Chapter 140 [VIP]

Liu Changyi went straight to the Chen family after leaving the yamen.

When Wang Ying learned that he had arrived, she quickly called Qing Huai, Qing Song, and Lin Sui to go out and discuss the matter.

Sitting in the private room of the teahouse, Wang Ying had a solemn expression and dark circles under her eyes. She hadn't slept all night and kept going into the experimental field for a walk. She had even left a note for Chen Qingyan in case he went in and saw it.

"Any news about Qingyan?"

Liu Changyi nodded. "I just came from the yamen. My elder brother is being held in a solitary cell. It's very clean inside, and there's no need to worry about his food. My father specifically instructed the yamen, and they dared not neglect him."

"That's good..." Wang Ying had never experienced anything like this in either of her lives. Last night, she had been having wild thoughts, imagining scenes from ancient dramas she had watched before, such as being wrongfully imprisoned and suffering various punishments, like having fingers pinched, which made her heart pound. Only after hearing what Liu Changyi said did she feel relieved.

Lin Sui asked, "When will you release my cousin?"

"We'll have to wait until the coroner finishes the autopsy. If it really was poisoning, we'll have to find out what kind of poison it was, whether it was from eating popsicles. We can only release the person once we're sure it's not related to the popsicles in your shop."

Wang Ying's face darkened again. In ancient times, without advanced technology, it would take anywhere from six or seven days to several months to solve a case. What would happen if Qingyan was kept inside to attend school?

"I know who is behind this, but I don't have any evidence right now."

Several people looked at Wang Ying at the same time.

"The ice merchant in the city guards the water."

Chen Qinghuai asked, "How did you find out, sister-in-law?"

Wang Ying recounted to several people how she discovered that the troublemakers were the same group of people, and how she then sent someone to secretly follow them.

"Tianju and Ma Zhandong heard this person say that he was instructed by Wei Linshui to deliberately cause trouble at my shop. When he saw that our shop was not affected, he came up with such a despicable means!"

Everyone immediately panicked upon hearing this, exclaiming, "Is this really true?!"

“It’s absolutely true. The person who was following us is named Wan Liang, and he lives on Zhenghe Street. If we can catch him, we should be able to interrogate him.”

Liu Changyi said, "This matter is of great importance. I need to go back and explain the whole story to my father first."

*

Three days later, the autopsy results came out, confirming that the person had indeed died of poisoning. There was a lot of food residue in the stomach, which was eaten by rats, who quickly died from the poison.

However, there were no testing instruments in ancient times, and popsicles melted after being eaten, so it was impossible to determine what caused the poisoning.

The deceased was named Yan Er. He was twenty-four years old and unmarried. His only relative was his elder brother, Yan Da, who had mourned him that day.

Yan Da was summoned to the government office for questioning, and his heart was pounding with fear.

An official questioned him about the time and process of his brother's poisoning, and which doctor he had called.

Yan Dayi recounted everything, insisting that his younger brother's stomachache started after eating popsicles.

The officer glanced at him with his pen in hand. In fact, the constables had investigated the area around his house in the past few days. Yan Da and his younger brother did not have a good relationship. His younger brother was mentally challenged and dull-witted, like a four or five-year-old child. Even at his age, he often wet his pants.

Before their father passed away, the old man had always taken care of his second son. Although the boy was mentally challenged, his clothes were always clean and his hair was always neatly combed.

Ever since his father passed away, Yan Er and Yan Da have been eating hand to mouth, and his pants are so dirty from both soiling and urinating that they are unsightly. He also has a foul odor, and everyone avoids him when they see him.

When the coroner dissected the body, he found numerous sores and rashes on the deceased's legs and buttocks, caused by wearing diapers for extended periods. Although the body had been cleaned, it was still clear that the deceased had suffered greatly before.

So the officials simply didn't believe the nonsense that he would be willing to buy his brother popsicles.

However, the magistrate put pressure on them to close the case as soon as possible, and the officials did not dare to say anything more. They could only write in the case book that the cause of death was poisoning from eating popsicles.

*

Yan Da hurriedly walked towards the Wei family after leaving the yamen.

Inside the Wei family mansion, Wei Linshui, dressed in a thin gauze dress, was leaning against a daybed, working on the account books.

The recent hot weather has made the icehouse business very good. In addition, the passing of the Song family patriarch has led to several hundred orders for ice to chill his body, earning him over a hundred taels of silver in just a few days.

As Wei Linshui counted the money, he sighed inwardly, thinking that it was still easier to make money from the rich and powerful. He wished that more people would die in the summer.

Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside. A servant came over to report, "Master, someone has come from outside and says that Yan Da wants to see you."

"What is he doing here?" Wei Linshui frowned. "Let him wait in the side hall."

"yes."

Wei Linshui got up unhurriedly, quickly shuffling the walnuts in his hands, and soon arrived at the side hall. "Brother Yan is here."

Yan Da immediately stood up, "Boss Wei..."

"Sit down. What brings you here today?"

"Didn't you say that sending my brother's body there to make a scene would settle things? Why is the yamen still summoning me for questioning?"

"This is the normal procedure for solving a case. You spoke according to what I taught you, right?"

Yan Da nodded repeatedly, "Yes, my brother was poisoned by their popsicles."

Wei Linshui said, "That's good. I've already taken care of things, and this matter will be resolved soon. I'll have my servants give you two more strings of cash later. Don't come looking for me again."

"Good, good." Yan Dayi beamed with joy at the prospect of money. Wei Linshui had given him ten taels of silver when he caused trouble, but he hadn't expected to get more money afterward. If this happened every month...

Wei Linshui knew what he was thinking, and chuckled, "My money isn't so easy to earn. If I take the money and do a good job, but I can't do it well... I have other ways."

