Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 139: Planting the seeds of love before the Buddha

Prince Ning’s temporary residence in Nanjing.

In the main hall, Yang Hongbin and four of Prince Ning's personal guards were standing by, armed with swords, with an implicit sense of intimidation.

Prince Ning Li Chongrui sat upright on the main seat, looking at Feng Fengnian, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who was kneeling in the hall, with a somewhat cold gaze.

"Captain Feng, after investigation by Officer Yang, it was found that Wang En was strangled to death in his sleep last night.

In your Jinyiwei prison, the main criminal in the Longtan Port bloodbath, a fourth-rank eunuch, was killed right under your nose!
There is such a ridiculous thing in the world. How can you, as the chief officer of Jinling Jinyiwei, explain it?"

At the end, Prince Ning, who usually behaved gently, spoke in a harsh and murderous tone that had never been heard before.

Feng Fengnian knelt on the ground with a pale face. To be able to become the leader of the Jinling Jinyiwei, he was not an ordinary man and had experienced many storms and dangerous situations.

But it was unheard of that a fourth-rank suspect was killed in the Jinyiwei prison, which was known for its strict security.

As the chief officer of the Jinling Jinyiwei, he could not escape blame even if he found a hundred excuses.

"Your Highness, I failed in my duty and deserve death. It was just that the incident happened suddenly and we are still investigating."

"I'll give you three days. If you can't find the murderer and don't have a reasonable explanation, your job as a captain will end."

Prince Ning looked at Feng Fengnian with a gloomy face as he retreated in despair.

He asked, "Pingshi Yang, what do you think about this matter?"

Yang Hongbin replied: "Your Highness, Wang En has been imprisoned in the Jinyiwei prison for more than a month and is safe and sound.

Just when we wanted to find out more about Zhou Suqing from him, he was killed. There is no such coincidence in the world. It seems that someone knew about it and killed him to silence him!"

Prince Ning had a solemn expression on his face. Just when there was some clue about the Longtan Port bloody case, the clues were cut off again. Things became more and more complicated and confusing.

Prince Ning was at a loss as to what to do. He muttered to himself, "Who is killing people to silence them?"

Yang Hongbin said: "It is extremely difficult for anyone in the world to kill someone in Jinyiwei prison except Jinyiwei himself.

From what I have seen, Feng Fengnian is the chief officer of the Jinling Jinyiwei. If something like this happens, he is the first one who cannot escape responsibility. He would not do such an obvious thing. There must be other reasons behind it.

Please ask Your Majesty to issue an order, allowing me to work with Feng Fengnian to investigate the Jinyiwei officers and jailers on duty in the prison yesterday. We should be able to find some clues from them."

……

Qixia Mountain, official residence of Anding Temple.

Gazing from the third-floor corridor of the official residence, one can see some changes on the construction site of Daci Temple every few days, and a grand temple complex has gradually taken shape.

Ever since Madam Qin and Miss Qin came to see Qin Ye last time, they have come over every one or two days. Sometimes Miss Qin comes alone with her maid.

Qin Keqing would bring Qin Ye some spare clothes and fresh fruits, vegetables and soups when she came, but Qin Ye spent most of his time at the construction site.

Qin Keqing usually sat in Qin Ye's room, cooking and waiting for Qin Ye to come back and have dinner before leaving.

Qin Keqing's maid Ruizhu often came to play with Qingwen, and every time Qingwen came back, she would bring soup and food sent by Keqing.

Jia Cong sometimes thought that he and her father were colleagues from the capital, and perhaps she regarded this as a kind of courtesy.

Finally one day, the two met in the corridor on the third floor of the official residence.

Jia Cong and Qin Keqing once rode on the same boat for more than ten days, but they never faced each other or spoke a word to each other on the boat.

They should be two very strangers, but because of those packets of herbs and an embroidered handkerchief, there was already a strange connection between them.

In the warm afternoon sun of Mount Qixia, two people who met by chance on the corridor seemed to be able to see their own shadows in each other's eyes. The light breeze in the mountains stirred, and their black hair lingered and their clothes fluttered.

