CH 130

Had there been no one in the coffin, they all might not be this alarmed, but there really was someone lying there.

To their surprise, the other’s face, neck, and even hands showing from beneath his robes all held marks of being burnt. The body was charred black, features a bit similar to Lin Fengyuan’s vaguely able to be recognized on it.

Since Lin Zhen had hung himself, why would there now be burn marks on him?

Xiao Wu knew little of this case’s inner workings, nor had she seen the corpses of the five evaluators. She had just exclaimed due to the state of the body being too terrifying to her, and because there was an unpleasant stink when she got near to it, she couldn’t help but retreat several steps back, quickly shrinking into the carriage and peering at the rest of them.

Lu Lingxi furrowed his brow. “Strange. How come, between Lin Fengyuan and Shen Kunxiu, neither brought up the part about burning? Did Lin Zhen not commit suicide, but get immolated?”

Were that the case, however, there would be even more issues. Shen Kunxiu was under immense suspicion due to Lin Zhen’s death; if Lin Zhen had burned to death, why hadn’t he said a word to exonerate himself? Had the grudge between the Shen and Lin families been bad enough for Shen Kunxiu to kill Lin Zhen?

Everyone observed the corpse, only thinking that there were many mysteries with no answers here.

Despite the corpse not having been buried for long, due to the hot weather, it had already started to give off a faint rotting stench. Xiao Wu aside, the others also instinctively covered up their noses and took a few steps back; only Tang Fan was standing there, wordless, staring at the body, as if a flower could bloom out of it.

Not only did he stare at it, but he also went to examine it himself.

They all watched his fair and slender hands feel all about the body, even probing into the deceased’s mouth and nose. The corners of their mouths couldn’t help but slightly twitch.

Merely witnessing this, they all felt nauseous, while Tang Fan was doing all of it without a change in expression. It was truly admirable.

“He wasn’t burned to death,” he suddenly said, not long after. Then, he stood, stuffed the jade cicada that had been in the corpse’s mouth back into it, and carefully wiped off his hands with the wet rag Xiao Zhou handed him.

Before anyone could ask, he took the initiative to explain. “There’s a huge difference between getting burnt before death, and after. If a person is burned to death, they ought to breath in soot, but I just checked his mouth and nose. They’re clean, with no traces of soot at all.

“There’s another important piece. If one hangs themself, because of the pressure on the throat causing the tongue to protrude outwards, it should be a little longer than usual, pressed against the upper teeth. However, the length of his is the same as a typical person’s, with no abnormality. That shows that likely didn’t hang himself.”

Wanting to learn more things, Lu Lingxi forced back his repulsion and imitated Tang Fan’s posture of getting down low to the coffin, his upper body leaned over it as he pinched his nose and observed. “Brother Tang, his neck is all burnt black. There’s no traces of strangulation. How can you determine his cause of death like this?”

“Since he didn’t hang himself and was only burned like this after death, it’s very possible that after being murdered, someone faked evidence of suicide in order to deceive Shen Kunxiu. Then, fearing that people like us would re-examine the body, they burned it beyond recognition to conceal the actual reason for Lin Zhen’s death.

“If someone unrelated did this, they would have just burnt the body in full, instead of doing it like this; burning only half, dressing it in jades, and solemnly burying it, allowing us to find flaws from the body now. That could only be a relative of the deceased clearly knowing that they needed to destroy the corpse, yet unable to bear it, giving up halfway to make this. Therefore, the one that burned the body should doubtlessly be Lin Fengyuan.”

Lu Lingxi furrowed his brows. “If you say that, then he must know that Lin Zhen didn’t hang himself, yet he still helped the killer in burning the body to remove traces from it. Is he the killer himself?”

Tang Fan shook his head. “If he was, then since he had the heart to murder his own child, he would have been able to burn the complete corpse. Still, seeing the previous clues, he definitely knows who the killer is, and deliberately covered for them…”

Speaking up to there, he paused, then exclaimed, “Damn!”

Everyone looked at him, confused.

“Quick! Put the coffin back in, then let’s hurry to the Lin home!”

Hearing this, the others believed he wanted to go there to settle the score with Lin Fengyuan. Only the maid Xiao Zhou knew what he meant. “You think Lin Fengyuan is in danger, Young Lord?”

“Yes. I recall when we dropped by that day, he was acting abnormal. First, he had wasted away, as fearful as a bird frightened by a bow’s twang, then he had occasionally glanced at the painting on the wall. Presumably, because he had been threatened, he had to keep quiet, but was trying to tell me something. There had to be a hidden component to the painting, something he wanted to tell me, yet couldn’t clearly state. But we’ve thought of that much, the killer can certainly think of it, too!”

