Chapter 627: Uncle's Murder Case (Part 1)
Zhang An was originally an inspector under the Han Gang [appeared in Chapter 595]. Because of his meritorious service in the Battle of Nahlan, he was selected to the Royal Guard and became Wang Zhen's deputy.
During the past two years, the two of them have been serving me attentively, and in terms of their closeness to me, they are probably even closer than Lu Jianxing, Shen Lian and others.
But Wang Zhen was like a child, being picked up by Sun Shaozong with one hand. He made a few muffled sounds from his mouth and could not utter a complete sentence.
Seeing this, Sun Shaozong hurriedly put him back on the steps in front of the door.
The fellow covered his throat and coughed for a while before saying, "I don't really know the whole story. I heard that they got drunk and had an argument, and accidentally caused a death - but..."
He looked around furtively, and lowered his voice and said, "I heard that his uncle is an old man, not much older than Zhang An. The two families are neighbors, and they probably visit each other often."
At first glance, these words seemed to have nothing to do with the fratricide between uncle and nephew , but Sun Shaozong was so smart that he immediately grasped the key point of the words.
He frowned and pondered for a long while, then shook his head and said, "There is no evidence, so don't say these words for now - how about this, you go to Shuntian Prefecture immediately and bring Qiu Yunfei to Daxing County to meet me."
After Wang Zhen took the order and left, Sun Shaozong returned to the courtyard. Just as he was about to explain everything to Ping'er, he saw her coming out holding the cloak.
"Did you hear everything?"
“I didn’t hear it very clearly.”
Ping Er shook her head, tiptoed to wrap the cloak around Sun Shaozong's shoulders, and said, "Sir, you don't need to explain anything to me. After all, business is the most important thing."
She is indeed a sensible person, and it is worth it that I always think about her.
"Wait a few days..."
Sun Shaozong held her hand with his backhand. He wanted to say that he would come to see her in a few days, but when the words came to his lips, he changed his mind and said, "Wait a few days, I will discuss it with your second grandmother, and then I will personally take you back home."
After saying this, he asked Ping'er to say goodbye to Baoyu on his behalf, then he left the courtyard reluctantly, told Zhang Cheng to harness the carriage, and headed straight for the Daxing County Government Office.
No conversation along the way.
When we arrived at the Daxing County Government Office, we saw that the gate was wide open and there was no one on duty outside.
Sun Shaozong went up the steps and crossed the threshold. Just as he was about to go to the gatehouse to report to someone, he suddenly heard someone behind him yelling, "How dare you break into the county government office?"
Sun Shaozong looked back and saw a yamen runner coming out from behind the door. He was holding a water or fire stick in one hand and a cotton mattress in the other. He was stumbling - probably because the space behind the door was too small and it was difficult for him to stretch, so his legs were numb.
He was seen stumbling forward a few steps, cursing. When he saw Sun Shaozong's appearance clearly, his fat face immediately softened like dough. First, the water and fire stick in his hand fell to the ground with a clang, and then the cotton mattress slid down along his knees.
“My Lord!”
After finally squeezing out a respectful title from his throat, the fellow hurriedly threw himself to the ground. He originally wanted to kneel down and kowtow, but he was tripped by the cotton mattress and fell face first onto the ground.
By the time he struggled to raise his head, the blood gushing out of his nostrils had already filled his mouth.
He did not even dare to wipe it off, and cried incoherently : "I am blind and did not know... I did not know that it was Lord Sun who came, so I just spat out feces..."
At this point, he slapped himself twice, and the blood from his nose spurted out two "rainbow bridges" on the ground.
Sun Shaozong took a half step back and said righteously, "What are you talking about? Even if the people here are common people, you shouldn't say bad things about them!"
"Your humble servant..."
When the bailiff heard this, he was ready to vent his anger on his old face.
"Okay."
Sun Shaozong hurriedly stopped him and ordered, "Hurry up and wipe the blood off your face, and report to the official on his behalf. Tell him that I have something important to discuss with your county lord."
"Hey, hey, I'll pass the message right away!"
The bailiff seemed to be pardoned. He wiped his face with the cotton mattress, stood up and ran inside.
He ran all the way to the inner hall, then slowed down his pace a little. Looking around to see that there was no one around, he suddenly pressed his nose hard, and blood immediately gushed out again.
