Chapter 2 Candy Girl 1
Since Emperor Gaozu, Dayu has established a rule that no matter if it is a prince or a princess, anyone can be the crown prince. Dayu has had three female emperors since its founding. Corresponding to this rule, Dayu court allows women to take the imperial examination and serve as officials.
The current Emperor Xuanhe has four daughters and two sons. Among them, Princess Jintai Song Sanyue has been praised as a "child prodigy" since she was a child. She has the highest talent and has been raised as the successor to the throne. As she grew older, her talent was praised by the court and the public. When she reached the age of 15, she was promoted to the title of Crown Princess.
At the end of the same year when Princess Jintai was promoted to the title of Crown Princess, Emperor Xuanhe chose Qi Yi, the son of Prime Minister Qi Suan, as his consort. As the Crown Princess, with the help of the Prime Minister, if nothing unexpected happened, Princess Jintai would be the next monarch of Dayu.
But this accident happened, and it happened so suddenly that everyone who knew about it was shocked.
Princess Dayu would move out of the palace and live in her own mansion after she reached the age of 15. Song Sanyue died in an attic in her own mansion. Her death was extremely miserable. She had a knife in her heart, her face was scratched, and her head was also hit.
The sudden death of the crown prince would surely cause unrest in the court if the news got out. Emperor Xuanhe ordered the news to be suppressed, and announced to the public that the princess had broken her leg while practicing horseback archery and needed to rest in her mansion.
The people in the Princess's Mansion were all selected by Emperor Xuanhe himself, and everyone had the same tongue. Ten days had passed since the case, and not a single rumor had leaked out.
Emperor Xuanhe gave Chengjue the case of the princess' sudden death to investigate secretly, and allowed him the power to act at his own convenience, but he was not allowed to make the matter public. Moreover, he was required to find out the truth within a month, otherwise he would be dismissed from his post and thrown into prison.
Chengjue's investigation progressed slowly, and in the end it was almost impossible to make any progress.
Because the day before Song Sanyue's death, the other three princesses all came to Princess Jintai's mansion and left. Although they left at different times, they all left before the time of Song Sanyue's death.
Emperor Xuanhe summoned the three princesses for private questioning, and Cheng Jue hid behind a screen and listened. The three princesses all said that Princess Jintai invited them to come to her house for a gathering. Such gatherings had happened from time to time in the past, and they only sat for a short while before leaving. The three princesses had different stories, but they all firmly denied seeing anything unusual.
The person involved in the case was a royal princess, so Cheng would never torture her to extract a confession. He knew how powerful the people in the Dali Temple were. As the one-month deadline passed, he used the case at the beginning of the month as a test question and recruited people who were truly capable and could help him to join the Dali Temple to investigate the princess' sudden death with him.
The person recruited, Zhou Zhenzhen, knows the art of hypnosis and can catch people off guard during interrogation, which is a pleasant surprise.
The night after the spring rain stopped is long and quiet.
The door of the east wing of Tianhong Bank in the west of the city was pushed open from the inside with a creak. A Yuan, the maid who had gotten up for the night, walked to the corridor and heard the noise and hurried over: "Master, are you thirsty?"
There was a figure standing in front of the door. In the flickering moonlight, he turned his head and smiled strangely. Yuan took two steps back in fear: "Master... Master, what's wrong with you?"
Gu Qing grinned, his voice hoarse and rough as if someone was strangling him: "Madam Hongmei, Madam Hongmei..." He laughed more and more miserably, rushed over and grabbed A Yuan's throat, exerting force inch by inch, "Hand it over, hand it over!"
"Young... Young Master... Someone... Someone come..." A Yuan felt dizzy, her sleeves were torn off in the chaos, and the hands that were patting Gu Qing's arms gradually became weaker. Just when she was hanging on with only one breath, the hand that was clamping her suddenly loosened. She gasped deeply, screamed "Ah", and ran out of the door using her hands and feet.
Gu Qing fell to the ground, his eyes were unfocused, and his lips kept stammering: "No Hongmei, no, no..."
He looked up at the crescent moon in a daze, and two lines of tears suddenly rolled down.
To the outside world, the death case of Miss Yuechu in Yanliufang was extremely confusing.
