Chapter 341 Stealing Heart
It was daybreak.
Sun Shaozong sat up, hugging the quilt. Seeing that there was no one beside him, he looked towards the dressing table out of habit. Sure enough, Ruan Rong was dressing herself up in front of the mercury mirror again.
Ever since she exchanged her "yang energy" for this palm-sized thing, Ruan Rong's first priority every morning when she wakes up is to dress up in front of it.
At first, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but complain a few words, but after seven or eight days, he had gotten used to it.
“Ahem!”
He lifted the quilt and coughed dryly. Ruan Rong was startled and hurriedly called Shi Liu to come in. Together they helped Sun Shaozong to dress and wash.
After everything was packed up, Xiangling also rushed over from the west wing, and the three of them had breakfast together. Because the due date was approaching, Sun Shaozong specifically told Xiangling to read less recently, especially to write less poetry, so as not to waste her efforts.
Xiangling was originally a bit heartless and was addicted to poetry, reading all day long. It was not until she met Sun Chengye's eldest son with a rabbit mouth a few days ago that she became much more restrained.
After breakfast, Sun Shaozong drove to the government office as usual.
When we arrived at the government office, before we even got off the car, we heard several heart-wrenching cries coming from the gate:
"Please spare my life, sir!"
"I am innocent!"
"Students are deceived..."
It turned out that outside the government gate, there were five standing cages lined up in a row. They were all vendors who defied the ban and still secretly prepared and sold "Shenxiansan".
In order to serve as a warning to others, Sun Shaozong sentenced them to standing in a cage for two days and two nights yesterday afternoon, and will add an additional sentence of five to eight years in prison depending on the severity of the crime.
Even though they were crying miserably now, how could Sun Shaozong sympathize with a few drug dealers?
He first checked in at the gatehouse without looking around, and then walked leisurely to the Criminal Law Department.
However, the scene in front of the Criminal Law Department was quite different. Several flatbed trucks were parked in front of the gate, and a dozen laborers in thin clothes were carrying sacks inside without stopping.
This was the glutinous rice and dates that the imperial court distributed every year during the May Festival as per custom. Officials at all levels in the capital city received a share - of course, temporary workers such as white-collar workers did not receive such treatment.
Therefore, Sun Shaozong allocated another 500 taels of silver from his private treasury and ordered Lin Delu to buy a batch of seasonal meat and vegetables to be distributed as additional benefits to the Criminal Law Department.
Nearly two hundred white-collar servants belonging to the Criminal Law Department were naturally also included in the list.
Although the benefit was only two taels of silver per person, the feeling of being valued still made the patrolmen and white-collar workers who had always been ignored feel grateful to Sun Shaozong.
Let’s get back to the story.
But Sun Shaozong entered the main hall and first asked Cheng Rixing to send the case files that were concluded yesterday to Wei Ruolan for review. He also asked Sun Chengye to fetch the case files submitted by Daxing and Wanping , and he would take a look at them first to see if there were any cases that needed to be sent back for retrial.
"uncle."
Just after reading a case file about a wicked mother-in-law who despised her daughter-in-law for having too little dowry and abused her in various ways, causing her to hang herself three days after her wedding, Sun Chengye hurried in to report: "Han Fuyin sent someone to send a message to summon you to discuss matters."
"Meeting?"
Sun Shaozong asked in confusion, "Have you ever asked the messenger what the prefect wanted to discuss with me?"
Sun Chengye shook his head and said, "I did ask, but the man claimed he didn't know anything."
Although Han Anbang has now been completely overshadowed by Jia Yucun, he is still the nominal ruler of the prefecture. Since he has sent someone to summon him, Sun Shaozong naturally cannot refuse.
So he briefly sorted out the case file and left the Criminal Law Department.
When they arrived at Han Anbang's courtyard, they took their seats as host and guest. Then Han Anbang cleared his throat and said sternly, "Sun Zhizhong, there were no major cases that were delayed in the Criminal Law Department last year. How come you have become slack since you took over as Zhizhong this year ?"
Sun Shaozong was slightly stunned, and then he suddenly realized.
These words sounded like he was calling for blame, but in fact he was trying to shirk responsibility - however, the responsibility he was shirking was not his, Han Anbang's, but Wei Ruolan's!
Because among all the pending cases in the Criminal Law Department, the only one that can be considered a major case is the "Heart Stealing Case" that occurred on the seventh day of April in an inn called Longsheng Old Inn in western Beijing.
Because six people, two men and four women, died in this case, and six hearts disappeared, the story became a hot topic in West City, with people saying that an evil ghost was taking their lives.
Because Sun Shaozong was ordered to stay in Rongguo Mansion at the time, the case was taken over by Wei Ruolan.
It is estimated that Wei Ruolan was unable to find any clues and was too embarrassed to ask Sun Shaozong for help, so she asked Han Anbang to save the country in a roundabout way.
It's true that it's easier to become an official if you have connections in the court!
After figuring this out, Sun Shaozong immediately stood up and saluted, saying, "This is all my fault. I originally wanted to train Judge Wei's ability to investigate cases alone, but I never thought that this case would be so troublesome. It has dragged on until now and I still haven't found any clues."
"Well……"
Han Anbang originally planned to launch a surprise attack first, and when Sun Shaozong opened his mouth to explain himself, he would accuse him of putting personal interests above public interest and not paying attention to stability and unity, and then take the opportunity to put the case on his shoulders.
Who would have thought that Sun Shaozong would react so quickly, and without any of the impulsiveness and rashness of a young man. He took the responsibility without hesitation, and then tactfully pointed out that Wei Ruolan was in charge of the case.
Han Anbang couldn't find any fault with his words, and was a little speechless for a moment. After a long while, he said with a straight face: "In this case, when Sun Zhizhong returns, he might as well have a good discussion with Wei Tongpan and solve this case as soon as possible to avoid the outside world from boiling over."
Having said that, he picked up the tea bowl, as if saying 'goodbye, I won't see you off'.
It's almost becoming a 'hollow boss's house', yet he still puts on airs and acts disapprovingly. It seems that Shuntian Prefecture will sooner or later be Jia Yucun's world.
Sun Shaozong complained in his heart and said goodbye and left. It only took him a quarter of an hour to get back to the Criminal Law Department.
Seeing that Cheng Rixing had returned, based on the principle of not bothering two people with the same matter, he asked him to make another trip and ask Wei Ruolan to bring relevant information about the "Heart Stealing Case" to discuss the case.
"Dong Weng."
Upon hearing this, Cheng Rixing was not in a hurry to leave, but instead carefully reminded: "That Wei Tongpan has repeatedly opposed you, and now he has brought it upon himself. Why bother helping him..."
"Others don't care who takes the case."
Sun Shaozong said helplessly: "Now, if people outside hear that Shuntian Prefecture is investigating the case, they will definitely think of me - and besides, six people died, we can't just let it go, right?"
This is the difficulty of a tall tree attracting the wind. If Sun Shaozong really wants to put personal interests above public ones and embarrass Wei Ruolan, it is likely that in the end it will be his own reputation that will be ruined.
Then he waved his hand and said, "Go ahead, and remember to call Master Qi as well."
