Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"I have some ideas, but they are not mature yet." Chen Shao smiled and said, "Let's wait a few days and see how things go."

After hearing her say this, Li Tianliu did not ask any further questions.

After returning to Chengfeng Courtyard, they washed up, had dinner together, and then went to bed.

The sky is clear blue after the rain, and the sun is even hotter after the rain.

Most birds hid in the shade, resting their minds and minds. Only the cicadas chirped tirelessly.

The sunlight gradually fades away, and finally, reluctantly, it slowly disappears when the moon comes out.

It was dark, and the stars scrambled to come out to breathe, and the moon looked at them tenderly.

Chen Shao woke up and saw a bright moonlight. He slowly turned his head and looked through the window at the branches swaying in the wind. After a moment of calming down, he looked at the couch. Chan Yi was not in the room. On a high table not far from the bed, a three-color plastic petal pattern lamp was lit. The dim candlelight, against the moonlight, was like a firefly, lonely and stubborn.

Chen Shao managed to sit up, put on his shoes, and walked into the main room under the moonlight. After pouring himself a cup of warm tea and drinking it, he went out and looked at the big tree in the yard.

Li Tianliu and Fu Jiu were lying on the tree again.

The Yulin Guards were also scattered everywhere.

He tilted his head and looked towards the study.

The light in the study was bright, and faint voices could be heard flowing out along with the cool breeze.

Chen Shao walked over slowly, it was Chan Yi and Quan Shu Yu.

Quan Shuyu was sorting out the Wen family's account books, and Chanyi was helping her. The two talked about daily life, and the atmosphere was relaxed and warm. Raising his hand and knocking on the door twice, Chen Shao walked in. Amid the greetings of the two, he picked up two account books, flipped through two pages, and asked, "Didn't I say that we should check the Wen family's treasury first?"

"In the evening, she had already taken Zhang Ruyuan and others to the Wen family to clean up." Chan Yi helped explain, "She came back home with nothing to do after dark, so she came here to clean up the account books."

"These are the account books of the Wen family's shops," Quan Shuyu's eyes fell on the account books in her hand, "I was on my way back from the Wen family, and the shopkeepers of the Wen family's shops gave them to me. They also asked me to ask you, if the Wen family is gone, should these shops continue to open?"

After the Wen family was seized, she had not managed these shops. First, she didn't know how to manage them, and second, there was really no one available. Now that the shops have taken the initiative to ask, it would be inappropriate to ignore them. Chen Shao put down the account book and asked her: "In your opinion, should we continue to open the shops?"

"In my opinion, it is best for shops without problems to remain open." Quan Shuyu expressed his own views. "If you really want to open a benefit medicine shop in every county town, the expenses will certainly be high. Hongyuan County raided the Wen family, the Zhu family, etc. because of those gardens. It is difficult for other counties to have similar things. And you must have other uses for the money seized. Where will the ten thousand taels of silver for opening benefit medicine shops come from? It is better to earn money from these shops."

"That's a good idea." Chen Shao lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then decided, "Right now I don't have time to check which shops have problems and which don't. Let them check themselves. As long as there are problems and they don't involve human lives, I can forgive them at my discretion. If there are no problems, they can continue to open and you can manage them. In addition, you can also let them report who has problems but hasn't explained them. If the report is true, they can get a reward of two hundred coins to ten taels of silver. If there are problems but they don't explain themselves and no one reports them, I will find out and they will be guilty of a higher crime."

Quan Shuyu asked tentatively: "When managing these shops, should we also bring Zhang Ruyuan and the others with us?"

"Take them with you." Chen Shao said thoughtfully, "The Wen family has 130 shops, the Zhu family has 211 shops, and Luo Zhengxin and Madam Gao also have 42 shops. You really can't manage them all by yourself, and it will be even more difficult to manage them in the future when you are not in Hongyuan County. Take them with you and train them well."

Quan Shuyu responded respectfully with a "yes".

Chen Shao reminded: "As I said before, ability comes second, obedience comes first. If you can do it, do it. If you can't do it, change people."

Quan Shuyu responded again.

Chen Shao instructed again: "If you don't have enough people, just tell me. I can go to the academy and pick a few more to serve you."

"Enough!" Quan Shuyu quickly refused. "Zhang Ruyuan, Cui Shu and the others are very good. They are busy, but everyone is very happy. If you ask someone else to come, I will pay more attention to them. They have never been to the manor with you, nor have they helped the people with you. Their character is definitely not comparable to Zhang Ruyuan and the others."