Yan Da was terrified by his cold expression and broke out in a cold sweat. He quickly dismissed his little scheme and said, "Don't worry, Boss Wei, I absolutely won't say a word!"

As Yan Da left the Wei family's house, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and thought to himself: "That 'water rat' truly lives up to his name; he's both insidious and ruthless. I'd better take this money and never deal with him again."

*

In general, once you reach this stage, the case can be closed.

This wasn't the first time Wei Linshui had done something like this; he had succeeded several times before, and he thought he could easily bring down the Chen family this time as well.

Unfortunately, the person he offended was Chen Qingyan. Putting aside the relationship between Wang Tongzhi and Liang Boqing, he himself was the chief judge of the prefecture and the chief judge of the court. The court valued such a talent very much, so it was impossible for them to make a judgment on the case casually.

With the help of Lord Liu, things quickly took a new turn for the better.

The officers caught Wan Liang at the gambling den. Before they could even torture him, they just threatened him a few times and he confessed everything. He was just doing his job for money and hadn't done anything too serious. At most, he would get a few lashes, so he naturally wouldn't cover for him.

He not only confessed that Wei Linshui had paid him to cause trouble, but also revealed that he had asked Yan Da for help in framing Mixue Shop.

The government immediately ordered people to arrest Yan Da.

Wei Linshui was unaware that his deeds had been exposed. That evening, he personally carried a basket of silver to visit the prefect of Jizhou. However, no one answered the door after knocking for a long time. After a while, the gatekeeper poked his head out and said, "The master has already gone to bed. Please come again tomorrow."

Wei Linshui forced a smile and said, "I came here specifically to bring you some local specialties, sir."

"The master won't accept anything, you should go back now!" The doorman said, then slammed the door shut.

Wei Linshui was rebuffed and sensed something was wrong. Zhao Tongpan, who was usually greedy for money and would eat meat without spitting out the bones, suddenly became honest and incorruptible today.

Feeling inexplicably uneasy, I rubbed my temples to suppress my anxiety, turned around, got into the sedan chair, and hurriedly went home.

The next day, before dawn, there was a knock on the Wei family's door, and several government officials were standing outside.

Is Wei Linshui at home?

The servant was so frightened by the news that he rushed in to report. Wei Linshui was startled awake from his sleep and was taken to the yamen before he could even get dressed.

Throughout the ordeal, he kept speaking in a humble and conciliatory tone, trying to find a way out, but the constables didn't respond at all, leaving him feeling quite disheartened.

When they arrived at the yamen and saw Wan Liang and Yan Da kneeling on the ground, their hearts sank completely. Their legs went weak and they knelt down on the ground.

Before long, the prefect, the sub-prefect, the registrar, and others came in from the back, ready to hold court to hear the case.

Wei Linshui looked at Zhao Tongpan. Over the years, he had given Zhao a lot of money, and Zhao had helped him with the previous matters. He thought he could help him this time as well.

As a result, Judge Zhao didn't even glance at him, keeping his head down or turning his face to the side the whole time.

Before long, Chen Qingyan was also brought up. Because he was a scholar, he did not need to kneel, but only bowed to the officials.

"Is the person below Wei Linshui?"

“I am right.”

"Someone has accused you of deliberately framing someone. Do you know your crime?"

"I was unaware..."

"Wanliang, repeat what you said yesterday from beginning to end!"

Wan Liang stammered as he repeated what he had said yesterday, including the matter of Wei Linshui instructing Yan Da to slander Mixue Shop.

"I ask you, why did you instruct Wan Liang to cause trouble in front of his door?"

"I...I was just jealous of their good business. I didn't do anything except cause trouble!"

Yan Da also knelt on the ground, kowtowing and crying out for justice, "My brother really did die from eating their bamboo tube popsicles."

Seeing that the two men did not confess, the prefect summoned Chen Wanglang to the court.

Before long, Wang Ying was brought to the main hall. He immediately saw Chen Qingyan standing next to him. The few days in prison had not made him look too disheveled. His clothes were still clean and his hair was neatly combed. Only then did he feel relieved.

"This humble subject, Wang Ying, greets Your Excellency."

"Chen Wanglang, do you have any evidence to prove that Wei Linshui hired someone to frame you for poisoning someone?"

“I have evidence,” Wang Ying said, turning her head. “You keep saying that you bought our bamboo-tube popsicles for your younger brother on the ninth day of the fifth lunar month. May I ask if the bamboo tube is still there?”

Yan Da was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head and said, "This stuff is thrown away after it's eaten, why would anyone keep the bamboo tube?"

Wang Ying had anticipated his response. "Then may I ask where you bought this popsicle?"

"Of course I bought it from your shop!"

"Are you sure? It wasn't bought from outside or from someone else?"

Yan Da insisted, "I bought it from your store, and I even waited in line for a long time!"

Wang Ying turned her head and said, "Our shop happened to be closed on May 9th. The owners of the shops next door can testify for us. We hope that you will investigate this matter thoroughly!"

Yan Da continued to argue, "Then I must have misremembered. Yes, yes, I bought it on May 8th!"

"Can this popsicle stay frozen overnight?"

Unable to explain, Yan Dache became so anxious that he fainted. Two constables poured cold water on him, and he woke up shortly afterward.

The prefect slammed his gavel, "Yan Da, why don't you confess the truth!"

Yan Da trembled with fear and said, "I confess, I confess! It was Wei Linshui who instructed me to poison my brother and then carry his body to the entrance of Mixue Shop to frame him..."

Upon hearing this, Wei Linshui completely exploded, "He's talking nonsense! He clearly thought Yan Er was a burden and poisoned him to death!"

A note from the author: