CH 27

It turned out to be about the case of the Pingxi Xiao Junwang.

Liu Yuan said “Oh”, greeted Lin Fei and went back to the lobby. After a while, he came back with a scroll.

In addition to this scroll, he also wrote two words in large strokes with a pen – water ghost.

There were many cases in Dali Temple. If they were to annotate each case in detail, there would be an endless number of similar “locked-room” murder cases alone. Therefore, privately, they gave each case a simple and easy-to-understand name based on its unique characteristics.

The case of Pingxi Xiao Junwang was called the water ghost case by them.

After the beginning of spring, the nobles in Chang’an City, who had shut themselves indoors during the winter days, will naturally start to go for outings in the mountains and rivers.

Searching boats for fishing and recreational activities on the banks of the Weishui River was something favored by many rich and powerful children.

Shortly after the beginning of spring, an elderly man was fishing by the banks of the Wei River. When his fishing hook was tugged, he thought he had caught a big fish. He pulled with all his strength, but the hook snapped, and whatever had been caught was pulled closer. To his surprise, it wasn’t a fish at all—it was clearly a person!

The old man was terrified by this shocking discovery and immediately rushed to the government office in Chang’an to report the incident to the officials.

The one involved in the incident was the son of a wealthy merchant from another region.

Originally, the Chang’an government office took over the case directly, so it would not have been reported to Dali Temple.

However, this was just the beginning.

Not long after, two corpses appeared one after another in the Weishui River, one was the son of a local rich merchant in Chang’an, and the other was the second son of Liu Biejia’s family.

So far, three corpses had appeared in the Weishui River.

A few days ago, a fourth one appeared. However, unlike the previous three bodies found in the river, this one appeared directly in the bathtub on the boat.

The boat was a private vessel belonging to the Yushi Zhongcheng1, Yan San. The body found dead in the bathtub was indeed Yan San himself, Yushi Zhongcheng.

At that time, all the servants and maidservants on Yan San’s private boat were absent, except Li Yuan, the prince of Pingxi, who had passed out, with his servant Shuangxi.

Seeing the corpses appearing one after another, the identities of the dead people became more and more “amazing” each time, and even now a Vice Minister of Imperial Censors died directly. How can the Fǔyǐn2 Chang’an handle such a case? He immediately transferred it to Dali Temple and let Dali Temple take over.

After Dali Temple took over the case, Lin Fei was assigned to lead the investigation. After conducting a thorough inquiry, he promptly informed the Fǔyǐn of Chang’an about the progress. Furthermore, he ordered the arrest of Prince Li Yuan of Pingxi and his servant, Shuangxi, who had already returned home and brought them to the custody of the prison at Dali Temple.

In all fairness, this approach was not bad at all. Yan San died on his private boat, and there was no one on board except Li Yuan and Shuangxi.

According to the usual case-handling process, these two people should be immediately detained as the biggest suspects. However, Li Yuan had a special status, if he wanted to leave, how can the Fǔyǐn of Chang’an stop him?

But even though he didn’t dare to offend Li Yuan face to face, the Fǔyǐn of Chang’an was not foolish enough to let the matter rest at that. As soon as Li Yuan left, he reported to Dali Temple on his back, and Dali Temple stopped him.

In fact, the first three corpses on the bright side all appeared in the river, and the last one Yan San was dead in the bathtub. At first glance, it may seem like there’s no direct connection between these incidents.

What’s more, the age of the first three deceased was still young, all of them were fifteen or sixteen years old, while Yan San was in his thirties, so he looked even less related to the first three cases.

However, the Fǔyǐn of Chang’an obviously didn’t want to take this hot potato, so he made up a reason to group several cases and sent them to Dali Temple.

“Two days before the first corpse appeared, people on the banks of the Weishui River were offering sacrifices to the god of the river,” Liu Yuan said.

The festival has never been recognized by the court, and many local people in Chang’an don’t know about it.

“When they were performing the river god ceremony this year, something went wrong. The person who was carrying the sacrificial offerings and about to place them in the river accidentally fell in and drowned,” Liu Yuan said. “Fortunately, there were many people present, and they managed to pull him out of the water together.”

The gift-giver who was selected to deliver the sacrificial offering into the river was a master of swimming. It is not unusual for such a person to drown.

“After they pulled him up, they saw knotted water plants wrapped around the man’s feet. I asked the people who sacrificed to the river god every year, and they said that this year the river god went to visit Lord Dragon and was not at home. Without the river god’s supervision, the water ghost ran out and wanted someone to be a scapegoat.” Liu Yuan said, “Several people died in a row. Those who lived by the Weishui River thought it was the water ghost who caused the trouble. I saw that the name was special and easy to remember, so I used it!”

The reason pushed forward by the Fǔyǐn of Chang’an was also “attributing the incident to the mischief of water ghosts.”

Of course, as officials of Dali Temple, they don’t believe that this was some kind of water ghost looking for a substitute for the dead ghost. People kill people, not ghosts.

Lin Fei never interrupted Liu Yuan’s words until Liu Yuan finished speaking, and didn’t mention the water ghost. He just asked Liu Yuan: “How is the investigation at Wuzuo’s place?”

Liu Yuan had a subtle look on his face: “I really can’t imagine that Yan Zhongcheng, with his gentle face on normal days, also… and those fifteen or sixteen-year-old boys, who are only so young, how young they are… tsk tsk!”

Really, the longer you stay in Dali Temple, the more you can discover the wonderful people and things in this world!

Lin Fei’s reaction was still calm when he heard the words, he responded lightly, and said: “What else?”

Liu Yuan quickly adjusted his emotion and continued: “Besides, no algae in the river was found in the stomachs of the first three deceased. Preliminary judgment, they should not have drowned in the river, but were drowned somewhere else and then thrown into the river.”

Lin Fei nodded and said to Liu Yuan, “You can extract the medicinal materials contained in the medicinal bath that Yan San was found soaked in, and find someone to go to the medicine shop to ask. Enquire if the first three deceased people or themselves went to buy this kind of medicinal bath kit.”

Liu Yuan, who was feeling emotional after listening to a sentence, suddenly became excited, and suddenly understood: “Lin Shaoqing means that the three people in front were also drowned in the same medicated bathtub as Yan Zhongcheng?”

Lin Fei nodded, confirming Liu Yuan’s understanding, “Yes, you’ve grasped the idea correctly. It appears that all four victims were drowned in the same kind of medicinal bathtub, not in the river. We need to investigate further to uncover the motive behind these killings and who is behind it.”

Lin Fei continued, “The Fǔyǐn of Chang’an may have been hasty in attributing these deaths to the same cause, but it appears that he might have been right after all.”

Indeed, Yan San’s death was highly likely to be related to the previous three victims.

However, the difference lay in the disposal of the bodies. The bodies of the first three victims were moved to the Wei River, while Yan San’s body was left undiscovered before it could be relocated. As for the reason why Yan San’s body wasn’t moved in time, Lin Fei couldn’t help but think of Li Yuan, who had arrived aggressively with his servant, Shuangxi, after their boat collision.

He speculated that this might be the reason behind Yan San’s death and the apparent haste to get rid of him. With this crucial information in mind, Lin Fei and his team would now focus on investigating the connection between Li Yuan and the deaths to determine if he was indeed involved in the heinous crimes.