In the morning, Zhou Zhenzhen was dragged by Wang Da to deliver breakfast to the guests of the teahouse several times. She heard no less than five versions of the story. Yuechu couldn't have a child, Gu Qing wanted to cancel the engagement, and Yuechu hanged herself; the madam Si Niang felt that the betrothal gift from the Gu family was too little, so she begged Yuechu to cry, make a scene, and hang herself to get more money, but Yuechu was hanged and tied up, and died directly... She felt very uncomfortable after listening to it.
"Hey, hey, hey, Zhenzhen, didn't you become an official in the Dali Temple? Tell us some inside information. How did the girl die earlier this month?"
She brought up a tray of hot buns and was stopped by Mr. Li Er, who often came to the teahouse.
Zhou Zhenzhen sighed heavily and said, "The Dali Temple is in a mess because of this case. The more we investigate, the more we feel that this case is unfathomable. It involves prominent people who often go there, and even alarmed the emperor."
She lowered her voice and continued mysteriously, "Our Dali Temple Minister Cheng went to the palace three times a day because he was called over by the emperor to be scolded."
Everyone had a satisfied look on their faces as if they had heard the latest gossip. After Zhou Zhenzhen turned around, they continued to eat and chat together. She went back to the kitchen and lifted the lid of the pot. This morning she made red bean cakes, and she put a pitted red date on top. She grabbed a few red bean cakes and walked out the door towards the Dali Temple.
Cui'er has confessed and is being secretly detained in the Dali Temple, but the truth behind the Yuechu case has not been made public until now, in order to allow Cheng Jue to use the excuse of investigating the Yuechu case to investigate the case of Princess Jintai.
The more bizarre the case at the beginning of the month spread in Chang'an City, the less noticeable Cheng Jue's actions would be.
Zhou Zhenzhen had already thought about it. When the truth of the Riyue case came to light, if Second Young Master Li blamed her for not telling the truth, she would be able to make some excuses. Anyway, every word she said was true. It was just that the case she described was not what Second Young Master Li thought of. If he took it seriously, it was because he thought too much.
Zhou Zhenzhen found the deflated face of Mr. Li Er interesting, so she trotted all the way to Cheng Jue's office and placed the red bean cake on the desk.
The files in this room were taken away in batches and then brought in again, always piled up randomly, especially on the desk where there was almost no empty space. Zhou Zhenzhen rolled up her sleeves and arranged the files by date, laying them out neatly in three rows.
Automatically ignoring the messy files on the floor, she put her hands on her hips, looked at the tidy desk, and clapped her hands with satisfaction.
Only Cheng Jue, the Grand Secretary of the Dali Temple, had a separate office. The rest of the officials were assigned to the east, south and west courtyards according to their responsibilities.
Zhou Zhenzhen is temporarily in the East Garden, which is responsible for managing case files. She shares a room with Meng Fan, but because of the difference in their official positions, their seats are far apart.
Meng Fan was serious and solemn when he was working, which was very different from his usual demeanor. However, when he went out and came back, if he caught Zhou Zhenzhen's gaze, he would smile and raise his eyebrows, and then return to normal.
At noon, they took a break and everyone went to have lunch. Meng Fan finally had time to run to her side and said, "Hey, Zhenzhen, where's the white cake today? I skipped breakfast just to have two more white cakes."
The more sincerely he said this, the more Zhou Zhenzhen felt that his life was not easy.
In order to let his new colleagues feel a little warmth in this cold environment as soon as possible, Lord Meng really used all his strength. She couldn't refuse his kindness, so she had to say: "There were many customers in the teahouse this morning, and the cakes were sold out. Next time, next time."
"Okay then. By the way! What are you going to eat for lunch? Do you want to eat together? There's a restaurant in front that serves delicious steamed meat..."
"She's not free." A cold male voice came from the door, and the next moment, Cheng Jue walked in with his hands behind his back.
Zhou Zhenzhen stood up from her seat, and Meng Fan couldn't help asking her, "What are you going to do at noon? Take me with you!" He didn't want to face such a serious pile of ice cubes while eating, as it would cause indigestion.
"She wants to go out with me to investigate a case. You go and wait to be hypnotized?" Cheng Jue's gaze moved to Zhou Zhenzhen's slightly drooping cheek, and then stopped at Meng Fan, and his tone became much colder, which made him a little scared.
