Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

This was Li Xingquan's first time in a prison, a place as harsh as this.

In the cells on both sides, many prisoners were woken up and sat in the deepest cells, staring at them quietly. He felt very uncomfortable being stared at, so he stood up again and quickened his pace to catch up.

The bailiff stopped in front of a cell, took out his key, examined it for a moment, and then opened the door: "Follow me in, and do not touch the prisoner."

If Zhao hadn't been unconscious, he wouldn't even have opened the prison door. They were afraid that someone would take advantage of the prison visit to kill and silence them.

When Li Xingquan was looking for the key, he had been staring at the woman in coarse clothes who was lying motionless with her eyes closed. Her face was in shadow, with only her chin exposed.

But the figure and chin were enough for him to recognize that this was Zhao.

"Die Niang! Die Niang!" He staggered and tried to pounce, but the yamen runner, who had been prepared, ruthlessly raised his hand to stop him. The runner shouted, "I told you not to come near!"

Li Xingquan bumped into his arm and took two steps back. Seeing this, the servant quickly supported him and cursed at the yamen runner, "How dare you! My master is the chief clerk of the Ministry of Works, and you are just a small yamen runner, how dare you be so rude and disrespectful, disregarding the distinction between high and low?! Is this the rule of the Dali Temple?"

"Oh, that's what you said."

The yamen runners were very accurate in their tactics. They had been working in the Dali Temple for many years and had seen countless high-ranking officials. Not to mention a chief clerk of the Water Conservancy Bureau, even those of the first, second, or third rank, after entering their service, there were only a few who could leave unscathed and continue to dominate the court.

The people in the Dali Temple were naturally better informed than others. Just now, when Cui Bian was describing how they were studying how to wake Zhao up, he was listening. He might not understand other things, but he could still read people's expressions. Just by looking at the reactions of Cui Shaoqing and the General of the Central Guards, he knew that the people here would die sooner or later.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so rude. "The Dali Temple has its own rules. You said I'm just a small bailiff in the Dali Temple. Naturally, I do what my superiors tell me to do. Could it be that I don't follow the Dali Temple's rules, but yours?"

The disdainful smile on his face was really eye-catching, but Li Xingquan was not angry at this time. His eyes were fixed on Zhao's direction and refused to move at all. Seeing that he was silent, the servant swallowed his words with anger on his face.

The yamen runner snorted when he saw this and shone the lantern in his hand towards Zhao's head: "Just look at it like this, look carefully."

"Master! It's Madam Zhao!" The servant was naturally not as familiar with Zhao as Li Xingquan, but with the lantern shining down at such a close distance, he could tell at a glance that the person lying on the thick hay was none other than Madam Zhao.

Li Xingquan saw that Zhao didn't respond even though he called out so loudly, and he had a bad feeling in his heart. He didn't even think that this was not the Dali Temple's morgue, but the Dali Temple Prison. The Dali Temple would not be so stupid as to put the dead here.

His lips trembled first, then the sagging flesh on his cheeks and beard, and finally his entire body began to tremble. He raised his hand and pointed at Zhao, his eyes almost bulging out. "She, she's dead? Huh? What happened to my wife!?"

Seeing him like this, the yamen runner felt a little guilty. At his age, if he died here, he would have no explanation. He quickly said, "He's not dead, he's not dead. He's breathing. Look at his chest, it's moving up and down. He must have fainted."

He didn't say anything about being drugged, but he did know what to say and what not to say.

Li Xingquan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that. His whole body went limp and he sat down on the ground. He felt the pain from the fall and screamed, then leaned to the side and fell right next to Zhao.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing! Go away, stay away! Where are you falling?" The bailiff was stunned for a moment, then quickly bent down and pulled him away.

The servant didn't bother to accuse him of being too rude, and quickly pulled the man against him: "Master, Master, how is it?"

Li Xingquan was sweating and breathing heavily. He didn't answer. After a while, he said to the yamen runner, "Yes, this is my wife."

"Okay, watch out and go out to sign and seal your name. Don't dawdle here, you'll wake up the prisoners." The bailiff said as he drove the two men out like ducks.

The servant had no choice but to use all his strength to half-support and half-carry the limp Li Xingquan out.

No one knew what Li Xingquan was thinking. He kept his head down and didn't say anything. He signed the note of identification very cooperatively and let the servant take him out without saying a word.

When Cui Bianxu took a nap and yawned when he came to work, the news reached him immediately.

He looked at Guo Huai, who was sitting beside him, and said with a smile, "If that's the case, Minister Guo, how about bringing everyone from the Li residence to the Dali Temple for a new trial?"

Guo Huai was a middle-aged scholar with a stern face. He was not tall, but he looked very energetic. He nodded when he heard this and said, "It should be so."

According to his idea, all the members of the Li family should be locked up and tried as soon as possible. Now it is too late. However, he also knows that there is no way around it. This is a missing person case, not a murder case. Not to mention that the other party is an official, even ordinary citizens cannot be detained at will.

This is the business center of the mad dogs in the Censorate, right under the feet of the emperor. If he dares to do this, the impeachment memorial will bury him alive.

The Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple worked together to arrest people quickly and efficiently. Except for Li Xingquan who fell ill as soon as he returned home in the early morning, all members of the Li family were imprisoned in the Dali Temple.

With so many people, there was no hope of finding a single cell. Except for Li Zhong, the rest were separated and randomly locked up in ten cells.

Cui Bianxu and Guo Huai were in the interrogation room, each with three pots of cold tea, and the interrogation lasted from morning to night. Guo Huai was the chief interrogator this time. Cui Bianxu was fine, but Guo Huai talked too much, and by the evening his voice was completely hoarse, but he still hadn't finished questioning.

Guo Huai was a very rigorous person. When he was interrogating Li Xingquan, he asked him to start from the time before he went on a business trip. He wanted him to tell everything, big or small. He asked in detail about everything he remembered.

The two chief clerks who were in charge of copying would put down their pens at night, and those with trembling hands would go directly to work at the canteen window.

"How many more?" Guo Huai drank a cup of herbal tea. The bitter taste passed through his throat with a cool feeling, and he felt that his throat was much healthier.

Without the help of the yamen runner, Cui Bianxu, who had been assisting all day, spoke up: "Besides Li Xingquan, there are four others left: Li Zhong and the servants in his courtyard."

Guo Huai pondered, as if considering whether to go to the Li family to interrogate Li Xingquan before it was too late, or to interrogate these four first.

After a while, he finally decided: "Li Zhong will be tried last, and the other three will be tried first."

Li Xingquan was being guarded by people from the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice. He was just an old man and there was no way he could escape.

The two chief clerks looked at each other, gritted their teeth and quickened the pace of massaging their right hands.