Xu Qi An’s mood shifted from disappointment to excitement. Undoubtedly, Hengyuan’s so-called story was likely about Henghu and Princess Pingyang.
What happened to them was key to solving the Sangbo case. So far, the demon clan hadn’t shown up, with only Henghu causing trouble using the sealed object. This couldn’t help but make one ponder: what did the remnants of the Myriad Demon Kingdom want to accomplish?
Cause destruction? So far, there has only been one case of the Ping Yuan Marquis family’s extermination. While its impact was significant, the actual damage wasn’t severe. Henghu could have easily gone on a killing spree without regard for consequences, bringing major casualties to the capital. But he didn’t do that.
The sealed object? If that was the only goal, Henghu should have left the capital long ago.
“The case of Monk Henghu and Princess Pingyang has, by now, overshadowed the Sangbo case. It feels like someone behind the scenes is deliberately exposing Henghu to the light.”
Yang Yan lightly tapped with his spear tip, his qi tearing apart Monk Hengyuan’s sleeve, revealing a pair of muscular arms that contained powerful strength, but were certainly not those of a demon.
“Henghu is indeed dead. He died a year ago. What survived was just a walking corpse. He has now found release. This is not some conspiracy,” Hengyuan looked at his junior disciple who was just an arm’s length away, his eyes seeming to gather storm clouds.
After a moment, the clouds in Hengyuan’s eyes collapsed, and memories poured down like a torrential rain.
Henghu was sent to Qinglong Temple by his parents at the age of six. He was a child with intelligence shining in his eyes, which immediately caught the attention of Abbot Panshu, who took him as a disciple.
Henghu’s enlightenment was completed under the guidance of his senior disciple Hengyuan. This burly senior disciple, who always looked as if he bore a great grudge, taught him to read and write, instructed him in meditation and chanting sutras, and also taught him the principles of how to conduct oneself.
He revered this senior disciple with the respect one would have for a father.
Years passed in the blink of an eye, and the clever little monk grew into a handsome young monk. He thought he would spend his years like his master and senior disciple, passing his days in the ancient temple with Buddha and oil lamps.
Until one day, he met a girl.
It was a sunny spring day. He was washing clothes in the stream when he saw a handkerchief floating down with the current. He instinctively fished it out, and then heard a voice as clear as an oriole’s song:
“Master, that’s my handkerchief. Can you return it to me?”
Henghu raised his gaze and saw a graceful young woman standing by the upstream rocks. She wore a lotus-colored long dress, her hair styled in the manner of an unmarried maiden. Her face was bare of makeup, pretty under the sunlight, with a pair of smiling eyes.
“Is the female benefactor a temple visitor?”
“What, if I say I’m not a visitor, you won’t return my handkerchief?” She put her hands on her hips, feigning coquettishness.
“No, no, this humble monk just thought the female benefactor’s face was unfamiliar,” he explained while offering the handkerchief with both hands.
“Hmph, you only know how to keep your head down doing chores and chanting sutras every day. How would you notice any visitors?”
“How does the female benefactor know this?”
“Because I’ve been watching you for a long time.”
On that sunny spring afternoon, with the gentle stream flowing, they met for the first time.
Their acquaintance and growing familiarity was a natural process.
When Henghu meditated, the young lady would keep him company, reading her secretly kept boudoir novels to pass the time, or gently fanning herself, resting her chin on her hand, staring absentmindedly at Henghu’s focused face.
Occasionally, she would tease him with a blade of grass, preventing him from concentrating on his meditation, which greatly troubled the handsome monk. Angrily, he would say: If you keep doing this, this humble monk will go into closed-door cultivation.
She would always stick out the tip of her tongue, apologizing without much sincerity.
Sometimes they would go sightseeing together. Baifeng Mountain had beautiful scenery. When spring came, the mountain would be covered in a sea of wildflowers. She would smile among the flowers, and it was hard to tell whether the flowers were more beautiful or she was.
Gradually, rumors about the two of them spread among the monks of Qinglong Temple, saying he hadn’t purified his six senses, had broken the precept of celibacy, and was a lecherous monk.
Master Panshu, in front of the Buddha statue, asked him three questions: Whether he was still devout to Buddha; whether he had intentions towards that girl; whether he wanted to return to secular life.
He firmly said that he was still devout to Buddha; had no intentions towards the girl; and wished to always accompany Buddha, not returning to secular life.
To this, the abbot had only one requirement: to no longer speak with her.
As for why it wasn’t “no longer see her” or “don’t let her enter the temple,” Henghu later learned that it wasn’t that the abbot didn’t want to, but that he couldn’t do it.
