Chapter 264 Did you open the chest and check the silver?

A flicker of panic crossed Sun Qian's eyes. Afraid of arousing suspicion, he quickly focused and shook his head, saying, "I don't know. After we were convicted and demoted, we were separated. Several people who were assigned to me died mysteriously one after another. After I sensed something was wrong, I found an opportunity to stage a fall off a cliff, and then disguised myself to survive until now!"

Fearing that Shen Lanxi wouldn't believe him, he smiled bitterly and pointed to his face, saying, "I don't even dare to wash my face at night before going to sleep. During the time I was hiding, I inquired about the whereabouts of the others and found out that they were also dead. I didn't dare to go back to the capital, and with nowhere to go, I've been hiding in the Northwest."

Shen Lanxi found Sun Qian's file and pointed it out to him so he could see it himself.

"Four people in your family have died in the past three years, and now only your wife and children are left."

Sun Qian, as if driven to the brink of despair, let out a heart-wrenching cry.

"Father, Mother, Brother..."

The deceased were Sun Qian's father, mother, and two younger brothers.

Shen Lanxi waited until Sun Qian's crying subsided before asking, "What is your purpose in coming here?"

Sun Qian was lost in thought, as if he hadn't heard Shen Lanxi's words.

"You've come to assassinate me?"

Sun Qian shook his head silently and explained in a hoarse voice, "I just heard that the General of the Zhenbei Army is a member of the Shen family, and that the Young General of the Wei family army has appeared. I want to find out the case of the theft of the Wei family army's rations."

Shen Lanxi's expression softened slightly, and she said, "I have already arranged for people to protect your family. You don't need to rush back to the capital!"

Sun Qian was only thinking about returning to the capital to save his family. Even after hearing Shen Lanxi say that, he still didn't believe it.

Shen Lanxi: "I know you don't trust anyone right now. Before I came to the Northwest, I asked His Majesty for permission to thoroughly investigate the Wei family army's theft case, and I will preside over the trial!"

Sun Qian stared blankly into space, lost in thought.

Shen Lanxi continued, "If you don't believe me, you can investigate. This isn't a secret in the capital!"

"I'm sure you're very curious as to why I, a member of the Shen family, would request an imperial decree to thoroughly investigate this case more than two years later?"

"Don't think you are the most wronged. Our Shen family is the most wronged. On my wedding night, our entire Shen family was imprisoned in the imperial prison. There was no public trial. In less than half a month, our Shen family was exiled to Dongchuan. I also got a divorce because of this."

“You are from the capital, so you should know that our Shen family has always enjoyed the Emperor’s favor and is currently very wealthy. As long as we don’t rebel, even murder and arson cannot harm our Shen family in the slightest. Would our family risk having our property confiscated, being exiled, or even being executed for a mere amount of silver?”

Sun Qian naturally knew about the Shen family, especially Shen Lanxi. Every time she left the palace, she would bring a large amount of rewards with her. Everyone in the capital knew how much the Empress Dowager doted on her.

Compared to those rewards, a mere million taels of silver in pay is indeed nothing.

Shen Lanxi put herself in Shen Lanxi's shoes and said, "In this matter, don't you think our Shen family is the most wronged?"

Sun Qian couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.

Wei Dongzhu, who was standing to the side, had also thought about this issue before; he had indeed sent someone to the capital to inquire about it.

Furthermore, every word and action of the Shen family members on the way to Dongchuan proved what Shen Lanxi had said.

Apart from her, no one else in the Shen family, even if they wanted to, would have the ability to do so. If Shen Lanxi was the one who stole the grain rations, the case wouldn't be overturned.

If it was for his benefit, that was even more impossible. Wei Dongzhu didn't think he had that kind of value or face at all.

With the groundwork laid, Shen Lanxi began to inquire about the details of the escort.

"Tell me everything that happened before and after the grain and salary were received, and along the way to the Northwest, including the changing of the guard, who was on night watch, and who went near the boxes containing the grain and salary!"

Sun Qian's expression became more than twice as serious as before, as he intently recalled everything that had happened on the transport route.

They talked for more than two hours.

"When we opened the box during the handover, we discovered that it was filled with stones!" Sun Qian clenched his fists tightly as he spoke, his face contorted with bulging veins, revealing the extent of his anger and hatred.

Shen Lanxi didn't detect anything unusual along the way, except for one thing.

"When you went to the Ministry of Revenue to receive the silver, did you open the chests and inspect the silver?"

Sun Qian suddenly raised her head, her eyes wide open, staring at Shen Lanxi in disbelief.

"You mean what we received was originally just stone?"

Shen Lanxi stared at him coldly, without saying a word.

Wei Dongzhu reminded him, "Answer the general's question."

Sun Qian quickly came to his senses and replied, "No, we did not open the chest to check the silver."

After he finished speaking, he immediately explained, "This has always been the rule. We're not allowed to see the silver, for fear that if we saw so much silver, we might be tempted to steal it. So, it's always been sealed before being handed over to us, and the seals must not be damaged in any way during the transport. The seals must be kept intact when handed over to the recipient." They've done this countless times.

Shen Lanxi: "So, you don't even know if you're connected to silver or stones?"

Sun Qian lost control and shouted, "The Ministry of Revenue wouldn't give us the stones, would it?"

Shen Lanxi thought for a moment and said, "Do you still remember who gave you the pay? Do you remember what they looked like?"

More than three years have passed, and Sun Qian has long forgotten about it.

“I didn’t suspect those people at first, so…” He didn’t deliberately try to recall what they looked like.

So much time has passed, he has long forgotten about those people.

Shen Lanxi then pulled out a few more sheets of paper from the file, lined them up, and placed them in front of Sun Qian.

"When you handed over the work back then, you must have signed and sealed the agreement, right?"

Sun Qian nodded, then frowned and said, "It was me and another escort officer who signed and affixed our fingerprints."

Shen Lanxi thought to herself that it was fortunate that Sun Qian was not a nobody, otherwise there would have been no clue at all.

"Look at these documents, which one did you sign and affix your fingerprint to?"

These documents were copied word by word from the original, and even the handwriting is the same as the rubbings.

Sun Qian stepped forward, looked at it carefully, and then gave Shen Lanxi an answer that surprised her greatly.

"Neither."

Shen Lanxi raised an eyebrow: "How could it not be? Did you see it clearly?"

She thought Sun Qian was referring to the difference between the forged signature and the fingerprint, and was about to speak when she heard Sun Qian say, "The time is wrong. It says the ninth day of the month, at the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), but we clearly went there close to the end of the hour of Yin (3-5 AM). I remember very clearly that when we left the capital, there were already people buying meat pies at the meat pie stalls at the city gate, and I even bought some for my brothers!"

Shen Lanxi immediately picked up her pen and wrote down the time, which was the only thing that was wrong so far.

Wei Dongzhu couldn't hold back any longer; he sensed a turning point in the case of the stolen grain and salary.

Where did you take over from the Ministry of Revenue?

The urgency in his question made Sun Qian realize that something was amiss.