Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chen Shao interrupted him, "How old was your daughter at that time?"

Master Luo said bitterly, "Just turned eleven and two months old."

There was a hint of murderous intent in Chen Shao's eyes, "Master Zhu Si took her as his concubine even though she was so young?"

Mr. Luo's teeth were grinding, and after a long while, he choked out the word "yes".

Chen Shao looked at him sternly for a while before saying, "Go on."

Mr. Luo hit his head on the ground, his heart ached beyond measure. He let his tears flow for a while, venting the emotions that were surging up like crazy, then he wiped his tears and continued, "After I accidentally heard the words of the servants of the Zhu family, I followed them and soon found those gardens. I followed them around those gardens for nearly half a year. After I completely understood the secrets of those gardens, I went back to Hanyuan County to ask the Xu family for fifty taels of silver, and then spent twenty taels of silver to buy two beautiful girls from the maid, and brought them back to the county city, intending to sell them near the Peach Garden where Mr. Zhu Si often went.

"My hawking did not attract Mr. Zhu Si, but it attracted Wen Shou, the steward of Mr. Wen Si. After hearing my fabricated story that the two girls owed me money and were unable to repay, so I had to use them to pay off the debt, Wen Shou not only did not expose me, but also happily bought them for fifty taels of silver. Before leaving, he even deliberately told me that if there was such business in the future, I could continue to look for him at that place.

"Although I didn't have a direct relationship with Mr. Wen Si, he was also one of the people who often went in and out of those gardens. If I got in touch with him, I would be in touch with their circle, so I naturally didn't want to let go. So I went back to Hanyuan County and bought three more girls from the previous man. This time, I deliberately picked only one girl with outstanding appearance, and I still sold her near the Peach Garden. Wen Shou came over after hearing the sound, and saw that there was only one outstanding girl. As expected, he showed a disappointed look. Even so, he still bought that one and warned me not to bring any girl who was not pretty in the future. I pretended not to understand and begged him to buy them all so that the price could be cheaper. Wen Shou ignored me and left with the girl he bought.

"I stayed there to continue selling them on purpose. On the seventh day, Wenshou came again. I begged him to buy them again and complained to him that if I couldn't sell them, I would be penniless and have to beg for a living. Wenshou still didn't buy them, but stayed to talk to me. After learning that I bought those girls from men, he taught me where to buy girls, what kind of girls to buy, etc. Before leaving, he gave me another ten taels of silver.

"I am naturally very grateful to him. Afterwards, I followed his teachings and did many transactions with him, and gradually became familiar with him. By getting to know him, as I had planned, I slowly started doing business with the Zhu family. However, when I started doing business with the Zhu family, it had been six years since my wife and daughter were kidnapped. My wife could not bear it anymore and died of illness."

Chan Yi asked cautiously, "Have you seen your daughter?"

When Master Luo spoke, he kept his head down and spoke in a low voice. He shook his head at first, then, with trembling hands, he took out a purse from his arms and handed it to her with affection, "This is a toy that Master Zhu gave me as a reward. The stitches of this toy were made by my wife's maid."

Chan Yi took the purse, looked at the stitches carefully, and handed it to Chen Shao, "Didn't you say that your wife has..."

"This is my daughter's embroidery." Grandpa Luo tried his best to suppress his tears. "My wife's stitches are more delicate. My daughter was very lively when she was young and could never sit still. She has no talent for needlework at all."

Chan Yi blurted out, "I think the stitching on this purse is very good, it can be better than many embroiderers."

Mr. Luo finally couldn't hold back his tears, and Chan Yi realized belatedly that he had said the wrong thing. His daughter was lively when she was young, and had no talent for needlework at all, but now she is so good at needlework, so it's needless to say what kind of life she has lived in the Zhu family.

As Chan Yi was at a loss for words, Chen Shao calmly asked, "When did Fourth Master Zhu give you this purse as a reward?"

Luo Ye cried and replied, "The 9th day of the twelfth month of the 17th year of Yuanhe."

His wife and daughter were kidnapped on July 13, the ninth year of the Yuanhe reign, and he got the news that his daughter was still alive on December 9, the seventeenth year of the Yuanhe reign. There was a gap of eight years and four months in between. I wonder how many boys and girls he sold to those gardens in these eight years and four months? How many of those boys and girls are still alive? Whenever Chen Shao thought of this, he could not feel even a trace of sympathy for him.

Looking coldly at his hunched figure shaking with tears, Chen Shao asked, "Is your daughter still alive?"

Mr. Luo nodded repeatedly: "Alive."

Chen Shao continued: "Have you tried to contact your daughter?"

"I have contacted her." Master Luo took the initiative to say, "After I got the money bag and recognized that it might be her female worker, I asked Zhu Dabao, who often did business with me beside Master Zhu, who was the one who made the money bag, on the grounds that I could not afford such a great favor. After learning that it was indeed her, I went back to Hanyuan County and bought her favorite peach blossom cakes when she was a child, mixed with a bunch of other food, and asked Zhu Dabao to pass them to her on the grounds of thanking her. Later, Zhu Dabao said that she liked the snacks I bought very much, so I sent her once a month, and kept doing so until Gao Shanzhang and Luo Jianyuan were detained, and then I stopped."

Chen Shao questioned: "Aren't you going to save her?"

"I want to save her," Master Luo's voice lowered again, "I have been collecting evidence of their evil deeds over the years. I originally thought that with more evidence, no matter how powerful they are, the court will not tolerate them. But when I collected evidence to the end, I found that the government officials were also doing evil with them, and were even more blatant than them..."

Chen Shao had no choice but to ask, "Where is the evidence?"

Master Luo replied, "There are too many pieces of evidence, and it is inconvenient for me to carry them with me, so I hid them in a cave in Dongshui Valley."

Dongshui Valley, the name sounded familiar, Chen Shao thought about it, but couldn't remember it. Chan Yi reminded him, "It was one of the places where Shi Xing cleaned the carriage after committing a crime."

Chen Shao remembered that Shi Xing had said that Dongshui Valley had many rocks and little land, and almost no one would go there. But the two of them... Shi Xing hadn't mentioned him, probably because he had never seen him or he was just an irrelevant person. What about him? Chen Shao stared at him: "Have you seen Shi Xing in Dongshui Valley?"