Jiang Qing

On the second day of the wedding, Ling Che led the troops back to Jinxi.

As soon as he left, Zhao Jinghe also moved back to his princess mansion.

Looking at Zhao Jinghe's expression, the wife of the aristocratic family who invited her to the banquet and tea never mentioned the name of the son-in-law, and the greeting card was sent to the princess' mansion as usual, with the words "Respect, Eldest Princess".

In the early morning of this day, while Zhao Jinghe was still having breakfast, the servant at the gate of the mansion brought Cao Wanshu a greeting card.

This is not the first time she has done such an unruly thing. Zhao Jinghe suddenly remembered that on the day of her wedding, Cao Wanshu also wanted to see her in such a hurry. Get on the sedan chair.

Cao Wanshu came in in a hurry, she didn't look like a lady at all, her face was haggard, and when she looked carefully, there were still bruises under her eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" Zhao Jinghe just opened his mouth, and Cao Wanshu knelt down.

"His Royal Highness, I..." She was obviously in a panic, and hesitated for a long time before she could say, "Chen Qiyun is in prison!"

"Who are you talking about?" Zhao Jinghe didn't react for a moment.

"It's that Chen Qiyun from our school." Cao Wanshu took out a letter, "On the morning of your wedding, she came to see me and gave me this letter, begging you to give it to Mrs. Qin Yuanbo. Later I just heard that she was imprisoned because she sued the governor of Jingzhao to cover up the murder of her parents and children."

Zhao Jinghe glanced at the letter, but didn't reach out to take it.

In recent days, this case has caused a lot of trouble in the city. The orphan daughter of the Chen family defended her father and brother, and her feat of suing the governor of Jingzhao as a commoner won praise from the people. It's just that she didn't expect that this orphan girl from the Chen family was actually Chen Qiyun from her own school.

Thinking of Chen Qiyun, Zhao Jinghe frowned slightly.Speaking of which, they have also met several times. Although Chen Qiyun is just a merchant's family, she behaves well, but for some reason, Zhao Jinghe always sees some calculations in her weak eyebrows, and therefore He seldom talked with her, but Lu Yan liked her very much, and he was the best friend with her.

"She didn't say anything else?" Zhao Jinghe was not familiar with her at all. At such a critical juncture, he suddenly asked him to hand over a letter to Uncle Qin Yuan's wife, which inevitably made people suspicious. Which is intentional.

"She said...she has information about Lu Yan's whereabouts..."

"What!" Zhao Jinghe stood up suddenly, and the overturned tea was overturned in her hand, but she didn't know it.

"Where is Ayan?" She ignored her reddened hands and hurriedly reached out to receive the letter, but it took a long time to open it.

The two pages of thin paper trembled slightly in her hands, and she read them word by word, as if she wanted to dig out the contents of the letter.

Looking at Zhao Jinghe's flushed eyes, Cao Wanshu looked confused, and just about to ask, she saw a teacup brushing against her ear, and the broken tiles bounced all over the floor, scaring Pei'er who came in. one jump.

"Princess, your hand?" Pei'er hurriedly stepped forward to check Zhao Jinghe's scalded hand, but found that her body was shaking slightly.

"How dare the Chen family! How dare Fan Hongxin!" Zhao Jinghe gritted his teeth and spit out these words, "Prepare the car and go to Qinyuanbo's residence."

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The joint trial of the three divisions was held in Dali Temple.

Wei Pengju, the minister of the Ministry of War, has long reported the list of the various divisions participating in the joint trial, and is preparing for the first joint trial at this time.

Originally, the three divisions had a joint trial, so it was never the turn for people from the Ministry of War to intervene, but this time Fan Hong was very confident, relying on his personal friendship with Qi Rong, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, he brought in a servant, and he was well-known. Said to come in and write the case.

Wei Pengju became an official in his middle age, and he didn't have the drive he had when he was young. He was cautious in the military department on weekdays, trying not to make any big mistakes.

Although he is an official servant, he does not put on airs at all, he often walks around the criminal department for Fan Hongxin, and manages the relationship with the military department and the criminal department well, and is very handy in preparing such trivial matters.

As soon as Wu Zuo in the criminal department came out of the autopsy, he bumped into Wei Pengju head-on.

"Master Wei?" Wu Zuo was a little surprised when he saw him, "Shouldn't you be in the hall where the three divisions will be interrogated at this hour?"

"Old Liu, didn't you come back all night?" Wei Pengju put his shoulders familiarly, "Today is only the first trial, why is Mr. Shang Shu so anxious to ask you to review the body overnight? I remember that my sister-in-law has been suffering from a cough for some time. , It doesn’t get better after taking medicine, I have a very good doctor here, when you are free, please go and show it to my sister-in-law.”

"Thanks to your troubles, your sister-in-law's illness is also an old problem. No matter how many doctors the family has hired over the years, it hasn't improved. Now that the baby is growing up, it's time to go to a private school, but Shuxiu hasn't even got it together yet. Your sister-in-law I am worrying about this matter, how can I spend money to hire a doctor again."

