The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 1142 - 1142 557 Pulling the firewood from under the cauldron

Chapter 1142: 557 Pulling the firewood from under the cauldron! (Second Update) Chapter 1142: 557 Pulling the firewood from under the cauldron! (Second Update) Minister Xing had absolute trust in Xiao Liulang, first because Xiao Liulang was just a frail scholar who, facing a vicious criminal, could not ever possibly commit murder to silence someone, and second, because Xiao Liulang had always made an impression as someone who avoided worldly affairs and was incorruptible and upright.

Nobody could fabricate evidence, but Xiao Liulang would not!

Far from worrying that Xiao Liulang might falsify anything, Minister Xing was more concerned that Xiao Liulang, seeing a living person die before his eyes, might feel compunction and be left with a shadow over his investigation.

Minister Xing did not recall in the slightest that Xiao Hen had once worked as a coroner; having dissected corpses, was he going to be scared by a living person dying?

The main thing was that Xiao Hen’s current state made him look rather shaken, “…If only I had given him a heavier dose, he wouldn’t have recovered so quickly and committed suicide out of fear of his crimes. We could have learned much more.”

Yes, that man had only confessed to a royal princess but did not specify which one.

This was where Xiao Hen’s cleverness lay.

Sometimes such a small regret or imperfection could instead make an event seem more natural and logical.

Minister Xing patted Xiao Hen’s shoulder, consoling him, “You’ve already done very well. Not just anyone would’ve been able to find any clues.”

“I appealed to his emotions and reasoned with him…” Xiao Hen started to say, then hesitated, a flicker of doubt crossing his face.

Minister Xing said to the two yamen officers, “You go in and clean things up a bit first. Liulang, come with me.”

“Yes.”

Xiao Hen followed Minister Xing to his office.

“Do you have something to say?” Minister Xing asked.

Xiao Hen replied, “Bai Kun did not commit suicide out of fear of his crimes. He committed suicide by biting his tongue because he dared not reveal his mastermind behind the scenes.”

Minister Xing looked curiously at the confession that had just been placed on the table. “Then this confession…?”

Xiao Hen nodded, “The confession is real. I… used a bit of torture on him, but that is as much as he dared to say. He was profoundly secretive about that person’s name and would not reveal it no matter what.”

It made more sense now; Minister Xing had been puzzled. How could an assassin so easily commit suicide out of fear for his crimes? If he was afraid of committing crimes, why become an assassin?

Minister Xing mused, “It appears that this person is extremely cunning, enough to intimidate an assassin to his death without daring to speak her name. But who could it be?”

To call her a sister of the current emperor meant she was one of the present emperor’s sisters.

The late emperor had many children, including seven princesses, but only four were younger than the emperor, namely Princess Ning An, Princess Xinyang, Princess Deqing, and Princess Huaiqing.

Among them, Princess Deqing had died of illness two years earlier.

Princess Huaiqing’s mother was a cousin of the late emperor and held the title Luan Zhaoyi.

Luan Zhaoyi had once been favored, but since giving birth to the intellectually challenged Princess Huaiqing, both mother and daughter had fallen out of favor.

So the question remained: Who was actually the young master of Xianle Inn? Was it the mentally challenged Princess Huaiqing, Princess Xinyang, or… Princess Ning An?!

“I will make a trip to the imperial palace. Besides, Bai Kun committed suicide out of fear for his crimes.”

“Yes.”

Severe torture often led to people confessing under duress; to prevent unnecessary trouble for Xiao Hen, Minister Xing decided to handle Bai Kun’s case as a suicide out of fear.

Whether others would be convinced was a test of Minister Xing’s own ability.

Minister Xing reminded him, “His Majesty may summon you. Just remember, you did not use torture. You moved him with empathy and enlightened him with reason, sincerely urging him to confess.”

“Yes.”

Xiao Hen said, “My lord, there is something else I forgot to mention.”

Minister Xing asked, “What is it?”

Xiao Hen said earnestly, “Hua Xiyao is in league with them; she is also an important witness. I think she might know something.”

…

About the events before returning to the Ministry of Justice, Xiao Hen also wrote a document detailing the events.

In the document he stated outright that Mo Qianxue was still alive, had approached Gu Jiao under the guise of a patient, but he omitted the fact that they knew each other, only mentioning that Gu Jiao had not known the other party was Xianle Inn’s courtesan, thinking she was just a regular wounded person.

A healer’s benevolence; she had found her on the road and brought her back to the Medical Hall for treatment.

During this time, an assassin from Xianle Inn made an attempt on Mo Qianxue’s life, but in reality, it was to divert attention so Mo Qianxue could seize the opportunity to assassinate Gu Jiao.

Little did she know that Gu Jiao, unaware of the situation, fought desperately to protect Mo Qianxue, even suffering injuries in the process.

Mo Qianxue was moved by Gu Jiao’s actions and abandoned her intent to assassinate her.

Three days ago, Xianle Inn’s Hua Xiyao approached Mo Qianxue, pressing her to lure Gu Jiao out of the capital city.

Mo Qianxue knew that there was little chance for Gu Jiao to survive the ordeal, and she could not bring herself to do it.

Mo Qianxue then devised a plan; she drugged both Gu Jiao and Hua Xiyao, disguising Hua Xiyao as Gu Jiao, using the pretense of escorting “Gu Jiao” out of the capital to make her escape.

