Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"Sir, are you going to search and confiscate the Zhou and Hu families?" Chan Yi asked.

Chen Shao said "hmm" neither lightly nor heavily.

The account books in the west wing were piled up like a mountain.

Chen Shao stood at the door, looking at the various account books for a long time before he walked in. Following Quan Shuyu's lead, he walked to the pile of account books of various drug stores, which were half a person's height. Chen Shao said sincerely, "You have worked hard."

Quan Shuyu was stunned for a moment before he realized that she was talking to him. He smiled and said, "It's not hard. I haven't even looked at these account books yet."

"It's hard work even if you don't look at it." Chen Shao said. There were seventy or eighty piles of the medicine store's account books, each half a person's height. Even if you don't look at them, just sorting them out is a big project. And this is just the medicine store's account books.

"It was very hard at the beginning, before the young master raided the Zhu, Gu, Fan and Qi families." Quan Shuyu said frankly, "Although there were not as many things to do as now, there were only me, Zhang Ruyuan, Cui Shu, Chang Si, Kang Zhengzong and Geng Dingli. We were busy from morning till night and couldn't do much. After the young master raided the Zhu, Gu, Fan and Qi families, with the help of Wang Dangjia and his brothers, there were more things to do, but it was easier."

After a pause, he could not help but praise: "Not only are the Wang family and his brothers hardworking, they are also easy-going and easy to get along with. They say that the young master is tolerant and gives them a chance to reform. They must not let the young master down, and they are all competing with each other in performance."

Chan Yi echoed: "I don't know how Wang Dangjia and his brothers are, but the two big brothers who follow Shuyu are really dedicated to their duties. If there is any dirty or tiring work, they are really vying to do it."

The two elder brothers were standing outside the door. When they heard her words, they stood up straight involuntarily.

Chen Shao picked up an account book and looked at the words on the cover. It was Wanhetang. When he opened it, he heard the two people praising Wang Cong and others. After glancing outside for a few times, he said calmly, "Let's look at the account book first."

Seeing her like this, the two men stopped talking and took the account books.

The income and expenditure recorded in the account books were all normal. There was no situation where Fang Shun and others had to sell pigs or land for each visit to a doctor. He flipped through one book, then another, and then changed to another pharmacy... He flipped through the account books of more than ten pharmacies in a row, and they were all normal.

Chan Yi was puzzled: "Did Fang Shun and the others lie?"

Chen Shao did not answer, but asked Quan Shuyu: "Which year is the earliest account book of these medicine shops from?"

Quan Shuyu did not hesitate at all and answered directly: "The eleventh year of Yuanhe."

"Are they all the same?" Chen Shao asked again.

Quan Shuyu nodded, and after that he found her squatting on the ground, looking at the account book below, and replied: "Yes, all drugstores are the same."

That is, the account books of all medicine shops are kept for ten years. Indicating Chan Yi to move the account books on the upper floor, Chen Shao found the account books of Wanhetang ten years ago.

The account books of Wanhetang from ten years ago were recorded more neatly than those I had looked through before.

Chen Shao vaguely guessed something, so he stopped looking at the account book and instead flipped through the roster of Wanhetang.

Chen Shao noticed that the doctors and shop assistants on the roster rarely changed, and their home addresses were concentrated in the same area. The only ones with a huge difference and who changed frequently were the low-level staff in the drugstore who were responsible for cleaning and doing miscellaneous work.

Wanhetang belongs to the Zhou family and the Hu family.

She did not investigate the Zhou and Hu families.

After turning the cover back and confirming that it was Wanhetang, Chen Shao asked Quan Shuyu, "When were the account books of the Zhou and Hu families' medicine shops delivered?"

Quan Shuyu came over to her and picked up a Wanhetang roster, flipping through it and saying, "After the young master confiscated the Ding and Zhao families, when the shop owners of the Ding and Zhao families sent the account books over, they came along too."

He added, "I didn't notice it at first, but when I was sorting out the account books later, I saw the account books of Wanhetang and Kangletang were also in there. I vaguely remembered that the young master had chosen these two medicine shops when he chose the official medicine shops earlier. I also vaguely remembered that he didn't choose the medicine shops under the names of the Ding and Zhao families at that time, so I asked Chanyi to confirm it, and then I knew that the Zhou and Hu families had also sent the account books of all their shops here."

