Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

The cabinets were all empty, with only one or two items left in the cracks or on the floor.

Manager Lin’s rice shop is not small, with three courtyards added up from the front to the back.

Clearing out all the clutter obviously would not be a quick task.

Two Yulin guards were left at the door to prevent the common people from ignoring the warning and entering the house without permission. Chen Shao asked the rest of the Yulin guards to disperse and sweep forward little by little in a fishing net style.

Except for the furniture, all the items found were placed in the basket held by Chan Yi.

First came the kitchen, then the living room, then the bedroom, then the warehouse, and finally the shop facing the street.

The basket was filled to the brim with useless things.

After searching again and finding the same result, Chen Shao withdrew and turned to go to the house of Manager Qi, who was not far away.

Shopkeeper Qi is a butcher and also sells pork.

Compared to the orderly house of Shopkeeper Lin, Shopkeeper Qi's house was in a mess. Although most of the belongings were taken away, there were still a lot of fragments left. Just like the search of Shopkeeper Lin's house, Chen Shao and Lin Yulin lined up and started the search from the kitchen.

Even in the coldest months of winter, there was a foul odor in the Qi family's kitchen.

Several Yulin guards instinctively left the kitchen and took deep breaths of fresh air.

Chen Shao smelled a slight fishy smell amid the stench of rotting and fermenting pork. He suppressed the surging gastric juice and quickly entered the kitchen. After opening the two tightly closed windows, he turned and walked to the wooden barrel for garbage in the corner.

Sure enough, there were clusters of fish scales scattered inside and outside the wooden barrel.

Chan Yi had been following her. When she saw Yu Lin, she went out to ask around and came back to say, "Shopkeeper Qi not only sells pork, but also fish occasionally. He sold fish once a few days before they left."

"There are fish scales here, too." After the window was opened, the stench was still there, but not so unbearable, and the Yulin Guards followed in. After searching around, two of the Yulin Guards also found a lot of fish scales on the chopping board.

"Their house is too messy." Chan Yi couldn't help but say as she saw the fish scales and large stains of blood on the chopping board.

Yulinwei said, "I wonder if the people in this town will still dare to buy meat from him after seeing his kitchen."

Chan Yi said, "They have been in this town for a while, how could they not know?"

Yulin Guards: "You dare to buy it even though you know that?"

Chan Yi: “Who knows?”

There were a lot of things in the kitchen, but after searching around, they were all useless.

The same goes for the main room, bedrooms, warehouse, and shop that followed.

"Search again." Chen Shao was unconvinced. "Search every corner carefully."

There was still nothing found in the kitchen and the main room.

The same is true for Manager Qi's bedroom.

It was not until the two children's bedroom, when the Yulin Guard accidentally bumped into a stool beside it while moving the wooden bed, that Chen Shao vaguely heard the crisp sound of jade hitting wood.

After taking a quick look at the mess under the bed and walking around the bed, Chen Shao decisively ordered, "Turn the bed over so the bottom is facing up."

The imperial guards struggled to turn the bed over, and Chan Yi was the first to see the jade eye stuck between the wooden bed beam and the palm mat. He stopped the imperial guards and squeezed over to take the jade eye off.

The green jade arhat eye is only the size of a copper coin. The so-called arhat eye is what we call a peace locket in modern times.

The quality of the jade of the Green Jade Arhat Eye can only be considered medium, and there are lotus patterns carved on both sides.

Chen Shao counted them and found that the lotus pattern had twelve petals.

Just relying on an Arhat Eye, one cannot judge that Shopkeeper Qi is a member of the Prince's Party of the previous dynasty. However, considering his actions, even if he does not know about the Prince's Party of the previous dynasty, he must be the same as Ding Lisheng and others. Although he was deceived, he also did things that harmed Datong.

With this harvest, the imperial guards searched more carefully, not only checking all the cabinets over and over again, but also going back to the shopkeeper Lin's house and turning it upside down. Unfortunately, there was no harvest.

After handing the blue jade arhat eye to Chan Yi and asking her to keep it, Chen Shao borrowed paper and pen from Aunt Hua and drew all the faces of Manager Lin's family and Manager Qi's family. Not only that, facing the people whose curiosity had been completely aroused and who kept asking about what they had done wrong, Chen Shao took out the inferior blue jade pendant he carried with him and told them about how Zhu, Gu, Fan, Qi and others had deceived them.

——"Isn't this what Sanwazi was talking about yesterday?"

——"Zhang Mazi also said so."

——"It seems that what they said is true. The Zhu family and the Gu family are such bastards! Not only did they occupy our land, but they also tried to trick us into working for them!"

——"Are Lao Lin and Lao Qi from the Zhu and Gu families?"

——"Didn't you just say that Lao Lin and Lao Qi came from the capital? They shouldn't be their people, right?"

"Shopkeeper Lin and Shopkeeper Qi are definitely not from the Zhu and Gu families." After letting them discuss for a while, Chen Shao finally answered, "But they are from the same group as them."

I saw their discussions became louder.

Chen Shao went on to say, "The Zhu, Gu, Fan, and Qi families are not the people of Hongyuan County that you think they are. Their families are all in Jiangnan. They came here from Jiangnan more than 60 years ago. That's right, they have been planning this for more than 60 years. The reason why they have been planning for so many years is mainly because the Shan State is very afraid of the Duke of Chen's Mansion and the General of the State, and they always refuse to join forces with them."

