Chapter 659 Busy Morning
But Xing Xiuyun was furious at first, and in a fit of rage she pulled out all the pearls and jade from her hair, intending to return them to the backyard and return them to Jia Yingchun.
After walking just a few steps, she regained some clarity of mind - she thought that if she sent the jewelry back now, even if her second sister was very 'open-minded', she would still ask about the situation.
That’s all!
I'd better wait until night when I wash up and find a reason to return it to my second sister.
Having made up her mind, Xing Xiuyan was about to get on the road again, but suddenly she heard the voices of two men talking at the corner ahead.
"Butler Zhao, you called me over here. I wonder if you have any instructions for me."
Although he spoke Mandarin fluently, he could not avoid some foreign accent. Zhao Nan was the only man in the mansion who spoke with such an accent.
The housekeeper Zhao he mentioned was undoubtedly Zhao Zhongji.
Zhao Zhongji had a blank expression on his face. He pushed a brocade gown into Zhao Nan's arms and said, "I just got the news this morning. I'm afraid it's too late to go to the clothing store. This dress was newly made by me during the Double Ninth Festival. You can wear it for now."
"How...how can this be done?"
Zhao Nan suddenly panicked and tried to refuse, but Zhao Zhongji still forced the thing into his hands.
This was not the end. Zhao Zhongji shook out a purse from his sleeve and threw it on the gown: "Here are fifteen taels of silver and the key to the guest room in the west wing."
"I...I really am...really..."
Zhao Nan became more and more fearful and his back seemed to be bent by the silver, but his eyes were rolling around under his drooping eyelids.
"Okay."
Zhao Zhongji finally showed some emotion on his face. He waved his sleeves impatiently and scolded, "Don't bother me with this. It was fine before, but now that the Second Master wants to honor you, who are you showing this face to? Are you trying to deceive the Second Master, or do you think that I am deaf and blind and can't find out what you did in Huguang?!"
Zhao Nan's grateful expression froze, his facial features twisted and changed, and after a long while he forced a smile and said, "As the old saying goes, 'A man becomes humble when he leaves his hometown'. I'm new here under the emperor's feet, so I dare not act recklessly. It's not that I'm deliberately trying to deceive you."
If someone else said these four words, Zhao Zhongji might not think anything of it, but when he thought about what Zhao Nan had done in Wuxi, he really felt that the word "rural" was a bit annoying.
However, he did not say anything else, just sneered, and then instructed Zhao Nan: The Sun and Liu families are friends for life, and you must not lose face in front of Master Liu.
Then he walked away with his hands behind his back.
Zhao Nan held the clothes and silver in his hands and stood there in a daze for a long time. Then he laughed at himself and muttered, "That's right. How can I have a hometown now?"
Having said that, he turned around and went back to the lower house to change clothes.
After he walked away, Xing Xiuyan came out from behind the porch column. Thinking about the sentence "A man feels worthless when he leaves his hometown", she couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
Two flowers bloom, each showing its own beauty.
Not to mention how Xing Xiuyan felt mixed emotions when she returned to the backyard and put her hair full of pearls and jade again.
However, Sun Shaozong left the main courtyard and originally wanted to go back home to have breakfast, but he was stopped by the doorman Wang Jin on the way, who said that Qiu Yunfei and others had all rushed over and were now waiting in the front hall.
When Sun Shaozong heard this, he quickly had someone set up a simple meal in the front hall, and he and Chou Yunfei and the others ate while talking.
Everyone came here at this time, of course, to report the latest developments:
First, after digging three feet into the ground for the two houses, there was a three-foot square piece of land near the back door, which seemed to have been dug and turned over recently. Although the soil had been compacted, there was some dead grass and leaves mixed in the middle after the autumn.
This basically proves Sun Shaozong's previous speculation: the two houses were not prepared for murder, but had other uses.
However, after digging further down five feet, they did not see anything special.
And if we dig deeper, there is no trace of it ever being turned over...
According to the inference of Governor Qi Lianhai, perhaps someone buried something in the spring and summer and then dug it out in the autumn - this also explains why the land was not turned over until the autumn even though it had been rented for several months.
Sun Shaozong gave considerable affirmation to this and believed that this was the main reason why the murderer chose these two mansions to set up the murder trap.
In addition, the owner of one of the haunted houses has been successfully contacted, but he knew nothing about the tenant's information.
And on the lease deed kept by the homeowner, there was only one name: Wang Er.
In general, what can be dug out from this clue is quite limited, but even so, the Jinmen government still has to send someone to make contact.
After Qi Lianhai and Zhao Wuwei finished their reports, Qiu Yunfei said, "I have some clues here, but unfortunately I encountered some resistance and couldn't find out anything further."
