Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chen Shao did not sleep well that night. As soon as he closed his eyes, the riots in Qingping Township, Sanwan Village and Dannan Village would repeatedly appear in his mind.

She was a forensic doctor and should have been accustomed to seeing life and death. However, seeing three young lives, Wang Qi, Zhang Anmin and Wen Kua, lost just because of her earlier statement, she still felt an unbearable pain in her heart.

After finally getting to the fifth watch, Chen Shao threw off the quilt and got up, ignoring the biting cold wind outside the window. He quietly left the house, went to the study, lit the lamp, and took out the confessions of the eleven families and read them.

Among the eleven cases of murdering relatives, nine were murdering the man's parents, and two were murdering the husband. According to the second part of the Tai Tong Criminal Law, murder of grandparents and parents, anyone who has murdered grandparents, parents, and relatives, grandparents, husbands, grandparents, and parents, who has already committed the crime shall be beheaded; those who have already killed shall be executed by slow slicing. In the eleven cases, regardless of the cause, those who actively assisted in completing the crime should be executed by slow slicing; those who participated in the crime but did not actively assist in completing the crime, that is, accomplices, should be punished by 100 strokes of the cane and exiled 3,000 miles. In short, all those who were detained for the eleven cases could not escape the crime of slow slicing, caning, or exile.

However, it will take a detailed trial to find out who should be sentenced to lingchi and who should be sentenced to caning and exile.

After roughly listing the results of the verdict, Chen Shao took out the confessions of all parties involved in the Zhuangzi riot case. The masterminds of the riot were undoubtedly Manager Lin and Manager Qi. The two are on the run, so let's not talk about it for now. Ran Yuanfei, Deng Ding, and Zhou Fang belong to the second crime of murder in the criminal law. According to the severity, Ran Yuanfei actively assisted in completing the crime and caused at least two deaths. There is no doubt that he should be hanged; Deng Ding and Zhou Fang also actively participated in the crime. Although it is not known whether the two caused the death of others, it is undeniable that the people who died in the villages at present all ended up like this because of their participation in the crime. Therefore, the two should also be sentenced to hanging. Although the families of Ran Yuanfei, Deng Ding, and Zhou Fang did not actively participate, they did not stop them when they knew about their crimes, and they more or less obtained economic compensation through their premeditated murder. According to the rules, they should also be beheaded.

As for the village chiefs of the three villages, those of Qingping Township and Sanwan Village fell under the second category of the Criminal Law on fighting and intentional homicide. Due to the chaos, it was impossible to know the result of the injuries caused to the two people, so they were temporarily sentenced to forty strokes of the cane. The village chief of Nan Village knew that Ran Yuanfei had killed others, but she still concealed the fact and did not report it even though she had already investigated the case thoroughly. Her crime was one level less than that of the principal offender, that is, one hundred strokes of the cane and three thousand miles of exile.

After writing down the preliminary verdict, Chen Shao put down her pen, gently rubbed her aching temples, and wanted to pour a cup of hot tea to warm herself up. She reached for the teapot, but it was empty. When she looked up, she saw Quan Shuyu had come to the study room. She subconsciously glanced outside and saw that it was still dark. She was about to ask, "Why did you get up so early?" Quan Shuyu poured tea for her and said, "No matter how early I get up, I can't be earlier than you, young master."

Chen Shao couldn't help but laugh. He took the tea, drank half a cup slowly, and said, "I didn't understand why you got up so early every day before. Today I got up early too. I feel the same way."

Quan Shuyu poured himself a cup of tea and sat down diagonally opposite her. "Sir, are you feeling sorry for Wang Qi and the others?"

It was difficult to find Manager Lin and Manager Qi in a short time, and there was no point in being anxious. The charges for the two major cases had already been drawn up, and all that was left was to slowly investigate to determine their respective charges. Since there was nothing to do now, Chen Shao put down his teacup and asked casually, "What do you mean?"

Quan Shuyu lowered his eyes slightly to hide the sorrow in his eyes, and then raised them again, "I have never dealt with Wang Qi and the others, but I get along with Zhang Ruyuan, Cui Shu and the others every day. To be honest, at the beginning..."

Quan Shuyu smiled and continued, "If it weren't for the young master's cultivation of them, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to hold on until now. Seeing them go from making eight mistakes out of ten at the beginning to being able to handle things on their own and do everything properly now, I unconsciously began to treat them like my own brothers and began to love and be proud of them. Wang Qi and the others were their classmates, and they must have had the same experience as them. Such young lives were lost in this way..."

As he spoke, he unconsciously became choked with sobs.

