King Yu was a master of eating, drinking, and having fun, so the things involved were naturally related to eating, drinking, and having fun.

“That was an old case that happened several years ago,” Liu Yuan said, “A scholar staying at the inn died the day before the exam. This scholar had a reputation for being romantic, and his family was quite influential locally. He was also quite talented, with a good chance of winning the top spot in the kēkǎo that time. However, inexplicably, he died in the inn the day before the exam. Moreover, after his death, someone dug out his eyeballs, which was horrifying!”

With such talent, this scholar was naturally highly valued by the family, and the family also had high hopes for him. As a result, the person died inexplicably, and the family naturally refused to let it go. Not long after, the elders of several clans entered the capital, looking for ways to put pressure on Dali Temple.

This was the benefit of being an official in Dali Temple! Even when this case occurred, except for the old man Wei Fu, Liu Yuan, and others had not yet entered Dali Temple. But now he was an official of Dali Temple. Generally, he could easily take a look at the case files by asking Zhao Mengzhuo, the minister of Dali Temple, to get a warrant.

“That scholar was proud of his talent. Because he was born well, he was a bit unruly.” When Liu Yuan said this, he couldn’t help but shake his head and spread his hands. “It was naturally easy for people like this to make enemies.”

When one was riding high on success, they made too many connections. But when trouble arose, enemies could be found everywhere, and a long list of them could be drawn up, making investigations troublesome.

“The day before the accident, the scholar had a dispute with King Yu over a female prostitute in a brothel. The scholar was accustomed to relying on his talent and arrogance. Even when he faced people like King Yu, he couldn’t lose his face and wrote a poem to ridicule King Yu on the spot. He was so angry that before he left, he warned him that he would not be able to see the sun tomorrow morning. “Liu Yuan shrugged, “It turned out that the scholar really didn’t see the sun the next morning. He was found dead in his room.”

Under such circumstances, King Yu naturally bore the brunt and became the target of suspicion.

“Then his suspicion is indeed high!” Wen Mingtang heard this, grabbed a handful of melon seeds from Tangyuan’s hand, and said while eating, “Then how did it become an unsolved case?”

Liu Yuan heard this, sighed helplessly, and said: “King Yu does have a motive, but at the same time, there were many people with motives. If we say that King Yu was the murderer based on motive alone, there would have been many people who could have killed him.” 

When handling a case, evidence was required, but unfortunately in this case, what was most missing was evidence.

Of course, even if Dali Temple did not have Lin Fei, a master of solving cases like a god, those who could enter Dali Temple would not be vegetarians.

“This case was very complicated, and the Dali Temple attached great importance to it. But before any progress could be made, the late Emperor ordered it to be halted,” Liu Yuan said. “The scholar’s family also voluntarily stated that they would no longer pursue the matter and left, so the case became an unsolved mystery.”

They rushed all the way to Chang’an to demand an explanation but suddenly stopped in the middle. This really didn’t feel right.

But no matter how mediocre the former Emperor was, he was still an Emperor! The Emperor kept his word, and when the late Emperor was there, naturally no one in Dali Temple investigated the case again.

As for why it can be checked now, the reason was very simple.

“After His Majesty took office, Lin Shaoqing visited the palace, and Your Majesty allowed various old cases to be re-examined!” Liu Yuan said.

The previous Emperor’s word was law, but wasn’t it the same for the current Emperor? Both were Emperors, so naturally, a word from His Majesty should allow for a reopening of this case.

When Wen Mingtang heard this, she said “Oh”, thought about it, and couldn’t help but sigh: “If the unsolved case can be solved, the families of the deceased will really thank Lin Shaoqing for taking this case up!”

“Isn’t that right?” Liu Yuan answered and sighed, “Lin Shaoqing went directly to Mr. Zhao to get the key to the warehouse. He has barely left there, he has been living in the warehouse these days.” 

After chatting for a long time, seeing that the time was almost up, Wen Mingtang and others got up and continued to prepare for the evening food.

Seeing that they were busy with work again, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu also withdrew from the public kitchen so as not to disturb them.

When they went to see Lin Fei, they noticed a stack of old case files piled up on Lin Fei’s desk. Lin Fei himself was meticulously going through those files, but the one on the top of the pile was sealed shut and had not been opened.

You’ve already taken it out, why didn’t you open the file?

The two of them were curious and asked: “Lin Shaoqing, which case file is this?”

Lin Fei said without raising his head: “Wen Xuance’s.”

Liu Yuantong and Bai Zhu said: “…”

After a silence, Bai Zhu touched his nose awkwardly and said, “Then it really can’t be opened.” But since it couldn’t be opened, why did Lin Shaoqing bring the file out?

Lin Fei lowered his head and was busy looking through the files. Naturally, he would not explain this. He just paused and suddenly asked the two of them: “I heard that the Holy One asked you two to find the missing elixir of Goguryeo?”