In fact, what she wanted to say more was that the students who came here now might have ulterior motives. They were already very busy, so there was no need to find more people to cause trouble.

"Okay." Chen Shao said nonchalantly, "If you're too busy, you can find someone yourself."

Quan Shuyu nodded.

Chen Shao glanced outside and said, "It's getting late. Let's go back and rest."

"I'll go back after I sort these account books." Quan Shuyu said as he sorted out the account books in his hand, "I see that the Wen family has sixteen embroidery workshops, nine of which are in the county town alone. I plan to go and take a look at them all tomorrow. If possible, I'd like to send Wang Su and the others over."

Chen Shao didn't think much about it: "Just make the arrangements as you see fit, no need to ask me about everything."

Chan Yi said, "Sir, why don't you ask why you are in such a hurry to send them away?"

Chen Shao looked at her, then at Quan Shuyu, and asked with a smile: "Then tell me why you are so anxious to send them away?"

Chan Yi rushed to answer, "Because Xu Chengmei and Wang Su are restless."

Chen Shao became interested: "Why are you so restless?"

"The master asked Erya to worship Zheng Hua as his master and asked Zheng Hua to help make these bouquets of flowers. It was because he had promised Erya a long time ago, and her skill in making silk flowers is indeed very good. But Xu Chengmei and Wang Su thought that it was the result of Zheng Hua trying to please Shuyu, and Shuyu slandered the master. They didn't dare to deal with Shuyu and Zheng Hua openly, and they couldn't show any ability to make Shuyu praise them, so they went to instigate Song Lingyi." Knowing that Quan Shuyu didn't want to talk behind her back, Chanyi said quickly, "Song Lingyi has a gentle personality and doesn't accept their instigation at all. That Wang Su was weird to her all day long and often bullied her when no one was around."

Chen Shao frowned, and his mind flashed through the various scenes of seeing them in the dark room. "I remember you said that Wang Su and Xu Chengmei had been asking about the brothers who kidnapped them?"

Chan Yi said disdainfully, "I have been asking about it before, but since Er Ya became Zheng Hua's disciple, they have been busy instigating Song Lingyi and rarely ask about it anymore."

Chen Shao asked: "Why did they instigate Song Lingyi?"

"Of course they instigated Song Lingyi to please Shuyu and asked Shuyu to say a few good words for her in front of the young master. After she gained the young master's favor, they asked her to say good things about them in front of the young master and arrange a good place for them." Chan Yi said "Pooh" to the side and continued, "Song Lingyi couldn't get over them, so she secretly found Shuyu and asked Shuyu to arrange for her to leave quickly. Only then did Shuyu know about the dirty things they did!"

Chen Shao looked at Quan Shuyu.

Quan Shuyu said helplessly, "When they first moved into the East Wing, they were indeed very timid and fearful. The Master took pity on them and not only took care of their food and clothing, but also found an aunt to serve them wholeheartedly. Day after day, they gradually developed the bad habits of spoiled young ladies."

"Then send them out," Chen Shao said indifferently, "After they leave, their lives will be the same as those of the original people in the embroidery workshop, and no special care will be given."

After a pause, he continued, "Separate Song Lingyi from Wang Su and Xu Chengmei, and tell the owner of the embroidery shop where Wang Su and Xu Chengmei went that if they don't work hard, they will be punished or kicked out. Don't be polite. If they dare to make trouble, just come to me."

Quan Shuyu nodded, classified the account books in his hand, and went back to sleep.

Chen Shao walked around the study and saw account books piled on the table, stools, and floor. He couldn't help but ask, "Have the Zhu family's account books been delivered as well?"

"No." Chan Yi moved a stool out and moved it for her to sit down, then said, "There weren't enough people to begin with, and the search of the Zhu family involved three different groups of soldiers, so everyone was busy. Now, let alone the Zhu family's account books, even if I want to find someone to pass on a message to the Huimin Pharmacy, I can't find anyone."

Chen Shao smiled and said, "There are not enough people, but it's not as exaggerated as you say, right?"

"How is it exaggerated?" Chan Yi cleared out another chair and sat down on it, then calculated for her, "Young Master, you may not know yet, but Lord Ding has been in the rain for most of the day and has been busy running around. The wounds from being beaten with a stick finally healed a little in the past two days, but they broke again in the afternoon. Although I don't like him, I thought that if he continues to suffer like this, he might get infected, and then there will be no one to help, so I asked Fu Jiu to send him a few bottles of medicine. Fu Jiu came back and said that he has caught a cold and has a high fever, and is asking the doctor to make medicine for him."