His implication being that Lin Fengyuan would likely be targeted by the killer, then silenced.

As soon as everyone heard this, without another word, they picked up their pace in filling the hole up level, then heading right for the Lin home.

The city gates were open all night, and they had been at the Lin’s just a few days ago; familiar with the road, they arrived quickly.

The surroundings were quiet. It wasn’t because everyone was resting, but because they had all gone out of the city to lantern view, likely not to be back within the shichen. The Lin’s front gate was shut tight. Xi Ming stepped forth to bang on the door, the sound shaking the sky. Movement quickly came to be heard inside, the other party calling out a “Who is it?” as he hurried over.

Because he didn’t know the identities of those outside, the other was too afraid to open the door without permission. Xi Ming then said, “The imperial ambassador on a case! We came just two days ago!”

“D-do you have proof of that?” the one inside asked timidly, apparently not believing that.

Xi Ming disdained to talk whatever with him, merely looking back at Tang Fan. Seeing him nod, he went around to the wall nearby, leapt straight up to the top of it, then jumped into the courtyard.

A cry of alarm quickly sounded. A short moment later, Xi Ming opened the door from the inside.

The Lin servant was beyond terrified, truly believing that he had encountered robbers that had come to loot. Before he could shout, Han Jin stepped up to cover his mouth.”

“Don’t shout, it’s me. Don’t you recognize the ambassador that came to your home a few days ago?” Tang Fan said to him.

The servant couldn’t speak still, opening his eyes wide. After sizing him up in the dimly-lit candlelight of the doorway, he nodded.

Han Jin let him go. The servant gasped for air, his panic unending. “Wh-why are you here, Sir?”

“Where’s your Master? I need to see him for something urgent!”

“He isn’t here. Dare I ask what it is?”

Forcing breaking down the door was weird, no matter how one looked at it.

Tang Fan wasn’t of the mind to clarify for him, expression sinking. “Where did he go?”

While he was talking, perhaps on account of hearing the commotion here, a few servants hurried over. Thinking there were thieves, they all held clubs in their hands.

“He said he was going to see lights—“

“Old Lin, what’s happening?” The steward swiftly walked out, measuring Tang Fan’s group up in alarm.

The servant informed him of their identity, after which the steward was relieved; he had seen Tang Fan during his previous visit. He cupped his hands to him. “Answering you, Sir, our Master has indeed gone out to lantern-view, and is not yet back.”

“How many people did he leave with? When did he?”

“Um…”

“I came by in the middle of the night not to intentionally cause problems for you, but to save his life. If you don’t speak and he has an accident, don’t blame me for not warning you!”

Seeing that he was serious, the steward’s expression changed slightly. After thinking for a bit, he clenched his jaw and said, “To be honest, we also noticed that he was a bit weird tonight. The Third Lord was fussing about going out to lantern-view. Master had never prevented him in years prior, but he refused this one. When someone sent a letter in, he hurried out, and he hasn’t returned.”

“About when did he leave? Was he alone?”

“Around the time of the Dog.(7-9p) He only brought Lai Wang… ah, his attendant.”

“Do you know where they went? Is the letter still here?”

“He never told us where he was going, and burnt the letter after reading it. Plus, when he left, he looked serious, appearing to not be too happy, so we didn’t ask anything. What is the meaning of this, Sir?”

“That servant, then. Has Lai Wang always worked at the Lin home?”

“No, he was personally brought in by Master a few months ago. Said he was replacing the former attendant, Ji Xiang, who was sent to look after the study. He was sad about it for a while…”

He looked at Tang Fan, unsettled, not knowing what had gone on.

“I’m afraid something’s going on with your Master,” Tang Fan said. “Send someone to find him, now, and they’re to come back and report if they do. I will also inform Magistrate Fan to have authorities go searching!”

The steward went entirely pale. “S-Sir, what’s going on?”

“If you delay any further, he might not be coming back,” Tang Fan said coldly.

The steward jumped in fright. Not daring to inquire further, he quickly sent most of the household out to search. Meanwhile, Tang Fan said to Lu Lingxi and Xi Ming, “One each of you go to the prefectural and county bureaus, have Magistrate Fan and Brother Ziming to send people respectively to search. If he’s found, I’m to be told! I’ll be waiting here, at the Line home! Also, visit Consul Shen while you’re at it — whether he wants to come or now, be sure to get him over here!”

