Chapter 192: Shangqiu Academy
Master Jingren did not look good in death.
I do not know what terrifying thing she encountered.
Her expression was twisted, and her eyes were wide open in anger.
There was a lot of flesh and blood between her beautiful, slender fingers.
The coroner came to examine her.
Because Master Jingren had passed away so suddenly.
Commander Jiang urgently summoned the coroner.
They performed the autopsy on the spot for everyone to see.
He insisted firmly that the true culprit must be found.
The coroner was also startled.
The jailers in the prison were also startled.
They truly had done nothing.
When Master Jingren went in, everything for her daily needs was prepared; the room was not small, and although it had no windows, it was clean.
Lord Sima had specifically had it newly built, with every corner sealed tight, making it impossible for venomous snakes or insects to enter.
They also paid great attention to the food; the water and food had not even been finished, so there was certainly no poisoning.
Even while in prison, there were people who had given instructions to serve and care for Master Jingren well.
The items sent to the Quiet Room had all been inspected, and none of them had passed through Commander Jiang’s hands.
Even the Quiet Room was something Commander Jiang had built to accommodate the Master after being nagged by his colleagues, a compromise made in a fit of pique.
He really did build it, and the person who undertook the yamen project was even a relative of a certain official; ordinary people could not easily get yamen projects, and even if they did, they would not be able to get paid.
This relative who did the work had even more seniority than Lord Sima.
This relative certainly would not be foolish enough to tamper with it.
It was built very solidly and securely; there was absolutely no problem.
There was no problem with the room, no problem with the food, and no problem with the personnel; the room was so secure, and the jailers were patrolling constantly, so surely no one could have entered.
Yet, Master Jingren had passed away.
They could only call in the coroner, as it was inexplicable.
However, to prove his innocence, Commander Jiang demanded that the coroner perform an autopsy on the spot and had those nuns witness it as well.
After the autopsy, the coroner concluded that she had died from extreme fright.
Then, a nun who was watching on the spot was scared to death as well.
Commander Jiang looked helpless and shook his head, saying, “How many guilty things have you done? It has only been three days. I said I would only invite you to stay for three days; the bigwigs above were shouting and waving flags, and I could not hold out, so I was preparing to give everyone a way out and let you go, but you actually scared yourself to death.”
Commander Jiang had people collect the remains of Master Jingren and the nun who had been scared to death.
He then went to interrogate the remaining people.
Consequently, the notebooks of confessions were replaced several times.
The content became increasingly rich and strange.
For some young girls who truly had done nothing, most did not know where their parents were, and those who did were unwilling to return, so Commander Jiang established an Elderly and Youth Hall.
Just like in Ming County, he took in and cared for the old, weak, sick, and disabled.
The ringleader, Master Jingren, was dead, and her corpse had been cut into pieces by the coroner for examination; if anyone came to plead for mercy, Commander Jiang would directly send them a piece of Master Jingren.
This terrifying and outrageous move.
Directly pressed the mute button on the officialdom of Jingzhou Prefecture.
It was too brutal.
Commander Jiang took over the Prefecture City prison; after Judge Yu took office, the prison was overcrowded, and many people were crying out about their grievances, saying they had paid money and should have been released, as it was agreed they would only be locked up for a few days.
Even though Judge Yu was dead, they still had the proof of these transactions.
Commander Jiang took over this mess.
His daily work was to begin re-examining the criminals.
He spared no effort and was not afraid of tedious tasks; no matter how old the cases were, he dug them out one by one to re-examine them, being ridiculously serious about it.
If destroying Shangqiu Temple was because those people had spread rumors that his young daughter’s fate was bad, then re-examining the prisoners now was somewhat thankless, and no one knew what he was after.
However, everyone had learned of Commander Jiang’s character, which could not tolerate even a grain of sand in his eyes.
Jiang Mianmian, at home, could not feel the wind and rain outside.
However, it had cooled down recently, and it was quite cold.
She added another layer of clothing.
Now that conditions were better, Jiang Mianmian had even received a furry fur cloak, and when she wrapped herself in it, she looked like a little lamb.
Big Sister’s period had passed, and she was full of life again; Jiang Mianmian still had not managed to create sanitary pads, as she could never find the right cotton filling—if she had that, she could make things like cotton-padded jackets.
But she would take it slow; she was still young.
She first made a pair of rabbit ear headbands for herself and one for Big Sister as well.
Hers was white, and Big Sister’s was black; it was very fun.
Wearing them looked beautiful, and with the rabbit fur cloak, walking under the trees in the courtyard, she looked just like a rabbit spirit wandering around.
Her Song and Dance Troupe had not returned yet; after performing the requiem for Commander Zi’s late wife, they were invited by others. Recently, there happened to be no nuns around, so with the nuns’ business gone, the Song and Dance Troupe’s requiem business had suddenly increased.
Jiang Mianmian could only ask Father to send people to lead the team specifically; Father said they had recruited many more people, finding jobs for some homeless people.
It felt like it was already beyond her scope.
It was raining heavily today.
After finishing breakfast, Father was not in a hurry to go to work and prepared to teach her calligraphy first.
Jiang Mianmian wore the rabbit ear headband, her little hair was fluffy, and the corners of her clothes were adorned with fur just as she liked, making her look extremely cute.
Jiang Changtian looked on with great delight.
But looking at the characters taught yesterday, despite having written them perfectly well yesterday, she missed the radicals when writing them today; the characters were always missing an arm or a leg.
Jiang Changtian held back from roaring and asked gently, “Where is the radical for this character? It was there yesterday.”
Jiang Mianmian cried; Traditional Chinese characters were so hard to remember, and when she got into the flow of writing, she would write them as Simplified Chinese.
Seeing Father’s eyebrows raise, she earnestly rewrote them, but she still made mistakes.
Moreover, having previously practiced the industry-internal script for doctors’ prescriptions—where the main goal was ‘if an outsider can recognize it, I lose’—practicing calligraphy now was truly difficult.
It is easy to paint on a blank sheet of paper.
It is very difficult to paint on a sheet of paper already filled with content.
The life of a noble young lady is not that easy; while food and clothing are abundant, the study tasks are also heavy.
Time passed quickly.
The burnt-down Shangqiu Temple was cleared out and became a school.
There was no incense smoke filling the air, but there was the sound of clear, resonant reading.
There were no noble ladies kneeling and begging for an audience.
There were commoners from poor families carrying bundles and bringing their children, climbing up step by step.
The ruins that once piled up with broken Buddhas and severed arms were cleared away, and a library was built.
Jiang Mianmian put on her little schoolbag, followed by Pang Ya, who had grown much taller and wider.
“Young Miss, wait for me, slow down.” Pang Ya’s panting voice came from behind.
Jiang Mianmian did not walk fast; she was just walking step by step. It was Pang Ya who was too slow.
She could only stop and sit on the steps to wait. On the side of the steps, ants were busy walking; she placed her finger in the middle, and the ants on both sides circled around her fair little finger.
Birds chirped in the trees.
The sunlight was dappled.
Thank you for reading + listening 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
