Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 156: The End of the Event Still Feels Cold

In the warm morning light, a horse-drawn carriage traveled on the winding ancient road of Qixia Mountain.

Jia Cong lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked at the bleak mountain scenery outside. Early winter was approaching and it had rained last night, so the air was chilly and wet.

The carriage was soft and warm, with a hint of sweet gardenia scent.

Jia Cong had copied scriptures in Anding Temple for three days. Today was the day he would return to the city. Before dawn, Xiangling got up early to pack her things.

The mountain path was winding and the carriage was shaking. Xiangling was sleepy at her age and she didn't get enough sleep in the morning, so she felt drowsy soon.

Xue Ni's pretty little face tilted and rested on Jia Cong's right shoulder. She felt relieved and actually fell asleep.

Jia Cong lowered his head to look at her diamond-shaped lips. The new layer of rouge on them looked like a red jade with a halo, so smooth and tender that it was tempting to drip.

Qingwen used the gardenias from the Jia family's old house to make several boxes of rouge cream, filling the whole house with the sweet, floral scent.

Xiangling naturally got one such box as well.

When she was with Dong Lao Er before, she was lucky to have enough food and warm clothes, and she never used any rouge. Now, after being influenced by Qingwen several times, she naturally developed some girlish nature.

Since she came to Jia Cong's side, her life has been much better than before. She eats and sleeps well and has no worries. Her originally thin face has become rounder and more delicate and lovely.

……

Six or seven days have passed since the day Zou Huaiyi committed suicide in his mansion out of fear of punishment.

The emperor's edict arrived in Nanjing two days earlier than the order from the Five Military Commanderies. The words of Emperor Jiazhao in the edict were extremely harsh, demanding a thorough investigation of Zou Huaiyi, the head of the Water Inspectorate, and related accomplices, and severe punishment.

Now it seems that Zou Huaiyi had slit his throat decisively that day and died peacefully.

Otherwise, given the heinous crimes he had committed, under the emperor's wrath, even if he escaped the punishment of lingchi, he would still be sentenced to be beheaded and his body abandoned.

It is said that Jinling Commander Du Hengxin and Commander Zhang Kangnian actually petitioned for extrajudicial leniency for his wife and daughter.

But Zou Huaiyi had too many blood debts on his hands. He took advantage of his power to recruit and instruct Japanese ronin to kill people and hijack ships, trampling on the emperor's national policy of maritime trade that he was determined to promote. This was enough to confiscate their property and destroy their clan.

Not to mention the 61 lives that were killed in the Yingtian Prefecture government office at his instigation.

Emperor Jiazhao was a man of deep scheming and suspicion, and he was rather harsh in his treatment of his subjects. He was always ruthless towards those who disobeyed him.

Zou Huaiyi's deeds are too numerous to mention in detail, and how to serve as a warning to others is what Emperor Jiazhao is most concerned about.

He must be used to intimidate the corrupt officials in the officialdom, and there is no way he would be shown leniency outside the law just because of the requests of a few military officers of the garrison.

Along with the imperial edict came a group of officials from the Dali Temple and the Tuishuyuan, who were mainly responsible for taking over the investigation and prosecution of the criminals related to the Zou Huaiyi case and concluding all matters.

It would have been fine if the Dali Temple had sent its officials, but Emperor Jiazhao also asked the Court of Inquisition, which had a reputation for cruelty, to intervene in the matter. This showed that the emperor had murderous intentions.

Zou Huaiyi's single bad apple spoils the whole barrel, and the officialdom of Nanjing is about to usher in a bloody storm.

In fact, Jia Cong still had many doubts about the Zou Huaiyi case.

That day, Zou Huaiyi knew that he was in a desperate situation. Zhang Kangnian, the assistant commander of the Jinling Guard, advised him to surrender to the law and promised that he and his superiors would ensure the safety of his wife and daughter. His affection was sincere.

It was quite touching when I heard it at that time.

But when he recalled the scene later, Jia Cong felt a little creepy.

Although Zou Huaiyi knew that his crime had been exposed and his life was over, he did not completely lose the will to survive.

If Zhang Kangnian had not persuaded him to surrender and promised to protect his wife and daughter, would he have been provoked to commit suicide in court?

