It was related to the honor of the Huaishan Jùnwáng¹, and Steward Song’s face became ugly.

Lin Fei seemed not to notice that Steward Song’s face suddenly turned ugly, and continued: “So, the famous lineage of Huaishan Jùnwáng retreated in the face of danger, and let their subordinates take their place, risking their lives…”

“No. That’s not it!”

Before he finished speaking, Steward Song, who had just insisted that he had nothing to do with this matter, immediately interrupted Lin Fei’s words. He said: “It has nothing to do with the prince and the others, it was of my own free will!”

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu looked at Song Steward in astonishment. There was no direct evidence of killing Manager Huang. Just a moment ago, Song Steward seemed indifferent, but now, merely mentioning an incident from twenty-five years ago, it was highly likely that someone from the Huaishan jùnwáng’s household might have been made to die in someone’s stead. Surprisingly, Song Steward started confessing without any pressure?

After being stunned for a moment, Bai Zhu came to his senses and whispered to Liu Yuan: “Hu Caifeng is likely aware of this matter, and the man she later married may also be in the know. This is not something that can be kept a secret.”

Is it because they knew it couldn’t be kept secret that Song Steward suddenly confessed?

He looked at Lin Fei, his eyes were red, and said loudly: “How can the lineage of the Jùnwáng be cut off like this? I am willing to let my son replace the prince…”

“Isn’t this right!”

Liu Yuan heard this and couldn’t bear it. He kept saying, “This is wrong!”

“You have to be loyal and sacrifice your life for righteousness, but you should sacrifice your own body. When you sacrifice your blessed son, have you thought about whether the child was willing to be blessed?”

This person sacrificed his life for righteousness. The story sounds very touching, at least Steward Song himself is immersed in it.

“It’s a great honor to have my son replace shizi!” Steward Song said with a trembling voice, “It’s his honor!”

Liu Yuan moved his lips, wanting to say, “Then why don’t you go and substitute yourself?” But upon further thought about Song Steward’s character, he felt that if their ages matched, this person might have gone and substituted himself.

But when Fuzi was still in his infancy, Steward Song made the choice on his behalf, which was unfair to Fuzi.

And for some unknown reason back then, Fuzi didn’t die and still grew to such a big size, but in the end… he died in such a miserable way.

“Lao Liu and his wife volunteered, and I… I was also voluntary.” Ignoring Liu Yuan’s question “Was Fuzi willing or not?” Steward Song continued to murmur with tears in his eyes, “We were all willing!”

Seeing how he was so moved that he couldn’t help himself, Liu Yuan fell silent, and a deep feeling of powerlessness arose spontaneously.

The next moment, he saw his own Shangfeng say with a calm expression: “So, you killed Manager Huang?”

Liu Yuan: “…”

Shangfeng really didn’t seem to be moved at all.

Steward Song lowered his head and said “Yes”.

Lin Fei asked: “How did he die?”

Song Steward said, “I don’t know how he found out about the events of that year; perhaps that wretch who should have died mentioned it to Hu Caifeng. He used money as leverage, and I couldn’t let my actions harm our master. So, I borrowed money from him to meet, and when he was checking the money, I smothered him to death.”

The death of Manager Huang was not disclosed to the outside world, and there were always people guarding the troupe. Therefore, it was also only the murderer who could explain the death of Manager Huang so clearly.

“What about Fuzi?” Liu Yuan looked at Steward Song and couldn’t help but ask.

Steward Song was slightly startled when he heard this, paused, lowered his head, and said, “I killed him too.”

Lin Fei didn’t say anything, just stared at him for a moment, then turned around and left the prison. Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu quickly followed. When they walked out of the prison and weighed the files in their hands, which were much lighter than ordinary files, Liu Yuan said, “This case…can it be closed?”

Was this case closed so quickly?

Lin Fei, who was walking in front, stopped, turned to look at Bai Zhu and Liu Yuan behind him, and said, “Fuzi did not die at the hands of Steward Song.”

After hearing this sentence, the expressions of the two people suddenly changed, and when they came to their senses, Bai Zhu was shocked and said, “If he didn’t kill him, why did he admit it?”

Liu Yuan then asked in surprise: “Is it because he wants to take the blame for the Huaishan Jùnwáng’s Palace?”

Lin Fei shook his head, noncommittal, just paused, and then said: “Fuzi’s life experience has not even been mentioned to the trusted inn clerk, how can he mention it to gamblers like Manager Huang?”

