Chapter 245 16 Words

Chen Gong looked at Ling Qinglan and wasn’t surprised, because Ling Qinglan had contacted him in his real identity before. And he was not surprised any more after several months. Since then, they had contact secretly but had no chance to communicate face to face because of their situations.

“You’ve come just at the right moment. Drink the rest of wine with me.”

Chen Gong looked at Ling Qinglan and a bitter smile crawled on his face under the light of the fire.

Ling Qinglan put down a pile of ghost money and took the wine jar out with his left hand, “The class one Liehuo Spirits of the Linli Building. Brother, taste it.”

Chen Gong was shocked when he heard it, “Class one Liehuo Spirits! Is this a jar at 100,000 taels?”

Ling Qinglan nodded slightly. Sitting beside Chen Gong, he opened the mud seal with one stroke. A strong smell of wine was emitted.

Actually, the price of the class one Liehuo Spirits had already exceeded 100,000 taels. Merchants who had no chance to buy the raw wine of the Liehuo Spirits replaced it with class one Liehuo Spirits. The price of each jar of the wine was nearly one million taels. Thanks to Mr. Li, he could get the wine at the original price.

Chen Gong drank a cup of the wine suspiciously, and immediately the spicy wine flowed into his stomach like a fire.

“Good!”

Chen Gong exclaimed, and then he said with a low voice, “The Liehuo Spirits of the Linli Building was really worthy of the reputation, but… the financial situation of the Ling Family had always been difficult. If you want to give me something, it should not be borne by Madam Meng.”

Ling Qinglan’s eyes dodged, and then he replied with a relaxing tone, “Lord Chen, you don’t need to test me. I can tell you directly that I have been supported by other forces. It’s very easy to take out 100,000 taels. If you are willing to tell me the details about extermination of the Yi Family, you will get a lot of reward.”

“You really work for Third Prince.”

Chen Gong looked vigilant and complicated, “The Ling Family adopted you secretly and hid your identity, but the fact is that the Ling Family has declined these years. Without the help of the Prince, how can you control the Supreme Judiciary at such a young age?”

“No, Lord Chen, you are wrong.”

Ling Qinglan still smiled. Chen Gong was confused a little. He asked, “Am I wrong?”

“To be honest, Third Prince also thought that it is him who helped me reach the position now. But the fact is always more complicated than our expectation, right? Lord Chen?”

Chen Gong frowned slightly, and he could not help saying, “Who is the prime mover?”

“It is not necessary for you to know that, while you should only realize that he has no relationship with the royal family of Dahan Country. And it is a wise choice for you to cooperate with me to find out the real murderer.”

Ling Qinglan’s eyes were full of hatred, he continued with a low tone, “Didn’t Lord Chen want to revenge for your wife?”

Chen Gong kept silent for a long time. When he saw that Ling Qinglan’s look was similar to his, finally he nodded, “Yi Mo, I believe you this time, and I hope you won’t let me down.”

Ling Qinglan nodded slightly and felt relieved. Chen Gong kept this secret for years and trust nobody, while this time he got the opportunity to let him put off his vigilance and tell him something.

“14 years ago, I was just a common physician of the Ministry of Penalty.”

Chen Gong glanced at Ling Qinglan who looked calm, “All people of the Yi Family died just overnight, which shocked the whole city. The Ministry of Penalty was ordered to collect the corpses for inspection, and I was also there.”

Ling Qinglan clenched his palms, and blurred pictures went across his mind.

When the tragedy happened, he only remembered the scream of his mother and the blurred figure who struck him on his left chest, then it was endless cold.

He stared at Chen Gong, asking with a low voice, “What did you find then?”

“Everyone was killed with one stroke, even General Yi!”

Recalling the dire situation in those days, Chen Gong was in deep doubt and shock, “At that time, General Yi was the most capable deputy of General Ling. His cultivation had reached the eighth hurdle in the inborn realm. Who can defeated him with just one stroke and he even had no time to help anyone escape?”

“People of the longevity realm…”

Ling Qinglan squinted his eyes, thinking of the mysterious man around Mr. Li some days ago. It was possible for that kind of seniors to kill all of the people in the Yi Family.

“I kept sensible, though I was shocked. After I did some deep inspection, I found that there were lots of problems. But then, Chengjun died, so, I had no patience to deal with anything.”

Chen Gong sighed, and, looked serious. He turned his head and looked at Ling Qinglan. “You should listen carefully for what I said next. I didn’t tell anyone for 14 years.”

Ling Qinglan was shocked a little, and he subliminally lowered his voice, “I will.”

“Firstly, after the murder, the killer should have been ready to set the fire and burn the corpses. There were full of firewood and oil near the wall. But for some reasons, he went away immediately so that I could see the first scene of the crime.”

Ling Qinglan feared. And he would lose his life if there was a fire at that time.

