diskusbooks Chapter 41 Senior Brother
Chapter 41 Senior Brother
Chapter 41 Senior Brother
Because Lin Fan said the case was urgent, Mu Qingfeng led a group of constables to fetch two carriages.
Registrar Jia and Lin Fan rode in one car, Mu Qingfeng drove, and the other constables squeezed into another car.
On the train, Clerk Jia chatted with Lin Fan again, acting like a mentor who was guiding him through life's experiences.
"Officer Chen, being smart isn't enough. You're still too inexperienced."
Lin Fan suppressed the nausea in his stomach and listened to him continue.
"Weren't you quite clever before? You knew to use a false name when you became an apprentice at the Taoist temple, so why did you immediately reveal your real name when you got to the government office?"
Lin Fan remained silent. The carriage was much faster than the oxcart, but it was also much more bumpy. Being crammed into the small carriage with Clerk Jia made him even more nauseous.
He relied on occasionally tugging at his belt to help suppress his nausea with the help of the Soul-Suppressing Pearl; otherwise, Lin Fan would have already lost his composure.
Lin Fan said irritably, "What? You think your government can't find out my real name? I remember we were registered when we entered the city. You can't just make up a name to get into the city."
According to the laws of the Great Qian Dynasty, officials had official certificates and talismans to prove their identity, while members of the three religions had ordination certificates. Commoners, whether visiting relatives or doing business, needed to obtain a travel permit at their place of departure.
Although Lin Fan is a local, his identity still needs to be verified when he enters the city.
Registrar Jia wasn't angry: "Hehe, that's just for ordinary people. This little thing is no problem for me. Officer Chen, take a look at this."
He took out a confession and handed it to Lin Fan.
Lin Fan glanced at it and saw that it detailed how he killed Master Wanshou, and it was so well-made that it seemed like a true story. The only thing that surprised him was that the name used at the end was Liu Feng.
"Young friend Lin, you may not believe it, but I've been helping you ever since you entered the yamen. All the documents only mention Liu, not Lin. Now you should believe I'm genuinely trying to help you. I apologize for the suffering you endured in the yamen. Making you take the whipping and tempting you to sign those documents were all tests. After all, if your character and integrity weren't good, I wouldn't have asked for your help. Now that you've passed the test, let's be sincere with each other and weather the storm together, okay?"
Lin Fan sneered. He wouldn't believe this man's nonsense, no matter what. Lin Fan could almost guess why he used Liu Feng's name—that old fox.
Lin Fan shoved the confession back into Jia's hands and said, "Alright, you don't need to say any more. What difference does it make whether I believe you or not? I'm only helping you to clear your name, so you don't need to explain anything to me."
In just half a day, the carriage arrived at its destination. Lin Fan jumped off first and saw a female Taoist priest waiting for them. This female Taoist priest was wearing a dark green dog-skin Taoist robe with the same pattern as Yun Xiangzi's.
The female Taoist priest looked puzzled when she saw Lin Fan dressed as a constable. However, she quickly composed herself, curtsied to Lin Fan, and respectfully said, "Greetings, Fifth Senior Brother."
Looking at the 'thoughtful' senior sister who had once helped him sew clothes, Lin Fan naturally had many questions for her.
The constables got off the carriage one after another. Those who knew the inside story were not too surprised to see this scene, after all, Lin Fan was still wearing a Taoist robe when he was arrested.
However, the constables who were unaware of the situation were completely bewildered by what they saw. Who exactly was this Constable Chen? They hadn't heard that constables also worked as Taoist priests.
Mu Qingfeng looked at the back of Clerk Jia and thought to himself, "This clerk is still as unscrupulous as ever."
Lin Fan coldly said to the nun in front of him, "Nun, tell me in detail, what exactly happened?"
"My Taoist name is Miaozhuzi," Miaozhuzi introduced herself first in case her senior brother didn't know her Taoist name, and then said, "Everything is exactly as you see, senior brother."
"Stop beating around the bush, just tell me directly. I don't want to play guessing games."
Miao Zhuzi nodded and replied, "I don't know why, but the Ma family's spell domain started to weaken yesterday morning, and I can suppress it with my talisman."
Lin Fan frowned and said, "Who asked you that? I mean, what exactly are you trying to do? How much do you know about Wan Shou's elixir of immortality? And where did that dog skin... Yun Xiangzi go?"
Miao Zhu blinked her big eyes, a hint of surprise flashing within them: "So Master is going to refine the Longevity Elixir, no wonder..."
"What?" Lin Fan was somewhat annoyed. "Don't pretend with me. You clearly saw me and Yun Xiangzi that night. How could you not know!"
Miao Zhuzi bowed and said, "Master never allows us to get involved in inner sect affairs. I was just trying to avoid suspicion at the time. Please don't take offense, Senior Brother."
"I..." Lin Fan wanted to ask more, but Clerk Jia patted him on the shoulder and stopped him.
"Officer Chen, why don't you and your fellow disciples catch up later? Isn't solving the case the priority?"