Liu Yuzuo sighed: "The autopsy fees for these few times have been delayed, and I don't know when I can get them. If you are free, help me inquire about it?"

"What? Haven't you put down the money yet?" Wei Pengju was very surprised, "I saw the declaration note on Mr. Qi's desk a few days ago. It must be that Mr. Shang Shu was busy a while ago and forgot to reply?"

Hearing this, Lao Liu was so anxious that his beard twitched, "What's he busy with! He's just busy celebrating his birthday, and the ostentation is so big that he invited all the chefs from Lanwei Pavilion to the house. There are a hundred tables of banquets, which is not something he can afford with his salary as a minister, who knows if there are some scraps of money from us people in this banquet."

Old Liu was anxious to begin with, and he always spoke without rules, and he always regarded Wei Pengju as one of his own, so he didn't shy away from talking about the Minister of Criminal Affairs to his face.Fortunately, he is good at autopsy, even though he offended many people because of his mouth, he can still make a living in the yamen.

Wei Pengju comforted him for a while, and after Lao Liu stopped being angry, his eyes slipped to the autopsy paper in his hand.

"I've been busy all night, have you found anything?"

Speaking of the corpse, Lao Liu temporarily put aside his dissatisfaction, pointed to the case file, and patiently explained to him: "As a preliminary test, the wounds on the corpses of Chen's father and son were caused by the precious sword in the hands of Yan Changsi. Wrong, the length of the knife can match the wound. But this knife wound is different in depth, the fatal wound is on the neck, a knife seals the throat, and stabs in front of the Chen family father and son face to face. The wound is smooth enough to show the murderer's superb sword skills. But the other wounds on their bodies were caused by the murderer kneeling on the ground to make up the knife after the two of them fell to the ground. A person who has never used a knife. As far as I know, Yan Changsi is not a master of the knife, but he is not a novice who has never held a knife before. Such a wound is really strange."

"In that case, have you ever told anyone else?" Wei Pengju's face suddenly became serious.

"I was blocked by you as soon as I came out. How can I have the time to submit the autopsy results?" Lao Liu rubbed his head, a little puzzled, "Where is there a mistake?"

"Brother Liu." Wei Pengju changed his address and said in a low voice, "Do you trust me, my brother? Lord Shangshu is in a state of distress, and I'm afraid that he will get angry at you by reporting such unfounded things."

Taking out a bag of silver taels and stuffing them into Liu Yuzuo's sleeve, Wei Pengju patted his hand: "These silver taels are for my sister-in-law to see a doctor and my baby to go to school. These days, you just rest at home and accompany them well. Where are you? Say it for you."

He vaguely felt something was wrong in his heart, but Liu Wuzuo looked at Wei Pengju's sincere face, and swallowed his stomach full of doubts again.

Holding Liu Yuzuo's autopsy booklet just now, Wei Pengju watched him leave with a smile on his lips.

"My lord, all the adults are here." The servants of the yamen rushed over.

"Go and tell Zhang Xiang that I have made arrangements here, and I will wait for Enxiang to take action."

In the inner hall, Qi Rong, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, was wiping his sweat. His eyes turned from Wen Cheng, the imperial official on the left, to Bai Bingchen’s face on the right. These two people were not expressing joy or anger. They didn't talk to each other, they held their teacups and waited peacefully.

The location of the interrogation was set at Dali Temple. Guo Huan, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, could be regarded as the host, but he didn't come for a long time.Qi Rong, who was sitting at the bottom, looked at the two lumps of ice at the top, and at the empty space in the middle, rubbing his hands together nervously.

Qi Rong made friends with Fan Hongxin in private, and secretly spent a lot of time on this case. He turned a blind eye to the unruly thing that he sent Wei Pengju, his servant of the military department, to assist in the case.

But Zhao Zhen's decree was made so fast that Qi Rong didn't have time to interrogate him, so the case file was handed over to Wen Cheng, and the person was sent to Dali Temple. Now he has no witnesses or material evidence in his hand, so he is counting on Wu Zuo to continue the trial. Check out something to reverse the case.

After waiting for a while, Wei Pengju finally came and whispered something in Qi Rong's ear.

"Is there really no problem at all?" Qi Rong lowered his voice and hurriedly said, "You didn't tell Lao Liu that as long as the case can be overturned this time, I will double his monthly salary."

"I went to the door to watch it myself, and there is really nothing wrong with it. Old Liu is stubborn, and he refuses to let go of his mouth to blur the autopsy report. I thought that if such a report was handed over to the above-mentioned people, Master Fan would be fine. It’s even more difficult to please, so I decided in private and secretly destroyed the list.”

"It's good to be ruined, it's good to be ruined." Qi Rong murmured, the bead of sweat on his forehead exposed the anxiety in his heart, whether he can save Brother Fan's life this time depends on what Chen Qiyun has in his hand up.

Wiping his sweat, he silently thought about how he would cooperate with Bai Bingchen without a trace and say some excuses for Fan Hongxin.

Before the words were finished, Guo Huan staggered in.

