Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chen Shao took out a few more account books, flipped through two pages, and then put them back.

She doesn't understand it, so let's find some professionals to take a look at it tomorrow.

Glancing at the piles of account books, Chen Shao rubbed his forehead with a headache. After forcing himself to calm down, he slowly sorted out the current case.

The murderer has been identified, and it is basically the nobles and gentry of Hongyuan County.

What we need to do now is to find evidence of their crimes and bring them to justice.

The first step of the bait has been thrown out.

The next thing to do is to find evidence.

Where do I start looking?

Chen Shao's eyes inadvertently swept across the case file placed in the corner of the desk, which was the case file of the victim of Shi Xing's murder case.

The first step is to investigate the poisoning case of Mrs. Gao and Luo Zhengxin.

After going over the investigation process in his mind, Chen Shao went back to his room to sleep.

The next day, she went to the east wing as usual. Quan Shuyu had already woken up and was drinking porridge. When she saw her coming, she immediately put down the porridge and bowed to her. After Chen Shao stopped her, he asked Chanyi about her injury first, and then said to her: "Take good care of yourself. There are Yulin Guards outside. Don't worry or be anxious."

Quan Shuyu smiled and said, "Miss Chan Yi has already told me."

Chen Shao said "hmm" and was about to leave, but Quan Shuyu hurriedly called her, "Sir, please stay."

Chan Yi said dissatisfiedly: "Didn't I tell you not to worry?"

Quan Shuyu smiled and said, "I'm not talking about the garden, I just want to remind you something."

Chen Shao said: "You say."

Quan Shuyu suppressed his smile and said sincerely, "The news that I was rescued by you should not be hidden from you, you should be careful that he uses me to cause trouble for you."

Chan Yi said disapprovingly: "If he wants to cause trouble, just come and do it. Do you think you are afraid of him?"

Chen Shao asked, "How will he use you to cause trouble?"

Quan Shuyu thought for a moment and said, "Use my identity. I am the granddaughter of Quan Li'an, the magistrate of Hanyuan County, and the concubine given to him by Quan Li'an. I was saved by the young master, so he can come to his house openly to ask for me. He can also let my grandfather and father come to thank the young master and take me back."

Chen Shao nodded: "If he wants to take you back for this reason, or if your grandfather and father really want to take you back, I really can't refuse."

Chan Yi was anxious: "Master!"

"What's the hurry?" Chen Shao glanced at her, then continued to ask Quan Shuyu, "Since you reminded me, I think you already have a comprehensive plan to deal with it. What is it? Tell me."

Quan Shuyu said calmly, "When I was pretending to be stupid, they threw me on the street, and it's not like no one recognized me. Since they didn't want to save me then, and now they recognize me, I should ask them what they are thinking."

Chen Shao said: "No matter what their intentions are, since they dare to come, they must have thought of an excuse."

"Your Excellency already knows about the matters of those gardens, and I have finally gotten what I wanted." Quan Shuyu said calmly, "If they insist on taking me back, my lord, please don't waste your breath arguing with them for me."

She must know what it means to go back. Chen Shao looked at her for a long time, "Is it worth it?"

Quan Shuyu raised his head, a smile spreading across his lips: "My lord, you have just recovered from a long illness and came here from afar. Seeing that the Datang River and Mountain, which the Duke of Chen's Mansion sacrificed several generations to protect, was destroyed by these people, have you ever regretted it?"

Chen Shao smiled. After she finished laughing, she asked about the real matter: "Did you have any contact with other women or men when you were in Meiyuan or Changlefang?"

Quan Shuyu shook his head. "When I was in Meiyuan, I basically had no contact with other people. When I first arrived at Meiyuan, I didn't know the situation and wanted to make friends with them, but they must have been warned not to make friends with others in private. I mistakenly thought it was jealousy, and after being rejected several times, I gave up the idea of ​​making friends. After arriving at Changlefang, I was dirty and smelly, and no one was willing to get close to me except the housekeeper who ordered me to work."

"I understand." Chen Shao nodded, "You take good care of your injuries. I'll go first..."

Before he finished speaking, Fu Jiu called out from outside, "Master, Lord Ding is here!"

Quan Shuyu's body stiffened slightly, and he looked outside with an extremely unnatural expression.

Chen Shao quickly told Chan Yi to take good care of her and walked out.

"Sir." Ding Lisheng came over quickly, glanced in the direction of the east wing, and handed over the two confessions in his hand, reporting, "This is Shi Xing's confession. It should have been given to you a long time ago, but I was busy sealing up Fenglong Commercial Bank these past two days, so I hurriedly wrote it last night."

After Chen Shao took it, he continued: "There are seven or eight more drugstores willing to take over those retail traders who buy and sell medicinal materials. Together with the dozen or so from the day before, there are already 26."

Chen Shao said 'hmm', "Just ask them to come see me this afternoon. They don't have to come to me specially to report."

"I'm here to report on the coffins." Ding Lisheng glanced towards the east wing and said carefully, "The Gu, Zhu, Fan, Wen, and Ren families have already bought out all the coffins available in the county town. We only bought 46 in total. The rest, whether we make them now or buy them from other county towns, may take one to two months."

Chen Shao didn't say anything. After reading the contents of the confession, he raised his head and looked at him with a smile.

Ding Lisheng's scalp tingled when he was looked at, "Sir..."

Chen Shao asked: "Master Ding is from Hongyuan County, right?"

Ding Lisheng's heartstrings were tense: "Yes."

"The court has good intentions in not letting local people serve as governors of a county. However, the officials who take office will face completely unfamiliar local customs and practices." Chen Shao turned around and said as he walked towards the study, "Lord Ding did a good job some time ago. I was thinking that if Lord Ding could keep up the good work, I would break the old rules and promote Lord Ding to be the governor to see if it would be better than before, but..."

Chen Shao stopped at the door of the study, turned around and looked at him and said, "I am very dissatisfied with the things you have done recently! For example, in this confession, you almost copied the key points I wrote down. You didn't add any details other than the key points!"

Ding Lisheng's face turned red and white: "Young Master..."

Chen Shao interrupted him and said, "Alright, I'll handle the coffin issue myself, and you can follow Lord Zhao to investigate..."

"Sir!" Ding Lisheng summoned up his courage and said, "I will write a new confession. I can also urge them about the coffin. If they keep shirking their responsibilities, I will go find the coffin shops and ask them to rush out overnight!"

Chen Shao looked at him twice and said nonchalantly, "Alright, I'll give you another chance. As for the coffin, if they really don't want to, there's no need to force them. Just calculate how much a coffin costs and give me the bill. I'll pay some of the five thousand taels of silver that Manager Shen of Fenglong Commercial Bank sent me. You can use the money to find a coffin shop to make it yourself, or buy it from somewhere else. It's up to you."

"I'm going to go now!"

Looking at Ding Lisheng's back as he jogged along, Chen Shao did not show any joy on his face.