Aunt Chen is back from the world of cultivation

No, she couldn't sit still and wait for death.

"Qingliu, go and find out right away who is handling the case?"

"This lady wants to go and see him in person."

If we can find out who is behind Cihang Temple and try to reconcile, it might be a solution.

At this critical moment, things must be kept under control.

It is easy to find out about this matter. The person who handled the case is Yan Tongzhi.

As the matter was urgent, she had no time to hand in a visiting card and wait for the other party to reply, so she had to go directly to the door.

Zhang thought that the last time she went to the Tongzhifu, Madam Yan was quite friendly to her.

Everyone came to Nandu from the capital, and there was some face between them. It would not be difficult for her to find out who was behind the scenes, or even let Yan Tongzhi act as a middleman to seek reconciliation.

However, when she arrived outside the Tongzhi Mansion in a carriage with full confidence and went straight to knock on the door with the airs of a marquis's wife.

The concierge did not go in to report, but after hearing their origins, he said:

"My lady has ordered that my master is trying a case involving you, so the two parties should not have any private dealings."

The law does have this provision.

But that only restricts ordinary people.

When do these high-ranking officials need to act according to the law?

This undoubtedly shows that Yan Tongzhi is unwilling to give her this face and wants to "enforce the law impartially."

Who was behind the Cihang Temple? He could make Yan Tongzhi disregard even the feelings of the Jingnan Marquisate.

Zhang was confused and uncertain.

He also sent someone to the government office to give gifts to the governor of Nandu.

Little did he know that the prefect had already noticed the Cihang Temple arson case.

After all, the fact that Yan Tongzhi took the initiative to accept the case and conduct a public interrogation, contrary to his usual practice, was itself unusual.

You know, since it involves powerful people, this case is a hot potato.

Once the case is brought to court, with so many people listening and watching, if the trial is not fair and impartial, then one would be making a mockery of one's reputation as an official.

But if we want to be fair and just, do we really have to let the women of powerful families be brought to court to be tried according to the law?

The prefect was a very cautious official, and when he received the huge gift from the Marquis of Jingnan's Mansion, he really didn't dare to accept it for a while.

After a little thought, he decided to go and ask Yan Tongzhi directly.

"grown ups!"

Yan Tongzhi, who was handling official documents, immediately stood up and saluted.

Although he came from a prominent family, he was always respectful and polite to his superiors.

The prefect was also very pleased. After the two exchanged pleasantries for a while, the prefect put his arm around his shoulders and asked affectionately:

"Qingzhi, how are you going to deal with the Cihang Temple arson case?"

Yan Tong knows:

"Sir, it will naturally be dealt with according to the law."

The prefect raised his eyebrows:

"That would offend the Marquis of Jingnan's Mansion."

"Qingzhi, tell me the truth, what is the origin of Cihang Temple?"

What’s a Taoist temple? The key is the people who support the temple.

Yan Tongzhi knew very well that the reason the prefect asked this question was probably because the wife of Marquis Jingnan came to ask the prefect for help.

Judging from what Cihang Temple said, they wanted to kill the wife of Marquis Jingnan.

Then, he must do his best to make the wife of Marquis Jingnan receive some punishment.

We can’t let our immediate superior cause trouble.

In order to gain a place in front of the abbot of Cihang Temple, Yan Tongzhi also worked very hard.

After a moment's hesitation, he pointed mysteriously to the sky:

"My Lord, you can't say that. You can't say that."

The prefect suddenly showed a look of enlightenment, and no one knew what he was thinking of.

Anyway, as soon as he returned, he firmly refused the gift from the Jingnan Marquis's Mansion.

After all this going back and forth, the people who were sent to the mountain to capture the criminals and investigate the scene should be back by now.

Tongzhi Yan immediately sent a team of yamen runners to the Jingnan Marquis's mansion to ask Madam Zhang to respond to the lawsuit.

Zhang Liu, who had been following the incident throughout, naturally would not miss this opportunity to make a big fuss. He ordered the bravest of his men to follow the yamen runners with gongs and drums, beating gongs and shouting:

"Come and see! The police are going to arrest the wife of Marquis Jingnan who set fire and killed people!"

It immediately attracted a large number of onlookers along the way, who followed.

By the time they arrived outside the Marquis of Jingnan's mansion, hundreds of people had already gathered, and the momentum was quite huge.

The yamen runners of Nandu Prefecture knocked on the door while handing over official documents.

The gatekeeper of Jingnan Marquis's Mansion hurried in to report the news and said that many people were already surrounding the gate of the mansion.

This was the first time that Zhang encountered such a difficult situation, and she was extremely panicked.

But the most trusted Nanny Liu was still recuperating in the other courtyard, and there was no one to discuss things with.