"It's my fault." Chen Shao slowly exhaled a breath of foul air, stopped her from arguing, and continued, "At the beginning, I told them that no matter what happened, they must not conflict with the people. This was based on the premise that there were no princelings from the previous dynasty. After discovering the princelings from the previous dynasty, I should have been alert. The princelings from the previous dynasty wanted to overthrow the new dynasty and rebuild the old dynasty, and they had been planning for hundreds of years. It is impossible that their layout was just to arrange for the Zhu family, the Gu family and others to raise food and store money for them. They must have prepared a back-up plan. Unfortunately, I was so immersed in winning the hearts of the people that I didn't anticipate the crisis lurking behind the scenes, which led to the current result."

"You can't blame me entirely," Quan Shuyu said after thinking for a while, "Even though I discovered the princelings of the previous dynasty, they haven't made any moves, which inevitably made people relax. Now that we know they are poisonous scorpions, it will be difficult for them to succeed even if they want to cause trouble."

Chen Shao sighed slightly. She also knew this truth, but the price was too high.

"Are you all up?" Chan Yi, wrapped in a cloak, pushed open the door and walked into the study. Seeing the two of them, she rubbed her red and swollen eyes and said, "I thought even if I wasn't the first one, I would be the second one. I didn't expect that I would be the last one to get up."

Quan Shuyu poured a cup of hot tea and handed it to him, "You tossed and turned last night and went to bed very late. It's early to get up now."

Chan Yi took two sips of hot tea and said to Chen Shao, "I discussed with Shu Yu last night that we will follow Wang Qi's coffins to their home today. One is to find out about their family situation; the other is to send them off on behalf of the young master. Since there are three of them, we can't be too busy to go there. I plan to find Xu Guang and ask the teacher he found to see if we can send them back in three batches. The three of them died to protect the people, and we can't favor one over the other."

Chen Shao nodded: "You guys decide."

"Also," Chan Yi continued, "since the young master has written a memorial for them and wants it engraved on a tombstone, their graves cannot be too shabby. I want Shu Yu to allocate thirty taels of silver to bury them with honor."

Chen Shao nodded again: "Okay."

Chan Yi let out a long sigh, put down her teacup, tilted her head to look at the gradually brightening sky outside, and stood up and said, "Xu Guang should be up now. I'll go find him now."

Quan Shuyu quickly stood up and said, "I'll go with you."

"No, you can stay here." Chan Yi refused, "Young Master, if you need anything, don't lose me."

Quan Shuyu looked at Chen Shao, and Chen Shao said, "Let her go."

Standing at the door and watching Chan Yi leave Cheng Feng Courtyard, Quan Shuyu sighed, closed the door and sat back down: "In the past, I saw her as carefree and not taking anything to heart, but I didn't expect her feelings to be so delicate and sensitive."

This remark brought back some long-lost memories for Chen Shao. Perhaps it was because she had been abandoned by her parents, she could not move away whenever she encountered the same thing, whether it was a human or an animal. She sent the children she found to the orphanage without giving up. She also gave away the cats and dogs that could be given away, and took those that could not be given away back to the mountain.

Before she returned to the capital, she would always take a month out of every year to visit the orphanage to see the children and the cats and dogs that were sent out. Although she called it a visit, she actually provided free medical treatment to the orphanage and the families that took in cats and dogs in exchange for their sincere treatment of the children or cats and dogs.

After returning to the capital, even if he didn't have time to go there again, he would find ways to ask someone to bring them some money as aid.

She has always been a delicate and sensitive person.

It just isn't often shown.

After collecting his thoughts and chatting with Chan Yi for a while, he looked up and saw Li Tianliu standing outside the door eavesdropping. Chen Shao raised his mouth slightly and raised his voice deliberately, "Who's outside?"

Quan Shuyu looked back vigilantly.

Li Tianliu pushed the door open with a normal look on his face. "The parents of Wang Qi and his men sent someone to tell them that they want to take the coffins back home."

"I'll go talk to them." Quan Shuyu stood up immediately.

"What did you say?" Li Tianliu asked after she left.

Chen Shao told them about their plan. Li Tianliu listened and endured for a while before asking, "Are they feeling sorry for Wang Qi and the others?"

Chen Shao glanced at him, picked up the confessions of the two major cases, stood up and said, "When you led the troops to fight, your soldiers were killed. Weren't you sad?"

Of course I am sad. Li Tianliu did not answer, but followed her out of Chengfeng Courtyard thoughtfully, and then said: "Is there anything wrong? If not, I will go out for a while."

