The Mystery of Zhang Gong

When That Woman Died, She Was Still Holding Her Son’s Bone Ashes, Which’d Been Put In a White Porcelain Brush Pot. It Was the Exact Same Brush Pot Master Brought Back. It Was Rolled in Blood with the Ashes Mixed Into It…

Wang Yan said, “What do you mean ‘haunted’? It’s obviously a person playing tricks.” 

Secretariat Qiao’s expression turned dignified. “But, My Lord, it is said the brush pot was locked in an empty room with the doors and windows locked well! It’s a hidden chamber! If it’s a person playing tricks, then how did they do it?” 

Wang Yan laughed with a sneer. “Hidden chamber my ass! The person had already gone in and replaced the brush pot with ashes – how can it still be called a hidden chamber? We don’t need to pay attention to this kind of trick; I just want to know why they did this.”

Secretariat Qiao said, “My Lord is right – why did that person do this?”

Wang Yan replied, “It’s very likely someone wanted to borrow Chen Zishang’s years-old case to overturn some waves. Secretariat Qiao, how will you be investigating this?”

Secretariat Qiao’s expression flickered. “This… I don’t know either…”

Wang Yan smiled. Secretariat Qiao had always been Tao Zhoufeng’s parrot; perhaps Tao Zhoufeng had no plan for this case, so he let Secretariat Qiao sound out some opinions. 

Sure enough, in the afternoon, Tao Zhoufeng called Wang Yan over and told him the Court of Judicial Reviews received a major case; it needed the Court of Judicial Reviews, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate to gather for a joint hearing. Tao Zhoufeng needed to attend to this case, so he couldn’t look after Liu Yuan’s case, hence he asked Wang Yan to take over for him. 

Wang Yan gladly took over, and said to Tao Zhoufeng, “I still have Palace Graduate Ma’s murder case in my hands, so during my investigation, there may be fewer formal courtesies to speed it up. I hope Lord Liu won’t blame me for being offensive.”

Tao Zhoufeng replied, “Don’t worry, Lord Liu Yuan has a good temper. If you found the truth earlier, he’ll be more at ease. This swift and decisive style is your strength; display it well.”

Wang Yan said, “Thank My Lord for your praise – I’ll definitely display it to my heart’s content.” 

The moment he exited the government affairs’ palace hall, Wang Yan immediately ordered his subordinate, “Get Constable Bi to take someone to Liu Residence and bring back the brush pot that’d turned into ashes. Bring all the servants that have worked less than seven years at Liu Residence back to the Ministry of Justice. Then, appoint someone to visit the Ministry of Rites; tell them I urgently need the dossiers on Ma Lian and Chen Chou!”

The Ministry of Justice’s constables rushed to Liu Residence whilst Secretariat Qiao arrived at the Ministry of Rites to transfer the dossiers. 

Lan Jue personally acquired the dossiers for Secretariat Qiao. Lan Jue guessed the reason why Wang Yan only needed Ma Lian and Chen Chou’s dossiers was because he wanted to investigate whether Ma Lian’s murder case was related to Chen Zishang’s case from six years ago. 

Six years ago, the main culprit behind the miscarriage of justice against Chen Zishang was Ma Hong; six years later, Ma Lian was murdered and one of the suspects were named Chen Chou. 

Both had surnames Ma and Chen; such a coincidence was indeed suspicious. 

Only, Lan Jue faintly something was a little odd – if Liu Yuan was not willing, Tao Zhoufeng wouldn’t have transferred this case to Wang Yan. The Capital’s Magistrate Zhao and the Court of Judicial Reviews’ Qing Dengxu both had friendly relations with the Liu Family; they were both specialised in solving cases, especially Dengxu. A haunted brush pot couldn’t be considered a big issue, so why did Liu Yuan report this matter to the Ministry of Justice and let Wang Yan investigate it? 

»»————-¤————-««

The constables leashed a long, majestic line of servants from the Liu Residence back to the Ministry of Justice, attracting many people from the sidewalks to watch and tut in amazement. “Assistant Minister Wang is truly worthy of being the Imperial Tutor’s son – it’s in his blood! He arrests criminals the same way his father recruited soldiers; in a bunch!” 

Zhang Ping and the others were still squatting in their cells. They saw the constables push a densely packed group of people and arrange a separate cell for each of them. Chen Chou was surprised. “Oh my lord, which case is this for? There are so many suspects!”

Several people were locked into a cell neighbouring them. Chen Chou moved closer to them to chat with them. “How did you get in? Which case are you from?” 

One of them replied dispiritedly, “We’re servants from the Ministry of Appointments’ Assistant Minister’s residence. Our Master bought a haunted brush pot a few days ago. The Ministry of Justice suspects we’re the one making trouble, which is why they put us here.”

Chen Chou’s spirit was instantly raised. “How can a brush pot be haunted?”