There are also smart people among the people. After thinking for a moment, some people found the problem and said, "The Zhu family and the Gu family are from Jiangnan, while Lao Lin and Lao Qi are from Beijing. Since they are in the same group, is there anyone in Beijing who wants to use us?"

"If Shopkeeper Lin and Shopkeeper Qi really came from the capital," Chen Shao said with a deliberately gloomy face, "then it is indeed very likely that there are also aristocratic families in the capital who are involved in this matter."

There was an immediate burst of exclamations.

Chen Shao followed their discussion and said, "If there are also noble families in the capital who are involved in this matter, then the matter is a bit serious. Although I discovered their conspiracy in time, they have been planning for nearly 70 years. It is definitely not something I can solve overnight."

——"We already know the conspiracy of the Green Jade Pendant, and we will definitely not be fooled by them again!"

"I know you won't be fooled by them again," Chen Shao frowned, "but there are so many people in Hongyuan County, not everyone knows about their scam, and I don't know how many people like Manager Lin and Manager Qi are hiding among you."

The people's discussions became louder and louder.

There are many ways to spread the word that the jade pendant is a scam and to find "Manager Lin" or "Manager Qi".

Chen Shao listened for a while, motioned for everyone to be quiet, and then said emotionally: "Everyone's methods are very good, and I don't know which one will be more useful. How about this, everyone first use your own methods to teach those who don't know that the green jade pendant is a scam, and then see whose method is more effective."

After the people agreed one after another, Chen Shao handed out the green jade pendant in his hand and emphasized: "When you teach those who don't know that the green jade pendant is a scam, you should also pay attention to distinguish the jade pendant with twelve lotus petals, which is a fraudulent jade pendant."

After the people had passed the jade pendant around for a while, Chen Shao told them about the fights that resulted in the deaths of people in Qingping Township, Dangnan Village, and Sanwan Village. After that, without waiting for them to discuss, he continued, "When you, uncles, sisters-in-law, and aunts, teach others to identify the jade pendant scam, you should also be careful of the next Lin or Qi who will stir up conflicts. As I said before, if you have any problems or anything, you can come to the prefectural governor's mansion to find me, or find the people who distribute food and money, or go to Huimin Pharmacy to find Master Qi. Don't act on impulse. Otherwise, even if you don't lose your life in vain, you will end up like the three villages."

Seeing that no one was talking, Chen Shao continued: "I am charging in the front to protect everyone, but everyone is holding me back and even hurting my people. This is wrong. What we need to do is to work together to defeat the enemy, protect Jiannan Road, and protect our families and ourselves."

When everyone was speaking passionately, Chen Shao took three steps back and bowed deeply to everyone. When everyone either returned the greeting or retreated to avoid it, Chen Shao spoke again: "I would like to ask everyone to help me keep an eye on Shopkeeper Lin and Shopkeeper Qi in addition to teaching others to identify the Qingyu scam. If they come back secretly, don't talk nonsense with them, and immediately send them to the prefect's mansion. I will reward them with three taels of silver. In addition, if you find other people like Shopkeeper Lin and Shopkeeper Qi who instigate others to cause trouble, you can also send them to the prefect's mansion. Once it is confirmed that they are accomplices of the Zhu family, the Gu family, etc., there will also be a reward of two hundred coins to five taels of silver!"

After answering the questions of the people in Qingxi Town for two cups of tea, Chen Shao returned to Hongyuan County without stopping and went straight to Qiwan Lane of Shipailou.

Shopkeepers Lin and Qi are not in Qiwan Lane, Shipailou!

When Li Tianliu rushed over, the twelfth and thirteenth rooms in Qiwan Lane, Shipailou were already empty!

After asking the neighbors, I learned that Shopkeeper Lin and Shopkeeper Qi returned to Shipailou Qiwan Lane within an hour and then left again. The reason was that they had not been back for too long and the house was too dusty, so they went to stay at the inn for a few days and waited for someone to clean it before coming back.

It's not that there is too much dust. I'm afraid that she had already discovered that Zhou Fang's father was following her, and deliberately went around here to give herself an excuse to get rid of him.

The people living in Qiwan Lane of Shipailou did not know that Manager Lin and Manager Qi were doing business in Qingxi Town. They only knew that they would come here once every one or two years, and that the reason they stayed here was to visit relatives in Hongyuan County and take a short break.

Although he knew that they couldn't really stay at an inn, Li Tianliu still asked, "Do you want to look for it in each inn?"

Chen Shao thought for a moment, shook his head and said, "Don't look for it yet."

He then signaled Chan Yi, "Find a few more painters to paint more portraits of Manager Lin and Manager Qi's families. In addition to posting them on every street in the county town, every village and town should also post them. Along with the portraits, issue a wanted order. Anyone who can provide clues will be rewarded with 200 coins after verification. Anyone who can provide their exact whereabouts will be rewarded with 1 string of coins after verification. Anyone who can deliver one to three of them to the prefectural governor's mansion will be rewarded with 5 strings of coins. Anyone who can deliver all of them to the prefectural governor's mansion will be rewarded with 15 strings of coins."

Li Tianliu stretched out his hand to Chan Yi: "Give it to me, I'll arrange it."

Chan Yi didn't think much about it and handed him the portrait and the cloth bag.

The whereabouts of Shopkeepers Lin and Qi were unknown, and no one knew when there would be any clues after the portraits were posted. Chen Shao did not even return to the prefectural government, and went back to the Zhu and Gu families' farms.

Ran Yuanfei hasn't been interrogated yet, so she has to see if she can find any new clues.