Chapter 88: Kill the Scapegoat
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Gu Shenwei had been suspicious of Guard Ju for murdering the prince when he had first met Guard Ju. Due to a lack of evidence, he had maintained his silence at that time. Now, he was accusing the guard of murder, which disappointed Tie Hanfeng very much. He was worried that his apprentice might not be able to solve this matter as he had just promised.
"How dare you?" The guard took a step forward and unsheathed half of his scimitar.
The minister stopped the guard in a hurried manner and turned to face Zhong Heng. He asked, "Commandant Zhong, what's going on? Accusing the prince's own guard of killing the prince! This is an insult to the Stone Kingdom. I hope..."
"I have evidence," Gu Shenwei announced loudly, drawing everyone's attention back to him.
Zhong Heng was the only person whose facial expression remained unchanged. "Let him finish," he suggested.
Gu Shenwei did not pay any attention to the angry guard. He glanced around and had his eyes fixed on the prince.
He had a guess as to what had actually happened, but there were a lot of uncertainties. Given that, he had no way of accurately predicting what had happened down to every detail, he had to observe the prince's reactions carefully to confirm his suspicions.
"I know where Xu Yanwei and her brother are. They can prove that I'm telling the truth."
Hearing that, the crowd was startled. They all knew that Tie Hanfeng and the commandant had mobilized many people to search for the two siblings but still failed to do so. They wondered why the killer apprentice did not look for them earlier to prove his innocence if he really knew where the siblings were hiding.
"You know where they are?" Asked Tie Hanfeng, who was perhaps the most confounded person here. He had sent his men to search for the siblings a few days ago when he had still been in the fort. He could not understand why his apprentice, who was unfamiliar with the city, suddenly claimed that he knew the location of the siblings.
Gu Shenwei fixed his eyes on the prince's movements and facial expressions and said, "Commandant Zhong, please send someone to the east and west gates of the city to check if there were two nobles of Stone Kingdom, who came to the city on the day before yesterday and claimed that they would live near or even inside Ju's Residence."
"Nonsense! Your Highness, please allow me to kill him right now and avenge the death of His Highness Prince Ju Gaotai."
Guard Ju whipped out his scimitar. The minister was frightened and immediately leapt aside. "Calm down. It shouldn't be resolved like this," he waved his hands as he tried to persuade the guard.
Gu Shenwei stared at the prince, firmly believing that if his assumptions were right, the prince would react before Zhong Heng sent people to the city gates.
Zhong Heng felt a little anxious. He had a rough idea as to what the killer apprentice was going to do, but felt reluctant to get involved. "Well, now it's too late to..."
"I'll send someone," Tie Hanfeng suddenly stood up and interrupted. "Give me an hour. If my apprentice lied, I'll behead him myself."
Tie Hanfeng limped towards the gate. Gu Shenwei did not turn around to look at his mentor. He still had his gaze fixed on the prince.
"Wait."
The prince finally spoke. Gu Shenwei felt relieved, but still managed to keep a straight face.
"Your Highness!" The guard looked at the prince, surprised and lowered his scimitar.
"Let him finish his story first. If it sounds reasonable, we can send someone to find the siblings later," the prince said.
Hearing that, Tie Hanfeng limped back to stand behind his apprentice, ready to draw the siblings out from Ju's Residence at any minute.
Gu Shenwei felt a little nervous. He needed to tell a reasonable story with certainty and make it sound irrefutable. He thought long and hard but was not entirely sure that he would be able to convince everyone.
"Here's the thing. Guard Ju wants to stay in Jade City instead of returning to the Stone Kingdom. After killing Prince Ju Gaotai, he plans to ask the kingdom to allow him to stay in Jade City to guard the prince's grave."
"Nonsense!" Guard Ju lifted up his scimitar again.
Tie Hanfeng stepped forward, prepareding to protect his apprentice. At this moment, the prince suddenly raised his hand to stop the guard. "Let him finish."
"Forgive me for being blunt. Prince Ju Gaotai used to frequently visit two prostitutes in Pleasure Alley. Therefore, Guard Ju often saw both of them. He liked one of the prostitutes, Xu Yanwei, so he became her client under the name of Mister Mi."
"Nonsense," Guard Ju retorted in a low voice again. This time, no one stopped him.
"Xu Yanwei and her brother hated their abusive father so much that they wanted to kill him. They asked Guard Ju for help, but he refused to get involved and advised them to hire a killer. That was why Xu Xiaoyi hired me. However, Guard Ju was brewing another plot at that time. He knew that Prince Ju Gaotai had just borrowed a large sum of money from Pot-bellied Buddha and planned to pocket the money and at the same time take Xu Yanwei for himself. After I killed Pot-bellied Buddha and his bodyguard, Guard Ju killed Prince Ju Gaotai, took all the money and used a forged Stone Kingdom document to get the siblings into North City. Unfortunately, the other prostitute, Shen Yanshi happened to be aware of this. Therefore, Guard Ju went to Pleasure Alley to kill her yesterday morning. Your Highness, I think you should remember that Guard Ju wasn't around you both yesterday morning and the morning your brother was murdered. And if you check the minister's seal carefully, you'll find out that it's been used recently."
There was dead silence inside the hall. The killer apprentice told a plausible story but only the missing siblings would be able to confirm what he said.
The minister walked towards the prince and whispered, "Your Highness, you don't have to..."
The prince ordered the minister to stop talking and then turned towards Guard Ju, "Ju Zhan, how dare you! Have you ever thought of your family? Your wife and your children? You did this for a prostitute. It's really not worth the risk."
"Your Highness..." Guard Ju looked down at his scimitar and said with a trembling voice. "Your Highness, please spare my family. They're innocent."
