CH 72

Chapter 72 The Outcome

The appearance of Fu Sheng and Jiang Wu made everyone at the table understand the intention of Chi Jingxi to bring two strangers today.

Wen Yantong originally thought that he was simply going to screw up the secret meeting. However, Chi Jingxi was Chi Jingxi after all. He wouldn't do such a meaningless thing.

He probably caught wind in advance or noticed Fu Sheng's movements and immediately pulled Wen Yantong and Fu Zixian on the way to the meetup. Chi Jingxi allowed the meetup to go on as normal, attracting Fu Sheng and others. As a result, once they entered the door, with the presence of a common civilian inside, the imperial prince's case of forming a party for personal gain could not be raised.

Fu Sheng had made this trip in vain. He also called Jiang Wu and others, thinking that these people would testify. This way, Cheng Yanchuan would be unable to refute it, but he did not expect the tightly bound bamboo basket to leak.

This was the mutual deception that happened often in the imperial courtroom. Although what happened today at the restaurant was a scaled-down version of the usual schemes, this event allowed Wen Yantong a glimpse at the intrigue of the court.

It was also because of the presence of Wen Yantong and Fu Zixian, that the rest of the crown prince’s party found it difficult to chat clearly, so they parted ways soon after.

After leaving the New Moon Restaurant, Wen Yantong nervously bowed to the crown prince and the others. Afterward, she got onto Chi Jingxi's carriage and returned to the Academy.

Early the next morning, Wen Yantong went to Teacher Zhao and explained to him why Chef Feng was the rooster killer. Zhao Yu felt her explanation made some sense, so he immediately informed Sun Qiu and then sent someone to investigate.

Coincidentally, Lao Feng slept in the ‘warmth’ of Qin Mo last night and did not return to the Academy, completely missing roll call. After Sun Qiu found out the leads, he sent someone to search Chef Feng’s room. A box of silver ingots was quickly discovered in his room, which fully convicted Chef Feng.

It was Wen Yantong who hid the box of silver ingots in Chef Feng’s room.

When Chef Feng returned to the Academy, he was immediately arrested. He quickly confessed under the harsh interrogation. Once he admitted that he killed the rooster, all his assets were confiscated and sent to the authorities.

However, Chef Feng did not reveal that Wu Yutian was the mastermind. He was not a fool. Even if he was sent to the authorities, he could only be charged with killing a chicken. At most, he will be kicked out of the Academy and locked for a couple of months. But if Wu Yutian’s name was mentioned, even a mere seventh-rank official had the power to kill him in prison.

Wen Yantong did not tell the Teachers about Wu Yutian. The crime of killing a chicken was impossible to completely overthrow Wu Yutian; at most, he would be severely punished by the Academy. But what Wen Yantong wanted was to drive him out of the Academy completely, so that she would no longer have to be framed by him.

She put the banknote away and began to figure out what crime would make the son of a seventh-rank official be kicked out of the Academy and be scorned by others.

After the truth about the matter of the Wu-dou came to light, no one in the Academy talked about Wen Yantong’s involvement anymore. Everyday the students attended literature class in the morning and martial arts classes in the afternoon. And if it snowed, classes would be suspended for the day. After about ten days, new news suddenly came from the Academy.

Wen Yantong felt that people around her were very lively early in the morning that day. Everyone was constantly discussing something with excited looks on their faces, but she couldn't hear what they were talking about.

She sat and waited for a while. After the morning class, Fu Zixian and Mu Yang stepped into the Academy at the same time. Seeing them, she couldn't wait to ask, "Don’t you guys think the Academy is very lively today?"

Fu Zixian rubbed his frozen red hands and said with a sigh, "Maybe it's because the Snow Clearing Festival is coming."

"Snow Clearing Festival?" Wen Yantong was surprised. "So soon?"

The Snow Clearing Festival was a holiday unique to Songhai Academy. Every winter, just before the Lunar New Year, students of Songhai Academy were assigned to sweep away the snow in the temples outside Chaoge. This was to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new; to pray for the arrival of the new year.

There were four main roads outside Chaoge City named after the four directions: Main East, Main West, Main South, and Main North. There was a Buddhist temple beside each road, together they were known as the ‘Four Peaceful Seas’.

Fu Zixian said, "Every Snow Clearing Festival, students were allocated to specific places by officials from the Ministry of Rites. It was said that after the addition of female students, everyone now had to use a lottery to decide which temple to go to. I really hope I don’t get assigned to Nian'an Temple."

The Nian'an Temple Fu Zixian mentioned was one of the four temples. This temple was the least popular among the four temples, and few people went to light incense there. It was said that it was because a pregnant woman once went to the temple to beg for her husband’s safe return when he went out to do business. As a result, the husband encountered robbers on the road. His head was separated, and he died tragically.

This woman may have been stimulated and became irrational, but she blamed everything on the gods and buddha in the temple. In order to retaliate, she hanged herself in front of the statue on a dark night.

After the news spread, many people were afraid to go to that temple again. It’s hard to say if someone deliberately wanted to ruin the reputation of that temple. Later, three more people committed suicide in the temple. How they sneaked in was still a mystery.

Since then, few people have visited Nian'an Temple. Even then, rumors about the temple continue to spread. It was said that the sounds of women and children crying could be heard in the dead of night, so it quickly earned a nickname: Ghost Temple.

The Emperor wanted to demolish and rebuild this temple, but the State Preceptor did not allow it. He said that it would be better if the temple withered. As long as the incense continued to burn there, its existence could suppress Chaoge’s ill luck. Therefore, even with the worst reputation, Nian'an Temple still had a sparse amount of people coming to offer incense.

Wen Yantong didn't care about these things. What she cared about was that this Snow Clearing Festival was a driving point. Several important characters in the book would be drawn to Nian'an Temple.

And the relationship between Chi Jingxi and Fu Tanghuan, the heroine of the book, will also begin to sprout after this event.