Go back to ancient times to explore the case

"The prince is dead."

After Xu Jin finished speaking, Yan Qingchuan and Xie Yu'an's expressions changed suddenly. Yan Qingchuan didn't ask any more questions, and immediately walked down the mountain.

"Enter the palace."

The three of them walked together on the way into the palace, and Xu Jin briefly talked about the situation of the case.

It turned out that after the collapse of the Qintian Pagoda that day, although everyone on the surface agreed that it was caused by officials' corruption and cutting corners, some people still believed that it was a crime committed by the heavens on Daqi, so as to warn the emperor of something wrong. At that time, the prince, who was still young and had a high self-esteem, firmly believed that Emperor Yuanqian made mistakes in governing the country, and his lack of personal morality offended the wrath of heaven.

After several twists and turns, this matter reached the ears of Emperor Yuan Qian. Emperor Yuan Qian was hurt by the recent incidents. When he heard that the crown prince had privately accused himself of being incompetent in governing the country, he immediately became angry and sent the crown prince directly into custody. The claustrophobic room of the royal family was held for many days.

Unexpectedly, when the palace servants went to deliver the meal this morning, there was no response in the closed room. The palace servants didn't think much about it at that time, because the prince was in a bad mood because of being imprisoned, and he often kept silent and did not eat or eat.When he came to deliver the meal again in the evening, there was still no one in the house responding. At this moment, he faintly felt that something was wrong. After opening the iron lock of the door, he found that the house was also locked from the inside. After opening the door, it was suddenly discovered that the prince hanged himself from the beam, and after he was put down, the prince had already lost his breath.

"Hanging himself to death?" Xie Yu'an sat on the carriage entering the palace and asked with a frown.

Xu Jin nodded, "According to the palace witness, the prince did hang himself, because the structure of the closed room is very special, the doors and windows are all locked with copper locks, and the only door is also locked with iron locks from the outside. The keys are kept in the Secretary's office." In the hands of the Li Dajian, every time it is time to deliver the food, it will be handed over to the food delivery palace to open it."

"And His Majesty has an order that no one is allowed to talk to the prince, so no one dares to approach the closed room, only the guards who patrol on time every day will pass there. The witnesses said that after the room was opened, there was no sign of a second person in the room except the prince. .”

Xie Yu'an shook his head, "It's too early to be sure that the prince died of suicide. He is the prince of the East Palace, and the emperor's body is in such a state. To put it bluntly, if the emperor goes west now, he will be the next one. The emperor, why did he commit suicide at such a critical moment?"

Yan Qingchuan's frown deepened, and he lifted the curtain of the car to look at the majestic palace not far away. At this time, the huge palace is like a beast dormant in the night, with its fangs and mouth open, waiting for the prey to enter its belly.

After a while, the group of them entered the palace and went straight to the closed room. The closed room is located in a remote corner on the west side of the palace. It is a small courtyard. The courtyard is already full of people, only two of them are standing The rest of the people were trembling and prostrate on the ground.

One of the two people standing was Emperor Yuan Qian. Beside him was a middle-aged woman in palace attire. She presumably was the queen and the birth mother of the crown prince. Now that her only child had died, she almost cried like a Like a tearful person, he couldn't even stand firmly. Only by supporting each other with Emperor Yuan Qian could he barely stand still.

Emperor Yuan Qian also had grief on his face, but as the Son of Heaven, no matter how uncomfortable he was, he had to hold back, and he could not shed tears in front of a servant, servant, or foreign minister, which would damage the majesty of the royal family.

Yan Qingchuan pulled Xie Yu'an into the hospital and knelt down, "My minister joins His Majesty."

Emperor Yuan Qian turned around to look at her. It would not be an exaggeration to describe his handsome face as haggard. His cheeks were sunken and his face was strangely pale. With a rough wheeze, "Get up."

Yan Qingchuan raised his head slightly, glanced at the prince's body covered with a white cloth in the room, and looked away, "Your Majesty...by the way, please take care of the dragon's body."

Emperor Yuan Qian's heirs were originally thin, and now he not only lost a son, but also lost the heir to the throne.Although the prince is young and vigorous, not calm enough, he is the eldest son he has carefully cultivated since he was a child. Not to mention how to create a prosperous world, it is not a problem to just take over from him the burden of governing the world and continuing the stability of Yuan Qian's first life.

