an air of seriousness. "Then do you want to know how the Porcelain King really died?"
Wang Tuo nodded repeatedly, so vigorously that the bottle balanced on his head wobbled dangerously. If not for his tight grip, it would have shattered into pieces on the floor.
"I can't interfere in mortal affairs like this, but..." Leng Yue raised a hand to point at Jing Yi, "you can ask him."
Wang Tuo stared blankly at Jing Yi, who smiled gently.
Jing Yi naturally understood Leng Yue's intention—she simply wanted to coax Wang Tuo into honestly discussing Zhang Lao Wu's matter. But Wang Tuo clearly didn't grasp it.
After staring at Jing Yi for a long moment, Wang Tuo finally managed to ask, "You... you're the murderer?"
"..."
Leng Yue sighed inwardly and turned to sit in a chair by the wall, watching the two speechless men from a distance.
She might as well quietly play the role of a Bodhisattva for now.
"I'm not the murderer." Being accused of murder for the first time in his life, Jing Yi felt somewhat complicated. "But if you insist on thinking so, I might just give it a try."
Leng Yue raised an eyebrow from her seat.
Civil officials were indeed civil officials—even their threats sounded soft. If this came from one of her father's generals, it would probably be: "If you keep spouting nonsense, I'll cut you down with my blade!"
Wang Tuo's already slow-witted mind was growing dizzy from standing. Naturally, he couldn't comprehend the subtle implication in Jing Yi's words.
Seizing Wang Tuo's dazed moment, Jing Yi frowned slightly, stepped forward, and deftly reached into Wang Tuo's lapel. Before Wang Tuo could react, Jing Yi had already pulled out a handful of items.
Leng Yue's handkerchief, several carefully folded note pages, and half a pancake wrapped in oiled paper...
Jing Yi stuffed the pancake back into Wang Tuo's robe, tucked the handkerchief into his own sleeve, and handed the papers to Leng Yue. Wang Tuo, unable to move with the bottle on his head, could only stare anxiously.
"They're... they're all mine!"
"Yours?" Jing Yi narrowed his fox-like eyes, smiling without a trace of mercy. The thought of his wife's handkerchief being tucked in this Goryeo prince's robe for so long stirred an impulse to break his usual composure. "The pancake is from our Central Plains' Anguo Temple, the handkerchief belongs to our Central Plains' Guanyin Bodhisattva, the paper is Central Plains paper, the ink is Central Plains ink. You just scribble some Goryeo characters on them and they become yours?"
Wang Tuo was speechless, looking to Leng Yue for help. But he saw her bowing her slender neck, completely absorbed in examining the scribbled Goryeo writing on the papers that resembled ghost symbols.
Heaven knows, Leng Yue couldn't read a single Goryeo character. She simply wanted an excuse to lower her head, lest the two men see her face contorted from suppressed laughter.
She didn't know why, but she could detect a faint hint of jealousy in Jing Yi's righteous, grandfatherly scolding.
As he spoke, Jing Yi reached into Wang Tuo's wide sleeve again, retrieving a small hard object wrapped in floral cloth from the left sleeve.
Unwrapping the cloth revealed a porcelain shard—small, but clearly part of the bottle Wang Tuo had shattered.What Jing Yi wanted to find most was actually this.
He had bet that, given Wang Tuo's worship of Zhang Lao Wu, Wang Tuo would surely feel heartbroken about smashing Zhang Lao Wu's genuine piece, so he would likely have kept some scattered fragments as mementos. The facts proved that Wang Tuo really couldn't withstand such a bet...
As soon as Jing Yi pulled this out, Wang Tuo suddenly recalled some of his original purpose, his narrow eyes widening to their limit. "I remember now! You lied!"
Taking advantage of Wang Tuo not daring to move recklessly, and also relying on Leng Yue sitting nearby turning a blind eye, Jing Yi calmly examined the fragment pinched between his fingers and said leisurely, "Monks do not speak falsehoods. Don't be like a cornered dog biting wildly, benefactor."
Wang Tuo's expression indeed looked like he wanted to pounce and bite him. "You lied! You said there was a part of the Porcelain King's body in the vase. I couldn't find it."
"Just because you couldn't find it means it's not there?" Jing Yi brought the fragment closer, like an elderly woman carefully selecting cucumbers at the market, examining it so meticulously as if he wanted to check every tiny thorn on the cucumber. While inspecting it, he chatted casually as if discussing household matters, "Then I haven't found where your Goryeo is either - does that mean Goryeo doesn't exist anymore?"
Wang Tuo was so choked up he nearly cried, once again looking to Leng Yue for help, only to find her yawning lengthily while facing his stack of papers, her exquisite phoenix eyes becoming watery too.
Having finally vented most of his anger, Jing Yi finally spared the porcelain fragment in his hand, wrapping it back in that floral cloth. Smiling cheerfully, he said, "What was hidden in this vase was the Porcelain King's essence. When you smashed the vase, the Porcelain King's spirit escaped... Thanks to you letting his spirit escape, I was able to meet with the Porcelain King in my dreams and learn some truths about his passing."
Leng Yue looked up in surprise.
Jing Yi's words sounded so genuine...
Could it be that he really dreamed of Zhang Lao Wu while sleeping earlier, and that's why he said those things right after waking up?
If that were true, she'd have to consider whether to allow him to continue spinning tales here.
Clearly, Wang Tuo very much wanted to hear him spin this tale.
"The Porcelain King... the Porcelain King appeared to you in a dream?"