"You've been free these past two days? Do you want me to send you to copy ten files?"
"No, no, I just remembered something else and will go do it now. Please do as you please, sir." Meng Fan bowed and ran away.
"Come with me to the Princess's Palace."
Zhou Zhenzhen nodded in agreement. Cheng Jue frowned slightly and said, "I don't like red beans."
"Ah...ah?" He said this suddenly. Zhou Zhenzhen was stunned for a moment before she reacted. Her face flushed red, and her round face was as plump as a ripe fruit. She hesitated for a long time and asked tentatively, "Then how about changing to white cake tomorrow?"
Cheng Jue nodded expressionlessly, and even looked at her with a more favorable attitude.
Still quite perceptive.
Princess Jintai's mansion is located in the east of Chang'an City , only three streets away from the imperial palace.
When Song Sanyue was less than ten years old, Emperor Xuanhe ordered the construction of the Princess's Palace, which took three years to complete. Every pavilion in the Princess's Palace was designed to imitate the scenery of the south of the Yangtze River, so that the princess could enjoy the scenery of the south of the Yangtze River even if she was in the north.
The most treasured building in the princess's mansion is the Wangxing Pavilion beside the lotus pond in the back garden. The furnishings on the two floors are all rare treasures collected from all over the place by Emperor Xuanhe, and each one is worth a fortune. The city of Chang'an jokingly called the Wangxing Pavilion the second national treasury.
Cheng Jue took Zhou Zhenzhen in through the corner door at the back of the princess's mansion. The maid who opened the door to greet them was called Yin'er, who led them towards the Wangxing Pavilion with ease.
On the way, they met several groups of servants, but those people acted as if they didn't see them at all. There was no expression on their faces. They just walked hurriedly, busy as usual, as if the princess was still in the mansion.
It was a sunny March day, but Zhou Zhenzhen felt a chill running up from the soles of her feet, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.
After taking them to the Wangxing Pavilion, Ying'er retreated.
Cheng Jue reached out and pushed open the door. Perhaps no one had come in for many days, so it was a little cool inside and Zhou Zhenzhen shivered.
The decoration in the attic was not as magnificent as imagined, but rather elegant. However, if you look closely, every item inside is enough to make people secretly astonished.
The books on half of the wall are all unique and neatly arranged on the golden nanmu shelves. The wall is hung with calligraphy and paintings, which is the full picture of "Four Seasons Landscape" painted by Wang Weian, a landscape painter known as "painting maniac" in the previous dynasty. Next to the orchid by the window is a red sandalwood guqin, the only one in the world. Turning into the glass screen, there is a half-played chessboard on the small table, with black and white pieces competing against each other, as if there is a galaxy in the middle. The chess pieces are made of jade and feel warm to the touch.
Music, chess, calligraphy and painting, everything is complete.
And everything is expensive.
Even someone like Zhou Zhenzhen, who doesn't care much about money, has the urge to take it away.
"Princess Jintai was found dead in this position." There was a desk in front of the bookshelf. Cheng Jue walked to the desk and stood in front of it, pointing outside and said, "The head is facing the door."
"I have interrogated the people in the princess's mansion. Ying'er said that before the crime happened, Princess Jintai invited three other princesses to the attic. Since Princess Jintai moved to the princess's mansion, she would send the servants away whenever there were several princesses gathering, and this time was no exception."
Zhou Zhenzhen raised her face, her brows were furrowed as she thought seriously, which made Cheng Jue want to reach out and smooth their brows.
"Come to think of it, the only people who appeared at the crime scene that day were the three princesses..."
According to the files, the cause of Song Sanyue's death is unknown.
The knife in her chest and the heavy blow to her head were both fatal, but because the time interval was too close, it was impossible to accurately determine which one caused Song Sanyue's death.
In other words, both are possible.
"Master Cheng, can you find a way to let me try the other three princesses?"
"The Emperor had summoned the three princesses separately before, and seemed to ask them casually what they had done at Princess Jintai's residence. The princesses' answers were the same as before, and they had no idea that Princess Jintai had died."
The emperor wants to conduct a secret investigation. If they conduct a high-profile interrogation, it would be like writing the six big characters "Princess Jintai is dead" in official script at the gate of Chang'an City.
