Chapter 85: Finding the Murderer
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Gu Shenwei was completely dazed. He, a killer apprentice who had not finished his apprenticeship, had privately undertaken an assassination job, and now he had to find another murderer to prove his innocence.
Tie Hanfeng took on this task, which must cost a lot of silver and assistance from his connections that could not be repaid by a killer apprentice.
In a complicated mood, Gu Shenwei did not say a word until the North City Gate.
Someone was waiting for them there.
With a protective smile on his red face, Tie Hanfeng warmly exchanged greetings with the man and introduced his apprentice to the City-patrol Commandant.
The City-patrol Commandant, an officer of the Jade City, was responsible for arresting criminals. Although having about 100 subordinates, he in fact controlled a very small area. The South City had a mixture of various people and was not bound by anyone, while no one dared to be in charge of the area from outside of the North City Gate to the Golden Roc Fort. Even inside the North City, there were numerous big shots and nobles who never thought much of the City-patrol Commandant.
Surnamed Zhong and named Heng, the present Commandant was a native of the Central Plain. Tie Hanfeng called him "Commandant Zhong" or "Mr. Zhong".
In a casual suit of an officer, Commandant Zhong Heng was tall and courtly-looking. He worn a sparse beard and carried a broadsword with the style of the Central Plain, which was broader than a saber of the Golden Roc Fort and slightly curved.
A cordial feeling arose spontaneously from Gu Shenwei's heart. He was so familiar with such kind of people. When they were in the Central Plain, various officials and military officers kept coming in and going out of their family. There was no such a title of "Commandant" in the Central Plain, but judging from his apparel, he must be an officer at level 5 or level 6.
Without caring a lot about the teenager with suspicion of a felony, Zhong Heng chatted a lot with Tie Hanfeng before turning to the point, "So what do you plan to do?"
"Is there anyone in the city who is better at finding the murderer than you? We just gonna follow you until we learn something, well, and be hostages for three days, haha."
And then they started chatting again, seemingly just beating about the bush. Half a day had passed and they had yet to pass the city gate. Gu Shenwei would have scolded them if he were not at a lower position.
"Well, I can't guarantee to solve the case, but we must go through the formality. Let's explain at the Ju's Residence first."
The Stone Kingdom was a small kingdom in the Western Region. Its royal family was surnamed Ju. 10 years ago, a palace coup caused two princes to go into exile with several family members here. They wanted to seek military support so as to regain their throne, but they failed to raise enough money for it. Unexpectedly, there were pennies from heaven. The usurper died suddenly without leaving a descendent, so the two factions of ministers vied with each other until they decided to ask the sons of the former king to come back.
Ju Gaotai, the first prince died in the home of a prostitute in the South City only 10 days after receipt of the message to regain the throne.
The so called Ju's Residence was just a small house, which seemed to be a little crowded for the two princes and their family members and attendants.
The second prince declined the interview for some excuse and a minister who came to take the princes back to their kingdom and a bodyguard of the first prince received them.
The minister was quite a talker who kept talking with Zhong Heng and Tie Hanfeng about things that were not relevant. Gu Shenwei suddenly felt himself back to the Central Plain and among his father and his fellow officials.
Although the minister had appropriately grieved at the prince's death, anyone could see that he had not a deep sentimental attachment to the prince, which was understandable because he had just stayed with the future king for several days, and 10 years ago, the prince was just a kid.
The bodyguard was the one who was really in sorrow. He, holding a scimitar of the Western Region, was also surnamed Ju and was born in a branch of the noble family. Perhaps he thought it was his negligence of duty that caused the death of the prince, so he always looked at Gu Shenwei coldly as if he would draw the scimitar at anytime to revenge his master.
After about two hours of chat, only one thing was made clear: Ju Gaotai left the residence alone the night before last. He would return to his kingdom in three days, so he wanted a farewell to the ten years of exile. But the bad news came last noon.
"Mr. Xu really got a good personal relationship with his highness, what a pity."
The minister moaned and groaned, and delivered a passionate speech according to this topic, recalling their friendship and the connection between the Stone Kingdom and the Meng family as if he had always been with the prince.
Gu Shenwei realized that "Mr. Xu" was just Pot-bellied Buddha after a good while.
Tie Hanfeng seized the opportunity to request an inspection of the body, which made the minister really embarrassed. Although not ascending the throne yet, the deceased prince was still future king of a kingdom, furthermore, he was already put in the coffin and it was not good to open it again. Finally, Zhong Heng guaranteed with this official position that he had inspected the body in person, finding that the prince was killed with one chop, and the wound, which was very small, was on the right side of the neck, likely to be caused by a saber of the Golden Roc Fort.
Tie Hanfeng did not insist, which, according to Gu Shenwei, might be an error of the Lame Man Tie. He thought it was highly necessary to check the body personally, but he was not allowed to talk here.
When the three were going to leave, the grieved bodyguard suddenly said, "Mr. Zhong, do you really believe the kid? The Golden Roc Fort said it has nothing to do with them, which I believe, but they are to exonerate him. Something that we won't agree too, we may be a small kingdom but we are still able to gather thousands of soldiers."
Zhong Heng laughed awkwardly, and Tie Hanfeng said first, "Haha, if the Golden Roc Fort really wants to exonerate him, they don't need to bother Mr. Zhong. You may have thousands of soldiers, but ask yourself how many of them are not holding the Golden Roc Flag?"
As a killer organization, the Golden Roc Fort also maintained a number of mercenaries, who often served the kingdoms of the Western Region, so Tie Hanfeng's words were not merely a blusterous threat.
The face of bodyguard Ju turned as red as Tie Hanfeng, and the minister hurried to dissuade him to resolve the tension.