Under such circumstances, Guard Ju admitted to the crime and raised his scimitar. Everyone thought that he was about to kill himself, but instead he leaped up, eyes widened with anger and slashed the defenseless killer apprentice with his scimitar.
Gu Shenwei was about to dodge the attack when his mentor, Tie Hanfeng, jumped in front of him to confront Guard Ju. His mentor and Guard Ju brushed past each other in the air and then landed on the ground. Tie Hanfeng managed to get hold of the scimitar while Guard Ju was left empty-handed. The next moment, the guard's head fell to the ground, rolling towards the minister.
Having seen such a sight, the minister nearly passed out. If the prince's servants had not come to hold him, he would have fallen right then and there.
Tie Hanfeng put the scimitar down and bowed to the prince. "Your Highness, please forgive me."
"That's alright. I'm sorry that such a rebellious guard of Stone Kingdom caused you so much trouble."
The prince remained indifferent as if he was not affected by the blood or the tragedy. He stood up and walked towards the gate. When he walked past the killer apprentice, he asked, "What about the siblings? Are they Guard Ju's accomplice?"
"No, they only wanted to kill Pot-bellied Buddha. They were being used by Guard Ju."
"Oh, so they're still not innocent."
"Your Highness, they're not guilty. Pot-bellied Buddha deserved it, and it was me who killed him, not the siblings."
Suddenly, the prince appeared somewhat angry and said, "Well, as you wish." After that, he stormed out with his servants and guards.
As there were too many accidents today, the minister looked tired, but he still fulfilled his responsibilities. He expressed his gratitude to the three guests and politely sent them away.
Zhong Heng accompanied Tie Hanfeng and his apprentice to the north gate of the city and complimented the semi-retired killer, "Mister Tie, you have such a brilliant apprentice. He solved the case brilliantly, and I might say even better than me. Now that it has come to this, Stone Kingdom will never want to mention anything related to this scandal again in the future, which saves me lots of trouble."
Tie Hanfeng grinned. This time, his smile was genuine. "Hah-hah, Commandant Zhong, you're being too modest. Without your help, a boy like him could achieve nothing."
Zhong Heng turned to the killer apprentice and asked, "You're from the Central Plain, aren't you?"
"Yes, but I was sold to a merchant in the Western Region when I was little, and then ended up in Golden Roc Fort."
"What a promising boy. I hope we can meet again in the future."
After Zhong Heng said goodbye and was about to leave, Gu Shenwei stopped him. "Commandant Zhong."
"Yes?"
"The siblings are innocent, aren't they?"
"Yes," Zhong Heng replied smilingly.
Tie Hanfeng and Gu Shenwei retrieved their sabers and horses at the north gate of the city. It was dark, so they decided to set out on foot. While they were walking up the hill with their horses, Tie Hanfeng stopped smiling and complained, "You're so secretive. Why didn't you tell me your plan earlier? I was really worried."
"I'm sorry, Master Shifu. I just didn't want to drag you down, since I wasn't fully confident of my plan."
"Why didn't you drag the siblings out?"
"I was afraid that they might talk too much, which would probably ruin my plan. So I decided to leave them alone."
Tie Hanfeng was stunned. He then shook his head while smiling vaguely. He cursed and then asked solemnly, "You do know that the guard couldn't be rich enough to become Xu Yanwei's client, don't you?"
"Yes, but he did kill the prince."
"How did you figure the whole thing out? I knew who killed the prince, but I still can't straighten out some details."
"When I regarded the whole thing as a problem that needed to be solved, it became much simpler. The details weren't important. Neither was the truth."
Tie Hanfeng stared at his apprentice in surprise for quite some time and then said, "From now on, I should take you seriously."
Gu Shenwei was very grateful towards the commandant. Although Zhong Heng never really meant to help him out, he did teach him an important lesson, which would benefit him for all his life.
In Gu Shenwei's mind, there was another version of the story regarding Ju Gaotai's death.
In this version, Mister Mi was not Guard Ju but the younger prince, who wanted the throne and his brother's woman. He might really like Xu Yanwei, but the moment he realized that the killer apprentice was on to him, he wanted to kill her and her brother immediately to keep it a secret. Gu Shenwei thought that this cold, decisive prince would make a more suitable ruler.
In his view, Guard Ju, who worked to death for the two princes, might not have wanted to return to the Stone Kingdom as a humble guard. He probably wished to stay with his family in Jade City, but in the end he had to become a scapegoat for the younger prince for the sake of his family.
Gu Shenwei had found Guard Ju's excessively angry expressions very suspicious during their first visit to Ju's Residence. He thought that the younger prince should have never let the guard meet them.
He reckoned that the minister might not have known anything about the younger prince's plot during their first meeting. After knowing the truth, the minister was left with no choice but to accept that fact. He guessed that the minister was perhaps even quite pleased with the death of the dissolute and incompetent prince.
Now that the case was solved, Gu Shenwei did not want to think about it anymore. His only hope is that the siblings would survive.
Stepping into the stone castle, he felt very relieved, but this was not over yet. He had given Stone Kingdom a reasonable story, but had not yet done anything to appease the Meng family, Pot-bellied Buddha's real boss.
Fortunately, the commandant found the siblings and the money in the end. There were two loan contracts, which showed that Pot-bellied Buddha had played a trick to pocket a lot of money during the process. This lightened the Meng family's anger towards at the killer apprentice.
Gu Shenwei was punished by the fort. He would serve a 10-day confinement in East Castle and then work as a servant in the Whiterobe Academy. A month later, when he returned to South City, he found out that this incident has not been resolved yet.