Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Quan Qingya quickly denied: "My father has always favored her, and all these excuses are just to protect her reputation."

Chen Shao looked at him calmly for a moment, "Let me ask you again, are you sure you are not lying, but your father favors her?"

Quan Qingya gritted his teeth and agreed.

Chen Shao responded with a "yes" and said aggressively, "Your father is the magistrate of Hanyuan County, and the magistrate is a seventh-rank official. Although the Wen family has some wealth, all the sons are playboys, and none of them has passed the imperial examination. If your father really favored her, with his status and position, not to mention letting the fourth son of Wen divorce his wife and marry Quan Shuyu, at least he could find her a co-wife. Tell me, why did the daughter of the magistrate end up as a concubine?"

Quan Qingya was confused by the question, but the woman was quick to respond and quickly replied, "Originally, her grandfather wanted the Fourth Master Wen to marry her as his co-wife, but marriage was not something that the Fourth Master Wen could decide on his own, so he said he would go back to the Wen family to discuss it. Quan Shuyu was afraid that something else might happen after the discussion, so she said she would just be a concubine. Her grandfather couldn't persuade her, so he had to give up with hatred."

"Master Wen Si wants to go home to discuss. Do you mean that when Quan Shuyu said she wanted to marry Master Wen Si, Master Wen Si was already in the Hanyuan County government?" Chen Shao asked.

The woman was afraid that Quan Qingya would not be able to answer and would arouse suspicion, so she rushed to answer: "Yes, at that time, the fourth master Wen was inspecting the Wen family's granary in Hanyuan County. Because he was an old acquaintance of my son, he invited him to stay temporarily in the mansion. If I had known that his temporary stay would cause so many problems, I would have stopped it at the beginning, no matter how much it cost."

As she spoke, she wiped away her tears hypocritically.

Quan Shuli beside her said, "She is shameless, what does it have to do with her mother?"

Chen Shao was too lazy to pay attention to their pretense. He looked back at Quan Qingya and continued to ask, "Even if she is a concubine, given your father's status and position, the Wen family would never dare to look down on Quan Shuyu and would definitely marry her as a wife, right?"

Quan Qingya's face turned pale, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Seeing this, the woman answered for him again, "No. She couldn't wait to get married, so she followed the fourth master Wen back to the county city."

Chen Shao smiled, "Okay, I'll do as you said. I don't want the status of Quan Shuyu, nor the face of a girl. I'll just follow the fourth son of Wen back to the county city. What will the Wen family do after they know her identity?"

The woman covered her face and shook her head, saying, "The Wen family didn't say anything, or rather, they did say something, but she stopped them."

Chen Shao nodded and asked slowly, "Who raised Quan Shuyu?"

Without thinking, the woman answered, "It's her biological mother, Aunt Li."

Chen Shao asked: "Why?"

The woman showed some grievance at the right time: "Of course, my father favors her and is afraid that I can't take good care of her."

"Is that so?" Chen Shao looked at Quan Qingya.

Quan Qingya still avoided her gaze and answered uncertainly, "Yes."

"He favors her but doesn't let her be raised by her stepmother. He also indulges her to be a concubine of a playboy without any status... He doesn't know right from wrong, doesn't distinguish between moral principles and ethics, and always takes his own likes and dislikes as the criterion. So this is how the Hanyuan County Magistrate Quan Li'an is doing his job!" Chen Shao chuckled twice, then suddenly frowned, "General Li, immediately send someone to Hanyuan County to investigate all matters concerning Quan Li'an during his tenure as an official!"

Li Tianliu glanced at Quan Qingya and the woman, raised his voice and said yes, then he beckoned a Yulin Guard over and ordered in a low voice: "Go and tell Lord Ding immediately, and have someone go to Hanyuan County to thoroughly investigate all matters related to Quan Li'an's tenure as an official!"

The woman had not expected that Chen Shao had such a hidden meaning behind his question. She felt a chill in her heart and collapsed to the ground. Quan Li'an was the guarantee of their adequate food and clothing. If something happened to him... The woman shuddered and did not dare to think further.

However, Chen Shao did not give her a chance to explain, and attacked Quan Qingya again: "Datong has always ruled the world with filial piety. If your father really favors Quan Shuyu, then logically, whether it is sincere or not, at least on the surface, you should also favor her a little. But what did you do? Spread rumors about Quan Shuyu everywhere and ruin her reputation. Previously, you said that she was disloyal, unfilial, heartless, unrighteous, and shameless. I just want to ask you, where is your loyalty, filial piety, affection, righteousness, and shame?"

Quan Qingya's sweat dripped down like raindrops, and soon a small pool of sweat formed in front of him. He opened his mouth for a long time, but couldn't utter a complete word.

Chen Shao picked up the gavel and slammed it hard: "Speak!"

