Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"Ma'am, which village are you from?"

"Is Shijiang Village very close to Dadong Town?"

"If Huimin Pharmacy wants to open a shop in Dadong Town, who do you think is suitable to be the shopkeeper?"

"Little boy, what's wrong with you?"

"Here, have a candy, and you won't feel uncomfortable after eating it."

Chen Shao walked among the huts as if chatting casually, asking each of them about the people they recommended.

Quan Shuyu followed her and took notes.

Seeing her talking and laughing with the people, with many children running around her, Quan Shuyu couldn't help but glance at the twenty-odd names written on the paper. She had already asked four thatched huts and nearly fifty people, but she hadn't mentioned Qingyu yet.

"Uncle, are you a bricklayer?" Finally, after asking about the sixth thatched hut and seeing a middle-aged man in his forties with mud stains on his rough hands and dirt in the gaps between his fingernails, Chen Shao finally changed the subject.

The middle-aged man subconsciously retracted his hand and answered "yes" with an awkward smile.

Chen Shao seemed not to notice and asked, "Which village are you from, uncle? Is your family a bricklayer, or are you working for others?"

The middle-aged man reluctantly replied, "That's what we do at home."

He added: "We are in Anbei Village."

"Anbei Village... Let me think about it." Chen Shao lowered his eyes and recalled the map of Hongyuan County. Before he could figure out the geographical location of Anbei Village, Li Tianliu reminded him, "Don't think about it. Anbei Village is six or seven miles away from Yunhe Town."

"Six or seven miles is not far." Chen Shao said, looking at Li Tianliu with a little surprise. She didn't expect that he understood her intention so quickly. Li Tianliu met her gaze and snorted disapprovingly. Chen Shao curled the corners of his mouth and continued, "Uncle, do you know the Liang family in Yunhe Town? It was the Liang family that was forced by the prefectural government in the early years. After the father and son committed suicide one after another, the rest of the people fled overnight."

"You are talking about Liang Changlin's family, right?" said an elderly man on the opposite side. "I know him."

Liang Changlin is Liang Ge's uncle. Chen Shao followed up and asked, "Uncle, are you from Yunhe Town?"

The old man nodded and sighed, "My home is only about 20 feet away from Liang Changlin's home. If you have anything to say, I can bring it back to them."

"Isn't the Liang family still living in that restaurant? Why haven't they returned to Yunhe Town?" Someone else came over and spoke.

"I have already sent them back," Chen Shao replied at the right time, "but they have been away from home for many years, and their house is no longer habitable. I plan to hire someone to rebuild it for them."

Then he looked at the middle-aged man and said, "I don't know much about house repairs. After you recover, can you go to Yunhe Town to see how many tiles the Liang family's house needs? Then you can tell me the approximate number. I will pay you half of the money as a deposit, and I will pay you the rest after the house is repaired. What do you think?"

The middle-aged man had not expected that he could get a business by going to the city to see a doctor, and that this business came from Chen Shao, so he naturally agreed.

"Your family does masonry and bricklaying, so you should know a lot of workers who repair houses, right?" Chen Shao asked.

The middle-aged man nodded, "Yes, I know quite a few."

Chen Shao said, "When you go to see how many tiles the Liang family's house needs, can you calculate how many workers are needed to repair their house as quickly as possible, and then help contact the corresponding workers?"

As soon as the middle-aged man agreed, the onlookers asked, "Sir, are you still going to repair the house for the Liang family?"

"It's not that I want to repair his house. Just like the Zhu and Gu families seized your good fields and land earlier, his house was also persecuted by the government and collapsed into its current state." Chen Shao glanced at everyone and deliberately slowed down his speech. "I confiscated the Zhu and Gu families and returned all the good fields and land they occupied to you. Similarly, I have investigated their case and should return their good house to them."

"Your Excellency is a good one."

"Since you came to Hongyuan County, life has been better than ever before."

Chen Shao agreed with a smile: "We have only reached a certain point now, just wait and see, it will get better and better in the future."

After chatting for a while, Chen Shao went to the next straw hut.

Next, she still didn't mention Qingyu.

Until the last straw hut, after asking the last person to recommend the shopkeeper, she did not ask. Seeing that she was about to leave, Quan Shuyu hurriedly reminded: "Sir, Qingyu's matter has not been discussed yet."

"Look at me, I was so focused on the shopkeeper's business that I almost forgot about this." Chen Shao seemed to have just remembered it, and he clenched his fist and gently hit his forehead twice, saying, "Where are the two pieces of jade? Give them to me."

When Quan Shuyu handed her the jade pendant, she realized belatedly that she had been "used".

Chen Shao ignored her thoughts. After taking the jade pendant, he sat back and handed one of the jade pendants to a white-haired old woman next to him.

The old woman had a kind face and looked a little listless due to her illness. The younger of her two daughters-in-law took good care of her, while the older daughter-in-law chatted with people everywhere.

Chen Shao gave her a quick check and concluded that she had just caught a cold and was not seriously ill.

When Chen Shao stuffed the jade pendant into the old woman's hand, the eldest daughter-in-law came back to drink water from chatting about family matters. She saw it and rushed over in two steps. She took the jade pendant from the old woman's hand and asked as she looked at it: "What are you doing, my lady? You're just seeing a doctor, why are you giving me a gift?"

