There is a god in the sky

Chapter 317 The Brothel Murder Case 5

After leaving the restaurant, Shen Lan asked, "Um... I received a lot of money from the Xie family."

"That's your consultation fee, take it without worry."

Xiao Ji walked side by side with her on the street, and when they reached a deserted section, he said, "The Xie family and the Crown Prince must have reached some kind of agreement. What the Crown Prince can get from the Xie family is either money or medicinal herbs."

Xie Jingfeng has been depressed lately, and to outsiders, it seems he may never recover.

But I do know him somewhat; he couldn't possibly be so heartbroken and depressed. He's not that fragile.

Shen Lan recalled the way he looked when she went to Qingfeng Garden. A person's sadness can be faked, but madness cannot.

However, when Shen Lan saw him again later, she found that he seemed to have completely severed ties with the past.

He is indeed a person who can take things in stride.

"The Crown Prince is in a great hurry for money. Could it be that he's secretly recruiting soldiers?"

Aside from military spending, she couldn't think of any other place that would require such a huge amount of money.

"It's not impossible; the Crown Prince's influence in the court is mainly comprised of civil officials."

In order to maintain their status as upright officials, the Tong family could not easily form marriage alliances with military generals, and some roundabout relationships were not enough to grant the crown prince military power.

But given the Crown Prince's status, he shouldn't need to do this. I'm more inclined to believe he's spending money to bribe military officers.

"We all suspect that the Tong family is training assassins in Jiufeng Mountain, and there's also the fact that the Tong family has been leaking exam questions over the years. Judging from this, there must be quite a few princelings in the army."

Xiao Ji didn't pay much attention to things in the military, and the Xiao family never got involved in military affairs.

But Shen Lan's guess makes a lot of sense.

"The crown prince's position is secure, and he can succeed to the throne after the emperor's death. Why is he in such a hurry to form factions?"

None of the other princes in the court could rival him. Isn't he afraid the emperor will find out?

The emperor certainly doesn't care whether the crown prince is capable or not, but he definitely cares whether his son is filial or not.

No one can tolerate their son trying to seize their inheritance before they die.

The two walked for a long time before someone caught up from behind.

He came running quickly with the wind, his face beaming with joy.

"My lord, you guessed right! The Xie family's funeral procession gave away a whole coffin full of silver!"

Shen Lan tilted her head and asked, "Did you just send people to intercept the Xie family's funeral procession?"

"Just curious."

As it turned out, his guess was correct.

Where did they send the money?

"Jiufeng Mountain!"

When Sui Feng noticed them heading up the mountain, he knew their destination must be Jiufeng Mountain.

The reason they knew there was silver hidden in the coffin was that the pallbearers could barely move when they went up the mountain. In the end, they had to tie the coffin to a carriage and use three horses and more than a dozen strong men to push it up.

"The Xie family is really bold."

When Xiao Ji returned to the yamen, he heard that the Xie family had sent three women to the palace, all of whom were young ladies of the Xie family.

Xiao Ji did not yet know what choice the Emperor would make, but the Xie family's behavior truly displeased him.

"Although I don't know exactly what the prescription is, the Shen family's prescriptions couldn't possibly contain such an abnormal medicinal ingredient."

Behind closed doors, Xiao Ji speaks much more directly.

"The Shen family's prescription was sent to the Emperor by the Crown Prince. Who knows if it has been altered?"

Even if the crown prince wasn't interested, by the time the prescription reached him, it had probably already passed through several hands.

Shen Lan has roughly sorted out the timeline.

When Liu Engui took the prescription from the Shen family, he must have delivered it to the Minister of Revenue.

"Is the Tong family truly sincere towards the Crown Prince? Is it possible that the Tong family's ambitions extend beyond supporting the Crown Prince's ascension to the throne?"

Such things have happened before in history.

The emperor's relatives held power, supported a puppet emperor, and then replaced him.

Xiao Ji did not rule out this possibility, but unless the Crown Prince was stupid, he could not trust the Tong family without reservation.

Logically speaking, Shen Lan felt that the Crown Prince's confinement this time was due to a plot against him.

How audacious does Zhao Jinxiao have to pin the blame for his own actions on the Crown Prince in front of the Emperor?

"Who do you think Commander Zhao works for? Is he truly loyal to the Emperor?"

"Zhao Jinxiao, who is able to command the Imperial City Guard, is definitely not a kind or stupid person. The timing of Xie Zhaoyi's pregnancy being exposed was very coincidental, leaving him with insufficient time to deal with the aftermath."

If you're a normal person, you'll either deny it or find a scapegoat you can manipulate at will.

The fact that he dragged the crown prince into this matter suggests it wasn't his own intention, but rather that he was coerced.

"Who can coerce the Commander of the Imperial City Guard?"

Zhao Jinxiao wielded considerable power and commanded a secret guard, making him arguably the person the entire court least wanted to offend.

"Judging from Xie Zhaoyi's case, this person is from the inner palace. As for whether she is a concubine, a maid, or a eunuch, we do not know."

They were unfamiliar with the inner palace, and even less aware of who had a grudge against these two.

Shen Lan had an idea.

After this incident, Lin Miaoniang was the one who benefited.

Based on the theory that whoever benefits is a suspect, did Lin Miaoniang play a role in this matter?

She only just learned that Lin Miaoniang's promotion was due to her visit to Linhua Palace to pay respects to Consort Wu.

This move was very strange and deliberate; it was clearly aimed at the emperor.

Did Lin Miaoniang really have such a cunning mind?

There was a rapid knock on the door.

"Come in." Xiao Ji distanced himself from Shen Lan and sat behind the table.

An official came in to report: "Sir, a man who claims to be surnamed Huang has come to pay his respects, carrying this visiting card."

Xiao Ji took the name card, glanced at it, and then got up and walked out.

"Coroner Shen has finished his work, go back and rest."

Shen Lan agreed and went out with him. Then they saw a sedan chair parked at the entrance of the Criminal Investigation Department, carried by four strong men.

Xiao Ji walked to the sedan chair and respectfully asked, "Is Steward Huang here because of the case at Zuixianglou today?"

A familiar voice came from inside the sedan chair, "Since Lord Xiao already knows, I will not hide it anymore. May I ask where my godson's body is?"

"It has been sent back. The case is still under investigation, but the current evidence points to the fact that Young Master Huang committed suicide."

There was silence inside the sedan chair for a while, until a sigh was heard.

“I trust Lord Xiao’s ability to solve cases, but there must be a reason for his suicide. I would like to know why he chose to commit suicide.”

"Yes, I will do my best to find out the whole story."

"Thank you, but I still need to go to the Princess's residence to apologize, so I won't say any more to Lord Xiao."

"Take care, Steward Huang."

Shen Lan only left after she saw the sedan chair had gone far away.

She kept thinking about the case the whole way.

Although she deduced the process of the deceased's death, she still couldn't figure out the cause.

She even considered a very absurd reason: perhaps that young master Huang went into the wrong house, accidentally had relations with the prince consort, and then accidentally found out the truth, couldn't accept the reality, so he strangled the prince consort and then committed suicide.

If she dared to say that in front of the deceased's family, she would probably be considered crazy.