The Imperial Coroner Season 2

Chapter 74: Chopped Chili Fish Head (Part 25)

Leng Yue straightened up from Jing Yi's embrace and found herself facing his gentle yet deeply concerned smile, momentarily stunned.

This assignment she'd been ordered to undertake in Suzhou was rather peculiar. Prince An had only instructed her to go to the Suzhou Prefectural Office, without specifying her duties there or how long she should stay. But judging by Jing Yi's expression, he had already deduced at least seventy percent of Prince An's intentions.

"What's the matter?"

"A few years back, the southern section of the Grand Canal suffered a major disaster. Do you remember?"

This seemed like quite a tangent, almost as if he'd switched to a different story entirely. Leng Yue paused before nodding.

Since she could remember, floods in the southern regions under imperial jurisdiction had never ceased. The major disaster Jing Yi referred to was likely the most severe one.

That spring, the Ministry of Works had just sent officials to inspect and repair the canal embankments. But when heavy summer rains came, the southern section breached so catastrophically it left the Ministry of Works with no dignity whatsoever. Several prefectures and counties were flooded in succession, destroying countless fields and homes, with untold numbers of casualties. The Emperor slammed his hand on the table and ordered an investigation that extended from households along the canal all the way to civil and military officials in the capital. Nearly a hundred people were arrested, including several of the most powerful ministers at court at the time—not a single ministry was spared.

Back then, everyone assumed the Emperor wouldn't actually punish these key officials, if only to keep government operations running smoothly. They thought as long as the top officials were safe, those beneath them wouldn't be in much danger either. So these detainees fearlessly played dice in prison for several days. When the key ministers were taken out for execution, they still believed the Emperor was merely putting on a show. It wasn't until the blades fell and heads rolled that they realized the Emperor was deadly serious this time.

Right after those ministers were executed, the Emperor invited several brothers with whom he had good relations to a palace banquet. The next morning, calmly and composed, he appointed a few honest and diligent officials to fill the vacancies. He then proclaimed to all officials that henceforth, major court affairs would be divided into sections, with each prince overseeing one area. Any related matters must be reviewed and stamped by the responsible prince before being submitted to the palace—otherwise, it would be treated as insubordination.

It was from that time that Prince An, Xiao Jin Yu, began overseeing the Three Judicial Offices.

The repercussions of that incident still linger to this day. Even though Leng Yue was usually slow to grasp court politics, she was well aware of this event.

"This matter is what Shenxiu called 'a suffering that Heaven finds easy to inflict but difficult to relieve.'"

Leng Yue was thoroughly taken aback. "Wasn't he talking about the tea matter? How did floods come into this?"

"Yes... Wait a moment, the tea hasn't even grown yet."

"..."

Jing Yi picked up the brush holder and tapped it on the table again before continuing, "When there's a disaster, there must be relief efforts. Relief efforts require money. Where does the money come from?"

Leng Yue furrowed her brow.

In any dynasty, disaster relief was always a vexing issue. Funds allocated by the court were coveted by corrupt officials at every level within the government and eyed by various bandits outside it. Transporting every last coin of allocated silver from the capital to the disaster-stricken areas had always been nothing more than an idealistic, unrealistic wish of whoever sat on the dragon throne.

But this time was different, because the person responsible for raising and transporting the relief funds was different.This time, all disaster relief funds were raised and allocated by Prince Rui Xiao Jinli, who oversaw finances and grain reserves in the court. Though no one knew when or through which routes these funds were transported to the affected prefectures and counties, each batch miraculously arrived in full.

However, when Jing Yi posed this question, Leng Yue hesitated again. "Wasn't it allocated by Prince Rui?"

"Yes and no. He allocated it, but he didn't deliver it..." Jing Yi hinted. "Didn't Shenxiu say that when those in charge can't accomplish something, one must act contrarily, borrowing the strength of the masses to aid the masses?"

Leng Yue didn't feel this hint was helpful at all. "If it wasn't Prince Rui who delivered it, then who did?"

"The tea leaves delivered it."

Leng Yue choked, casting a faintly exasperated glance at this man who seemed addicted to being cryptic. "Did the tea leaves grow that quickly?"