Indistinctly, it seemed that Zhang Kangnian persuaded him to die as a condition for saving his wife and daughter, and Zou Huaiyi immediately committed suicide, as if to make his death clear to Zhang Kangnian. Afterwards, Jia Cong recalled the strange scene countless times, and every time he thought of it, he would feel cold all over.

……

On that day, Jia Cong accidentally discovered that Zou Huaiyi was going to celebrate his 40th birthday, so he proposed to King Ning to seize this godsend opportunity and take advantage of the Zou family's birthday banquet to arrest him.

Because whenever a birthday party was held, there would not be overly strict security, and those who could come to celebrate his birthday must have a close relationship with Zou Huaiyi, and some of them were his accomplices.

Moreover, the information about the prisoners in Yingtianfu Prison was kept very strictly confidential and had never leaked out.

Jia Cong was inspired by the square iron plate sent by Qu Hongxiu, and released the news that Prince Ning occasionally captured important figures of the Hidden Sect and imprisoned them in the Yingtian Prefecture Prison, deliberately confusing the public.

This also made Zou Huaiyi and others relax their vigilance. Until the day Jia Cong returned to Jinling from Yangzhou, everything was calm, which was considered a fluke.

That day, Zou Huaiyi committed suicide, and Prince Ning rushed to Zou's mansion afterwards. All the guests were temporarily detained, and after interrogation, many suspicious people were arrested on the spot, which really achieved twice the result with half the effort.

A few days ago, officials from the Dali Temple and the Magistrates' Court based their investigation on the fragments of documents seized from the Water Conservancy Bureau and the confessions of related accomplices.

The two hundred thousand foreign goods that disappeared on the day of the Longtan Port incident were found in a remote vacant house in the north of the city. At this point, Zou Huaiyi was finally apprehended.

However, Zou Huaiyi instigated Japanese ronin to commit dozens of major crimes offshore and loot countless foreign goods and assets, the amount of which is estimated to be huge.

Excluding the two hundred thousand in property and the seized property from the Zou Mansion, the total amount was less than one-tenth or one-twelfth of the estimated amount.

Also, where did all that staggering amount of stolen property go? Was its beneficiary just a mere Water Supervision Bureau?

Zou Huaiyi committed suicide hastily and took on all the blame for the Longtan Port case. Many unknown secrets were left unproven from then on.

Perhaps this will save the person behind Zou Huaiyi. Maybe this person is Zhang Kangnian, who has a higher official position than Zou Huaiyi, or he may be a more powerful figure than Zhang Kangnian.

It turns out that this big shot is Du Hengxin, the commander-in-chief of the Jinling Guards, a third-rank military officer who commands tens of thousands of soldiers and is a frontier official.

But all this was just his speculation, without any real evidence. Given his character, he would never tell King Ning about these nonsense.

At that time, there were dozens of Ning Wang's personal guards around him. What he could see, these people could also see. Naturally, someone would report the scene at that time to Ning Wang. It was up to Ning Wang himself to make his own judgment.

If all his speculations are true, then the implications behind this matter are too huge.

He was just a little scholar and only occasionally served as the counselor of Prince Ning. He had done what he could, and that was enough.

He still has a long way to go. Being involved in such an unpredictable matter will do him more harm than good, and the development of the situation is completely beyond his control.

The wisest thing to do is to withdraw from it in time.

It has been more than two months since I arrived in Jinling, but I haven't had many peaceful days. Instead, I have encountered a lot of trouble.

Fortunately, within a few days after he returned from Zou Mansion, matters related to the Jinling Longtan Port case had been taken over by the Dali Temple and the Court of Inquiries.

Jia Cong would wait for an opportunity to withdraw, hiding in Anding Temple to concentrate on copying scriptures, or spending time with a few maids in the old house in Xinglongfang.

……

The carriage was almost reaching Xinglongfang, but Xiangling was still sleeping soundly, leaning softly on Jia Cong's shoulder.

It was not until Jia Cong pinched her soft earlobe that she woke up dazedly: "Master, are we there yet?"

When he entered his own yard, he saw Wu'er wearing a pine green jacket with white plum embroidery on the cuffs and a long emerald green skirt underneath. She was graceful and charming, and greeted him with a smile on her face: "Third Master is back."

Wu'er took off his outer shirt and changed him into loose home clothes. She also helped him take off his boots and put on soft shoes, and brought warm water to wash his face.

(End of this chapter)