Saturday, 26 October 2024

LPMM 60




 Chapter 60: Cold Spring Water


Before dawn, numerous people had gathered in the Golden Palace of Dongyuan. The ministers who came to the morning court had come early. But when they arrived, they saw the group who came earlier than them.

Chai Qi and Chai Heng normally came to the court, so it wasn't unusual. What was strange was that Chai Jing and He Xiao, who usually didn’t come to the morning court, was present.

Some well-informed people were already quietly spreading gossip, "I heard that Minister Luo  got into a jealous feud with Prime Minister He's daughter and pushed her into the water and drowned her just like that!"

“That’s too much. How could she..." At this time, the minister who spread the gossip suddenly covered his mouth. He caught sight of the three siblings of the Chai family staring at him with murderous eyes, as if they were going to rush up and strangle him to death in the next second. H... how scary... 

The minister was about to be scared to tears. 

At this time, Jie Gui and Zhu Rui simultaneously walked into the Golden Palace. 

There was nothing strange about the appearance of these two people, but the person behind stunned everyone. 

Fei Ru also came! Following him was Luo Jin. The heads of the three judicial departments appeared at the same time and the rumored murderer tailed them. This surprised everyone. They still remembered that the last time the three judicial departments appeared at the same time was an extremely brutal family massacre ten years ago. The victim was a second-rank official at the time. The whole household of more than a hundred servants in the Manor were all killed. Even the babies weren't spared. This incident shocked the court and the public and the emperor ordered the three judicial departments to jointly handle the case. Finally, the real murderer was caught within ten days.

"Because the deceased was the daughter of the prime minister, right? That's why the three judicial departments were alerted."

"Truly giving the prime minister face..."

"The three judicial departments will work together to handle the case. The case can be closed today."

"Why is Minister Luo not locked up? Strange, for her to actually walk up like it’s all fine..."

Chai Jing’s fierce gaze shot to that person, gritting through her teeth, "Why don't you lock yourself up? You dog thing!"

"..."The man shrank back and hid into the crowd.

While they were talking, the emperor finally came to court.

The ministers consciously took their position on both sides, waiting for the emperor to speak.

The emperor looked at the people below and said loudly: "I have already heard about it. On the case of He Wanying's death, the three judicial departments disagreed. I received the request from the three judicial officials to conduct an imperial trial overnight and didn’t sleep all night. I will conduct an imperial trial this morning. "

Fei Ru said: "Your Majesty, I don’t disagree with Official Jie, but Official Zhu and us two disagreed. Minister Luo was in the prison of the Ministry of Justice last night and I personally kept watch over her. There is definitely no colluding. Your Majesty can rest assured to conduct the trial."

Zhu Rui frowned and stepped forward: "Your Majesty, I have evidence to prove that Official Luo is the murderer of Miss He. This is Miss He's handwritten letter to Official Luo. It was written by Miss He. Please review it."

A eunuch came over, took the evidence presented by Zhu Rui, and handed it to the emperor.

The emperor took a look, "Is this written by He Wanying herself? I will get someone to check. According to what is written, He Wanying asked Minister Luo to go to the lake, right? "

Zhu Rui said: "It's like that. After Official Luo went to the lake, she had an argument with Miss He. With her martial arts skills, she pushed Miss He into the lake in a fit of rage. The He Family searched for her everywhere and it wasn't until midnight that they found out that she went to Changfeng Yard, where her body was fished out. "

As soon as he finished speaking, Chai Jing stepped forward, "Father, there are doubts about this matter! As far as I know, He Wanying is afraid of water. Luo Jin is also afraid of water. Two people who are afraid of water agreed to meet by the lake... This is quite suspicious, right?"

Zhu Rui said: "This note was indeed found in Official Luo's house. "

As they were arguing, someone came up and handed over a note.

The emperor read the note, "I sent a coroner to perform an autopsy. He Wanying died around 3 p.m. yesterday. The cause of death was drowning. There were no signs of drugging or fighting. The mud under her feet was consistent with that near the lake. In other words, she walked to the lake by herself and was pushed into the water. Who were you with at 3 p.m. yesterday, Minister Luo? Who can prove your whereabouts?"

As soon as the words fell, a few voices were heard saying almost at the same time: "I can!"

At the same time, a few took a step forward at the same time.

Chai Jing walked the fastest, almost without hesitation, "I was with her! I can prove that she didn't go to the lake to murder!"

Chai Heng also piped in: "Eldest Brother and I are the same. We were all playing together and didn't go to the lake at all."

He Xiao, who had been silent all this time, also spoke: "I can also prove that Minister Luo didn't kill anyone."

Even someone from the Palace Guard at the door stepped out. The guard head Liu Zishu said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, I can also prove it."

Liu Zishu's father was similar to He Wanying’s, the prime minister of the dynasty. One on the left and the other on the right. On most days, they had many different opinions. Although he didn't understand what happened, when he saw Luo Jin involved in the murder case, his first thought was that she must be wronged. That Zhu Rui wanted to fabricate evidence to put her to death, so he naturally wanted to help her.

Prime Minister Liu glanced back at his son. Although he wasn't on good terms with Prime Minister He, he had no intention of interfering in this matter. He didn't understand why his son suddenly spoke up.

