usatvline Chapter 73 073 The Ministry of Justice Prison
Chapter 73 073 The Ministry of Justice Prison
Chapter 73 073 Ministry of Justice Prison
In the dark and damp prison of the Ministry of Justice, a naked male corpse was hung from a torture device, guarded closely by several guards. Directly in front of him was a table where an artist observed the totem on the corpse's shoulder blade and then copied it onto paper.
The totem's shape was extremely complex and bizarre, and in such a gloomy environment, it inexplicably appeared somewhat ferocious.
The guards, completely absorbed in the intricate patterns, were unaware that a figure had silently slipped into the cell. Suddenly, a chilling wind swept through the area, carrying a faint fragrance. The moment they smelled the fragrance, the guards and the painter's pupils dilated, black blood trickled from their mouths, and they collapsed limply to the ground.
At the same time, a figure landed on the ground like a ghost. The figure was dressed in a black, tight-fitting outfit, tall and slender, with a long scar running through the bridge of his nose. He carried a pair of silver hooks in his hand, and his expression was as gloomy as water. It was Ji Linchuan, the top assassin of Ronghua Tower.
Ji Linchuan walked up to the male corpse, glanced coldly at the totem on his shoulder blade, raised the silver hook in his hand and mercilessly scraped the male corpse's body, making the entire body look gruesome, in order to cover up the marks on his body.
After doing all this, Ji Linchuan turned around, took the pattern drawn by the painter, and threw it into the brazier. The flames rose up and instantly devoured the drawing paper.
He moved swiftly, killing the guards and painter, destroying the totems on the male corpse, and burning the painting—all in just a few breaths. Having completed his mission, Ji Linchuan showed no hesitation, disappearing silently into the darkness as he had come.
No sooner had he left than a steady footstep echoed outside the prison.
"Your Highness is right. The guards did indeed find a mark on the body of that assassin. I have already sent an artist to make a rubbing of it, and it is now placed in the torture chamber."
Shu Wenda led Chunyu Yang down the moss-covered stone steps of the prison with great care. Every so often they would encounter a patrol of guards, who would stop and respectfully greet Chunyu Yang as "Third Prince".
Calls of "Your Highness" echoed through the dark prison. As they went deeper, they saw a constant stream of obscure and unreadable gazes directed at Chunyu Yang. These gazes contained hatred, speculation, but mostly fear.
Because the vast majority of prisoners in this jail were brought back by Chunyu Yang himself.
As they walked, Chunyu Yang suddenly frowned and said, "There's a fresh smell of blood coming from the direction of the torture chamber."
Shu Wenda's expression changed, and he immediately ran towards the torture chamber. Upon entering the torture chamber, he immediately saw the guards and painters lying on the ground, as well as the corpses that had been slashed beyond recognition on the torture instruments.
Oh no, I'm too late! Shu Wenda hurriedly turned around and searched the painter's desk, but found nothing useful.
Chunyu Yang squatted down and examined the bodies of the guards and the painters. He smelled the same scent as that on the golden-roofed ink lotus. He said coldly, "They both died of poisoning. Their bodies are still warm, so they must have died before you and I came in."
"Guards! Guards!" Shu Wenda shouted, and soon a group of guards patrolling nearby rushed over.
"Greetings, Third Prince, Lord Shu!"
"How are you guarding the prison! You didn't even know someone had sneaked in and killed someone!" Shu Wenda's face turned ashen with anger. "Go and search it right now!"
“It’s too late.” Chunyu Yang stood up and said, his eyes cold as ice. “The Ministry of Justice’s prison is not an easy place to enter. The other party was obviously prepared. If he can enter silently, he can also leave unscathed.”
"It must have been done by that organization! They sent people to destroy it so that we wouldn't know what the mark looked like!" Shu Wenda said angrily.
Chunyu Yang asked, "Lord Shu, have you ever seen the design of that mark?"
