Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 567: Avoiding the "Fifteen"

Lu Chengze's trip to Kunshan went very smoothly.

The value of the new third place is still very high, especially when the first and second place are not in the same class.

The magistrate of Kunshan, who was at the same level as Lu Chengze, personally welcomed the official from Beijing.

After learning the purpose of his visit, the county magistrate did not dare to neglect him and immediately invited him to the Gao family.

The head of the Gao family is Gao Yuheng, who is less than 40 years old this year. His father died early and he inherited the family business when he was young. He is a very powerful landlord in Kunshan.

Kunshan's silk and embroidery are also very famous. The Gao family has large silk and embroidery workshops in the local area, and also opened a shop in Lin'an.

When Lu Chengze personally arrived at Gao's house and interrogated him, before he could ask "bring out your sister Gao Suying for a face-to-face confrontation", Gao Yuyan had already suffered a mental breakdown and knelt down to apologize.

It turned out that Gao Yuheng's sister Gao Suying married into the Zhang family and became Zhang Mi's eldest daughter-in-law.

Zhang Mi's eldest son was studying hard day and night to prepare for the imperial examination. After his wedding, he resumed his life of studying hard.

Zhang Mi was only in his thirties at the time. Seeing his young and beautiful daughter-in-law every day, he actually developed evil intentions towards her.

After Gao Suying was forcibly taken away by her father-in-law, she dared not speak out about such an immoral act and could only shed tears.

Seeing that her daughter-in-law was too weak to resist, Zhang Mi became even more aggressive.

It was impossible to hide such a thing from the family for a long time, but Zhang Mi always had his way at home, and his wife did not dare to argue with him.

When his son found out, although he was extremely sad and angry, he was also in a dilemma.

Ancient ethics forbade sons to sue their fathers, except for the ten most serious crimes.

It just so happened that at this time, he passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, although he was only in the third place, but he was still a Jinshi.

If Zhang Mi were to be sued, his reputation and future as a son would be ruined.

After weighing all the pros and cons, he just treated his wife as if she were gone. After the court assigned him an official position, he went far away to serve as an official and never returned.

Under such circumstances, Zhang Mi simply took possession of his son's wife and treated Gao Suying as his own concubine. Who in the mansion dared to say anything?

Zhang Mi's wife died early, which might have been the reason why he was depressed all day long.

Later, the daughter-in-law became pregnant, and Zhang Mi had a crazy idea and wanted her to give birth to the child.

He thought that everyone in the mansion was afraid of him, so after the child was born, he could just appoint a concubine to be the child's biological mother.

But at this time, he was transferred to Lin'an and promoted.

The family had to move to Lin'an before the baby was born. How could he hide his big belly?

His son had already gone to work as an official thousands of miles away, and his daughter-in-law had never traveled thousands of miles to visit him. Although he could cover it up with lies, he was afraid that someone would take it seriously, and once they found out about it, it would inevitably ruin his future.

After all, not only did he have political enemies among the local officials, but he was also unfamiliar with the court.

If he left some of his family members behind in the local area until the baby was born, he would be worried that things would get out of control if he was not around, and the scandal would eventually spread.

Just at this time, upon hearing that Zhang Mi had been promoted, his relative-in-law, Mr. Gao, the brother of his daughter-in-law, came to celebrate.

Now that her biological brother has come, there is no reason not to let her sister meet him.

His original plan was to appoint a concubine to pretend to be the child's mother after the child was born, so the fact that his daughter-in-law was pregnant was kept secret.

Now that his in-laws are here, how can he explain the fact that his sister is pregnant?
Zhang Mi, who had made one wrong step after another and had done one stupid move after another, made up his mind and told his relatives the truth.

Anyway, the current situation is: if you sue me, I'm finished, your brother-in-law is finished, your sister is finished, you are embarrassed, and no one benefits.

If you don't report it and acquiesce to it, we can still be good relatives and form a strong alliance. As long as outsiders don't know, we can still be decent people. You can do whatever you want.

Mr. Gao struggled and weighed the pros and cons for the whole night, but in the end he could only hold his nose and endure the matter.

Zhang Mi now had the Gao family in her control, and forced them to take their pregnant daughter-in-law, who could not be concealed from others, back to her parents' home on the pretext of visiting her parents.

After that, the child was born safely. However, due to Zhang Mi's previous series of outrageous actions, and probably because he did not want to upset his eldest son who had already fled far away, Zhang Mi did not dare to openly name the child after his son and acknowledge him as his grandson.

