The more Xiao Jinyi thought about it, the angrier he became, he had almost been used as a blade in someone else’s hands. But now he was growing more and more curious about the mastermind behind it all. Who had created that place in Qiuyuan Alley, and set up the scheme in advance, making Jiang Bin the scapegoat?
He definitely couldn’t figure it out on his own, so Xiao Jinyi sent Mo Yu to look into where Shen Shixu lived. He planned to go consult this master of solving cases.
Shen Shixu was so brilliant at solving cases that perhaps just from hearing his account, he would know who the true culprit was!
At that moment, Shen Shixu was sitting under the osmanthus tree in the small courtyard he rented, sipping wine and admiring the bright moon, in an excellent mood, when suddenly a dark figure vaulted over the wall.
It gave Shen Shixu such a fright that he nearly toppled off his chair. Seeing that he had startled him, Xiao Jinyi felt rather guilty.
“Are you all right? A new problem has come up with the case, Jiang Bin isn’t the true culprit. I came to ask your opinion, but seeing the front gate closed, I climbed over the wall. I didn’t expect to scare you.”
Shen Shixu had thought it was some thief, and after seeing clearly that it was Xiao Jinyi, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m fine. But you say Jiang Bin isn’t the true culprit, what’s going on?” Shen Shixu was puzzled by what Xiao Jinyi said.
Xiao Jinyi told Shen Shixu everything that had happened when he went to arrest Jiang Bin, as well as the fact that he’d already had everyone around Jiang Bin investigated, and none of them were suspects.
After listening to Xiao Jinyi, Shen Shixu came up with a new idea. “I think you’re looking in the wrong direction. Isn’t it possible that the residence was deliberately allowed to be bought by Jiang Bin by someone else?
Also, that person Jiang Bin kept as his secret mistress before, you need to have someone look into her.
Furthermore, although that underground chamber wasn’t very large, it couldn’t have been dug out overnight, and the timeline doesn’t match up either.
Jiang Bin bought the residence a year ago, but Qiaoying disappeared two years ago. So two years ago, whose hands was that residence in?
Also, that little beggar said the residence belonged to Big Gold Tooth. Thinking it over carefully, this case is full of suspicious points everywhere. We need to keep digging deeper. The woman Jiang Bin kept as his secret mistress must be found, Big Gold Tooth must be investigated too, and we need to find out who owned the house before it fell into Jiang Bin’s hands.”
Watching Shen Shixu lay it all out so methodically, Xiao Jinyi felt that coming to him had been exactly the right choice.
“Good, I’ll have Mo Yu investigate right away. There should be results by tomorrow morning. Get some good rest, and I’ll come find you again tomorrow.”
Shen Shixu nodded. After Xiao Jinyi left, he had Mo Yu investigate according to everything Shen Shixu had just said.
Mo Yu hadn’t expected to lose even tonight’s sleep, but thinking of the holiday tomorrow during the day, plus the extra salary this month, he gritted his teeth and went off to investigate.
But he wasn’t going to suffer this hardship alone, he dragged his good brother, Bai He, who was also another of Xiao Jinyi’s trusted aides, into it, and the two split up to investigate.
The high salary of Prince Jing’s residence wasn’t easy money, and being one of Xiao Jinyi’s trusted men wasn’t an easy position to hold either. When the Black and White Fiends of Prince Jing’s residence made a move, everyone knew their skill at once.
The next day, before Shen Shixu had even woken up, Xiao Jinyi arrived at his small courtyard carrying what Mo Yu and Bai He had dug up through the night.
Xiao Jinyi watched Shen Shixu, who was still asleep, and didn’t hurry to wake him. Instead, he took the findings they had uncovered and sat down in the spot where Shen Shixu had sat the day before, lowering his head in thought.
He wanted to see if he could analyze something useful on his own.
By the time Shen Shixu woke up, changed his clothes, and came out to wash up, he ran right into Xiao Jinyi’s tall, upright figure.
“Your Highness, why are you here so early? Is the investigation all done?”
Xiao Jinyi gave a soft mm and handed him the papers in his hand. Shen Shixu put off washing up and began reading right away.
The woman Jiang Bin had kept hidden away in a private residence had vanished from everyone’s sight not long after leaving him. Investigation confirmed she was dead, silenced to keep her quiet. And Big Gold Tooth was indeed the owner of that residence, though only as of two years ago.
Bai He had dragged Big Gold Tooth out of bed in the middle of the night to interrogate him personally, and learned that Big Gold Tooth had merely been hired by someone else to purchase the property. It was registered under his name, but the money spent was not his at all.
Even the sale of the residence to Jiang Bin a year ago had been done at the instruction of the very person who had paid him to buy it in the first place.
Moreover, they had already found the person who hired Big Gold Tooth to buy the residence: Jiang Hu.
And this Jiang Hu was a servant in the household of Jiang Bin’s father, Jiang Xingbang.
Once Shen Shixu learned Jiang Hu’s identity from Xiao Jinyi, he shifted his suspicions to Jiang Xingbang.
It wasn’t that Shen Shixu looked down on Jiang Hu, it was simply that a servant like Jiang Hu, no matter how much favor he enjoyed with his master or how generous the rewards he received, could never possibly have the financial means to dig a hole of that size beneath a residence.
Then there were the clothes, accessories, and face powders used by all those girls, a considerable expense in itself. And on top of that, the hired gang. Just the cost of employing those men alone was more than Jiang Hu could afford even if he worked another twenty years.
So Shen Shixu suspected Jiang Xingbang, someone connected to Jiang Hu, with both the wealth and the capability. The problem was that this man was, in everyone’s eyes, precisely the least likely suspect.
Aside from being the Prince Consort of Grand Princess Kangning, Jiang Xingbang was also the Minister of Personnel. The Great Qian had no rule forbidding prince consorts from holding office, and in the early years, when Emperor Wu’an ascended the throne, Jiang Xingbang had risked his life to save the crown prince. As a result, he held a fairly high position at court.
However, for the past two days, citing poor health, he had not attended court for over half a month, and was currently recuperating at a hot spring estate in the outskirts.
In everyone’s eyes, Jiang Xingbang had always been gentle and good-tempered. He loved his wife and son, had never taken a concubine in his life, and never frequented places of pleasure and romance.
Every day, he either attended court and handled affairs at the Ministry of Personnel, or returned home to keep Grand Princess company. Aside from his poor health and his frequent need to go into seclusion to recuperate, he had no other faults whatsoever.
“Your Highness, let’s pay a visit to Minister Jiang’s estate later secretly, concealing our identities.”
For the first time, Xiao Jinyi didn’t want to believe Shen Shixu. If things really were as Shen Shixu suspected, he feared Grand Princess Kangning wouldn’t be able to bear it.
“Fine. Go wash up and eat breakfast, then we’ll set out.” Xiao Jinyi was not a man who let personal feelings interfere with duty; he would not skip the investigation out of concern for Grand Princess Kangning. If it really was as Shen Shixu guessed, if Jiang Xingbang was behind it, then that would actually be a good thing for Grand Princess Kangning. After all, with such a terrifying man sharing her pillow, no one could sleep soundly night after night.
After eating the breakfast Little Stone had prepared, Xiao Jinyi changed into the clothes Shen Shixu had readied, and the two of them, dressed as scholars out on a spring excursion, headed to the vicinity of the manor where Jiang Xingbang was staying.
Shen Shixu and his companion didn’t go straight up to knock on the door; instead, as before, they climbed over the wall and slipped in secretly.
Because it was a surprise visit, they actually managed to catch Jiang Xingbang with his tail showing.