So what if I traveled through time? I'll continue to roll in another place

Xiao Yueshan and Zhou Yao went to visit Ji Shu's house together, bringing with them some simple gifts that Mrs. Ji had prepared earlier.

Although Ji Shu was a third-rank official in the court, his residence was not large and the decoration was simple and low-key.

The two handed over the visiting card at the main entrance and waited for a response from the inner room.

Soon a man's hearty laughter was heard, "Yao'er! My dear grandson! You finally come to see me!" Unexpectedly, Ji Shu actually came to greet him in person. Xiao Yueshan and Zhou Yao hurriedly saluted.

"Forget about the formalities, come in quickly!" The man really had a pair of piercing tiger eyes. If you look closely, you can see that his pupils were golden, and his eyes were dignified but not angry. He was tall and had a square face. There were some wrinkles on his face, but they were not as exaggerated as tiger stripes. Instead, there was a lot of gold in his gray beard and hair, like tiger hair.

Xiao Yueshan thought: A nickname is just a nickname, and it still has some applicability.

Ji Shu took Zhou Yao and looked at him carefully for a long time, feeling a lot of emotions in his heart. When his eldest brother got into trouble, all the members of his Ji family were sent out, and his daughter who married out was also affected.

Many long-established marriages were no longer valid overnight, and even several daughters who had married out were sent back home as divorcees. Before their families could comfort them, these chaste women agreed to die together to express their will, leaving behind letters and hanging themselves. For a time, there were countless funerals in the Ji family.

As the patriarch of the Ji family, Ji Shu's hair and beard turned white overnight.

Although the Zhao family, Zhou family, Xiao family and other upright families admired their brother's noble character and were full of respect for them in their hearts and were willing to make friends with them privately and help them secretly, the development of the Ji family was still greatly affected.

All the descendants of the Ji family who had been appointed officials were demoted, and those who had not yet taken the imperial examinations wasted more than ten years. Children with family connections like Zhou Yao were also implicated, and even if they were quite talented, they could not be granted higher imperial examination ranks or official positions.

"How is your mother? I heard that you fell ill on the way to Beijing. Are you feeling better now?" He tried hard to suppress the hardships of supporting the entire family alone over the years.

Thinking of his good grandson's impassioned speech in the court yesterday, he seemed to see his brother's back on the Tongtian altar again.

Xiao Ronger gave her brother a good grandson! She didn't lose the integrity of their Ji family!

"Thank you for your concern, uncle. Mother is doing fine." Zhou Yao replied. Although Zhou Qitai was not the most talented in being an official, he was impeccable in loving his wife.

At that time, they had just gotten married. As Ji Lian's legitimate daughter, Ji Shaorong had been advised by countless people, both openly and secretly, to divorce or abscond.

Before Ji Shu was pardoned and transferred back to the capital, there were often gossips that if Zhou Qitai had gotten rid of his relatives in the Ji family, he would not have been unable to return to the capital to take up a post or govern a region at the age of forty or fifty, and would not have been only the co-magistrate of Yangzhou Prefecture.

Zhou Qitai himself had a very good attitude. He felt that he was not cut out to be a high-ranking official. When the Ji family was flourishing, Ji Lian was willing to favor him and marry his daughter to him. He must not let his father-in-law down and do something to take advantage of the situation.

Ji Shaorong gave birth to three sons in a row, and Zhou Qitai did not even take a concubine. He only raised two maids who had served him since childhood and were unwilling to leave the house as concubines.

When others mentioned this, he often declined on the grounds that he and his wife were in harmony and had three sons, so there was no need to worry about no one to take care of the ancestors. At home, he treated Ji Shaorong as if she were a young lady from the prosperous Ji family.

"As long as Rong'er is well," Ji Shu nodded. "I also heard about what Yao'er reported to the court yesterday. Although the evidence you collected was not preserved, I sorted out the accumulated case files after I took office and found a clue."

Ji Shu's family didn't have many servants to begin with, and he had sent them all out after serving tea. Now the three of them had a good time chatting.

"After you first reported the case yesterday, Lu Yu, the doctor of the Huainan Qingli Division of the Ministry of Revenue, and Shen Xin, the chief official, both came forward to state that the money and grain accounts of Huainan Prefecture were correct. Chen Qing, the deputy secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, also testified for them. At first glance, this does not sound problematic.

But I checked and found that Lord Chen Qing only took office last year, and your report on the misappropriation of money and grain by the Huainan Prefecture happened a few years ago.

It stands to reason that he should not be so sure about the matters handled by his predecessor. Moreover, this job is now a hot potato, so why should he force himself to step forward in the court?

Could it be that this Lord Chen is extremely upright and cannot bear to see good people being wronged, so he speaks out for justice?" Ji Shu asked repeatedly.

"I checked the case files. The family of Deng Wenkai, the former deputy secretary of the Ministry of Revenue of Chen Qing, reported him missing last year. A year had passed since he was found dead and no one had come forward to investigate. Since he was just missing, the prefectural governor charged him with 'stealing food and money and absconding with the money' and put the case files aside."

