Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Shopkeeper Zhou nodded sullenly, "Yes, that's what he said."

Chen Shao's eyes suddenly turned cold: "Even though you know that he is the murderer of the Ye Kudzu case?"

Shopkeeper Zhou quickly knelt on the ground and said, "I am innocent. I didn't know he was the murderer of the kudzu case. I only knew that he brought a few doctors and shop assistants from Huimin Pharmacy to Songyuan for dinner on the night of the 8th. I don't know what they said or did during the meal."

"If he was just Ren Pei, just an ordinary guest who came to Songyuan for dinner, you could just say you didn't know," Chen Shao unfolded Ren Pei's portrait and held it in front of him, saying coldly, "But he is still Ma San, still doing business with Juxianlou. The fish in those ponds are not cheap. How could Juxianlou buy his fish without investigating his identity?"

Shopkeeper Zhou was about to cry but had no tears: "He said that he wanted to do medicine business with Huimin Medicine Shop, but he was afraid that Master and Seventh Master would look down on Ma San's identity, so he took the name Ren Pei. He wanted to build a good relationship with the doctors and clerks in the medicine shop first, so that they could say a few good words to Master and Seventh Master. He was also afraid that Master and Seventh Master would misunderstand that he had ulterior motives, so he asked me to keep it a secret."

He also said: "I can swear to heaven that I never said a single word falsely, otherwise I will be struck by lightning and die a miserable death!"

Before Chen Shao could say anything, he added: "I am loyal to you, sir. Heaven and earth can bear witness to this. You cannot wrongly accuse me like this."

Chen Shao snorted coldly: "Are you done?"

Shopkeeper Zhou said awkwardly, "Everything I said is true. I hope you can understand."

"You lied to me before, and I just forced you to tell the truth. Do you still feel wronged?" Chen Shao said sarcastically, "You know better than me what the Zhu family, Gu family, and Fan family did in the past. The fact that Juxianlou can easily make money from them proves that you are not a mediocre person. Ren Pei asked Juxianlou to meet the people from Huimin Pharmacy without telling them the night before, and the next day something happened to Huimin Pharmacy. I don't believe you didn't have any doubts. You had doubts, but you concealed them. I want to ask you what you were thinking!"

Shopkeeper Zhou cried out again, "Your Excellency is innocent, I am..."

Chen Shao interrupted him and warned him coldly: "If you dare to make up stories again, don't blame me for not remembering our friendship!"

Shopkeeper Zhou stuttered and swallowed the words back in his mouth, and said honestly: "I suspected it, but, when I sent people to look for him in Qiwan Lane, Shipailou, he was gone."

Chen Shao suppressed his anger and the urge to kick him, "Then how did you do business with him before?"

"I sent people to his shop and residence to inquire about him, and confirmed that he was not a liar, so I bought the fish from him." Shopkeeper Zhou took two steps back in fear, and when he was a little further away from her, he said, "Who knew that although he was not a liar, he was actually a murderer."

Chen Shao closed his eyes and said, "Lead the way to his shop!"

Ma San's shop was also in Shipailou. Except for a few smelly pools, the shop was empty. The shop was like this, and the home was also like this. After asking the neighbors around the shop and the home, Chen Shao learned that he had already left with his family on the morning of the incident at Huimin Pharmacy under the pretext of visiting relatives. He warned the shopkeeper Zhou: "Until Ma San is caught, you are not allowed to go anywhere except Juxianlou!"

After Shopkeeper Zhou agreed, Chen Shao spent another half an hour patiently explaining the scam of the jade pendant and the fact that Ma San was the mastermind behind the kudzu case at Huimin Pharmacy to the neighbors around the shop and the people in Qiwan Lane, and then returned to the prefectural government. Without taking a break, he ordered the Yulin Guards: "Go and bring Bao Chengle up!"

This was the first time Chen Shao saw Bao Chengle after he was imprisoned with Zhang Boshan.

In just a few months, he had aged more than ten years. His eyes were dim and cloudy, no longer as charming as before.

Chen Shao took a quick look at him and then went straight to the point: "Tell me, where is Ma Sanzang?"

"Are you talking about the fishmonger Ma San?" Bao Chengle looked up in shock. Seeing her cold face and murderous intent, his heart skipped a beat and he said tentatively, "If it's him, he lives in Shipailou. You can just send someone over to ask and we'll know."

"Okay, stop pretending." Chen Shao said impatiently, "Is he selling fish or jade? You know better than me. I'll ask you again, where is he hiding?"

"He not only sells fish and jade, but also medicinal herbs. He will sell whatever makes money." Ma San has been exposed. He can no longer be protected! After weighing the pros and cons in an instant, Bao Chengle deliberately delayed and said, "But he does live in Shipailou. I dare not deceive you."

Chen Shao looked at him for a moment, then stood up and walked down from the table. He slowly walked in front of him and said word by word, "Listen carefully. I'm asking where he is hiding, not where he lives."

I can't say it directly, or I'll get into trouble. Bao Chengle clenched his teeth and pretended to hesitate: "I only know where he lives and where he hides, I don't..."

Chen Shao kicked him out, and then, when he was struggling to get up, he stepped on him again, "If you can't remember, then think about it slowly. I have plenty of time."

As if he had not expected her to take action, Bao Chengle looked at her in horror. Seeing the murderous intent in her eyes becoming more and more intense, he said in a trembling voice, "Your Excellency is wise. I have only met him a few times. I really don't know where he will hide."

"It seems that you don't want to drink the toast, so you have to drink the penalty!" Chen Shao stepped hard, and after he couldn't help vomiting blood, he said coldly, "We are both working for the princelings of the previous dynasty. You said you don't know where it is hidden. Do you think I believe you or not?"

Bao Chengle's pupils shrank again and again. She knew everything? No, what happened outside, how did she know? Did the Wen family or the Ren family, or the Fan family, Qi family, Gu family, and Zhu family tell her? Impossible, this is a matter of killing nine clans, they can't tell her. As for the other possibility, Bao Chengle simply didn't even think about it. Whether it was the Wen family, the Ren family, or the Zhu family, the Gu family, they had taken root in Hongyuan County for decades. Not to mention that their power had long been intertwined, they also had people from other families in other counties. It was definitely not something that she, a sickly outsider, could deal with. She was deceiving him, she must be.

It was all because the Yulin Guards guarded the prison too tightly, so he couldn't hear any news from outside. The Wen family and the Ren family were also useless...

Bao Chengle suddenly froze.

It's fine that the Zhu, Gu, Fan, and Qi families didn't know that he was a member of the former princeling party. The Wen and Ren families relied on Luo Wanyou to communicate with the former princeling party. It's impossible for them not to know his identity. Since they knew, he was imprisoned for so long, but they did nothing...

He was abandoned!

Bao Chengle felt a chill down his spine, and without thinking of other possibilities, he immediately confessed: "He was at Shipailou, he was at Lane 19 at Shipailou!"

Chen Shao's eyes went dark.

There are many alleys in Shipailou, crisscrossing like a spider web, and Shipailou Alley 19 is diagonally opposite Qiwan Alley! If they just went around Qiwan Alley to Lane 19, then her actions in Qiwan Alley just now, including the last time Li Tianliu went to Qiwan Alley to search for them, must not have escaped their eyes!

Chen Shao retracted his foot angrily and ordered coldly: "Lead the way!"