The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 440: The Chess Player

The Crown Prince's Residence was located in the northwest of the inner city, just a few blocks away from the Sun family.

As this was a case investigation under the identity of an Inspector of the Thousand Household, the Dragon Forbidden Guard, Sun Shaozong, especially went home and changed into a five-bar Swallowing Cloud Robe, and led Yang Licai and others to investigate the Crown Prince's' incident.

However, when he arrived at the Crown Prince's Residence, his first task was not to investigate the truth but to pay respects to the Cabinet Scholar, Xu Furen, in such a heinous case, which naturally had to be presided over by important officials in the court. Sun Shaozong was, at best, an Assistant Investigator.

In fact, if it were only for official positions, his ranking in the team might not necessarily be able to squeeze into the top five.

Therefore, after Sun Shaozong reported, he waited outside for half an hour before he could see the face of Cabinet Scholar Xu, the elder.

The expression on Cabinet Scholar Xu's old ”respected face” seemed to be even worse than that of Commander Qiu. If it weren't for his sparkling eyes, it would be perfectly appropriate to describe him as a dying man.

It was understandable. The occurrence of a ”solar eclipse,” which was considered a curse of heaven, required one or two rulers to take the blame and resign.

Originally, there were six members of the Communist Party of China in the Cabinet, and Cabinet Xu was only one of the candidates, which might not have led to him becoming a scapegoat. However, now that the Crown Prince was in trouble, Cabinet Xu was the first to bear the brunt. It was because he still held the title of the Crown Prince’s Imperial Preceptor?

It was estimated that the memorial to impeach him for his incompetence in teaching, which resulted in the Crown Prince's moral conduct being ashamed, has long been piled up in the imperial case of Emperor Guangde.

Compared to a few months ago, when he presided over the Imperial Examination and scouted students, his spirited appearance really made people feel the unpredictable power of heaven and the impermanence of life.

Although Cabinate Xu might fall at any time, Sun Shaozong didn’t dare to show any disrespect at the moment. He walked forward with a formal bow and said, "I’m Shaozong, the Inspector of the Northern Town Detective Department and the Governor of the Central Judicial Office.”

Before the ceremony, Cabinet Xu had been carefully scrutinizing Sun Shaozong. However, after Sun Shaozong stepped forward to greet him, he lowered his gaze and rubbed the back of his chin. He said gently, "If I remember correctly, you’re only twenty-two years old now, right? At the age of twenty-one or two, you are already holding important military and political positions and have earned this great reputation. It's not easy; it's really not easy.”

“When I was twenty-two years old, what was I doing? Did I study next to Master Qingtian, or did I already reside in my father-in-law's house, struggling for a position as a scholar without success?”

“Sigh Master Qingtian's followers are mostly young and ambitious, but it was only at the age of twenty-eight that I reluctantly won the Imperial Examination.”

This old man was chattering about his bitter memories and sweet thoughts. Has he already completely accepted his fate?

Sun Shaozong bowed and said, "You are the exact saying of ”It never rains but it pours.” Those young people who achieved great success in the past are now far away from you.”

“Hehe.”

Cabinet Xu raised his hand and pointed at Sun Shaozong, chuckling, saying, "You are really a talkative person. No wonder His Majesty is so fond of you that he even intends to transfer you to the Crown Prince and train you as a future Assistant Minister.”

Did Emperor Guangde still have such ideas?

No wonder Prince Zhongshun has asked several times about training Qiu Yunfei. He was testing himself for the Emperor to see if he had the ability to supervise the progress of the dandy!

“Unfortunately, if he had transferred you to the Crown Prince earlier, perhaps there wouldn't have been today's disaster.”

Hehe~

This sounds good, but if he was transferred to the Crown Prince and failed to avoid the disaster of ”root cutting,” he was afraid that he would be the first to bear the blame!

“That's right.”

Cabinet Xu seemed to suddenly think of something, frowning and asking, "I heard you had a conflict with Duke Yongyi when you just returned from Qianxiang Country.”

In the beginning, due to the assassination of Niu Yongxin, the brave and resolute Niu Jizong once wanted to kill Sun Shaozong, but later encountered difficulties in front of the Emperor and stopped speaking.

But why did Cabinet Xu mention the Niu family at this moment?

Sun Shaozong was skeptical and spoke briefly about what had happened at the beginning.

“I see.”

After listening, Cabinet Xu nodded first and then shook his head in regret, saying, "Unfortunately, what a pity.”

With these aimless sighs, Sun Shaozong's appetite was successfully aroused. He then suddenly spoke up and said, "Lord Sun has always known for the name of ”Divine Judgement.” How can we thoroughly investigate this case? I don't think there's a need for me to come and make noise.”

Upon receiving this greeting, a sixth-rank official wearing a light blue official robe immediately came in from outside, bowing to listen to the instructions.

