Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Zhao Lin quickly knelt on the ground and begged for mercy: "It is my fault for not thinking carefully. Please forgive me, young master."

"Get up." Chen Shao said calmly, "Your suggestion is good, but it is not suitable for the fifty-nine people who have been found."

Zhao Lin stood up timidly and said carefully: "I didn't explain myself clearly. I wanted to ask about those abducted boys and girls."

"Is there a plan?" Chen Shao asked directly.

Zhao Lin hurriedly said, "I will go back and think about it."

Chen Shao said 'hmm' and kindly reminded: "Next time you have a similar proposal, think of a plan first."

Zhao Lin agreed.

"Also," Chen Shao thought for a moment before continuing, "I see that among the fifty-nine identities you found, most of the families are in the villages and towns covered by the Wen family's farm. Remember to register them all. The land occupied by the Wen family can be returned to them, and the money and grain distributed can be saved, but the five-year tax exemption must be cancelled, and they must pay on time."

Zhao Lin said yes again and waited for a moment. Seeing that she had no other plans, he obediently withdrew.

After he came out of Chengfeng Courtyard, he walked until he could no longer see Chengfeng Courtyard, then he slowly stopped. He looked back in the direction of Chengfeng Courtyard, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, and after thinking for a while, he walked back to the official residence behind him.

Before entering his own front door, he stopped again, took a look at Ding Lisheng's house, looked around a few times, and then turned and entered the Ding family's gate.

Ding Lisheng's fever had subsided, but he was still very weak. He lay on the bed, groaning, half asleep. Two maids stood beside him, fanning him gently. The attendant tiptoed into the room and reported in a low voice: "Sir, Lord Zhao is here."

Ding Lisheng kept humming. The attendant waited quietly on the side. After a long while, Ding Lisheng stopped humming and asked knowingly, "Which Lord Zhao?"

The attendant whispered, "It's Lord Zhao from the warehouse department."

"Zhao Lin?" Ding Lisheng said without opening his eyes, "What time is it now?"

The attendant replied, "It has just reached the hour of Hai."

"It's only midnight," Ding Lisheng's face flashed with dissatisfaction, "Does he think my current troubles are not big enough?"

The attendant said nothing.

Ding Lisheng vented to himself for a while, then asked, "Have you asked him what he came here for?"

The attendant said cautiously: "I asked, and he said he came to visit you, my Lord."

Ding Lisheng snorted: "I don't think he came to visit me, but like the Gu family, the Fan family, and the Qi family, he wanted to ask me for some news!"

The attendant whispered to comfort him: "The Gu, Fan and Qi families were used to ordering you around in the past. Now that they have fallen into a big pit, they remember your kindness. It is natural for you to ignore them. But Master Zhao is different. Master Zhao has always followed your lead and has never done anything out of line. If you don't see him, it will be bad."

Ding Lisheng said disapprovingly, "After the Gu, Fan, and Qi families were turned away by me, didn't they go to him?"

The attendant lowered his voice a little, "Of course I have looked for him, but it's useless to look for him. Since the young master asked him to find the identities of the bodies in the garden, he has not arranged anything else for him, and he has not seen him again. He probably doesn't know as much as the Gu, Fan and Qi families themselves. And Lord Zhao is also a smart man. Now the prefect's mansion is still short of a prefect. The young master obviously prefers you and Lord Zhou. Lord Zhou and he have been at odds for a long time. When Lord Zhou is about to take office, he will be the first to be unlucky. No matter how powerful the Gu, Fan and Qi families are, they can't help him in his official career. So no matter whether it's for public or private, he has to protect the interests of the master."

Ding Lisheng didn't want to see him, but after hearing this, he reluctantly changed his tone and said, "Then please invite him in. Be careful when you invite him in to see if anyone is following him."

After the attendant answered yes, he lit up several lights in the room and then went out to invite Zhao Lin in.

"Sit anywhere." Ding Lisheng said weakly.

Zhao Lin looked at his half-naked scarlet buttocks, and his face couldn't help but twitch twice before he asked, "Didn't he look better the past two days? How come it's so serious again?"

"Why else?" Ding Lisheng opened his eyes, chased the two maids out, and asked his followers to take a thin towel to cover his buttocks. He took a breath and said, "Ding Yichang did so many bad things, I have to clean up his mess. Well, he is already dead, and it is useless to say more. You come here so late, what happened?"

