bookrebus Chapter 331
Chapter 331
Wei Ping: No, how did this start because of me? Can you finish it all at once? Lord Artifact, your way of pausing mid-sentence is really going to kill someone from anxiety.Didn't you see that his colleagues' looks at him had already changed?
If Lord Artifact keeps doing this, he won't have any friends left!
Yue Fuguang saw the deep resentment radiating from him, chuckled inwardly, and acted as his mouthpiece, asking, "Little Zhu, where did this come from? What exactly did Wei Ping do?"
Wei Ping: I also want to know what I did!
[Master, do you remember Ling Langshan, whom I mentioned before? He was the elder in Ling Yuanhang's clan, the one with the highest official rank in the Ling family. Xu Anzhi was murdered using the exact same methods because the people behind the scenes noticed him investigating that case from many years ago.]
Hearing the name Ling Langshan, Wei Ping was no longer the only one getting anxious; Ling Yinghua was now added to the mix.
He had not forgotten for a single day what Lord Artifact had said: his own father's death was also foul play, caused by his close association with Ling Langshan.
"What does that case from years ago have to do with Wei Ping? Was Ling Langshan's death Wei Ping's doing?"
Clang!
Yue Fuguang had just dropped another massive scapegoat pot right onto Wei Ping's head. The bitterness in his heart felt like it was rising up to his throat!
There was not a trace of joy from his recent promotion and newfound wealth on Wei Ping's face.
He looked like a wrinkled bitter gourd, tears welling up in his eyes. He had proof that the Junior Preceptor was deliberately targeting him!
[Not exactly. But Wei Ping, as the former Left Case Reviewer of the Dali Court, had participated multiple times in investigating the deaths of the Ling family members.
After he was promoted all the way to Deputy Minister of the Dali Court by Xu Anzhi, the two often discussed difficult cases, inevitably bringing up the Ling family death cases from seven or eight years ago.
Wei Ping shared his suspicion that Ling Langshan's death was not from illness, but murder.
He even suspected that the deaths of his entire family were abnormal; Ling Langshan was likely the first Ling family member to be murdered, marking the beginning rather than the end.
It wasn't as outsiders speculated, that the Ling descendants lost their protection upon Ling Langshan's death and were thus targeted. He guessed it was the work of the same group of people.]
Reminded by Lord Artifact, Wei Ping suddenly recalled that more than two years ago, he had indeed discussed this matter with Chief Minister Xu, but it was merely a guess at the time.
Because there was no way to verify it, he had put it out of his mind. If Lord Artifact hadn't brought it up today, he would have forgotten all about it.
Could it be that Brother Xu took his guess to heart and secretly investigated it himself?
No wonder for the few months after that, he seemed to become suddenly very busy, and the time they spent drinking tea and discussing cases lessened.
Especially in the month before his death, he refused to see him much. Could it be that he sensed danger then, and so...
"Did Xu Anzhi find out something that threatened the people behind the scenes, leading to his murder?"
[Master, didn't Little Zhu tell you at the beginning of the month that the Cui and Bai families hired assassins to kill Xie Si and Xie Jiu?
To be honest, the Cui and Bai families, being the lowest-ranked among the Eight Great Noble Families.
In terms of murder and taking lives, they are indeed a bit sloppy. Compared to the professional precision of the top few families, they are far behind!]
As soon as these words were spoken, Xie San, also known as Xie Zhixin, became another person whose eyelids began to twitch.
He had thought it strange this morning when he learned the Junior Preceptor would attend the court assembly, feeling an inexplicable sense of dread. So this was what was waiting for him!
After these two ancestors dropped their bombshells last time, his imperial father had secretly sent people to investigate the two families. Half a month had passed, and seeing how his father glared at him with utter displeasure every time they met, he knew those two families had committed no shortage of evil deeds.
They weren't far from death anyway. Were these two ancestors just kicking them a couple more times before they died?
Xie Zhixin rubbed his still-healing buttocks. He had wanted to marry Bai Nianzhu ahead of time before the Bai family's downfall, but ended up getting his backside kicked by his furious father!
It didn't feel like a father beating his own son at all. With that kind of force, even though a day had passed, it still hurt to the touch.
Xie Zhixin fell silent. His imperial father was definitely taking out his anger towards the Cui and Bai families on him!
"So, the deaths of Ling Langshan and Xu Anzhi were both the doing of the noble families? And the masterminds might be the Zheng, Wang, Kong, Yang, Yuan, and Li families?"
[Yes, headed by the Zheng and Wang families, with the other families cooperating. Not only did they poison Ling Langshan and Ling Huayan, who was Chancellor Ling's father.
But they also used accidents to kill off the elite younger generation of the Ling family.
When they realized Xu Anzhi was meticulously unraveling the truth and closing in on them, they silenced him using the same method.
If Xu Anzhi hadn't acted cautiously and kept his mouth shut, preventing those people from finding out that Wei Ping was the first to suspect this matter, the grass on his grave would probably be very tall by now!]
Knowing who had murdered his father, Ling Yinghua was already weeping like rain.
Meanwhile, Wei Ping was filled with guilt and gratitude. He felt he had let down Brother Xu. The two had agreed to investigate the case together and even become in-laws.
Yet, his superior and good friend had died a tragic death because of him, while he was able to survive until now only due to his protection!
His heart felt suffocated, and tears silently rolled down from the corners of his eyes...
"Little Zhu, although the Ling family is also a century-old family of officials, there is still a gap between them and those top families. They wouldn't have been in their way.
Why did the noble families target the Ling family? Poisoning Ling Langshan wasn't enough; they had to exterminate the younger generation of the Ling family too? It looks very much like they wanted to tear up the roots."
In these ancient times, destroying a family's foundation was a massive blood feud, the kind of hatred that would be avenged even after ten generations!
[Master, when Ling Langshan was alive, he reached the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, which is your grandfather's current position.
For a time, he was ordered to inspect the local regions. Among his many responsibilities were the harvesting of mountains and marshes, and the manufacturing of pottery and metalware.]
"Did his death have anything to do with the harvesting of mountains and marshes, and the manufacturing of metalware?"
This time, the one whose eyelids twitched was Emperor Mingxi. He also recalled that ten years ago, Ling Langshan had indeed been ordered by him to inspect the local regions.
On the surface, it was to inspect the mining of mountain and marsh minerals in various prefectures across the country. In reality, he had only been on the throne for a few years and had received a report that someone in Yizhou was illegally mining copper.
Because his footing was not yet secure, he had no choice but to order Ling Langshan to use the pretext of inspecting mineral development to secretly investigate the illegal copper mining in Yizhou.
Could it be that Ling Langshan was silenced because he discovered the copper mine?
After more than ten years, was that copper mine still there? He remembered that when Ling Langshan reported back to him, he hadn't said that.
[It was related to the emperor's secret mission. The emperor sent him to the local regions to secretly investigate the illegal copper mining in Yizhou.
To avoid drawing attention, Ling Langshan planned to inspect three states: Lianzhou, Hezhou, and finally Yizhou.
There weren't any major issues in Lianzhou, but upon arriving in Hezhou, Ling Langshan discovered that rich deposits of rock salt might be buried beneath the mudstone and shale.
However, because Emperor Mingxi was rushing him, he had no time for further exploration and had to temporarily drop it.
During his trip to Yizhou, he did indeed find someone illegally mining copper, but it was an old mine that had been abandoned for years. The illegal mining was merely the individual actions of nearby commoners who accidentally discovered a few leftover scraps while quarrying stone to build houses.]