Chapter 105: Suspect Wang Sheng
June 16th, Mao time
Xu Chong came to find Shen Kuo early in the morning. It was not because he foresaw that something would happen in the Prince Consort's Mansion, but because he was asked by Mr. Bao to invite Huai Liang back, so he asked Shen Kuo to come to the mansion to discuss. He did not dare to neglect and waited for the city gate to open. Unexpectedly, when he arrived here, he found that it was very lively. It was just right for him to stay and help Shen Kuo question witnesses and investigate the scene, which were his strengths.
Before today, the hat demon had not appeared outside the city. It always appeared in the city, even in the imperial city. But the two times it appeared in the imperial city, it was particularly sloppy. There was no human figure hiding in the smoke, nor was it glowing, and it was not even the appearance of Fan Yangli in the rumors. It was just a ball of fast-moving smoke. Shen Kuo also realized that the so-called hat demon was actually a device that pretended to be a ghost, but it itself had many forms, which were classified into simple and complex according to the length of time required for preparation.
The hat monster that flew out of the courtyard wall at the Prince Consort's Mansion last night seemed to be a simplified version. It was just a cloud of white smoke that fled quickly. But what the hat monster did this time was somewhat despicable. It did not create a big scene, but just stole the magic pen stealthily. This matter is quite interesting.
When Xu Chong arrived, the prince consort was already frightened and was sitting in the yard, unable to speak a complete sentence. However, this was not the first time that Shen Kuo and Xu Chong had witnessed such a scene. According to their experience from last time, the prince consort could calm down after a short rest. However, they had to be patient when listening to him, because he would stutter when frightened.
Now the Prince Consort seemed to be much calmer. One sign was that he sat in the garden and sighed. Xu Chong knew some ways to ask questions, so he had to do it.
He sat opposite the Prince Consort, whose empty eyes were clearly fixed far behind him. Xu Chong immediately felt a faint stench, not knowing where it came from.
"Captain of the Imperial Consort, I have something to ask you. Where did the hat monster first appear?"
"It's... it's behind that... that rockery. Suddenly... it popped up."
Prince Consort Li Wei pointed to a rockery in the distance. Xu Chong looked over there and saw a toilet standing on the rockery in the distance. No wonder there was a stench. I don't know what these people were thinking. Even if dirty things can suppress evil spirits, why bother to dirty the rockery when the hat demon has been gone for a long time?
"How do you show up?"
"At...at that time...I was reading in the study."
"With the window open?"
"Yes... that's right. The heat is unbearable, so... open... open..."
"Then what?"
"I only heard a 'bang!' over there." The prince consort seemed to stutter less when he talked about being nervous.
"Oh? And then the Hat Monster appeared?"
"Exactly... Exactly. It emerged from behind the rocks and headed straight towards my window."
"And then..."
"I was so scared that I pushed the door open and ran away...to the front yard."
Xu Chong glanced at Shen Kuo. Shen Kuo nodded. It was roughly the same information he got from communicating with the servants in the morning. There were many male servants and servants in the front yard of this yard. The old lady lived in the backyard, and there were also many maids and servants. In the middle, there was a garden, pavilions, and a large yard full of peach trees. Only the prince consort lived there. There were originally a few book boys, but they also moved to the front yard in the past month. Shen Kuo had inquired why the prince consort would not let anyone get close to his sleeping place. He said that the prince consort had been suspicious recently. He was always on guard against thieves around him. This incident coincided with the gossip spread by Yang Wei De in terms of time. Since the queen sent someone to borrow the magic pen, there was a rift between the two sides. The prince consort probably regarded this pen as a treasure, so he was worried that the queen had collusion with thieves, so he avoided everyone. This was also a natural thing.
"Then, the magic pen was lost?" Xu Chong asked.
"Yes, I saw the hat monster passing through the front yard and climbing over the wall, so I hurried back to my room, but I saw that... the magic pen was gone. This... I hid the magic pen under my pillow and never told anyone, but it turned out... it turned out..."
