Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Lei Dehou walked quickly to the center of the second hall and knelt on the ground, "I have come to apologize to you, sir."

Chen Shao looked at him and asked, "Do you already know about Hu Qinglu's suicide?"

Lei Dehou did not dare to hide it and said yes honestly.

"You are well-informed." Chen Shao said sarcastically, and then asked, "Did you know in advance that he committed suicide?"

"Sir, please investigate," Lei Dehou quickly denied. "I only learned about Lord Hu's suicide when I was waiting to see you outside the second hall. I came here today because I heard last night that various shops used fake account books to deal with you. I was terrified and that's why I turned myself in."

"Then tell me," Chen Shao said, neither believing nor disbelieving, "What crime have you committed that you came here to confess in such a state of panic?"

Lei Dehou took out a memorial from his sleeve, held it in both hands and said, "All the crimes I committed while serving as a clerk in the Hongyuan County Governor's Office are listed here. Please take a look, sir."

Chan Yi stepped forward, took the letter and handed it to Chen Shao.

Chen Shao took the letter, opened it, read it from beginning to end, and said mockingly, "You have committed quite a few crimes."

Lei Dehou bowed his head to the ground and dared not beg for mercy.

"I remember you said not long ago that in September of the fifteenth year of Yuanhe, the Ren and Wen families suddenly became friendly to you, and the Zhou family also donated their shop and money to you for the first time," Chen Shao supported the table with both hands, half leaning over to look at him, "According to the time and methods of making money you explained in this memorial, even without the donations from the Wen, Ren and Zhou families, you would have been a millionaire long ago!"

Lei Dehou crawled to the ground and said in fear: "I know I was wrong."

"Do you know you're wrong?" Chen Shao laughed twice, but his laughter was emotionless. "Because of your words that it had nothing to do with those gardens, I have always respected you and tolerated Hu Qinglu. Now he has committed suicide, and it's all over. The mess he left behind has no one to clean up. And now you come to tell me that you know you're wrong? What kind of wrong do you know? If you wanted to know you were wrong, what would you have done earlier? Now that you're desperate, you want to cover it up with a simple statement that you know you were wrong?"

Lei Dehou didn't dare to argue and could only kowtow and admit his mistakes again and again.

Of course, Chen Shao did not respect him or tolerate Hu Qinglu because of anything he had said, but his confession did make her angry when Hu Qinglu had just committed suicide and all the issues were in a mess.

In such a huge Hongyuan County, from the government to the gentry, there is not a single good person, all of them are maggots who levy taxes tyrannically and ignore laws and regulations! She has relaxed the conditions again and again, just to pick out a few slightly clean ones from a pile of maggots to support the scene, but they are good, provoking her bottom line again and again.

Letting his emotions boil, Chen Shao asked coldly, "The stolen goods are still there, right?"

Lei Dehou replied hurriedly: "They are all still there."

Chen Shao asked: "Are they all here?"

Lei Dehou said in awe, "All are here."

Chen Shao looked at him coldly, "Are you sure they are all here?"

Lei Dehou kowtowed vigorously and said frankly, "I know that you no longer trust me, but I have been a recorder for fourteen years and have never taken the initiative to collect money more than twice. There is no one in my family to back me up. Although I have attached myself to the Zhou family, I am not in their eyes. The amount of money I have collected from the various Caos is indeed not small, but I dare not spend it lavishly. After more than ten years, I have only prepared two small farms for my family."

Chan Yi went forward to pick up the memorial in astonishment, looked at the numbers he had confessed, and estimated, "During the fourteen years you have been a clerk and a military officer, the amount of money you have embezzled must be at least two hundred thousand taels. Is it true that you only have two medium-sized farms for your family?"

Lei Dehou said respectfully, "Since I have surrendered myself, I will never dare to hide anything from you, my Lord."

Chan Yi subconsciously asked, "What about the remaining money?"

Lei Dehou replied, "I keep the remaining money at home."

Chan Yi questioned: "Isn't your wife from the Zhou family? Why does she let you keep it?"

"At first, she was moved a little," Lei Dehou answered truthfully. "The Zhou family looked down on me, and as a result, her position in the Zhou family was not as high as before. At first, she would care about it and try to compete with them. But as time went by, her anger slowly dissipated, and she gradually stopped interacting with the Zhou family and followed me."

"Fortunately, her anger has dissipated." Chan Yi muttered a few words and put the letter back on the table.

Chen Shao glanced at the memorial, then looked at Lei Dehou, "Where are the accounts of the money collected?"

Lei Dehou quickly took it out of his arms, held it in both hands, knelt down and handed it to the table.

Chan Yi took it and handed it to Chen Shao.

Chen Shao glanced at him and said, "The Wen and Ren families have been close to you for several years. How many jades have they sold to you?"

Lei Dehou confessed truthfully: "In the past few years, the Wen and Ren families have been close to me. They have sold me green jade thirteen times, with a total of 46,257 taels and nine cents in silver. The types of green jade include jade pendants, jade beads, jade hairpins, etc. I have recorded them one by one in the account book."

Chen Shao flipped through the account book and found the record of buying green jade. Seeing that there were records of jade from first grade to fifth grade, he asked, "I heard from the assistants and historians of the Ministry of Household Affairs that after you bought the green jade, you would also resell it to them?"

Lei Dehou said yes.

Chen Shao glanced at him and asked, "Whose jade chess piece was found in Du Zhong's arms?"

Lei Dehou's mind, which had been slightly relaxed, suddenly tensed up again, "If what I guessed is correct, it should be Lord Ding."

"Is your guess correct?" Chen Shao laughed indifferently. "I see that the jadeite recorded in your account book is divided into several categories. One is the best jadeite with Buddha engraved on it, one is the superior jadeite with Buddha engraved on it, one is the superior jadeite with lotus patterns deliberately engraved on it, one is the ordinary jadeite with lotus patterns deliberately engraved on it, and the other is the inferior jadeite with lotus patterns engraved on it. Tell me, what kind of jadeite did you sell to Hu Qinglu and others?"

Chen Shao only flipped two pages back and saw the record of the green jade being resold to Hu Qinglu and others.

The green jade sold to Hu Qinglu and the wealthy families and scholars in the county town were all green jade of the third, fourth and fifth categories. After flipping through all three account books, no green jade of the first and second categories was found.

Lei Dehou's answer also confirmed that what she saw was true.

"Why is there no top-quality or superior quality jade with Buddha carved on it?" Chen Shao asked casually.

Lei Dehou answered carefully: "The Ren and Wen families would not allow me to sell the jade with the Buddha carved on it to others at will."

Chen Shao looked at him: "Why?"

Lei Dehou moved his legs uneasily, and then said nervously: "The Ren family and the Wen family said that only those who are recognized by the general can keep the jade with Buddha engraved on it."

Chen Shao looked at him for a moment and said, "So, from the beginning, you knew that the jade chess piece was made by Ding Lisheng. And from the beginning, you knew that the person who poisoned him was Ding Lisheng."