As if oblivious to her sarcasm, Jing Yi nodded seriously. "This batch of tea leaves grew just in time. The tea garden is in Suzhou. After the leaves were picked, they were transported from south to north. The buyers are in the capital, and after selling the tea, the payment naturally had to be shipped from north to south... This is what Shenxiu meant by 'unnoticed and unconstrained,' so it wouldn't become a target."

It took Leng Yue a long moment to wrap her head around this. Her back straightened involuntarily, and her phoenix eyes widened in astonishment, flickering under the gently dancing lamp flame.

"You mean... the disaster relief funds were delivered along with the tea payments from Cheng Family Tea House?"

Jing Yi shook his head and corrected her, "Not along with. The payments Cheng Family Tea House transported were the disaster relief funds."

"Then what about the actual payments for Cheng Family Tea House?"

Jing Yi looked at his bewildered wife with a mix of amusement and exasperation. "Did you really expect their flood-ruined, worthless tea to genuinely sell for that price?"

Leng Yue already sensed there was some trickery involved but couldn't figure it out immediately. She could only say, "The Emperor favors their business. Prince An isn't particular about food and drink, yet he favors them too. Prince Rui is extremely fastidious about such things, yet he also favors them. And your Old Master—wasn't he the one who started the trend of wealthy people in the capital flocking to buy the Cheng family's tea?"

At this point, it was as if Leng Yue's head had been struck by a sudden realization. She jolted and stared at Jing Yi, only to find him smiling at her with a "the student has become the teacher" expression.

Leng Yue had no mind to dwell on his expression at the moment.

"Those disaster relief funds... are the money these people spent buying tea?"

Jing Yi narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded with a smile. "The bulk definitely came from the Emperor and Prince Rui. The rest came from those with too much money to burn, after Old Master hyped up the Cheng family's tea in the capital. Anyway, these people have never hesitated to do unscrupulous things with their wealth. Tricking them into donating for disaster relief can be considered accumulating merit on their behalf."

Leng Yue didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This scheme was indeed ingenious—it saved the court some silver and discreetly delivered all the relief funds to their destinations. Yet, it was also quite unscrupulous, ruthlessly swindling those who followed trends blindly.

Remembering her own master, who also couldn't get enough of the Cheng family's tea, Leng Yue couldn't help but smile wryly, "With all this scheming, does Prince An not know about it?""Of course I know. Without Prince An joining their antics, they wouldn't have been able to stir up much trouble. Though it probably wouldn't have lasted long either - if only the Emperor and Prince Rui were involved, it would have raised suspicions easily. But our Prince An, who usually follows no trends and cares little for formalities, once dragged into this, made the whole affair truly undetectable..." Jing Yi finished with a sigh, his tone somewhere between admiration and something else. "Still, this group acted convincingly enough to fool even me."

Leng Yue sighed as well, then remembered the matter seemed unfinished.

"What were those last words from Shenxiu? Something about gaining both fame and fortune but endless future troubles, and that retribution comes when the time arrives... What did that mean?"

Jing Yi, apparently tired from standing, moved to sit cross-legged on the table beside Leng Yue before answering. "It refers to Cheng Xun, and Cheng Xun's siblings, uncles, and elders... Think about it - if the Emperor wants the Cheng family to serve the court obediently, he must offer benefits, but he also needs to hold some leverage over them to feel secure."

Leverage...

Leng Yue suddenly recalled the butler of Cheng Xun's household and turned sharply toward Jing Yi, nearly straining her neck. "The one holding leverage over the Cheng family is the Old Master!"

Jing Yi paused, turning sideways as he reached out to massage Leng Yue's nearly-cricked neck with concern, while speaking somewhat absently. "That's possible. I suspect this unscrupulous method was originally devised by the Old Master. The Emperor and Prince Rui usually drink tribute teas from various regions - how would they know which tea merchants are easy to control..."

Before Jing Yi finished speaking, Leng Yue pressed down on the hand massaging her neck.

"Jing Yi, do you remember what Cheng Xun's butler said..."

Jing Yi hesitated momentarily before recalling the curse-like words the butler had uttered facing Feng Si'er's corpse before his arrest - This wretched woman and the Jing family's hounds are birds of a feather, deserving death.

"Hmm..." Jing Yi laughed somewhat helplessly. "Perhaps the Crown Prince also detected something amiss here, which is why he sent Feng Si'er to Cheng Xun's side to investigate..."

