PROOFREAD BY AFREANA

Chapter 97.2

“Steward An!” Jiang Song couldn’t hold back his temper any longer, angrily shouting at An Ruochen. The surroundings fell silent for a moment. Even Cao Yihan and Meng Jiayue, who cried in pain, looked over.

Jiang Song gritted his teeth, settled down his tone, and said aloud, “Miss An, we have hundreds of eyes staring at this courtyard and dozens staring at these few rooms. No one other than Mr. Huo’s attendant could enter. After we found the body, we went in to check the doors and windows. It was tightly closed, no one went in or out, and the guards outside the courtyard confirmed that no suspicious people passed by.”

Jiang Song glared at An Ruochen as if he wanted to tell it to the others as well, “Does Miss An understand? Even in this courtyard, it is impossible to go in and out, but only pass through! Not even outsiders can pass by! Not to mention entering Mr. Huo’s room! Unless all of us are blind and deaf. There is no assassin!”

Silence fell in all directions, but An Ruochen’s head was buzzing. No assassin? No assassins? That’s right, dozens of pairs of eyes were staring. It’s possible to hide it from one person, two or three people. But how to conceal it from dozens of people?

An Ruochen opened her mouth, trying to clear her thoughts, “Then, then — when he slashed himself, did he, I mean– if he feels the pain, he would always scream ……”

Jiang Song glared at An Ruochen. His whole body tensed and swelled with anger. He clenched his fists, restrained himself, and said, “There was no major commotion. The doors and windows were closed and we didn’t hear a sound outside.”

“I’m not ……” An Ruochen was apologetic and tried to explain that she wasn’t trying to accuse Jiang Song of anything but knew that every question she asked seemed to question that something was wrong with the security escort. She wanted to say that she didn’t believe it was suicide, but if it wasn’t suicide, where did the assassin come from? If there really was an assassin, then Jiang Song was even more derelict in his duties. An Ruochen opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.

“Miss An.” Meng Jiayue came over and pulled An Ruochen to her side. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying. With her sadness overflowing, she didn’t say much, only handed Huo Mingshan’s suicide note.

When An Ruochen took the suicide note, Cao Yihan shouted, “Don’t pretend! Everything is your trick! It was you all who forced Master! First General Long, then Governor Yao! Every one of you was forcing Master to go to the capital and meet your Emperor! What’s the use of seeing him? To be humiliated by him? Don’t think we don’t know! The previous envoy was humiliated in this place, and the next one died in Great Xiao! And now you’re treating Master like this! You are all still pretending to be good people!”

An Ruochen ignored him and quickly read the suicide note. The content was the same as Jiang Song had said. Huo Mingshan wrote that he was overwhelmed by the pressure and sought relief through death. The letter told how sorry he was and asked Cao Yihan not to blame anyone, asking him to clean up his remains and bring the ashes back to South Qin after cremation. He even explained where his burial place should be.

An Ruochen hesitated when Cao Yihan shouted: “If you have the ability, you can kill me too! Wait for my South Qin army to kill their way through here and avenge the blood feud for me and Master!”

Jiang Song was so angry that he wanted to draw his sword, but An Ruochen and Meng Jiayue reached out to stop him. Jiang Song knew he was impulsive but couldn’t swallow this anger and shouted, “Escort him down! The last person to meet with Mr. Huo was him! He must be interrogated about this matter properly!”

“General Jiang.” An Ruochen disapproved of this approach.

Cao Yihan jumped and yelled, “Yes, you are all skilled at planting dirt and framing others. It was us that did everything! You all are innocent! My Master had died in vain in his neighbor’s hometown, and I will too! Arrest me! Torture me! Force me to confess! That’s right, let General Long come! General Long forced my Master to meet your Emperor. Let him force me to do the same! Yes, that’s right! I want to see General Long! I want to ask him face-to-face! He has done this! How can he have the face to see Master? I want General Long to see him with his own eyes! Do you hear me? I want to see Long Teng! Let me see Long Teng!”

