Placid Chang'an

Qu Ling'er ate Zhizhi for three days in a row, and her complexion became the same as Zhizhi's. Looking at the big sacks in the back kitchen, she felt so bitter that she went to Su Cen in desperation. She pointed out that Su Cen could help him blow the pillow, and begged for mercy in front of Li Shi.

Su Cen was holding a porcelain cup to drink iced pears with rock sugar, she raised her head and glanced at Qu Ling'er, "Why did you offend him?"

Qu Ling'er swallowed her saliva, and said helplessly: "I don't have one, I tremble when I see his calves, how dare I go to him." Frowning, she thought for a while, "If there is one, it is When I said you were dead, I was so angry that I vomited blood."

Su Cen coughed violently and spilled Sydney soup, "He vomited blood?! How are you?!"

"Isn't it alright?" Qu Ling'er pouted innocently, "Anyone who sees you fall off a cliff will think so, and I can't blame you for that."

Su Cen glared at Qu Ling'er, not bothering him for now, and asked, "What else?"

"And..." Qu Ling'er bit her finger and thought again, "Did I misidentify the dead body back then?"

Su Cen felt unbelievable: "You can admit I'm wrong?"

"The main reason is that I didn't dare to watch it," Qu Ling'er said with a bitter smile. "People are stinky, ugly and scary. I was afraid that I would have nightmares at night after watching them. I dreamed that you would come back to me. After thinking about it, I brought The one who came back should be the official who was with us, it was really scary, his stomach was so swollen that it looked like he was pregnant in October, I guess it scared the prince."

Qu Ling'er talked more and more vigorously, she sat down on the table and swayed her legs and continued: "But you can't blame me, people are so smelly like that, I don't think it's surprising that I made a mistake, the prince didn't recognize it himself, They even asked people to carry the stinky corpse back to Chang'an, saying that they would use some kind of Dingyan beads to subdue it, what kind of town it should be, it's rotten like that, it's not as good-looking as a skeleton..."

"Linger," Su Cen supported Qu Linger's swaying leg, "Is it not enough to eat?"

"Huh?" Qu Ling'er was at a loss.

Su Cen smiled warmly, "If you don't have enough food, I'll ask Huzi and Erya to catch you some more. Go back."

Qu Linger: "..."

After waiting for several days, Huang Ting did not come, but Huang Mian did. Su Cen did not hurry to call Liang Fang to confront him, but led him into the room first, and only called Li Shi, wanting to hear Huang Mian first. Myanmar's statement.

Huang Mian knelt down to salute Li Shi, and said: "my father is old, and he has been ill in bed for many days after the incident. The journey from Chang'an to Xuzhou is far away, and there has been a flood. Waiting for my father to come over may delay the prince's important affairs, so Huang Mian Myan came here on behalf of my father to pay for my father's crimes, please forgive my father's crime of disrespect. My father has told me everything, and ordered me to come and explain the truth. Afterwards, the prince will be convicted and investigated. The prince made a fair decision, and the Huang family will be treated fairly, as well as the people of Xuzhou."

Li Shi raised his hand and asked people to stand up first, and looked at Su Cen.

Su Cen said: "Well, I'll ask you to answer. If there are any incomplete or inconsistent points, I'm afraid I have to call Mr. Huang over. I hope Brother Huang will forgive me."

Huang Mian cupped his hands at Su Cen, "Master Su is serious, Huang Mian absolutely knows everything, and he dare not lie."

Su Cen frowned slightly. Huang Mian had always called him a good friend, and had never called him an adult. We hadn't seen each other for a few days. This person seemed more stable and restrained.

Su Cen looked at Li Shi, nodded when he saw someone sitting down, and then said to Huang Mian, "Then I asked, is Xuzhou's river repair fund related to Lingmei's disappearance?"

Huang Mian smiled, but the smile was not very good-looking, "Master Su is really clever, let me tell you slowly, the matter actually has to start from June last year."

"In June last year, Liang Fang, the governor of Xuzhou, wrote a letter requesting the imperial court to allocate funds for the construction of Xuzhou dams. My father was the minister of the household department at the time and was ordered to inspect the dams. The conclusion given at that time was that no funds would be allocated."

Su Cen frowned: "No funding?"

"My father said that the dam in Xuzhou is still usable, but it has not reached the point where it must be repaired. In addition, the Fanglin Garden just built by the Queen Mother the year before last, the national treasury is not full, and there is still money set aside for Longxi and Huainan. So I thought about putting it off for a year or two, but I didn't expect something to happen this year."

Su Cen asked: "That is to say, the imperial court didn't allocate the 50 taels at all?"

