After receiving the list sent by Su Jin, Pei Che fell into deep thought. In the 37th year of Mingcheng, not a single person on the list of people who had not returned their badges was assigned to the Third Prince's Palace.
Although he had not said it before, he was sure in his heart that it was the Third Prince, now the Emperor, who had done it. But this list seemed to tell him that his previous guess was wrong.
Jiang Miao patted his shoulder and said, "Now there is only a name, which doesn't mean anything. Let's check the identities of these people first and see who the person who was killed near the Ciji Temple was, and then make a judgment."
Jiang Miao knew that Pei Che was in a state of confusion. After all, this matter involved the hatred between his parents, and it was difficult for him to deal with these things rationally.
Pei Che took a deep breath and suppressed the emotions rising in his heart.
"I'm going to the government office now. You wait for my news at home."
"No, I'll go with you. It will be faster for two of us to find the person." Jiang Miao said. There are more than a dozen people on the list. If they meet someone with the same name, they will have to spend time to identify them. How can one person be as good as two people
The two men gave their orders, and after the driver drove over, they got on the carriage and rushed to the Ministry of Revenue.
The Ministry of Revenue is very busy at the moment, as it needs to settle accounts at the end of the month, and other offices have backlogs of accounts that need to be paid out. The guard at the door wishes he had two pairs of eyes to keep an eye on the gate, so as not to let in the wrong people by mistake.
When Pei Che entered, they were all stunned for a while before they reacted.
"Is Lord Pei recovered from his illness?" someone asked.
"Why did I hear that he was infected with smallpox and will not live long?" another person said in a low voice.
"You're wrong. It wasn't smallpox, it was a disfiguring poison. I heard that someone was jealous of Lord Pei's outstanding looks, so they did this to him." The person next to him said confidently.
"You are all wrong." Another person said with a smug look on his face, "Prince Pei's face is like this by himself. I heard that in order to maintain his appearance, he often seeks medical treatment and asks for medicine. This time, he applied something on his face, which caused the rash."
Others suddenly realized that it was not easy for a man to maintain his appearance.
These speculations can't be said to be accurate, they can only be said to be irrelevant. Fortunately, Pei Che himself didn't know about these rumors, otherwise he would be speechless.
Compared to the busyness of other departments, the Civil Affairs Department was still very idle on such days. Some adults even skipped work early to go out for drinks. Therefore, Pei Che's arrival did not attract too much attention.
The two men took the piece of paper with the name on it and went to the warehouse where the household registration list was kept. Each of them found a corner and started searching.
The investigation lasted until the lights were turned on. The clerk in charge of closing the storehouse door had already looked around three times before the two men came out.
"It can be preliminarily concluded that the person who was killed should be among these people." The two returned home, hurriedly finished their meal, and analyzed the papers spread out on the table. These were the people who were selected based on age characteristics after searching the household registration list.
"Yes, tomorrow I will send a few people to these houses to ask around and find out who he is."
The next day, the people who were sent out took the addresses on the papers they were given and went to investigate. Among them, a person who went to the Zuo family in the East Lane of the inner city to inquire made a discovery.
"When he was born, I said he was unlucky. Tell me, how can someone have six toes?" The old woman said while drinking. "If he were my family, I would have thrown him away long ago. But he is lucky. A few years ago, he was chosen to be a palace guard. He is someone who can see the emperor! I thought the Zuo family was going to produce someone great, but who would have thought he was so unlucky. He went out and never came back. Everyone said he was dead. I thought so too. If he wasn't dead, why didn't he come back?"
The guard who went to investigate poured her another glass of wine, and kept flattering her, trying to get more information out of her without leaving any trace. He then collected all the information and reported it to Pei Che.
"This man's surname is Zuo, his given name is Shun, he is five feet three inches tall, thirty-seven years old, and has an extra toe on his right foot." Pei Che took a look and found that all the identity information matched. He was probably twenty-five or twenty-six years old when he died. After so many years, he was about thirty-seven years old.
"The Zuo family is an ordinary family, but one of their aunts was hired as a concubine by a third-rank official because of her good looks. Two years later, she gave birth to a big fat boy, and her position was secured. That year, the palace was short of people, and they were going to select males from the families of officials in Liangjing to serve as guards in the palace. Zuo Shun was the one who filled the vacancy of the third-rank official and joined the guard camp. Not long after he entered the palace, the late emperor ordered to give several princes separate residences. Since this person was not very outstanding, he was assigned to the sixth prince's residence."
Pei Che nodded. So that's how it is. Those who can enter the palace to guard must be from a family that knows everything about them. With a third-rank official as a guarantor, even if the Zuo family is just an ordinary family, they can enter the palace. He is a subordinate of the Sixth Prince. Does that mean that what happened back then was related to the Sixth Prince
Thinking of this, Pei Che hesitated. Seeing that he looked embarrassed, Jiang Miao asked him if he had thought of anything.
Pei Che said: "This person is a subordinate of the Sixth Prince. Logically, we should now suspect that the Sixth Prince has something to do with this person. However, the Sixth Prince has always been incompetent and was disliked by the late emperor. What reason does he have to murder my father and others?"
"Could it be that he was faking his leg disease? He had been hiding his strength and only showed his fangs at that moment." Jiang Miao suddenly had an idea.
Pei Che shook his head decisively: "Impossible, he was born with a leg disease. Unless all the male members of the royal family die, there is no way he can become emperor. The Sixth Prince is a loner, he doesn't even have good brothers, let alone intervene in the fight for the throne."
At this point, the truth that had almost become clear became confusing again. Jiang Miao frowned and pondered over the information that the guards had just found. Finally, he found a breakthrough.
"Who is that third-rank official?" Jiang Miao asked.
Pei Che also looked at the guard. The guard got his meaning and immediately said, "This man's surname is Cheng, Cheng Kaihua. He was a third-rank official in the past. Later, he committed some crime and was stripped of his official position by the current emperor and sent back to his hometown."
The case, which had been clueless at first, had taken a turn for the better. Pei Che analyzed his words and said, "A Miao, do you think it is possible that the current emperor ordered Cheng Kaihua to do this, but was afraid that it would be leaked and known to others, so he abandoned the donkey and sent him back to his hometown?"
Jiang Miao thought for a while and said, "Your analysis is not unreasonable, but I always find it strange. It stands to reason that the people who are ordered to do such private things are all the confidants of the superiors. The current emperor did not win over such a minister, nor did he kill him to silence him. Instead, he rushed him back to his hometown. Isn't he afraid that these people will spread something in his hometown? When the time comes, the gossip will be so strong that the current emperor can sleep soundly?"
"That's true." Pei Che sighed, "I just took it for granted."
Jiang Miao patted the back of his hand and said, "You just want to know the truth. I think it's better to ask Grandfather about this official matter. Aren't we going to tell him about this matter?"
Pei Che nodded: "Tomorrow is a day off. Ask someone to prepare gifts later. We will go to my grandfather tomorrow."
(End of this chapter)