Chapter 48: Corpses At The Bottom Of The Lake

The major matter was not that Consort He had made a mistake and was grounded within Manchun Hall, forbidden to take a single step outside. That issue was of no real consequence to Shen Yu. The so-called big matter concerned Song Zhe, the head of the Department of Prudence.

Shen Yu ordered a carriage prepared and set off for the palace at once. As she hurriedly left the Grand Guardian’s residence, Shen Yu asked the servant beside her, “How did this news come out?”

“Last night, a night watchman found a corpse in the Central Lake at the Department of Prudence. When they hauled the body up, it was dressed in prisoner’s clothes. Besides numerous wounds all over, there were clear ligature marks around the ankles, so they suspected this prisoner had been tied to a stone and sunk into the lake. Somehow the rope broke and the body floated up. Because it happened near the Department of Prudence, His Majesty took it very seriously. This morning, upon hearing the news, he ordered men to search the lakebed for that stone, but those sent down to the bottom found many white bones beneath the lake instead.”

The Central Lake lay around the Department of Prudence. Ordinary people already believed the Department of Prudence held many prisoners and many were dead, that it was heavy with an ominous aura, so they avoided it. Moreover, there had been rumors of drownings in the Central Lake, so no one dared approach it.

Shen Yu frowned and asked, “And then?”

The servant continued, “In his fury, His Majesty ordered the Central Lake drained. They found over twenty skeletons on the lakebed with stones tied to their feet, it shocked everyone. Now, in his rage, His Majesty immediately had Song Zhe, the head of the Department of Prudence, arrested, saying the homicides occurred near the Department of Prudence and that Song Zhe could not escape blame.”

Shen Yu’s quick steps out of the house came to a halt and she looked at the servant with suspicion, “What’s wrong with those bones?”

“That corpse, after the coroner’s examination, had been dead only three days. It floated up because it had taken on water and become heavy. As for the other bones, for now they only know one severely decayed one was sunk into the lake last month.”

At that, Shen Yu’s frown deepened. She continued walking, but her mind was analyzing the matter.

The Ministry of Justice formulated the law, while the Department of Prudence carried out executions and detentions, so major criminals were often held in the Department of Prudence. Finding so many bodies near the Department of Prudence… No one would believe the two were entirely unrelated.

Shen Yu had planned to hurry into the palace, but a junior eunuch under Rong Tai came to report that His Majesty had already arrived at the Department of Prudence and that Lord Shen should come there as well.

Outside the Department of Prudence, crowds of commoners had gathered. Nearly everyone wanted to know what had happened and how so many bodies could be found in the Central Lake.

When they saw a carriage approaching, they instinctively cleared a path to let it pass.

Shen Yu stepped down from the carriage. The guards outside the Department of Prudence, upon seeing Shen Yu arrive, dared not be negligent for she was one of the emperor’s close favorites. They stepped forward with cupped hands to greet her. “Lord Shen, His Majesty is already in the Department of Prudence main hall, please follow us inside.”

Shen Yu followed the guards in and saw people coming and going in the courtyard, all clutching documents and looking hurried.

Shen Yu asked, “What are they doing?”

The guard beside him replied, “The first body pulled from the Central Lake was a prisoner held by the Department of Prudence, but due to insufficient evidence he had not yet been sentenced. As for the more than twenty sets of bones on the lakebed, the coroner says the most recent was from last month and the oldest go back seven or eight years. So His Majesty ordered that all case files from this period be reviewed to see how many prisoners have gone missing over the years.”

Hearing this, Shen Yu said nothing further.

Inside the main hall there was a scene of busy activity. Fang Rui sat at the head, his face tight. Several long tables were set below, piled with documents, while clerks poured over them, sweating heavily.

Seeing Shen Yu arrive, Fang Rui’s face lost its smile as well. He said to Shen Yu, “My trusted aide Shen, come with me to the side chamber.”

Shen Yu followed Fang Rui into the side chamber. After Fang Rui sat, he asked Shen Yu for her opinion, “You roughly know about this matter already, right? What do you think?”

A thoughtful look crossed Shen Yu’s eyes. After a moment she answered, “I dare not make a rash judgment, but since it happened near the Department of Prudence and the bodies are prisoners from the Department of Prudence, it must be connected to the Department of Prudence.”

