A starry river, lanterns ablaze on both banks, and the night filled with the glow of countless lights.
Song Yinghuai stood at the bow of the boat and took several deep breaths before calming his turbulent thoughts. He then asked, "Any other updates?"
"Yes," Xiao Rencheng said, gripping the railing tightly. "I've found some doubts in the case of the Lan family, the Marquis of Yongchang."
This was significant news.
It was related to Caiyu and the fate of the Lan clan, and naturally, it also concerned Lan Jinqin.
Xiao Rencheng suppressed his excitement and said, "More than four years ago, the Lan family was implicated in a treason case because of a letter written by the old Marquis Lan. In the end, the emperor, considering the Lan family's contribution as founding heroes, only sentenced the Lan clan to exile."
"At that time, I wasn't the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate yet, and the second master of the Xu family wasn't the Minister of the Ministry of Justice either. During the joint trial by the three judicial departments, none of the old Marquis Lan's friends was qualified to intervene."
Song Yinghuai naturally knew this.
Xiao Rencheng was promoted to the Left Censor-in-Chief three years ago, and Xu Buyue's second brother was transferred to be the Minister of the Ministry of Justice more than a year ago.
The case of the Lan family back then was the result of a joint trial by the current Minister of the Court of Judicature, the former Left Censor-in-Chief, and the former Minister of the Ministry of Justice.
The trial of the Lan family's case didn't last long because it was said that the old Marquis Lan himself admitted to writing the treason letter.
Before the trial, Emperor Guangwu secretly detained the old Marquis Lan and Lan Guangling through the Embroidered Uniform Guard under the pretext of summoning them to the capital for a report.
The trial process was also very confidential.
After the case was concluded, the emperor promptly and resolutely issued an imperial edict of exile with his own brush.
Once the imperial edict was issued, no one could rescue them.
By the time the imperial edict spread and was sent to Yanjing and into the hands of Xiao Rencheng, who was then an official in the capital, it was already too late.
Song Yinghuai swallowed hard. "What new discoveries do you have now?"
Xiao Rencheng said, "The dossier of the Lan family's case is stored in the Ministry of Justice. These days, I and the second master Xu retrieved the dossier and re - examined it. We found that although the handwriting of the treason letter from that year was very similar to the old Marquis Lan's, almost indistinguishable, if we were to compare carefully..."
Xiao Rencheng chose his words carefully. "The strokes on the letter were lighter, while the old Marquis Lan's strokes were heavier. Do you understand what I mean?"
Song Yinghuai immediately understood.
Lan Yuanyi, the Marquis of Yongchang, was a general who had fought on the battlefield for many years. He had great strength in his hands, so when he held a pen to write, he must have exerted more force than ordinary people.
The ink stains on the paper must have been darker and brighter.
"I bribed some people in the Hanlin Academy and the Grand Council and compared all of the old Marquis Lan's memorials from that year. I found that in every memorial and note, he used a great deal of force, which was different from the treason letter."
"The letter was forged," Xiao Rencheng said definitely. "The handwriting was imitated perfectly, and even the old Marquis Lan himself couldn't tell the difference, so he had no choice but to admit it."
"The only flaw was that the person who imitated the handwriting was probably a scholar, so he couldn't use as much force when writing."
This was a major breakthrough!
In the case of the Lan family back then, the only evidence was that letter, a letter that even the person himself couldn't tell was fake.
Now, the letter was fake!
As long as they found the person who imitated the letter, the unjust case of the Lan family could be overturned!
The two handsome men looked at each other.
The river wind blew through their hair.
The news was so shocking that they almost forgot about the feasting and singing inside the painted boat.
After a while, they suddenly said three words in unison:
"Wen Zilong!"
Then, a look of mutual appreciation appeared in their eyes.
Song Yinghuai turned to look at Wen Zilong, who had completely let himself go as soon as he entered the painted boat, and softly asked, "Brother Xiao, why do you suspect him?"
Xiao Rencheng recalled the attitudes of Lan Jinqin and Wen Zilong towards the flowered note outside the Wen Mansion yesterday. His years of experience in handling cases made him feel that something was very wrong:
"Because of a flowered note..."
He had glanced at the handwriting on the flowered note casually at that time, and this morning, he had taken a look at Wen Zilong's memorial while he was in court.
The two sets of handwriting were not exactly the same; in fact, they were completely different.
So the handwriting on the flowered note was completely different from Wen Zilong's usual writing style, but it was similar to the old Marquis Lan's handwriting.