Jing Yi nodded with great seriousness, even lowering his head to chant "Amitabha," then put on a slightly more earnest expression and said quite solemnly, "Considering that it was you, benefactor, who smashed the porcelain vase, allowing this humble monk to converse with the Porcelain King in a dream, I can tell you what the Porcelain King said. But first, you must answer a few questions from this humble monk, so I can understand the meaning of some of the Porcelain King's words."
Leng Yue secretly breathed a long sigh of relief.
These few words were enough to prove that the dream visitation story was fabricated by him.
Since Jing Yi had spoken these words with such seriousness and sincerity, Wang Tuo agreed without hesitation, responding crisply, "Alright."
Seizing the opportunity while Wang Tuo was still confused, Jing Yi quickly asked, "You said you saw the Porcelain King in Goryeo when you were young. How old were you when you first saw the Porcelain King? Do you remember?"
Leng Yue was just thinking that he couldn't even remember things from one incense stick ago, let alone something from several years before, but Wang Tuo had already blurted out, "Zero years old."
Jing Yi choked.
"...Zero years old?""The Porcelain King told me he knew me even before I was born, when I was still in my father's belly... It was my mother who gave birth to me, I don't know why I was in my father's belly."
Jing Yi turned and exchanged a silent glance with Leng Yue.
This probably meant Zhang Lao Wu had been in Goryeo even before the Goryeo queen became pregnant with Wang Tuo, but... what kind of nonsense had this Zhang Lao Wu been teaching the child?
"Then..." Jing Yi tried to appear calm and composed, "did the Porcelain King tell you when he arrived in Goryeo?"
Wang Tuo answered without hesitation again, "The third year of Chongyou."
While Leng Yue was surprised at how precisely Wang Tuo remembered these things, she habitually calculated in her mind. Since the Goryeo dynasty submitted to the Central Plains court, they had been using the same era name system. The third year of Chongyou would be thirty or forty years ago.
Jing Yi calculated faster than she did.
Thirty-eight years ago.
Exactly the year the Porcelain King quietly faded out of the capital.
Jing Yi pressed further, "Then when did the Porcelain King leave Goryeo?"
Wang Tuo seemed very reluctant to answer this question. He pursed his lips before whispering, "Eight years ago..."
"Did he say why he left Goryeo?"
"He said his wife was ill, he was worried and needed to go back to check on her..."
To Leng Yue's ears, although she thought it unreliable for Zhang Lao Wu to leave his wife in the capital while he went to Goryeo alone, this reason for returning home seemed reasonable enough, nothing particularly suspicious.
But Jing Yi's suddenly enlightened expression clearly indicated that Wang Tuo's words had given him significant insight.
What was wrong with this statement?
Because everyone in the capital who was interested in porcelain knew that Zhang Lao Wu had never been married before he faded out of the capital.
If he never married, where did this wife come from?
Eight years ago, there indeed was a woman who fell ill, an illness known throughout the country, but she wasn't his wife.
Jing Yi remained silent for a moment before saying solemnly, "Benefactor, this humble monk can tell you... The Porcelain King entrusted me through a dream to say that he did indeed die by hitting the coffin himself."
Wang Tuo grew anxious and was about to refute when Jing Yi slightly raised his voice to cut him off.
"He said his wife had been missing him for a long time. That night while he was keeping vigil for his grandson, his wife's spirit came again to persuade him to join her below. He couldn't bear to refuse, so he agreed."
Leng Yue couldn't help but frown.
Why did Jing Yi's words sound like he was speaking seriously...
Never mind whether spirits actually existed in this world, even if they did, what wife would have the heart to drag her own husband down to the underworld?
Even if she really wanted to pull him down, at least she could choose a gentler method. Why make him smash his head until it looked like a ripe watermelon?
Wang Tuo obviously didn't overthink it as much as Leng Yue did. His expression immediately darkened slightly. He pursed his lips lightly, but before he could speak, Jing Yi's words cut him off again.
"He still remembers the promise he made to you."
Wang Tuo's eyes lit up, "Really?"
"He wants you to return to Goryeo as soon as possible. He has entrusted the matter of accepting you as his disciple to a Goryeo porcelain maker. You just need to find that person."
Wang Tuo asked urgently, "Which person?"Jing Yi shook his head regretfully. "The Porcelain King said the name in Korean, I didn't understand it and couldn't remember it... You can just go back and search for it. Goryeo is only so big after all—how many skilled porcelain artisans could there be?"
Leng Yue rubbed her temple and sighed silently. She could no longer tell what Jing Yi was actually doing. While the truth of his earlier words was difficult to discern, she could be certain about this part—it was undoubtedly Jing Yi making things up...
Yet Wang Tuo accepted everything, whether true or false, holding onto the vase he still didn't dare put down while gazing pitifully at Leng Yue.
"Bodhisattva..."
Leng Yue waved her hand weakly. "Go, go, just go..."
"Thank you, Bodhisattva!" Wang Tuo set down the vase and bowed gratefully to Jing Yi. "Thank you, Snake Spirit Master!"
"..."
Watching Wang Tuo dash out, Jing Yi closed the door as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Xiao Yue..." Jing Yi looked at Leng Yue, who was sitting in the chair with her legs crossed waiting for his explanation, and let out a soft sigh with a bitter smile. "I think I've figured out why Prince An doesn't want anyone else involved in Zhang Lao Wu's matter."
"Why?"
Jing Yi walked over to Leng Yue with a pained expression, crouched beside her knees, and asked in a low voice, "That woman who caused such an uproar in the entire capital eight years ago due to illness—who can you think of?"
Leng Yue was stunned for a moment, then suddenly gasped in surprise.
"You mean... Consort Hui?"
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