Tang Dynasty Prison Administration

Chapter 117: Nothing to do today

After returning home from court, Cui Lingyu went up to him and asked, "How did it go?"

Su Wen said, "The Emperor has ruled it as intentional homicide, but I've offended the Court of Judicial Review, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Justice all at once. Alas..."

Cui Lingyu smiled and said, "If the Sage asks you to be a knife, you're bound to offend people!"

Su Wendao said, "However, the Emperor demoted Xia Wenyu to Jiaozhou in Lingnan Circuit and appointed your cousin Cui Wuyi as Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, replacing Xia Wenyu's position!"

After pondering for a moment, Cui Lingyu said, "So, the Sage approves of what you did today. The Dali Temple has been controlled by the powerful officials of Guanzhong for too long, to the point that the Sage couldn't find a good excuse. Today, you handed over a knife, and the Sage used this knife to first tear open the Dali Temple and plant people inside. It seems that the Sage approves of your knife!"

Su Wen took a deep breath and said, "Lingyu, if it weren't for you by my side, I'm afraid I would find it difficult to move an inch in Chang'an. I think I'm better suited to traveling and investigating cases. Now that I'm caught up in this vortex, I really don't know if one day I'll be..."

Su Wen didn't continue speaking, but Cui Lingyu, who was standing to the side, already knew what Su Wen was thinking.

Cui Lingyu smiled and said, "Let's not talk about that. Recently, an illusion troupe came to Chang'an. I heard they are extremely skilled in illusion. In ten days, on the Emperor's birthday, they will be invited to perform at Xingqing Palace. They are performing in Chang'an now, why don't we go and see them?"

Su Wen replied, "Okay, let's go!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Cui Lingyu reached out and grabbed Su Wen's hand, and they walked excitedly out of the mansion.

Before long, the two arrived at the West Market.

The West Market of Chang'an County was filled with foreign merchants, selling a wide variety of goods. In contrast, the neighboring Wannian County was mostly inhabited by high-ranking officials and nobles. In other words, Wannian County was full of wealthy people. The East Market there sold very expensive items, such as brocade, silk, satin, antiques, and so on.

The residents of Chang'an County were more open-minded, and people from the Western Regions, foreigners, and the middle class mostly lived there, so the West Market was more lively than the East Market.

After all, the wealthy prefer quiet, while ordinary people prefer noise; this has been a fact since ancient times.

The two strolled along the street, and Su Wen saw many foods he had never seen before. It was the height of summer, and there were many people selling crispy cakes; you could find one almost every few steps.

However, the crispy mountain (酥山) is extremely expensive. A bowl the size of an egg costs ten coins. To put this in perspective, ten coins can buy a dou (斗) of rice (20 jin), which shows just how expensive the crispy mountain is. (Here, "coins" means ten wen (文钱). If it were silver, it would be one tael of silver.)

However, Su Wen still bought two bowls, spending fifty coins.

Su Wen had wanted to try it more than a year ago when he was in Youzhou, but he was too poor to buy it at that time. Some time ago, the emperor gave Su Wen some money, so now he has some savings.

Another point is that Su Wen owed the Sage 500,000 coins, which was the betrothal gift for Cui Lingyu's family. However, Cui Lingyu made Su Wen show the Sage the gold ingots, so the Sage waived the 500,000 coins from Su Wen.

Otherwise, Su Wen would need to work for the Sage for thirty years to pay off his debts!

Su Wen handed the crispy mountain to Cui Lingyu, who looked at Su Wen with a smile. Su Wen then took a bite.

How so?

This crispy mountain is actually a bit like fruit with sugar and shaved ice, similar to ice cream, but not quite. It's not very tasty because the sugar extraction technology in the Tang Dynasty wasn't particularly advanced. After all, it only started appearing during the Zhenguan era. Although it has developed in the last few decades, it's still not very advanced. So the sugar tastes a little astringent, but it's still okay. For people who have never eaten white sugar, cane sugar is already very good.

Before long, the two arrived at the villa of the Illusion Troupe that Cui Lingyu had mentioned. This was a villa they had temporarily rented. In reality, it was just an open space enclosed by a wall, with a very large tent set up in the open space.

Su Wen approached a dwarf who was nearly three feet tall at the door and asked, "How much per person?"

The dwarf said, "Twenty coins per person!"

Su Wen took out the money and handed it to the dwarf. When the dwarf reached out to take the money, Su Wen noticed a moon mark on the dwarf's wrist. In an instant, Su Wen compared it with the moon mark on Lu Yao's hand in his mind.

Su Wen smiled and said, "You're also from Ningyue Pavilion?"

Upon hearing this, the dwarf hesitated for a moment, then smiled and nodded!

Cui Lingyu said softly, "It seems like the show is about to start!"

The dwarf said, "Please come in quickly, the show has already started. If you're late, you'll miss many performances!"

Su Wen responded and followed Cui Lingyu inside.

The tent was similar to the one Su Wen had seen on the sandbar. The seats were arranged from low to high. There were only about one or two hundred people inside. Su Wen and Cui Lingyu found a seat nearby and sat down.

Next, the illusions performed here were simply astonishing, even completely overturning Su Wen's understanding. The magic tricks that only existed in legends, such as the magic rope, water transformation, flying horses, and walking in mid-air, were all there.

At one point, Su Wen even thought that this was not an illusion at all, but a spell!

Besides these, there are other performances, such as animal training and acrobatics, which are quite impressive.

After reading it, Su Wen noticed that it was getting late, so he and Cui Lingyu took a walk back to the Cui residence. After Cui Lingyu said goodbye to Su Wen, Su Wen went home.

......

The next day, at dawn.

Su Wen was having breakfast with Cui Lingyu in the pavilion when Xu Ge walked in, dressed in full armor, and said, "Master, there's been a murder in Qinglongfang, Wannian County!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen immediately put down his chopsticks and stood up. Just as he was about to speak, Cui Lingyu, who was standing to the side, looked at Xu Ge and said, "The Prison Warden's Office has not yet officially started handling cases. Since it is a murder case that occurred in Wannian County, it should be investigated by the County Magistrate's Criminal Investigation Department, specifically the County Lieutenant. Why come to Su Lang?"

Xu Ge said, "This case is bizarre and strange. The magistrate of Wannian County asked Yongzhou Prefecture to take charge of the investigation, and the chief secretary of Yongzhou Prefecture ordered me, the judicial officer, to take charge of the investigation. I..."

Su Wen's face lit up with joy as he said, "It's alright, Master's here, I'll go!"

Cui Lingyu said, "Young Master Su, please sit down first. Don't rush. The situation in Wannian County is special. Unless it's an imperial edict or official document, it's best not to interfere!"

Su Wen said, "But since the higher-ups have already ordered Xu Ge, the judicial officer, to solve the case, wouldn't it be a bit... for me, as his mentor, to not go?"

Cui Lingyu reached out and pulled Su Wen to sit down, then looked at Xu Ge and said softly, "Xu Ge, go back to the Chief Secretary's residence and tell him that this case is extremely bizarre and cannot be solved by ordinary people. We need to ask the Prison Chief, Su Wen, to come and investigate; otherwise, it will be impossible to solve!"

Xu Ge looked puzzled; he didn't understand at all, and neither did Su Wen.

Cui Lingyu then said softly, "The magistrate of Wannian County is surnamed Xia, do you understand?"

Xu Ge and Su Wen understood almost instantly!

This is not just a case; if it is not handled properly, it could very well become a tool for the other party to attack!