Chapter 89
Chapter 89
“Who else was in the tower?”
“…The Eastern Palace.”
In truth, even if Du Yueming had not said it, Ren Fengjue could have guessed as much.
So when he heard the words “Eastern Palace,” he was not particularly surprised. He only asked, “So the person who truly wanted to see you was the Crown Prince?”
Thinking back to what had happened that night, Du Yueming was still bewildered. “I went there without really knowing what was going on, and then I saw the Crown Prince was there too. Scared me half to death.”
Then he crooked a finger at Ren Fengjue and lowered his voice. “Do you know what things were like the last time I saw the Crown Prince before that?”
He put on a mysterious expression, but Ren Fengjue merely shook his head.
A year ago, the Crown Prince had been formally invested and moved into the Eastern Palace. Not long after, he had fallen strangely ill.
At that time, he had only just been married, and the woman he married was Du Yueming’s maternal cousin-Tang Yuelang, daughter of the Duke of Tang Commandery.
Given that connection, Du Yueming certainly knew more than Ren Fengjue did.
“The last time I saw him was inside the Eastern Palace. We had received word that… he was critically ill and likely did not have much time left.”
Du Yueming lowered his voice even further. “I went with the old man to the Eastern Palace to visit him. The rumors were true. I saw it with my own eyes…”
“The Crown Prince was so sick he barely looked human!”
Of course, this was not something one could gossip about behind closed doors.
But Ren Fengjue felt there had to be a connection between the two matters.
What illness had the Crown Prince suffered from back then? Almost no one in court knew.
And how had he recovered? There was no way to find out, either.
Perhaps he would need to make another trip to the Imperial Medical Office.
As Ren Fengjue was thinking this, Du Yueming continued, “But that time at Zuihua Restaurant, the Crown Prince seemed like a completely different man. His entire manner felt unlike before…”
Ren Fengjue had not had much contact with the Crown Prince, but he felt the same way.
The Crown Prince of the past had possessed a restrained brilliance. He did not show his edge, yet he had still managed to stand out among the imperial princes.
But the Crown Prince that night at Fu Tower had been different…
On the surface, he appeared modest and courteous, but he could not hide the arrogance and wild audacity in his eyes.
The sharpness in his very bones could not be concealed, either.
Ren Fengjue asked, “Why did the Crown Prince seek you out that time?”
Du Yueming clearly hesitated before answering, “It was just a small matter.”
“Truly a small matter?”
Ren Fengjue still remembered clearly what the Young Duke had said last night at Fu Tower: each side taking what they needed.
And based on his understanding of Du Yueming, the man only hemmed and hawed like this when he had a guilty conscience.
Du Yueming knew he could not hide it, so he simply confessed. “It really was a small matter…”
“Manager Bai said Fu Tower needed dancers and maidservants, preferably… ones with some beauty. She wanted me to go to the Office of Music and choose some candidates.”
Though the Young Duke held no official post at court, with his connections, getting a few people out of a place like the Office of Music would not be difficult.
But if such a thing were brought out into the open, it would not be proper.
Du Yueming quietly studied Ren Fengjue’s face, then continued, “Think about it. Most of the women entering the Office of Music nowadays are daughters of convicted officials or noblewomen fallen on hard times. Instead of going to the Office of Music, wouldn’t it be better for them to go to Fu Tower?”
He spoke with righteous conviction, but Ren Fengjue gave a cold snort. “So you think you did a good deed?”
Du Yueming shrank back as though someone had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
He did not answer, instead continuing on his own, “Speaking of which, that place, Fu Tower, really does wonders for a person.”
“The women I found for Manager Bai have all become more and more radiant ever since they entered Fu Tower.”
Ren Fengjue frowned but said nothing.
Du Yueming paid him no mind and continued, “You know as well as I do-those women all suffered after their families were seized and their homes searched. No matter how pretty they were, after going hungry for a few meals, they all looked like eggplants beaten down by frost.”
“But once they went to Fu Tower, in a day or two at most, they seemed like completely different people.”
He clicked his tongue in wonder as he spoke, but Ren Fengjue’s expression only grew colder and colder.
In his heart, he had already begun to glimpse the truth.
“Then over the past six months, how many people have you sent to Fu Tower in total? Do you remember?”
Seeing how ugly his expression had become, Du Yueming hurriedly made a quick calculation in his head. “About ten or so.”
“After all, not everyone met Fu Tower’s requirements.”
“What requirements?”
“Their looks, figure, age… and one rather odd thing. They wanted their birth date and time.”
Ren Fengjue abruptly rose to his feet and said coldly, “Draw up a list of those women’s identities and give me every name.”
Seeing him turn so grave all of a sudden, Du Yueming could not help feeling a flicker of fear.
“Does this… have something to do with what happened yesterday?”
Ren Fengjue’s face was frighteningly cold. “Those women you sent there have likely been reduced to bones long ago.”
“What?!”
Du Yueming jolted in alarm and rose as well, protesting, “But I saw them just two days ago!”
Ren Fengjue had no intention of explaining too much to him, nor did he want him to get any more involved. He immediately patted Du Yueming lightly on the arm and said sternly, “For the next while, go out as little as possible. If Manager Bai or the Crown Prince comes looking for you, do not meet either of them in private again.”
Under Du Yueming’s astonished gaze, he turned and walked straight out.
When he reached the doorway, he stopped again. “Remember to get me that list of women as soon as possible.”
After leaving the Duke’s Manor, Ren Fengjue went to Fu Tower once more.
By now, quite a few bones had been fished out of the blood pool inside Tongtian Pavilion. Judging from the skulls, there were seven people in total, all of them women.
Yu Lang had been placed in charge here, and he could only force himself to endure the nausea.
Having those bones hauled out was already troublesome enough. Unexpectedly, Yan Zhengchu, the Taoist priest who had been fiddling around inside the tower with a compass for half the day, had also made a new discovery.
Beneath the Glazed Jade Hand in Fu Tower’s main hall, there was actually a bottomless secret passage, with no telling where it led.
But the moment the stone door to the passage was opened, the previously calm compass in Yan Zhengchu’s hand suddenly went haywire.
As the needle jerked wildly, a faint, ghostly wind howled from within-enough to show that the “thing” inside was exceedingly vicious.
This, however, excited Yan Zhengchu considerably.
The strangest thing about Fu Tower was precisely this: it was clearly bizarre, yet on the surface, it appeared unusually “clean.”
As if it had been covered by a barrier…
Now that the first clue had finally appeared, the answer could not be far off.
Yan Zhengchu had meant to call over two bailiffs to carry lanterns and enter the secret passage with him, but before he could even open his mouth, everyone had already backed away in fright.
Only Yu Lang’s eyes were practically shining, his face full of eagerness, as though he could not wait to “see a ghost.”
Under these circumstances, Yan Zhengchu seemed to have no choice but to bring him along.
But just as the two of them were about to go in, Ren Fengjue’s voice came from behind them.
“Vice Minister Yu.”
Yu Lang’s steps halted, and he had an instinctive sense that something was wrong.
He turned back and saw that Ren Fengjue had already strode over. “Have the identities of the bones in Tongtian Pavilion been confirmed?”
Yu Lang thought to himself, How could it possibly be that fast? Those are piles of bones! Even if they were intact corpses, there would be no way to identify them so quickly.
He was just about to argue when Ren Fengjue directly took the wind lantern from his hand.
“The case is urgent. We need the answers as soon as possible.”
“…”