The Culinary Tycoon

The yamen servant took old man Li and several villagers to the hall.

Luo Mingda first asked Uncle Li, and after asking him to report his name and other basic information, he asked, "Uncle Li, how long have you been working as a helper in Jia's Mansion?"

It was the first time for Old Uncle Li to go to a court like this, and he was terribly frightened. He bent down and lay on the ground, and when he heard the county magistrate questioning him, he just raised his head slightly, and replied, "Reply, what your lord said. , Cao Min was 15 years old and was sold to Jia's mansion, and it has been 36 years."

Luo Mingda asked again: "Have you ever looked at the courtyard of the Jia Mansion near Wulipo Village?"

Uncle Li replied, "Yes."

"When did you visit the other courtyard of Jia's Mansion? How many years have you visited? What happened during that time?"

Uncle Li replied: "Ten years ago, Cao Min was sent to another courtyard to look after the house because his health was getting worse and he could no longer do heavy work. Five years ago, he was transferred to another courtyard. Yesterday, the master's family suddenly sent someone to arrest me. Sent back to Wulipo Bieyuan."

"Do you know why the Jia family transferred you away?"

Uncle Li replied: "I don't know, I just heard that there are great uses."

"What's the big use?"

"It seems to be for someone to live in."

"who?"

"This grassroots doesn't know."

"Then do you know why you were sent back to Wulipo yesterday?"

Uncle Li shook his head and said, "The housekeeper who picked me up said that no one lives there and needs someone to look after the house."

"Then did you find anything strange when you returned to Wulipo Bieyuan yesterday? Is there anything different about the yard?"

Uncle Li thought for a while and replied: "It's very messy, there are a lot of things, some wooden stakes and so on, there are many scratches on many places on the courtyard wall, the previous flower beds are gone, and the room is also in a mess. The drawers were opened and not closed, as if they had been robbed. Oh, yes, there are still half-eaten meals in the kitchen and on the dining table, and there is still a fire in the stove."

Luo Mingda raised his eyebrows and asked, "That means there were still people living there before you arrived at the other courtyard? Is that what you mean?"

Old Uncle Li nodded and said, "Yes, my lord."

"How many people seem to eat those meals?"

Uncle Li thought about it for a while, and said: "There are eight or nine pairs of bowls and chopsticks on the dining table, and a few more pairs in the kitchen pot. There should be more than a dozen people."

Luo Mingda asked: "That is to say, during the five years when you were not in Wulipo Bieyuan, there were more than a dozen people living there. Before you arrived yesterday afternoon, they were having lunch, but for some reason Suddenly left?"

Uncle Li nodded and said, "Yes."

"Thank you, Old Man Li, you can go down and rest." After Luo Mingda asked Old Man Li, he turned to ask the villagers.

The answers from the villagers were quite consistent. There were more than a dozen men living in the other courtyard. They were fierce and domineering.This is the same as what Cao Yuan said.

Then some villagers saw the dozen or so men leaving the yard with their burdens on their backs at noon yesterday, and even the couple who cooked and cleaned the house also left.

At this time, outside the court, a group of people came behind the onlookers. The yamen guard outside the gate saluted the man when he saw him, and was about to shout, but was stopped by the leader.

The yamen servant nodded and pushed them away from the crowd, allowing them to stand in a place where they could see the inside of the hall.

After asking the villagers, Luo Mingda looked at Jia Xiaoren and asked, "Jia Xiaoren, you said earlier that there is no one living in your other courtyard, but now according to the confessions of Old Uncle Li and the villagers of Wulipo, in the past five years, there were clearly ten A few men and a couple of cooks and sweepers live there, what explanation do you have for this?"

Jia Xiaoren was hit by a board the day before yesterday, his butt was very sore, and he stayed in the prison for two days, he looked very embarrassed, his thoughts were not as flexible as before, and he couldn't find an excuse to refute for a long time, so he was stunned for a while.

Seeing this, Master Lu winked at Father Jia and motioned him to explain.

Father Jia hurried forward and said, "My lord, I have something to say."

"Who is making noise?" Luo Mingda asked in a raised voice.

Jia's father hurried into the court, knelt down, and said, "Jia Mingming, a grassroots man, is Jia Xiaoren's father."

"Oh." Luo Mingda asked, "What do you have to say?"

Father Jia said: "My house is in the other courtyard in Wulipo. Because I don't live there often, I rented it out five years ago. The housekeeper and the servants went to the other courtyard to collect rent, and the people who lived there also It's not like the villagers said, he is a servant of my Jia family."

rented out?

Yu Qingze turned his head to look at Jia's father, fortunately he was able to react at this time and find such an excuse.

Luo Mingda raised his eyebrows and asked, "It's been rented out? Who is it rented to? The name and age are reported. Why is it that the place is empty when he just happened to be investigated by the yamen servant?"

This was originally thought up by Jia's father on the spur of the moment. How did he know who he rented it to?He wiped the sweat off his brow, hesitated for a while, then made up a name, and said: "Rented to, a man from the north, surnamed Qian, called Qianduo, in his 40s, as for why he moved away suddenly, The grassroots don't know."

Luo Mingda frowned and asked: "Jia Mingming, are you sure? In court, if you intentionally lie to mislead me, I have the right to deal with you."

Father Jia has been domineering all his life, but now he feels a little guilty.