Zhao Lin's eyes flickered twice. Ding Lisheng was on guard against him. He knew the situation of the Ding family better than anyone else. If Ding Lisheng wanted to shirk his relationship with Ding Yichang, he didn't have to do it in front of him. But Ding Lisheng knew this, but he still did it. Why? Zhao Lin quietly raised his eyelids, quickly glanced at the follower who was fanning him, and then secretly looked around, and then slowed down his voice and said, "Just now, the young master asked me to go to Chengfeng Courtyard."

Ding Lisheng asked casually, "What are you asked to do?"

"It's just about the bodies in the ice cellar." Zhao Lin said, "I have already handed over the identity information of the bodies in Luoyanju, Meiyuan and Kuaihuolin."

"The young master didn't say anything, right?" Ding Lisheng still spoke in a nonchalant tone.

"He didn't say anything," Zhao Lin said in a low voice, "He just asked me to put the identified bodies into the coffins, and then notify their families to take the coffins back."

"The coffin is already ready, you can arrange it as you wish." Ding Lisheng said, "My body has been tormented by the heavy rain in the past two days, so it will take a while for it to be fully intact."

Zhao Lin hesitated for a moment and said, "I heard that you went to the low hill behind the Zhu and Gu families in Bianhe Village today, and asked the Yulin Guards and the Ren family to dig a large pit at the foot of the hill where the bodies were buried. What does you want to do?"

Ding Lisheng said calmly, "The young master went to Bianhe Village after he had exterminated the Zhu family and interrogated the two stewards of the Zhu family. Apparently, the two stewards gave Bianhe Village away in order to save their lives. Why did the young master exterminate the Wen and Zhu families? It was because of those gardens. The corpses at the foot of the low hill in Bianhe Village were also thrown there from those gardens. What do you think the young master wants to do?"

Of course, Zhao Lin didn't want to hear this nonsense, so he quietly sat closer and continued to ask, "In other words, the young master is not done with destroying the Wen and Zhu families, and he also plans to destroy the Gu, Fan, and Qi families before he will stop?"

Ding Lisheng looked at him immediately, and the light in his eyes was faintly murderous under the light.

Zhao Lin's scalp suddenly went numb. He met his gaze and instinctively showed his loyalty, "Sir, have you forgotten that I got to where I am today because of you? To put it bluntly, without you, there would be no me. The Gu, Fan, and Qi families have indeed come to me frequently recently, hinting that I should ask you about the young master's news, but they didn't even look down on you in the past. How could I be so ignorant of myself?"

"It's good that you understand." Ding Lisheng said indifferently, "Young Master's actions are always hard to guess, but I am not afraid to tell you that the reason why Young Master destroyed the Zhu family was because he followed my advice."

Zhao Lin's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately smiled and bowed, saying, "Congratulations, sir."

Ding Lisheng was stunned and asked, "What are you congratulating me for?"

Zhao Lin smiled and said, "My Lord, you are still playing dumb with me. Even on such a major matter as destroying the Zhu family, you are willing to listen to my Lord's advice. It is obvious that you prefer me as the governor."

"Before you get the certificate, it's better to be cautious." Although he said this, a smile of determination inevitably appeared on Ding Lisheng's face.

Zhao Lin nodded in agreement, "We should be more cautious indeed. Although the Zhu family is gone, the Gu, Fan, and Qi families who instigated those people to block the road and sue you are still here. You used a beating this time and took away all the farms of the Ding family to barely clear your name. If they do something bad again, no one can predict what your attitude will be. So you must be on guard, especially against them."

Once again? With the style of Second Master Gu, Second Master Fan, and Third Master Qi, it is really possible! The only trace of joy slowly sank into the bottom of his heart, and Ding Lisheng asked expressionlessly: "According to you, whether the young master wants to deal with them or not, we have to deal with them?"

Zhao Lin didn't say anything, but just looked around twice without hiding anything.

Ding Lisheng said calmly: "Don't worry, no one can escape the eyes of the two of them, not even the Yulin Guards."

The two people he mentioned were the two followers who replaced the maid to fan him and guard the door. Zhao Lin naturally knew their abilities, but he just wanted to take the opportunity to test how much trust he still had in him. After hearing the answer he wanted from his words, Zhao Lin spoke his mind without hesitation: "The Zhu, Gu, Fan and Qi families knew that you were vying for the position of prefect, but they still ordered those people to block the road and sue you. It is clear that they look down on you from the bottom of their hearts. Since they are so ungrateful, why should you still care about the past friendship? Since you want to thoroughly investigate the murderers in the garden, why don't you take advantage of their tricks and eliminate them in one fell swoop?"

