Tang Dynasty Prison Administration

028: The Nightmare Chases the Murderer

Su Wen took the painting from the Taoist priest and opened it. It was a landscape painting depicting the back mountain of Qingfeng Temple. Two people were sitting in the pavilion drinking tea, a child was standing in the middle, and a Taoist priest was standing not far from them.

Upon seeing this scene, Su Wen frowned deeply, lost in thought.

Su Wen looked at the Taoist priest, pondered for a long time, and then said, "Taoist priest, I have another request, and I hope you can grant it!"

The Taoist priest looked at Su Wen and said, "Please speak, sir!"

Su Wen himself was a little worried, afraid that he would be beaten if he spoke up, but for the sake of evidence, he still spoke up: "I suspect that Master Qingyun did not die of illness, but was poisoned, so I want to exhume the body for an autopsy!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen originally thought that the Taoist priest would curse him or even get angry.

But the Taoist priest in front of him remained remarkably calm, saying, "The patron has come twice, each time with a worried expression on his face, and has inquired multiple times. He must have something he needs to know. I suspect the patron is from an official family!"

Su Wen nodded and said, "I don't know if I count as someone from the government, but since I've been entrusted with this task, even if it's just a dream, I will do my best to investigate. In the past two days here, I've inquired and searched extensively and found quite a few clues. The picture left behind by Daoist Qingyun is enough to prove that Daoist Qingyun should know what happened back then. Therefore, I suspect that Daoist Qingyun was poisoned!"

The Taoist priest closed his eyes and said, "Since the client has doubts, let's open the coffin and examine the body!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen was quite shocked and asked, "Aren't you afraid of defiling and offending Daoist Qingyun?"

"We, the disciples of the Daoist sect, do not care about fame or fortune. Life and death are merely the normal operating rules of the universe. Since a person is already dead, why should we care about other people's words?" The Daoist priest bowed to Su Wen and said, "Please, sir, do it with confidence. I will fully support you!"

Su Wen was truly shocked to hear the Taoist priest say such things, so he bowed and said, "Thank you, Taoist priest!"

After saying that, Su Wen saw that it was already dawn, grabbed a shovel and a hoe, and went to the back mountain to dig up Qingyun Daoist's grave.

Su Wen dug a few times, and several young Taoist priests, hearing the commotion, ran over. One of them shouted, "What are you doing? Why are you digging up the grave of my Qingyun Patriarch?"

The Taoist priest turned to the young Taoist priest and said, "The patron has some troubles on his mind. If it's the Taoist priest's concern, then let the patron dig up the grave and investigate. In this way, the patron's worries can be resolved!"

The young Taoist priest said, "Master, this...this...this person is already dead, and they're still going to dig up his grave and desecrate his body? Isn't that...?"

The Taoist priest said, "When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out. Since Master Qingyun is already dead, yet the living are still burdened with trivial matters, this is karma. As practitioners of Taoism, we should sever karmic ties!"

After saying this, the Taoist priest slowly closed his eyes without looking back: "The living are still alive, the dead are dead!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen was shocked; it even overturned his understanding of the world!

This is a true Taoist master, a true practitioner of the Tao!

Su Wen spent a lot of effort and finally managed to dig out the coffin, pry open the lid, and reveal the skeleton inside.

Su Wen looked at the skeleton, took a deep breath, and took out a rib from the abdomen.

After Su Wen took it down, he went to the small pot that had been set up earlier and threw the bones into the pot to cook.

The young Taoist priests who witnessed this scene gritted their teeth in hatred, but the Taoist master stood still, without making a sound, and slowly said, "Once a person is dead, they are like flowers, grass, and trees; they wither and cease to exist. You don't need to care. The dead are dead, and the dead will not blame the living!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen was utterly shocked. In this feudal dynasty, there was actually a Taoist priest.

Even a thousand years later, few people would agree to boil bones!

A moment later, Su Wen took the bones out of the pot, then walked to the side and put water into the rat trap.

After the rat drank the bone, it squealed a few times and began to scurry around the cage. Then it started convulsing until it died!

Su Wen frowned and said, "As expected, he died from poisoning. This poison is over twenty years old, yet it still has such effects, which shows how vicious it is!"

After Su Wen finished speaking, he placed the bones back into the coffin, closed the lid, and then, panting, buried them with soil, saying, "Thank you very much, Daoist Master. When the trial is held, I hope that all of you Daoist Masters will be my witnesses!"

The Taoist priest closed his eyes, sighed, and said, "Cause and effect are inescapable; retribution will surely come. Everything is preordained. When you need anything, just let me know, and I will come!"

"Thank you very much, Daoist Master!"

After saying that, Su Wen worked alone for a long time to fix the grave. After finishing, Su Wen was exhausted and panting heavily.

Su Wen, who never knelt down easily, couldn't help but kneel and kowtow to Master Qingyun this time.

After leaving Qingfeng Temple, Su Wen now had many guesses about the general events. All he needed to do now was wait for Xue Song, the judicial officer of Youzhou, to give him the orders!

......

Su Wen lay on the bed in the tavern, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He only had a very complete guess, but no evidence. To be precise, it was impossible to find any evidence to prove that Yuan Tianfang, also known as Liu Yongqiang, was the murderer, and there was no way to find any evidence at all.

More than 20 years have passed, and Su Wen has no way of finding any evidence!

In other words, even if Su Wen arrests Yuan Tianfang, he cannot convict him. As long as Yuan Tianfang does not confess, he will be powerless.

Even if Su Wen obtained Liu Yongqiang's identity information, he could only accuse Liu Yongqiang of impersonating Yuan Tianfang, but he could not convict him!

I didn't sleep all night.

The next day, when Su Wen got up and was eating at a tavern, he saw a few people on the street burning paper money and offering incense.

Seeing Su Wen so engrossed in reading, the waiter smiled and said, "Oh, sir, tomorrow is the fifteenth. It's a unique custom here. On the fifteenth of May, the Dragon Boat Festival, we burn incense and paper money for those we've wronged, praying for their forgiveness!"

Suddenly, Su Wen had a flash of inspiration and turned sharply to look at the waiter, saying, "You've given me a clue! I have an idea!"

Everything is ready now, except for the final push!

After finishing his meal, Su Wen went to Magistrate Cui's house again. After Cui Lingyu left, Su Wen bowed and said, "Miss Cui, I've heard that you are extremely skilled in painting. Could you paint a portrait of me?"

Seeing Su Wen's smiling face, Cui Lingyu asked curiously, "Dr. Su, have you found a clue?"

Su Wen smiled slightly and said, "I guess so. Now all that's missing is this portrait!"

Cui Lingyu smiled slightly and said, "Okay, who should I draw?"

Su Wendao: "Yuan Tianfang!"

Cui Lingyu smiled and said, "Okay, then wait here, I'll go inside and draw it for you!"

Su Wen glanced at Cui Lingyu and asked, "Have you seen him before?"

Cui Lingyu said, "Yes, I have. A few months ago, A-Weng had Yuan Tianfang design the pavilions and terraces for our residence. I had the pleasure of seeing them!"

Su Wen smiled and said, "Then thank you very much, Miss Cui!"