PC Chapter 37

That very night, Su Cen brought the books back to his residence. He didn’t even bother with dinner, still wearing his soot-covered clothes as he locked himself in the study.

Zhang Jun’s anxious rush to hand over the books earlier made sense. Now, these volumes were like a hot potato—wherever the books went, disaster followed. Su Cen needed to finish reading them before the arsonist realized he had saved them.

The cover was completely burned off, and half of the title page was scorched. But Chen Guanglu’s inscription remained: Hold your heart like a scale, balance your actions with reason.

Su Cen’s emotions surged. These eight simple words were enough to serve as a guiding principle for all legal officers when judging cases and meting out punishment. But how many could truly live up to them? In the world of politics, with its personal connections, compromises, and constant maneuvering, how could one maintain both balance and fairness without guilt?

Looking down at his dusty, worn clothes, Su Cen felt a little unworthy to be reading such a masterpiece. He sheepishly rubbed his hands together, muttering an apology, and finally opened the book.

One candle, half a scorched manuscript, accompanied by the chirping of summer insects—it was dawn by the time he finished.

As he closed the book, the first light of day crept in. He stretched his stiff neck and was about to stand up when the door cracked open slightly and a head peeked out from there.

“Brother Su, finished reading?” Qu Ling’er entered carrying a bowl of ginseng soup. Placing it on the table, he said, “You must be starving. Have some soup first.”

Only now did Su Cen feel the rumbling in his stomach. After drinking the soup, warmth spread through his body, and he began to feel alive again. He glanced at Qu Ling’er, then at the brightening sky. “Did none of you sleep either?”

“How could we not?” Qu Ling’er chuckled. Then he added, “It was Ah Fu. He was worried you’d get hungry in the middle of the night with nothing to eat, so he stayed up guarding the soup all night. I just took over and sent him off to bed.”

Su Cen looked at the still-warm bowl and could only manage a simple “Thank you” after a long pause.

“Did you find anything?” Qu Ling’er leaned closer.

“Hmm,” Su Cen picked up one of the books, flipped to a particular page, and handed it to him. “Chen’s Criminal Laws is different from case files. Since it’s often used for reference, it’s organized by types of incidents rather than chronological order. So it took some effort to find what I was looking for. I had to reorganize the examples in the book based on the Dali Temple records, and that’s how I found the case that was hidden back then.”

Qu Ling’er stared at the book for a long time. “Brother Su, I don’t understand.” Then he stared at Su Cen for a long time. “I don’t understand you either.”

Su Cen let out a light sigh. “Have you heard of Lu Family Village?”

“Lu Family Village?” Qu Ling’er thought for a moment and shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”

“The case took place in the summer of 22nd year of Yonglong. A death row prisoner died.”

“A death row prisoner dying—what’s so unusual about that?”

“But at the time, the new emperor had just ascended to the throne, and there was a general amnesty. The death row prisoner’s name was Lu Xiaoliu, a servant of the Ding’an Marquis household. In the winter of 21st year of Yonglong, after drinking too much, he accidentally pushed the young marquis into a lotus pond, where he drowned. The marquis’ household broke one of his legs before sending him to Dali Temple, where he was sentenced to death. He was supposed to be executed in the autumn of the following year, but with the new emperor’s accession, he was granted amnesty and spared. He was then sent back to his hometown—Lu Family Village.”

“This person was really lucky,” Qu Ling’er clicked his tongue twice before asking, “So how did he end up dead again?”

“He died on the night he was repatriated to his hometown. At that time, it was said that Lu Xiaoliu was still a thief. He drank alcohol in the middle of the night and molested the daughter of a hunter, and was beaten to death.”

“Huh?” Qu Ling’er twitched his lips. “How strong could his drinking habit be? The last time he drank, it nearly cost him his life, and he still dared to drink?”

After a moment of thinking, he caught on to the oddity. “What’s strange about this case?”

“You’ve noticed it too,” Su Cen smiled faintly. “It’s precisely because this case isn’t strange that it becomes strange. The cases handled by Dali Temple usually involve either royalty or significant matters in the capital. Why would such a trivial case from a small town catch the attention of the then Deputy Minister of Dali Temple, Lord Chen?”

“Ah, you’re right!” Qu Ling’er nodded in agreement. “I felt something was off before but couldn’t figure out what. Now that you mention it, it really does seem suspicious. The case is too small, and the facts are clear—there’s really nothing noteworthy about it.”