But right now, he passed away at a young age, and the East Palace is empty, and he doesn't know how the power struggle under the undercurrent will surface.

At this moment, Emperor Yuan Qian suddenly felt that he was getting old, not just physically and mentally tortured by illness, but exhausted physically and mentally from the outside to the inside.

His normally straight back was slightly hunched, he looked at the prince's dead body with deep eyes, and said hoarsely: "Superintendent, the supervisor of ceremonies is preparing for the national funeral and announcing the world, ma'am, the prince's death..." Yuan Qian After the emperor said, he couldn't help it, and a tear came out of the corner of his eye.

When the queen heard it, she cried even worse, she fell straight down and sat on the ground, looking at the prince's body, she murmured: "Yi'er...Yi'er."

Emperor Yuan Qian turned his head away, and ordered the palace servants, "Come here, send the queen back..."

"Your Majesty, please slow down." A clear female voice interrupted Emperor Yuan Qian. He looked at the person who spoke. It was the woman who came with Yan Qingchuan. He remembered that the other party was an arrester from Qingtian Division, who was favored by Yan Qingchuan. .

Emperor Yuan Qian frowned, waiting for the other party's next words.

Xie Yu'an's voice was not loud, but everyone in the courtyard could hear him clearly, "Your Majesty, there are still doubts about the cause of His Royal Highness' death, please allow me some time for an autopsy."

The courtyard fell into a deathly silence.

The prince hanged himself in the secret room, everything was clearly displayed in front of everyone, so there was no doubt about it, but maybe Emperor Yuan Qian lost his parent and son, and he was lucky, after moving his lips, he said: "I will give you a moment to burn incense. "

Xie Yu'an immediately got up and walked into the claustrophobic room with Yan Qingchuan. She first glanced at the room briefly to grab key information.

The doors and windows are closed, except for the main door, there is no place to go in and out. It is indeed a typical secret room. The furnishings in the room are messy, the tables and chairs are all overturned, and the vases and cups are all broken on the ground.

Xie Yu'an walked up to the prince's corpse, lifted the white cloth, and observed the prince's death. The face was bruised and swollen, with obvious spots, some bleeding, and mouth overflowing. It was indeed suffocation. There are impact bruises.

After her gaze stayed for a moment, she lowered her head and looked carefully at the scar on the neck. The scar was horseshoe-shaped, which was a typical hanging ditch. All the above have proved that the prince did die by hanging himself, not a faked one after being strangled to death.

Xie Yu'an took the lamp in Yan Qingchuan's hand, and inspected the wound further. Under the faint candlelight, she finally found something strange. There was a faint Yoshikawa line on the constriction, which is the finger scratches, which proved that the prince had experienced trauma before his death. struggled.

Would a man who decided to commit suicide suddenly repent at the moment of death and try to struggle to survive?Xie Yu'an stared at the thick rope hanging from the roof beam and the collapsed chair under it, lost in thought.

"What did you find?" Yan Qingchuan asked softly.

Xie Yu'an shook her head, then got up and went to a broken potted plant on the window sill. It was a potted flower that had long since dried up. He picked up a pinch of soil and sniffed lightly on the tip of his nose.

After a while, she stood up with a calm expression, and cupped her hands towards Emperor Yuan Qian, "Report to Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince died by hanging himself."

Emperor Yuan Qian's tall figure flickered, and then he heard Xie Yu'an say again: "However, His Royal Highness was tricked into hanging himself to death, which is no different from murder."

Everyone in the courtyard was stunned, and the queen didn't even care about the demeanor of the lord of the palace. She staggered to Xie Yu'an, grabbed her arm as if grabbing a life-saving straw, and said in a tight voice, "You... ....Is what you said true? Yi...Is it true that Yi'er was murdered by someone?"

"This pot of withered flowers is the best evidence. Usually nutrients enter the green leaves and petals through the stem. Even if the flower withers and withers, the remaining nutrients in the stem will keep the stem green for a period of time at the beginning. It will not dry until it completely decays. However, this potted plant, according to the withered form of its flowers and leaves, has withered recently, but its flower stems have dried up and turned dark brown, so there must be something strange about it.”