That person looked around before lowering his voice. “We’re not too sure either. But we’ve heard that one year, our Master sentenced someone unjustly and caused a scholar to die with grievances. This brush pot was used to hold his bone ashes. His vengeful spirit has come back to take revenge…” 

Several scholars narrowed their eyes; Zhang Ping raised his head from his bowl of porridge. Chen Chou was shocked. “Could it be Chen Zishang’s case?” 

Not long after the Liu Residence’s servants were put in prison, the Ministry of Appointment’s Assistant Minister Liu Yuan’s sedan chair stopped outside the Ministry of Justice’s entrance. 

“Assistant Minister Wang, your swift and decisive style is truly admirable, but isn’t it improper to arrest so many of my residence’s servants and put them in prison?” 

Wang Yan tossed down the dossier in his hands. “Very well. Lord Liu, I suspect this case is related to Chen Zishang’s case from six years ago and is implicated with another case on my hands. In order to solve the case as soon as possible, I have no choice but to act a bit more extreme. Lord Liu has come at just the right time. I just wanted to go pay my respects to Lord Liu and ask you something important – how did Lord Liu obtain the brush pot?”

Liu Yuan sighed softly. “I obtained it by accident… The other day, because of an official business, I visited the ghost market…”

The Emperor had just ascended the throne and needed to rectify political corruption. The Imperial Court received a report that several officials had accepted bribes; since they couldn’t pile the valuables in their residence, they privately sold them. 

On the outskirts of the Capital, there was a ghost market. Originally, the children of fallen rich families would come here and sell items from their homes. However, because they couldn’t bear revealing their faces, they’d set up stalls late at night. There’d only be an oil lamp on the stalls for illumination, preventing people who were buying to see who was selling. Later, the market gradually became climactic and turned into a designated black market; it’d open at around the (1) third or fourth night watch period and close at the fifth night watch period before dawn. 

The Censorate caught wind that this black market had become a specific location for officials to sell any bribes they received; behind was the influence of manipulation. 

Liu Yuan and two other officials from the Censorate and the Court of Judicial Reviews disguised themselves as ordinary citizens to explore the ghost market and sound out the situation. 

In order to disguise themselves properly, all three of them casually bought some small, cheap items from the stalls. Hence, Liu Yuan bought the brush pot in passing. 

Wang Yan asked, “Does Lord Liu still remember the appearance of the seller? Why did you choose to buy this brush pot?”

Liu Yuan helplessly said, “None of the stall owners from the ghost market can be recognised. From their voice, they sounded like an adult man. I usually like collecting essentials of calligraphy and scholarship; at that time, I just happened to hear him calling out, so I went to take a look.” 

Wang Yan frowned. “What other items were on the stall?”

Liu Yuan replied, “Brushes, brush pots, ink slabs, fans, and such. Under the dim lighting, it was hard to distinguish good from bad. Only the brush pot was made from porcelain and whole. The price wasn’t high either, so I bought it.”

Wang Yan asked, “When did Lord Liu find out there was something wrong with the brush pot?”

Liu Yuan replied, “The brush pot I bought clearly had a landscape painting on its surface; after I returned home, it turned into a white porcelain brush pot and even had a crack.” 

At that time, after Liu Yuan paid the money, the stall owner had used a black cloth to wrap the brush pot for him. When he brought it home and Liu Yuan opened the cloth bag, the brush pot’s appearance had changed. 

Wang Yan raised his eyebrows. “What does Lord Liu think the crack looked like?”

Liu Yuan responded, “It looked similar to a flowering branch.”

When Liu Yuan saw this white porcelain brush pot, he couldn’t help but remember Chen Zishang’s case from a few years ago. Chen Zishang’s mother had been run over in front of the Ministry of Justice. The white porcelain brush pot that contained Chen Zishang’s bone ashes in her arms unexpectedly didn’t break. It rolled on the ground, causing the ashes to scatter all over the ground; the brush pot and bone ashes were stained with Mother Chen’s blood. Whenever Liu Yuan had nightmares, he’d dream of this scene before waking up dripping with cold sweat. 

But in front of Wang Yan, he didn’t say these things; he only said his wife found this slightly ominous. Women had no knowledge or experience, so he offered the brush pot to their (2) Buddhist hall. 

Wang Yan asked again, “Usually, can everyone enter the Buddhist hall?” 

Liu Yuan replied, “Only women can enter the Buddhist hall. Usually, my wife would burn incense while one or two of her maids cleans.”

On the second night the brush pot was offered to the Buddhist hall, two maids cried to Madam Liu saying there was a flame in the Buddhist hall. Through the window, they saw a man’s shadow and even heard a man’s sigh. 

Liu Yuan personally brought their guard to check the Buddhist hall, but there weren’t any traces in the Buddhist hall nor any scents of newly lit candles. 