A look of displeasure flashed across the old woman's face, but because there were so many people around, she didn't say anything.

"This is not a gift." Chen Shao was waiting for her. He curled his lips calmly and said slowly, "This is a scam set up by the Zhu family, Gu family, Fan family, Qi family, Wen family, Ding family, Zhao family, Hu family and others who have already been investigated."

"Scam, what scam?" The eldest daughter-in-law looked at the jade pendant suspiciously, then at Chen Shao.

Chen Shao pointed at the jade pendant in her hand and said, "Count how many petals the lotus on the jade pendant has."

The eldest daughter-in-law tilted the jade pendant, counted it twice, and said, "Twelve pieces."

Chen Shao continued: "Besides the petals, is there anything else on the jade pendant, such as lotus seeds?"

The eldest daughter-in-law looked over and over again and confirmed, "No."

Chen Shao then motioned her to pass the jade pendant to the person next to her to look at and count. After the jade pendant was passed around in everyone's hands, he asked, "Have you seen it clearly?"

Everyone nodded.

Chen Shao asked again: "Is it the same as what my elder sister said, that there is nothing else except the twelve petals?"

Everyone nodded again.

The eldest daughter-in-law was impatient and wanted to urge her to stop keeping the secret, but when the words were on the tip of her tongue, she glanced at Li Tianliu behind her and suddenly remembered her identity, so she quickly swallowed the words back.

"You all know Shan, right? It's the small country next to Jiannan Road." Chen Shao naturally saw the anxiety of his eldest daughter-in-law, she was doing it on purpose. The more you whet the appetite of impatient people, the more they will be eager to spread the news after getting the answer. And what she wanted was their publicity.

Chen Shao pressed his lips and after everyone nodded again, he continued: "These two pieces of jade are produced in Shan. Shan has many mountains and little land. In the past, they relied on the protection of Datong to survive. Since Yan, Zhao, Yue and other countries have been at war with Datong, Datong has no time to take care of them. Their lives have suddenly fallen into difficulties. What should they do? At the critical moment, the Zhu family, Gu family, Fan family, Qi family, and Wen family came to them. What do the Zhu family, Gu family, Fan family, Qi family, and Wen family want them for?"

Chen Shao looked at everyone.

The crowd shook their heads.

"Rebellion." Chen Shao said lightly. As everyone's faces changed suddenly, she continued calmly, "They planned to borrow soldiers from the Shan Kingdom in exchange for food, and the Shan Kingdom agreed. That's why the Zhu family, the Gu family and others wanted to seize your good land. But although the Shan Kingdom agreed to lend them soldiers, they can't be without any troops at all. But they are just merchants, where can they get the soldiers?"

Chen Shao looked at the green jade pendant that had returned to his eldest daughter-in-law's hands.

Everyone followed her and looked at the green jade pendant in the eldest daughter-in-law's hand.

The eldest daughter-in-law was so scared that she quickly threw the jade pendant back into the old woman's hands.

Chen Shao took the jade pendant back from the old woman, put it together with the one in his hand, and then held it in front of everyone. "The Zhu family, Gu family, and Fan family bought a large number of such jade pendants from Shan State, and then sold them to some of you at very low prices through various means. You may ask, what is the use of selling them to you? Of course it is useful. This is not a simple jade pendant, but a token. Anyone who possesses this token is their soldier."

Chen Shao looked at everyone and saw that the expressions of two of them changed. He did not point it out, but continued: "Don't want to? No. They will threaten you. If you don't join them in the rebellion, they will give your names to the court and tell the court that you are their people. How will the court deal with you then? According to the Datong Law, rebellion is the first of the ten evils and the nine clans should be executed."

"When we bought the jade pendant, we didn't know it was a token of trust. Are you going to kill us too?" One of the men whose facial expressions changed earlier asked in panic.

"Originally, they were to be executed, but..." Chen Shao paused for a moment before continuing, "I have already confiscated their property and exposed their scam in advance. Naturally, this jade pendant has lost its original function. But just in case, I will arrange for a group of jade carving masters to come to Hongyuan County and change the patterns of your jade pendants for free. After the pattern is changed, there is no guarantee that someone will take the opportunity to cause trouble again, so you also need to remember that in the future, except for me, anyone who uses the jade to threaten you to rebel or do something is a liar, and you must send them to the prefectural governor's mansion without hesitation! I will set up an award in the prefectural governor's mansion. Anyone who sends a liar can get a reward ranging from two hundred coins to ten taels of silver."

"Can I throw away the jade pendant?" someone asked.

Chen Shao put away the jade pendant and stood up, saying, "I don't recommend throwing it away, because if you throw it away, it might be picked up by someone else and they change it up, but if they don't change it up, wouldn't that give them a handle on you?"

"When will the jade carving master come to Hongyuan County?" someone else asked.

"Once I have made all the arrangements, I will post a notice to inform everyone." Chen Shao replied.

The eldest daughter-in-law was already chatting excitedly with the newcomers about what had happened. After answering many questions from the people who had bought the jade pendants, Chen Shao turned around and went to the lobby of Huimin Pharmacy.