She was Princess Pingyang, the legitimate daughter of Prince Yu.
From that day on, Henghu indeed no longer paid attention to her. When she came, he would close his eyes to meditate, unmoved by her teasing and pranks.
She would come every day full of hope, and leave disappointed and lonely.
“Monk, isn’t this flower pretty? It suits me well.”
“”
“Monk, shall I play the zither for you? I brought it, especially from home.”
“”
“Monk, I feel dizzy and unwell. Don’t you care about me?”
“”
“Monk, do you have to confine yourself to loneliness?”
“”
She finally stopped coming. For a whole month, she didn’t set foot in Qinglong Temple, completely withdrawing from his life, as if she had never existed.
I can continue to accompany Buddha, with no one to disturb me anymore, he sighed in relief, feeling that his sincerity had moved Buddha.
One day, she came again, looking dispirited, her face thinner, her appearance haggard.
“Monk, I’m getting married.”
For some reason, his prayer beads scattered all over the ground.
At that time, Prince Yu was at a crucial moment, serving as the Minister of War, with the support of the noble families, he was likely to enter the imperial cabinet.
In the six hundred years of this dynasty’s history, there had been five examples of nobles or royal family members serving as Prime Minister.
For the gradually weakening noble faction, Prince Yu’s rise gave them hope. They pushed him forward continuously.
Prince Yu, at the center of attention, had arranged a marriage for Princess Pingyang. It was both to find a good home for his daughter and an attempt to gain more support through this marriage alliance.
“Monk, are you willing to elope with me?”
“Yes.”
Henghu agreed. He finally saw clearly into his own heart and chose to face his true self.
They began to plan their elopement. Princess Pingyang was always accompanied by guards when she went out. If she disappeared for more than half an hour, the guards would search the mountains, and soon after, the news would reach Prince Yu’s mansion.
So, to successfully elope, they needed a magical item that could conceal their aura to evade the search by the Astronomical Bureau’s practitioners.
Finally, they needed someone who could prepare new household registrations for them and help them leave the capital’s territory.
For this, Princess Pingyang sought out a trustworthy friend, hoping for help…
“It was the eldest son of the Ping Yuan Marquis? That friend was the eldest son of the Ping Yuan Marquis?!” Xu Qi An interrupted Hengyuan’s story with a deep voice.
Everything suddenly became clear. The Ping Yuan Marquis controlled an organization of brokers, specializing in identity forgery and smuggling. Even if Princess Pingyang didn’t know about the broker organization, as the families were close acquaintances, it was reasonable for her to know some of the Ping Yuan Marquis family’s methods.
Prince Yu had once said that the Ping Yuan Marquis was cozying up to the civil officials and growing distant from the noble faction. The Ping Yuan Marquis had a motive to harm Pingyang.
This also explains the later massacre of the Ping Yuan Marquis family… Just not sure what role the Ministry of War played in all this… Xu Qi An looked at Number Six Hengyuan, thinking, Is it because you knew they had contact with the broker organization that you believed they were abducted?
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he didn’t dare to ask out loud.
Several Gold badge constables, hearing Xu Qi An’s words, looked at Hengyuan with questioning gazes.
“Yes,” Hengyuan nodded lightly. “The naive Princess Pingyang had no idea of the complexities of court politics, let alone the wickedness of human hearts. A sheltered young lady and a sutra-chanting monk, from the moment they decided to elope, their tragic end was already sealed.”
“By that time, the Ping Yuan Marquis and the noble faction were already at odds beneath a facade of unity. Upon learning of this through his son, he immediately consulted with the then Vice Minister of War Zhang Feng, and the Senior Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue Sun Mingzhong, devising a plan to send Princess Pingyang out of the capital, thereby striking a blow against Prince Yu.”
“Where is Princess Pingyang now?” Jiang Luzhong asked in a deep voice.
Hengyuan seemed not to have heard and continued: “Human hearts are as venomous as snakes and scorpions. After sending the person out of the capital, the eldest son of the Ping Yuan Marquis, along with the sons of Senior Supervising Secretary Sun Mingzhong and Vice Minister Zhang Feng, intended to assault Princess Pingyang on the way.
“The two fought desperately, and in the end, one was killed, and one swallowed a hairpin to commit suicide. To cover up their crime, they buried the bodies of Henghu and Princess Pingyang in a desolate mountain, along with the magical items that could conceal their aura.
“The outside world only knew that Princess Pingyang had disappeared without reason. Even if the investigation led to the Qinglong Temple, people would only think they had eloped. Who could have imagined they had died a year ago.”
