Chapter 145 Behind
The incident happened in the Hu family. No one in the Hu family could escape responsibility, from the master to the servants, their faces were pale and they were so frightened that even their eyes were unfocused.
The head of the Hu family was so panicked that he secretly sent his housekeeper to the prefecture to seek help.
The Hu family's ancestors were imperial merchants. Although they have fallen on hard times now, they still have some connections. As long as they are willing to spend money to build relationships, they can always save their lives.
While the Hu family was secretly seeking help, the madam of Qiuxiangyuan was also summoned.
The person who poured wine for the county magistrate's wife came from Qiuxiang Courtyard.
When the madam heard that someone was killed, she was horrified and tried to deny any connection with the matter. "The person was taken away three days ago. They have nothing to do with Qiuxiangyuan in the past three days. Even if one of them was bold enough to kill someone, it has nothing to do with Qiuxiangyuan."
Su Qingqing sat on a high place and looked at her coldly, "Nothing to do with it? How can you make us believe that it wasn't you who secretly instigated it? Zhao Bingchun owed you 500,000 taels of silver, and you harbored a grudge and wanted to harm him."
After Su Qingqing spoke, the old brothel owner mustered up the courage to take a closer look at the person sitting in the high seat.
She had known this morning that the Hu family had held a flower-viewing banquet and invited the Crown Princess to visit. At the time, she had been sighing in her heart that the Hu family was so blessed to have had such a good opportunity. But now, when she saw Su Qingqing's appearance clearly, she was stunned.
"Is it you?"
He was so shocked that he even forgot about etiquette and stared at Su Qingqing in amazement.
Jixiang raised his eyebrows, "How dare you! Who are you? How dare you look at the queen like that!"
The madam of Qiuxiang Courtyard immediately bowed her head and said, "I dare not, but Your Majesty is truly wronged. It was you who took the person away from Qiuxiang Courtyard three days ago. You chose the person yourself, and I did not interfere at all."
Su Qingqing said coldly: "The girls are from your Qiuxiang Courtyard, and you were the one who sent them to me."
The madam complained, "But I didn't even know you were the Crown Princess. Besides, I didn't even know you were going to take someone away. You left so suddenly, how could I have planned it?"
After that, she held the handkerchief and whispered, "Besides, you've already taken the person away for three days. It's not reasonable to say that I was the one who ordered it."
The implication is also obvious.
These three days are enough for your Crown Princess to give orders.
Su Qingqing immediately sneered and glanced at Zhao Bingchun, "Your wife is using the people I bought to entertain me. She didn't inform me about this in advance. I only found out about it when I met them."
The conversation between Su Qingqing and the county magistrate's wife at that time can still be clearly heard in people's ears and minds, and everyone who was present can testify to this.
Zhao Bingchun is confused now.
Even when looking at the corpse in front of him, he couldn't accept that this was the fact.
He was fine, how come his wife is gone?
The person is just gone like that?
After Su Qingqing finished speaking, she glanced at Zhao Bingchun , then looked at the madam, "The person belongs to your Qiuxiangyuan, you can't get away from it, someone take him away!"
The yamen runners brought by Zhao Bingchun did not move. It was obvious that they would not listen to anyone without Zhao Bingchun's order.
Su Qingqing turned around and looked at Zhao Bingchun.
Zhao Bingchun's red eyes moved away from his wife's body and looked at Su Qingqing, "Madam, this matter has nothing to do with Qiuxiangyuan."
Su Qingqing snorted coldly , "It doesn't matter. The wine your wife drank was handed to her by her."
The prostitute who was pouring wine for the county magistrate's wife was so frightened that she almost fainted, "I am innocent."
No one paid any attention to her.
The county magistrate took a deep breath, suppressed the huge grief in his heart, and said: "Qiuxiangyuan has no grudges against my wife, and has no motive to kill."
Su Qingqing said playfully, "Five hundred thousand taels."
The county magistrate said, "If it was for the five hundred thousand taels, then there is no motive for murder. She killed my wife, and not only will I not give her the five hundred thousand taels, I will also put her in jail."
Su Qingqing curled her lips, "But now you are sure that she is not the murderer, so who can know whether she is or not?"
The most dangerous place is the safest.
The person who is least likely to be a suspect may be the real murderer.
The county magistrate clenched his fist tightly, but Su Qingqing didn't wait for him to speak before directly ordering, "If you don't obey my orders, I won't order you. Since I said I want to find the real culprit, I'm definitely not just talking nonsense. Jixiang, bring the people!"
Jixiang received the order, and with the whip in his hand, he rushed directly towards the brothel owner.
Before the old procuress could react to what was happening, she was thrown into the air by Jixiang. She screamed in fear, and Jixiang touched the ground with his toes, leaped up and caught her in the air, then slapped her on the back of her neck. The old procuress rolled her eyes and fainted. Jixiang just threw her to his feet.
It was so smooth and efficient that everyone at the scene was stunned.
Zhao Bingchun stared at Su Qingqing with red eyes, "What do you mean, Madam?"
Su Qingqing ignored him and turned to look at Mrs. Hu. "The banquet was held at your house. If someone died, your family can't escape responsibility . Do you want to leave with me voluntarily, or do you want me to let someone take you away?"
Mrs. Hu looked in horror at the old brothel owner who was lying at Jixiang's feet like , then turned to look at her husband for help.
The head of the Hu family immediately clasped his fists and said, "My queen, even though the incident happened in my family, we are innocent. We..."
Su Qingqing interrupted him, "I only believe in evidence. In the absence of evidence, everyone present is a suspect. The case has not been investigated yet, and the suspects cannot meet in private. Is there any problem with this? In order to prevent the suspects from colluding with each other, I will take them away. Is that okay?"
The head of the Hu family thought to himself that a powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake, not to mention that he had someone behind him, so he replied firmly: "Are you going to take everyone in my family away, my lady?"
He wanted to take Su Qingqing down a limb.
Since you want to arrest the suspects, there are so many of them, so if you have the ability, you should arrest them all.
However, Su Qingqing heard this and said simply, "That's right! Anyone who has anything to do with this banquet will be taken away."
The head of the Hu family turned around and said to Zhao Bingchun, "We are all saddened by your wife's accident, but you can't be so indiscriminate. My family and you have never had any grudges, and my wife and your wife are close friends. How could you harm her?"
Zhao Bingchun would not allow Su Qingqing to really take all the people from the Hu family away.
If we really let her take it away, what will happen?
Not only did he lose his wife, but he also offended Qiuxiangyuan and the Hu family in one go?
Behind Qiuxiang Courtyard is the second young master of the prefecture, and behind the second young master is the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion.
The Hu family follows the path of the Rong'an Marquisate in Kyoto.
How could he afford to offend!
"I am the local official, and I will make the final decision on the case. Since Your Majesty is here to provide disaster relief, I will not interfere with Your Majesty's energy, so as not to delay Your Majesty's mission."
Zhao Bingchun was not polite at all and did not give in at all.