Qing Liu said on the side:

"These people are so bold that they dare to ask the wife of a marquis to go to court with a bunch of low-class people. We won't go. I don't believe that those people dare to break into the marquis' mansion!"

Although these words were not constructive, they helped Zhang to calm down.

She knew something was wrong when the prefect refused her gift.

However, she never expected that Tongzhi Yan would be so ruthless and ask her, a noble and chaste marquis's wife, to show her face in the court.

If she went, her reputation would be ruined in the future. Would she still be able to hold her head up high among the wives of officials?

The Marquis has gone to patrol the nearby county. Water from far away cannot put out a fire nearby.

The only thing she could do was to stay in the mansion and preserve her reputation.

But she had no idea that the situation outside was already very unfavorable to her.

The bailiffs indeed did not dare to break into the Marquis of Jingnan's mansion.

But after waiting for a long time, there was no movement in the mansion. The bailiffs later knocked on the door, but the doorman even locked the door directly and didn't even show his head.

The hundreds of onlookers gathered at the door quickly lost their patience, and under the instigation of some people with ulterior motives, they began to shout loudly:

"Come out and answer the lawsuit!"

"Madam Jingnan is going to the government office to answer the lawsuit!"

"If you have the guts to order people to kill people and set fires, then go to the government office to answer the lawsuit!"

"The Marquis of Jingnan is bullying others by taking advantage of their power and flouting the law!"

"Go and bring that vicious woman out to answer the charges!"

This was the scene that Li Ma and others from the Zhang family's direct branch saw when they came over from the dock.

After asking what happened, Nanny Li immediately frowned.

After entering the Marquis of Jingnan's Mansion through the back door, she went straight to find Zhang.

Zhang was upset and listened to the servant's report:

"Madam, Madam Li from the Zhang family's eldest wife has arrived. She said she wants to see you for something important."

Zhang's brows were twisted into knots.

The old hag is so annoying!

What important matter must be said at this time?

It just so happened that this person represented the eldest lady of the Zhang family, so she had to meet her.

However, she never expected that when Li Ma saw her, she scolded her fiercely:

"Has Madam Hou decided to be a coward?"

Zhang's face suddenly turned red.

Nanny Li must have said this because she saw what happened in front of the gate of the Marquis' Mansion.

In her early years, she was not in a powerful position in the Zhang Mansion in the capital, and she always had to try her best to please her aunt, cousin and others from the direct line of the family.

It was because of this that she was chosen among her three cousins ​​to become the second wife of Marquis Jingnan.

At that time, even when facing the nanny who was popular with Madam Zhang, he had to flatter her.

This situation gradually changed until she married into the Marquis of Jingnan's mansion and gradually gained the Marquis's love and respect. He asked for a first-rank imperial decree for her and her younger sister was also granted the title of imperial concubine in the palace.

When the Marquis gave her enough face in public and handed over all the properties of the Marquisate to her to manage, the Zhang family's direct branch became more respectful to her.

In previous years, she had always acted like the mistress of a marquisate, holding great power, in front of the people from the direct lineage.

However, she didn't expect that the nanny beside Mrs. Zhang would see her in such an embarrassing moment.

No matter how miserable she was, she was not a servant who could be taught a lesson at will.

This old hag actually dared to call her a coward!

After feeling embarrassed and angry, Zhang's face turned cold:

"Although Nanny Li is the favorite of my aunt, she should still be respectful when speaking."

"Is this how you talk to the Marquis' wife?"

Nanny Li didn't expect that the Fourth Young Lady, who was honest and docile in her early years, would be so rude to her now.

Hearing this, his face suddenly became colder:

"It's already this hour, and you're still talking nonsense to me. You don't know that if you don't go to the government office to respond to the lawsuit, the Marquis' Mansion will be in great trouble."

"Stop exaggerating."

Nanny Li sneered:

"Oh, you are exaggerating. The matter has become so serious. Do you believe that tomorrow the imperial censors will send a memorial impeaching Marquis Jingnan to the capital?"

"If you don't respond to the lawsuit, I'm afraid that the Jingnan Marquis's Mansion will be charged with the crime of bullying others by taking advantage of their power, and will also be charged with contempt of the royal law! I wonder if Madam can bear the consequences if His Majesty blames you!"

"If this mansion was not going to be Brother Jin's mansion in the future, you would think I would be saying these unpleasant words here."

Zhang was suddenly shocked.

Although she was an expert in inner-house struggles, her knowledge of court affairs was not as good as that of the nanny beside Madam Zhang.

After being reminded by Nanny Li, he realized the seriousness of the matter.

Unknowingly, she had caused such a big disaster to the Marquis' Mansion!