Cabinet Xu pointed to this person and said, "This person is Liu Luanwei, the Magistrate of the Attendant Mansion. He handles all the affairs of the Crown Prince's Residence normally. If you have any questions, just ask him.”

According to theory, this Attendant Mansion was a specialized Yamen to assist the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. The highest attendant held a third-ranking official position and even ranked above the Minster of the Central Judicial Office in terms of nobility.

However, because the Crown Prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty had no real power before he could ascend to the throne, the official position of the Attendant Mansion was generally awarded as a title of honor to his vassals. The only person truly responsible for assisting the Crown Prince was a mere sixth-grade Magistrate.

This Liu Luanwei was about thirty years old, just like his name. He was a handsome man who used his authority normally. The way he would see it, he was not inferior to Zhou Mo in Prince Zhongshun's Mansion.

However, now that the Crown Prince has been ”assassinated” at home, he has been implicated and reduced to a sense of guilt. Naturally, he has lost some prestige and gained some infamy.

As soon as he came out of the hall, he hunched his waist and smiled all over his face, saying, "I have heard the name of Lord Sun's Divine Judgement for a long time. Today, I can see your true face. It's really…”

“Magistrate Liu, you don't need to be polite to me.”

Sun Shaozong waved his hand and took the opportunity to pull him into a corner. He lowered his voice and said, "To be honest, I have repeatedly offended Duke Yongyi, and now I am feeling very anxious.”

As he spoke, he fixed his eyes on Liu Luanwei's reaction.

Xu Furen was vague at first, then turned his face and called Liu Luanwei in. He didn't mention investigating the case; he only said he had something to ask, although asking Liu Luanwei made it inconvenient to speak up. He wanted to use Liu Luanwei's words to remind him.

Therefore, after Sun Shaozong left the hall, he used his grudges against the Niu family to test Liu Luanwei. It was not a secret anyway, and even if he expressed it wrongly, it wouldn’t hurt much.

But Liu Luanwei was stunned, and then a hint of sympathy appeared on his face.

Seeing this expression, Sun Shaozong's heart sank. Liu Luanwei was now guilty, and he could not help but lose his position and even be sent into exile.

But when he heard that he had an old grudge against the Niu family, he showed sympathy for him. Wasn’t this a sign that his current situation was even more dangerous than him?!

For a moment, Sun Shaozong could no longer afford to insinuate and quickly said, "Judging from what you meant, could it be that you believed that the future heir to the Grand Army would undoubtedly be Prince Zhongxin?”

“That's not from me.”

Liu Luanwei was startled and quickly shook his head like a rattling drum. However, he immediately realized that his future was uncertain and there was no need to be as cautious. He lowered his voice and said, "Your Excellency, you only know that Prince Zhongxin married Duke Yongyi's sister, but I'm afraid you don't know that the Royal Highness Yishun married Duke Yongyi's niece.”

“How could this be possible?”

Sun Shaozong immediately widened his eyes. Yesterday, when he was rehearsing with his Big Brother, he thought that if the heir of Prince Yishun could succeed smoothly, it would be the most favorable situation for the Sun family. How could it take a blink of an eye to get involved with the Niu family again?

He couldn't help but blurt out and questioned, "Isn't it the daughter of the Left Minister of the Office of Transmission, Qi family, who was married to Prince Yishun? How could it be the niece of Duke Yongyi?”

“You must be unclear.”

Liu Luanwei spread his hands and said, "More than forty years ago, the previous head of the Qi family followed the Old Master Niu on an expedition to the north of the desert. As a result, he lost his offspring due to injury. Old Master Niu then adopted his grandson, who was also the same mother and brother of Duke Yongyi, to the Qi family.”

After a pause, he said again, "I can't blame you for being ignorant. If it weren't for hearing Cabinet Xu mentioning this past, I wouldn't have imagined that this Qi family and the Niu family had such a connection.”

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

Wasn’t this to say that regardless of whether Emperor Guangde ultimately chose Prince Zhongxin or the Royal Highness Yishun, the Niu family was always in a stable and undefeated situation?!

Sun Shaozong couldn't help but feel a fit of madness in his heart, but he immediately tried to calm down and carefully considered the dilemma.

Firstly, Cabinet Xu most probably had already suspected the Niu family; otherwise, it was completely unnecessary to indirectly tell himself about the relationship between the Niu family and Royal Highness Yishun.

His purpose in doing so should be to force himself to bite the Niu family to death and ”uncover” the ”evidence” of the Niu family planning the “root-cutting case” behind the scenes.

No!

Even if it were discovered that it was done by the Niu family, there might not be many practical benefits for Cabinet Xu. Even if the matter was exposed and the Niu family was not put to death, the Niu family would be summoned for desperate revenge.