“Chen Gong laughed bitterly and said, “The fire was not avoided and it burned in the Ministry of Penalty. If I hadn’t snuck out because of my wife, I would have died in the fire.”

“Secondly, it was the identity of the murderer.”

Chen Gong touched the tombstone slightly, “When I stole my wife’s body and went back home, I found that her expression was full of doubt rather than fear. I have been thinking about the real identity of the murderer for years. Maybe my wife was familiar with the murderer. And my wife was killed because of she saw something about the Yi Family. But I have secretly searched all the people my wife knew over the years, and none of them fit the case.”

“If a senior of the longevity realm really want to hide the real cultivation, it is hard for you to know.”

Ling Qinglan shook his head and said, as for the martial arts circle and the spiritual circle, he enjoyed a wider scope of knowledge than Chen Gong.

“Maybe you are right.”

Chen Gong laughed wryly. “But even if this is the case, I can’t probe any further, so, my attention was soon diverted to the third point, the Minister of the Ministry of Penalty, Prime Minister Tang!”

“Was he the Minister of Ministry of Penalty?!”

Ling Qinglan shrank his pupils and thought many things at the moment.

“Right!”

Chen Gong’s tone became colder, “In those days, a lot of news were regarded as scandals by the royal family. It was sealed up tightly and the Ministry of Penalty was burned down. Prime Minister Tang was called into the palace and wasn’t punished severely. After several years, Zuo Qian was suddenly transferred to Yunjing, and he was promoted all the time. Then he became the one who was only subject to the emperor. So, I always have a conjecture…”

“Who was the Officer of the Supreme Judiciary that handled the case at that time? Maybe…”

Ling Qinglan’s eyes flickered with danger, and his heartbeat was accelerated slightly. Chen Gong sighed, “You are right. That is Ma De of the Ma Family. Now they are the most important persons to the emperor, with strong power.”

“I should have known that nobody can do that except them in Yunjing City!”

Ling Qinglan looked terrible. He turned around and was going to leave.

“What will you do?”

Chen Gong sulkily stopped him and said, “It is based on our speculation. We have no evidence. If you take actions impulsively, you will make the Ling Family a scapegoat!”

Ling Qinglan trembled slightly. With blood receding in his eyes, he became calm.

He took several deep breaths and slowly sat down. He said in a steady tone, “Evidence? That is easy! The senior of the longevity realm always has a long life, so, he must be alive now. Catch the senior of the longevity realm and torture him. You will know the truth!”

Chen Gong sneered and couldn’t help saying ironically, “How do you catch him? He can kill you with one palm!”

“Of course I have my way.”

Ling Qinglan took a deep breath, then a huge plan occurred in his mind, “Next, you just see how I will find out the real murderer!”

Chen Gong looked at him in doubt. Why he was so confident to fight against that powerful person?

However, seeing that Ling Qinglan was so firm, he felt a little hopeful.

“If you can really do that, then I… will wait for that day!”

…

After the third day of the first lunar month, Su Li moved out from Lord Rui’s Mansion. And Dongfang Rui was reluctant to let her leave. But she still went back to the Affiliated School of the National Academy.

“Miss, won’t you open these gifts?”

Mammy Li asked helplessly with a lot of gift boxes in her arms.

At the beginning of the New Year, young wits and playboys in Yunjing city sent a lot of gifts to Su Li. The packaging showed that these gifts were very expensive. And these people had surprisingly the same reason: thanks for the wonderful course of Su Li.

But for the inside purpose of them, nobody knew.

“Keep the gift from the Ling Mansion, and take others to the warehouse.”

Su Li said in an indifferent voice. Mammy Li was amazed and looked up at Su Li who was looking down at the blue jade hairpin in her hand with her bright eyes.

That was… the favorite blue-cloud-shaped hairpin of the old Miss. Did the master give it to Miss?

Tears welled up in Mammy Li’s eyes. She hurriedly wiped with her sleeves and returned to find the gift from the Ling Mansion that she put aside. Then she gently placed it in a corner of the table, and quietly retreated.

“This was the love token that I gave to your mother. She fled to Qinghe Province and pawned it probably in order to get enough food to raise you. I looked for all the pawnshops in Qinghe Province, and finally found it. Now I give it to you.”

Su Li seemed to hear what Dongfang Rui said that night. She squinted with a smile, and then she turned back. Looking at the mirror, she inserted the hairpin in her black hair.

A little blue embellishment of the hairpin in black hair set off her beauty.

Then, Su Li picked up the gift box on the table and loosened the ribbon to reveal what was inside. It was just a piece of calligraphy work with good paper and ink. She could also smell the faint fragrance of the ink.

There were 16 words written in fluent lines with different features.

“On the other side is my adored girl. Quiet and beautiful, she is my ideal spouse!”