Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Zhang Chunhua was dressed in rags, looking very miserable.

After Quan Shuyu recognized her through the corner of the curtain lifted by Chan Yi, he whispered to Chen Shao: "After the young master drove them out of the prefect's mansion, they pawned their jewelry and lived in an inn in the south of the city. Her mother and sister blamed her for leaving the mansion, and left the laundry and cooking work to her. At the end of last month, after they spent all the money from pawning their clothes and jewelry, they were driven out by the waiter of the inn. Because they had nowhere to go, no money, and no warm clothes, her sister instigated her mother to sell her as a concubine. When she found out, she ran away secretly. I met her a few days ago, and I felt sorry for her, so I gave her a set of clothes and an extra twenty coins."

Chan Yi looked at Zhang Chunhua in surprise again. Looking at her thin figure in the cold wind, her earlier dissatisfaction with her disappeared without a trace without her noticing.

Chen Shao also took a look and said, "Take her to Chengfeng Courtyard."

Chan Yi held down Quan Shuyu who was about to get up, and opened the door and jumped out of the carriage first.

Chen Shao did not stop to wait for the two.

After returning to Chengfeng Courtyard and drinking half a cup of tea, Chan Yi brought Zhang Chunhua back.

Seeing that it was so cold and she was only wearing a single layer of clothes, Quan Shuyu quickly took a thick cloak and put it on Zhang Chunhua, and then took a heater and put it in her hands.

Feeling the warmth on her body and hands, Zhang Chunhua's eyes instantly turned red.

"If you have anything to say, sit down and talk." Chen Shao spoke with a neutral tone.

Zhang Chunhua held the heater tightly, took a few deep breaths, put it aside, knelt on the ground, and said with her hands on the ground: "Chunhua has realized her mistakes, please give Chunhua another chance."

"Then tell me first, what did you do wrong?" Chen Shao still had an indifferent tone.

Zhang Chunhua said: "My mistake was to take advantage of your trust in me to seek personal gain."

Chen Shao didn't say anything right or wrong, he just asked: "Then tell me again, what chance do you want me to give you again?"

Zhang Chunhua tried her best to control her shivering body and said calmly, "I have inquired in the county town and surrounding villages these days. There are many people who are willing to send their children to school, but almost no one is willing to send their daughters to school. But..."

After a deliberate pause, Zhang Chunhua continued, "There are many people who are willing to send their daughters to learn dyeing, weaving, embroidery, and silk flower making, more than those who are willing to send their own children to school. If the purpose of adults setting up girls' schools is just to teach people to read and write, it may be a bit difficult. When girls grow up, they will inevitably get married and have children. How many books they read and how many words they know are not of much use to ordinary people. But if they are taught to make a living in the name of crafts, and they are also taught to read some books and learn some words, and their parents or other elders know that they can make money and supplement their family expenses, then they will not stop them."

Having said this, Zhang Chunhua stopped again and waited anxiously for Chen Shao's comments.

"Go on." Although Chen Shao didn't say anything, his tone was obviously not as cold and hard as before.

Zhang Chunhua breathed a sigh of relief before continuing, "After the lord confiscated the Zhu, Gu, Fan, and Qi families, many shops were vacated. Judging from the renovation of the old houses of the Zhu and Gu families, some of these shops will definitely be left to be managed by the government in the future. When these shops managed by the government reopen, they will definitely hire people. Dyeing and embroidery workshops will definitely use many female workers. If the girls' school is connected to these shops that need female workers, more people will be willing to send their daughters to study. As for dyeing and embroidery teachers, it is also easy. The original dyeing and embroidery workshops of the Zhu and Gu families had many powerful masters."

"It seems that you have made sufficient preparations for this opportunity." Chen Shao's eyes showed admiration. She didn't like smart people, but she liked smart people very much. No matter what the reason was for her to change from being smart to being smart, her current performance made her very satisfied.

After letting her get up, Chen Shao thought for a moment and told Quan Shuyu: "Give her two taels of silver."

Quan Shuyu took off the bag from his waist, took out two taels of silver and handed it to Zhang Chunhua. When Zhang Chunhua was about to refuse, Chen Shao said, "Use it to buy yourself a set of clothes, and then before dark tomorrow, write down all your ideas and give them to me. Write them in detail, such as where the girls' school will be opened, how much space it will need, what it will need, what courses it will offer, who will be the teachers of these courses, how many students you plan to recruit, how much it will cost, etc."

Zhang Chunhua swallowed her words of refusal, took the silver, said "OK" solemnly, knelt down and kowtowed three times, then turned around and left.

Watching her figure gradually disappearing in the cold night, Chan Yi said, "Looking at her now, I understand why she plotted against me in the first place."

Quan Shuyu sighed softly: "Speaking of which, he is also a pitiful person."

Chan Yi nodded: "He is indeed a poor man."

"Poor man?" Chen Shao stood up and said as he walked into the inner room, "You should have more pity on yourself."

Chan Yi quickly followed her steps, "Sir, don't you feel pity for her?"

"She is very pitiful now," Chen Shao took off his cloak and coat and handed them to her, then sat on the bed and kicked off his shoes. "But don't forget who made her so pitiful."

"Of course..." Chan Yi stopped talking halfway.

Quan Shuyu smiled and continued, "Yes, young master."

Chan Yi retorted: "She deserves it! If she hadn't plotted against me, how could you have driven them out of the prefect's mansion?"

"It's not me or you who made her so miserable. It's all her own fault from the beginning to the end." Chen Shao covered himself with the quilt and said disapprovingly, "When her father was corrupt and taking bribes, she enjoyed a life of luxury. Now she is only deprived of the right to enjoy and turned back into an ordinary person. If we really want to talk about pity, those common people whose land was seized by the Zhu family, the Gu family, and her father, which one is not more pitiful than her?"

"That's right, who isn't more pitiful than her?" Unable to sleep, Chan Yi opened the closet and packed her luggage for Xitang County.

Quan Shuyu couldn't sleep either, so he followed her.

Chen Shao watched the two men's actions, and gradually, his mind began to empty, and the case in Xitang County slowly surfaced again.

The murderer would not leave the word "Quan" at the scene for no reason. There must be some purpose.

What is the intention?

Chen Shao slowly closed his eyes.

When I opened my eyes again, it was already daybreak.

Asking each of them to decide on their monthly salary was just a formality. Chen Shao made some adjustments and settled on it. He also made some arrangements, such as asking Zhao Liangzhu and Wen Ying to help Zhang Chunhua run a girls' school. After she came back from Xitang County to see the results, she set off with everyone from Xitang County the next morning.