Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Several people quickly lowered their heads and looked at the jade pendants on their bodies.

"I bought it from Madam Zhang's Yubaozhai," Gao Han answered the fastest and most flatteringly. "If you like it, I will pick a few pieces and send them to the prefect's mansion tomorrow."

Asking them to take off the jade pendant, Chen Shao took it and glanced at the lotus on which the Buddha sat, then looked at the Buddha's flesh bun, which was indeed shaped like a dagger. However, the jade quality and carving of these jade pendants were far inferior to that chess piece.

After having Gao Han take off the hairpin on his head and look at it, Chen Shao asked, "Which Madam Zhang?"

Gao Han replied flatteringly, "Mr. Zhang's wife."

"Zhang Boshan's wife?" Chen Shao paused slightly while admiring the jade pendant.

Gao Han nodded repeatedly, "Yes, but Madam Zhang's Yubaozhai doesn't have a shop, so there's no fixed plan for what jade toys to sell. Green jade from Shan country like this is even rarer. But as a lord, as long as you ask, I think even the rarest green jade, Master Zhang will definitely offer it to you with both hands."

His wife is in the jade business... No wonder he said he would give her the green jade, but he was not in a hurry to send someone to Shan. Chen Shao looked at the jade pendants again and asked curiously, "If she doesn't have a shop, how does she do business?"

Gao Han smiled flatteringly and said, "When Madam Zhang has some unused goods to sell, she will send people to deliver visiting cards to the ladies of each mansion. After the ladies go to appreciate them, the one with the highest bid will win."

The one who pays the highest price wins. He is really good at doing business. Chen Shao's eyes flashed with a bit of coldness. Without asking whether they were willing or not, he handed the jade pendant and jade hairpin to Chan Yi and asked her to keep them. Then he asked lazily, "Besides you, who else has bought such jade from Madam Zhang's Yubaozhai?"

After thinking for a moment, Gao Han replied half attentively and half proudly, "Besides me and Supervisor Luo, only Mr. Zhang and Mr. Wang in the south of the city have each bought a jade pendant."

Seeing Chen Shao's eyes glancing at Jiang Zilin, Gao Han quickly explained: "The jade pendant was given to him by me as a reward."

Chen Shao said slowly: "Why reward him?"

Gao Han quickly lowered his head.

Jiang Zilin, however, said, "He gave it to me as a reward when I gave him the peaches years ago."

Gao Han knelt on the ground in panic and begged for mercy again.

Chen Shao did not let him get up, but asked slowly: "Why is the bun on the Buddha statue shaped like a dagger?"

Gao Han hurriedly replied: "Master Zhang said that the dagger-shaped bun is a symbol of power and wealth in Shan State."

Chen Shao sneered at Shi Xing, a symbol of power and wealth, and turned the topic back to Shi Xing, "Besides the three of you, are there any other people in your group that indulged in pleasure?"

"Yes!" Luo Zhengxin knew that his future was over, so he viciously accused seven more people. One was the schoolmaster who managed the students, one was the supervisor of the morals and deeds of the students, one was the money officer who was in charge of the academy's cashier, three gentry families, and Shi Chengliang.

Chen Shao laughed when he heard this.

Not wanting to listen to them talking about such dirty and obscene things in such a place where moral sentiments should be maintained, Chen Shao turned his face cold and asked Li Tianliu to lock up the three of them and the seven people they had betrayed in the prefectural government.

The veterinarian followed Tao Ming and Sun Chengyi and saw Gao Han and the other two being taken away by the Yulin Army. He was terrified and confessed everything without Chen Shao asking: the horse had been given a strong drug that could cause it to go crazy. He thought it was because Sun Chengyi had made a grudge with someone and was retaliated by the enemy. He didn't want to be involved and be retaliated, so he concealed it.

Sun Chengyi was stunned, and hurriedly bowed his hands to explain: "My Lord, I have never made enemies with anyone."

Chen Shao asked him, "Are you sure that no one except Master Shi touched the horse before you practiced archery?"

Sun Chengyi thought uncertainly for a while, then cried anxiously, "It has been half a month since the incident, and I can't remember it clearly. I just remember that I said a few words to Master Shi by the stream."

Chen Shao was speechless, but he comforted him gently. Afterwards, he went back to Shi Xing's house to search, and then went to Gao Han's house to look around, and then returned to the prefect's mansion.

The first thing he did when he returned to the prefect's mansion was to call Zhang Boshan over and ask, "I wonder if Master Zhang has found the jade I want?"

Zhang Boshan rubbed his hands and said flatteringly, "It will be here soon. It should be here in a few days."

"Really?" Chen Shao threw out Gao Han's hairpin and jade pendant, "Then Sir Zhang, can you tell me where these came from?"

Zhang Boshan looked up, and after one look, he became paralyzed, "Sir, Sir, your humble servant..."

"Take him away!" Chen Shao glanced at him and Bao Chengle behind him, "Secure them separately!"

After watching the yamen runners dragging the heartbroken Zhang Boshan away, Chen Shao ordered Li Tianliu, "Arrange ten to twenty Yulin soldiers, and let them guard the prison with the yamen runners from today on."

After a pause, he specifically instructed: "Especially keep an eye on Zhang Boshan and Bao Chengle, and don't let them have room to communicate."

During the break arranged by Li Tianliu, Chen Shao interrogated Shi Chengliang and Shi Chengguang again.

Shi Chengliang was already sixteen years old, fat and greasy, with dull eyes and dark yellow skin. One could tell at a glance that he was addicted to alcohol and sex, and his body had long been depleted. Shi Chengguang was not even thirteen years old, but he was also fat and had big ears, a swollen face, and was probably no less addicted to alcohol and sex than his brother.

The two men were scolded by the bailiffs and knelt in front of the hall. They were so frightened that they could not say a word.

Chen Shao didn't waste time talking to them. He picked up the gavel and knocked it hard, then asked directly, "Where is Shi Xing's other house?"

Shi Chengliang was so scared that he kowtowed several times. When he heard the question, he subconsciously looked at Shi Chengguang: "Does that old guy have another house?"

Shi Chengguang shook his head like a rattle: "I, I don't know, he didn't tell me."

"I knew this old man had something else up his sleeve," Shi Chengliang gritted his teeth and said viciously, "I asked him for money two days ago, but he said he had none. You old bastard, you bastard, you dared to buy a house behind our backs? You must be tired of living!"

Shi Chengguang looked at Chen Shao timidly and continued to shake his head, "I, I don't know anything."

"He dared to buy a house without our knowledge, he must have secretly raised a little bitch. Hey, little bitches are good, I love playing with them the most..." He was halfway through his words, suddenly remembering that this was not his home, so he quickly stopped talking and begged for mercy.

Chen Shao smiled wryly and said, "Calling your father an old man?"

"He is not our father!" Shi Chengliang blurted out. After he finished speaking, he suddenly stood up and said, "He is not our father!"

Chen Shao looked at him with a half-smile: "If he is not your father, who is your father?"

Shi Chengliang dusted off his body, then saw Shi Chengguang still kneeling on the ground. He pulled him up and said with his neck tilted high, "Our father is Gao Han, the headmaster of the Imperial Academy. If you don't believe me, you can find him to confront us face to face!"