After Xue Shu was released from prison, he returned to the palace.

He first arranged for someone to investigate the affairs of those scholars, and then went to the East Palace at sunset to report the matter.

After hearing this, Yin Chengyu was furious: "Dongchang is too arrogant."

Since Emperor Longfeng sent Gao Xian back to the capital, the court officials who had been relatively obedient before began to get restless. Especially Gao Yuan and others, who took the chicken feathers as a token of authority, although it would not affect the prevention and control of the epidemic in the capital, but it was really annoying to find something to do every now and then.

In his previous life, Yin Chengyu was willing to be a filial son and tolerate Emperor Longfeng's confidants. But now he is no longer the same as before. Even Emperor Longfeng is not worth his tolerance, let alone the dogs he raises?

"There is a major epidemic in Beijing right now, and people are already panicking. Now the East Factory is arresting people everywhere, which is like pouring fuel on the fire. Although the literati and scholars may seem weak, they have always been united, and there are many tough guys among them. Once they start to make trouble, it will not be a small matter."

Xue Shu understood what he meant: "Why not use the opponent's strength to fight the opponent's strength? I will add fuel to the fire. Gao Yuan was the one who did it, so if something goes wrong, he will naturally be responsible. Your Majesty was already dissatisfied with Dongchang because of the demon fox incident. If there is another incident, Gao Xian will not be able to protect him."

Yin Chengyu's thoughts coincided with his, and he nodded and said, "I'll leave this matter to you."

Xue Shu agreed calmly and took out the brocade bag he had kept close to his body: "Your Highness had previously asked me to change the rope chain for the auspicious buckle, and it has been replaced."

Yin Chengyu took the brocade bag, opened it and took a look. He saw that the red rope inside was very simple in design.

He raised his eyebrows, and had a vague guess in his mind. He glanced at Xue Shu and said, "Did you make it up yourself?"

Xue Shu said "hmm", then said, "Let me put it on for Your Highness?"

Yin Chengyu stared at him for a long while before throwing the brocade bag back to him. With a smile on his face, he leaned back in his chair and said lazily, "I agree."

Xue Shu got the permission, and his calm expression relaxed instantly. Emotions flashed in his eyes, but he finally suppressed them as much as possible.

He knelt on one knee, lifted Yin Chengyu's legs and placed them on his knees, took off her shoes and socks, then took out the auspicious buckle, loosened the knot, and put it on.

The bright red rope is tied tightly, just stuck on the delicate ankle, with a hint of deep green dotted on it. It's like a handful of spring trapped in the ice and snow, making it even more attractive to explore.

The birthday gift he sent was also put on His Highness by him personally.

A short piece of red rope was tied around Yin Chengyu's ankle, and also firmly imprisoned his heart inside.

Xue Shu watched intently, his hands tightened subconsciously, and even his movements slowed down a bit.

Yin Chengyu noticed his change and deliberately asked him, "What are you doing? Why don't you put on your shoes and socks for me?"

Xue Shu naturally had no answer, and he also heard the joking tone in the other party's voice.

His Highness always liked to tease him like this, arousing his desire, but then pulling away without hesitation.

And he enjoyed it.

After helping Yin Chengyu put on his shoes and socks, Xue Shu raised his eyes and looked at Yin Chengyu. His eyebrows were sharp, his pupils were dark, and when he looked straight at him, he had an undisguised passion: "Two more days."

Today is July 14th.

Yin Chengyu naturally understood what he was talking about. He snorted and glanced at him with a half-smile: "Do you think I'm old? You have to remind me of such trivial matters every day. How can I let you do my job with confidence in the future if you are so impatient?"

Xue Shu pursed his lips and said nothing, not realizing that he was wrong.

He had been thinking about it for several days. He had never looked forward to his birthday as much as he did now. He was counting the days until it happened.

Yin Chengyu knew what was going on in his mind by looking at his expression.

But it was still early, and he was too lazy to bother with Xue Shu, so he just kicked him out.

Xue Shu reluctantly returned to Xichang and saw Cui Ci waiting at the door. During the day, he sent Cui Ci to investigate the backgrounds of those scholars, and now it seems that the investigation has been completed.

"Let's talk in the study." Xue Shu did not go into the house, but turned around and led people to the study.