Both the Zhang and Gao families knew about this scandal, but due to their own interests, they concealed the matter.

As the days passed and the children grew up, the daughter-in-law, who had been submissive at first, had a different mentality.

Both families knew about this scandal. She and her child had been discriminated against since childhood, including by her own relatives, especially the children of her relatives.

Even those who are not very knowledgeable will bully this child of unknown identity when they see that he is not liked by others.

This is how my life will be, but what about my children?
What should I do when he grows up?

Gao Suying was in desperation and could only force Zhang Mi to find a solution, but things had come to this point, what good solution could Zhang Mi come up with?
He didn't want to take any risks. In his opinion, it was much easier to control a daughter-in-law who was easy to bully than to risk being exposed and seek a solution.

So Zhang Mi just treated her perfunctorily.

After repeated disappointments, Gao Suying could no longer bear it. She claimed that she would take her children from her parents' home to her husband's home. After entering Lin'an City, she shook off the family members escorting her and quietly went to the Privy Council.

She wanted to "force the palace" and force Zhang Mi to give an explanation to her son.

At first, Zhang Mi tried to persuade her in a humble manner with a smile, but Gao Suying was determined this time. "If you don't give me a concrete and feasible solution, I won't be able to bear it anymore. I will immediately publicize it in the Privy Council and ruin your reputation."

Gao Suying pretended to go out and shout, but Zhang Mi, who was angry and embarrassed, took it seriously. In desperation, he picked up an inkstone and smashed it on her head.

In fact, Gao Suying was not dead at that time, she just fainted with a bleeding head.

But how could a five or six-year-old child understand such complicated things? Seeing his mother lying on the ground with a bloody head, his only reaction was to burst into tears.

This is Zhang Mi’s detention room. If the child starts crying and attracts others, how will it end?

Zhang Mi first tried to cover his mouth, but after he bit her, she became so angry that she broke the neck of her own flesh and blood.

Seeing that Gao Suying was still breathing, Zhang Mi decided to go all out and hit her twice with the inkstone, killing her.

Gao Yuanwai wept and said to Lu Chengze, "My family couldn't find my sister's whereabouts, so they reported it to the authorities in a hurry. In order to conceal his tracks, Zhang Mi came to my house and knelt down to plead guilty.

I have thought about it, our two families are in-laws after all, if the news gets out, my sister's reputation will be damaged after her death, so... so..."

Lu Chengze's face turned green, and he smiled coldly: "So, you accepted Zhang Mi's kindness, used your sister's life in exchange for two shops in Lin'an, and took advantage of Zhang Mi's weaknesses, so that your in-laws will protect your Gao family more in the future, right?"

Gao lowered his head and said, "I was just confused for a moment..."

Lu Chengze grinned and said, "No, no, no, you are not confused, you are very smart."

The Kunshan County Magistrate next to him also had a very unhappy expression on his face. When he introduced this Gao Yuanwai to Lu Chengze just now, he praised him as the best person in the area. Now his face was slapped...

Lu Chengze said, "You knew your sister was raped, but you didn't report it. This is known as not reporting. You knew your sister and her son were killed, but you still concealed it. This is even more of a crime of shielding. Come with me to Lin'an."

Gao Yuanwai was horrified and said in a trembling voice: "The victims... the victims are Xiaomin's sister and nephew. Xiaomin is the victim."

Lu Chengze said sternly: "You said you are the victim, ask your sister and your nephew, do they admit it in the underworld?"

Mr. Gao suddenly collapsed to the ground, with a pool of water flowing out from his crotch.

Lu Chengze covered his nose with a handkerchief and said disgustedly: "Take him away!"

……

Mr. Gao was brought back to Lin'an City by Lu Chengze.

The news that "two corpses were found in the Privy Council in one day, and Yang Zhuangyuan solved a major case in two days" swept the whole city in an instant.

The brothels in Lin'an had more material, and Yang Yuan was now labeled as a "god at solving cases".

The Yue Family Variety Show Troupe wrote the script and rehearsed overnight, and performed it publicly before the Lantern Festival.

The third place winner, Lu Chengze, was portrayed as a character similar to Gongsun Ce of Kaifeng Prefecture.

Later, Lu Chengze accidentally discovered this, secretly watched a play, and provided some more abundant materials to Yue, the troupe leader, and guided him to revise the script. After the new "Yang Yuan's Case" was performed, Lu Chengze, who pretended to be unaware of the situation, invited many of his close friends to book the theater.

This is something for later, let’s not mention it for now.

With the confessions of Gao Yuyan, Wang Jiayi and He Xiao, the case had become a solid case. Zhang Mi could no longer avoid it and had to confess.