At that time, what was waiting for Cabinet Xu might not be as simple as taking the blame.

So why did he do such a thankless task?

Unless…

Was this inspired by Emperor Guangde?!

Did Emperor Guangde want to fight against the Niu family, or even fight against the Empress Dowager and the Supreme Emperor, or did they want to hold onto some ”unnecessary” tricks to force the Supreme Emperor to make concessions?

If it were the former, it would still be worth dying to bite the Niu family, perhaps even earning a dragon's merit.

If it were the latter, if the two families reached a compromise, their pawn would probably become an abandoned one. If the Niu family moved to anger at that time, Emperor Guangde might not necessarily come forward to defend himself.

Damn it!

The struggle in the court was really overwhelming, especially with these big shots who wanted to force others to become pawns but also refused to speak clearly!

That's it!

He has already reached this point, so why not just follow his ideas and achieve a surprise victory?

Even if one ultimately fails, one could still be considered one of the chess players, not a piece at the mercy of others!

Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong immediately inquired about Liu Luanwei and said, "Magistrate Liu, I wonder if the Li family is still well now?”

Liu Luanwei was not accustomed to this jumping way of speaking. He was stunned for a moment before hurriedly saying, "Li-Shi was locked up in the backyard. When the Crown Prince woke up this morning, he ordered to kill her to vent his anger, but he was stopped by Cabinet Xu.”

“Can you take me to meet her?”

“Yes, yes! Since Your Excellency is one of the designated investigators, naturally you can meet whoever you want.”

Liu Luanwei spoke and led Sun Shaozong to the backyard.

It was said that she was locked up in the backyard, but it was actually in a secret room surrounded by a rockery in the backyard.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw several eunuchs gathered around a square table, discussing something with a worried expression on their faces.

Seeing Liu Luanwei leading Sun Shaozong in, these eunuchs didn’t mean to stand up and greet him. Instead, they shouted impatiently, "Magistrate Liu, why did you bring someone here again? You have been here five or six times now.”

It seemed that these eunuchs were not the attendants of the Crown Prince's Residence: otherwise, they wouldn’t have treated Liu Luanwei with such an attitude. Even if he were a person of guilt, he would still be the Chief Steward of the Attendant Mansion. It was not a problem to deal with several attendants on the spot.

As expected, in the face of the reprimands from the eunuchs, Liu Luanwei approached with a smile and said, "This adult is different from the previous ones. He is Governor Sun of the Central Judicial Office, ordered by His Majesty to help with the investigation.”

Eh.

The title of Sun Shaozong was much more useful than that of Liu Luanwei. The eunuchs stood up and looked at him curiously, stuttering strangely, "I heard that there was a ”Divine Judgement Sun” in the Central Judicial Office. Today, we caught up. Anyway, let's see what kind of ”Divine Judgement” method you have.”

If it were a different day, Sun Shaozong might even have to play fair with them, but now it involved the dispute over imperial power, and the Sun family's small boat might capsize at any time. How would he still be impatient to spend more time scolding a few eunuchs?

Therefore, his face sank, and he rudely exclaimed, "Ridiculous! I am investigating the case according to orders. Who are you? How dare you interfere with my investigation of the case without my permission?”

Those eunuchs, seeing his attitude like this, were all red-headed and embarrassed, and their voices were sharp as they waited to argue with Sun Shaozong.

However, Sun Shaozong didn't wait for them to speak up and said, "I am now holding the position of the Inspector of a Thousand Households in the North Town Detective Department. If you have any dissatisfaction, you can go to Commander Dai to report after returning to the Palace.”

In one sentence, the young eunuchs immediately stopped their flags and drums.

At this moment, the people who were sent to the Crown Prince's Residence to be responsible for guarding the prisoners naturally have support. But even so, could they still be compared to the power of Dai Quan, who was the head of the palace?

Upon hearing that Sun Shaozong had mentioned Dai Quan, they looked at each other a few times and had to walk out with drooping heads.

Liu Luanwei was quite insightful. Seeing Sun Shaozong's demeanor, it was obvious that he wanted to interrogate the culprit alone. Without waiting for Sun Shaozong to speak, he quickly followed the eunuchs out of the secret room.

When the iron door disguised as a stone slowly closed, Sun Shaozong's gaze fell on Li-Shi, who was locked on the south wall.

At this moment, Li-Shi was being tightly fastened to the wall with five chains, probably to prevent her from committing suicide, and there was also a special layer of soft cushion pasted on the wall.

In addition, she wore a delicate mouthpiece on her mouth, which prevented the two rows of silver teeth from closing.

However, the gap between Li's teeth was also too small. If this was the style commonly used by the Crown Prince, then the caliber of this Crown Prince might be...

No wonder it was bitten off with just one bite!