Files are like settled dust; once they are set in stone, no one will ever try to reopen them and change anything.
Mei Fengchen led Chu Xinian upstairs. The wooden staircase had been in disrepair for a long time and creaked. It was already unable to bear the weight. He used his sleeve to brush away the dust in the air and sighed: "No one has been here for a long time. There are only ancient scrolls here."
After he finished speaking, he searched among the rows of bookshelves that were arranged in different categories. Finally, he pointed to a corner and said, "All the unexplained murders in the capital over the years are here. You can look at them if you want. No one cares about them anyway. I will do you a favor. If you encounter any difficulties in the investigation in the future, you are not allowed to refuse."
The latter sentence has a joking tone.
Chu Xinian bowed and thanked him, "I won't refuse. How about this, you examine the body downstairs, and I'll read the family records upstairs. If you encounter any questions, just ask me."
Mei Fengchen smiled and nodded repeatedly, his usually serious and rigid face softened a bit: "Okay, that's exactly what I meant."
In this way, one of them was performing the autopsy downstairs, while the other was looking for family files upstairs.
The Xie family was guilty of treason, so the files would not be put together with those unsolved cases. Chu Xinian's eyes swept across the bookshelves, and finally stopped at a row of red-sealed files. Inside was a roll of brown paper with a faded "Xie" written on the spine.
Chu Xinian's heart was quiet for a moment. He slowly pulled out the long-covered scroll, and inexplicably felt it was heavy. In the semi-darkness, dust was also flying.
He blew away the accumulated dust, pulled out the scattered papers inside, and found that it contained the results of the execution of the Xie family that year, written in just a few words, concisely and to the point.
The traitor Xie Bi returned to the capital from the northwest to report. He was scheming day and night, hiding his wolfish ambitions. Later, he led his troops into the palace with the intention of rebellion, but was captured and killed in front of the Wuji Palace...
The emperor ordered that all the direct descendants of the Xie family be executed. However, his first wife Wang and his only son Xie Lanting fled to the suburbs with hundreds of family members, swearing not to confess their crimes and being beheaded on the spot...
For collateral descendants, all males over 18 years old were exiled to Mobei, and females over 18 years old were reduced to slavery, and there would be no pardon for three generations...
Looking at the files alone, there were no loopholes, but Chu Xinian frowned, feeling that something was wrong. He stared at the lines for a long time, and finally found two words that were strangely familiar.
His first wife, Wang, and his only son, Xie Lanting,
Lanting…
Lanting…
Chu Xinian's pupils shrank slightly, and he subconsciously covered the jade pendant around his neck, as if he suddenly realized something. Aren't the words "Lanting" the words engraved on the jade pendant that Xie Jingyuan gave him
Could it be that Xie Jingyuan's true identity is actually...
When this thought suddenly popped up in Chu Xinian's mind, he felt it was a bit absurd. But after thinking about it carefully, if it was true, then all the unreasonable things would have a reasonable explanation.
Why did Xie Jingyuan rebel? Why did Xie Jingyuan hate the emperor so much? Why was Xie Jingyuan's appearance so disfigured? Why did Xie Jingyuan, who was obviously a collateral descendant, know so much about the secrets of his early years
All of this is because of his identity—
He was not Xie Jingyuan at all, but Xie Lanting, the legitimate son of the Xie family.
General Xie Bi was stationed in the northwest and had not returned to Beijing for several years. Xie Lanting was also born in the northwest, so few people had seen him. Only the prince learned martial arts from General Xie Bi and had met him several times.
When the rebellion in the northwest was about to be quelled, General Xie Bi led his family back to Beijing to report on his work. Less than a day later, for unknown reasons, he suddenly led his troops into the palace from Tai'an Gate and was captured and killed in front of the palace for treason.
Upon hearing the news, Madam Xie fled with her only son and hundreds of her family soldiers, but they were caught up by the imperial guards and beheaded in the suburbs.
The Xie family was once at the height of its prosperity, with plenty of food and clothing. But it collapsed overnight, with only the side branch children under the age of 18 barely escaping the disaster.
I don't know what Mrs. Xie thought of back then, but she managed to save her only son's life, allowing him to live in the world as "Xie Jingyuan, a collateral descendant."
Chu Xinian figured out all the clues at once, but it took him a long time to come back to his senses. He stared down at the thin piece of paper in his hand, as if trying to see through the truth of the rise and fall of the Xie family, as well as...
And what did Xie Jingyuan go through back then...
It was not until Mei Fengchen's voice came from downstairs that he woke up: "Master Chu, this autopsy technique is really mysterious. I would like to ask why there is white foam coming out of the mouth and nose of a drowned person. I know the reason but I don't know the reason."
