Gold Silk

Early the next morning, Liang Yue reported for duty at his post and immediately rushed to the Ministry of Justice yamen.

It was another trip from the Southern City to the Northern City, witnessing the transformation of the streets on both sides of Dragon Abyss City from simple to prosperous, and then from prosperous to solemn. Every time he walked this road, he felt deeply.

The Southern City was indeed poor.

If the establishment of the Heaven-Piercing Tower could make the Southern City prosperous, it would truly be a good thing.

But those people, like the Dragon Tooth Gang and Zhen Changzhi, were using the power in their hands to try and swallow these benefits as well.

Only the word "greed" could describe it.

Perhaps Zhen Changzhi's death was truly an opportunity.

Thinking this way, he had been frugal for most of his life, and not a single tael of the money he had embezzled was spent; it all returned to the National Treasury. If, through his death, the network of interests behind him could also be uprooted...

Then he truly was a person beneficial to the country in this life.

It was just in a rather passive way.

"Captain Ling, I found something wrong with the Zhen family's ledger!" Upon arriving at the Ministry of Justice yamen, he immediately found Ling Yuanbao.

"Ah?" Ling Yuanbao's eyes immediately lit up. "You figured it out?"

Yesterday, she had thought Liang Yue had failed, which made her think that this impressive Imperial Capital Guard was no longer as miraculous. Ling Yuanbao was almost despairing. She hadn't expected that he would actually be able to come up with a result after saying he would go back and think about it.

"Let me show you." Liang Yue asked her to take out the Zhen family's ledger again.

"Zhen Changzhi claimed to be incorruptible, and the Zhen family's food, clothing, and daily expenses were extremely meager. Only one place was a bit strange." He opened a page in the ledger.

It recorded an expenditure by the Zhen family for purchasing fabric: five hundred wen for one bolt of printed cloth, and two taels of silver for ten chi of Gold Silk to make clothes.

"Oh... here!" Ling Yuanbao had a look of sudden realization.

But after a while, she tilted her head and looked at Liang Yue, "How is this strange?"

Liang Yue explained, "You might not understand the lives of poor people. Given the Zhen family's food, clothing, and daily expenses, spending a few taels of silver to buy such expensive silk is very inconsistent with their other expenses."

Last night, when he saw the fabric he had accidentally cut, he felt a pang of heartache. Only then did he suddenly remember that the Zhen family's situation was also meager, so why could they buy such expensive silk?

This completely contradicted the persona Zhen Changzhi had cultivated.

When things are abnormal, there must be a reason.

"But..." Ling Yuanbao thought for a moment and said, "As a court official, what if there was an occasion where he needed to dress presentably... or make a nice set of clothes for his child during the New Year or festivals? Isn't that normal? And even if it's inconsistent, it's only two taels of silver, right?"

"More than that." Liang Yue flipped through a few more pages, finding the next entry in the second year.

There was another record about fabric: six taels of silver for thirty chi of Gold Silk to make clothes.

Flipping further, whenever there was an entry about purchasing fabric or making clothes, there would be an accompanying expenditure for buying Gold Silk.

"When you searched the Zhen family, did you find any expensive clothes made of this so-called Gold Silk?" Liang Yue asked.

"Indeed, we didn't." Ling Yuanbao thought carefully, shook her head, and then suddenly said, "Ah! When Zhen Changzhi's body was found, the rope used for hanging was a piece of silk embedded with gold threads. It was strange for it to appear in the Zhen family; at the time, we thought the murderer had brought it."

"And most importantly..." Liang Yue opened that case file again.

"This?" Ling Yuanbao's expression gradually turned surprised. "Every time the Zhen mansion purchased Gold Silk, it was one month after he handled a certain project!"

After noticing a slight discrepancy with the Gold Silk, Liang Yue compared the timeline on the case file with the timeline of the Gold Silk purchase in his mind, and sure enough, he found this clue that didn't seem like a coincidence.

"If my guess is correct, then the Gold Silk in the accounts is likely a placeholder, something that represents money." As Ling Yuanbao's mouth dropped open, Liang Yue continued, "Or perhaps this is the bribe Zhen Changzhi received!"

Ling Yuanbao rummaged through the evidence and found the silk ribbon that Zhen Changzhi had been hanging from.

It was a red silk ribbon with gold threads woven inside, several feet long. It felt densely woven and had a high-quality texture, clearly an extremely expensive fabric. Despite being thin, it could support a grown person, indicating its absolute durability.

Liang Yue said, "I've never seen this kind of fabric before. The craftsmanship looks very unique."

"Me neither," Ling Yuanbao quickly nodded in agreement.

"Our only breakthrough now might be to find the origin of this Gold Silk," Liang Yue added.

Amidst everything that Zhen Changzhi had managed seemingly perfectly, this was the only thing that felt off. They had to dig deeper.