When the three left the Ju's Residence, the atmosphere was not as good as when they came.
Zhong Heng invited Tie Hanfeng and Gu Shenwei to the department office for some tea and snacks. When the evening was approaching, they finally turned to the point. Gu Shenwei could not wait to put forth his own point of view, "Those two people killed the prince. The minister wanted to kill the prince in the disguise of escorting him back to the kingdom. The bodyguard was the one who killed the prince. I threw the counterfeited saber in the house and anyone could have picked it up and used it."
Commandant Zhong Heng looked over the kid carefully for the first time without despising him for his low position, "That was a bold idea, but why? Why did the minister want to kill the prince with the bodyguard? You know, the prince was to be king in several days. They should have flattered him instead."
"Because of the second prince," Gu Shenwei had been thinking it over for a long time and believed his guest more and more firmly, "If the elder brother is dead, the younger brother will be king. So he wanted to buy over the minister and the guard, who also agreed on this idea because escorting a prince back to the kingdom to be king was far less meritorious than assisting a prince to usurp the throne."
Analyzing this murder with what he'd learned during the training at the Golden Roc Fort, Gu Shenwei thought everything was so clear.
Tie Hanfeng sniffed at him and didn't take it seriously. However, Zhong Heng was highly interested in it. He began to treat the kid with "full of killing intent" seriously. "Taking the matter on its own merits, your analysis is reasonable, but you're wrong about one thing. According to the custom of the Stone Kingdom, a guard of the noble family cannot change his master during his whole life, so now than the first prince has died, that guard Ju must spend his whole life guarding the first prince's tomb and is never allowed to return to the palace."
"The rules can be changed, if the second prince becomes king…"
Zhong Heng shook his head and said, "No, you don't know their custom. The power of the king isn't as great as you think. Difference from the emperor in the Central Plain who has full sovereignty, their king cannot even protect himself if he dares to destroy the custom."
During years of life in the Western Region, Gu Shenwei has heard his father tell him some local customs, so he believed that Zhong Heng was not exaggerating. Tie Hanfeng also nodded for consent.
"Then maybe the second prince colluded with the minister and hired someone else for the murder." Gu Shenwei adjusted his idea rapidly.
This time, it was Tie Hanfeng who refuted him, "Idiot, isn't your mind clear yet? We're not here to find out the real murderer, but to prove that you weren't the one who did it."
Finding the real murderer seemed to be the same to freeing him from suspicion, but Gu Shenwei understood Master Shifu." The sister and brother can prove that I only killed two people," he said.
"They're missing." Said Zhong Heng with a frown, looking puzzled, too, "I've sent people searching around the South City, but just could not find find them, neither dead or alive."
"No one has even seen them since Xu Xiaoyi brought you from the tavern, which I can promise."
Tie Hanfeng also made a promise, which made Gu Shenwei very surprised. He knew well the connection of Tie Hanfeng in South City, but he never thought that he had investigated this quietly.
The case came to a dead end. Gu Shenwei had no substantial evidence although he got objects of suspicion.
"Come on, it's about time. Let's search around for favourable turns, preferably meeting the two kids. If the fact is just like what you guess, they're the best witnesses."
Zhong Heng called two captors to lead the way ahead with lanterns. Leaving the department office, they went straight to the South City and reached the famous "Pleasure Alley".
There a two-storied or three-storied buildings, more than one hundred of them, along the two sides of the Pleasure Alley. The best prostitutes of the Jade City, including Xu Yanwei, were gathered here.
Tie Hanfeng's eyes brightened, and even he had seldom come here. "Don't you see? Xiao Fengchai is in this building. An incredible woman whose price is as high as to make you suicide. I've had an affair with her, but can't you see the ugly old woman at the door, she looks as if she doesn't even know me."
Zhong Heng smiled and said nothing, and Gu Shenwei pretended to be deaf.
The building of Xu Yanwei was as messy as it was yesterday. The bodies were removed but the blood was still there. Gu Shenwei could identify the locations of Pot-bellied Buddha and his bodyguard, and the third location with blood was on the bed, where Xu Yanwei was sitting when Gu Shenwei was killing the two people.
"There used to be one thousand liang of silver here."
Gu Shenwei said, pointing at the empty low table.
"It had gone when the captors came. Maybe they were brought away by the sister and brother or the murderer."
"And maybe the captors who came here earlier had taken it," thought Gu Shenwei.
Pot-bellied Buddha was in charge of five prostitutes, who all lived nearby. The two captors were sent to take the other four here. But they were reluctant to go upstairs, so they had to interrogate them downstairs.
"It's not the right time to call us here now. We're just getting more guests, any delay will be a loss," said a prostitute, looking vixenish, and in a rush. While the body of Pot-bellied Buddha was not yet stiff, they had found new guests to continue with their business.
Zhong Heng asked their names, just things about birds, gold or jade. Gu Shenwei noticed that they were not surnamed Xu as Pot-bellied Buddha.
The whole investigation was a mess. The elderly women and servants kept urging them to leave, saying some "prince" was coming or some "marquis" was leaving, making their answers disorderly.
Prince of the Stone Kingdom? Yes, Ju Gaotai often came here, but he had not shown up for days. About last morning? Everyone was sleeping and the servants were also resting. There was no one on the street when it was that early; the Xu siblings? Who knows, maybe they were killed and thrown in the wild.
Neither Zhong Heng nor Tie Hanfeng had gotten some valuable clues in such a mess. Suddenly, a prostitute, who pretended to be unable to stand firm, ran into Gu Shenwei and whispered to him, "One person, during Si Geng."
This prostitute, named Shen Yanshi, just lived opposite to Xu Yanwei.