However, even at this point, he was unwilling to give up, but he continued to struggle as long as he could to deny it.

He insisted that he did not force his daughter-in-law, but that his daughter-in-law was unfaithful to her husband and took the initiative to seduced him, which led to a series of events later.

Since the woman was no longer alive, he had thrown out the basin of dirty water and there was no evidence to refute it.

However, this was just a minor detail. It was a fact that Zhang Mi had killed two people, and the case was quickly transferred to the Dali Temple for judgment.

Yang Yuan solved a major case and began to prepare for his concubine.

Taking a concubine is not like marrying a wife, the court will not give a fake one.

It was with this in mind that Luxi chose the Lantern Festival to have Yang Yuan marry Dan Niang, Xue Bingxin, Leng Yuchan and Wugu Lun Yingge.

The four girls are all extraordinary people. They are all good wives to their husbands. Although they were married as concubines, it was too shabby and I am afraid they would not be happy about it.

Especially since Dan Niang and she have been like sisters for a long time, she always has to take her feelings into consideration.

There are seven days of holiday for the Lantern Festival. Although many government offices in the "capital" do not have holidays, and some are even busier than usual, government offices like the Censorate are never as busy as Lin'an Prefecture.

The time for finishing his shift at least should be earlier than usual, so that Yang Yuan can spend more time with these beautiful ladies.

Yang Yuan also wanted to spend more time with them. After all, there is always work to do, and it’s not a bad thing to have some time to relax.

Today is the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, and he plans to pretend to be sick. Even though he only has a half-day work tomorrow, he doesn't want to go.

"Da Zhuang, put the towel in the water and change it for me."

Yang Yuan asked Liu Dazhuang to throw a towel over his forehead and then lay back on the seat looking sick.

He planned to wait until a few more colleagues saw his miserable condition before asking for leave from Zhu Zhuo.

At this time, Lu Chengze walked in with brisk steps and a cheerful face.

After this major case was solved, he became a prominent figure in the Censorate.

This fellow was combative by nature. It turned out that he wanted to fight with Yang Yuan with his neck stiff, but ended up being defeated.

Now he suddenly found that it was quite interesting to fight others together with Yang Yuan, so he became more and more excited.

"Yang Qianxian, you...what's wrong with you?"

"Oh, it's Xiao Lu..."

Yang Yuan waved his hand weakly at him: "It's okay. I've been working on Zhang Mi's case these days, sleeping outdoors and eating out. I think I'm a little overworked and caught a cold."

Lu Chengze looked at Yang Yuan in surprise. It was me who rushed to Kunshan to arrest people, and it was me who stayed up late to interrogate the Zhang family members.
There are a total of fifty-seven reports, letters, and confessions handed over to the Dali Temple, totaling one hundred and sixty-six pages. I led my team to sort them all out. Are you tired?
"Da Zhuang, serve tea to Imperial Censor Lu."

Yang Yuan said weakly, pressing the towel on his forehead and said, "Xiao Lu, what's the matter?"

Lu Chengze took out a memorial from his sleeve and said, "Oh, it's nothing serious. The Privy Council has concluded the case against Zhang Mi."

"Oh?"

Yang Yuan grabbed the wet wipe off his head. This was a double blessing.

Yang Yuan didn't even read the reply, and said with a smile: "The Dali Temple made the judgment quickly this time."

Lu Chengze said: "Our Censorate is very popular now, and the Dali Temple naturally doesn't want to be outdone by us.

Besides, the Lantern Festival holiday is coming soon, and many government offices are not on duty or are understaffed, so they will naturally be anxious."

Yang Yuan sighed, "It's just that the Lantern Festival is approaching, and it's impossible to execute him immediately. We can't let him ruin the fun of the whole world for him and let him live in prison for a few more days."

Lu Chengze was stunned and said in surprise: "Immediate execution? Yang Qianxian, what are you thinking? Zhang Mi is not guilty of the death penalty."

Yang Yuan was stunned and said, "He killed two people, a woman and a child. How could such a sinner not be sentenced to death?"

Lu Chengze said: "The woman is his daughter-in-law, and the child is his own flesh and blood, so the one who was killed was not an outsider.

According to the great etiquette of filial piety, the guilt of a father killing his son and a son killing his father is completely different.

Furthermore, the imperial court does not kill scholars and officials, this is the ancestral rule..."

Yang Yuan was furious and immediately interrupted Lu Chengze and asked, "What is the Dali Temple's verdict on Zhang Mi?"