After a pause, he continued, "After eliminating them, not only will the position of prefect belong to you, but also... no one will compete with you anymore."

Ding Lisheng's heart was moved instantly, and the desire in his eyes almost condensed into substance, but soon, he suppressed it all without making a sound, "I do want to eradicate them, but how easy is it to eradicate them?"

"Don't worry, sir," Zhao Lin said at the right time, "As long as we can help you take the position of governor, my Zhao family can also make the same heroic sacrifice as you do!"

Ding Lisheng wanted to hear this, but he had to continue his performance: "I have seen how difficult it is for your Zhao family to accumulate the wealth they have today. Are you really willing to give it up?"

Zhao Lin smiled and said, "Since you have taken the position of governor, can you still treat me badly?"

"Of course not!" Ding Lisheng assured proudly.

"That's it." Zhao Lin said selflessly, "Affected by those gardens, many of the Zhao family's current children are useless. I'll take this opportunity to clear out these useless bastards, and teach the rest of the young people a lesson."

"Well said!" Ding Lisheng praised, "After working with you for a while, I have finally understood that if we want the Ding family to become more prosperous, we can't just let things go as we did before. We still need to learn to read and be diligent and capable."

After they talked about this topic for almost two cups of tea, Ding Lisheng changed the subject and said, "I don't know who the young master is going to deal with next, but one thing is for sure, no matter who she is going to deal with, she will definitely choose one from the Gu family, the Fan family, and the Qi family. In order to prevent the three families from bribing Lei Dehou in secret after not getting any information from me, the next time they come to you, you can reveal a few words appropriately and say that the young master is still thinking about it."

Zhao Lin nodded in agreement, then asked, "I heard that the three families are still looking for Master Luo."

"Speaking of Master Luo..." Ding Lisheng's good mood disappeared completely in an instant because of his question, "I have to remind you a few words. While the young master's attention is still on the Gu family, the Fan family, and the Qi family, you should quickly sever your ties with the Zhao family!"

Zhao Lin felt a chill in his heart: "Why, he also has evidence against our two families?"

"I wasn't sure before, but now I can tell you 100% that there must be one!" Ding Lisheng said, and told him roughly what happened on the day when the Zhu family was besieged.

After hearing this, Zhao Lin's face instantly lost all color. "If there really is evidence against us, then wouldn't that mean..."

"That's why I told you to quickly sever your ties with the Zhao family," Ding Lisheng said seriously. "We have never been involved in the things that the Zhao and Ding families did. When the time comes to settle the accounts, we just need to deny it to the death."

Zhao Lin asked worriedly, "Can you believe it, young master?"

"Of course she doesn't believe it, otherwise why would I be beaten?" Ding Lisheng said confidently, "But you don't have to panic, I was beaten, but it was just a beating. If you want to get the master's forgiveness, from today on, you should be like me, speak more humbly, work more diligently, and complete the work personally no matter how dirty or tiring the work assigned by the master is. Let's not talk about the distant past, just look at the Ren family, they started to plan for themselves as soon as the Wen family was destroyed. Although with the master's style of doing things, he will never let them go, but he will definitely not kill them like he did to the Wen family and the Zhu family."

Zhao Lin said angrily: "Only the people of the Ren family are so cunning and treacherous!"

Ding Lisheng agreed: "Who said it wasn't?"

The two of them continued to talk about the bad things about the Ren family for a while, and after discussing what to do next for a long while, Zhao Lin got up and left.

After leaving Ding's house and turning back to Zhao's house, the worry on Zhao Lin's face gradually faded in the moonlight, and a hint of sarcasm emerged: Fight, fight hard, and fight until both sides are defeated, then he can reap the benefits!

What do you mean by being the same as him? What do you mean by learning from the Ren family? He is not a fool! The more times like this, the more he should keep a low profile. When Chen Shao wants to deal with the Zhao family, his denial will be more credible. However, Ding Lisheng was right about one thing. He really needs to quickly sever his relationship with the Zhao family. The Zhao family can die, but he, Zhao Lin, must live well!

In addition, he also had to do a few good deeds in secret and then let others tell Chen Shao about it in order to increase his reputation for being honest and upright.

"Why don't you come into the house after you come back?" Mrs. Zhao was sitting in the house feeling stuffy. When she went out to get some fresh air, she saw Zhao Lin standing in the courtyard. She was startled and hurried forward to ask.

Zhao Lin followed her and talked to her about going to Ding's house as they walked into the house.

Amid the whispers, the faint sound of bang bang bang drums could be heard.

It’s five o’clock.