Xi Ming affirmed, while Lu Lingxi hesitated. “Brother Tang, if we both leave at once… Miss Qiao has no martial arts, so the only one at your side will be Han Jin, and that’s not good…”

Before he finished, Tie Zhu smacked his own chest. “I ain’t someone? Brother Lu, you can go in peace! Xiao Zhou and I are here! Nothing will happen!”

It’s because you’re here that I can’t relax, Lu Lingxi thought.

However, Tang Fan also said something. “Hurry and go! Time is of the essence, don’t delay on second! I’ll be fine here!”

Everyday jokes were one thing; now that he was getting serious, Lu Lingxi dared not argue. Agreeing, he left quickly with Xi Ming to their respective tasks.

Such a huge ruckus had also disturbed all of the Lin family members. The Lin Matriarch send a maid out to ask about the situation. After hearing of it, she disregarded the rule about it being inappropriate to meet with unfamiliar men, coming straight out to see Tang Fan, the panic on her face unconcealed. “Sir, what you said about the Lord — is that true?”

Tang Fan didn’t answer that. “Husbands and wives are one unit — if Lin Fengyuan was acting odd recently, as his wife, it must have been easy for you to notice.”

Lady Chen creased he brow. “Yes. Ever since Ah-Zhen died, my husband’s words and deeds seemed a bit off. I only thought that he was so out of excessive grief, so I didn’t ask further. The time before, I wanted Ah-Jue to come back, but he refused, saying he should remain at the Academy.”

“Ah-Jue?”

“The Second Lord!” the steward helpfully added.

“Is he still in the Academy now, then?”

“Yes. When the Eldest Lord passed, the Second was called back, but in not a few days’ time, the Master sent him back, saying that he shouldn’t delay his schoolwork.”

Reasonably speaking, there would never be enough time for parents to be inconsolable after their eldest son’s death. Why would he have made his second son hurry back to school? Moreover, judging by how Lin Zhen had been buried, it wasn’t as if Lin Fengyuan didn’t love his son. No matter what, that action was strange, even to those not of the Lin family.

Tang Fan frowned and thought. “Find a few servants to go to the Academy and see if your Second Lord is still there.”

The steward and Lady Chen’s eyes widened at the same time. “Sir, you’re saying…“

“It’s nothing, no need to panic. I just want to confirm his safety. Go, now!”

Even when he said that, anyone could hear his ominous implication. “Quickly! Do as he ordered!” Lady Chen said to the steward/

The Lin home suddenly went into a flurry. Lady Chen, a woman of the inner household, had never come across this situation before, unsure of what to do for a time, only able to stand there anxiously. As it was, Tang Fan had something for her to look for, and asked, “I remembered that when I paid a visit, there was a painting hung in your main hall. Magistrate Lin said he had made it himself. Is it still there?”

She thought for a short moment. “You’re speaking of… the painting where a great river flows east?”

“Yes.”

“It seems to be. I saw it there this morning.”

“Bring me to see it.”

“This way, please.”

She led them to the main hall, but when she looked around, she gasped. “I clearly saw it here this morning! Why has it been switched out?”

The location from Tang Fan’s memory had since had a different painting hung on it, of a bright mountain moon. The name on it was not Lin Fengyuan’s.

Not seeing anything amiss with it, Tang Fan lifted its scroll away. There was an ordinary wall beneath it, nothing weird to be seen.

Maid Xiao Zhou also walked over, knocked on the wall, and felt around for a spell. “There’s nothing,” she said.

No issue was with the wall, so there was an issue with the painting. Tang Fan carefully thought back to it, not even noticing someone rush in from outside.

“Sir, Consul Shen, Magistrate Fan, and Magistrate Ji are here,” Han Jin called out from nearby.

Upon raising his head, Tang Fan rose to greet them. “I didn’t want to disturb you all. This Tang truly apologizes.”

“Sir, this humble official has summoned help to find Magistrate Lin. Has something happened?” Magistrate Fan was a bit unhappy, but dared not lash out.

Today was Double Seventh; ordinary commonfolk aside, even he had been leisurely lounging in his courtyard, eating snacks, chatting with his wife, and having a great time, only for Tang Fan to have sent someone to break that rare time of leisure. It was natural for him to be unhappy. Still, it was no good to say so to Tang Fan, though he had to think so at heart.