“There’s something even stranger,” Su Cen continued, “After Lord Chen took over the case, the hunter who killed Lu Xiaoliu turned himself in at the courthouse, confessing to his crime without hesitation. Many villagers from Lu’s hometown also testified that Lu Xiaoliu had indeed molested the hunter’s daughter first. But when Lord Chen personally inspected the coffin, do you know what he found?”

“What?”

“The coffin was empty.”

“Empty?” Qu Ling’er raised his head. “Then where was Lu Xiaoliu’s body?”

Su Cen shook his head. “Some said it was dragged away by hunting dogs, while others believed Lu Xiaoliu didn’t die at all and had crawled out of the coffin after waking up. There were even rumors that he had been taken by the Mountain God to become a ghost servant.”

Qu Ling’er blinked in confusion. “What’s a ghost servant?”

“Have you heard of ‘serving the tiger as a ghost’?”

Qu Ling’er widened his peach blossom eyes and shook his head.

Su Cen had to summon all his patience to resist the urge to kick him out. Taking a deep breath, he explained while looking at the bowl of ginseng soup, “There’s a legend that people killed by tigers become ghost servants and must help the tiger find its next victim to free their souls. In the village, there’s a local tale about a Mountain God who seeks out those who died unjustly to become servants. Hunters say they sometimes find unclaimed skeletons in the mountains—those are believed to be ghost servants taken by the Mountain God. Some even claim to have seen a procession of ghosts on rainy nights, vanishing deep into the mountains, never to be seen again.”

Qu Ling’er shuddered even in broad daylight, rubbing the goosebumps on his arms. “Su, Brother Su, let’s get back to the case. Don’t talk about ghost servants anymore.”

Su Cen spread his hands. “There were witnesses, evidence, and a confession. Lu Xiaoliu was already a convicted criminal awaiting execution. It seems like even the King of Hell didn’t want him, and no one could keep him alive.”

“Oh.” Qu Ling’er lowered his gaze and slumped over the table. “What does this have to do with Tian Pingzhi’s case and the Secret Door?”

Su Cen closed the book and stood up. “I can’t say for sure just yet, but Lord Chen must have had his reasons for leaving behind such a convoluted record of this case.”

Moreover, the timing was only a few months after the Lin Pingzhi case. What did Lord Chen discover during this time that led him from the capital to a remote mountain village?

What was so peculiar about this case that it couldn’t be recorded in official documents and could only be preserved through strange tales and anecdotes?

Seeing that Su Cen had drifted off into his own thoughts again, Qu Ling’er quietly cleaned up the bowls and utensils before quietly slipping out. As he left, he whispered, “There’s still about an hour until dawn, you should get some rest.”

Whether Su Cen heard him or not was unclear.

Over the next few days, Su Cen continued searching for clues related to Lu’s village and Lu Xiaoliu, but to no avail. Especially regarding Lu’s village—after the incident with Lu Xiaoliu, not even minor crimes like petty theft or neighborhood disputes had been reported. It was as if the entire village had vanished from the legal records of the Great Zhou, with no trace of any further incidents.

However, it wasn’t a complete dead end. A few days after the fire in the study, Zhang Jun came to Su Cen holding a high-quality jade pendant, asking if it belonged to him. It had been found in the ashes while cleaning up the study. Since it wasn’t something that belonged to the Zhang residence, Zhang Jun wondered if Su Cen had accidentally dropped it when he rushed in to save the books.

Su Cen neither confirmed nor denied it. He simply recited, “The ice flower and lotus jade changes in hue, formed from clouds and lightness,” and took the pendant into his hand.

Su Cen examined the jade pendant for a long time. This jade, known as Ice Flower Lotus Jade, was a rare pink variety with transparent ice flower patterns inside. Its color would deepen with prolonged wear.

Because of this unique quality, the jade was typically worn by women.

Previously, he had assumed someone had followed him to the Zhang residence. But now, it seemed that wasn’t entirely the case. No one would come to commit murder and arson while carrying such a pendant. It was highly likely that this person was from the Zhang family’s inner quarters. Hearing that Su Cen intended to borrow a book, they set fire to the study—without even knowing exactly which book he was after. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have burned for so long only to leave a set of Chen’s Criminal Laws half intact.

So, was this person’s presence in the Zhang residence intentional or coincidental? If it was intentional, with informants placed in the homes of court officials, what exactly was this person after?

 

---