Gu Jiao and Xiao Hen had been monitoring her closely, and they immediately gave chase out of the city, which led to the later events of killing the expert and capturing Hua Xiyao and bringing them back to the Ministry of Justice.

Minister Xing knew about Gu Jiao, the renowned physician of the Medical Hall, Xiao Hen’s wife.

It seemed the true culprit behind the scenes must have had a grudge against Gu Jiao or had some conflict of interest with her.

Princess Huaiqing could be mostly ruled out. Not to mention that she was intellectually challenged, she did not reside in the capital and had never met Gu Jiao, having no conflicts of interest with her.

So only Princess Xinyang and Princess Ning An who had returned to the Capital City over the past year remained.

“My lord, there’s something I’m not sure whether I should say or not.”

“Liulang, you speak.”

“The son-in-law… he was killed by the Gu siblings working together.”

Xiao Hen was stupefied in the duty room for a long time…

Given the gravity of the matter, which involved the imperial family, Xiao Hen had to report to His Majesty no matter what.

Xiao Liulang knew Xiao Hen would go to see His Majesty.

With the precedent set by the quiet imperial consort, Xiao Liulang would no longer leave the decision solely in His Majesty’s hands.

He wanted this matter to be known to the world, understood by all officials!

If His Majesty wished to deal with the mastermind behind the scenes, that would be for the best, but if he didn’t want to… then let the whole world force him to act!

Xiao Hen’s carriage was halfway to its destination when it met the carriage of Yuan Family’s Prime Minister.

His rank being lower than the Prime Minister’s, he naturally had to disembark and pay his respects to Yuan. Unexpectedly, Huo Jijiu was also on the Prime Minister’s carriage.

In terms of official hierarchy, Xiao Hen ranked one and a half ranks above the Guozijian, but who didn’t know that Huo Jijiu was a veteran official who had served two dynasties and was a confidant of His Majesty, equal to the Prime Minister in seniority?

The two parties exchanged pleasantries.

The Prime Minister glanced at him and asked, “Xiao Hen, you look quite hurried. Has something happened?”

“Ah, this….” Xiao Hen found it inconvenient to reveal case details and simply said, “There has been a development in the Xianle Inn case, and I was planning to report it to His Majesty.”

Huo Jijiu looked puzzled and asked, “What development requires disturbing His Majesty? Does this case involve His Majesty?”

Xiao Hen gave an embarrassed smile, “This… I must avoid speaking further, and I ask the Prime Minister and Huo Jijiu to forgive me.”

“It’s no trouble.” The Prime Minister nodded understandingly and gestured for him to return to his carriage.

Xiao Hen bowed and said, “Then, I shall take my leave.”

Just as he turned around, Huo Jijiu suddenly uttered an “aiyo” and fell out of the Prime Minister’s carriage.

He fell with too much technical skill, perfectly avoiding the coachman’s attempt to catch him, and Xiao Hen’s expression changed as he hurried to help him up.

He managed to help him, but in the process he tore his own sleeve, and two documents scattered on the ground.

“I’ll pick them up, I’ll pick them up!” Huo Jijiu, without waiting to steady himself, bent down and picked up a confession letter and a case dossier written by Xiao Liulang, exclaiming, “Ah!”

He appeared to glance at the documents in his hands inadvertently, “Why… how could this be…”

Xiao Hen quickly took the documents back, folded them neatly, and stuffed them into his other sleeve, saying flusteredly, “I must take my leave!”

Huo Jijiu returned to the Prime Minister’s carriage.

The Prime Minister looked sternly at him.

Huo Jijiu had an expression as if he had been struck by lightning and said in a daze, “Old Yuan, guess what I saw?”

The Prime Minister’s brow furrowed, Are we that close? When did you start calling me Old Yuan?

Although the Prime Minister and Huo Jijiu had both served the court for many years, their relationship was not close.

The only connection was that they both were friends with Elder Feng.

Only Elder Feng was closer with Huo Jijiu.

The reason Huo Jijiu was on the Prime Minister’s carriage today was that he had encountered Huo Jijiu halfway, whose carriage had broken down, and Huo Jijiu, thick-skinned, had asked if the Prime Minister could give him a lift.

Could the Prime Minister refuse him?

Reluctantly, he had to let him aboard his carriage.

And hence this scene unfolded.

Huo Jijiu continued with a look of panic, “I saw a confession from the Ministry of Justice, stating that the young master of Xianle Inn is actually a Royal Princess of Zhan Country, a sister of His Majesty.”

“The document you were holding just now was not a confession,” the Prime Minister pointed out curtly.

Huo Jijiu: “…”

Prime Minister: “And you fell on purpose, you tore Xiao Hen’s sleeve deliberately, do you think I’m blind?”

Huo Jijiu: “…”

The tea art master finally met his match.

Huo Jijiu: “Anyway, I saw it, and I’ve told you. If news about this case spreads throughout the Capital City later, I will say it came from the Yuan Family.”

The highest realm of tea art mastery is when the tea cup overturns, the tea spills, then there’s no point in pretending anymore.

The Prime Minister’s mouth twitched, “Have you no shame?”

Huo Jijiu considered it very seriously, “No, I can’t.”

Prime Minister: “…”