Xie Yu'an turned to Emperor Yuanqian and said loudly: "I would like to guarantee with the head of the item, His Royal Highness is definitely not looking for short-sightedness, there must be a conspiracy after that, I ask His Majesty to grant Qing Tiansi the right to enter the palace to investigate the case, and find out the real culprit behind the scenes. "

Emperor Yuan Qian did not speak for a long time, except for the queen's sobbing, the rest of the courtyard became cautious about breathing.

After the deathly silence, Emperor Yuan Qian finally spoke, "Okay, I will give you seven days to investigate the case. Within seven days, find the real culprit who lured the prince to hang himself. I will give you any reward, but if you can't find it, You will be buried with the prince."

The fluttering last sentence made Yan Qingchuan's body tremble, and she was about to speak to persuade the emperor to take back the words, but was stopped by Xie Yu'an, who smiled at her, shook his head and whispered: "It's okay."

Yan Qingchuan frowned, and could only watch Yuan Qiandi and the empress gradually leave surrounded by a crowd of palace people, and then the crown prince's body was also removed by the people from the Imperial Medical Office.

As if a tragic drama had ended, everyone dispersed, and the courtyard of the claustrophobic room returned to solitude and desertedness.

Xie Yu'an and Yan Qingchuan also left the palace with the strange potted plant. On the way, Yan Qingchuan said worriedly: "How dare you boast about Haikou in front of His Majesty based on the slight difference of a potted plant? If the prince really hanged himself impulsively, What should you do if you just struggled to regret before dying? Are you really going to be buried with the prince!"

Yan Qingchuan's tone was mixed with subtle accusations, but more worried, Xie Yu'an leaned closer to her, trying his best, as if "biting his ears" and said with a deep smile: "Master Yan understands me, you know that I have always been like this." , to act recklessly."

Behind them, Xu Jin stared at this scene resentfully, rolling his eyes to the sky.

Yan Qingchuan bumped into her lightly, "Be serious."

Xie Yu'an turned back straight, and said solemnly: "Actually, it doesn't matter if it's the potted plant, or there are signs of a fight in the house, and the bruise on the prince's forehead. Although these are strange, they are not the reason why I am sure that he did not hang himself voluntarily.

What I'm most sure of is that he has no motive for suicide. The eldest son of the emperor, the prince of the East Palace, such a distinguished and future emperor, I don't believe that he will hang himself on impulse. "

"And I have a vague guess, who would be most happy to see the crown prince die?"

Yan Qingchuan thought for a while and said: "There are two people, one, the only heir of His Majesty, the third prince, and the forces behind him, and two, the person who lurks behind the scenes and waits for an opportunity to rebel, both of them are happy to see the prince die unexpectedly. Masterless."

Xie Yu'an smiled: "That's right, let's think about it boldly, is it possible that these two parties can actually be counted as one party."

Yan Qingchuan paused, and said in a low voice: "Shen Yan, no matter what, you must first find the real culprit who caused the prince to hang himself to death, so that your head can be saved."

"Master Yan, are you worried about me?" Xie Yu'an looked over with a crooked smile.

Yan Qingchuan snorted, "Who is worried about you anymore? You are arrogant and confident, so why should others worry about you?"

Xie Yu'an has long been used to Yan Qingchuan's inconsistency, knife-mouthed bean curd heart, she didn't say anything, and turned to Xu Jin who was behind her: "You bring this potted flower back to Qingtian Division and give it to Rong Shi, and ask her to check whether it is inside. There's something like drugs and poisons."

"Aren't you going back to Qingtian Division?" Xu Jin took the flower pot.

Xie Yu'an shook Yan Qingchuan, and said with a half smile but not a smile: "Your boy came to interrupt my date with Mr. Yan at any time, and my anger is still there. Don't inquire about it, and go your own way."

Xu Jin looked vigilant, "Where are you taking Lord Yan?"

Xie Yu'an patted him on the shoulder, and said earnestly, "Xu Jin, do you know what you look like now?"

Xu Jin shook his head honestly.

"Like a big [-]kW light bulb with a bright forehead." After Xie Yu'an finished speaking, he pulled Yan Qingchuan up and ran towards the city gate, "Let's go, Master Yan."