After the cannon fodder father and daughter married into the family, the whole family regretted it

Mr. Jin Liu was a seasoned man, and he wanted to strike up a conversation with Prince Ning on the pretext of asking him to bring some local specialties back to his uncles in his hometown when he went to Jinzhou Prefecture.

The two sides were testing each other, and Mr. Jin Liu was not sure about Prince Ning's attitude towards the illegal salt case.

It was almost noon and I had to say goodbye.

King Ning sent his steward to see him off.

Mr. Jin Liu walked out of the palace with a smile on his face, got on the carriage, and told the driver to leave quickly.

It seems that I got nothing from this trip, but sometimes, not finding out anything is a kind of attitude in itself.

It was only when he returned to the Jin Mansion that he realized that his elder brother had not returned yet.

Jin Ke was much more unlucky than him. He arrived at the East Palace early in the morning and stood at the door.

The palace maid who went to report to the prince never returned, leaving him with nothing but to wait.

Officials from the Eastern Palace could see him coming and going, and most of them would just say hello and leave without asking any questions.

A few showed an expression of gloating or watching the fun.

Jin Ke was angry but couldn't show it. He went to the prince to give him an explanation.

It didn't snow today, but the snow that fell earlier was only half melted. The cold wind was howling past, and people were still shivering from the cold.

Jin Ke wanted to leave several times, but finally held himself back.

At the General's Mansion, Fang Nanzhi took a car and went to the Ministry of Justice again.

It was Zhu Guanfeng who came to pick him up. Qin Yan happened to be on day off, so he accompanied him.

Zhu Guanfeng knocked on the carriage and was a little surprised: "Double-decker?"

Fang Nanzhi nodded: "My father had it made. Even an arrow from outside can't penetrate it."

"That's a generous gesture. Your father really loves you." Zhu Guanfeng praised.

He had seen the courage of the little girl's parents yesterday, and he also understood where the little girl's temper came from.

She has the confidence given by her parents and the ability given by her three gentlemen, so what is she afraid of?

Fang Nanzhi nodded proudly.

Seeing how proud she was, Zhu Guanfeng couldn't help but smile, and then he looked at Qin Yan who was sitting upright in the car.

"Are you jealous that your sister is favored?"

Qin Yan responded with a look that said, "Master, you are so childish," and said, "Master Zhu, Qin is no longer a child. Besides, my parents love me just as much as I do."

After failing to sow discord, Zhu Guanfeng touched his nose and was not embarrassed.

"What do you think about Jin Ke's matter?"

Fang Nanzhi frowned: "Master Zhu, are you free today?"

They have been invited to the Ministry of Justice, why are they talking about irrelevant things instead of business?

Zhu Guanfeng was amused: "I am concerned about you. Jin Ke is also the father of your good friend."

Isn't it sad to be speculated by your best friend's father?

"Yes, Lord Jin is taking advantage of his seniority, but Jin Yunting knows right from wrong, and I haven't made any careless friends."

"Besides, I have many good friends. Take the Crown Prince for example. His father was the one who ordered the killing of my uncle and the exile of the Chen family."

Fang Nanzhi's eyes were clear and his meaning was very clear.

Friends are friends, and a friend’s father is a friend’s father. Just treat them separately.

Zhu Guanfeng was choked by her bluntness, and after a while he said, "Even if you have the jade pendant, you must be careful with your words and actions, and you must not speak ill of His Majesty."

Fang Nanzhi looked back at him innocently. Did she say anything?

I was just telling the truth.

Zhu Guanfeng decisively changed the subject: "Jingzhao Prefecture has found clues about the assassin and will be investigating the matter jointly with the Ministry of Justice."

"Also, Wansheng went to the Ministry of Justice to file a complaint, mentioning your mother's assassination."

Just two sentences can contain a lot of information.

The brother and sister looked at each other, and Qin Yan asked first: "The identity of the assassin..."

"We can't say yet. We need more solid evidence." Zhu Guanfeng interrupted him.

"Oh, now that we have the evidence, do you want Zhizhi to cooperate?" Qin Yan asked directly.

Zhu Guanfeng looked at him with admiration. He was smart enough and so quick-witted. When he entered officialdom in the future, he could come to their Jingzhao Prefecture, or the Ministry of Justice would also be good.

"Ah."

"No problem. How is Uncle Wan?" Fang Nanzhi frowned.

She had originally planned to file a complaint herself, but then gave up because she got stuck with Chen's followers. So why did Uncle Wan go to file a complaint?

The cases they brought were different. Fang Nanzhi was simply a victim, while Wansheng had violated the law by making arrangements to rescue people from the exile group.

"Not bad. I've been staying in the Ministry of Justice for two days. I've eaten well, slept well, and had a great chat with your ninth grandfather."

Zhu Guanfeng's tone was quite relaxed.

He and Wansheng are good friends, so Fang Nanzhi naturally believed what he said.

"Did you find out anything?"

Are the assassins who hunted down her mother back then the same ones who are killing her now?