Just like the last time he asked about the flower demon case, the prince consort stopped stuttering once he was deeply immersed in the situation and began to be afraid. However, the prince consort must have forgotten that he had hidden the magic pen under his pillow. It is impossible that he had not told others about it, because Shen Kuo and Xu Chong had heard him mention it once, but at that time he was frightened by the flower demon and was in a state of panic, so he mentioned hiding the pen under the pillow.
Shen Kuo was silent on the side. He was the first to notice something was wrong. First of all, the hat monster appeared too casually. It was not like when Yu Jing was there, where he first created an atmosphere and then spread nursery rhymes, and was mysterious. This time, he was trying to steal a pen.
This pen is not very important. Shen Kuo does not believe that it has any effect of exorcising evil spirits. If it has any effect, it would not be stolen by an evil creature like the hat monster. However, there must be a conspiracy behind this matter. He knows that Maitreya Sect has great ambitions. This time, they are desperate to overthrow the Song Dynasty by showing up in the world with the guest star. It is impossible for them to just steal something from the prince consort. But why did they go around in circles and steal this bald pen? He really couldn't figure it out. Legend has it that this pen was used by Zhang Sengyou to revive the dragon on the mural, but that is just a legend after all.
The prince consort went back to the front yard to rest, and the two continued their investigation in the yard. Bao Zheng only agreed to go to the Military Head Office to discuss in the afternoon, so there was still time.
The walls of the Prince Consort's Mansion were extremely high, and it was difficult for a thief to climb over the wall without a ladder. The two walked around and found no clues inside, so they left the yard and walked around again outside.
This time Xu Chong paid extra attention and kept a close eye on the big tree. Shen Kuo also hoped that he could find some clues. After all, he could easily sneak into the Yan Mansion and must have some experience.
Xu Chong paid special attention to the big trees whose branches extended into the yard. It was midsummer now, and the branches were lush and green. Such branches could not only be climbed, but also made it easier for intruders to sit on them and observe carefully. Otherwise, if they rashly climbed over the wall, they would be easily spotted by the night watchmen or dogs. Not long ago, they had sneaked into the Yan Mansion with the same idea.
They borrowed a ladder from the mansion and climbed up any suspicious places, but they found no signs of anyone climbing up last night until they found a crooked poplar tree. The tree was diseased and almost fell against the wall. Xu Chong found that several pieces of bark had fallen off, as if they had been bitten off by a longhorn beetle or stepped on by a tree climber.
They set up a ladder under the tree. The tree was small and thin, and Xu Chong was too heavy, so he stayed below to hold the ladder while Shen Kuo, who was lighter, climbed up to check.
Shen Kuo squatted on the branch and moved forward carefully. He soon noticed three scratches on the branch. It seemed that something similar to a Western Qiang claw was hooked on it. However, it was different from the Western Qiang hook with four teeth that Xu Chong had used. It was clearly missing a claw mark. He remembered that the thing Xu Chong had used had four claws. If it was hooked on a tree, there would be four claw marks. He stood on the branch again and looked inside. This location was very close to the rockery and not far from the Prince Consort's study. It was a good place. It seemed that the thief who stole the pen yesterday entered from here.
After he came down, he told Xu Chong about the situation. Xu Chong also felt strange and climbed up to take a look. As expected, there were three claw marks. However, there are many people in the world who can use this kind of grappling hook to climb over the wall. As long as they are thieves, they will have such things around them.
The two did not find anything further, so they went to report to the Military Headquarters. Xu Chong did not say much along the way, and seemed to be thinking about something. When they arrived at the Military Headquarters, it turned out that Lao Bao planned to send Xu Chong on this mission to invite Huai Liang back. He did not force Shen Kuo to tell him where Huai Liang was, so he could only ask him to go. However, Shen Kuo estimated that even if Huai Liang was willing to come, it would take about twenty days to go back and forth, which made Lao Bao feel troubled. Originally, he thought that Huai Liang might be hiding in a temple near the capital, and asked Shen Kuo to take his letter and come back in two or three days. He judged that there was not so much time now. He estimated that the Maitreya Sect must have the ultimate means for this attack, and it would act within the next few days. Because they are doing these tricks, and they hate to drag it out for a long time.
Seeing that Huai Liang could not be relied upon, Lao Bao waved his hand and the matter ended there.