Lin Fan knew he wouldn't get any information this way for the time being, so he just casually asked about the Cursed Domain.
The situation was similar to what Lin Fan knew. Er Gou had said that the Ma family mansion was haunted and inaccessible.
According to Jia, the officials in charge of ghosts and spirits in the imperial court wouldn't bother with such a minor case.
In this way, it was actually Linglong Temple that was responsible for sealing off the Ma family. Originally, with Wanshou's death, his disciples had scattered like birds and beasts, and it seemed that the means they had left behind to suppress the cursed domain were about to become ineffective.
Fortunately, the influence of the cursed domain has greatly diminished since yesterday morning.
"Everyone else has left, why aren't you leaving?" Lin Fan asked.
Miao Zhuzi's eyes dimmed slightly: "Yes, with our abilities alone, we can't hold onto Linglong Temple. The other fellow disciples have all gone off to find their own way. Miao Zhuzi is naturally not one to move around, so I stayed behind. Now, nominally, I am the acting abbot, but senior brother, don't worry, the Xuanmen will soon send someone to take over."
"What am I worried about?" Lin Fan muttered to himself.
Thanks to Miaozhuzi for leaving behind this, the weak cursed domain can now be barely suppressed by her own strength.
Lin Fan continued, "Also, didn't you call me junior brother before? Why did you suddenly change your address?"
Miao Zhuzi smoothed the hair behind her ear: "Well, Master is probably getting senile. Senior Brother is an inner disciple, so regardless of age, he is our fifth senior brother. But Master made a mistake, and we shouldn't point it out to his face. Now that Master is gone, we should address him according to the rules."
"Alright, I have one last question. Do you believe that I killed Master Wanshou?"
Miao Zhuzi said calmly, "With Master's abilities, it's unlikely that he would die at Senior Brother's hands. I think it's more likely that Uncle-Master Yun Xiangzi would die."
Lin Fan's eyes lit up upon hearing this, but Miao Zhuzi's words later dimmed his gaze again.
"But don't even think that I can testify for you and get you exonerated, Senior Brother. Uncle Yun Xiangzi is someone I can't afford to offend either."
After saying this, Miao Zhuzi turned and walked towards the Ma family mansion, with Lin Fan and the constables following behind.
Lin Fan watched Miao Zhuzi's back; the woman's narrow shoulders were covered by a large, dark green Taoist robe.
The Taoist robe was made of a strange beast with horns on its head, resembling a dog, which he loathed from the bottom of his heart.
It turns out that this clothing was not the dog-skinned Taoist's personal preference, but a uniform attire.
If clothing represents one's status in the Taoist community, then Miaozhuzi should be a Taoist of the same rank as the Dog-skin Taoist.
However, Miaozhuzi was also wary of the appearance of the dog-skinned Taoist priest, which suggests that clothing cannot completely distinguish the strength of these charlatans.
Lin Fan recalled the scene of the dog-skinned Taoist priest stabbing the snake-skinned Taoist priest in the head with an iron sword. In essence, they were all mortals, and so-called strength cannot be explained in a single sentence.
After passing the outer cordon of the yamen, the group gathered at the main entrance of the Ma family mansion.
Lin Fan looked up at the plaque. There were four characters, but he only recognized the last one, "府" (fu). He wasn't sure about the others, but there was no character for "horse" in them.
Half of the plaque had fallen off and was hanging precariously on the door frame.
Even without any special means, one can sense a chilling aura here, and the temperature around the entire courtyard is several degrees lower than in other places.
Lin Fan subconsciously tightened his cloak.
The black door was stained with blood, especially a bloody handprint near the door knocker, which was particularly horrifying.
A sinister and terrifying atmosphere seemed to tangibly surround the mansion.
Lin Fan didn't dwell on these things; he figured he could leave them to the professionals.
Lin Fan called out to the Daoist nun.
Miao Zhuzi understood and said, "Senior brother and officers, as I said yesterday, the curse in the Ma residence has been suppressed by my talisman, and we can enter to investigate today."
Before Miaozhu could finish speaking, a tall constable suddenly roared, "You bunch of stinking Taoist priests, all you do all day is play tricks and pretend to be supernatural, you're utterly useless! How long has it been since the murder happened! What can you possibly find out now! The murderer has probably disappeared to who knows where!"
Lin Fan was about to speak up to stop them, but Mu Qingfeng spoke first.
"Xiao Qi, our brother ignored the Taoist priest's advice and risked going in, and he died as soon as he stepped out the door. You know that, right? Listen to the Taoist priest properly. Even if you're eager to solve the case, you should take care of your own lives first."
Clerk Jia leaned close to Lin Fan's ear and whispered, "Little Lin Fan, this seventh constable's surname is Ma."
He paused, then added with a mischievous grin in a low voice, "Oh, Xiao Qi and Xiao Qingfeng have quite a few stories to tell. Would you like to hear them?"
Lin Fan glared at him irritably, "I don't care about these people's gossip at all."