"Originally, there were few capable people in the prefect's mansion. Now that he has fallen, Lord Lei is investigating the property of Luo Zhengxin, Gao Han and others, Lord Hu is waiting for the young master's decision at home, and Lord Zhao is investigating the identities of the bodies in the ice cellar. How can they spare anyone to clean up the Zhu family's account books?"

With no one available, Chen Shao was also worried: "How long will it take to deal with all the manors of the Wen family?"

"Sir, don't worry about those students. It took us half a month to deal with ten farms last time," Chan Yi sighed, "Now they have only been gone for six or seven days. Even if they move faster, it will take another six or seven days to finish. After we finish dealing with the Wen family farm, there is still the Ding family farm and the Zhu family farm waiting."

Chen Shao sighed, "They say money doesn't last long, but now it seems that people don't last long either."

"It's not that people are useless," Chan Yi said seriously, "it's just that there are too many places in Hongyuan County that need people!"

"You're right," Chen Shao stood up, "Let's go back and rest. Since we can't find anyone to help us, we'll have to go to Zhu's house and move the account books tomorrow."

Silent all night.

After waking up the next day and having breakfast, Chen Shao stopped Fu Jiu, who was about to go and prepare the horse on his own initiative, and told him, "Go to Ren's house first and invite Ren Zhongxing's father over. I have something to ask him."

Fu Jiu was so upset that she couldn't guess her next move that she didn't smile at all when she went to ask Ren Shoukang for help. Ren Shoukang mistakenly thought that the Ren family had done something wrong, and he was apprehensive all the way to the governor's mansion. When he saw Chen Shao, he knelt down. When he was begging for mercy, Chen Shao called him up, glanced at Fu Jiu, and asked, "Can the Ren family spare some manpower to help look after the Zhu family's farms?"

Aren't you going to reprimand the Ren family? Ren Shoukang looked at her carefully, making sure that her face looked normal, and then he said carefully: "Before the encirclement and suppression of the Zhu family's second branch, I had already arranged for people to go to the Zhu family's various farms. Except for the Zhu family's farm in Tongwang County, the Ren family has taken over all of the Zhu family's farms."

Chen Shao asked: "In Tongwang County..."

"In Tongwang County, Lord Ding has arranged for the Ding family to take over," Ren Shoukang explained.

Chen Shao nodded and made further arrangements: "You arrange for people to tell the people in the Zhu family and the Wen family farm that as long as they have not committed serious crimes such as murder, arson, or causing injury and disability, and cooperate with the Ren family and the students who have gone there to return the food and land to the people, I will not pursue anything in the past."

This is to catch the big and let the small go. It seems that they will take action against the next one. Ren Shoukang lowered his eyes slightly and said honestly: "I will arrange it right away."

Chen Shao said: "Thank you for your hard work."

Ren Shoukang quickly bowed and said, "It is an honor for the Ren family to be able to work for you, young master."

Chen Shao nodded: "Go ahead."

After Ren Shoukang left, Chen Shao looked at Fu Jiu and said, "Okay, now we can go prepare the carriage."

After Fu Jiu left, Chen Shao ordered Li Tianliu, "Bring along the steward who is with Master Zhu."

After leaving the prefectural government, Chen Shao first went to Huimin Pharmacy.

There were a lot of people outside Huimin Pharmacy.

Chen Shao thought something had happened, but after asking around, he found out that they were all here to get information. Everyone knew that the Wen family was destroyed because of the manor in Dashu Village. The Zhu family was destroyed suddenly, and most people didn't know the reason. After the rain stopped yesterday, everyone who had contact with Chen Shao was questioned. But they couldn't get any information, so they just gathered at Huimin Pharmacy.

"The Zhu family is one of the murderers in those gardens." Chen Shao walked through the path made by the crowd of onlookers, came to the door of Huimin Pharmacy, turned around and said frankly.

The crowd was predictably noisy.

When Chen Shao turned around and was about to enter the medicine shop, he suddenly heard someone shouting, "The Zhu family has occupied our land, will they return it to us?"

Chen Shao stopped and turned around to reply, "Yes, it's not just the Zhu family. The land occupied by the Ding family that has not yet been returned to you will also be returned to you one by one after the Wen family's farm is dealt with."

"Thank you, Master Chen," the man who had raised his voice earlier said loudly, "Master Chen is a good man!"

After living two lives, this was the first time someone praised him as a good person. Chen Shao smiled and said simply, "Do you have any more questions? You can ask whatever you want. I have time today so I can answer them all."