Marquis Kang paused for a long time before he answered, “That pair of shoes actually belonged to my child.”
“Marquis Kang’s child?”
Marquis Kang nodded, frowning in distress. “This may sound very strange. When I married my first wife, she gave birth to a child for me after three years. However, when the child was two, he suddenly drowned in the pool and my wife also died from an illness. After that, I married several other women, but they all died less than a year after I married them.
“Everyone said that this was a haunting by ghosts, so I invited a Daoist priest to conduct a ritual. The priest said that it was the ghost of my first child that was causing the mischief, and asked me to enshrine something that belonged to the child in the ancestral hall. Thus, I offered up a little pair of shoes that were my child’s. However, a month ago, those shoes disappeared. We searched high and low throughout the whole estate.The servants and maids all said that they didn’t see it, so I also sent people to search outside the estate, to no avail. At first, I thought we could forget it if it disappeared, but…” At this point, Marquis Kang paused.
Ji Yunshu seemed to have gleaned his meaning. He was frowning deeply, with a hand against his forehead, so she continued his words for him, “But ever since that pair of shoes disappeared, strange things started happening in the estate one after another, right?”
Marquis Kang’s head shot up to look at her, nodding fervently, “That’s right, that’s right! It’s too bizarre!”
“So the bloody handprint of a child that I saw on the signboard when I entered the estate yesterday, is also one of the strange incidents?”
“That’s right. That handprint appeared on the signboard on the second day after the shoes went missing. Teacher should have seen those trees in the courtyard on the way as well, right? The trees were perfectly fine at first, but they were later twisted together. That rock garden as well; for some reason, they all toppled to the ground overnight! There are also many other strange events that Teacher Ji couldn’t imagine, making everyone in the estate worry.”
So that’s why! It seems that the strange toppled rock garden was also the work of the supposed “ghost haunting” then? Ji Yunshu asked, “Then why did Marquis Kang not clean up those things?”
“I don’t dare to clean them up. What if we disturbed something, then…” He didn’t dare to continue.
Ji Yunshu thought for a moment. “Did anyone die in the estate?”
“Nobody died, but… a dozen or so have fallen sick. They all are bedridden now and say that they hurt all over. However, when the physician came to check on them, he didn’t find evidence of any illness. It’s too bizarre. See, one person falling sick could be explained, but several dozen have fallen sick in addition to the many strange happenings! That’s why this Marquis is worried that it might be the ghost of my child haunting the estate.” As he spoke, Marquis Kang shivered several times.
Afraid of your own child? What kind of father are you?! Ji Yunshu had never believed in so-called ghosts.
After hearing that, Jing Rong asked, “Since so many strange things happened, why didn’t Marquis Kang send people to investigate?”
“Investigate? How? How would you investigate a ghost haunting?” It’s baffling!
Jing Rong suddenly said, “Marquis, ghosts simply don’t exist in this world.”
“How could there not be? If that were true, how would you explain all the strange things that happened then?” Marquis Kang spread his hands out helplessly.
Ji Yunshu said, “Since Marquis thinks that it’s a ghost causing mischief, why did you want this humble one to investigate? This one specializes in finding criminals and people, and isn’t some Daoist priest from Mount Mao who can catch ghosts.”
Marquis Kang was dumbfounded by her question.
“This indicates that Marquis Kang actually believes that these strange events are the work of a person.”
Marquis Kang sighed again and flung his sleeves to the side, patting his own thighs. “So what if I think that someone is behind all this? Everything that happened is certainly bizarre.”
“Marquis, there aren’t any ghosts in this world. Even if there were, they are also merely humans disguised as ghosts.”
“Humans?” Marquis Kang asked, “Why does Teacher say that? If it were a human, how could they do all these things without anyone else seeing through them?”
“This humble one doesn’t know yet, but Marquis, please believe that each of these incidents certainly are not the work of ghosts.”
Even with her reassurances, Marquis Kang still felt rather uneasy and his complexion remained rather ugly. After a moment, he said, “Teacher Ji, I know that you are skilled in solving cases. Why don’t you help me catch the ghost? I will definitely compensate you generously.”
Catch the ghost! Ji Yunshu was speechless. After everything she had said, why does this stubborn marquis just refuse to believe that it isn’t a ghost?
She thought about it; they were just about to reach the capital and Wei Yi was still waiting for her, but in such a situation, Marquis Kang obviously wanted to detain her so that she would stay and catch the ghost. She turned to look at Jing Rong beside her, attempting to get his opinion on this.
Jing Rong remained calm and placid. When he caught her glance, he said, “Marquis Kang, this prince still has urgent business at hand and cannot stay too long here.”
“I know. His Majesty summoned you with a secret edict and you must go back to the capital.”
Ah! Jing Rong was shocked. “How does Marquis know about this?” He had thought that Marquis Kang would only be busy eating and enjoying his boundless fortune, not caring about current affairs, but unexpectedly, he would even know about such matters.
Marquis Kang didn’t bother showing off either and simply said, “Actually, I already knew when the courtiers all petitioned to elect Prince Yi as Crown Prince. What does His Majesty hate the most? It’s exactly people trying to force his hand. Even if he originally intended to give something to you, the more you try to push him, the less likely he would give it to you. With my understanding of His Majesty, he would surely start changing his mind and hope that you would rush back to the capital, to contend against Prince Yi’s power and influence. Thus, I already knew about it the minute you reached Jingzhou.”
This guy is impressive indeed!
He continued, “That bunch of people that you bumped into in the forest are actually barbarians that had killed people before. The county magistrate wanted to lock them up, but they escaped instead. Thus, he requested that I send out my estate soldiers to capture them. I originally sent people to keep watch on the road into the capital in wait for Your Highness, but these two matters unexpectedly clashed together. Luckily, Your Highness was merely startled and not in danger, and they managed to invite you here.”
Yes, he said ‘invite’!
Jing Rong smiled. “Since Marquis Kang knows about it, then all the more you should not delay this prince’s journey. You’d better pass this case on to someone else.”
“But Your Highness, can you return to the capital?” Marquis Kang asked gravely. “Right now, that War Secretary Ji in the capital has already deployed his troops outside the city. You won’t be able to enter. His Majesty would also never make his secret edict public and contradict himself, so you can only depend on yourself to return.”
Jing Rong wrinkled his brows lightly, “Marquis, if you have something to say, why not make it clear?”
He got to the point. “If Teacher Ji helps me solve this problem, I will help you return to the capital. His Majesty’s secret edict would not need to be made public, and Your Highness would be able to openly remain in the capital without going back to Yufu again.” He was full of confidence!