On the bank of Liuyang River, the beautiful face that I had seen in the distance finally came within reach, with eyebrows like new willows, eyes like flowing water, and lips like petals. With the first encounter, there will be the first conversation, and the first approach.

Therefore, Jia Cong's work of copying scriptures at Anding Temple had a different kind of expectation.

Every time Qin Keqing sent something to Qin Ye, she would always bring something for him as well. The two seemed to always have a tacit understanding when they met. How big could this temporary official residence in Anding Temple be?

When the keel of the main hall of Da Ci'en Temple was laid, the masons began to build the palace walls with Beijing bricks made in Suzhou.

Jia Cong and Keqing have become very familiar with each other and always have a lot to talk about when they meet. Ruizhu often comes to find Qingwen and hangs out somewhere unknown.

Occasionally, when Jia Cong was copying scriptures in Ci'an Hall, Keqing would go there to worship the Buddha.

The golden body of Buddha is shining, the wooden fish is murmuring, the daughter is bowing, and the lover is by her side.

The inexplicable warmth at this moment was so deep that she felt that as long as she kept it in her heart, it would be enough to help her get through the darkness ahead.

Keqing had already been engaged, and Jia Cong had heard about it from Cai Xiaoyu a long time ago.

Next year, Keqing will become the eldest daughter-in-law of the Cao generation in the Ningguo Mansion, and Jia Cong will still be the most outstanding son of the Yu generation in the Rongguo Mansion.

Living under the clan etiquette of this world, they had no illusions about each other, nor had they thought of abandoning the secular world and escaping into the wilderness.

Moreover, there is neither time nor opportunity for them to reach the point of being inseparable, and the things they need to consider and cherish are not just what is in front of them.

To them, this was just a chance sympathy between two souls.

Between the morning bell and the evening drum, there is a brief encounter, a moment of companionship, and then each goes their own way and future.

Qin Ye had been running around on the construction site, and never noticed his daughter's dangerous behavior, nor the reckless behavior of his young colleague.

……

King Yongning is on the march.

Yang Hongbin was reporting to Prince Yongning that he had been at the Jinyiwei Qianhu Office for the past two days, investigating the suspect in Wang En's murder.

"Your Highness, after two days of investigation, Zhao Bingliang, the Jinyiwei General Flag Officer who was on duty in the prison on the night Wang En was murdered, is most likely the murderer."

"This man was originally a sergeant guarding the border. He was recommended to join the Jinyiwei three years ago. On the night Wang En was murdered, he was not on duty. He was temporarily swapped with someone else.

The day after Wang En's death, he disappeared without a trace and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day."

Prince Yongning sighed, "We haven't caught Zhou Suqing yet, and even Wang En was killed in Jinyiwei Prison. Now all the information is cut off."

At this time, the personal guards of Prince Yongning came to report that Qin Ye, the Engineer, and Jia Cong, the Councillor, were waiting at the door.

King Ning thought that today was the fifth day of the lunar calendar, and these two people had come as agreed to report on the construction progress of the Da Ci'en Temple, so he quickly asked someone to invite them over.

The construction of Da Ci'en Temple is progressing very smoothly, except that there have been clouds in recent days and it will rain in the next few days, but it will not have a big impact on the construction progress.

After finishing their business, Qin Ye and Jia Cong were about to say goodbye, but Prince Ning kept only Jia Cong. Qin Ye was used to this, so he said goodbye alone.

Thanks to the information provided by Jia Cong, Prince Ning made progress in the Longtan Port case, but the final result was not satisfactory.

Things were at a stalemate again. Even the important prisoner Wang En was silenced. He might return empty-handed. How could he explain this to his father who always trusted him?

He was deeply impressed by Jia Cong's sharp thinking a few days ago, which allowed him to unravel the mystery and get to the point directly.

Such unusual traits are often seen in veterans of the public sector who are immersed in detective work, like Yang Hongbin.

Now that he was at a loss, he never missed any possibility of a breakthrough and suddenly wanted to listen to the young man's advice, which might bring him good luck like last time.

(End of this chapter)