Chapter 542: Stopped Breathing And Died
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation | Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Zhou Qing shook her head. “I only heard that some followers met her when they were praying on the Heavenly Snow Mountain. It was a night of raging snowstorms, and the Great Immortal White Lotus suddenly appeared in front
of them.”
After that, the followers invited this Great Immortal White Lotus back and served her devoutly every day.
Su Ying finished all the snacks and tapped her fingertips on the table. “Then, have you heard what this Great Immortal White Lotus accomplished?”
Zhou Qing answered, “They were just some events that sounded a little incredible. There was nothing exceptional.”
Su Ying felt that it was not wrong to have religious beliefs but she was afraid that this religious belief would be taken advantage of by someone with ulterior motives. “Later, go look for Supervisor Zhang and ask her to get you two quick-thinking people who know some martial arts. Have them mingle among the Great Immortal White Lotus’s followers and instruct them to report immediately if there’s anything unusual.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”
Prince Yu had been assassinated and his whereabouts were unknown now. After the morning court session, Xiao Jin summoned a few trusted ministers to discuss a solution to this matter.
After a round of discussion, the ministers unanimously decided to first explain the situation to the monarch of the Nan State and see how he reacted. The rest of the Nan State’s envoys should be sent out of the kingdom as soon as possible to prevent any more trouble.
However, in Xiao Jin’s view, what was important wasn’t Prince Yu’s life or death, but the person behind the scenes who assassinated Prince Yu. It was obvious that he wanted to stir up a dispute between the two kingdoms.
When Xiao Jin sent a letter to the Nan State’s monarch, he emphasized that someone wanted to sow discord. As long as the Nan State’s monarch was not foolish, he would not make a big deal out of this matter. Otherwise, no one would be able to exit gracefully from this episode.
After the ministers excused themselves, Zhang Shuming brought a stack of
blueprints to the desk.
“Your Majesty, the day before yesterday, Her Imperial Highness said that she wanted to build a playground for the First Prince and the Young Princess in the empty plot of land within the Imperial harem’s quarters. The craftsmen received her instructions and went back to discuss it before producing this set of blueprints. Please have a look, Your Majesty.”
Giving these blueprints to Xiao Jin for his review signified the beginning of this project.
Xiao Jin had already heard about it from Su Ying the night before. He was also very curious to know what this playground would look like after it was built.
“Just do as the Empress says.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Construction on the playground commenced three days later.
The plot of empty land had been abandoned for so long that it was covered with weeds. The workers had to remove the weeds and pave the ground with
green bricks.
On the morning when the project was due to commence, Su Ying woke up early.
“Your Imperial Highness, the workers over there have already started working. Do you want to go over and take a look?” Zhou Qing knew that Su Ying was concerned about this playground, so she kept Su Ying updated about the
progress there.
Su Ying nodded. “Mm-hmm. Let’s go take a look.”
After breakfast, Su Ying went to that plot of empty land. The workers were busy repairing the walls and laying bricks on the ground.
This plot of empty land was not big. It looked like it could only accommodate a few hundred single-story houses. However, it was enough for the children to
relax and play.
There was also an abandoned palace on the side of the empty land. While construction of the playground was in progress, Zhang Shuming also got the workers to renovate this palace. When the little masters were tired of playing, they could have a place to rest.
“Your Imperial Highness, please see if there is anything else that needs to be arranged. Just tell me and I will immediately get people to follow up,” Zhang
Shuming reported.
Zhang Shuming was very thorough in carrying out tasks. He could think of all those things that Su Ying didn’t think of, so she simply left the matter to him. “I can’t think of anything for the time being. If you think of something, you can
tell me.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”
In reality, it wasn’t difficult to construct children’s entertainment facilities. In addition, it was something Su Ying needed, so the workers and craftsmen worked particularly hard. In less than half a month, everything was ready.
Su Ying liked this kind of efficiency.
As soon as the palace maid who came to report this news excused herself, Zhou Qing smiled and said, “The sky is already dark today. Tomorrow, Your Imperial Highness can bring the First Prince and the Young Princess there to take a look.” Although Her Imperial Highness didn’t say it, Zhou Qjng could sense that she was even more excited about the completion of this playground than the First Prince and the Young Princess!
Su Ying murmured a reply and happily told the two little ones about how they were going to play tomorrow.
Just as the mother and two children were chatting fervently, Zhang Shuming arrived outside the door.
“Your Imperial Highness, the Ministry of Justice has sent a message.” The smile on Su Ying’s face faded slightly, and she immediately stood up and walked out of the door. There were some things she didn’t want her children to hear too much about.
“What is it?”
“Zhou Xiangrong is dead,” Zhang Shuming replied softly.
Su Ying raised her eyebrows. She had already guessed as much earlier. It had been more than half a month, so she should have died. “How did she die?”
“She stopped breathing and died.” She had strangled herself with a chain. For more than half a month, Zhou Xiangrong had been immersed in an endless cycle of pain that could tear her apart. While she still possessed a trace of rationality, Zhou Xiangrong chose to kill herself.
“However, the people from the Ministry of Justice said that her corpse was a little strange.”
The people of the Ministry of Justice had seen all kinds of strange people. If even they found it strange, there must be something wrong.
After listening to Zhang Shuming, Su Ying decided to personally go to the prison in the Ministry of Justice to take a look.
Zhou Xiangrong’s corpse had already been transported out of the prison cell and placed in the morgue.
From afar, there was only a single lamp in the entire morgue, which made the place look gloomy and terrifying.
The officer keeping watch at the morgue didn’t expect someone to come so late at night. He quickly came over with a lantern to see what was going on.
After the Minister of Justice revealed his identity, he brought Su Ying to Zhou Xiangrong’s corpse.
Under the dim light, Zhou Xiangrong’s face was as pale as a ghost. She was completely devoid of life.
The Minister of Justice lifted the white cloth covering Zhou Xiangrong’s corpse. They saw that her clothes had been completely removed.
There were two wounds on her shoulders caused by the two hooks. They were very gory and looked downright repulsive. However, other than that, there were no other wounds on her body. Su Ying had said that no one was allowed to open the cell door without her permission. No one dared to disobey Su Ying’s orders.
“Your imperial Highness, take a look here. The strange thing I am referring to
is on her body.”
The Minister of Justice pointed at the bloodstains on Zhou Xiangrong’s corpse. He didn’t know when Zhou Xiangrong had gotten these stains on her. There were rows of dried bloodstains on her pale body. These bloodstains didn’t look like they had flowed down naturally but were thought to have been drawn on. Even Zhou Xiangrong’s palm had these bloodstains.
“What are these things?” Su Ying looked at the corpse from several different angles and felt that these bloodstains looked like some special markings on talisman paper.
“What happened to the clothes on her body? Did you guys take them off?”
The Minister of Justice shook his head and replied, “Your Imperial Highness, after you left that day, no one opened the door to that cell. There was only one person who went to deliver food every day, but that person did not go in. When we realized that something was wrong, the person was already dead. When she died, her clothes were torn off and lying on the ground. I felt that the state she was in was a little strange, so I sent someone to inform Your Imperial
Highness.”
Su Ying instructed someone to bring a brush and paper to her. She copied down all the talisman markings on Zhou Xiangrong’s corpse. Then she would get someone to take a look tomorrow to see what exactly they were..
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