Zhu Guanfeng lowered his eyes to look at her and cleared his throat: "I am a little thirsty."

Fang Nanzhi diligently poured him tea. There was a small stove in the car that could warm his hands and heat up tea, which was very convenient.

Zhu Guanfeng took a sip of tea before continuing, "I can't be sure yet, but based on the clues I have so far, it seems they aren't the same group of people."

"Oh? What do you mean?" Fang Nanzhi couldn't help but move closer.

"When the incident happened, Wansheng sent people to investigate, but the clues were cut off when they pointed to the Eighth Prince."

Fang Nanzhi knew this.

"We also investigated, and through the Eighth Prince, we found that Princess Dongyue was a suspect, but it was only a suspicion."

Princess Dongyue offended the emperor a few years ago and was banished to her fiefdom.

Her fiefdom was in Quanzhou Prefecture, quite far from the capital.

If they want to investigate further, the Ministry of Justice will have to send people to Quanzhou Prefecture.

"There's another thing. I interrogated the officer who was in charge of the exile back then, and unexpectedly learned something strange."

"According to the rules, all exiles must change into prison clothes. The clothes and other belongings that the Chen family members changed out of back then have all been thrown away."

"Given the Chen family's wealth back then, most of the clan members would have worn silk and satin, and would have had jade pendants and sachets. The officials even planned to sell them for some money, but they discovered that everything had disappeared."

Zhu Guanfeng explained it in detail.

"After the Chen Mansion was raided, it was suspected that someone had ransacked it as well."

Fang Nanzhi suddenly thought of something: "Someone is looking for something, but hasn't found it. Maybe the thing is with Chen's followers?"

Zhu Guanfeng had also met Ying Si, so he nodded.

"It's very possible."

"We can boldly speculate that Chen Zijun left the secret to his followers and asked them to hide it. Those people wanted to find the secret, searched the Chen Mansion and the Chen family members, but found nothing. That's when they set their sights on the disappeared Chen family."

This logic is very complete and has some credibility.

"According to this analysis, those people couldn't find anything, so they naturally wouldn't kill Chen Zixi on the way to exile. After all, they didn't touch other members of the Chen family."

The two pieces of evidence reflect each other, and it is easy to make a guess.

The people who chased Chen Zixi back then might have had a personal grudge.

And the one who killed Fang Nanzhi now was the one who had his eyes on Chen's secret.

However, before conclusive evidence is found, we cannot deny other possibilities.

Fang Nanzhi scratched his head and asked cautiously, "If the princess killed someone, can she be sentenced according to the law?"

"That depends on your majesty's wishes."

Zhu Guanfeng answered.

The saying "killing someone means paying with one's life" is sometimes empty talk, and in the eyes of those in power, the fact that the pursuit that year failed to take Chen Zixi's life was a minor offense.

But Fang Nanzhi didn't think so. In order to protect her mother, several members of the Chen family died, and those were human lives.

Wansheng didn't think so. If it weren't for the chase, perhaps he could be with the woman in his heart.

Just as the carriage was quiet, there was a loud "boom" and something hit the carriage heavily and fell to the ground.

The carriage only swayed slightly, and Yuan Bo became alert: "Is it a person, young lady?"

Should I keep going or stop?

Corpse?

"Stop." Zhu Guanfeng said.

"Listen to Lord Zhu." Fang Nanzhi said, and the carriage stopped.

Zhu Guanfeng got off the car first, followed by Qin Yan. He looked around and saw a crowd gathered to watch the excitement, so he carefully helped his sister down.

There was a bloodstain on the carriage. Looking back along the bloodstain, I saw a person lying five or six meters behind the carriage, curled up and motionless.

Zhu Guanfeng strode over, lifted up his robe, tried his best not to step on the blood, then reached out his hand to feel the man's breath.

He quickly withdrew his hand, his voice cold: "Dead."

"Oh my god, was someone killed by a carriage?"

"Are you blind? That person was clearly thrown out and hit the car. How could he be hit?"

"Why is that? He doesn't look very old."

Fang Nanzhi also went over. She examined the deceased and quickly confirmed, "He's been dead for half an hour. There are scars on his body, as if he'd been tortured. He has a lot of calluses on his hands, so he must have practiced martial arts."

Fang Nanzhi touched the dead man's chest and took out a blood-stained letter.

Just as she was about to tear it apart, Zhu Guanfeng reached out and said, "This is evidence."

She handed it over obediently.

Zhu Guanfeng was not in a hurry to demolish it, but put it away first. He looked around and finally chose a teahouse and a cloth shop, both of which were two stories high and close to each other.

Unfortunately, he didn't bring his subordinates with him. Qin Yan took the initiative to speak: "The guards of the general's mansion are willing to obey your orders."

Zhu Guanfeng didn't hesitate and sent half of his men to blockade the teahouse and cloth shop.

In fact, he knew that the time from when they got off the bus to now was enough for the other person to escape.

But what needs to be checked still needs to be checked.

The guards at the general's mansion were originally from the military camp and were very efficient. They quickly found a problematic box on the second floor of the cloth shop.