Shen Kunxiu still had a darkened face, looking like someone owed him a lot of money and hadn’t paid it back. Truthfully, when Xi Ming had come to the door, he hadn’t been wanting to come, yet Xi Ming had used force to ‘invite’ him over. His complexion being anything pretty would be weird.

“Are you not speaking drivel, Censor Tang? Don’t you need real evidence to start? You said that something may have happened to Magistrate Lin and have made all of Ji’an Prefecture awfully busy. If he comes back safe and sound, how will you explain this? If something did happen to him, what does that have to do with this Consul?”

Tang Fan waved his hand. “Don’t get irritated, Consul Shen. Please sit.”

Shen Kunxiu flung his hand out. “No need! You have something to say, so please say it as soon as possible so that I can hurry back and lantern-view!”

Tang Fan grinned. “You’re quite open-minded, Consul. Your good son caused such a catastrophe, yet you still have the free time to view lights. I heard that he was taught enough of a lesson to not rise from bed for a few days; he must not be able to view them with you, hm?”

“What does that matter to you?” Shen Kunxiu raged. “You try to control the Heavens, you try to control the Earth — you’re being too controlling!”

Smile curbing, Tang Fan abruptly shouted, “Shen Kunxiu, you’ve indulged your son in violent acts — what crime fits you?”

Taken aback for a moment, Shen Kunxiu then became furious. “Tang Fan, don’t dirty me with your slander! Fan Yuezheng fears you, but I don’t! Don’t believe that just because you were imperially ordered to investigate, you can invert black and white! What does Lin Zhen’s death have to do with me?!”

Tang Fan coldly smiled. “When did I ever say you were related to Lin Zhen’s death? I was talking about the deaths of those five evaluators, plus one’s wife! Six people in total! You dare say you didn’t have an inkling of what happened there?!”

In that split second, a hint of oddity swiftly flitted past Shen Kunxiu’s face, eyes involuntarily wandering for a moment.

Many, when having guilty consciences, would often have a reaction like this. Despite the extremely short duration, Tang Fan’s eyes had been trained on his counterpart the whole time. He would never miss the subtle changes in his expression.

Neither Magistrate Fan nor Ji Min had expected that Tang Fan would choose to turn hostile with Shen Kunxiu right now. They exchanged looks, and dared not console them, only sitting there awkwardly.

Face flushing straight red, Shen Kunxiu pointed angrily at Tang Fan. “Keep talking nonsense, and believe me, I’ll denounce you tomorrow!”

The second he got angry, Tang Fan contrarily smiled. “Haven’t you already denounced me a few times? Were it not for your memorials, why would the Court send another imperial ambassador? Shen Kunxiu, I ask you this: you were well aware that the five evaluators were related to the imperial exam case, so why did you not wait for an imperial ambassador to come, and were in a rush to let them go?”

Shen Kunxiu didn’t want to answer, but had to, only sullenly saying, “Because, according to my investigation that day, they didn’t participate in the cheating!”

“You could only convince a five-year-old with that. Before the institutional exams, a total of sixteen exam-takers paid a hundred taels each for information at Clearwind, which said that as long as the words ‘Great Achievement’ were mixed in with the text, they were to pass with high marks. If that information was false, then it would have been impossible for all sixteen of them to get on the roll. As the situation goes, when the exam rolls were released, all of their names had been on it. If there were no evaluators colluding with them, how could they have ranked based on those two words alone?”

Tang Fan paused. “At that point in development, you hadn’t found out in time. At best, that would only be the crime of a failure to oversee. After that, you gathered up the exam-takers suspected of cheating, and had them retake the exam. That incident is also enough to prove that you were certainly aware without knowing the details.

“However. After I came here, you’ve been making things hard for me all over the place, not only refusing to cooperate, but being obstructive in all things. You clearly knew that that someone had to be accepting bribes amongst the evaluators, as well as that when I came, I was bound to investigate them, yet you still let them go, preferring to make yourself bear heavy suspicion. Even after those six died, you still refuse to unveil a bit of the truth, only blindly denying it. That says only one thing: the one that sold the cheat to the exam-takers must be closely related to you. You can abandon your own honors and career path as long as you can protect him, is that right?”

Shen Kunxiu sneered. “That’s a whole lot of nonsense!”

He got up and was about to walk away with the swing of his sleeve, but Han Jin and Xi Ming, having long come to guard the door, stood still ahead of him, staring coldly.

Embarrassed into rage, Shen Kunxiu turned his head back. “Tang Fan, what is the meaning of this?! Are you trying to forcefully convict and confine a Court official?!”