Xu Chong and Shen Kuo came out. Shen Kuo planned to go back to Yang Wei De's house. Xu Chong had to go to the palace to work at night. However, Shen Kuo always felt that Xu Chong looked strange in the afternoon, as if something was wrong. That expression was not the same as when he was jealous of Boss Pei yesterday, when he rolled up his sleeves and wanted to hit someone. It seemed that he had something to say but kept thinking about it. He knew that it was useless to ask more questions, so he had to let Xu Chong speak for himself. So he took advantage of the time before the city gate was closed and took Xu Chong to the street wine shop to have a drink.
After two drinks, Xu Chong really had something to say.
"Brother Shen, when I heard the prince consort talking about the magic pen this morning, I suddenly remembered something and felt uneasy."
"What is it?"
"The prince consort said that he had never told anyone that the magic pen was hidden under his pillow, but you and I both knew it. He told us when he was distracted that day, and he probably forgot it himself."
"Hey, so that's what happened?" Shen Kuo realized. He had also thought of this. "You and I know this, but no one else knows this."
"But...but...I actually said that I have heard it from a few close people."
"Who have you told this to?"
"I told my group of Imperial Guards brothers about it. They talked about it a few months ago when we were drinking together. They said that the prince consort was a bit honest and straightforward. In order to sleep well, he even put a blunt pen under his pillow. It would be better to sleep peacefully with dog blood as a pillow."
"Who was with you at the time?"
"You have seen them all. They are Yan Xiu and Wang Sheng's group."
"Oh, they have all participated in this case, so they should all be reliable, right?" Shen Kuo breathed a sigh of relief. He remembered that he and this group of people had chased the Hat Monster together in Pan Street. "They may not remember something you mentioned so casually."
"That being said, Wang Sheng must have taken it to heart that day, because he argued with me. He said that only the most evil things can ward off evil spirits, and this magic pen won't work, and dog blood is even less effective. He also said that when he was working in the palace, he heard from the witch next to the Great Nuo Master that the most evil thing in our Song Dynasty was the mask that Lord Di Qing wore when he went into battle. Lord Di killed countless people wearing that mask, so it was evil enough."
"It sounds like this is just drunken talk." Shen Kuo said with a smile.
"It's crazy talk, but it shows that he didn't take it seriously. When you said there were only three claw marks on the tree outside the Prince Consort's residence today, I felt something was wrong, and then I thought of this."
"Is there anything else wrong?"
"Remember when we sneaked into the Yan Mansion together on the eighth day of this month?"
"Remember."
"That day I borrowed the Western Qiang claw from Wang Sheng. After you left the city, I returned the claw to Wang Sheng. However, the next day, he complained to me that he had broken the claw and one of the four claws was loose. If I didn't find a blacksmith to fix it with some iron, it might be useless. I didn't care at the time and just treated him to a drink and left it alone."
"Released that claw?"
"It's the second tooth on the right. I saw the claw marks on the tree and it seems there's one missing there."
"Perhaps this doesn't prove anything. There are three-toothed flying claws in the world."
"I have learned a little bit about detective work from Mr. Bao. Mr. Bao once said that the shortcut to solving a case is to find that there is a connection between those originally unrelated matters."
"Connected?"
"For example, if I mention the whereabouts of the magic pen to someone, it just happens to be related to him. Another example is that the claw mark found on the tree is just missing a tooth, and it is similar to someone's flying claw, which is also just a coincidence. However, these two coincidences are linked to the same person, which may not be a coincidence."
Shen Kuo understood what Xu Chong meant. He was clearly saying that the two clues were originally very rough and of little value, but they actually had an intersection, and this intersection was his good brother Wang Sheng.
"What are you going to do?"
"I am on duty in the palace tonight, and he happens to be there, so I'll just sound him out. When you go back to Yang Chunguan, why don't you go to the Prince Consort's Mansion again and look inside the wall, under the poplar branches. If the hook has a tooth missing, maybe it fell into the wall?"
"Okay, I'll go back and look for it."
"If I can't find it, it will also help to clear my brother's suspicion, and I can feel at ease."
