Chapter 135

Chapter 135: A water ghost at work

Since even Li Feng’s huge injustice had been hidden, who knew how many lesser wrongs were still buried.

Many times, living while suffering unfair treatment could hurt worse than dying.

Yu Zhi Yi noted each wrongful case, then set down the Lin Zhang County file, picked up the stack of cold cases, and drew out a volume from the very bottom.

In Year 28 of Yuan’an, a water ghost appeared in Cao South Village of Tai Ping County.

The ghost hid under the suspension bridge leading into the village. At night, anyone crossing the bridge would be dragged into the river and drowned.

By the next day the body would always appear on the riverbank at the village entrance, bloated, eyes round and open, face twisted in a terrible death.

In only three years, eight people in the village died.

There were men and women, old and young.

After the eighth person died three years ago, they took the bridge down. The villagers cut a path around the river. Getting out of the village meant a longer walk, but that was far better than ending up in the Yellow Springs.

When the first death happened, the villagers thought it was murder and reported it.

But as the yamen investigated, the first death seemed linked to a woman in the village who had been forced to drown herself in a pond. People began to wonder if her ghost had returned for revenge.

At first, the yamen did not accept that idea.

Only after seven more deaths followed, all tied to that woman in one way or another, did the yamen have to close the case as the work of ghosts.

Yu Zhi Yi picked out the birth charts of two of the dead and calculated. After a short time she frowned and checked the testimonies and the physical evidence in the file.

After a long while, she set everything down and took a sip of tea.

This case was not the work of a ghost, but she needed certain things to back that up. It could not be solved in a single day.

She took out the small booklet she carried, jotted down a simple record of the case, and kept searching the pile.

The second to last case caught her eye.

In Year 28 of Yongan, the Imperial Palace lost a supreme treasure: the Ban Ruo Glazed Lamp.

The Ban Ruo Glazed Lamp had been offered before the Buddha for twenty years. It was said to hold boundless Buddhist power. It could Subdue Demons and Exorcise Evil and clear away malevolent spirits. Kept long term in a room, it could calm the mind and even lengthen life.

Most important of all, it was tribute from a vassal state and greatly pleased Grand Empress Dowager Jing’an.

Yet such a thing vanished right under Grand Empress Dowager Jing’an’s nose.

One moment she had seen it standing in the most eye-catching place in her room.

In the time it took to drink a sip of tea, it was gone.

For this, Emperor Yuan’an had the Longevity and Health Palace searched from top to bottom, but they did not find it.

After that, the search widened to the whole Imperial Palace.

Still, they found nothing.

Within the Mystic Sect, finding lost items was actually the simplest skill.

As long as you knew the object’s look, or had a trace of its aura, a Searching Talisman could easily lead you to it.

Sadly, Yu Zhi Yi had never seen the lamp.

Still, there were other ways.

She studied the records of the attendants in the Longevity and Health Palace.

There had been twenty-eight palace maids and thirty eunuchs there. Most of them were now dead. The only one still living was the head palace maid who had served the empress dowager.

She was long-lived, already seventy-eight this year.

Grand Empress Dowager Jing’an was the birth mother of the late emperor and the imperial grandmother of the current Emperor.

The surviving head palace maid had served her since childhood. She simply lived longer than the grand empress dowager did.

After Grand Empress Dowager Jing’an passed away, this head palace maid was let out of the palace.

Though she left the palace, the Emperor still thought of her and sent many fine gifts for every holiday.

Since it was still early in the day, Yu Zhi Yi considered it, then carried her gold tablet into the palace.

The Emperor’s well-kept face showed confusion as he asked: “You want to look into Aunt Chang’s records? Why check her for no reason? Did her unfilial grandchildren do something they shouldn’t?”

Yu Zhi Yi answered evenly: “Your Majesty ordered me to solve one case a day. After reviewing the existing files, I found that the missing glazed lamp from thirty years ago may be the easiest to solve. But I need to know exactly what the lamp looks like, so I plan to ask Aunt Chang.”

The Emperor thought a moment, then signaled to Eunuch Hu.

Soon, Eunuch Hu brought two books.

One was the Compendium of Court Treasures. The other was the register of palace attendants.

The Compendium of Court Treasures contained an entry for the glazed lamp, along with an illustration.

The palace-attendant register recorded in detail each attendant’s birth chart, birthplace, date of entering the palace, and all transfers while in service.

The glazed lamp was very beautiful, shaped like a lotus, crystal-clear. Even the wick, from some unknown material, gave off a faint red glow.

Yu Zhi Yi fixed the image of the lamp in her mind, then ran a quick calculation using Aunt Chang’s birth chart.

Before long, her gaze steadied: “So that’s how it is.”

The Emperor narrowed his eyes and asked: “Does this involve Aunt Chang?”

Eunuch Hu’s face showed worry.

Aunt Chang was an old hand of the palace and had watched His Majesty grow up. Though only a maidservant, His Majesty treated her like family.

If the matter really involved Aunt Chang, His Majesty would be put in a hard spot.

Yu Zhi Yi said simply: “No.”

Crystal Palace.

Consort Yu gently stroked her not-yet-swollen belly, a sharp cold light flickering in her half-closed beautiful eyes as she asked: “That imposter has entered the palace again?”

The palace attendant bowed and said it was so.

Consort Yu snapped her wide sleeve: “Wretch. Already married and still so shameless.”

A woman who ran to the Emperor day after day could hardly be decent.

She admitted that woman had some skill, but no matter how skilled, a woman could not resist the lure of wealth and honor.

Head palace maid Xiu Zhu knew her highness’s temper and what she wanted to hear, so she agreed at once: “She is just some wild stray from a remote mountain hollow. She is not even half as lovely as your highness. She cannot compare with even the least favored concubines in the palace. His Majesty will not fancy her. Your highness need not worry.”

Consort Yu found this pleasing and her face relaxed.

Stroking her belly again, she said coolly: “That may be so, but people who eat rich food all the time sometimes want plain porridge and small dishes. That imposter is scheming. She might tempt His Majesty into something. We must guard against it.”

Just then, a little eunuch came in and bent to whisper a few words in Consort Yu’s ear.

After listening, her eyes flashed: “Aunt Chang…”

…

Between two fingers, Yu Zhi Yi lightly flicked a Searching Talisman. The talisman paper ignited without fire, sending up a wisp of blue smoke.

The smoke drifted in one direction and soon vanished from the sight of the Emperor and the others.

Yu Zhi Yi said thoughtfully: “It’s outside the palace.”

The Emperor brightened with interest: “Wait for me. I’ll change clothes and go out with you.”

He and Eunuch Hu quickly changed into plain commoner clothes.

They were just about to set out when a herald’s call sounded from outside: “Aunt Chang has arrived!”