Chu Xinian slowly put away the scroll and put it back in place. He calmed down and tried to explain it to him in simple terms: "People who drowned must have struggled and choked on water, and the water flowed into the trachea and throat, which naturally formed white foam."
“And if a dead person is thrown into a lake, he will not struggle or breathe, so there will be little foam at the mouth and nose.”
Mei Fengchen nodded: "I see. If it weren't for Master Chu's explanation, I would have been fooled by them."
Chu Xinian walked down slowly from the upstairs, his eyes fell on the female corpse that was soaked and swollen and white. He suddenly thought of the Xie family's case of implicated people, and asked thoughtfully: "Master Mei, I see thousands of family files on the shelf, which also contain thousands of lives. Are there many unjust cases? Are there many murders?"
Mei Fengchen glanced at him and said, "There are as many wrongful cases as there are deaths. This attic can't hold them all, nor can the Mingjing Division, and even the entire Dayan may not be able to hold them all."
Chu Xinian did not expect Mei Fengchen to answer like this: "I thought you would think that the Yan Dynasty is a country with clear waters and no unjust cases."
"The sky is clear and the water is clean?"
Mei Fengchen suddenly chuckled upon hearing this, and shook his head repeatedly: "If the water is too clear, there will be no fish. Where in this world is there a clean place? Although I claim to be the one who washes away the injustices of the world, I am powerless to deal with the sect scrolls you just read, how can I talk about other things."
Chu Xinian always felt that he was referring to something, but he was not sure for a moment. Until Mei Fengchen took off the coarse cloth coat he was wearing for autopsies, he said to himself, "The king is the king, the minister is the minister. If the king wants the minister to die, the minister has to die. This has been the case since ancient times. If I had not received special permission from His Majesty, do you think the Mirror Division could arrest the powerful and wealthy without restraint? Of course it is impossible."
Their power comes from the emperor, and their backer is also the emperor. If one day the power is taken back, Mei Fengchen will be just an ordinary old man.
Chu Xinian didn't want to delve into the meaning of Mei Fengchen's words, as that would make him feel that he had been discovered for peeking at the files. But he was sure that Mei Fengchen had not noticed his actions.
He smiled and pretended to know nothing: "Your Excellency is a rare honest minister, and you cannot tolerate any sand in your eyes."
"You are wrong. I am not," Mei Fengchen stood with his hands behind his back and said earnestly, "I cannot tolerate any injustice in my eyes. I also want to be a loyal minister, but I have tolerated too much injustice in my eyes over the years. Ideas are just ideas after all. There are still many unjust cases in this world that have not been redressed. I know it very well, but I am powerless to redress them. I can only leave it to the younger generation to do it."
"You are still young and energetic, why do you have to say such sad words?"
Chu Xinian slowly took out a stack of papers from his sleeve, which recorded some autopsy techniques of later generations. He gently placed them on the low table beside him, causing the candlelight to flicker twice: "I feel really sorry for bothering you for so long today. I will give this to you, please don't throw it away."
Mei Fengchen was startled when he heard this. He picked up the paper and flipped through a few pages. Before he could ask, he looked up and saw Chu Xinian had turned around and left.
At that time, Xie Jingyuan was in his mansion checking the news sent by the crown prince from the palace. Before the Prince of Jin returned to the capital, the Emperor of Yan had intended to transfer the military power in Xie Jingyuan's hands to him. However, since the rebellion in Shuofang was quelled, the Prince of Jin's reputation in the army was growing, and the Emperor of Yan suddenly became silent.
It is obvious that Emperor Yan has become wary of Prince Jin, which is undoubtedly a good thing for the Crown Prince and Xie Jingyuan.
Xie Jingyuan slowly sorted out the secret letter and threw it into the stove to burn. He thought that today, Prince Jin and Concubine Mei went to Tianfeng Mountain to worship Buddha in disguise. He didn't know whether the charlatan Xuan Yeping that Chu Xinian fooled would be useful. After all, Prince Jin was not a fool, so how could he be fooled so easily
But Chu Xinian never made any mistakes in his work, so Xie Jingyuan had to believe it even if he didn't want to.
After lunch, Xie Jingyuan fell on the couch where Chu Xinian usually read books, and casually picked up a few books he often read. Only then did he realize that Chu Xinian read books very seriously, with annotations on every line and page, and what he said was meaningful. I don't know how he was regarded as a fool by outsiders.
Xie Jingyuan turned a page of the book. As he was reading, a shadow suddenly fell in front of him, and Chu Xinian's familiar voice rang in his ears: "How come you have time to read today?"