As he spoke, Jing Yi gently withdrew his hand from under Leng Yue's grasp, patted her shoulder, and offered her a flawless, genuine smile. "Let them handle their own affairs. With my wife's intelligence, knowing this should be enough to handle everything in Suzhou."

"You know what the Prince is sending me to Suzhou for?"

Jing Yi didn't answer directly, instead raising his hand to stroke Leng Yue's smooth hair ends with a mixture of reluctance and envy, sighing deeply. "I only hope that by the time you return, I'm no longer bald..."

Leng Yue couldn't maintain her serious expression any longer, bursting into laughter at his profoundly mournful and grievously wronged appearance. She leaned over to kiss his stubbly head and gave it a rub. "Bald is fine. You causing trouble at the Dali Temple is worse than staying put here to attract more incense offerings for the temple. Accumulate more merit, so the Bodhisattva will pay more attention when blessing you."

Jing Yi paused slightly, his picturesque brows furrowing gently. Though Leng Yue had said this with laughter, her eyes curved happily, warm yet gentle, Jing Yi distinctly detected a worried undertone."Something happened outside?"

Leng Yue knew Jing Yi would eventually notice the distress written all over her face. She hadn't intended to hide it from him, but since he had something to say earlier, she let him speak first. Now hearing his question, she nodded without concealment. "Hua Mei is dead."

Jing Yi froze, his hand pausing where it had been stroking the ends of her hair. "How did she die?"

"When I went to find her, she was hanging from the roof beam..." Leng Yue spoke with clear articulation, her voice as calm as if describing a corpse so unfamiliar she didn't even know its name. "But there were two different bruise marks on her neck. The one made before death showed obvious crossing at the back of her neck. It was likely someone taller than her who strangled her from behind before hanging her from the beam."

Jing Yi naturally understood how difficult this was for her to say, and his voice softened involuntarily. "Any suspects?"

Leng Yue nodded, uttering a single word softly. "Me."

Jing Yi choked sharply, his eyes widening as he stared at the composed Leng Yue. "You?"

"The Prince said Xiao Zhao Ye probably noticed the scent of incense on Hua Mei when I returned her to Sparrow Nest Brothel. He pretended to be fooled by me, then had someone deal with Hua Mei after I left..." Leng Yue's lips curved into a bitter smile, like a red leaf growing more vibrant after frost. "If I hadn't brought Hua Mei here, she wouldn't have died. I caused her death. Doesn't that make me the prime suspect?"

Jing Yi listened quietly as Leng Yue explained slowly, his brow slightly furrowed. After watching her for a moment, he asked, "What else happened?" Seeing her look at him with some surprise, he added, "Otherwise the Prince wouldn't have guessed it was Xiao Zhao Ye so directly."

"There is indeed more... The rear office of Jing Zhaoyin's residence caught fire mysteriously. Jing Zhaoyin's entire family was wiped out. According to the yamen runners, it seemed someone from Wise Prince Manor had visited before the fire."

Jing Yi listened thoughtfully and nodded.

"And," Leng Yue pressed her red lips together, her brow tightening slightly as she leaned closer to Jing Yi, lowering her voice. "Be careful of people in your own household."

Jing Yi was taken aback. "People in my household?"

Leng Yue reached out and ruffled his hair again. "Do you remember being captured by Bi Xiao and having your head shaved?"

With his head still bald from Bi Xiao's shaving, Jing Yi naturally couldn't forget even if he wanted to.

"I remember..."

"Then do you remember what happened before Bi Xiao captured you?"

Jing Yi paused slightly and shook his head.

"Bi Xiao always said she found you in the alley near Sparrow Nest Brothel, that you were unconscious at the time. To get from your home to there, either someone with qinggong carried you, or it was done by someone from your household..." Leng Yue's hand slid from the top of Jing Yi's head to his cheek, caressing his face as she leaned in to linger a kiss on his warm lips. "I won't be home. Be careful yourself."

"You should be careful too."

Jing Yi said this with such seriousness that Leng Yue was startled, her nerves tightening involuntarily. "Careful of what?"

As Leng Yue spoke, Jing Yi's hands were resting on her shoulders. By the time she noticed the cunning glint in his fox-like eyes, it was already too late to regret it.

"Careful not to roll off the table."

"...!"