Hence, Liu Yuan said it was complete nonsense and taught the maids a lesson. Unexpectedly, one day, while Madam Liu was chanting sutras in the Buddist hall, she heard a man’s sigh. Madam Liu was so frightened she’d sat paralysed on the floor; then, she heard an old woman’s sigh. Madam Liu invited a senior monk from a temple to recite the sutra for releasing souls from purgatory and even had him make suppressing talismans and locked the Buddhist hall. Until this morning, when the brush pot turned into ashes. 

Wang Yan’s coroner had tested the ashes brought back from Liu Residence; they were indeed bone ashes. 

Wang closed the dossier and said to Liu Yuan, “Lord Liu, I have a tentative inference that this case should be related to Chen Zishang’s case from six years ago. The strange things happening in your residence is someone deceiving you; however, the criminal hasn’t hurt Lord Liu or other people and it’s unclear what their intentions are, which was why I brought all the servants that began working at your residence at around the time of Chen Zishang’s case to the Ministry of Justice. I also ask Lord Liu to carefully think about this; around Chen Zishang’s case to this moment, excluding the issue with the haunted brush pot, have there been any suspicious people or strange events that occurred?” 

Liu Yuan replied, “After that case, I accepted responsibility and resigned from my post. I am indebted to His Majesty for not abandoning me and re-enabling me. My home affairs have always been managed by my wife and housekeeper, hence, I must go back home and inquire first before answering your question.” He stood up and cupped his hands. “But Lord Wang is a nimble thinker and has sharp judgments; I hold endless admiration. I have to trust Lord Wang.” 

»»————-¤————-««

Liu Residence’s servants were locked up in prison, yet they still hadn’t been brought to court for interrogation. Chen Chou sighed. “It seems Assistant Minister Wang’s hobby is to arrest people and lock them in prison for fun.” 

He was still complaining before several prison guards surrounding an officer wearing a blue robe walked to the door of their cell and opened it. 

Chen Chou recognised the officer as Physician Kong. 

Physician Kong held a piece of paper and read, “Gao Yang Gui, Gong Qinchuan, and Zhang Ping – the Assistant Minister has an order. You can all leave.” 

The scholars were taken aback. Chen Chou jumped off from his pallet. “What about me? Me, Brother Han, Brother Lu – why can’t we go out?”

Physician Kong was expressionless. “There’s naturally a reason for why you can’t leave.” He waved away Zhang Ping and the others. “Quickly leave first.”

Zhang Ping climbed up; Chen Chou pulled the corner of his clothing with a face full of tears. “Brother Zhang – last time it was you, this time it’s me. After you leave, investigate the truth for me; you must get me out of here! Assistant Minister Wang even released Gong Qinchuan, yet he didn’t release us – I think the Ministry of Justice is truly unreliable!” 

Physician Kong’s expression darkened; he pretended he didn’t hear it and didn’t bother bickering back. Gong Qinchuan grinned. “The Assistant Minister distinguishes right from wrong with acuity; his mind naturally understands better than Brother Chen that I’m innocent. I’ll be leaving first – Brother Chen, take care of yourself!” He patted Chen Chou’s shoulder before shaking his sleeves and leaving. 

Zhang Ping consoled Chen Chou with a few words before also leaving the cell. 

The weather was hot and stuffy. Zhang Ping had been locked in prison for a very long time, so his body has turned unbearably smelly. The flies on the street abandoned the filth in hidden corners and all came close to him. 

Zhang Ping walked out the Ministry of Justice’s main entrance and lingered there for a moment. He recalled the gossip from Liu Residence’s servants in the prison. 

“…How can our Master not be afraid? That year, the vengeful spirit, Chen Zishang’s, mother was run over in front of the Ministry of Justice; our Master’s sedan chair just so happened to arrive at the Ministry of Justice. It was truly tragic. I saw it with my own eyes… When that woman died, she was still holding her son’s bone ashes, which’d been put in a white porcelain brush pot. It was the exact same brush pot Master brought back. It was rolled in blood with the ashes mixed into it… At that time, my legs softened whilst Master couldn’t even leave the sedan chair for a long period of time…” 

Zhang Ping had just left the prison before Chen Chou, Lu Zhonghe, and Han Weijuan were brought before court by Wang Yan. 

The constables brought the three of them to a silent room; they even brought in chairs for them to sit in and poured three cups of tea. 

Chen Chou and the other two sat, trembling with fear; after Wang Yan sat on the seat of honour, he looked at them with an amicable manner. 

“I’ve read your statements; there’s an issue I was never able to solve. The three of you failed the Imperial Examination and went to drink alcohol to drown your sorrows. Why did you choose to sit by the lake Examinee Chen Zishang had killed himself at after suffering from false accusations six years ago?” 

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(1) Third, fourth, and fifth night watch period – respectively, 11pm-1am, 1am-3am, and 3am-5am.

(2) Buddhist Hall – a family hall for worshipping Buddha.