Shen Yu was not like other officials who protected themselves and feared saying the wrong thing. Even if they suspected something, such people kept silent to avoid trouble and thus missed many opportunities.

“Indeed, this matter cannot be divorced from the Department of Prudence. Before you arrived, they already found eight missing prisoners in these old files, and they’ve only reviewed a tenth of the volumes.”

“Then, Your Majesty, is there any common trait among these missing people?”

“All of them had not been convicted yet, or their crimes did not merit death…”

Not yet convicted and not deserving death? Shen Yu’s doubts deepened. If one or two prisoners disappeared it might not be strange, but that none had been sentenced to death… That was an extraordinary coincidence and made no sense.

Seeing Shen Yu’s contemplative look, Fang Rui did not elaborate further. He knew this matter best. A few days earlier Rong Tai had reported that the opportunity had arrived.

This opportunity was nothing else but a chance to pull down the head of the Department of Prudence.

Rong Tai said his informant reported that while surveilling the Department of Prudence he saw two people carrying a heavy object wrapped in mats out the back gate, and under cover of night they carried it to the side of the Central Lake. They opened the mat and it was a corpse in prisoner’s clothes, his ankles tied with a rope, the rope’s end fastened to a large stone. They clearly intended to sink the corpse to the lakebed.

After the two left, a very skilled diver among the informants dove into the water. The lake was not very deep and the body sank quickly, so the diver cut the rope at the body’s feet under the lakebed. But under the moonlit lakebed he saw a reflective white phosphorescence, and only then realized something was wrong.

There were, in fact, other bones beneath the lakebed!

At the very first moment the body floated up, to prevent anyone else from hauling up those bones before them, Fang Rui immediately ordered the lake drained.

During that whole period, reports kept coming in from outside saying they had found more lists of missing persons.

All they needed was to find the names on the lists. The other evidence was already entirely in Rong Tai’s hands.

Song Zhe had been appointed head of the Department of Prudence since the previous emperor and had served ten years. Boldly enriching himself, many prisoners in his jails were held without conviction, or had been convicted but with light sentences. If someone offered a large sum of money for a prisoner’s death, Song Zhe would secretly execute the prisoner. They’d either be passed off as an escapee or mysteriously disappear in custody.

By dusk, Fang Rui told Shen Yu to return to her residence first. He himself would return to the palace and left Rong Tai at the Department of Prudence to supervise the ongoing investigation.

That morning Wang Zhongyuan also learned of the matter and secretly had people watch the Department of Prudence’s every move. When he heard the emperor was personally overseeing the retrieval of files for investigation, he knew the situation was ruined.

He felt extreme disappointment toward Song Zhe. He had once been careful and cautious, but after so many years of comfortable living he had slackened, becoming foolish enough to simply sink bodies into the lake near the Department of Prudence. What on earth was he thinking?!

Wang Zhongyuan felt a throbbing headache. What had become of these people now, each one revealing their flaws at this moment?!

First the prefect of Suozhou, then Chen Chi of the Ministry of Personnel, then Lu Shangqing of the Ministry of War, and now the Department of Prudence.

Rubbing his temples, Wang Zhongyuan sat down, and just as he touched the chair he suddenly stood up again with a doubtful look. Thinking it over carefully, he suddenly noticed Shen Yu had been involved in all of the previous incidents. Shen Yu’s presence was not absent this time either. From the affair of the Suozhou prefect onward, everything emanated an eerie atmosphere.

The more he thought, the more wrong it felt. After a moment, Wang Zhongyuan called toward the door, “Men, prepare a carriage.”

He now had to go see Cui Hao. He could no longer let Shen Yu keep investigating. If Shen Yu wasn’t stopped, the whole network would be uprooted.

The discovery of numerous bones near the Department of Prudence and the fact that these were possibly the prisoners who had gone missing over the years, spread quickly across the regions. At that moment, on the official road leading to the capital, an old ox pulled a wooden cart slowly toward the capital.

Driving the ox cart was a greying, over-fifty old man. On the cart sat a grey-haired old woman with a dull expression, her eyes hollow as she stared ahead. There was no light in them and they looked like the gaze of the walking dead.

The old woman clutched a pair of little children’s tiger-head shoes tightly in her hands. They were worn, faded, seams coming undone, like they came from a long time ago.