After handing the confession in his hand to him and taking a look at it, Chen Shao did not ask him what was the matter, and said, "It's nothing serious. If you have something to do, just go and do it. Don't worry about me."

Li Tianliu responded and left before her.

He went to Juxianlou and asked Shopkeeper Zhou for two boxes of desserts. He had heard his mother say that when people are unhappy, eating some desserts will make them feel better.

Chen Shao didn't know about their affairs. After arriving at the second hall, he asked the Yulin Guards to bring Deng Ding and others up and started a new round of interrogation. This interrogation was more detailed than the one in Zhuangzi.

Halfway through the interrogation, Chan Yi and Quan Shuyu came over and told her that they had agreed with the families of Wang Qi and the others to take the coffin home two hours apart. After telling them to be careful, Chen Shao continued the interrogation until it was almost dark, when she had gotten all the details clear. After a night's rest, she got up the next day and visited the injured and Liu Deming and others at Huimin Pharmacy and Juxian Building. She then went to the three villages where the accident happened and checked the incident and the confessions of Deng Ding and others one by one.

After checking for five consecutive days and arresting the seven most violent villagers and making judgments on all of them, Chen Shao re-examined the eleven cases. After interrogating the eleven families, she took the trouble to visit each family one by one to investigate the truthfulness of their confessions.

During the process, she took a day off to pay tribute to Wang Qi, Zhang Anmin and Wen Kuo one by one.

The families of Wang Qi, Zhang Anmin and Wen Kuo were naturally grateful for her arrival. They gave them a grand funeral, erected a monument and worshipped them under the name of Chen Zhao. Each of these was a great honor in this era, but in Chen Shao's heart, the graves of the three of them were like three sharp swords piercing her heart, reminding her all the time that it was her arrogance that killed them.

Quan Shuyu and Chan Yi gave her a total of four compensation plans for the three families.

One set was 100 taels of silver for each of the three families; one set made the existing land of the three families privately owned by them, and they would not have to pay taxes to the government for generations; one set was to provide each of them with a shop in the county town; and one set was to arrange for them to serve as small managers in the government's shops, and if they behaved themselves, they could pass the business down from generation to generation.

The compensation amount is huge for each one.

According to Chan Yi, this drastic plan is to tell all the people in Hongyuan County, especially those in Qingping Township, Sanwan Village and Dannan Village, that keeping to themselves is the only way out.

Chen Shao did not give any advice and only asked them to give it to the families of Wang Qi, Zhang Anmin and Wen Kuo to choose.

While the two of them were busy with this matter, Chen Shao spent another seven days to visit all eleven households. According to the original charges, a total of twenty-five people needed to be executed by slow slicing, but Chen Shao could not do it, so he changed the sentence to beheading. For the rest, he kept one person from each family to take care of the elderly or children, and the rest were beaten with 100 sticks and exiled three thousand miles away.

Chen Shao did not execute it immediately.

The doctor and the clerk of Huimin Pharmacy have not been interrogated yet, and the traitor has not been found out yet, so their cooperation in the investigation may be needed.

She had said earlier that Huimin Pharmacy would be closed for three days for rectification, but until now, it has still not opened.

Every day many people came to the prefectural government to petition for the Huimin Pharmacy to open earlier, but she refused.

Rules are rules, and they cannot be relaxed in the slightest just because of their petition, especially after what happened to Wang Qi, Zhang Anmin and Wen Kuo.

On the day when the verdicts were handed down for the eleven families, the families of Wang Qi, Zhang Anmin and Wen Kuo also made their choices.

The families of Wang Qi and Zhang Anmin chose the second option, that is, the existing land would belong to them privately and they would no longer have to pay taxes to the government. Only Wen Kuo's family chose the fourth option. However, Wen Kuo's father did not choose to be a shop manager, but asked if he could continue teaching. He already knew that Chen Shao was going to set up a government school.

Of course Chen Shao agreed without hesitation.

I had promised to hire a tutor for the children of all the employees of Huimin Pharmacy earlier, but it was delayed again and again due to various reasons. Now that I have a tutor who has come to me, there is no reason to refuse.

After asking Chan Yi and Quan Shu Yu to implement the compensation plan for Wang Qi and Zhang Anmin's family, Chen Shao personally met with Wen Ying.

After introducing him to the meeting with Qi Ye and explaining the situation of Huimin Pharmacy and the sixty-seven children to him, Chen Shao decided to locate the private school in two shops across the street from the pharmacy.

After letting them plan the construction of the private school themselves and then come up with a specific plan to ask Quan Shuyu for funding, Chen Shao then began to interrogate the doctors and clerks of Huimin Pharmacy.