#31: Homicide (3)

Di Jiang told Wenyao to go back first. She then floated and drifted until she reached the room where Wu Ruian was confined.

Wu Ruian was lying on a couch with his hands behind his head, his legs crossed, and a pen in his mouth, taking a nap with his eyes closed. Around him were scattered sheets of rice paper, each with the same name written on it: Di Jiang.

Di Jiang floated to his side and looked down at the papers. She saw that they were all love letters. The content was filled with cheesy, clichéd phrases like “I think of you every day, but I can’t see you” and “I wish your heart were like mine,” all copied from a well-worn book called The Mirror of Romance.

A smile unconsciously appeared on Di Jiang’s face. To see the unlearned Wu Ruian learning to write poetry was one of the most rare and hilarious things in the world. While Wu Ruian was resting, she looked more closely and saw that his handwriting was messy and the strokes were scattered, showing that he was a bit anxious.

It was tough on him... being confined in a place like this, there wasn’t much else he could do to pass the time besides this...

Just then, Wu Ruian suddenly slapped his thigh, sat up, crumpled the papers next to him, threw them away, closed The Mirror of Romance, took out another sheet of paper, carefully smoothed it out on the table, and wrote “To Di Jiang” at the top.

This time, he wrote every stroke with great care, his expression extremely serious, as if he were treating this matter as a matter of utmost importance, more so than Empress Chen reading official documents.

As Di Jiang was wondering what he was going to write, there was a loud bang, and the door was thrown open.

Wu Ruian looked up, his pen suspended in mid-air. In just an instant, a drop of ink fell, ruining another carefully written letter.

It was Song Li again.

Song Li ran in, walked past the screen, and stood in front of Wu Ruian, his face looking a little shaken.

He bowed and said urgently, “S-Sixth Highness, your name has been cleared. You may return.”

“What happened?” Wu Ruian frowned, very confused.

“Reporting to Your Highness, the Minister of War, Zhao You, died last night. The cause of death is the same as Gongsun Qi’s.”

“What! Quick, take me to see!” Wu Ruian’s expression changed. He immediately put down his pen and followed Song Li out.

Zhao You was in charge of the Ministry of War, which governed military administration, strategy, records, and armaments. His murder was completely different from that of a pampered playboy like Gongsun Qi. Besides serving as the Minister of War, he could also mobilize the capital’s defense forces, which was a matter of national importance. But based on the method of the crime, the deaths of Gongsun Qi and Zhao You were committed by the same person...

After Wu Ruian left the Ministry of Justice, Di Jiang also returned to the prison. She was shocked when she saw her own body in the torture chamber.

Was she even a person anymore?

The woman on the floor had disheveled hair and whip marks all over her body. Her ten fingers were all broken at the base, bent at unimaginable angles. Her nails were bloody, clearly having been ripped out.

And her face, which had remained expressionless throughout the ordeal, looked particularly horrifying in contrast to the brutal torture. Even the jailers found it incredible—this woman hadn’t made a single sound of pain from beginning to end.

Di Jiang was tired of being tortured, so she had been wandering outside for two hours, but she never expected to return to find her body so broken. She stood next to her body, pondered for a moment, and snapped her fingers, a sound that mortals couldn’t hear. Her body, as if losing power, closed its eyes.

“She fainted, what do we do?” a jailer said, looking at the other one.

“Finally fainted. If she didn’t faint, I would have,” the other one said, letting out a sigh of relief with a hint of liberation in his voice. “Just throw her into the cell. I’ll go and ask for instructions from above.”

“Okay.”

One of them dragged her by the hands, the other lifted her feet, and together they threw Di Jiang’s body into a cell at the back. The thud her body made when it hit the ground made Di Jiang can’t help but hold her forehead, questioning more than once: would she just fall apart like this?

Never mind, it was already like this. If she fell apart, she fell apart. It was a big deal to just make another body.

Di Jiang let out a long sigh, shook her head, and floated out of the prison.

________________________________________

After Wu Ruian left the Ministry of Justice, he went to Zhao You’s mansion.

Zhao You was a trusted subordinate of the previous Minister of War, Hou Wenli. When Hou Wenli was in office, he considered Zhao You his right-hand man. But two years ago, Hou Wenli was impeached for corruption and bribery, and Zhao You was appointed to the important position of Minister of War under the recommendation of Gongsun Miao. In other words, he had only been prominent for less than two years before he died tragically, which was truly a tragedy.

The mansion was heavily guarded, with guards every three and five steps, so tight that not even a fly could get in. A funeral hall had been set up in the courtyard of the mansion, and most of the family members were gathered there, their cries shaking the heavens. Among them, the most heartbroken were Zhao You’s wife and concubine.

Wu Ruian stepped forward and said, “My condolences, ladies.”

Lady Zhao bowed in return, her voice choked with sobs. “Thank you, Sixth Highness.”

Wu Ruian lit a stick of incense in front of the memorial tablet and offered a brief word of comfort to the widows. During the conversation, they kept their heads down. From Wu Ruian’s perspective, he could only see that their beautiful eyes were as swollen as walnuts. Two nannies standing by were each holding a baby, who looked only a few days old. As if they felt the somber atmosphere, they kept crying no matter how they were comforted. Behind them were several other children kneeling, all born to concubines, the oldest of whom did not look more than ten years old.

Wu Ruian was not used to such scenes and quickly went with Song Li to the crime scene.

Zhao You’s body was discovered at noon today. Yesterday, after attending the morning court, he was on his way back to his mansion when he suddenly found a letter in his carriage. His expression changed, and he left alone.

He didn’t tell the sedan chair bearers where he was going, nor did he allow them to follow him. He didn’t return all night.

The sedan chair bearer said, “After my master got the letter, his expression was very surprised, but also very excited. He looked like he was going to meet an old friend, but this friend seemed to be someone who should not be seen in public, which is why he didn’t let this servant follow him.”

After hearing what the sedan chair bearer said, Lady Zhao thought he had gone out for a social engagement and didn’t think much of it. She didn’t expect that at noon the next day, when she went to tidy up Zhao You’s study, she would find Zhao You’s body on the bed—just like Gongsun Qi, his body had been bitten and torn to pieces by a wild beast, with only his face recognizable.

During this time, no one had seen any strangers in the mansion.

The murderer was like a ghost, able to carry Zhao You’s large, bloody body in and out without a trace.