Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Li Tianliu didn't want to answer at first. The handwriting on the hereditary edict was so similar to hers. He didn't believe that she didn't know who wrote the edict. But seeing her stern expression as she fiddled with the jade pendant, silver hairpin, and peach wood hairpin, he couldn't help but snorted and said, "I found out."

Chen Shao raised his eyes to look at him, motioning for him to explain clearly.

Li Tianliu snorted again, "Many caravans have business dealings with the generals of Shan State. The Gu, Zhu, Fan, Qi, and even the Wen and Ren families are just some of them. From the information we have found so far, their caravans are nothing special compared to the other caravans. And from what I have learned from a small steward under the mighty general who was bought with a lot of money, whether it is the caravans of the Gu and Zhu families, or the caravans of the Fan and Qi families, they are just the most ordinary of the many caravans that do business with them. They don't even need to show up for every transaction."

Chen Shao had expected that things would not go so smoothly, but he couldn't help but frown when he heard the result. "What about Qingyu? Do all the caravans doing business with them have Qingyu dealings?"

"No." Li Tianliu said coldly, "According to this young steward, since Datong and Shan Kingdom cut off trade, they have not done large-scale jade business with Datong. Occasionally there is a jade transaction, but it is only one or two jade pendants, rings and other items. Because the price is several times higher than before, it often happens less than twice a year."

Chen Shao picked up the jade pendant on the table, looked at the dagger-shaped Buddha sitting in lotus position on the jade pendant, and asked, "What about this Buddha statue?"

Li Tianliu's face gradually showed a serious expression, "He doesn't know either."

Chen Shao was not discouraged. He put down the jade pendant, opened the drawer, took out the two wooden boxes with lotus patterns that he had searched from Luo Jian and Luo Zhong's homes, pushed them in front of him and said, "What about the lotus patterns on these wooden boxes? What do they mean?"

Li Tianliu took the wooden box, looked at it for a while, and then turned to leave. After a while, he also brought back two wooden boxes and placed them together with the previous wooden box. Facing Chen Shao's questioning eyes, he slowly said: "These two wooden boxes were sent back this morning by the Yulin Guards who went to Shan State for a secret investigation. Such wooden boxes with lotus patterns, or lotus patterns, can be seen almost everywhere in Shan State."

Chen Shao picked up the two wooden boxes, his eyes like brushstrokes, after tracing the lotus patterns on the two wooden boxes, he said calmly: "They are different."

Li Tianliu snatched one of the wooden boxes from her hand, and then picked up the wooden boxes he had searched from Luo Jian and Luo Zhong's homes. After comparing them for a while, he said in a cold voice, "What's the difference?"

"First, the lotus pattern on the wooden box seized from Luo Jian and Luo Zhong's homes is more delicate and smooth; second, the lotus pattern on the wooden box seized from Luo Jian and Luo Zhong's homes has twelve petals, while the two wooden boxes sent back by Yu Linwei from Shan State have only ten petals; finally, the lotus pattern on the wooden box seized from Luo Jian and Luo Zhong's homes is just a simple lotus, while the lotus pattern on the two wooden boxes sent back by Yu Linwei from Shan State..." Chen Shao looked at the only remaining wooden box with lotus pattern in his hand and said slowly, "In addition to the lotus, one also has a lotus pod pattern, and the other is a double lotus. One of these two means giving birth to sons or giving birth to sons early, and the other is a symbol of love between husband and wife. Not only in Shan State, but also in Datong, it is very common."

Putting down the wooden box in his hand, Chen Shao opened the drawer again, took out another wooden box that he had searched from Luo Jian and Luo Zhong's homes and pushed it in front of him.

Chan Yi came over and compared her words with Li Tianliu. Then, she said in amazement, "It's true."

Li Tianliu snorted, "These two wooden boxes were just bought by the Yulin Guards on the streets of Shan Country."

Chen Shao had expected him to say this. After putting the hereditary edict away in a drawer, he turned around and said, "Then let's go to Fenglong Commercial Bank and Huimin Pharmacy to take another look. The wooden boxes bought by Yulinwei may be different from those found in Luo Jian and Luo Zhong's homes, but if the wooden boxes in Fenglong Commercial Bank and Huimin Pharmacy are exactly the same, then there is no need to argue about the facts."

