Chapter 470: Sudden Death
The voice sounded vaguely familiar.
But when she looked closely, she saw the face of a strange man.
The man looked to be in his thirties, with a plain appearance and shabby clothes that hinted at poverty.
But Ye Chutang had always had an excellent memory, and she was certain she had heard this man’s voice before.
She just couldn’t place the face, no matter how hard she tried.
Then, she watched the man haggle with the vendor for a while before finally picking out two wild ginseng roots and a few deer antlers and leaving.
Watching the man’s retreating figure, Ye Chutang narrowed her eyes slightly.
Just then, she heard someone nearby whispering.
"Isn’t that someone from Prince Jing Mansion?"
Ye Chutang’s heart skipped a beat.
The vendor was clearly startled as well. "What? Y-You’re saying that was... someone who works for the Fourth Prince!? Then doesn’t that mean—"
"Don’t worry." The person who spoke waved a dismissive hand. "Although that Prince Jing is also a Prince, he hasn’t been doing too well these past few years. The servants in his mansion are reasonable. He was just buying a few things from you; he won’t give you any trouble."
The vendor finally breathed a sigh of relief. "That’s good! That’s good!"
’Doing business with a Prince is no easy task. The slightest misstep could cost me my entire fortune!’
But after this series of unexpected events, the vendor was secretly rattled and quickly packed up his things and left.
The street soon returned to its usual quiet, as if nothing had happened at all.
Ye Chutang didn’t linger either. She lowered the curtain. "Let’s go."
The carriage swayed as it continued on its way, but Ye Chutang was lost in thought.
’That man just now... was actually from the Prince Jing Mansion?’
Prince Jing was the fourth among the princes, with the title of Prince Jing. Because he had a leg ailment, he had never been favored by Emperor Muwu. It was said he rarely even left his own mansion, making him practically invisible.
For the past month, the Capital City had been in an uproar, with everyone on edge, yet no one had thought of him.
It was as if he didn’t even exist.
But this also revealed just how miserably he was living. As a Prince, he had to send someone to the street market just to buy wild ginseng, and from the looks of it, it was of very average quality and not worth much money.
For a Prince to fall to this level was a true failure.
Even Xiao Chengxuan, who had committed grave crimes and was under house arrest at Chengxin Lake, probably had it better than him.
Ye Chutang had entered the palace several times before, but she had never once seen this Prince Jing.
If not for this chance encounter today, she probably wouldn’t have even remembered that such a person existed in the Capital City.
Ye Chutang was pensive.
’Even if his legs are an inconvenience, he should still enter the palace to visit the ailing Emperor Muwu and show some filial piety.’
’But that Prince Jing has made no move from start to finish.’
Anyone else probably wouldn’t have paid it any mind, but the sound of that man’s voice made it very difficult for Ye Chutang to simply ignore the matter.
Ye Chutang lowered her gaze.
’Where on earth... have I heard that voice before?’
...
Meanwhile, the Eldest Princess and several ministers from the Cabinet were still arguing endlessly.
Today, however, they were not arguing about other matters, but about one thing only—whether there was any collusion between the Southern Hu Blade Man and Xiao Chengxuan.
Jiang Zhao Yuan’s expression was grim. "The case is of utmost importance, how can a verdict be reached so rashly? To decide the case based solely on a single Jade Pendant, where is the fairness and justice in that!"
Chen Songshi, with his hands tucked in his sleeves, looked unconcerned. "What’s your hurry, Elder Jiang? Wasn’t the case already sent to the Three Judicial Departments for a joint trial? They were the ones who found this Jade Pendant, and they were the ones who extracted the testimony. By saying this, Elder Jiang, are you suggesting that the Imperial Supervision Office and the Supreme Court have colluded to frame him?"
"I said no such thing! Don’t you make baseless accusations!" Jiang Zhao Yuan’s temples throbbed.
’This Chen Songshi keeps mentioning the Imperial Supervision Office and the Supreme Court, but deliberately avoids mentioning the Ministry of Justice! Isn’t he just implying that I have my people in the Ministry of Justice!?’
Chen Songshi chuckled. "How would I dare to frame you, Elder Jiang? I’m merely speaking the truth. The witness and the physical evidence are all here. Just because you say you don’t believe it, does that make it all fake?"
"What do you mean the witness and evidence are all here!? The Southern Hu Blade Man has been in custody for a long time. If there was really a problem, it should have been discovered long ago! How could it possibly wait until today to be exposed! There’s clearly something fishy going on here!"
Jiang Zhao Yuan secretly regretted his actions.
He had been so busy mediating Xu Jie’s case that he had allowed such a major oversight to occur!
If this charge were to be confirmed, then Cheng Xuan would truly have no chance of ever turning things around!
"In my—"
"Enough."
The Eldest Princess, tired of all the bickering, cut them off directly.
"What’s the use of arguing back and forth here? With all this time, you’d be better off just going to question Xu Jie directly!"
The ministers were all stunned.
Jiang Zhao Yuan was the first to react, saying immediately, "Exactly! We should interrogate Xu Jie! He confessed to everything before. If Cheng—If the Second Prince had really done this, why wasn’t it mentioned in Xu Jie’s original testimony? This must be a frame-up!"
Chen Songshi shot him a sidelong glance.
"This is a grave matter. Would Xu Jie necessarily know everything he did? If he did something like this, he would have been extremely cautious! How could he let it be easily known?"
Jiang Zhao Yuan was furious. "So you’re determined to believe he colluded with foreign enemies? What reason would he have to do that!"
"He had no reason to harm General Huo Yucheng either, yet weren’t the more than one hundred members of the Huo Family, from top to bottom, all wrongfully killed? He still did it, didn’t he? If I could guess what he’s thinking, wouldn’t I be him?"
"You! You’re just looking for an excuse to condemn him!"
Seeing the argument escalating, the Eldest Princess raised her voice and cut them off. "This debate is pointless! Just have the Three Judicial Departments interrogate Xu Jie!"
With that, everyone finally reached an agreement.
However, terrible news soon arrived—
Xu Jie was dead.
He had died in his prison cell this very morning.
A dead silence fell over the hall.
The Eldest Princess’s brow was tightly furrowed, and the ministers looked at each other, at a loss for words.
Chen Songshi let out a cold laugh. "What a coincidence! Xu Jie could have died at any time, but he just had to die right now!"
The atmosphere grew tense.
In truth, Xu Jie’s death on its own might not have mattered much. But with the new revelation that Xiao Chengxuan had connections to the Southern Hu Blade Man, Xu Jie had become an extremely important lead.
With him dead, that lead was completely severed. No one could get another word about Xiao Chengxuan out of him.
How did Xu Jie die? There were far too many possibilities.
From the day he was locked in that prison, too many people had wanted him dead.
He was entangled in too many affairs; every extra day he lived was another sleepless night for someone.
Besides, if you wanted someone dead, there was no shortage of methods available in a prison.
There were plenty of ways to make someone breathe their last without anyone knowing, methods that would leave no trace for outsiders to find.
He had lost his life in this muddled way, leaving behind only countless questions for people to speculate on.
The Eldest Princess said in a grave voice, "Investigate at once! His cause of death must be thoroughly investigated!"