He wiped some of the blood from his nose and smeared it on his face a few times, then he strode to the door and cried out in a mourning tone: "County Master, County Master! Lord Sun has indeed arrived, and is waiting for you to go to the front to greet him!"
Wang Qian, the magistrate of Daxing County, was writing furiously in the inner hall. Upon hearing this, he threw his purple brush into the mountain-shaped pen holder and sneered, "He's here so fast! Wei Bantou, you..."
When he was halfway through his words , he suddenly saw the guard's face covered in blood, and he was shocked and asked, "What happened to you?!"
"Little man..."
The Wei squad leader quickly covered his face with his sleeves and said in a muffled voice, "It's my fault for disrespecting Lord Sun. It's just a minor injury, it's nothing serious."
After he said this, Wang Qian thought that it was Sun Shaozong who hurt someone, so he slapped the table and said angrily: "Arrogant, extremely arrogant ! What does he think of my Daxing County Government?!"
As he spoke, he put his hands behind his back and paced back and forth in the room, panting.
When Sun Shaozong was promoted from a military officer to the position of Tongpan of Shuntian Prefecture, Wang Qian was quite disapproving. Who would have thought that in just three years, this crude and crude warrior would rise rapidly to the position of Shaoqing of Dali Temple, a fourth-rank official!
It is obvious that Wang Qian was feeling resentful and jealous.
Today, Wang Qian took on a case in which a nephew killed his uncle. Upon inquiring, he learned that the murderer was Sun Shaozong's personal guard. Wang Qian thought about taking the opportunity to humiliate Sun Shaozong - at least to hear a few soft words from him.
Who would have thought that before I even started to make a move, Sun Shaozong had already started fighting!
This is truly intolerable!
So what if he was promoted to Shaoqing of Dali Temple?
My own father-in-law, Zhen Yingjia, is a second-rank Jiangnan Supervisor!
Thinking of this, he ordered decisively: "Wei Bantou, go to the front and tell him that I have always judged cases impartially and will never meet with the relevant people privately before the case is closed!"
Wei Bantou's eyes flashed with joy, but he covered his nose and said in fear: "Sir, this is not appropriate..."
"What's wrong with that!"
Seeing that he was beaten like this, Wang Qian still refused to obey orders. It seemed that he was sure that he could not afford to offend Sun Shaozong, so he became more and more angry and shouted: "Where are the people? Where are all the dead people?!"
Before he finished speaking, two servants rushed into the house.
Wang Qian repeated what he had just said and added: "Tell him that even if you ask the prefect for help, I will never bend the law for personal gain!"
The two servants did not dare to disobey his orders, so they responded in unison and went to the front to pass on the message.
Wei Bantou heaved a sigh of relief after hearing such a decisive statement, but he still asked cautiously: "Sir, do you really want to..."
“Get out, get out!”
Wang Qian threw his sleeves and cursed, "Get out!"
Wei Bantou bowed and retreated. When he reached the outer room, he could still hear Wang Qian scolding him as a "good-for-nothing" and a "coward". He could not help but lower his head and sneered a few times, then quickly left the inner hall.
"Old Wei, Old Wei!"
As soon as I walked out of the door, I heard someone shouting from the side.
Wei Bantou looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man hiding behind a rockery, waving at him.
He looked around hastily to make sure there was no one around, then hurried over and asked in a low voice, "I've done it here, how are you doing over there? Is everything safe..."
"Alas, I am still late!"
Before he could finish, the man stamped his feet in frustration. Later, seeing Wei Bantou's puzzled expression, he explained, "Misunderstanding, this is really a huge misunderstanding!"
As he spoke, he whispered something into Wei Bantou's ear.
Wei Bantou's face changed several times, but he couldn't help but stamp his feet and complained: "You've really screwed me! Sun Shaozong is not someone you can easily mess with. I almost fainted just now, and now you're saying you made a mistake?!"
Seeing him getting red-faced and angry, the man calmed down a lot.
On the one hand, he signaled Wei Bantou not to make it public, and on the other hand, he comforted him, "Don't worry, I'll go over and report it right away. When the time comes, you will definitely get some benefits over there!"
"It's not about the money! If we continue to be so confused, we'll probably all lose our heads..."
"Yes, yes, it was me this time..."
As the two were talking, they suddenly heard hurried footsteps and quickly stopped talking. As the person walked further away, they no longer had the heart to argue.
After saying hello to each other, they went their separate ways.
