Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 248 Heir
The sons of noble families can change two or three faces at any time. After Jinyang Jun Li Yan occasionally revealed his true nature, he calmed down in an instant. He ordered his personal attendant Xiao Wu to take out the writing brush, ink and book box from the luggage, and bowed to Wang Heng and Xiao Cai and said, "It's still early. Brother Wang and Brother Xiao Cai, please show me the way to the Sutra Library."

Wang Heng and Xiaocai could naturally understand Li Fu's eagerness to fulfill his filial piety. Moreover, Zhang Xiru had given him special care, so they took the trouble to take Li Fu and his servant out of the villa, entered the gate of Jubao Temple, and headed east towards the Sutra Library.

From afar, they saw the monk Guangliang, who was in charge of reception, accompanying a young man with a clear face, walking from north to south past Wang Heng and his companions. Behind the young man were four servants, who were carrying packages.

Guangliang's tone was quite respectful. The young man had a white cloth wrapped around his head, a white jacket with coarse linen sewn on the outside, a hemp rope tied around his waist, and straw sandals covered with white cloth. Wang Heng was stunned when he saw how he was dressed, so he apologized to Li Fu and asked Xiaocai to take Li Fu to the Sutra Repository first, and he would come later.

Wang Heng took a few steps forward and greeted Monk Guangliang: "Master Guangliang, is this young man a family member of Master Guangheng?"

Guangheng became a monk, and from then on the secular world was a thing of the past. Jubao Temple did not need to pay attention to the Chen family. The reason they were so eager to inform them was, of course, because the Chen family was wealthy and a major donor to Jubao Temple.

"Donor, today Tanyue Chen is ill, so he sent his second son to our temple to see our third junior brother off." Guangliang's face was flushed, and he turned to the young man and said, "This is Master Wang Qi, a student of the abbot's uncle at the Nanjing Imperial College. After our third junior brother got into trouble, Master Wang Qi and his brothers took care of all the reporting to the authorities. Even the murderer, Qiu Erlang, was escorted to the temple by them."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Chen bowed respectfully. Seeing that he was performing the kowtow ceremony, Wang Heng understood and hurriedly helped him up, saying, "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it."

"Master Wang Qi is kind-hearted and has shown great kindness to my uncle, no, my father. I will never forget it." Master Chen Er added, "The clan has chosen me to be my father's heir."

Wang Heng said: "Master Guangheng is knowledgeable and has a noble character. I once asked him for advice and admired him very much. I never expected that he would meet with such an unexpected disaster."

Seeing that the two were talking well, Guangliang took the opportunity to say, "Mr. Chen, you have been traveling up the mountain this morning and you are tired. Why don't you go to the teahouse and have a cup of fragrant tea from our mountain to cool off before you go?"

Master Chen Er bowed and said, "Master Wang Qi, please."

Wang Heng had just that idea, so Guangliang led the group westward along the path to a teahouse surrounded by green bamboo.

Seeing that the young monk who was in charge of the tea was nowhere to be seen, Guangliang went to the stove to make tea himself.

Wang Heng and Mr. Chen sat down and exchanged a few pleasantries. Wang Heng saw that Mr. Chen was handsome and his eyes were red and swollen, obviously he had been crying, so he went straight to the point and said, "In the case of Master Guangheng's murder, although the suspect Qiu Erlang has confessed, there are many suspicious points. Qiu Erlang is crazy again. The county government handles cases and pays attention to witnesses, physical evidence and confessions. I am afraid they will not investigate deeply. If you want to get to the bottom of it, I have something to ask you."

The second son of Chen was surprised to hear Wang Heng say this. He said, "If there are any doubts, we must investigate them. My father, no, uncle, was a third-rank official. We must not let the real murderer off easily." Wang Heng considered his words and said, "Your family is rich and powerful. Why did Master Guangheng become a monk?"

The second son of Chen pondered for a moment and said, "It may be that my father was very wise since he was young, so he did not miss the luxurious life of a young master. When my biological mother passed away, he went to practice cultivation."

This was exactly what Wang Heng expected.

The Second Young Master Chen is a junior. When Guangheng became a monk, he was at most ten years old. He should not know any inside information, but since the eldest Master Chen is not here, he can only ask him first.

"When Master Guangheng was in the secular world, with whom did he have the best relationship? And with whom did he have the worst relationship? Did he have any enemies?" Wang Heng asked.

The second son of Chen thought about it for a while, and said, "The person in the family who had the best relationship with my father should be my step-grandmother Madam Lian. I really can't think of anyone who had a bad relationship with my father. My father was my grandfather's posthumous son. Although he is young, he is of a high generation. As for whether my father has any enemies, I don't know much about outsiders, but there should be no enemies in the family. My Chen family has few descendants, but the family is rich. There has never been any disputes over inheritance, so how could there be any enemies?"

Wang Heng nodded and said, "Does Qiu Erlang, a farmer from Cuihua Village in Jiangning County, have any connection with your Chen Mansion? Could Qiu Erlang be a tenant of your mansion?"

Mr. Chen Er pondered for a while and confirmed: "I know Cuihua Village in Jiangning County. I have an old friend living in the village, but I definitely don't know Qiu Erlang, and I have never heard of him. Most of my family's assets are in Nanjing City and Huizhou. I have a few properties in Jiangning County, but no land. However, there is a branch of my Chen family in Jiangning County, but I don't know if they have land in Cuihua Village."

Wang Heng simply threw out all the doubts in his mind: "There is a family surnamed Liu in Cuihua Village, Jiangning County. The man was a deputy governor of Runzhou in his lifetime, and the woman's maiden name was Xu. Do you know them?"

Mr. Chen immediately shook his head and said, "I've never heard of it."

Wang Heng frowned and thought deeply. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind and he asked, "Which family of your family's old friend lives in Cuihua Village?"

The second son of Chen smiled and said, "Master Li, who was once the Minister of War and in charge of the military affairs of Jizhen and Denglai."

"Ah." Wang Heng couldn't help but shout, "It turns out to be the mountain people's house."

He finally remembered that he had always felt that the name Cuihua Village was somewhat familiar, but he had never remembered who it belonged to. Yes, the mountain people’s old house was in Cuihua Village, Jiangning County.