Quan Qingya's fear had reached its peak. Hearing this sound, he shuddered and couldn't help crying. The woman knew that he was useless, but she didn't expect him to be so useless. Although she was terrified, she still plucked up the courage to help out, "My lord, it's not that my husband is unfilial. It's that Quan Shuyu relied on her father's support and didn't accept my husband's discipline at all when she was at home. After she got married, she cut off contact with her family, so..."

"So you spread rumors about her everywhere, intending to destroy her?" Chen Shao took over her words coldly, "Then let me ask you, you keep saying that she eloped with someone, who was the person she eloped with?"

The woman answered cautiously, "He is the son of a merchant in the county town."

"What's your surname and name?" Chen Shao asked.

The woman lowered her eyes slightly, "It's Sun Qingyu, the second son of the Sun family who sells tea."

Chen Shao continued: "Since she eloped with Sun Qingyu, she must have had an affair with him. Who can prove that she and Sun Qingyu had an affair with each other?"

The woman pondered for a moment, then resolutely took out a letter from her waist pouch, held it in both hands and handed it over, saying, "This is a letter that Sun Qingyu sent home after he eloped with her. The Sun family was afraid of being implicated, so they handed the letter to the prefect's mansion. The day after my father received the letter, someone from the Wen family came to inquire about Quan Shuyu's whereabouts. My father felt ashamed, so he concealed the fact that she eloped and only sent people to look for her in secret."

Chan Yi took the letter with a cold face and handed it to Chen Shao. Chen Shao opened it and couldn't help laughing at the first sight. After reading the whole content, she looked up at the woman again and asked calmly, "When did the Sun family receive this letter?"

After thinking for a while, the woman said, "It was the fourth month after Quan Shuyu followed the fourth Master Wen to the county city."

In other words, Quan Shuyu started to act crazy after being tortured for four months. Chen Shao suppressed the pity in his heart, put down the letter, and asked slowly: "When did Quan Shuyu come to the county town with the fourth master Wen?"

The woman did not hide this point and answered honestly: "Five years ago."

"Five years ago," Chen Shao looked at the letter she handed him again and ordered slowly, "Drag him out and beat him with twenty sticks!"

The woman's face lost all color, but she still tried her best to remain calm and said, "I don't know why you want to beat me, sir?"

"Why should I cane you?" Chen Shao smiled. "Are you sure you want me to tell you? If I tell you, it won't be as simple as twenty canes. Forging evidence, falsely accusing others, and deceiving the court officials, beheading is enough."

The woman opened her mouth to argue, but facing Chen Shao's cold eyes, she dared not utter a single word.

Chen Shao put away his smile and ordered with a cold face: "Drag him away!"

Seeing the Yulin Guards approaching, the woman finally felt scared and kowtowed, saying, "I know I was wrong. Please spare my life, sir, please spare my life..."

"Do you know you are wrong?" Chen Shao sneered, "As a legal mother, if Quan Shuyu is really as unbearable as you say, it must be because you have failed to discipline her! You don't repent, and in order to slander her, you not only spread rumors and make trouble, but also forged fake letters in an attempt to deceive me! What's more hateful is that she is a concubine's daughter. Not only are you biased, but you also want to sell your own daughter for fame in court! These actions of yours have to make me doubt whether Quan Shuyu was forced by you to follow the fourth master Wen!"

"No, it's..." She didn't have a chance to say anything. Seeing that Chen Shao had no intention of letting her talk any longer, the Yulin Guards dragged her out swiftly. After the sound of the board and the screams, Chen Shao's eyes fell on Quan Qingya again, "Do you have anything else to say?"

Quan Qingya was so frightened that he fell to the ground with his hands, trembling so much that he could hardly hold up his body. Chen Shao waited for a moment, and seeing that he still couldn't speak, he ordered, "Drag him out and give him forty strokes of the cane!"

Quan Qingya wanted to beg for mercy, but the words were stuck in his throat and he couldn't say anything. When the Yulin Guards lifted his arms and dragged him out, Quan Qingya knew that he couldn't escape being beaten, so he simply let go of all his strength and was dragged out like a dead dog.

When the sound of the cane was heard, Chen Shao looked at Quan Shuli and said, "Tell the truth or get caned. Choose one."

Quan Shuli's eyes were filled with tears. Although he was afraid, he still questioned angrily: "She is just a slut who has been slept with by thousands of people and paid for by tens of thousands of people. How can I be inferior to her?"

Chen Shao said in disgust: "Drag him away and slap him ten times! If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will slap you again!"

"What did I say wrong?" Quan Shuli was dissatisfied, "Or maybe adults just like sluts like her!"

This time, before Chen Shao even had time to speak, Li Tianliu stepped forward, lifted her collar, and threw her out of the hall, "Where did this mad dog come from? His mouth stinks so much!"