Xie Jingyuan had already noticed him, and threw the book aside when he heard this: "Why, you finally decided to come back?"
Chu Xinian picked up the book and placed it neatly on the bookshelf, then leaned over and kissed Xie Jingyuan, leaning on both sides of his body and whispered, "Well, I came back after chatting with Master Mei for a while."
Xie Jingyuan felt a little itchy from his kiss and turned his head slightly: "Are you sure there was no autopsy?"
Chu Xinian smiled and spread out one hand to show him: "Of course not, otherwise how can I hug the general."
Xie Jingyuan thought that Chu Xinian looked serious, and he often said dirty words, but he enjoyed it. He hooked Chu Xinian's neck, then slowly tightened it, pressed the most private and untouchable wound on his right face against the other person, and then rubbed it lazily: "Chu Xinian..."
Like a wild beast with its sharp claws retracted, it is quiet and docile.
This action suddenly softened Chu Xinian's heart. He gently kissed Xie Jingyuan's face, then kissed his somewhat cold lips, pried open his teeth, inserted his tongue, and began to invade this familiar territory.
Xie Jingyuan lay down under Chu Xinian's force. He clung to her body and kissed her back intermittently, which was completely different from when they first met.
I still remember when Chu Xi first entered the palace, Concubine Mei sent a nanny to watch them have sex, and Xie Jingyuan felt humiliated and had a sinister look on his face. But now his mood is different, and his feelings are naturally different.
He even hoped that Chu Xinian would be closer to him...
I don’t know if Chu Xinian heard Xie Jingyuan’s inner thoughts, but he suddenly picked him up from the couch and carried him into the inner room.
Xie Jingyuan glanced at the bright sky outside the window, leaned against Chu Xinian's shoulder, and asked with a smirk, "What do you want to do in broad daylight?"
Chu Xinian leaned over and put him on the bed, looking down at Xie Jingyuan. Except for his slightly swollen lower lip, he still looked like an immortal. As his breath lingered, the cool air on his clothes gradually became ambiguous: "What do you think I want to do?"
Xie Jingyuan lay under him, his heart beating wildly. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Chu Xinian's slender fingertips suddenly lightly pick up and untie his belt.
"Chu Xi Nian—"
Xie Jingyuan's voice was inexplicably tense, and he wondered why Chu Xinian was going crazy for no reason. If he wanted to do something like this, he should do it at night. If he was doing it in the room in broad daylight, if the servants came to report something later, wouldn't they hear it all
"Don't worry, General." Chu Xinian seemed to know what he was thinking, and gently kissed his eyebrows and eyes, "I just want to see you..."
I want to hug each other without any obstacles, even if I do nothing.
Xie Jingyuan snorted: "What's so good about me?"
Chu Xinian laughed softly, took off all his clothes, and rolled into the bed together: "General, of course, everything about you is beautiful."
The moment their clothes fell to the ground, they were so close that there was no air between them. Xie Jingyuan didn't know why, but for the first time in his life, he felt a little embarrassed. He pressed against Chu Xinian's chest, and seeing his jade pendant fall in front of him, he habitually reached out and touched it.
Chu Xinian noticed his movements and looked down: "I went to the Mirror Department today..."
Xie Jingyuan hummed: "I know."
Chu Xinian added: "I looked through the family files from that year, which were related to the Xie family."
Xie Jingyuan froze when he heard this, and didn't move for a long time. After a moment, he looked up at Chu Xinian, wanting to say something, but not knowing what to say, and his fingertips unconsciously clenched.
Chu Xinian hugged him tighter, and the jade was hidden between them, stained with body temperature, almost fused with the skin and flesh. He said in a low voice: "Will the general blame me?"
Xie Jingyuan was silent for a moment, and then smiled meaninglessly: "Why should I blame you? You can find it out yourself, so I don't have to bother with it."
He was neither annoyed nor angry, and his expression was calm as if it was just a trivial matter.
Chu Xinian: "But there is one thing I don't understand."
"Ask," Xie Jingyuan lowered his eyes and stared at the jade pendant on his neck, "Whatever you want to know, I will tell you..."
For some reason, Chu Xinian always felt that Xie Jingyuan was filled with deep despair. After a long silence, he finally uttered a sentence: "...Did the Xie family really rebel back then?"
Xie Jingyuan couldn't help laughing when he heard this, and he couldn't stop laughing, as if he had heard a big joke. He lowered his head, and his expression couldn't be seen clearly. It took a long time for him to stop laughing, and he said breathlessly: "Do you know how prosperous my Xie family was in the military back then? We didn't even need tiger talismans to mobilize troops, and we had millions of Yan troops under our command. If you really want to rebel, do you think the 100,000 imperial guards in the capital can stop you? The world has changed hands long ago."