After hearing this, the two of them nodded immediately. Liu Yuan also made a special gesture: “Boss, the elixir is bigger than a fist. I am afraid that except for tigers and other beasts that can swallow it in one bite, there is no one with such a big mouth in life.”

Lin Fei continued to turn over the pages. With the file in his hand, he was still talking to the two of them: “Did any of those envoys come to Chang’an before?”

Liu Yuan recalled the information he had inquired about, and nodded: “That’s it!”

Since the journey from Goguryeo to Chang’an was long and unfamiliar, it was natural for the Goguryeo envoys to have brought knowledgeable guides with them. Otherwise, how would they have navigated the route if they had gotten lost?

Earlier, some envoys from Huihe¹ got lost on their way to Chang’an and spent more than half a year in Dàróng² before reaching Chang’an.³

After listening to Liu Yuan’s words, Lin Fei picked up the file in his hand, raised his head, looked at the two of them, and said: “When the case of the scholar’s murder occurred, there were also envoys from Goguryeo who came to Chang’an.”

As soon as these words came out, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu were stunned. After being stunned for a moment, they felt that this didn’t seem strange, and it didn’t hurt to call it a coincidence.

Goguryeo would send envoys to Chang’an every few years, and even if they met once in a while, it seemed to be nothing.

Without the two of them speaking, Lin Fei knew what they were thinking by looking at the expressions on their faces. Seeing this, he raised his eyelids and revealed the reason why he said these words: “The dispute between the scholar and King Yu was over a female prostitute from Goguryeo.”

As soon as these words came out, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu’s expressions changed slightly, but the slight change only lasted for a moment, but they quickly recovered.

Their great country was prosperous and bustling with activities. People from all directions came to pay homage to Chang’an City. When one strolled through the market for mules and horses, foreigners from all over could be seen wearing garments of various styles: fair-skinned, yellow-skinned, dark-skinned; blue-eyed, green-eyed; blond, red-haired… In every brothel in Chang’an City, there would be at least two fair-skinned, blue-eyed Hu⁴ people as singers or dancers, or perhaps even prostitutes who served with their bodies.

It wouldn’t be surprising even if there were a Goguryeo prostitute!

Looking at Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu, who still seemed unperturbed, Lin Fei remained calm and continued, “After those Goguryeo envoys visited Chang’an, they frequented a brothel, which is where this prostitute was working.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu hesitated. While it might raise some eyebrows for diplomats to visit brothels in foreign countries, directly implicating the Goguryeo behind their backs seemed unjustified. After all, this was ultimately a matter of private morals, and it was not appropriate to make assumptions. Even if they sought out a Goguryeo-born prostitute, it could be considered reasonable and perhaps just a preference for someone from their homeland.

Lin Fei raised his eyelids and added: “The tribute they brought that time was not an elixir of immortality, but they brought an ‘immortal’ who claimed to have been to the Immortal Mountains on the Sea and knew the art of immortality.”

Although one time it was a person and another time it was a pill, both were related to the concept of “immortality”.

These coincidences were too numerous to explain.

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu looked at each other, and their expressions became serious. After a pause, Bai Zhu asked: “The elixir of immortality was stolen this time. That person a few years ago…”

Lin Fei continued, “The late Emperor invited the ‘immortal’ to eat roasted lamb leg, but it’s unclear whether it was because the lamb leg was too delicious or because the immortal was accustomed to drinking immortal dew and couldn’t handle earthly food. As a result, he choked to death on a bone while eating too quickly.”

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu: “…”

This way of death was really not very “immortal”!

(End of chapter)

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Footnote

1. In ancient China, the country known as “Huihe” referred to the Uyghur Khaganate, which was a Turkic empire that existed from the 8th to the 9th century in the region of present-day Xinjiang, China.
2. In ancient China, “Da Rong” (大蓉) typically referred to a region rather than a specific country. It was located in the southwestern part of what is now Sichuan Province. This region was inhabited by various ethnic groups, including the Rong people, who were considered to be non-Han Chinese ethnic groups living on the fringes of ancient Chinese civilization.
3. To understand how lost they were, historically, the Uyghur Khaganate was located to the northwest of Chang’an, in the area of present-day Xinjiang, while the Da Rong region was situated to the southwest, in what is now Sichuan Province. Chang’an, also known as Xi’an, is located in present-day Shaanxi Province, China. Shaanxi is located in the northwest part of China. Though Xinjiang and Shaanxi is not adjucent to each other, but they are in the similar direction, Northwest. Whereas Sichuan is Southwest, just opposite!
4. “Hu” (胡) refers to people from various ethnic groups living in the regions surrounding ancient China, often from Central Asia or the Western Regions. They were often depicted as having fair skin and blue eyes, distinguishing them from the Han Chinese population. They could include groups such as the Uyghurs, Sogdians, or other Central Asian peoples who interacted with China during ancient times.