Lu Chengze said: "He was demoted to Xinzhou (now Xinxing, Guangdong) for control."

The system of "registration" was a way of punishing criminals in the Song Dynasty. Criminal officials were registered in the local household register and supervised by local officials.

There are usually two outcomes for officials who are placed under supervision. One is that they have connections in the court and can make some connections. In that case, they will just be demoted to a local area and help local officials with cultural and educational matters. In fact, it is a position of supervision without an official position. It is not impossible for them to make a comeback one day.

The other situation is that there is no one in the court, or even there are enemies, then life will be more difficult.

But it was only relatively hard. Local officials were unwilling to be placed under the supervision of a criminal official, as someone had died under his management.

After hearing this, Yang Yuan's eyes widened in astonishment: "Zhang Mi forcibly took his daughter-in-law, which is against human ethics. He also harmed her and killed her son. With two lives lost, he was only sentenced to exile?"

Lu Chengze patiently explained: "Not killing scholars and officials is the ancestral rule. Moreover, Zhang Mi did not kill outsiders. And whether it was Zhang Mi who forced Gao Suying to rape him or Gao Suying who took the initiative to have an affair with him is also a mystery and cannot be verified. In view of this..."

Yang Yuan sneered, "Ancestor's rule? Three commandments engraved on stone, right? Who has seen it?"

After Luo Tingxia became the Lord of Baolong Palace, Yang Yuan had less contact with him, because as the person in charge of the last line of defense for the emperor's safety, it would not be good for either of them if they were too close to foreign officials.

However, when Yang Yuan was in the Dragon Guard, he had communicated with Luo Tingxia. Out of curiosity, he also asked Luo Tingxia for confirmation that there was no such thing as the Taizu stele, and it was completely a folk rumor.

Yang Yuan added: "If the person killed is not an outsider, then he is not a human being? How can this be justified!"

He grabbed the Dali Temple memorial that Lu Chengze had brought from the table.

After the Dali Temple has examined the case clearly, it will send the verdict to the Censorate for supervision and review. This is the supervisory right of the Censorate.

The case will be officially finalized only if the Metropolitan Procuratorate approves it. Otherwise, it will be sent back for a retrial.

Yang Yuan picked up his pen and wrote four big characters on the verdict sent from the Dali Temple: "Resent for retrial!"

Lu Chengze tilted his head to look at Yang Yuan's calligraphy. Hmm, the shape and charm of his characters are far inferior to mine. Even the top scholar is not as good as me, Lu Tanhua!
Wait! Send it back for reexamination? Is it necessary to be so tough?

Lu Chengze hesitated for a moment and said kindly, "Yang Qianxian, the Dali Temple decided the case according to the law. Even if it is sent back for retrial, I am afraid the result will be the same.

To be honest, because it is still unclear whether Gao Suying took the initiative to commit adultery or was forced by Zhang Mi, there are officials in the Dali Temple who believe that the punishment should be cautious and a lighter one should be given.

This is already a severe punishment. If we offend the Dali Temple and the result is still the same, it would be fine. But I am afraid... it will be worse than the result of the first trial. Yang Qianxian will not look good then."

Yang Yuan was stunned and looked at Lu Chengze.

Lu Chengze said sincerely: "Yang Qianxian, what you want to overturn is not Zhang Mi's guilt, but... the face of the Dali Temple, and... the law of the Song Dynasty!"

Yang Yuan's eyes moved for a moment, and he slowly sat down and said, "On the grounds that the sentence is too light, the case will be sent back for retrial."

Lu Chengze breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Yang Qianxian had listened to his advice.

However, for the sake of face, he still had to reject it once, and when the Dali Temple presented more detailed basis for the judgment, he would go with the flow.

But, I feel a little disappointed. What’s going on?

Yang Yuan was thinking, the Dali Temple's reputation was worthless. The ridiculous rule that doctors could not be punished was played out clearly by the literati of the Song Dynasty.

The three bronze guillotines in Kaifeng Prefecture were all wishful thinking of later generations. With such a ridiculous law, how many people would tolerate him to behead people with the guillotine all year round?
The fictitious "Three Commandments Engraved on Stone" are now taken seriously by people, whether true or false, and they are playing with the principles of heaven, humanity, and justice in the world!
I'm going to smash this non-existent stone tablet!

Otherwise, even if Zhang Mi is killed today, who knows if another Li Mi or Wang Mi will appear tomorrow!
However, I’m going to marry my beautiful bride tomorrow, so let’s talk about it after the 15th!
(End of this chapter)