The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor

 Chapter 728: Public Trial and Perfect Counterattack (1)

On November 14th, a fire broke out in the prison of the Ministry of Punishments, and the three old buildings in the deepest part were all burned down. Fortunately, only one suspect in the examination fraud case was detained in the deepest part, and the patrolling cell leader discovered the fire in time, led the jailers to put out the fire, and rescued the suspect who was stunned by the thick smoke.

The prison boss did not dare to be careless and immediately reported the fire in the cell. After an overnight investigation by the head of the Criminal Department, he found the firewood left by the arsonist in the cell. Other prisoners confirmed that they had heard noises outside the cell and mistakenly thought it was a guard patrolling, so they did not pay attention. Soon the cell was on fire.

The head of the Criminal Department interrogated 30 jailers overnight. All the jailers claimed that they had not entered the cell when they were young, and they all had evidence of alibi. It was initially confirmed that the fire was caused by arson. It was suspected that it was related to the recent rumors about the examination room. related to a fraud case.

Once involved in a case of fraud in the examination room, it is simply beyond the control of a small head of the Ministry of Punishment. The head of the Criminal Department did not wait for dawn, went to the residence of the Minister of Criminal Affairs, and told the story exactly.

After hearing this, the Minister of Punishment washed and changed his clothes overnight, and hurriedly reported the matter to the Minister of Punishment. The Minister of Punishment smelled something unusual, and after an hour, he went to the palace in the morning to ask for an audience with Emperor Hui'an.

After Emperor Hui'an heard the whole story, Long Yan was furious and ordered the Ministry of Punishment to assist Jingzhao Mansion to thoroughly investigate the arson case, find the real culprit of the arson, and punish him severely.

Compared to the Xingbu, which was turned upside down by a fire, the Weiyuan Marquis Mansion under the moonlight seemed particularly quiet, revealing indescribable beauty everywhere.

Since Xiao Ruiqing, the second son of the Hou Mansion, was driven out of the capital and sent back to his ancestral home, Weiyuan Hou Xiao Xiong completely broke with Xiao Ruiyuan, the eldest son of the Hou Mansion. Although it has not reached the point of severing the relationship between father and son, the father and son have become strangers.

On the third day after Xiao Xiong's beloved son was driven out of the capital, he and his wife Wei lived in Zhuangzi on the outskirts of Beijing and did not reply for several months. To the outside world, he implicitly expressed that the eldest son was unfilial and disloyal. He drove away his half-brothers and forced his biological father and stepmother to leave the house and live abroad.

The upper-class families in Beijing are not aware of the discord among the several masters of the Weiyuan Marquis Mansion. Compared with Xiao Xiong, who is a mediocre and empty-handed marquis, those people are more willing to get close to Xiao Ruiyuan, who is in the middle of the sky and has a bright future. Who cares if he is Unfilial and disloyal? Especially after Chu Heng was detoxified, countless people expressed their kindness to Xiao Ruiyuan.

Many families with girls of the right age planned to get married, and wanted to recruit Xiao Ruiyuan, a quick son-in-law. The people they invited to talk to him were stunned, but they couldn't even get through the door of Weiyuan Hou Mansion. Even if they did, I couldn't see Xiao Ruiyuan himself, saying that he was the right-hand man in front of Emperor Hui'an. Not long ago, Emperor Hui'an was sent to Jingshan Courtyard to protect the prince, and he rarely returned home!

 Although Xiao Ruiyuan had heard about the good calculations made by those people, he was too lazy to pay attention to them. In his heart, only the woman he likes is the future mistress of the Hou Mansion.

At this time, Xiao Ruiyuan had not fallen asleep and was sitting in front of the desk in the study, listening to An Jiu's report about the fire in the prison of the Criminal Department. When he heard that Mo Qingze was fainted by the thick smoke, his face darkened, and a trace of dissatisfaction flashed in his eyes as he stared at An Jiu.

　　Aware of his master's displeasure, An Jiu complained secretly, and quickly knelt down to plead guilty: "I failed to protect Mr. Mo well. This is a subordinate who neglected his duty. Please punish me, master!"

No one expected that King Heng and others would make such a move. Although he discovered it in time and captured the arsonist who had no time to escape, it was also true that Mo Qingze was stunned by the thick smoke. He failed to protect him well, betrayed his master's trust, and deserved to be punished.

Xiao Ruiyuan looked at An Jiu coldly, and said solemnly: "For the sake of catching the person who set the fire and getting rid of the crime, I will spare you this time, but I won't do it next time!"

 (End of this chapter)