A perfectly fine assassin entered the Court of Judicial Review’s prison and ended up with no trace of his corpse remaining?

Emperor Qizhen didn’t quite understand what this meant.

Dead is dead!

What does “no trace of corpse remaining” mean?

He looked again at the memorial before him. It was densely written and extremely detailed, even recording that the assassin had been unconscious when carried into the Court of Judicial Review. It even listed everyone who had entered or exited the prison on the day the assassin was imprisoned.

After all, this memorial was written with Minister Yu’s “painstaking effort”!

He said directly, “Reporting to Your Majesty, this subject has interrogated the jailer who guarded that assassin. According to what he witnessed, he said the assassin at the time seemed to be burned by a great fire—his skin, flesh, and bones melted away bit by bit until nothing remained. But based on this subject’s understanding, the assassin definitely did not die from poison. Rather, his body was sprinkled with something from the underworld martial arts circles called corpse-dissolving powder. That substance, if even a little touches a person’s body, will cause the entire body to burn as if on fire until nothing remains. But before the assassin was imprisoned, there was no such substance on his body. Therefore, it should not be suicide, but rather someone deliberately did this.”

Uh!

Emperor Qizhen narrowed his eyes. “Minister Yu means to say someone killed him to silence him in order to cover up the truth about the assassination?”

“This is also this subject’s speculation. But after all, this concerns Prince Rong’s safety—there must certainly be widespread implications involved. And the assassin died less than a day after being imprisoned. There are indeed suspicious signs. If it truly was murder to silence him, then there probably aren’t many people who could enter the Court of Judicial Review’s prison to kill someone. Or rather, those who could kill the assassin in the Court of Judicial Review’s prison without anyone knowing are few and far between. But this subject doesn’t dare make further determinations, lest excessive suspicion cause trouble. Therefore, I quickly organized this memorial and immediately entered the palace to report, awaiting Your Majesty’s instructions.”

Minister Yu was very clever. He didn’t directly spell things out to Emperor Qizhen, nor did he directly state his suspect. Rather, he threw Emperor Qizhen a smoke bomb, letting him slowly unravel the threads himself.

After hearing these words, Emperor Qizhen also began pondering.

Someone assassinated Jingrong!

And the assassin, after being imprisoned in the Court of Judicial Review, was actually sprinkled with bone-dissolving powder, leaving no trace of his corpse!

And so coincidentally, recently, the Ministry of Personnel had been impeaching Jingrong in every memorial, and the Office of Transmission didn’t screen them either, submitting every single one upward.

All these events were unfavorable to Jingrong!

From the former Crown Prince to the current Jingrong, it was as if someone behind the scenes was acting as a driving force, like knives continuously cutting forward, eliminating threats root and branch.

Emperor Qizhen had his own scale in his heart. How could he not see the suspicious signs in all this?

In those shrewd, torch-like eyes of his, a cold light reflected. Suddenly shifting topics, he asked Minister Yu, “Minister Yu, I ask you—are you familiar with Yan Weiyi?”

Hmm?

Weren’t they discussing the assassin matter? Why suddenly ask about Yan Weiyi who had long since died?

But Minister Yu wasn’t surprised, because Jingrong had already given him advance warning, knowing that when he entered the palace to see the Emperor, His Majesty would very likely ask him about Yan Weiyi or the former Crown Prince. He told him to prepare his lines in advance and follow the already laid-out plan. So this was within expectations.

He said truthfully, “That person previously worked as a civil official in the Ministry of Works, but was stripped of his position for embezzling during his tenure. After that, he kept to himself and there was very little news of him. However, his son Yan Xu was in the Ministry of Justice. But later he was arrested for privately storing weapons. I remember that matter was investigated by Prince Rong.”

Upon hearing this, Emperor Qizhen suddenly remembered and lightly nodded. “Oh, I remember now. At that time, it was by my order that Jinghua held the decree as supervising official and had him beheaded at the Meridian Gate as a public warning.”

Thank goodness you still remember!

He paused for a moment, then asked again, “Did Yan Weiyi and Jinghua have any contact?”

“This subject doesn’t know. However, as Your Majesty just said, at that time it was the First Prince who held the decree as supervising official and beheaded Yan Xu. Yan Weiyi and the First Prince probably wouldn’t have had contact. After all, the pain of losing a son runs deep.”

Calling Jinghua the First Prince rather than Crown Prince wasn’t strange, because before Jinghua died, his Crown Prince title had already been revoked by the Emperor.

These words broke through the confusion at the bottom of Emperor Qizhen’s heart, but couldn’t dispel that tangled ball of thoughts in his mind. His brows locked tightly. After a long while, he ordered Minister Yu, “Minister Yu, you must not investigate this matter further. Set it aside for now. To outsiders, you absolutely cannot leak a single word. Everyone up and down the Court of Judicial Review must be strictly sealed—if half a sentence leaks out, I will take his head.”

“This subject receives the order.” He bowed with a bow.

“Alright, you may withdraw first. If there’s anything, I will naturally summon you to the palace again.”

“Yes, then this subject takes his leave.”

Minister Yu bowed in salutation. He stealthily glanced up at Emperor Qizhen, very calm in his heart, because everything was proceeding step by step according to the plan Jingrong had laid out for him.

After he withdrew, Emperor Qizhen’s complexion was poor and darkened extremely quickly. His elbow propped on the desk, supporting his temple, he remained silent for a long time without saying a word.

Suddenly—

He said to Eunuch Zhang beside him, “Do you still remember—that night when Jinghua besieged the palace, Jingyi came to the rescue. He said Yan Weiyi had acted on Jinghua’s orders to assassinate Jingrong, and even in the bowl of medicinal soup Jinghua had me drink at the time, there was rock-spotted poison cultivated by Yan Weiyi. Therefore, he determined the two of them were colluding.”

Eunuch Zhang responded, “This servant remembers. At that time, Prince Yi spoke with sound reasoning, saying the First Prince and Yan Weiyi were in collusion.”

“But in all this… something’s not right.” Emperor Qizhen shook his head in deep thought, his expression grave. “Yan Weiyi’s son Yan Xu was executed by my order. Jinghua served as supervising official. How could the two of them have private contact? Moreover, I know Jinghua’s temperament better than anyone. How would he dare besiege the palace to kill me? Inevitably, he was instigated by someone. Afterward, that Mister Pan by his side also emerged safe and sound, completely unscathed, but then happened to fall from a cliff and die when leaving the capital. Almost… everyone connected to Jinghua’s palace siege died. And this time the assassin was killed in the Court of Judicial Review’s prison. Even more, at this time the Ministry of Personnel submits memorials impeaching Jingrong in every single one. How could there not be something suspicious in all this!”

Eunuch Zhang understood the meaning. He bowed and stepped forward, saying, “So, Your Majesty just now told Minister Yu not to investigate this matter further because you’re worried…”

He didn’t dare continue.

Emperor Qizhen stared at the memorial before him with torch-like eyes, his fingers tapping on the desk one by one. Then he ordered, “This matter should not be publicized. Perhaps it not only involves Jinghua’s palace siege back then, but also involves the Six Ministries… and the matter of establishing an heir. So first investigate clearly the matter of the Ministry of Personnel and the Office of Transmission.”

“Yes, this servant understands.”

“You may withdraw first. I want to rest a while.”

“Then this servant will first have the Imperial Kitchen prepare some ginseng soup. Your Majesty must take care of your health.”

“Hmm.”

…