He clenched Chu Xinian's shoulders and lowered his head to hide his red eyes: "I only hate that my father is too stupid. He only knows how to deploy troops, but he doesn't understand the treacherous court and the unpredictable heart of the emperor. He was deceived into the palace by a letter of rescue and never came back."
General Xie Bi had been stationed in the northwest for several years, and loved his soldiers like his own sons. His prestige in the army was unmatched. At that time, Qin Daoyan was the general of the right guard, and he was also a military general. He was jealous of him and repeatedly made private suggestions to the Emperor of Yan, saying that he had the intention of rebellion.
The rebellion in the northwest had been quelled, and the Emperor of Yan summoned Xie Bi back to the capital. However, before he could enter the palace to meet the Emperor, he suddenly received a secret letter from the Empress, saying that the commander of the imperial guards, Zhou Wenchen, was planning a rebellion and was placing the Emperor under house arrest, asking him to bring his troops into the palace to rescue him.
In his early years, General Xie Bi was often excluded in the court because of his upright character. Fortunately, the empress was virtuous and helped him several times. When he received the empress's secret letter, he immediately dispatched troops and prepared to go to the palace with Qin Daoyan to rescue the emperor.
However, no one knew that this was just a play performed by the emperor and Qin Daoyan, including the queen, who was kept in the dark.
Xie Bi was tricked by Qin Daoyan into entering the palace from Tai'an Gate, but he didn't know that an ambush had already been set there. The imperial guards were ambushed on the top of the wall, and thousands of arrows were fired at them, beheading Xie Bi directly in front of the palace, and convicting him of treason.
Xie Jingyuan talked about the past, and his words were squeezed out from between his teeth: "Emperor Yan has always been suspicious. He not only suspected that the Xie family intended to rebel, but also suspected that my father had an affair with the queen..."
"After my father died, he strangled the queen himself, claiming that she died of a sudden illness, and issued an order to implicate the entire Xie family."
"The Crown Prince witnessed all this outside the palace, and immediately rode out of the palace to tell my mother that we should flee the capital as soon as possible. However, as soon as we fled to the outskirts of the capital, we were caught up by the imperial guards..."
Xie Jingyuan paused at this point, as if something was stuck in his throat, and it was difficult for him to utter a word. After a long time, he said, "The general who led the troops to pursue me had received a favor from my father and said that he could spare my life. My mother then scratched my face with her own hands and asked me to pretend to be a member of the Xie family's side branch and never reveal my true face to anyone."
After he finished speaking, he touched the uneven scars on his right face, and smiled at Chu Xinian with red eyes: "These scars were cut by her with a hairpin. She cut them while crying, and told me to stay away from the capital, never come back, never be an official, and never enter the court..."
"I didn't dare hide, nor did I dare push her away. I just remember the pain on my face as if it was being cut. In the end, I felt nothing at all..."
"Later, my mother also died. She committed suicide with a long sword and was buried in the suburbs along with the family guards..."
Xie Jingyuan exhaled slowly, "I grew up in the northwest and have never been to Beijing. The only people who have seen me are my father's confidants. When the rebellion happened, most of those people died. Later, their faces were disfigured and no one recognized them. So I joined the army and have been here until today."
As he said these words, he still unconsciously covered his face tightly with his hands, as if he felt the heart-wrenching pain of that year again.
Xie Jingyuan is the son of a great general. He is handsome and proficient in all six arts. After entering the capital, he could have been the most distinguished son of a noble family. But he fell to the ground overnight, was stained with dust and mud, and finally became the ghost-faced Yama that everyone avoided.
The glory that belonged to Xie Lanting had long been destroyed. Whether it was his appearance, name, or identity, they all disappeared with the collapse of the Xie family.
The prince called him Xie Jingyuan, and others also called him Xie Jingyuan.
Apart from that jade pendant, no one remembered that he was Xie Lanting anymore.
Even he himself almost forgot about it.
The air had fallen silent without anyone noticing, even the cicadas outside the window had stopped chirping. Chu Xinian moved his lips, wanting to say something, but felt that any words were pale and powerless.
Although he wrote this story, it turns out that he may not understand it.
"Qin Daoyan,"
"Zhou Wenchen,"
besides,
"Emperor Yan..."
Chu Xinian used his fingertips to slowly trace Xie Jingyuan's facial features, extremely gently, and then whispered in his ear: "General, tell me, and I will understand."
"In the future, when the general kills his enemies, I will accompany him."
"Whoever the general wants to get rid of, I will help him get rid of it."