"But where can we find it?" Ling Yuanbao asked. "Zhen Changzhi is dead, and it's not written in his ledger."

"Perhaps one person knows..." Liang Yue smiled faintly.

After Zhen Changzhi's death, because the origin of the stolen silver in his home was never fully investigated and the investigation into the Ministry of Works hadn't concluded, the Zhen family members were also imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice Prison. Pressure was continuously applied to them, hoping they would eventually reveal something valuable – though it was really only Zhen Xiaohao and the Old Gatekeeper.

Ling Yuanbao led Liang Yue down into the dark and damp prison. The surrounding environment, filled with moisture and foul smells, made him frown. From time to time, screams came from the depths, and the torture instruments scattered everywhere were stained with blood.

In such an environment, after being intimidated and frightened for many days, even without severe torture, a person's mental state would be difficult to maintain normally.

When Liang Yue saw Zhen Xiaohao, this official's son who used to bully his classmates and was arrogant and overbearing, was now picking at the dirt on the ground.

Seeing Liang Yue approach, Zhen Xiaohao suddenly sprang up, pointed at him, and shrieked, "He killed my father! They must have killed my father! Let me go, let me go! Ahhh!"

The two of them couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind and walked straight past.

To prevent collusion, the Old Gatekeeper was held far away from Zhen Xiaohao's cell.

The old man seemed much more stable, sitting there staring blankly at the prison door, perhaps out of professional habit.

He was the person Liang Yue had come to find.

"Old man!" Liang Yue stood outside the cell door, waving the piece of Gold Silk at him. "Do you know where this piece of Gold Silk was bought?"

"Huh?" The old man was startled. "Gold what silk?"

"This piece of Gold Silk!" Liang Yue shouted.

"Gold monkey?" The old man replied loudly.

"Give it up..." Ling Yuanbao covered her forehead. "It was like this when we interrogated this old man too. He's deaf and confused, completely impossible to communicate with."

"Is that so..." Liang Yue turned his back and lowered his voice to her. "It's fine if he doesn't know other things, but if he can't tell us the origin of this Gold Silk, keeping him is useless. If you ask me, you might as well pin the crime of murdering the master on him and just close the case..."

"Yes, that's the only way," Ling Yuanbao whispered. "We originally planned to release him if he told us, but it seems pushing everything onto him is also an option. Anyway, he's old and senile, he probably won't even know what's going on in court."

"Longsheng Cloth Shop!" Although the two of them spoke in voices barely louder than mosquitoes, the Old Gatekeeper, after craning his neck and peering around, immediately shrieked, "This Gold Silk was sent from Longsheng Cloth Shop!"

"Heh," Ling Yuanbao sneered. "He really was faking it."

"Right? I said this old man's memory might not be worse than mine," Liang Yue also said.

It turned out that before coming here, he had guessed that the old man might pretend to be foolish, so he had discussed a small strategy with Ling Yuanbao in advance.

The old gatekeeper rubbed his head. "Oh, my ears, they just come and go."

"We're already at this point, let's not pretend anymore, old man," Liang Yue said with a smile. "Tell me exactly what happened."

"Hehe." The old gatekeeper chuckled twice and said, "I'm not exactly sure about the specifics. I just remember that on September 12th eight years ago, April 3rd six years ago, July 6th five years ago, April 2nd three years ago, August 3rd last year... there were special people who came to the mansion to deliver a piece of cloth to the master. It was this Gold Silk. The master didn't like any jewelry or antiques, but he was very fond of this piece of cloth and often held it in his hand to play with. The piece in the study is the one he often kept by his side."

Liang Yue asked again, "Do you know where Longsheng Cloth Shop is?"

"I really don't know that. I've never been there," the old gatekeeper shook his head. "I'm old and confused. That's all I remember."

Liang Yue said sincerely, "Old man, you are too modest."

Some of the young people he knew, like Pang Mou and Chen Mou, might not even have as good a memory as a good old man, let alone compared to the one in front of him.

One could only say that this was what he did for a living.

After leaving the prison, Ling Yuanbao was full of energy, her ponytail tied behind her head bouncing up and down. It seemed she was experiencing the joy of investigating a case for the first time.

"Longsheng Cloth Shop!" She waved her fist. "I'll go find out where it is right now!"

As the two walked out of the Ministry of Justice Prison, they suddenly heard the sound of a gong. They happened to catch a rider clearing the street ahead.

Behind them, two teams of light cavalry in armor escorted a carriage in the center pulled by four tall horses side by side. The procession was grand and slowly moved towards the Ministry of Justice yamen.

The rider in front reached the yamen entrance, dismounted, and announced loudly, "Left Prime Minister has arrived!"

This was the carriage of Left Prime Minister Liang Fuguo?

No wonder...

Liang Yue chuckled softly, "What a grand display."

"Eh?" Ling Yuanbao, however, let out a light sound of surprise. "Left Prime Minister is back?"

Good morning.