According to the people's response, it seemed that they saw "something" thrown out from this direction.

The owner of the cloth shop couldn't open the door of the private room, so the guards rushed in directly. The room was empty, but the window was still open.

Finally, the proprietress was brought before Zhu Guanfeng.

"Tell me, who is in that box?" Zhu Guanfeng looked down at the proprietress's expression.

The owner of the cloth shop is surnamed Hu and is a widow.

Boss Hu was kneeling on the ground, his face a little pale, but he was not scared and his words were still logical.

"Your Excellency, I don't know. These two customers are here for the first time. They came into the store a quarter of an hour ago and asked for five or six ready-made clothes to try on in the private room..."

"Oh, the guest is a woman?"

"Yes, two women."

Zhu Guanfeng put one hand behind his back, thinking: "Continue."

"I originally wanted to serve them myself, firstly to entertain the guests, and secondly to prevent them from soiling the clothes. But the two girls were very rich, so they took out two gold ingots and asked me to buy them first and then try them on."

"Since I've received the money, I naturally don't want to disturb them too much, so I specially selected the best private room for them."

Boss Hu said cautiously.

Zhu Guanfeng frowned. "What were those two women wearing? What did they take with them when they entered the store?"

If you want to throw someone down from a high place, you must first bring them into the embroidery room.

Unexpectedly, Boss Hu shook his head and bit his lip as he said, "Sir, I dare not lie to you. The two girls are just a common master and servant. The master wears a silk dress and the maid wears a cotton coat. They came into the shop empty-handed."

Now, things are getting interesting.

Zhu Guanfeng asked Boss Hu to go and see the body on the ground to see if she recognized it.

Boss Hu's hands were shaking a little. After all, the person was already dead and bloody. It would be taboo for ordinary people to see it.

She knelt a few steps forward, examined him carefully, and finally shook her head: "I don't know him, he must not be a customer of the store."

It's not that she has a photographic memory for everyone she meets,

The main thing is that this morning, all the customers who came to the cloth shop were female, or female customers with boys around four or five years old.

"After the two girls entered the box, has anyone else entered?" Zhu Guanfeng asked.

Boss Hu was a little bewildered. "Your Excellency, I asked the shop assistant to bring the person up. I have been busy at the counter."

In other words, she didn't know.

Then we have to investigate the entire cloth shop in detail. Just as he was thinking this, Zhu Guanfeng saw people from Jingzhao Prefecture coming.

The officer leading the team had a face so dark that ink could drip out of it.

If we were to ask who doesn’t want something to happen in the capital during this period, it would be their Jingzhao Prefecture.

The officials in higher positions were laughed at by other government offices, and those serving below them were scolded like dogs by their superiors.

"Blessings, sir."

When the officer saw Zhu Guanfeng, he hurried forward to salute him.

"Well, seal off the cloth shop and don't allow anyone to enter or leave." Zhu Guanfeng gave the order directly and looked up at the teahouse next to the cloth shop.

The two houses are right next to each other.

Thinking of something, he added, "Teahouses can't be let go either."

"Yes!" The people from Jingzhao Prefecture took over, and the guards from the General's Mansion naturally had to be pulled out.

Someone is taking care of the body.

Zhu Guanfeng took the brother and sister into the carriage and went to the Ministry of Justice.

His expression was somewhat serious: "Is this a threat?"

Although he spoke in a questioning tone, he was very sure in his heart. He stared at Fang Nanzhi.

Fang Nanzhi nodded: "That's right, Ying Si is at the mansion, waiting for them to make a move. I didn't expect them to change their tactics this time."

The little girl's expression was serious and angry, and she didn't look scared at all.

"So, Master Zhu, that threatening letter should be written for me to see, right?"

"What's the rush?" Zhu Guanfeng did not deny it.

Qin Yan asked coldly, "Sir, if you don't want to send the letter to Jingzhao Prefecture, are you going to send it to the Minister of Justice?"

The young man's eyes were full of questions. Lord Zhu, as the Shaoyin of Jingzhao Prefecture, gave important evidence to the Ministry of Justice. Did he have his heart in Cao's camp but his body in Han?

Zhu Guanfeng saw through it and ignored the brother and sister.

Can they chat with each other?

As they continued on their journey, Yuan Bo became more alert. He soon arrived at the Ministry of Justice's prison. As soon as he got off the carriage, he saw the Minister of Justice.

Obviously, he heard that something had happened and was a little restless.

Seeing the Minister again, Fang Nanzhi opened her mouth in surprise. She hadn't seen the Minister for a few days. How come the Minister seemed to have aged a lot?

His beard was unshaven and his eyes were dark, but his gaze remained majestic.

She didn't know that the Minister of Justice hadn't slept much in several days and he was old. How could he not look old if he stayed up all night?

After Zhu Guanfeng reported the situation, he directly submitted the letter.

"My Lord, Miss Fang and Young Master Qin were frightened on their way to the Ministry of Justice. I believe they are trying to threaten not only them, but the Ministry as well."