Everyone knew the credibility of gamblers.

“Zuo Zuo has examined Fuzi’s body and found that he had no obvious birthmarks, moles, or other easily identifiable features. Although his appearance was vaguely similar to Steward Song and Hu Caifeng, they were not too similar to each other. . How could Hu Caifeng know that Fuzi, the opera singer above, was the child who was supposed to have died?” Lin Fei said.

Insiders such as Huaishan jùnwáng and Steward Song won’t be eager to bring up the past again and will keep this matter in their stomachs. How did Manager Huang, Hu Caifeng, and even Fuzi know what happened back then?

Also, was Old Lady Zhou’s heart ailment a coincidence or something else?

If it was just a coincidence, that was fine. If it was for other reasons, why did Old Lady Zhou die? It was very clear that Old Lady Zhou, the insider back then, would go out and publicize the matter just for the sake of a lucky son of a servant. If she was such a kind person who could not tolerate sand in her eyes, she would have stopped it back then. Why wait until now?

“Contact the defenders in Salt Lake City and ask the people in the barracks how they rescued the Huaishan Jùnwáng and his family.”

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu nodded in agreement, and then they saw their master suddenly lift his foot and head in the direction of the Dali Temple’s public kitchen.

After reacting, the two people subconsciously glanced at the sundial in the middle of Dali Temple: It was half past the hour, so it was time to eat the evening meal. If they were too late, they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to eat it!

…

…

By the time they arrived at the public kitchen, many colleagues had already finished their evening meal and left with their mouths shiny and satisfied.

Liu Yuan, seeing this, couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “These colleagues of mine are certainly not this enthusiastic when it comes to their daily meals. But when it’s Master Wen’s turn to take charge of the kitchen, they run faster than anyone, as if they’re afraid of missing out on a meal, isn’t it?”

The ingredients in the bowls on the countertop have already been divided into plates. Liu Yuan looked at the ingredients on the plate: potatoes, lotus root slices, cabbage, lettuce, vermicelli, thinly sliced ​​pork slices, diced chicken, and minced fish. There are not many meatballs of each type, but the number is extremely high. The total amount of each plate was not small, no less than the three or four dishes that they usually ate at dusk.

However, the color of these ingredients seemed to be raw, and except for the cabbage and other leafy vegetables, the rest seemed to have been blanched.

Just as he was watching intently, he heard Shang Feng in front say: “I like spicy food.”

Wen Mingtang nodded, and Liu Yuan only saw her pour some vegetable oil into the wok, then add onions, ginger, garlic, chili, fennel, star anise, and her jar of special sauce called Doubanjiang. As the temperature of the oil rose, an indescribable spicy aroma spread, making people’s mouths and tongues water.

The vegetables that were stir-fried right after they came out were much more fragrant than those cooked in advance! Liu Yuan swallowed his saliva and watched Wen Mingtang pour in the ingredients, mix them with the seasonings, stir-fry briefly, then add wine, salt, and sugar to taste, and then put it out of the wok.

The diverse ingredients, both meat and vegetables, were all mixed together, with a rich sauce coating their exterior, and garnished with white sesame seeds. It had an inexplicable visual appeal, and the small bunch of cilantro on top was the finishing touch, especially for those who loved cilantro.

Not only the aroma but its appearance was also not to be underestimated!

Just as he was waiting for Shang Feng to take away the food and take his turn, Shang Feng, who always did things simply, suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked at the row of white porcelain bowls at the edge of the countertop, which contained raisins, crushed peanuts, snacks of honey beans, glutinous rice dumplings, and hawthorn slices, he asked Wen Mingtang: “What is this?”

Wen Mingtang then remembered that Lin Shaoqing seemed to have not eaten Bing Fen before, and said: “This snack is called Bing Fen. During the day I made a little more, so I have some leftovers.”

Seeing that his eyes were on the Bing Fen without moving away, Wen Mingtang took the initiative to make a bowl of Bing Fen and handed it over.

Lin Fei took it, nodded to her, and then left.

Finally, it was his turn! Lin Fei had just left, and Liu Yuan hurriedly stepped forward and said to Wen Mingtang, “My portion should be less spicy!”

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Footnote

1. County Prince or prince of Second Rank. I found this very interesting page that details the ranking of princes and other imperial members. You can check it out and learn more about it.