Ji Shu looked at Zhou Yao seriously. "The Ministry of Revenue is only responsible for inspections and not for money and property. Where did he get the food and money to steal? So Yao'er, you are not the first person who was forced to disappear in this matter."

"But you were in Jiangzhou, and you managed to survive after a narrow escape from death. He was in the capital of Fengtian Prefecture, and he really disappeared from the face of the earth."

Zhou Yao felt a familiar sense of oppression, "Uncle, they won't let me go."

"Now that the prime minister has been stabbed, the people of the capital are in a panic. I think the mastermind behind this wants to use this incident to muddy the waters in the capital. After all, no matter how serious the disaster in Jiangzhou is, or how fierce the rebels are, they are still far away and are not as real as the benefits in front of them." Xiao Yueshan said.

"Yue Shan's words are quite true. No matter how important the current situation in Jiangzhou is, it is not as important as the assassination of the Prime Minister. Yesterday, Lord Zhao issued a decree on behalf of the government, 'whoever captures this thief will be rewarded with 20,000 strings of cash and appointed as a fifth-rank official; if there is an official position, he will be appointed in excess of his qualifications.' This thief is no longer a thief, but a treasure that can be promoted to a higher position.

As soon as the 20,000-string reward was placed at the gate of Fengtian Prefecture's government office, countless people gathered to watch. So many people provided clues that the threshold of the government office was about to be broken down. The people rummaged through boxes and cabinets, and removed tiles from the houses, hoping to find the thief immediately and bring him to the government office to collect the reward.

Even the officials who were helping to investigate the disaster relief in Jiangzhou were all concerned about catching the thief. Investigating corruption is really going to offend people, so it’s better to catch the thief and give him an official position so that everyone is happy.”

Ji Shu shook his head helplessly. After the tragic lesson of Ji Lian who died with his blood spilled on the spot and his entire family left Beijing, there was no more direct criticism in the court for the next 18 years. The court wished that everyone could be harmonious.

Zhou Yao was helpless, as he had been fleeing from place to place and could not protect himself, so he could not preserve the evidence collected by the original owner. He thought that his survival was the best evidence, but the corrupt officials were good at speaking and he was inexperienced and was no match for them, so he was outclassed.

"I came to see my uncle today for something else," Zhou Yao motioned to Xiao Yueshan to take out the written letter. "I was stranded in Shunzhou and was ambushed. It was my servant Zhou Jiashu who risked his life to save me. He used the alias Liu San from Xianshan Village, Daoning County, Jiangzhou, and the charge was the murder of me, an official appointed by the imperial court. I request my uncle to find out the truth and clear his name, so that I can take him back." He pleaded.

"Now all cases in Jiangzhou are under the management of the Ministry of Justice, so it is not convenient for me to interfere." Ji Shu said, "Investigation, sentencing and review all require procedures. You shouldn't come to me directly just because you are related to me." He frowned.

I didn’t expect that this “tiger-faced judge” was really not a joke. He was kissing his grandson one second, and then turned his hostile attitude and ignored him the next second.

Xiao Yueshan immediately came to smooth things over: "My uncle is right. If you make up a lie to ask for my uncle's favoritism, you deserve a lesson. You should even be taken to the ancestral temple and beaten with a stick according to the family rules.

But what my husband said was indeed the truth. Jiashu was seriously injured and imprisoned for saving my husband, and his life was in danger. I should repay even a drop of kindness with a spring of gratitude, let alone the kindness of saving his life. If I sit back and do nothing and do not rescue him, I would be unworthy of being a descendant of the Ji family.

My husband has written a letter to the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple, requesting a retrial of the case of Liu San deliberately killing an imperial official. The Dali Temple is responsible for reviewing death penalty cases and redressing unjust imprisonment. Reporting to my uncle is just an extra step in the process, to show my gratitude to my lifesaver. "

She quickly poured Ji Shu a cup of tea. "As the saying goes, 'one should not avoid relatives when promoting virtuous people', so one should not avoid relatives when crying out for injustice. If it is a real injustice, you have to cry out even if your uncle is the chief justice of the Supreme Court. If it is not a real injustice, it will be useless even if there is a 'tiger-faced judge' in charge."

Her witty words successfully made Ji Shu laugh, "The girl from the Xiao family is smart, and it's a blessing for our boy to be with you."

"You don't trust your uncle so much? Do you have to come all the way to remind me that I've been wronged?" He teased Zhou Yao. "Once you return to Beijing, Liu San's so-called murder will not be established. I have already ordered a retrial of the case and will not let a good person suffer injustice."

Seeing that Zhou Yao and the other man had obviously calmed down a lot, he also joked, "Why, I am not just getting the name 'Tiger Face Blue Sky' for nothing, am I?"

The atmosphere of the conversation between the three became lively again. Ji Shu called the servants to prepare food for the two of them to have dinner, but unexpectedly the housekeeper rushed in in a hurry.

"Master, the Fengtian government office has reported that a citizen from Yonghe Lane came to report that several bodies were found inside the stone wall of their home. The deaths were horrible, with some bones completely black and some broken. The Fengtian government coroner conducted a preliminary examination and found that there were both men and women. They are still in the process of reconstructing the bodies."