Chapter 282
Chapter 282
Standing in the snow and rubbing his hands, Yu Lang added, “It’s much colder here than inside Liangzhou City.”
Xia Ximo glanced at him and held out her hand warmer.
Vice Minister Yu was just about to take it when he felt Ren Fengjue’s sharp gaze on him. He drew his hand back in fright and said with a grin, “That warmer is too small. You should keep it for yourself, Miss Xia.”
Ren Fengjue gave him a sidelong look. “I told you to put on that cloak before we left. You were the one who complained it was too cumbersome.”
“…”
Despite his words, Lord Ren still called Zhu Peng over and asked whether there was anywhere nearby they could shelter for a while.
Zhu Peng considered it for a moment, looking distinctly troubled. “There’s an abandoned mortuary at the foot of the mountain. It’s quite large inside. It could hold a lot of people…”
“But a mortuary is a place for keeping dead bodies. The living shouldn’t go near one. And today is the first day of the New Year. According to local beliefs, it would bring bad luck.”
Ren Fengjue smiled faintly. “Since we chose to come to Zhu Family Village to investigate today, we aren’t concerned about such taboos. We can take a look while we’re there and see if there are any other clues.”
With that, Zhu Peng could only do as asked and lead the way.
The mortuary was built against Mount Ya. The trees around it almost hid the entrance, making it easy to overlook at first glance.
Once they entered, however, they found a square courtyard that did indeed occupy a substantial area.
Zhu Peng pointed to the main hall with some apprehension. “That’s where they kept the bodies. They say there are still… coffins in there.”
Yan Zhengchu looked around and said, “If the dead are at rest, their souls must already have found their place. As long as you haven’t done anything that weighs on your conscience, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Zhu Peng had, after all, seen a ghost himself. On thinking it through that way, he felt less afraid.
He added, “This mortuary has been empty for ten or twenty years. I remember seeing the mortuary keeper here when I was a child. Then, I don’t know what happened, but he suddenly disappeared…”
Mortuary keepers generally had to have a birth chart that foretold unusual resilience, or be destined to live with some impairment. This allowed them to face the assaults of yin energy without fear and work with corpses.
Ordinary people simply could not do it.
Once someone took up this work, they essentially severed their dealings with the living and were destined to remain alone.
Presumably, then, no one would have searched for this mortuary keeper after he disappeared. His end must have been a wretched one.
Moved to pity, Yan Zhengchu went straight into the main hall to look around. There were indeed two empty coffins in a corner.
Apart from those, it was almost completely bare.
Finding nothing unusual inside, he beckoned everyone in.
Zhao Wan thought it too dirty and had the Golden Plume Guards sweep out the hall before she would set foot in it.
They then gathered some dry wood from the woodshed beside it and built a fire in the hall to keep warm.
Yu Lang had only just warmed his hands when Ren Fengjue called him away.
“Come and look around with me.”
Reluctant though Vice Minister Yu was, he could not disobey and followed him out.
Besides the main hall, the mortuary had two rooms, one on either side.
One was the woodshed; the other had been the mortuary keeper’s living quarters.
It was clear that the keeper had lived in great poverty. There was not a single decent furnishing in the room. Even the bed was made of dry grass, and every other utensil was as simple as could be.
Strangely, though, the walls were covered in densely scrawled, peculiar designs drawn with pieces of charcoal.
Neither Ren Fengjue nor Yu Lang could make sense of them, so they called Yan Zhengchu over.
Daoist Yan shook his head at the sight as well. “These… aren’t talismanic symbols. They look more like the random scribbles of a child who can’t write.”
Yu Lang thought that explanation made sense.
Ren Fengjue said nothing. His gaze moved from the writing on the walls to the door.
Then he went out through it and examined the courtyard gate and the door to the main hall.
Yu Lang hurried over. “Have you found something, my lord?”
After a moment’s thought, Ren Fengjue said, “The height of the doorways seems to have been altered.”
Every doorway in the mortuary stood at least several inches higher than an ordinary one.
And from the look of them, they had been changed afterward.
It was distinctly suspicious. What had happened to make such a change necessary?
“Bring Zhu Peng over again. Let’s ask him.”
Yu Lang had yet to work out the connection, but he did as instructed.
When they brought up the mortuary keeper’s height, Zhu Peng searched his memory carefully.
“I didn’t think he was very tall. Probably just a little taller than most people. I remember him standing in front of the main gate, wearing a bamboo hat. I couldn’t see his face…”
Ren Fengjue asked, “Do you know where he was from?”
Zhu Peng replied, “You could say he belonged to Zhu Family Village, in a way. I heard he was an orphan the previous mortuary keeper had found and raised. After the old keeper died, he stayed on to look after the mortuary.”
Ren Fengjue fell silent for a moment and looked up at the unfathomable depths of Mount Ya behind the mortuary.
A vague feeling arose within him that this mortuary keeper must have been hiding some secret…
Just then, the faint sound of hoofbeats came from outside. The Golden Plume Guards who had gone to “report the case” at the town office must have returned.
Sure enough, a party soon arrived in front of the mortuary.
Ren Fengjue and Yu Lang went out at once. A man in a town official’s uniform had brought a group of runners with him. Judging by their numbers, the entire town office had turned out.
The town official approached the mortuary hesitantly, plainly unable to understand why they had to come to such a place…
When he saw Ren Fengjue, he visibly froze. Instinctively, he asked the commander beside him, “Who is this gentleman?”
Yu Lang stepped forward at once. “This is Lord Ren, Vice Minister of Justice.”
Then he displayed his Dali Temple identity token. “And I am Yu Lang, Junior Minister of Dali Temple.”
Confronted the moment they arrived with such important men from the capital, everyone from the town office dropped to their knees.
The town official was so frightened he could scarcely get his words out. “I had no idea Your Lordships had come to Liangzhou City! As for Princess Fenghua… Her Highness’s disappearance, I will pursue the matter to the end!”
He had barely finished when Zhao Wan came out of the main hall too.
“I haven’t disappeared. I had you summoned for something else.”
The town official was startled again.
But he soon understood, though he continued to feign ignorance. “May I ask what Your Highness wishes of me? I would face any danger in your service without hesitation!”
Zhao Wan said, “Save your pretty words. Let me ask you this: people were murdered in the villages around here a month ago. Why have you done nothing?”
The town official’s eyes shifted, and he spotted Zhu Peng standing nearby. Though surprised that the man had managed to enlist Princess Fenghua’s help, he had already decided what to say.
“I did receive a report. But the case was so serious that I could only refer it to the county office. I never received any instructions, and I dared not handle it on my own authority.”
Ren Fengjue had anticipated that they would pass the responsibility up from one level to the next. “That’s all right. Wait here. I expect the county magistrate will arrive shortly.”