The Mystery of the Past
Dr. Rowan Lin circled the coffin, let out a sigh, and instructed Simon Yu to rebury it and restore everything to its original state. Then he leaned against a nearby tree, lost in thought.
Simon Yu wiped the sweat from his brow, flopped down on a wooden stump, and grumbled, "Master, after all this hard work, you owe me an explanation. What’s really going on here?"
Dr. Rowan Lin sighed deeply, his gaze growing serious as he looked at Simon Yu. "If I tell you, I'll have to silence you. Are you sure you want to know?"
Simon Yu let out a startled yelp, slapping the stump beneath him with both hands. "Master, you can’t just threaten your own apprentice like that! Search your conscience—haven’t I done everything you asked, even turned myself into a wild man investigating your old business? And you won’t tell me a thing! Doesn’t your conscience hurt at all?"
Simon Yu’s face was full of misery, looking like he was about to burst into tears.
He’d grown up with his master, their bond closer than father and son. Dr. Rowan Lin might threaten to silence him, but Simon wasn’t scared—he was the one his master trusted most, or he wouldn’t have been asked to investigate the old case in secret.
"Hmph, you nosy brat," Dr. Rowan Lin shot him a glare, grabbed him by the collar, and hauled him off the stump. The two retraced their steps all the way to the ruins of South Hill Imperial Temple. Pointing at the barely visible wreckage, Dr. Rowan Lin asked, "Do you know where the Former Empress spent her last days?"
Simon Yu blinked. "According to official records, the Former Empress died in childbirth at the palace—mother and child both lost. Afterwards, the Former Emperor’s health declined from grief, and he soon followed his wife and child."
"That’s all nonsense, pure fabrication." Dr. Rowan Lin sighed, pulling a battered old notebook from his robe. It looked ancient. "The palace records were tampered with. The Emperor thought he could cover up the past by killing everyone involved and rewriting history. But this notebook—I found it at the Lin family home. It’s Senior Brother Lin’s diary from back then."
"Senior Brother Lin didn’t just keep medical records—he kept a diary too. He destroyed some case files, but I happened to find his diary in a secret box at the Lin family home. In it, he wrote about his visits to the palace, and about checking the pulses of the Former Emperor and Former Empress. The diary isn’t as detailed as the case files, but it’s clear: both were in excellent health."
"In the two months before the Former Empress was due to give birth, the Former Emperor summoned Senior Brother Lin to the palace every few days to check the Empress’s pulse. The last page of Senior Brother Lin’s diary records that the Empress was about to deliver, and the Emperor summoned him again. But that day, the Empress wasn’t at the palace—she’d gone to South Hill Imperial Temple. Senior Brother Lin set off from the Lin family home to care for her there, and then he vanished. The diary ends right there."
As Dr. Rowan Lin spoke, he glanced at the ruins of South Hill Imperial Temple and sighed. "The palace situation must have been tense and delicate back then. Before Senior Brother Lin left for South Hill Imperial Temple, he burned most of his case files related to the royal family and hid this diary. From the last page, we can deduce that something extraordinary happened here at South Hill Imperial Temple that year—and it’s closely tied to your son-in-law’s origins."