Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Huimin Pharmacy was full of people inside and outside, and there was no quiet place to be found. After Chen Shao looked around, he took them to Shiweizhai.

Sitting by the window on the second floor of Shiweizhai, Chen Shao waited for Luo Shurong to brew tea and sipped it while looking at Sanwa. Sanwa was not very old, only about 27 or 28 years old. He was thin, with a dark complexion and a dull look in his eyes after being numb for a long time. Although his clothes were clean, you could still see the beard on his face, which was the result of him cleaning it before coming.

Putting down the teacup, Chen Shao asked, "What's your name?"

Perhaps because he had been holding back his grievances and anger for too long, Sanwa's voice was dull and hoarse: "Student Wang Zheng greets you."

The old man also followed his example and bowed to Chen Shao.

Chen Shao nodded slightly and then asked, "I heard from your grandmother that you were kicked out of the academy after being wronged in your early years. Please tell me the details of what happened."

Wang Zheng first said "yes" in a heavy voice, then tears suddenly rolled down his cheeks. He wiped away his tears and said, "In June three years ago, I asked for leave from the teacher and was on my way home to harvest wheat when I ran into Li Hong and Zhao Ren pushing two girls into a carriage. The two girls had their hands tied and kept crying and begging for mercy. Not only did they not show any sympathy, they even beat and kicked the two girls. I couldn't bear to see it, so I went up to them to argue. When the two girls saw me, they asked me for help again. Li Hong and Zhao Ren saw this. , Zhao Ren came forward and pushed the student, warning the student not to meddle in other people's business, while Li Hong continued to beat and scold the two girls. The two girls could not bear the beating and had to get on the carriage. After the student had a fight with Zhao Ren, he chased the carriage to the city gate. At the city gate, the student ran into Lu Yuanfei and wanted to ask him for help, but he warned the student that the two girls were the concubines of Luo Jianyuan who had escaped. The student naturally did not believe it, so he followed them back to the academy to confront Luo Jianyuan, and then the student was kicked out of the academy. "

"Did Abbot Luo admit that those two girls were his concubines?" Chen Shao asked.

Wang Zheng gritted his teeth and said, "Yes."

Chen Shao saw that he was not someone who would give up easily, so he asked one more question: "What about those two girls? Did they admit it too?"

Wang Zheng took a deep breath before answering, "They were forced to do it."

Chen Shao nodded and suddenly asked, "Is Zhao Ren from Pinggao Township?"

Wang Zheng's heart skipped a beat, and suddenly he was filled with bitterness. He mistakenly thought that she and Zhao Ren were old acquaintances, and his eyes, which had finally brightened, slowly dimmed, but he still answered truthfully, "Yes."

Chen Shao noticed his strange behavior, but did not explain. He tilted his head slightly and asked Chan Yi, "Among the students who were captured, is Zhao Ren not included?"

Chan Yi didn't remember the name Zhao Ren very well, but she remembered Pinggao Township very well. This was the place where Chen Shao got angry for the first time after arriving in Hongyuan County. After thinking for a while, Chan Yi said uncertainly, "It seems that there is no such name."

Chen Shao instructed Fu Jiu: "Go to those gardens and ask Li Hong and other students to see if they have missed him. If they have, go to the academy and bring him back, and by the way, re-examine how he entered the Imperial College in the first place."

Fu Jiu said: "I can go now."

Seeing that he was eager to try, Chen Shao didn't ask him anything, but nodded and said, "Go ahead."

After Fu Jiu hopped away, Chen Shao turned around to look at Wang Zheng, whose eyes had brightened up again, and asked deliberately, "Do you regret helping them?"

Wang Zheng shook his head firmly and said, "No regrets!"

Chen Shao curled his lips and looked at his calloused hands: "How long has it been since you touched a book?"

Wang Zheng avoided her gaze with a guilty conscience, "Three years."

"Three years," Chen Shao said slowly, "that means I haven't touched a book since I left the academy."

Watching his gradually clenched fists and his slowly heavier breathing, Chen Shao asked again, "Can you still read?"

Wang Zheng's eyes turned red again: "I dare not forget!"

Chen Shao looked at the busy free clinic outside the window and slowly asked him, "Huimin Pharmacy is still short of an accountant. Are you interested?"

Wang Zheng looked up suddenly.

Chen Shao also turned his gaze back to him, looking at his red eyes and Old Man Wang's excited expression, and said with a smile: "Don't be too happy yet, you can go back and think about it carefully."

"Don't think about it, I'll go!" Wang Zheng replied hastily.