"My father dialed!" Huang Mian raised his head suddenly, "In September, Wan'er suddenly disappeared, and then the family received a letter asking my father to allocate funds to Xuzhou. My father tossed and turned all night, he loved Wan'er the most, Holding it in the palm of my hand since I was a child, Wan'er disappeared. In fact, my father was more anxious than anyone else. Later, I thought, isn't it just appropriation, more than half of the year has passed, and the court probably has nothing to spend money, waiting for taxes from various places Then the national treasury will be full, thinking that Xuzhou will have to allocate this money sooner or later, so it will be allocated this year."

Huang Mian took out a few pages from his pocket and presented them to Su Cen, who then handed them to Li Shi, and the two looked at them together.

Huang Mian said: "This is the delivery certificate of 50 taels. The one below is Xuzhou's handover document. They all follow the procedures. The money must have been allocated and must have been sent to Xuzhou. Why didn't Xuzhou receive our real payment?" I don't know."

Li Shi nodded, "It's a document used by the Ministry of Household Affairs."

"In other words, Song Fan kidnapped Huang Wan'er to force Huang Ting to allocate funds?" Su Cen looked at Li Shi, "How can he be so kind?"

Li Shidao: "If he is so kind, then the 50 taels will not be lost."

Su Cen tapped the table lightly with his knuckles, "Song Fan kidnapped Huang Wan'er and imprisoned her in Caotang Temple. No wonder Host Huikong left such a sentence. He was probably deceived by Song Fan. He thought he Shutting down Huang Wan'er will allow the imperial court to allocate funds to Xuzhou to build the dam. His so-called common people refer to the people of Xuzhou. After knowing the incident, he would rather commit suicide than expose the people behind it, but he didn't expect that the people he wanted to protect wanted to Take his life!"

Li Shi pondered for a while and nodded, "It should be like this."

"My father didn't report the case at the beginning because he was afraid that these things would be involved. Although it was a normal allocation of funds, Wan'er was involved after all. In fact, my father knew that the money went abnormally. He was afraid that it would hurt the family."

Li Shining frowned and said: "Confused."

If this matter could be thoroughly investigated earlier, the 50 taels would not have disappeared, Xuzhou would not have broken the embankment, and even Huang Wan'er would not have been locked at the bottom of the well for half a year before being rescued.

Huang Mian hurriedly knelt down: "My lord, forgive me."

Li Shi raised his eyebrows after a while, "Get up first."

Only then did Huang Mian stand up tremblingly.

Su Cen said: "The question now is where did the 50 taels go after entering Xuzhou? Who is responsible for the handover? Where did he get the official seal? Liang Fang is the governor of Xuzhou, so the official seal is naturally in his hands. Is it true? It was he who colluded with Song Fan..."

"Oh, that's right," Huang Mian said, "I found a Yamen who escorted the official bank back then. I thought he was there to testify. He should have seen the person who handed over the money back then."

Su Cen was overjoyed: "Where are people?"

"He came with me, just outside the palace."

Su Cen and Huang Mian came out to find someone, and asked as they walked, "How is your father's condition?"

"Brother Laosu is worried," Huang Mian smiled wryly, and sighed, "My father actually expected this day to come. One wrong step, one wrong step, he is sick from worry. The Huang family has been officials for generations, He carried the ancestors of the Huang family on his body, and he was afraid of humiliating them, and now he is finally trapped in a cocoon and has suffered a lot."

Su Cen comforted: "You can't blame your father for this matter. They calculated it first, and your father just fell into their trap. I believe the prince will handle it fairly."

Huang Mian smiled: "Thank you, Brother Su."

There was nothing to say for a while, Huang Mian looked at the dusty people with a tired expression on his face, Su Cen thought that when he saw someone, he would let him go to rest first.Just as she was about to turn her thoughts to the case, Huang Mian said, "Wan'er asked me to say hello to you on her behalf, and ask you to be careful here."

"Oh?" The indifference between Su Cen's brows gradually melted away. He knew that Huang Wan'er was getting better after returning home, and now it seems that she has recovered, and she is no longer the little girl who followed him and grabbed him so painfully. .

"Actually, my father didn't approve of my coming here at first. Wan'er asked me to come. She said she believed in her brother Su, but she never said she believed in me." Huang Mian rubbed her nose and smiled bitterly, "But I'm really fine. worthy of her trust."

Su Cen smiled back: "Since she is assured of you coming alone, she naturally believes in you."

Huang Mian smiled and relieved his worries.

When I got outside the gate of the palace, I saw that the horses were still there, but the people had disappeared. I asked the nearby victims before I went to the woods for convenience.

Su Cen and Huang Mian stood outside the door and waited. They didn't come back after waiting for a long time before they realized something was wrong.

The two entered the woods together, Huang Mian yelled a few times, but there was no response.Going further in, the weeds are getting taller, and Huang Mian was about to go in to look for it, when Su Cen suddenly said, "No need."

A drop of blood was falling on a fresh leaf. Huang Mian looked up and saw a person hanging on the branch of the tree looking down at him. The blood was slowly flowing from the seven orifices. He had just died not long ago.

Su Cen frowned: "The murderer is among us."