At this point in the investigation, we are only one step away from the truth of that year.
Late at night, Pei Che sat in his room, looking at the badge and sword in front of him, and fell into deep thought.
Jiang Miao turned over and put his hands to the side, wanting to continue sleeping, but there was nothing under his hands. He closed his eyes, frowned, and touched the side, but the warm chest that he usually touched was gone.
He suddenly opened his eyes and sat up. The word "Ache" was already on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it back when he saw the figure at the table.
"What's wrong with you?" Jiang Miao stood up and sat at the table, pouring himself a cup of tea to wake himself up. The cold tea was a little bitter after being steeped for a long time, and Jiang Miao drank it with a grin, which made Pei Che, who was sitting beside him and feeling a little sad, couldn't help but smile.
"I'm fine. I just can't sleep."
Jiang Miao looked at the things on the table and understood. He asked, "Are you afraid that if you investigate this further, that person will be implicated?"
Pei Che smiled bitterly: "Yes, things are getting more and more complicated, and now it involves the royal family. The ones who were fighting fiercely back then were the current emperor and the fourth prince, and my father is on good terms with the fourth prince, so there should be no doubt who would attack him."
"But, he behaved normally when facing you. Everyone says that a thief is guilty of his crime. But facing the son of a person he personally ordered to be killed, he managed to remain calm. Isn't his acting too good?" Jiang Miao said. He also specially arranged a marriage between Pei Che and himself, obviously wanting to vent his anger.
If he was the one who killed Pei Che's parents, would he need to resort to such disgusting means to retaliate? Moreover, the emperor had intended to let Pei Che marry the princess in the beginning. If he was the enemy who killed Pei Che's father, how could he dare to keep the son of his enemy by his side? The prince consort had to see the emperor frequently.
"Maybe he thinks this matter is very secretive and it is impossible for others to know about it." Pei Che was a little shaken after listening to his analysis, but apart from the emperor, who else would want to harm his father
Jiang Miao propped up his chin, looked around, and said, "That's also possible. His motive is valid. The most important thing now is to go back and investigate who the owner of this waist badge and this sword is. It's a pity that the waist badge has been corroded by rust, otherwise the truth would have been found out long ago."
"The waist badges are uniformly distributed in the palace. Every time a new batch of people are replaced in the palace, the waist badges are collected and kept, and a new batch is issued to prevent someone from entering and leaving the palace at will with an invalid waist badge." Pei Che said, he picked up the waist badge and looked at it carefully, "If it is lost when it is returned, the palace will definitely record it. When the time comes, we just need to find a way to check it, and we will know which palace this person is assigned to."
"What about this sword? Is it also issued?" Jiang Miao's gaze shifted to the sword on the other side. This sword looked ordinary and seemed to be seen everywhere.
"This sword is an ordinary item. The swords issued by the palace also have markings, including the casting of the blade, which is different from other swords. If they use the sword in the palace to kill someone to silence them, it can be easily found out. If they want to do evil, they must have bought a new one on purpose to cover up their tracks."
Jiang Miao felt a little regretful that the body was discovered too late. Otherwise, he could find the person who made the sword with the help of the sword and definitely be able to find out some information.
He turned his head and looked around with puzzled eyes, as if he was looking for something.
When Pei Che saw it, he thought for a moment and knew what he was looking for.
"Are you looking for that corpse?"
Jiang Miao's eyes curved, "You know me better than anyone else. I'm just looking for that. Where did you put it?"
Pei Che smiled slightly: "Aren't you afraid?"
"You must be joking. How can I, a man, be afraid of a corpse? I am a staunch materialist."
Pei Che heard him saying something he didn't understand again, so he just silently memorized the word in his little notebook and would ask about it later. At the moment, he only explained the whereabouts of the corpse.
"You mean, you've had him transported to Liangjing for a coroner's examination?"
"Well, although we can't find out the identity of this person, we should be able to tell something from his height, age and general features." Pei Che said. This corpse is an important piece of evidence, and he must find someone to keep it properly.
"Well, I hope that the coroner is more capable, so that we can have some clues after returning to Beijing." Jiang Miao said and yawned. It seemed that the cup of cold tea just now did not have much effect on him.
Pei Che smiled again and said gently, "Go and have a rest. I'll sit for a while."
Faced with such a "tyrannical" move, Pei Che had no choice but to surrender, took off his coat and lay down obediently.
Jiang Miao pulled one of his hands into his arms, and after hugging him, he fell asleep in a few breaths. Pei Che turned his head to look at his sleeping face, feeling the warmth coming from his side, and felt his eyelids become heavy, and he also fell asleep.
"Master, there's news over there that the experience has been revealed."
Pei Che and his men had just returned to Liangjing when one of their men came with a piece of paper to report.
Pei Che took the paper and saw that it said: Male, about 25 or 26 years old when he died, 5 feet 3 inches tall, with an extra toe on the right foot and some broken bones, probably caused by falling from a high place.
"Five feet three inches?" Jiang Miao also stretched his head and stood nearby to watch. He converted it according to modern measurements and found that the man was about 1.76 meters tall, about the same height as him.
"We have this. We just need to find out who the badge was issued to. Then we can find these people and know who this person is." Jiang Miao was very happy.
Pei Che was not so optimistic, because the record of the waist badge was in the palace and was guarded by the chief of the inner palace. It was impossible for ordinary officials to see it.
In addition, he had to ask his grandmother for her opinion.
Grandmother Pei was naturally very happy to see them return home safely. After listening to Pei Che's account of the results of this investigation, she sighed deeply.
"It's grandma who is confused. If I had been stronger back then, I would have sent someone to investigate earlier, and your father and mother wouldn't have died in vain for so many years. Now that you have investigated this far, please continue to investigate. No matter what the consequences are, grandma will bear them all."
"Grandma, don't worry. I will find out the truth and comfort my father and mother's spirits in heaven."
Grandmother Pei nodded with relief. She said, "Your grandfather should also know something about this matter. He was also in great pain when he saw it back then."
"Yes, Che'er dare not hide it. I will tell my grandfather and uncles everything about this matter."
Grandmother Pei looked at Pei Che, then at Jiang Miao, and said, "Che'er, you and...A Miao should also go and have a rest. You must be tired after the long journey."
"Then we'll go down."
Pei Che bowed to the old lady, then took Jiang Miao, whose soul was wandering outside, away.
Jiang Miao didn't react until he left the old lady's yard: "Did you hear what the old lady called me just now? It made me shiver." He shivered and felt goose bumps all over his body. Since he and Pei Che got married, the old lady had hardly ever looked at him straight in the eye. Normally, even if she wanted to call him, she would call him Che's daughter-in-law. But today, she had changed her nature.
Pei Che suppressed his smile and deliberately said, "How can you talk about your elders behind their backs?"
"I'm not talking about her, I'm just not used to it. Why did her attitude change all of a sudden? Will she ask me to accompany her to visit the garden or something next time?" Jiang Miao scratched his head in distress. If I'm not nice to him, he'll be unhappy. If I'm nice to him, he's afraid of being too close. It would be best if she's neither cold nor hot like before.
Pei Che couldn't help but laugh: "Don't worry, grandma was just in a whim. She probably felt bad for you following me around. Next time you see her, she will be the same as before."
Pei Che understood that his grandmother was not targeting Jiang Miao as a person, but the identity of Pei Che's wife. No matter who held this identity, she would not be very satisfied.
(End of this chapter)