"Okay then." Chen Shao stood up. "When I get back and investigate thoroughly, I'll send someone to notify your grandfather. Then you can go directly to Huimin Pharmacy to find Master Qi."

After taking a quick look at Huimin Pharmacy, Wang Zheng answered "yes" while trying his best to suppress his excitement.

Coming out of Shiweizhai, Chen Shao saw that the free medical consultation activity was gradually becoming orderly with the fifteen students running around to maintain it. He did not disturb them anymore and took the carriage back to the prefectural government.

After lunch, Yuan wanted to wait for Fu Jiu to come back and ask about the results, but his eyelids couldn't help drooping. Chan Yi was also very sleepy. Seeing her like this, he covered his lips and yawned and said, "Sir, if you can't hold on, just take a nap first. Anyway, things are piled up there, and you can't run away without long legs."

Chen Shao didn't even say a word of courtesy and just fell asleep on the bed.

Seeing that she was asleep, Chan Yi forced herself to go outside and say hello to Li Tianliu, then she also lay down on the couch and fell asleep.

Chen Shao slept until the morning. When he woke up, he looked at the dim sky and pinched his brows. After he came to his senses, he tilted his head and saw the cicada shells on the couch. He got up quietly, fetched water and washed himself, then went out and stood under the eaves. He closed his eyes and breathed in the cool air in the early morning. When he opened his eyes again, he accidentally saw the light in the study, and he looked up at the tree curiously. Li Tianliu and Fu Jiu were both sleeping soundly in the tree, so the study...

Chen Shao walked over slowly and saw Quan Shuyu flipping through the account book. He turned his head to look at the east wing, then looked at her again, and stood behind her lightly: "You didn't sleep all night?"

Quan Shuyu was concentrating on checking the account books that several students had checked yesterday. He was startled when he heard her voice. He patted his chest for a long time before standing up and answering, "Master, you woke up so early?"

Seeing her pale face, Chen Shao took the teapot and poured her a cup of hot tea: "If I hadn't woken up earlier, how could I have seen you staying up all night?"

"I didn't miss a whole night," Quan Shuyu took the tea, took a sip to calm himself down, and said, "I just woke up half an hour earlier than you."

It was just past the hour of Mao, which was five in the morning. She had woken up half an hour earlier, which meant she had gotten up at four. Chen Shao took a look at her face and saw that although she looked a little tired, she was in good spirits. He then turned his gaze to the account book in front of her and said, "Didn't I tell you to take your time?"

"These are the account books that Zhang Ruyuan and Cui Shu have checked in the past two days. I am a little worried, so I want to check a few of them while I am up early." Quan Shuyu pushed a small pile of account books next to him. "I didn't check all of them. I just randomly picked two or three to take a general look. It doesn't take much time."

Zhang Ruyuan, Cui Shu, Chang Si, Kang Zhengzong and Geng Dingli were the five students who followed her to check the accounts.

Chen Shao picked up an account book and asked as he flipped through it, "How is it?"

Quan Shu smiled slightly, "It's OK, there are only a few minor problems. But they originally studied the Four Books and Five Classics. It's their first time looking at the account books, and it's already very good to get such a result."

Chen Shao put down the account book in his hand, turned around and sat on the chair next to him, and poured himself a cup of tea: "They didn't make things difficult for you, did they?"

Quan Shuyu shook his head. "They are all very modest, which is a little different from what I imagined."

Chen Shao asked casually, "What do you imagine them to be like?"

Quan Shuyu also sat down, put the teacup aside, picked up the account book again, and checked it while saying: "Before coming to the county, I had an elder brother and two younger brothers who also studied in the county school. In front of outsiders, they were polite and courteous. Anyone who saw them would praise their father and grandfather for their good teaching. But in private, their true colors were extremely flattering, arrogant and rude. After coming to Hongyuan County, I also met many students. The ugliness of these students was even worse than those hooligans on the streets."

Chen Shao looked at her twice, then turned around and took out the account book he had searched out from Lu Yifeng's house. While looking through the records from June three years ago, he said, "Your grandfather was demoted. When your family finds out, will they come to look for you?"

Quan Shuyu nodded: "He should come to find me."

Chen Shao asked: "Do you want to meet them?"

Quan Shuyu thought for a while, but still asked uncertainly: "Sir, do you think I should meet them?"

Chen Shao raised his eyes to look at her, seeing the hesitation on her face, and encouraged her: "Since you want to meet, then meet. No matter what the result is, you just need to remember that there is a way out for you here."

