Chapter 247 Stay
At that time, Wei Zhi wanted to find Bai Qi to ask him about it. As a result, he found out that this Jinshi in the first year of Dazhen was not transferred to another place to serve as an official, but died in the second year of Dazhen.
He died in office, during the suppression of bandits.
Wei Zhi used to work in the Ministry of Justice, and his intuition, developed from solving cases, told him that it was not normal.
So he put aside his work of investigating the Jianwei Weir and turned to investigate Bai Qi.
Two years passed, and there was nothing to show in the account books of Jianwei Weir. He knew there must be something wrong with Jianwei Weir, but without evidence, everything was in vain.
So he went to check Bai Qi.
All the people who followed Bai Qi back then were killed, including not only his servants but also some local officials. Bai Qi's county magistrate He Ziyun and his eldest son died together, all because of suppressing bandits.
Wei Zhi felt resistance when investigating Bai Qi, and the resistance was even greater than when he was investigating Jianwei Weir.
For example, if he wanted to see the account books of Jianwei Weir in Yizhou Prefecture, they would give them to him without blinking, and no one would stop him if he wanted to meet the laborers who built the Jianwei Weir.
But when he found some old friends and asked about Bai Qi, they repeatedly stopped him, and the people being questioned were also evasive in their words.
He had clearly seen the case files and various notes left by Bai Qi when he was in office, but overnight, the government office in Shu County caught fire and burned all the files.
It was precisely because of this series of actions that he knew he had checked correctly.
So he immediately sent people to Bai Qi's hometown, Longzhou, to look for his family.
During this period, he was fighting floods and providing disaster relief in Yizhou. When the people he sent out returned from Longzhou, most of the relief work had been completed.
Only then did he realize that the person he was looking for was actually in Yizhou Prefecture.
So when he heard two refugees on the roadside mention that Mianzhou was also severely affected by the disaster, he took the opportunity to come over.
In Jiannan Road and Yizhou, his every move was being watched, so it was impossible for him to come and see Liu directly.
When he was in Brazil, he was still thinking about what excuse he could find to visit Qili Village in Luojiang County, so when Mr. Bai also went there, he specially called him up to talk.
He thought that if he arrived in Luojiang County and Mr. Bai politely invited him to go home and rest for a while like other gentry, he would definitely agree to go.
The situation turned out better than he expected.
It was already dark, but Mr. Bai suddenly sent his attendant away, leaving him no time to think.
But he didn't expect that there would be such a surprise waiting for him in Qili Village.
The guards who returned said that a group of people had arrived in Qili Village before them, but for some reason, they suddenly had a conflict with the local villagers and were arrested.
Wei Zhi came to Qili Village this time for two reasons: one was to see the three people who were arrested, and preferably take them away; the other was to have a talk with Liu.
The other party was so afraid that he would investigate Bai Qi, which meant that Bai Qi must have something they were afraid of.
Wei Zhi suspected that those things were in the hands of Bai Qi's family.
But all Liu gave to Wei Zhi were two family letters and two signed confessions.
Wei Zhi frowned and asked, "Besides these two letters, did Bai Qi leave nothing else?"
"How could my son bring something like that home and bring trouble to us?" Liu said, "He was alone in his post at the time, and my grandson was young and couldn't travel far, so we stayed in our hometown in Longzhou."
This is troublesome.
Wei Zhi asked, "Does the old lady have any other clues? Think about where he might have hidden the things?"
Liu shook her head and said, "I really can't think of it."
Mr. Bai glanced at Liu and lowered his head.
Wei Zhi sighed and said, "I want to meet those three people."
Liu immediately asked Daji to take Wei Zhi away.
As soon as the others left, Mr. Bai asked, "Aunt, if we don't tell them, Lord Wei will know about the Zhou Yin couple after meeting those two people. Why should we hide it from them?"
"Can Lord Wei be trusted?"
"At least he can be trusted 90% of the time."
"But I have so many lives at stake. Even if it's 99% or even 99%, I wouldn't dare take the risk." Liu said, "He knew there was such a couple, but he certainly didn't expect it to be Zhou Yin."
"That……"
"Wait a little longer," Liu said, "Let's wait a little longer. He's not in a hurry to leave anyway, is he?"
Wei Zhi could also feel that Liu didn't trust him very much, but he understood after a little thought.
When he came out of the guest house, Wei Zhi was also silent.
The guard following him couldn't help but ask, "Sir, does Liu know who that couple is?"
Wei Zhi sighed, "She might know, but she definitely didn't get Bai Qi's things. She doesn't even know where they are."
"Then what should we do? Without physical evidence, we have no way to deal with the King of Yizhou and others."
"Yes, there's no physical evidence, so whether she trusts them or not doesn't matter," Wei knew. "These three witnesses are of little use, like chicken ribs. It's a pity to throw them away, but they're of little use."
The key lies in what is in Bai Qi's hand, but Bai Qi is dead, where would he put the thing?
Wei Zhi frowned and said, "The person who knows Bai Qi best in this world is probably that old lady. Getting her to speak is much more difficult than getting those three prisoners to speak."
"That……"
"But we're not in a hurry. We have plenty of time. The worst that can happen is we can just stay a few more days."
The guard agreed.
Wei Zhi said he would stay, so he stayed. Of course, it was impossible for them to stay here. After all, Liu and Zheng were widows, and Bai Shanbao was young. So Wei Zhi and the guards stayed in his house as friends of Master Bai.
Old Mrs. Bai and Mrs. Bai did not doubt them at all. They welcomed them happily and planned to hold a welcoming banquet for him. They warmly invited him to stay for a few more days.
Wei Zhi readily agreed.
Mrs. Bai smiled and said to Bai Erlang who was running back from school, "Go next door and call your cousin over, and Manbao too. If she's here, bring her over too. I haven't seen those two kids in two or three days, and I miss them a lot."
Bai Erlang shouted, "They asked for leave and only went to school today."
He was a little unconvinced and snorted, "Grandma, they always take leave during this period." So they don't seem like good students at all.
Mr. Bai glared at him with a look of dismay and said, "Yesterday, Shanbao and Manbao spent the whole day in the study reading, while you went to school. What did you learn?"
Bai Erlang didn't believe it and muttered quietly: "Who would study after taking a leave..."
Wei Zhi laughed heartily and asked, "Is Shanbao Madam Liu's grandson?"
"Yes, a very smart child." Old Mrs. Bai tried hard to show off Bai Shanbao. There was no other way. Her eldest grandson was not there, and a nephew was also a grandson, right?
After praising Bai Shanbao, he also praised their Erlang and said with a smile: "Our Erlang is also very well-behaved and filial."
But he didn't say anything like smart.
(End of this chapter)
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