Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Plum garden.

Chan Yi's face darkened, and she was about to speak up for her. Chen Shao stopped her at the right time, "Don't interrupt, let her speak."

Quan Shuyu gave me a grateful smile, picked up the teacup, took a sip, lowered his eyes slightly, and said slowly: "When I first arrived at the Plum Garden, I saw many women and even men younger than me. Although I was surprised, I was relieved when I thought of his identity. Since I followed him, all I wanted was a place to stay. But I overestimated myself and underestimated him. As expected of a young master from the Wen family, on the first day he brought me to the Plum Garden, he called those women and men to me and asked them to serve me tea. He told them that I was the daughter of the county magistrate and forced them to call me sister. I thought this was a respect for me, or for the county government, so I accepted the title of sister, haha."

A sneer spilled from the corner of her mouth, but she quickly retracted it. "In the first half month when he brought me to the Plum Garden, he stayed at my place every day. New people are always better than old people, and I didn't think there was anything wrong. But soon, the nightmare came. He brought a lot of young men to the Plum Garden, and he asked me to accompany him. This was nothing at first, but when I was changing clothes, he took off my clothes and handed me a piece of gauze, asking me to meet the guests wearing the gauze, which I naturally didn't want to. Then, he beat me, and then stripped me of my clothes and threw me into the garden, leaving those young men to humiliate me.

"For three months, I was like a prostitute in a brothel, constantly being abused by those young men. If I didn't obey them, they would either beat me or torture me inhumanely. There were many times when I wanted to die, but when I saw the desperate eyes of those women and men who were tortured like me, I was unwilling to die like this.

"I don't understand any great principles, I just read a few books in my spare time, so I know a few more words than them. If I die, when will people in the world know that there is a plum garden here and a group of beasts like this?"

She spoke of her unbearable past so lightly.

Facing Chan Yi's indignation, Quan Shuyu even smiled and comforted her a few words before continuing, "An ant trying to shake a tree, even if it is beyond one's ability, but if you don't give it a try, wouldn't you be even worse than an ant? So, during one of the tortures, I deliberately knocked myself out. After waking up, I pretended to be stupid, whimpering, eating with my hands, and peeing and defecating randomly, so that they dared not get close to me again. Naturally, they didn't believe that I was really stupid. To test me, they found ruffians to abuse me; when I was peeing and pooping, they threw me on the street; brought me food mixed with poop and urine and watched me eat it, etc. I endured it one by one. But they still didn't give up, they took my aunt in."

"They let my aunt live with me, and they secretly monitored my every move. In the end, they even beat my aunt to death in front of me. Of course, my aunt knew that I was pretending, and she also knew what I wanted to do. Her last words before she was beaten to death were for me to live well.

"After my aunt died, they beat me several times, even nearly to death, and they finally believed that I was really idiot, so they threw me into Changlefang. Only then did I realize that although there was only one Plum Garden, there were more than one, and I had more reasons to live.

"I was in Changlefang. Although they stopped testing me, they didn't let me have an easy time. They asked the housekeeper of Changlefang to feed me leftovers, even rotten ones, and they didn't let anyone take care of me. I had no choice but to live with shit and urine all over my body. After a long time, they finally got tired of me and forgot about me. And I also pretended to learn to do some simple heavy work under the daily beatings and scoldings of the housekeeper. Once, I heard the housekeeper say that the adults had come to Hongyuan County, and I knew my chance had come. But I didn't expect that they would be so bold as to kill people to silence them.

"Fortunately, I am dirty and smelly enough that no one wants to get close to me. I quietly poured the poison on my clothes, and they mistakenly thought I was incontinent and didn't come to check. When they stabbed me with the dagger, I pretended to scream and moved to the side to avoid the vital parts, so they didn't check too much."

After slowly drinking the remaining half cup of tea, Quan Shuyu smiled and said, "You see, there is a will in the universe. I pretended to be crazy and stupid just to live a good life, and in the end, I did survive."

The cicada's tears fell down in strings and could not be wiped away no matter how hard you tried.

Yu didn't show any sadness at all throughout the book.

Despite all the abuse she had suffered, her eyes remained firm and clear.

Chen Shao asked herself, if she were in that environment, could she do the same? The answer is no.

Quan Shuyu put the teacup aside and said calmly, "I did it."

Chan Yi took two steps forward, hugged her in his arms, and nodded: "Yes, you did it!"

Quan Shuyu's body stiffened for a moment before slowly softening. She smiled, but tears came out as she smiled. Although she was born out of wedlock, she had been pampered since she was a child. In those days of being abused and tortured and pretending to be stupid, she trampled her dignity and pride into a cesspool, without companions, without support, and without hope, she was so lonely in the dark night, waiting for the sunrise in the east.

"God has mercy on me after all," said Quan Shuyu.

"It's not that God pities you," Chen Shao said calmly, "God never pities people. It's your own will that has supported you to this day. It's you who pity yourself and those who have suffered the same fate as you! Although I am the sixth son of the Duke of Chen's Mansion, I am not as omnipotent as you think. To defeat them, we can only take a long-term view."

Quan Shuyu was moved and said, "Sir, if there is anything you need me to do, just tell me."

"Rest first tonight," Chen Shao consoled him. "When you wake up tomorrow and feel better, just write down the names of the gentlemen who have been to the Plum Garden. You don't have to write their names. If you really can't remember which gentlemen they are, just write their surnames."

Quan Shuyu looked at Chanyi: "Excuse me Miss Chanyi..."

Chan Yi pulled out the soft pillow from behind her waist, forced her to lie down, and said, "Rest first, we'll talk tomorrow."

Knowing that she was stubborn, Chan Yi added, "I've barely slept a wink taking care of you all day and night. I'm exhausted. When you take a break, I have to take a break too."

Quan Shuyu knew that she was lying, but he didn't expose it. He smiled, thanked her, and closed his eyes.

Seeing her like this, Chan Yi said to Chen Shao, "Young Master, please go back and have a rest."

Chen Shao responded with a yes, came out of the east wing, and then turned to the study.

When investigating the serial killers earlier, the roster from Fenglong Commercial Bank had not been returned. Chen Shao took it, looked through it from beginning to end, marked the people who spread the news that she had accepted bribes, and then went back to look at it again before putting it back. He also took the roster from Fulai Commercial Bank and Rongfa Commercial Bank and looked through it.

The registration on the roster seemed to imply some kind of pattern, which she noticed, but she couldn't figure out what these patterns meant.

Tomorrow, we will call Manager Xu of Fulai Commercial Bank and Manager Tian of Rongfa Commercial Bank to question them.