"I once saw it from afar; it was a very complex pattern. Because it was not easy to remember, I asked an artist to draw it!" Shu Wenda said with a long sigh.
Chunyu Yang then asked, "What is the general shape of that pattern?"
"The others are not very clear, but one part looks a lot like a spider..."
Spider? Chunyu Yang frowned in thought. There were quite a few organizations in the martial arts world that used spiders as their totem, but he would probably have to send someone to investigate which one it was.
“I have some connections in the martial arts world, so please let me investigate this case,” Chunyu Yang said.
"Yes, Your Highness, I await your good news at the Ministry of Justice," Shu Wenda quickly replied, bowing.
After that day, many more guards were added to the Ministry of Justice prison, and security became even tighter than before.
Leaving the Ministry of Justice prison, Chunyu Yang rode his horse slowly along the road, pondering the whole incident. As he passed the North Gate, seeing the city residents entering and leaving, he suddenly thought of Ye Bijun, who had caused a scene at the banquet in Qionglin Garden.
Looking up towards the direction of the Marquis of Anshi's residence, Chunyu Yang's brows furrowed deeply.
If he wasn't mistaken, Ye Bijun had indeed been poisoned with a maddening poison in the main hall that day. This poison, along with the poisons inflicted on his mother and Ye Pianran's mother, was likely from the same person. At the time, some suspected Ye Pianran had poisoned Ye Bijun, but he believed the poison might have originated with Ye Bijun, since he hadn't detected that unique fragrance on Ye Pianran.
How could a sheltered young lady, confined to her home, possess such a bizarre poison? If she didn't create it herself, then someone provided it to her. And the one who provided the poison might be connected to that assassin and that organization with the spider as its totem…
Thinking of this, Chunyu Yang's expression hardened, he squeezed his legs tightly around the horse's belly, and spurred the horse to gallop towards the direction of the Northern Martial Prince's Mansion.
Back in his study at the Prince's residence, Chunyu Yang blew a whistle, and a dark figure landed in front of him.
"Ye Cangqiong greets Your Highness." This person was the black-clad guard who had appeared on Xiaohuangshan Mountain.
"I need you to do something immediately: infiltrate the Marquis of Anshi's residence, keep a close eye on a young lady named Ye Bijun, and report all her movements to me."
"Yes!" Ye Cangqiong bowed to accept the order and disappeared as silently as he had come.
"Zhongping," Chunyu Yang called again.
Zhong Ping, the steward of the Northern Martial Prince's Mansion, stepped forward and said, "Your subordinate is here."
"Send someone to investigate which organizations in the martial arts world use spiders as their symbol, and send the list back to the capital as soon as possible."
Steward Zhong replied solemnly, "Your subordinate obeys!"
——※※※——
Perhaps someone in the court was indeed stirring things up, because three days later, the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Anshi prayed for her mother's well-being. Her filial piety moved the heavens, and her mother's critical illness miraculously improved. Her determination to learn medicine and do good deeds for her mother gradually spread throughout the capital.
Now, everyone knows that the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Anshi is an extremely beautiful, kind, and filial girl. What's even more remarkable is that, despite her facial injuries, she never complained or felt sorry for herself. With extraordinary courage and quick wit, she won the emperor's praise at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet and became the envy of all the women in the Great Xia Kingdom.
Moreover, a new trend called "Pipa Makeup" has quietly emerged in the capital, where people cover their faces with veils and only draw their eyes and foreheads. It is said that this style is being imitated by the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Anshi's family.
As the tide turned, the rumors circulating in the city that the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Anshi was unfaithful were completely dispelled, and a surprising reversal occurred—
It turns out that the one who truly broke the vows of womanhood was Ye Bijun, the paternal daughter of the Marquis of Anshi's family. She herself admitted this in front of the emperor! And what's most talked about is that she actually confessed her love to Ouyang Shaoyu of the Ouyang family in front of the emperor, high-ranking officials, and all the children of noble families!