Tang Fan ignored him, continuing to speak pleasantly. “Previously, Magistrate Fan said that the headmaster of Egret Isle Academy is very old, and the position will be vacant. Those who want to be the next one are not few, yet those five evaluators had been the most qualified to contend for it. As they were academy headmasters of various Ji’an spheres, they were equal in qualifications; if they could receive a recommendation from Mister Consul, they would have more certainty in being appointed. You are aloof by nature and fond of having a clean name, so you must have disdained to hear them fawn on you. You might not even have accepted bribes. Bu, just because you didn’t doesn’t mean someone else did. To be able to represent you, and also get them all to listen to a plan and believe it to be true… apart from your son, who else could it be?”

Shen Kunxiu’s face was ashen. He said nothing. He had never been eloquent to begin with, and couldn’t think of how to argue with Tang Fan right now.

The other didn’t allow him to think deeply, quickly saying, “I’m guessing that your son might have wanted to learn the exam question from you ahead of time, which would be easy for him to peddle, only for him to be scolded by one. That plan failed, but it birthed another; he simply used your name to contact those headmasters in private, promise them many benefits, then make an agreement with them ahead of time. As long as the words ‘Great Achievement’ appeared on the papers, they were to pass.

“Pitifully, by the time you learned of it, it was too late, yet you couldn’t just blankly watch on as something happened to your only son. For that reason, you deliberately made things difficult for me so that I couldn’t investigate towards him, forcing my focus to be placed on you while I was at it.

“If the case ended here, you would, at most, have been expelled from your post due to handling the case poorly. Your son has no honors; if it was known that he colluded with exam officials and peddled the exam questions, the death penalty wouldn’t be out of the question, and a lifelong penalty would be inescapable. For that reason, you did everything you could to exempt your son, not even sparing your own repute, causing others to believe you to be a relentlessly stubborn idiot of an official!”

Hearing all of this, Magistrate Fan and Ji Min were dumbstruck. They had no idea how Tang Fan had inferred this, but the instant those well-structured words entered their ears, they automatically mostly believed them. The two looked at Shen Kunxiu at the same time, as if they wanted to glean the answer from his face.

Shen Kunxiu’s expression fluctuated, looking at Tang Fan with a complex gaze — it could not be stated to be hateful, but lamenting.

Due to his character, it was inevitable that he would be holier-than-thou. He had literary fame, but his career path was not that great, and his popularity was only so-so. Becoming a province’s Consul of Education was pretty much the end of it. If he wanted to go right up into the Ministry of Rites, it would be difficult.

Compared to his literary-world fame, many behind his back said that he was difficult to get along with, yet he didn’t care at all, ever doing his own thing, demanding rigor from himself. Bribes were a trend in officialdom, but he never accepted a bit of them, taking pride in such. He had never expected that the clean reputation he had cherished all his life would be upended by his son.

He had further never expected that the one that understood him most would be his foe.

At this point, Tang Fan had already guessed Shen Si out. Even if Shen Kunxiu refused to admit it, it would be no use — as long as Tang Fan grabbed Shen Si and asked him, with how the other’s personality was, he would confess to all of it in short order. In such a way, it was better for Shen Kunxiu himself to speak.

He sighed. “I didn’t kill those six. As for Lin Zhen’s death, it’s unrelated to either of us.”

Tang Fan raised a brow. “But you should know who the murderer is.”

Shen Kunxiu was quiet.

At that moment, someone hurried in from outside — it was a bailiff from the prefectural bureau. “Sir! We found Magistrate Lin!”

Fan Yuezheng stood up with a bang. “Where? Let him in!”

The bailiff hesitated. “He’s in the Temple of the Old City God, already dead.”

Then, a Lin servant came running in, panting, and said to the steward and Lady Chen, “Madam, we went to Egret Isle Academy, but didn’t see the Second Lord! His classmates said that after he went home for the funeral, he never came back!”

Once a crack was in the roof, it would rain that night. Everyone else was merely shocked; Lady Chen alone saw black before her eyes, then fainted.

The author’s mini-theatre:

Late at night: knock-knock-knock!

Tang Fan opened the door. Outside stood the maid, Xiao Zhou. He stared for a good minute. “What is it?”

Xiao Zhou was expressionless. “Young Lord, it’s midnight. My mistress told me to come warm your bed.”

Saying so, he pulled his collar down. Below his neck was no white makeup, exposing bronzed skin, as well as strong chest muscles.

“…N-no need. I feel like I won’t be able to withstand such… beauty.”

(Xiao Wu: I swear I never said that!)