Quan Shuyu's heart twitched, and tears welled up in her eyes. She quickly turned her head away, took out a handkerchief, wiped her eyes and said, "Thank you, sir."

"You don't have to thank me," Chen Shao said kindly, "I said this not out of sympathy for you, but because you are capable and I happen to value talent. In other words, if you were incapable, I would not say this even if I pitied you."

Quan Shuyu nodded thoughtfully: "I understand."

Chen Shao said "hmm" and continued to look at the account books. "Among the account books that have been checked, can we find any records of Fenglong Commercial Bank's transactions with other countries in Changming City, Tuoyu City, etc.?"

"Nothing has been found yet." Quan Shuyu said, "I took a rough look yesterday. These account books of Fenglong Commercial Bank cover the transaction from the beginning of the 12th year of Yuanhe to the present, which is almost ten years. We have checked 23 account books in the past two days, and we have just finished checking the 12th year of Yuanhe."

That is to say, in the 12th year of Yuanhe, Fenglong Commercial Bank did not trade with people from other countries in Changming City and other border areas. Chen Shao looked at the account book in front of her, and suddenly thought of what Lei Dehou had said about the changes in him and Ding Lisheng in September of the 15th year of Yuanhe. She had some guesses in her mind. However, after taking another look at the account book in front of her, Chen Shao did not let her guess guide the direction of her account check, but said: "Don't worry, check slowly."

Then she looked at the account book again.

In June three years ago, there was one boy and four girls who passed through the hands of the Lu family father and son. Two of the four girls were marked as being forcibly bought by Li Hong and Zhao Ren from Xin'an Village. Both girls were eventually sent to the Peach Garden.

She took out the list of Luoyanju students she had searched at Wen's house the day before, and after turning to the last page, she saw that the twenty-one boys and girls who were slaughtered because of her, the earliest of whom entered the garden only in March last year. In other words, the two girls that Wang Zheng wanted to save had already become fertilizer for the flowers in the Peach Garden.

Bi Tao Garden belongs to the Gu family and the Zhu family.

Chen Shao looked at the boxes of evidence collected by Master Luo piled up in the corner of the study. The Wen family was gone, and the only thing left was the aftermath. It was time to choose the next target to eliminate. After hesitating for a moment between the Gu family, the Zhu family, the Fan family, and the Qi family, Chen Shao locked his target on the Gu family and the Zhu family. Since the two girls that Wang Zheng wanted to save entered the Bi Tao Garden, he would choose one of the two families to start with. As for which one of the two families to choose, Chen Shao was still making the final decision when Chan Yi came in with a pot of fresh tea: "Why did you all get up so early?"

Chen Shao retracted his gaze, took the tea she handed over, drank two sips, and said deliberately: "She got up earlier than me."

Quan Shuyu was afraid that Chanyi would start nagging about not taking care of her body, so he quickly said, "I only got up less than an hour earlier than you, which is not early."

Chan Yi immediately put her hands on her hips and said, "It's only 12:00 now. You got up an hour earlier than me, which means you got up at 12:00?"

Chen Shao, who was watching the fun, said without thinking, "She got up right away."

"Yinzheng?" Chan Yi raised her voice, "What time did you go to bed last night?"

Quan Shuyu glanced at Chen Shao, who was smiling, and held her hand with a warm heart, saying, "Okay, don't be angry. I won't get up so early tomorrow."

"Every time you say tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow, it's always tomorrow, and there's never a time to do it." Chan Yi took the opportunity to hold her pulse, and when he saw that her pulse was stable, he let her go.

"I know you are not in a hurry," Quan Shuyu said gently, thinking that if he didn't explain clearly, he would never get up early again. "But I still want to finish reading these account books as soon as possible. The Luo family, the Wu family, the Lu family, and the Wen family that was confiscated the day before yesterday, although the young master has arranged other people to check, I think that even if they check, we should have our own people to supervise. Money can move people's hearts, and only if we know the situation ourselves, others will not dare to make any rash moves."

Chan Yi admitted that what she said made sense, but: "Even so, you can't..."

"Don't worry, I take better care of myself now than ever before." Quan Shuyu interrupted her and said slowly and firmly, "These days, I not only take medicine on time, but also have the kitchen stew chicken and duck every day to nourish my body. I am not afraid of being tired, I like to be busy. Only when I am busy, I feel alive."

Chan Yi held her hand.

She understood how she felt.

When she was first picked up by her mother-in-law and brought back to the temple, although she was young, she was just like she is now. She didn't dare to sleep too much every day, and would rush to work as soon as she woke up, just to show that she was useful and not be abandoned again.