Chapter 526 - 349: Ruthless_2
Ge Lan and Wan Lu both bowed respectfully at the same time, "My lord."
Xiao Song hummed faintly and walked over to sit cross-legged across from Ran Yan, "Assistant Minister Liu might pay a visit to the Ran residence in a few days."
"Assistant Minister Liu?" Ran Yan paused before reacting, "Inspector Liu?"
"Yes." Xiao Song turned his head to Ge Lan and Wan Lu, "You two go out first."
Wan Lu, in the midst of her joy at their reunion, was only too happy to leave. She bowed happily with Ge Lan and they both left the room, gently closing the door behind them.
"Since last year, officials in the Jiangnan region have been dying suddenly or from illness. Do you still remember the corpse you examined, the Judge Yang from Suzhou?" Xiao Song asked in a grave tone.
Ran Yan certainly remembered. At that time, Liu Pinrang had insisted on her conducting the autopsy in secrecy, and he was willing to have the body dissected to ascertain the cause of death. She nodded and said, "Before his death, Judge Yang was attacked in his private parts, which made him lose his ability to resist instantly, and then someone used a three-inch silver needle to pierce his brain from the top of his head."
Ran Yan poured a glass of water for him and followed up, "Could it be that Judge Yang’s death..."
Xiao Song took the water, "You might not be aware of Judge Yang’s background. He was an Advanced Scholar from the tenth year of the Zhenguan era of the Tang Dynasty, but he came from a poor family and had no connections in the court. Although he was talented, he was not exceptionally brilliant among the scholars from humble backgrounds, which usually only led to a minor official post in some remote place. However, he was smart and before taking the imperial examination, he didn’t send his essays to renowned scholars as usual; instead, he sent them to Prince Wei’s residence."
The examination system of the Tang Dynasty was not as perfected as that of the Song Dynasty and did not implement the anonymous marking system. Furthermore, the reputation of the candidates could also affect their final examination ranking, so those preparing for the imperial examination would carry two pieces of work they were satisfied with. The one submitted to the Ministry of Rites was called the ’public scroll’ while the one meant for review by famous scholars was called the ’traveling scroll’."