It turned out that he had arrived in Daxing County yesterday evening and blocked Wang Qian who was about to leave the court.
After hearing about Wei Shougen and Wang Baochang, Wang Qian immediately panicked and no longer cared about the difference between good and evil. He allowed Qiu Yunfei to gather officials and runners overnight to investigate one by one.
According to the results of repeated investigations, there were only three people who had private dealings with Wei Shougen after noon. The most suspicious of them was Yang Hancai, the county magistrate.
"This Yang Hancai is the assistant criminal official of Daxing County. Although Wei Shougen investigated the death and escape of beggars in the county, the person who was ultimately responsible for checking the purchase and sale was Yang Hancai!"
"Besides, according to the chronological order, the last person Wei Shougen met before his death was Yang Hancai!"
"Based on these two points, I was going to arrest him and interrogate him, but Wang Qian stopped me."
"Why is this?"
Hearing this, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but wonder, "Since he allowed you to get here, and then suddenly jumped out to stop you, wouldn't that just arouse suspicion?"
"It's not his fault."
Qiu Yunfei spread his two fat hands to the left and right, and said helplessly: "Yang Hancai's cousin is Yang Anbang, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice. It would be really strange if he didn't come out to stop it."
"Minister Yang's cousin?"
Sun Shaozong couldn't help but frown. He had some friendship with Xu Liang, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and was not unfamiliar with Yang Anbang, the Right Vice Minister.
This person had served as the assistant censor of the Zhejiang Provincial Judicial Commissioner [fifth rank], deputy censor of Jiangxi, deputy censor of Shandong, and censor of Shandong.
About three years ago, he was promoted to the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice due to his meritorious service.
Minister Yang is a man of integrity. Since he took office, the number of cases rejected for retrial at the local level has increased by more than 20%.
And every time he hits the nail on the head, leaving people speechless.
Therefore, his prestige in the Ministry of Justice not only surpasses that of the Left Vice Minister Xu Liang, but even overshadows the Minister of Justice.
Speaking of this, it seems to be somewhat similar to the situation of Sun Shaozong in Shuntian Prefecture.
However, Minister Yang had no intention of cherishing another hero. During the autumn inspection in the eleventh year of Guangde, he picked and chose the list of executed people reported by Shuntian Prefecture, and insisted on finding some flaws to destroy the prestige of "the Divine Judge of the Capital".
As a result, more than a month's work was delayed and nothing wrong was found. Instead, Sun Shaozong received the imperial edict, resigned from his post and left the capital to fight the rebels.
However, the two of them also became estranged because of this.
Who would have thought that two years later, the first case Sun Shaozong investigated when he returned to Beijing was about Yang Anbang's cousin!
“Second brother!”
Seeing Sun Shaozong was silent, Qiu Yunfei immediately patted his chest and said, "I didn't have many people around me at that time, so I couldn't capture Yang Hancai. I'll bring more people today..."
"No!"
Sun Shaozong raised his hand to stop him from speaking: "Before you find decisive evidence, don't act rashly for the time being!"
If Sun Shaozong was personally in charge of this case, he might have investigated it more radically.
Anyway, there is no subordinate relationship between the three judicial departments, and the Left Vice Minister Xu Liang is also quite friendly with him. Even if Yang Anbang fights back angrily, he will not be able to do anything to Sun Shaozong for a while.
However, the Criminal Law Division where Qiu Yunfei worked was under the dual leadership of the prefectural government and the Ministry of Justice. Originally, there was a layer of Hebei Provincial Criminal Division between them. But last year, due to the lack of communication between the upper and lower levels, Shuntian Prefecture was again under the vertical leadership of the court, and was only nominally under the jurisdiction of Hebei.
Qiu Yunfei was already at odds with the governor Ge Changcun in the government office, and now he has offended the popular Yang Shilang in the Ministry of Justice...
Even if he has me and his father, General Qiu, as his backers, I'm afraid he will be constrained everywhere.
After a moment's deliberation, Sun Shaozong ordered again: "When you return to the government office today, try to report this case to the Dali Temple."
Reporting a case to the Dali Temple is a right only possessed by the prefect and the governor.
Jia Yucun, the old fox, would definitely not get involved in such matters, so the matter could only be handled through the governor Ge Changcun.
Fortunately, that guy has been giving up hope recently. As long as Qiu Yunfei puts some thought into it, he may be able to achieve his goal.
"in addition."
After Qiu Yunfei agreed, he added: "Why not check if there are any monks, Taoist priests or alchemists in the capital who like to raise poisonous insects."