Not long after leaving Chengfeng Courtyard, they met Fu Jiu who had just returned from drawing lots. She naturally took the whip from Li Tianliu, got on the carriage, and asked, "Where are you going?"

Chan Yi looked at Li Tianliu and said, "Let's go to Fenglong Commercial Bank."

Fu Jiu was surprised: "Why are you going to Fenglong Commercial Bank?"

Chan Yi was about to say something sarcastic, but Chen Shao spoke first, "Have those students left?"

Fu Jiu nodded: "He drew the lot and left. He is even more active than last time."

Chen Shao naturally knew the reason for their enthusiasm, so he did not dwell on this issue and asked, "How many times has Huimin Pharmacy taken medicinal materials from Fenglong Commercial Bank in recent days?"

"Let me count." After the carriage left the back house gate, Fu Jiu counted on his fingers and talked to himself for a while, then answered, "Sixteen times. During the half month of providing free medical treatment to the people, it was almost once a day. After that, I rarely took it out."

During the half month when they provided free medical treatment to the people, they were basically not in the county town. Chen Shao asked calmly, "Who went to Fenglong Commercial Bank to get the medicinal materials every time?"

"I don't know about that," Fu Jiu said, "Those were the herbs that Uncle Liang Zhu brought people to get."

Chen Shao didn't say anything else, but Chan Yi couldn't help but ask, "Fenglong Trading Company has so many warehouses, which one did they take the herbs from?"

"I took the herbs from the medicine warehouse that was sent to Jiangnan," Fu Jiu answered casually. "Uncle Liang Zhu said that the herbs in the medicine warehouse that was sent to the capital were of too good a quality. It would be a pity to use them like this."

Chan Yi looked at Chen Shao, but Chen Shao still didn't speak.

The carriage arrived at Fenglong Trading Company and Chen Shao quickly got off the carriage.

The last time I came here, Fenglong Commercial House was bustling with traffic, and it was full of life. But now, only two or three months later, it is already deserted.

After walking around the shop for a while, Chen Shao headed towards the warehouse at the back. The stone dam in front of the warehouse was empty, with no piles of medicinal materials. Chen Shao had no time to sigh. After his eyes fell on the plaque with the name Chang'an, he walked straight to the warehouse next to it with the name Jiangnan Road.

The warehouse was the same as always, with rows of wooden shelves arranged neatly and orderly like the bookshelves in a library. The only difference from the past was that the wooden boxes on the shelves were empty.

Fortunately, they didn’t come here for medicinal herbs this time.

Chan Yi couldn't wait to walk to the nearest wooden shelf, took down a square wooden box, and quickly looked at the lotus pattern carved on the wooden box. After seeing that the lotus pattern had twelve petals and nothing else, she immediately put it back and took down another diamond-shaped wooden box. After seeing that the lotus pattern on the diamond-shaped wooden box also had twelve petals and nothing else, she put it back and took out the next square wooden box...

While she was checking, Li Tianliu was not idle either.

Although Fu Jiu didn't know what they were looking at, she followed their example and took down a round wooden box to look at it.

After checking six or seven wooden shelves, Chan Yi stopped and looked at Li Tianliu. Then he said to Chen Shao who was checking the wooden shelves on the other side, "The wooden boxes on these shelves are exactly the same as the ones found in Luo Jian and Luo Zhong's homes!"

Chen Shao put down the wooden box in his hand, glanced around, and ordered: "Go to other warehouses and have a look."

After checking several warehouses in a row, the results were the same.

The crowd then went to Huimin Pharmacy.

The wooden boxes in the small warehouse of Huimin Pharmacy are the same.

Under the confused gaze of Master Qi, Chen Shao ordered again: "Go to Zhu's house."

Li Tianliu said with a cold face: "No need to go!"

Chen Shao ignored him.

Li Tianliu's expression became even colder.

When they arrived at Zhu's house, on the way to Master Zhu's courtyard, Chen Shaocai said, "No one is targeting you. Fenglong Commercial Bank and Huimin Pharmacy are both owned by the Wen and Ren families. The two wooden boxes found in Luo Jian and Luo Zhong's homes were also bought from Fenglong Commercial Bank. If we want to prove whether the lotus patterns on these wooden boxes are as unique as the lotus-seated Buddha with a dagger-shaped flesh bun, we can only reach an accurate conclusion by expanding the scope of the search."

Although Li Tianliu still had a stern expression, his expression visibly softened.