Across Time And Space 118 News Spread In Da Cheng

The next morning, news of Prince Jing mansion caught on fire the night before spread across the Capital city. The fire was quite big, damaging thirty percent of the property. Fortunately, as the fire started at a secluded place, there were no casualties reported.

The officers from the fire department and department of justice came in and out from Prince Jing's mansion to investigate the matter. Some busybody onlookers camped outside Prince Jing's mansion to catch the first news about the fire.

Prince Jing testified that an intruder broke into his house and started the fire. However, the culprit managed to get away as his guards failed to catch him.

The officers from the department of justice were dispatched to look for the culprit. The only clues they got from Prince Jing's guard was that the culprit had an injury on his left arm.

The officers turned the city upside down, but they could not find the culprit.

Two days after, another shocking news spread across the city. During the officers' investigation, they discovered several corpses in the Prince's compound.

From the post-mortem, they found out that the bodies belonged to female aged around thirteen to fifteen. The oldest corpses were said to be buried in Prince Jing's compound for at least five years ago.

Rumors of young maidservants in Prince Jing's household went missing for every few months surfaced. The officers tried to suppress the rumors but failed as the busybody onlookers have already spread the news around.

By the time the Emperor learned about the news, it was already too late for them to do anything. Even Prince Yi and Chancellor Chen could not do anything to help Prince Jing.

The officials started to appeal for the Emperor to take action against Prince Jing before the citizen of Da Cheng would be discontent and cause trouble for the government.

The Emperor was displeased with the news. He then shut himself in his study and refused to meet any of his officials. However, the Emperor's refusal did not stop the officials from kneeling before the Great Hall and continue to plead for the Emperor to uphold justice.

…

Jiang Mansion

Jiang Xiao Tian was surprised to find his brother, Xiao Xian in the Jiang's mansion. Xiao Tian gave his brother a look over and noticed his elder brother's exhausted face.

"Elder brother, aren't you supposed to be back in another three days?" Jiang Xiao Tian stood up immediately when his brother entered the room.

"What do you think?" Jiang Xiao Xian rubbed his face and sat down to pour himself a cup of tea. He emptied the drink in his cup and took a deep breath. "I went away for a short while for a handover process, and look at what has happened? What is it with the Princess' condition?"

Xiao Tian felt the corner of his lips twitched. "Elder brother, why does it sound like you're blaming me with everything? It's not like I wanted everything to happen this way."

Jiang Xiao Xian grunted at his brother's answer. "His Majesty sent a letter to rush me back. I will enter the palace to see His Majesty after I refreshed myself," he paused, and the corner of his lips tilted up. "It looks like your plan is running smoothly."

"Although I have heard of rumors about the missing girls in the Prince's mansion before, I did not expect that they will find that many corpses. Third brother has been busy running here and there to solve the case," Jiang Xiao Tian said. "This incident turned bigger than we expected. Even the officials had come to visit father and the other retired officials to ask them to join their appeal."

"At least the girls will now get their justice," Jiang Xiao Xian commented silently. "How many corpses did they find?"

"The last I heard, eight. The body count might rise. They haven't done digging around the mansion," Jiang Xiao Tian said. "Right now, Prince Jing's mansion has turned into a restricted area. No one could go in, even Prince Jing. However, that did not stop the onlookers from sneaking around trying to peek at the crime scene."

Jiang Xiao Xian rubbed his chin and said, "The question is, who do you was the one responsible for the corpses? Prince Jing? Or someone else?"

"Prince Jing's servants were all taken into prison to be questioned. They should find the perpetrator soon," Xiao Tian said. "Whoever it was, there was no way Prince Jing could escape from getting implicated with this incident."

Jiang Xiao Xian nodded. Then he slowly rose. "I'm going to enter the palace to see His Majesty first. When I came back, you're going to tell me what was going on with the Crown Princess and that Prince of Qian Rong." He turned towards the door and paused. "Right. What happened to Yang Yun?"