Chapter 162: Chapter 83: The Corpse Comes Back to Life_1
The dawn light was faint.
The autumnal chill was heavy with dense fog.
A night’s wind had passed, hastening the frost to nip at wood, while a black dog in the yard stretched lazily, its paws rustling the golden yellow fallen leaves.
Tomorrow would be the fifteenth of the eighth month when the material warehouse of the inner court had sent over Moon Cakes and Rice Wine, now piled up at the entrance to the Palace Marshal’s Mansion. Inside the house, Pei Yunmeng turned and sat down on a chair, while at her side, a round-faced and round-eyed boy, lacking his usual cunning, followed behind with his head hanging in dejection.
Last night, a report was received in the Military Inspection House, stating that at the foot of Mount Wangchun a body of an unknown man had been found. It seemed as though the man had stabbed himself in the throat with a stone, bleeding out to death. Peculiarly, a purse was found on his person.
The purse was exquisitely embroidered with lifelike ducks frolicking in water, bearing the name of Duan Xiaoyan from the Imperial Guards.
Upon learning of the incident, Duan Xiaoyan could hardly believe his ears and hurried to meet with the folks at the Military Patrol Shop at Mount Wangchun. It was a time of great tumult, and the scandal of officials from the Ministry of Rites colluding with examinees for bribes had not yet settled. No one wished to provoke the sovereign’s ire at this juncture.
However, despite the suspicions, the coroner found nothing amiss inside the victim’s body. The rain from the previous night had washed everything clean, not even leaving a half-print behind.
If Duan Xiaoyan had truly committed murder, such a thorough cleanup would have suited his purpose. But for Duan Xiaoyan, who was being framed, the rain and the act of suicide only added layers of suspicious intent to cover his innocence.
Fortunately, other than the purse, no further evidence had been found. After all, the deceased, Liu Kun, was merely the average owner of a noodle shop on Que’er Street, and Duan Xiaoyan had no grudges or grievances with him. They had never even seen each other’s faces before, so there was genuinely no reason for murder.
However...
Thinking of the suspicious looks from those Pawn Shop Soldiers, Duan Xiaoyan still felt somewhat disheartened.
The young man’s voice was muffled as he hung his head.
"Brother, why do you think Doctor Lu framed me?"
The pale golden purse had been lost at the entrance to Fan Mansion the last time he had coincidentally met with Lu Tong. At that time, Pei Yunmeng had suspected that Lu Tong had picked it up, and they had even gone to Renxin Medical Hall to probe, to no avail.
At that time, Duan Xiaoyan had thought Pei Yunmeng was simply being paranoid, after all, Lu Tong was a fine Resident Doctor, what would he want with someone else’s purse?
Now he understood. It was for use at this very moment.
Still, Duan Xiaoyan couldn’t comprehend why Lu Tong would frame him.
After all, from the beginning to the end, he hadn’t shown anything but respect for Lu Tong, and had spoken highly of him in front of Pei Yunmeng.
Not only did Doctor Lu not appreciate it, but why repay kindness with malice?
The young man’s face was filled with grievances, reminiscent of the black dog in the yard that couldn’t reach its bone, heartbroken.
Pei Yunmeng glanced at him, sneering with a hint of irony in her smile.
"She’s not framing you, she’s trying to frame me."
A Doctor who would hide a rotten pig’s head under the bed and bury half a carcass in the depths of a yard by night, was playing out her role for all to see last night.
The twists and turns were all for the climax at the end—the corpse at the foot of Mount Wangchun.
Chill crows roosted in the courtyard, cawing twice from the treetops. Pei Yunmeng lowered her head and started toying with a paperweight on the desk, her gaze dark and obscure.
The informer, Bai Shouyi, and the Du Family’s cousin as the human witness, were merely roles she had arranged in advance, yet laughably they were unaware of their positions in midst of the plot. Shen Fengying from the Military Patrol Shop, along with Duan Xiaoyan himself, had become spectators of the play.
This meant that at least since the last time, when Lu Tong had picked up Duan Xiaoyan’s purse and pretended not to know, she had already planned the scene that would unfold many days later.
She had perceived his suspicions but continued to feign innocent, calmly plotting and laying out her scheme, making use of all the resources and people around her. She was determined to drag him into this murky affair as well.
The bribery case and her were connected, and the body at the foot of Mount Wangchun couldn’t be disassociated from her. In the end, last night’s investigation had cleared the Renxin Medical Hall of suspicion, Shen Fengying’s displeasure with Bai Shouyi, and even incited discord between Du Changqing and his cousin. Duan Xiaoyan being framed, the Palace Front Office had become passive overnight.
And she herself, appeared pristine and unblemished.
Pei Yunmeng’s gaze turned cold.
It was a warning.
A hesitant voice came from beside her, "But, the man who died last night on Mount Wangchun, was he really related to Doctor Lu?"
"The coroner said he killed himself. Can Doctor Lu, with her slender arms and legs, really kill a man? It doesn’t seem likely, does it?"