But Peilan said that the flowered note was written by Wen Zilong.
This was enough to prove that Wen Zilong was a master of imitation.
Xiao Rencheng also smiled lightly and said, "Your Highness the Prince, why did you guess it was Wen Zilong?"
Song Yinghuai said, "This man has evil intentions. He defected to the Crown Prince around the time when the Lan family had trouble. The timing is just right. Besides, he was the son - in - law of the old Marquis Lan, so there must have been many letters between them. He was a Jinshi and had good handwriting. He was the most likely suspect to imitate the old Marquis Lan."
Xiao Rencheng sighed with a smile. "If Your Highness the Prince of Yan didn't fight wars but investigated cases instead, the world would be much clearer."
Song Yinghuai glanced at him. "But how can we make Wen Zilong write in the same font as on the flowered note again?"
This was indeed a difficult problem.
Wen Zilong was a second - rank official, and they couldn't just arrest him and use torture to force a confession.
Even if they secretly arrested him, once a court official disappeared, the whole capital would be in turmoil.
Moreover, even if they arrested him, he wouldn't write in another font as they wanted.
This feeling of seeing the culprit in front of them but being unable to do anything to him was quite unpleasant.
At this moment, there was a commotion at the cabin door.
Song Chengyuan walked into the cabin, laughing and joking with two famous courtesans from the Qinhuai River, one in each arm.
Following them onto the boat were actually Xu Buyue and Lü Baiwei.
Everyone immediately understood.
His Highness the Crown Prince was going to make things difficult for His Highness the Prince of Yan again.
The former lover was here, and the future Princess of Yan was also here.
The emperor and the empress had also said that they would create opportunities for His Highness the Prince of Yan and the Princess of Nan'an to get along.
If His Highness the Crown Prince made things difficult for the former lover, in front of the future Princess of Yan, would His Highness the Prince of Yan save his former lover or just pretend not to see?
The Prince of Yan was really in a dilemma!
Some people even sighed regretfully, "It's a pity that the favored maid didn't come on board. Otherwise, His Highness the Prince of Yan would be in a three - way predicament and might not be able to escape."
Xiao Rencheng looked at the situation in the cabin and said sympathetically, "You may not be able to escape tonight."
He knew that Song Chengyuan was using the young master of the Lan family to control Song Yinghuai.
If Song Chengyuan made a move tonight, Song Yinghuai might have to bear it.
Song Yinghuai's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he let out a sigh of relief. "Fortunately, I didn't let Caiyu come."
After Song Chengyuan sat down, he laughed towards the outside of the cabin. "Fourth brother, why don't you come in?"
Song Yinghuai and Xiao Rencheng looked at each other and then walked in together and took their seats.
Song Chengyuan asked curiously, "Fourth brother, why didn't you bring your beloved maid here today?"
Song Yinghuai kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart and replied indifferently, "This is a place of debauchery. It's not suitable to bring her here. I don't want to sully her eyes."
A malicious smile flashed in Song Chengyuan's eyes.
Song Yinghuai didn't know that Sheng Jiangli had already made arrangements yesterday to bring the woman he cherished so much onto the boat.
He wondered what Song Yinghuai's expression would be when he saw Caiyu on the boat later.
The women in his arms were the most famous courtesans from the painted boats on both sides of the Qinhuai River.
Lü Baiwei, on the other hand, could only kneel beside them and serve them wine.
Song Chengyuan did this on purpose, continuing to humiliate Lü Baiwei in front of Song Yinghuai for his own amusement.
Song Chengyuan said, "Fourth brother is right. Your maid has a fiery temper. If she came to the painted boat and saw you having fun, she would surely cause a scene. It's better for her to stay quietly in the mansion!"
"However, everyone has a beauty by their side, but fourth brother is all alone. It's really pitiful!"
Song Chengyuan pointed to the group of Beijing officials sitting at the table.
Some were his followers who had come here to show their support, and some were still wavering and watching.
Everyone had a beauty in their arms, smiling charmingly.
There were also dancers on the stage wearing revealing clothes, dancing seductively and winking from time to time.
Disgust flashed in Song Yinghuai's eyes, but he still smiled gently on his face. "It doesn't matter. I'll just drink tea."
"Hey!" Song Chengyuan flatly refused. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. There's no tea on this painted boat today, so fourth brother can't drink it. And fourth brother can't be alone either..."
He said to Lü Baiwei, "Go and serve my fourth brother!"