"It's not just the account books of the shops," Chan Yi said. "They have also called back the people from the manors and returned the food and land to the local villagers."

After he finished speaking, he paused for a moment and then continued, "The Ren family is the same, and they are even more desperate than them. After the Zhu, Gu, Fan, and Qi families were confiscated, the Ren family quickly sent over all the account books of their shops, returned all the land on the farm, and made huge compensation to the people and families they had hurt. If you want to confiscate their property now, they will definitely beg for mercy for what they have done."

Chen Shao raised her eyebrows without commenting. She was not surprised by the actions of the Ren, Zhou, and Hu families. The fate of the Wen, Zhu, and Gu families was obvious. Anyone with a little bit of brains knew that she would get them sooner or later. Before she got back at them, the best way to save her life was to give what she owed, pay what she owed, and make up for what she owed.

As for begging for forgiveness for what I have done...

Chen Shao slid his finger gently on the roster of Wanhetang for a moment, pointed at a few names and ordered: "Go and invite Cao Wenjie, Lu Zhongren, Jia Wenguang and Dong Dacheng to the prefectural governor's mansion. Also, send someone to keep an eye on the other doctors and assistants of Wanhetang."

Cao Wenjie and Lu Zhongren are the doctors of Wanhetang, and Jia Wenguang and Dong Dacheng are the employees of Wanhetang.

If there is no problem with the account books, then we can only start with the people.

Li Tianliu subconsciously glanced at the sky outside.

Chen Shao didn't even raise his head and said, "Go now, don't delay!"

Li Tianliu didn't say anything. He walked up to her, snatched the roster from her hand, and left.

Not long after he left, Fu Jiu poked her head out of the door and said, "Sir, Cen Yuanzhi is here."

"Take him to the next yard." Chen Shao gave the order as he walked out.

Chan Yi immediately said, "The yard next door is also filled with account books."

Chen Shao kept walking, "Then take him to the main hall."

"No need to be so polite." After arriving at the main hall, Chen Shao looked at him kneeling on the ground and asked Fu Jiu to pull him up. Then he said gently, "I asked you to come here mainly to understand your rental of clothes and shoes."

Cen Yuanzhi hesitated and said, "Lord Hu has already returned the rent to us."

Chen Shao followed his words and asked, "When did you quit?"

Cen Yuanzhi said anxiously, "Only, the day after you asked me about it, they withdrew."

"Are you retiring those who are currently serving, or are you retiring those who served in the past as well?" Chen Shao asked.

Cen Yuanzhi became even more uneasy.

Chan Yi said, "Don't be afraid. Since the young master asked you, no one will dare to hurt you. If anyone really dares to hurt you, they will end up like Lord Ding and Lord Zhao!"

Cen Yuanzhi's uneasiness did not ease at all because of her words. He glanced at Chen Shao and then at Fu Jiu before answering, "We will only retire those who are currently serving."

"It has been four or five months since Du Zhong got into trouble. The reason why I haven't looked for you is to collect more evidence of the crimes of Ding Lisheng, Zhao Lin, Lei Dehou, Hu Qinglu and others without alerting them." Chen Shao said slowly, "I asked you to come here today because the evidence has been almost collected, but there are still some things that I know about but have no substantial evidence, such as the matter of renting clothes and shoes. Don't worry, I won't just look for you. After questioning you, I will also look for other yamen runners to confirm. The reason I look for you first is because you are the first one to report this matter to me."

Cen Yuanzhi's anxiety was finally relieved. He not only explained in detail that renting clothes and shoes was an old tradition, but also took the initiative to explain: "Master Hu, Master Zhao, Master Ding are all in the same group. They not only want us to pay rent for clothes and shoes, but also want us to pay hardship fees so that we don't have to do hard labor. For those who don't want to come to serve labor, as long as they pay two taels of silver, they don't have to come. And the officials under them, such as assistants and historians, can all be bought out as long as they pay enough silver."

Chan Yi was puzzled: "Aren't Zuo and Shi clerks? What are they buying for?"

Quan Shuyu said calmly, "Although Zuo and Shi are clerks, they can make money by various means. Just like he said, if you don't want to do corvée, you can avoid it as long as you pay enough money. If one person doesn't come, another person will have to take his place. Who is this other person? They have the final say. If you don't want to be harassed, you can only pay money and let them replace you again."