Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

The faces of the two families were full of the vicissitudes of life, which showed that the past few years had not been easy, but their eyes were bright. Half-sitting on the stool in fear, when Chan Yi handed him the tea, he stood up and took the tea flatteredly. After carefully drinking a few sips, Luo Shurong spoke first, with endless self-blame in his words: "It's also my fault. I often heard private gossip that the second son of the Ge family sent his sister to Gao Shanchang as a gift in order to enter the Imperial College, but I didn't take it to heart. I was not very comfortable those two days, so I asked Yu'er to come and help take care of it. This care caught the attention of Mrs. Luo who came to buy rouge. The next day, Mrs. Luo asked a maid to come to propose marriage, saying that she wanted to take a concubine for Luo Jianyuan."

As he spoke, Miao was crying quietly beside him.

Luo Shurong couldn't help but tear up when he heard her crying. He picked up his sleeves and wiped away his tears. Then he said, "Our Luo family is not very wealthy, but we are not at the point of selling our daughter for fame. The abbot Luo is older than me. Not to mention that Yu'er is already engaged to Mingli, even if she is not engaged, I will never let Yu'er marry him as a concubine. But he is the abbot of the Imperial College, and he is not someone that a commoner like me can afford to offend. After politely refusing to let him know that Yu'er is already engaged, I discussed with my brother to see if the marriage can be brought forward. I originally thought that as long as Yu'er and Mingli are married, they will let it go. Who knew..."

"How could we know?" Wang Zhouli choked up and took over the conversation. "They had been prepared for this move! While they sent the maid to the Luo family to propose marriage, they also secretly found Zong Qun and told him that Abbot Luo wanted to take Miss Luo as a concubine. If he wanted to continue studying in the Imperial College, we should voluntarily cancel the engagement with the Luo family. When Zong Qun came back to tell us about this, Mingli overheard it by accident. Mingli said frankly that he would never cancel the engagement, and he even went to the Luo family and swore to Miss Luo that he would marry her."

Zhu also shed tears.

"After Madam Luo learned about this, she came to our house with her maid." Luo Shurong spoke again, "She talked to Yu'er alone. None of us knew what she said to Yu'er. We only knew that after they left, Yu'er cried and locked herself in her room for three days, refusing to see anyone. On the fourth day, Yu'er came out of the room and asked us to cancel the marriage with the Wang family, and said that she was willing to marry Luo Jianyuan as a concubine. No matter how we asked and persuaded her, she refused to say more. Mingli heard the news and came to persuade her, and even stood in her courtyard for three days, but failed to make her change her mind."

"Mingli is a good boy," Miao also spoke up. "The day before Yu'er married Luo Jianyuan, he even put aside his manly pride and knelt in Yu'er's yard to beg her not to marry. But Yu'er was determined to do what she wanted to do, and no one could persuade her. Since we couldn't persuade Yu'er, we had to persuade Mingli to forget Yu'er and find another marriage. But we didn't know that the boy was so stubborn. That night, he..."

Miao and Zhu burst into tears together.

"Yu'er heard the news the next day and hanged herself that night." Although it had been several years, the pain in his chest was no less severe when he recalled it now. Luo Shurong pounded his chest twice, suppressing his grief and continued, "Since the incident has become so serious, Supervisor Luo will definitely not let us go. We have already lost two children, and we cannot lose anyone else. So after embalming their bodies, we left the county town at night."

Chan Yi was filled with righteous indignation and said, "A person like this is worthy of being the dean!"

Chen Shao asked calmly: "Where have you lived these years?"

"There is no other place to go," Luo Shurong said after wiping away tears, "I will follow my family and make a living in Hanyuan County."

Chen Shao asked: "How did Brother Xue Wanqing find you?"

Luo Shurong shook his head, "I don't know. They found us and said that a high-ranking official had come to the county town. He not only solved the serial murder case, but also imprisoned Gao Shanzhang and Luo Jianyuan. Now they are looking for us to make a decision for us. The news that the master is investigating the murder case has already spread to the county town. When we heard them say that, we thought that even if they were lying to us, we had to come and give it a try, so we followed them."

Chen Shao looked at Wang Zhouli, and Wang Zhouli said the same thing.

Chen Shao asked, "Do they still have their marriage certificate?"

"Yes." Zhu trembled as she took out a handkerchief from her bosom, and then took out the marriage certificate from the handkerchief. Chen Shao took the marriage certificate and read it twice from beginning to end, then asked, "Do you still have the gift list that Luo Zhengxin's wife proposed to Miss Luo?"

Miao also took out the gift list and handed it to her in the same way.

Chen Shao saw that the date on the marriage certificate was March 12, the 12th year of Yuanhe, while the date on the gift list given by Mrs. Luo Zhengxin was September 18th, the 18th year of Yuanhe.

"What is the identity of the woman who came to act as a matchmaker for Luo Zhengxin's wife?" Chen Shao asked.

Miao replied, "It was Mrs. Pan who made a living as a matchmaker in the county town."

Chen Shao ordered Chan Yi, "Go and call a few yamen runners in."

After the bailiff came in, Chen Shao said, "Send two people to invite the matchmaker Pan. Send a few more people to invite Gao Han and Luo Zhengxin's wives to come over."

It takes some time to hire someone.

At this time, Chen Shao asked the two families to wait in the side hall, and subconsciously called Fu Jiu. Seeing that Fu Jiu and Li Tianliu were not there, he sighed, called another yamen runner, and told him: "Go and invite the recorder, warehouse manager, and household manager to come over."

The military officer in charge of recording was Lei Dehou, the military officer in charge of warehouses was Zhao Lin, and the military officer in charge of households was Hu Qinglu. The three men thought they had committed some crime, and hurried over to confess their guilt. Chen Shao stopped them from kneeling at the right time, and said to Lei Dehou, "Go and see if the families of those killed by Shi Xing are still outside the prefectural governor's mansion. If so, tell them how Shi Xing will deal with them. A notice will be posted in two days. When you come back, discuss with Lord Hu to write a compensation plan for the victims, and give it to me before the 28th. In addition, give me the remaining silver in the prefectural governor's mansion, along with the account books."

After the two of them left, Chen Shao looked at Zhao Lin. Seeing Zhao Lin's anxious look, she said, "Wait here and see if there is anything else to do later."

Mrs. Pan came faster.

She knelt down as soon as she entered the hall, crying and shouting, "Sir, please spare me. It's not me who wants to break up their marriage. It's Madam Luo who is so rich and powerful. If I don't do as you say, she will take the blame on me."

"You mean," Chen Shao said slowly, "Mrs. Luo forcibly broke up the marriage between Miss Luo and Mr. Wang Er in order to find a concubine for Dean Luo?"

"Yes," Mrs. Pan cried, "She did this to please Abbot Luo and because Miss Luo was young and beautiful, she killed two innocent lives."

Chen Shao asked slowly, "To please Abbot Luo?"