Who in the capital doesn't know about the marriage between Ouyang Shaoyu, one of the "Five Talents of the Capital," and Ye Pianran, the eldest daughter of the Marquis's family? As Ye Pianran's cousin, publicly professing her love for her future cousin-in-law before her cousin's marriage is, even if she and Ouyang Shaoyu are "truly in love," this act is still far too despicable and shameless!
In order to fulfill Ouyang Shaoyu and Ye Bijun's wishes, Ye Pianran took the initiative to break off the engagement on the grounds of fulfilling her mother's vow. How heartbroken she must have been to make such a decision!
In an instant, Ye Pianran's reputation among the people was raised by more than one level, while Ye Bijun and Ouyang Shaoyu became infamous and were despised by the people.
At this very moment, at the Ouyang residence.
With a sharp "smack!", a heavy slap landed on Ouyang Shaoyu's face, leaving a five-finger mark on his handsome, fair cheek, which swelled up high.
"You bastard! You actually did this while I was away from the capital!"
"Father, Father, please listen to me! I really don't know that Ye Bijun! This was all Ye Pianran's doing! She's holding a grudge against me for sending someone to the Marquis's mansion to propose annulment, and she's taking revenge on me!" Ouyang Shaoyu crawled to Ouyang Xiang's legs, grabbing Ouyang Xiang's sleeve as he spoke in a panic.
"It's all because you sent the Grand Elder to the Marquis's residence to annul the engagement that things have turned out like this! If you hadn't gone, none of this would have happened!" Ouyang Xiang was so angry that his face turned ashen, and he almost wanted to strangle his good-for-nothing son. "You were the one who insisted on marrying her back then, and now you're the one saying you don't want to. Do you think you can just cancel this engagement with the Marquis's residence like that!"
Seeing that Ouyang Shaoyu's face was swollen like a pig's head, Ouyang Qi stepped forward with heartache and said, "Fourth brother, you can't blame Shaoyu for this. The rumors about the eldest daughter of the Marquis's mansion were really bad these days, and she was indeed injured on the face. Shaoyu is going to be the head of our Ouyang family in the future. How can he marry such a woman with a bad reputation and an injured face?"
"Disgraced? Look at how people outside are talking about her now! Marrying her would only benefit the Ouyang family! But look at her now!" Ouyang Xiang roared, "You like to frequent brothels and drink all night with your cronies. Do you think you have a good reputation? One of the 'Five Talents of the Capital'? I think you're just a spendthrift!"
"You can scold me or hit me however you want, but Father, I will absolutely not marry Ye Bijun! You have no idea how terrible she was at the banquet. All the injuries on her face were self-inflicted. She's a complete madwoman!" Ouyang Shaoyu wailed, clinging to Ouyang Xiang's leg.
"You bastard, do you want the entire Ouyang family to be ruined in your hands?!" Ouyang Xiang kicked him away, raising his hand almost to punch Ouyang Shaoyu again, but the other elders quickly stepped forward to stop him, giving Ouyang Shaoyu meaningful glances and admonishing him:
"Your father doesn't mean for you to marry her and become the head of the household; he just wants you to marry her as a show to shut everyone up. Given her status, she can only be your concubine at most. If you think she's ugly because of her scars, just leave her alone and don't touch her!"
Ouyang Shaoyu lowered his head and remained silent. The thought of the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet made him feel extremely nauseous.
If he'd known he'd end up marrying a crazy woman with a scarred face, he would have preferred to marry Ye Pianran! At least he'd genuinely loved her once…
Just then, a servant knocked on the door and said from outside:
"Master, the Marquis's mansion has sent someone to say they want to annul the engagement."
Ouyang Xiang glared fiercely at Ouyang Shaoyu and strode out: "Get back in your room and stay there obediently! Don't embarrass yourself here! Ten days from now, you'll come with me to the Marquis's mansion to propose marriage!"
"Father! Father!"