Li Tianliu did not stop. Quan Shuli was the delicate daughter of a county magistrate, and was thrown out like a sandbag. The moment her body fell to the ground, she fainted without even having time to scream in pain.

"Go on," Li Tianliu said lazily, "Let's see who dares to talk foul language again!"

"It was father," when Chen Shao set her eyes on Quan Qingshan, Quan Qingshan shuddered and confessed everything without her asking, "It was the Fourth Master Wen who first took a fancy to Quan Shuyu. In order to curry favor with him, father threatened Aunt Li's life and gave her to the Fourth Master Wen. The Fourth Master Wen did not say that he wanted to marry her or take her as a concubine. The day my father gave Quan Shuyu to the Fourth Master Wen, Quan Shuyu lost her innocence. Later, not long after the Fourth Master Wen brought Quan Shuyu back to the county city, Quan Shuyu went crazy. In order to test whether she was really crazy or pretending to be crazy, the Fourth Master Wen brought Aunt Li to the county city and killed Aunt Li in front of her."

Quan Qingshan is Quan Qingya's younger brother and Quan Shuyu's uncle. Chen Shao looked at his trembling arms and said indifferently, "Continue."

"It was my sister-in-law's idea that we came to the county town this time." Quan Qingshan didn't dare to hide it. "My sister-in-law said that Quan Shuli and Quan Shuyu look six points similar, and Quan Shuli looks a little more charming than Quan Shuyu. If the master can like Quan Shuyu, he will definitely like Quan Shuli. Such a good opportunity to cling to the powerful must not be taken away by Quan Shuyu. My sister-in-law also said that when the master accepts Quan Shuli, she will ask the master to arrange for my brother to be the prefect, and also said that she will marry the daughters of the Gu family, the Zhu family, the Fan family, or the Zhu family for Quan Ang and Quan Rui. After arriving in the county town, we learned that the master was not there. My sister-in-law originally wanted Quan Shuyu to take us to live in the prefect's mansion. The yamen runners did not inform us, and Master Ding and Master Lei did not help. Then my sister-in-law was so angry that she asked us to say that Quan Shuyu was not a woman of virtue and eloped with someone, so she was driven out of the Wen family by the fourth son of Wen."

"Fu Jiu," Chen Shao waited for him to finish and then calmly ordered, "Take them to the entrance of Huimin Pharmacy and have them read out what he just said to passers-by one by one. They can only stop after reading for an hour."

Hearing that they were not going to be beaten, Quan Qingshan and the others breathed a sigh of relief. When Fu Jiu came to lead them away, they all stood up and followed him.

"After arriving at Huimin Pharmacy, tell Master Qi and Uncle Liangzhu to take the students to the prefectural government." Chen Shao stopped Fu Jiu at the right time. "Also, after they finish reading, ask the Ren family to take them away for temporary custody."

Half an hour later, the Seventh Master and Zhao Liangzhu brought a group of students to the second hall like lambs returning to the pen.

Chen Shao listened to their chattering, shook his head, and took Qiye and Zhao Liangzhu to the side hall. After Chan Yi made the tea, he asked, "Is the free medical consultation over?"

Master Qi took a sip of tea and said, "It ended yesterday."

"How was it today?" Chen Shao asked with concern. "After the treatment was no longer free, were there still many people coming to see the doctor?"

"There are definitely not as many people as before," said Master Qi, in high spirits, "but because there is no consultation fee and the medicine is cheap, there are still many people coming to see the doctor."

Zhao Liangzhu added: "I have discussed this with Master Qi. In the past, the fees charged by the pharmacy were mainly composed of two parts: one was the doctor's consultation fee, and the other was the money for buying medicine. If there were acupuncture and massage, they would charge a few more fees. As for us, we will still charge for acupuncture, massage, and medicine, but we will waive the doctor's consultation fee."

Mr. Qi continued, "We have also discussed with Master Xu that these medical students will come to the pharmacy every afternoon to help for free. First, they can apply what they have learned and quickly get started while accumulating experience; second, it can also reduce the burden on the pharmacy. Liang Zhu said that no matter what medicine it is, we will sell it at a price 5 cents higher than the purchase price. In this way, with the help of these medical students, we can minimize expenses."

Chen Shao nodded and then asked, "What about those pharmacies? Will they continue to see patients together or take turns?"

"Let's see patients together," said the Seventh Master. "The weather is hot, so there will be more doctors sitting in, and the patients won't have to wait too long. When there are fewer people, let them take turns seeing patients."

Chen Shao had said that the Huimin Pharmacy was under the full responsibility of the Seventh Master. So after understanding the current situation, he turned to Zhao Liangzhu and asked, "What about you? How far have you progressed?"