“Escort him down!” Jiang Song couldn’t hold it anymore and waved his hand for the guards to escort Cao Yihan back to the room. Cao Yihan yelled and screamed, saying that South Qin would avenge this, saying that he must see Long Teng and seek justice face to face. He shouted energetically while being dragged back to the house and locked up.

An Ruochen looked worriedly at that doorway as Jiang Song instructed the guards to keep an eye on Cao Yihan, then told Meng Jiayue that if there was nothing more on her end, he would discuss the matter with the Lord Governor.

Meng Jiayue nodded in agreement. Jiang Song bowed to Meng Jiayue and An Ruochen and led the troops away.

There were fewer people in the courtyard all of a sudden. An Ruochen seized the opportunity to ask Meng Jiayue about the situation.

Meng Jiayue told her what she knew, crying as she did so. By the time she heard the news, things had been unraveling for a while. The Governor and other officials had arrived, and Cao Yihan was agitated. The Governor had gotten a coroner to examine the body. Indeed, it was a self-inflicted death. The Governor, Jiang Song, and the Magistrate asked carefully. No one found an outsider, and Mr. Huo had been alone in the room. Only Cao Yihan entered his room, but he always came out quickly each time, and nothing was suspicious.

The Governor asked Cao Yihan to identify the suicide note. It was indeed Huo Mingshan’s handwriting. The sword fell beside the chair with bloodstains on it, and the wound on his neck corresponded with the blade of that sword.

An Ruochen took the ‘Sword of Peace’ from a guard’s hand. The guards had confiscated it when they escorted Cao Yihan into the room.

An Ruochen pulled the sword away to look at it and walked into the room. Meng Jiayue also followed her in. She blamed herself, “Maybe– maybe, it’s true that we’ve said too much to Mr. Huo, always saying that hope lies in him and how it’s like in the capital. He’s been by the side of the South Qin Emperor for many years, so maybe he understood that the situation is not optimistic more than we do. But everyone was counting on him to defuse the situation, and he was under too much pressure. We still had him hiding in a small house, unable to see the light of day, and the road to the capital is far and dangerous. I would also find it difficult.”

An Ruochen didn’t answer. She entered the room and saw a large streak of blood on the floor and at the desk. Blood also stained the chair in front of the desk, dragging from the chair to the bed.

“The body was moved?”

Meng Jiayue said: “It’s the coroner that moved the corpse. When I came here, he had already finished. The lords were waiting outside the room, saying that Mr. Cao had to clean up Mr. Huo’s remains following his will, or else the body would be too stiff after a while. Mr. Cao has always said that Mr. Huo loved cleanliness the most when he was alive. He couldn’t leave him in bloody clothes.”

“Where is the body now?”

“In the east room. It’s clean and tidy. Just what Mr. Huo would have wanted.” Meng Jiayue wiped her tears again. “Then the lords returned to the court hall to discuss their business. I wanted to talk to Mr. Cao. He was a bit baffled, so I was worried that he wouldn’t be able to think straight. He blames us in his heart, and perhaps Mr. Huo feels the same way.”

An Ruochen ignored her chatter as she walked to the door and said to the guard, “Which is the closest position to the room for the guard who was guarding it earlier?”

The guard pointed to his feet and replied that it was here.

“Good. Pay attention and listen to the movements inside.” An Ruochen finished her instructions and closed the doors and windows. Then, she stood in front of the desk, and without caring for a pool of blood in front of her, she plucked out the sword.

Meng Jiayue looked at her in surprise and took two steps back.

An Ruochen made a rough comparison of the height, then thought carefully, pretending to grit her teeth and endure the pain with an “ah” sound, she let go of her hand, letting the sword in her hand fall to the ground.

After doing so, she opened the door and asked the guard, “What did you hear?”

The guard shook his head.

“Heard nothing?”

The guards nodded.