Luo Mingda obviously does not sell favors to his family. The relationship his family relies on is Lu Hongsheng, who is the prefect, and his younger brother, who is the servant of the Ministry of Rites. But now these are of no use to Luo Mingda. It didn't work either.Without a strong backer, his Jia family is just a big family with some money in Qingzhou, and in Tongshan City, people will not buy him.

But for the sake of his son, he still went all out, nodded and said: "Sure."

Luo Mingda didn't ask Father Jia again, and raised his voice: "Witness witness!"

And witnesses?

Jia Xiaoren and Jia's father all looked behind to see who it was.Seeing this, my heart suddenly became half cold.

When Niu San saw the witness, he was also shocked.How did you find them?

"Crassman Zheng Liang (Zheng Liushi) has met Master Luo."

A couple in their 40s knelt down and kowtowed.

Luo Mingda said to them: "Zheng Liang, Zheng Liu, above the court, any questions I ask you, you must answer truthfully, if there is any deceit, misleading the trial, I will not forgive you lightly, you can wait." Can you hear me clearly?"

Zheng Liang and Zheng Liu lowered their heads and replied, "It's clear."

"Okay then, I want to ask you, where did you work in the past five years? Who is the boss?" Luo Mingda asked.

Zheng Liang replied: "Caomin and Fulang are servants of Jia's mansion in Qingzhou City. They have worked as helpers in Jia's mansion for more than ten years. In the past five years, Caomin and his wife were ordered by the young master to cook and serve in other courtyards." Sweeping work."

"Who is the young master referring to? Say the name."

Zheng Liang raised his head and glanced at Jia Xiaoren, seeing the other party staring at him fiercely, he shrank his neck, quickly lowered his head and said: "The young master is, Jia, Jia Xiaoren."

Luo Mingda said: "Where is the other courtyard? Tell me the specific address."

"It's the other courtyard at Wulipo outside the city." Zheng Liang replied.

Luo Mingda asked again: "In addition to you and your wife, are there other people living in the other courtyard?"

Zheng Liang replied: "Yes."

"Who are they?"

Zheng Liang secretly glanced at Jia Xiaoren again, Jia Xiaoren narrowed his eyes and stared at him dangerously, silently threatening.

Seeing this, Luo Mingda slapped the gavel, bang!

"Zheng Liang, you don't have to be afraid of him, answer truthfully."

"Yes, yes." Zheng Liang was startled by the sound of the gavel, he couldn't help lowering his waist again, and said: "My lord, besides me and my husband, there are fourteen fellows, They are all between 27 and [-] years old. They are all young masters who don’t know where they found them. They were all gangsters in the past. They have done sneaking and abducting. I heard from their chats that some of them have committed crimes before. prison."

The more Zheng Liang said, the lower his head and the lower his voice, but he could still hear everyone in the hall clearly.

"Zheng Liang, raise your head and say it again, louder." Luo Mingda demanded.

Zheng Liang had no choice but to raise his head and say it again.

"Go to the front and look at the man with the mole on the chin on the front right, do you know him? Is he one of the people in the other courtyard?"

Zheng Liang walked to the front on his knees, saw Niu San, only took a look, then retreated to the original position, nodded and said: "My lord, this man is called Niu San, he is a man who lives in another courtyard."

Luo Mingda nodded, and then asked Zheng Liu, "Are there any mistakes or omissions in what Zheng Liang said?"

Mrs. Zheng Liu shook her head and said, "There is no mistake."

Luo Mingda asked: "Why did you all suddenly leave the other courtyard at noon yesterday?"

Mrs. Zheng Liu replied: "Responding to my lord's words, yesterday we were having lunch, and the young man next to the young master suddenly came, and then told us to leave quickly, go wherever we want, and take all our things away. I only ate half of my lunch and didn't clean up."

"Did he say why?"

"I didn't say anything, just let us walk away in a quarter of an hour."

Hearing this, Luo Mingda slapped the gavel and said sharply: "Jia Xiaoren, you threatened vendors to suppress Yu Qingze's snack bar and Jufulou, and then sent Niu San to infiltrate Yuji Jufulou to sell medicine. Now, the facts are clear. Niu San is your servant, he got all the stolen goods, and the evidence is solid, what else can you say?"

Jia Xiaoren was completely stunned, Zheng Liang and his wife from the other hospital were actually found by them, and now they couldn't find any excuses.

He fell limp for a moment and fell to the ground, but the injury on his buttocks hadn't healed yet, and he immediately lay forward again, baring his teeth.

Father Jia was very anxious at this moment, he looked behind and gave the boy who was listening at the door a wink.

That boy was Jia Xiaoren's personal servant, the one who went back to Qingzhou to report the news.

He received Jia's father's gaze, nodded, and then shouted: "Master Luo, my young master was wronged, he didn't instruct Niu San to go to Jufulou, someone else."

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice, it was a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old.

Jia Xiaoren's eyes lit up, dad and the others have other tricks?Suddenly his eyes sparkled with hope.

Luo Mingda frowned, why did another person come out? !

"Who? Come in and answer!"

The young servant immediately entered the hall, knelt down and kowtowed, and then said: "My lord, my villain Wu Shun is the personal servant of Jia Xiaoren, the young master of the Jia family. The person who ordered Niu San to go to Jufulou to deliver medicine, isn't it?" My young master."

Luo Mingda frowned and asked, "Who is that?"

The servant replied: "Yes, it's my young master's husband, Shi Sheng."