But since his son had done this, he didn't refute anything even when he knew that Liu Zishu had been at home since 3pm yesterday.

Luo Jin didn't expect these people to suddenly appear to testify for her. She was a little touched. If this was exposed, they would definitely be punished.

[I understand everyone's intentions and I didn't kill the person. ]

[I was watching monkeys fighting in the backyard of Changfeng Yard for an hour...]

[I am inherently afraid of water. If there is no trusted person following me, I will not go to the lake. The note was secretly placed in my room by the maid Xiangxiang and I didn't see it at all. ]

[Even if I saw it, I wouldn't go to the water with He Wanying. ]

[At that time, Xiao Lian was the only one by my side, but Xiao Lian's testimony is useless. ]

The emperor said: "In this case, you all write down where you were at that time and see if you can match."

He ordered the eunuch to bring out paper and pen and give them to the group.

Luo Jin took the paper and pen. She could only write truthfully: "Watching monkeys fighting in the back garden of Changfeng Yard."

She thought that the group from the Chai family might know that she was in Changfeng Yard, but they might not know her exact location. Changfeng Yard had only a dozen serving servants. The garden was so big that she never saw those people from beginning to end. Only Xiao Lian was with her all the time.

After the group finished writing, they handed it to the eunuch to present.

The eunuch picked up the note and his eyes popped out at once.

"That... Minister Luo said she was watching monkeys fighting in the backyard of Changfeng Yard."

"Princess Chai Jing said... she dressed up as a monkey and fought in the backyard of Changfeng Yard."

"The second prince said that he... he also dressed up as a monkey and fought in the backyard of Changfeng Yard."

"The... the Crown Prince was the same."

"General He and Head Guard Liu... the same."

The ministers: "..."

Was playing the game of pretending to be monkeys and fighting now trending? How come they haven't heard of it?

Luo Jin was stunned, "Were those monkeys from yesterday... you?"

Of course she knew that those monkeys were real, but they actually told such a ridiculous lie for her. She was touched in her heart.

[Everyone was like this... I'm feeling a little shy. ]

[Crown Prince, your image...]

[General He, you are two meters tall, how can there be such a tall monkey? ]

[There are many unreasonable spots from the beginning. There are loopholes in this case. Where are the loopholes... By the way, the body was found in the middle of the night. Why was it found in the middle of the night? Was there no one following a young miss when she went out? How strange...]

Jie Gui's heart trembled. He had been looking for evidence before, but didn't carefully consider it from this aspect.

He thought for a while and stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, there are doubts about this matter. Why didn't Miss He enter Changfeng Yard without her servants? I asked the guards at the door before. She did enter Changfeng Yard alone. This is strange. She dared to ask Minister Luo to go to the lake when she knew that the other party could fight? And she went to the appointment alone?"

As soon as these words came out, the ministers nodded repeatedly.

"Indeed, it doesn't make sense."

"Too weird, illogical."

"Could it be that she originally wanted to be pushed into the water?"

A trembling voice suddenly sounded outside, "You people... she’s already dead and actually speaks bad of her. As ministers in the same court, how can you be so vicious?"

Prime Minister He walked in from outside the palace. Although he was wearing an official uniform, he had a white cloth tied on his arm. As the court uniform was dark black, the white cloth was extremely dazzling.

The emperor frowned slightly.

According to the rules of Dongyuan, unless it was a national funeral for the emperor's family, funeral items were not allowed to be brought into the Golden Palace. Not to mention that Prime Minister He's daughter died, even if he died, no one was allowed to enter the Golden Palace wearing funeral items. The white cloth tied by Prime Minister He was obviously a taboo.

The emperor didn't say anything. Such an old minister had lost his beloved daughter. On top of, it was his only child. He understood his heartache and didn't be petty with him.

Prime Minister He then stared at Luo Jin with a resentful look, knelt down, and said: "Your Majesty, please kill this evil woman for me and avenge my daughter! I only have this one child. I am heartbroken to lose my daughter in my old age!"

Luo Jin glanced at him and stated: "I didn't kill your daughter. Are you here to vent your anger or to seek revenge? If you want revenge, go find the real murderer. Anyway, I am not the real murderer."

"Who else can it be if not you?" Prime Minister He stood up and rushed toward Luo Jin, waving his hands to strangle her neck.

Fei Ru hurriedly stopped him and advised: "Isn't the trial in progress? There are many doubts about this case. Minister Luo may not be the murderer. Don't talk nonsense and delay the trial. Do you not want to find the real murderer?"

Jie Gui said: "The junior has some ideas in mind. Is Prime Minister He willing to listen?"

Prime Minister He glanced at Jie Gui, with obvious disdain in the corner of his eyes, "How old are you? What can you understand?"

Jie Gui was only in his twenties this year, quite young, but he could become the Minister of the Ministry of Justice not by relying on the protection of his ancestors. On the contrary, he was born in a humble family. Without power and influence, he obtained his current position entirely by his own ability. But in the court, many people would belittle him out of jealousy for people like him who were born in a low family and promoted quickly. People like Prime Minister He, who come from a prominent family, most likely looked down on him.


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