He came late, apologized hastily to the people present, sat on the main seat with his legs crossed, and gave Wei Peng a sidelong glance.

"Judging by the three divisions, what is Mr. Wei doing here as a servant of the Ministry of War? The Ministry of Punishment allocates a lot of money for official business expenses every year. Why is there not enough manpower at this time, so you have to borrow someone from the Ministry of War?" The yamen servant winked, "Please invite Mr. Wei out."

Seeing that the officials on both sides were about to make a move, Qi Rong hurriedly looked at Bai Bingchen, and was about to say something when Guo Huan blocked him back: "Master Bai treats you with strict laws and regulations, so you probably don't want to see such a scene of officials mixing together. "

Bai Bingchen put down the teacup, and said in a gentle voice, "Master Wei, let's go out first, Mr. Guo doesn't like crowds, so accept the stranger."

Guo Huan snorted coldly, and waved to his subordinates: "Bring the orphan of the Chen family here."

But after a while, a shackled woman knelt down in front of the hall. Her clothes were neat, but her hair was a little messy. It seemed that she didn't suffer any pain in the prison.

She raised her head and slowly glanced at the few people in the hall, bowed deeply, and said clearly: "Minnv's family lives in Chenjiazhuang, father Chen Man, brother Chen Ping, both died at the hands of Yan Changsi, the son of Jingzhao Mansion Yin. Minnv is lucky. She escaped and beat the drums to protest her grievances, but was accused of false accusation by Mr. Yin Yan of the Jingzhao Mansion and imprisoned in prison. As a woman, I hope that the death of my father and brother will be avenged, and that the daughter of the people will die without any worries."

"I heard that Chen Man and the steward of Yin Yanshuo's mansion in Jingzhao Mansion are brothers who have been sworn brothers?" Guo Huan sat up straight and stared into Chen Qiyun's eyes.

Under pressure, Chen Qiyun averted her eyes, lowered her head, and said in a voice like a mosquito, "Yes."

"It is written in the pleadings that because your father promised you to others, Yan Changsi was jealous, so on the night of your wedding, he lay in ambush halfway and killed your father and brother."

"Yes."

"I don't know who the girl will be betrothed to?"

"The Jiang family at the south end of Zhuangzi."

The yamen servant at the side held up the census, Guo Huan looked it over and said: "If I remember correctly, there is only one family surnamed Jiang living in the south of Chenjiazhuang, and he is an eunuch."

Guo Huan raised his eyes and said with a light smile, "Your father took a lot of benefits, so he was willing to sell you to an eunuch? Don't you have any resentment in your heart?"

"Although the daughters of the people do not know a few big characters, they dare not disobey the words of their parents and the agreement of the matchmaker."

"Although the Jiang family was released from the palace, he is not very old, but after all, he is not a perfect person, and has no status outside; Yan Changsi is still a son of an official, even if you marry and become a concubine, the situation is not good. It's much better than marrying an eunuch. You and Chen Ping also called Butler Zhou a godfather. If Chen Man didn't choose such a good place, he would let you jump into that pit of fire. It's not justified by reason."

"And the Yan family handed over some evidence." Guo Huan signaled the yamen servant to take out a letter and put it in front of Chen Qiyun.

"This is the correspondence between you and Yan Changsi. The words are precise and concubine-like, but it's a good thing for two people to be in love. Why is it that Yan Changsi is greedy for your beauty in your pleadings? Could it be that you were dissatisfied with your father's marriage, secretly informed your lover, and joined forces to kill your own father and brother?"

"Killing father and brother, this is Ling Chi's death penalty in Li country!" Guo Huan deliberately raised his tone, watching the woman in front of him slowly slump to the ground.

Qi Rong who was at the side was anxious for a long time, seeing that Chen Qiyun couldn't hold on, he couldn't help but say: "Master Guo's words to threaten an orphan girl are not what a gentleman would do."

"Gentleman?" Guo Huan walked down the hall with a sneer, half squatted on the ground, looked at Chen Qiyun at the same level, and looked into her eyes probing, "Once you are convicted of instigating murder, let alone threats, the torture instruments in this prison are all I can ask the girl to taste it again."

"Master Guo! Abuse of punishment is against the law of the country!" Bai Bingchen reprimanded.

"Heh, violated the laws of the country?" Guo Huan mocked as if he had heard some big joke, "Bai Jingnian interrogated criminals who committed treason, and the punishment used was much heavier. Why didn't the late emperor punish you for a crime of breaking the law? ?”

"Punishments are determined by people. Since Mr. Guo is the presiding judge, Prime Minister Bai should be calm. It's just that the circumstances of the case are not yet clear, and the punishment is really inappropriate." Wen Cheng, who had never said a word, opened his mouth, but it was the usual old-fashioned official language.

Chen Qiyun has never seen such a momentum, since they were talking about the punishment, she fell to the ground in fright, sobbed for a long time, and finally let go in a crying voice: "My father was indeed killed by Mr. Yan, but Mr. Yan was killed by Mr. Yan." Master Yan ordered me to move."