Princess Pingyang is dead… The Gold-badge constables exchanged silent glances, their faces terrifyingly solemn.
Princess Pingyang was the legitimate daughter of Prince Yu, the niece of Emperor Yuanjing. Killing a princess was a crime punishable by the extermination of three clans.
Nangong Qianrou gripped her sword hilt, narrowing her eyes: “If Henghu had already died, why did he appear here a year later?”
This was also the confusion in everyone’s minds.
When a person dies, it’s like a lamp going out. It’s impossible to come back to life.
“He was already dead,” Hengyuan said something the others couldn’t understand.
“He died a year ago, with his soul sealed in his body by a secret technique, becoming a walking corpse without consciousness. What sustained him this past year was revenge. The deep-seated hatred for Princess Pingyang’s death.
“If you don’t believe me, take him back to the office and have the coroner examine him.”
“Who saved him?” a Gold badge constable questioned.
Hengyuan shook his head.
That Gold-badge constable exchanged glances with Yang Yan and others, then said: “Where is Princess Pingyang’s body? Take us there.”
After a pause, he instructed the surrounding Silver-badge constables: “Send Henghu’s body back to the office.”
Several Gold badge constables escorted Hengyuan out of the small courtyard, gave him a horse, and the group set out of the city grandly.
Xu Qi An, riding on horseback, felt somewhat heavy-hearted. He remained silent for a while, then said in a low voice: “Is that Hengyuan? Is it possible he’s been possessed or controlled?”
The gray cat lazily sprawled on his shoulder said: “It’s Hengyuan alright. Heh, although I can’t see auras, I have my methods to distinguish truth from falsehood.”
“Is Henghu dead?” Xu Qi An didn’t quite believe it.
“Whether he’s dead or alive isn’t the key to the case,” the gray cat said softly. “He was just a puppet. Now that the demon’s hand is gone, his life or death is no longer important to those behind the scenes. You should be happy; the case is being solved more easily than you imagined.”
“I really can’t feel happy. Henghu and Princess Pingyang are both pitiful,” Xu Qi An tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing a smile without mirth.
He sighed and changed the subject: “There’s something off about Henghu’s case. It’s as if those behind the scenes deliberately pushed it to the forefront.”
At the border between Taikang County and Changle County, in a certain desolate mountain, Hengyuan trudged along, looking around as if searching for something.
The process was inefficient and slow. He told the Gold-badge constables that Henghu had only told him the general location, saying Princess Pingyang was buried at the roots of an old locust tree that would take three people to encircle with their arms.
The Gold and Silver badge constables spread out with Hengyuan at the center, surrounding him to prevent his escape.
Half an hour later, they found the old locust tree. Three Silver-badge constables cut away the undergrowth and weeds beneath the tree, using their swords as shovels. After digging for a while, white bones became faintly visible beneath the black soil.
“Sir, we’ve found it,” a Silver-badge constable turned back and called out excitedly.
“Dig it up!” Nangong Qianrou said in a deep voice.
Princess Pingyang’s remains were gradually exposed to everyone’s eyes. After more than a year, she finally saw the light of day again.
The flesh had already decayed, leaving only a skeleton, with tattered strips of cloth clinging to it, probably the clothes she wore before her death. Additionally, a dull golden hairpin was found in the throat and chest area of the skeleton.
Just as Hengyuan had said, she had committed suicide by swallowing a hairpin.
“Amitabha,” Hengyuan couldn’t bear to look anymore. He closed his eyes and chanted the Buddha’s name in deep sorrow.
“There’s nothing else to prove that this skeleton is Princess Pingyang’s,” Jiang Luzhong frowned.
“That’s normal,” Xu Qi An walked to the locust tree as the Gold-badge constables pondered. He said, “Princess Pingyang was eloping with her lover. They would certainly have been in disguise and wouldn’t have carried valuable items that might attract attention.
“Let’s prepare the remains for burial and take them back to the office. Then send someone to notify Prince Yu’s mansion. Prince Yu might recognize this golden hairpin.”
After preparing the remains, everyone headed towards the mountain exit. Jiang Luzhong patted Xu Qi An’s shoulder: “Well done.”
The usually silent Yang Yan nodded slightly and unprecedentedly said: “You deserve the main credit for this case. Even if the Sangbo case isn’t fully solved in the end, His Majesty will likely pardon your crimes.”
Xu Qi An was about to speak when he felt as if a knife had sliced across his back.
He didn’t need to turn around to know that the sharp gaze came from Constable Zhu.
PS: Today I managed to conclude the Sangbo case. Phew, what a relief.
Great ones, remember to help me find typos. I’ll continue burning the midnight oil to write the second chapter.