After he sat down, Cui Ci presented the information he had obtained.

There were a total of nine scholars arrested this time, all of whom were about to take part in the autumn examination.

Recently, due to the outbreak of rashes in Wangjing City, the academy was closed and these students were locked up in the academy and could not go home. So they often gathered together to drink, write poetry, and discuss the past and the present.

As a scholar, when he was depressed, his words were bound to be careless, which was overheard by the servants of the East Factory and recorded in the book, and Gao Yuan used it as a tool to seek credit.

Among these nine people, seven were students from ordinary families. Only the deceased Sun Miao and another named Xie Pingchuan came from relatively wealthy families.

Xue Shu was slightly surprised when he saw the three characters "Xie Chuan", probably because the same name had appeared in his dream, and Xue Shu felt a little unhappy for no reason. But he did not miss the main task because of this, and read the secret report carefully.

Sun Miao's family was engaged in business and had some assets. His grandfather admired scholars and not only donated to several academies over the years, but also sponsored many poor students, making him famous in Wangjing. Sun Miao was the only scholar in the Sun family and was given high hopes. It was said that he was quite good at studying and if nothing unexpected happened, he would be able to pass the imperial examination.

After reading Sun Miao's background, Xue Shu curled his lips coldly and said, "Gao Yuan is really a fool who is eager for quick success."

However, this is not surprising. Dongchang and Jinyiwei have relied on the favor of Emperor Longfeng to act recklessly in recent years. This kind of confusion of right and wrong is not the first time that it has happened.

Gao Yuan found out that there had been traitors in the theater owned by the Sun family during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong. He thought that if he could get Sun Miao to confess through torture and send him before Emperor Longfeng, it would be a great achievement.

As for the fact that the theater was taken over by the Sun family later on, it didn't matter. As long as Sun Miao admitted his guilt, the Sun family would not be able to recover.

Gao Yuan was good at calculating, but he didn't know that although the Sun family was engaged in business, they admired scholars very much. The old lady of the Sun family was quite upright, and Sun Miao was highly expected by the Sun family. He was well educated since childhood and was not a weakling.

Therefore, Sun Miao never pleaded guilty from beginning to end.

Now that the person is dead in prison, Gao Yuan not only failed to obtain a confession letter, but also confirmed his evil deeds of torturing people into confessing and taking their lives.

It was like handing the handle to Xue Shu.

"Go and collect Sun Miao's body and send it to Sun's family. And you can deliver a letter to the old lady of Sun's family on our behalf." Xue Shu picked up a pen and wrote a letter and handed it to Cui Ci.

If the Sun family wanted to avenge themselves, he had his own way to help them.

The Sun family's reaction was more intense than Xue Shu had expected.

The night when Sun Miao's body was sent back was July 14, and the next day was July 15, which was the Ghost Festival, a day to commemorate the dead.

The old lady of the Sun family was very resolute. She ordered people to put Sun Miao's body into the coffin, but did not bury it. Instead, she ordered her sons and nephews to carry the body and knock on the doors of those who had received kindness from the Sun family.

The coffin was not covered, and Sun Miao's miserable condition was visible to all.

After listening to Old Lady Sun's crying and understanding the whole story, the scholars with hot tempers immediately followed the coffin and went to the government office to seek justice.

With Xue Shu secretly opening the door for them, no one stopped the Sun family's coffin-carrying team. More and more people followed them, and paper money flew all over the sky.

However, when the group arrived at the Shuntian government office, they were stopped and turned back.

Seeing the Shuntian prefect, who was polite but embarrassed and kept making excuses, Old Lady Sun knew that the Shuntian government could not uphold justice.

The governor of Dongchang was a close minister to the emperor. Even if the governor of Shuntian Prefecture had a hundred courages, he would not dare to take this case.

Sun Miao's coffin stopped in front of the Shuntian government office. Old Lady Sun stared at it for a long time with gloomy eyes. Finally, she made up her mind and said hatefully, "The Shuntian government office dare not accept it. Today I will give up my life and go knock on the door!"

Knocking on the door means to file a complaint.

According to the laws of Dayan, anyone who knocks on the door will be punished with twenty strokes of the cane, regardless of whether he is right or wrong.

This was also proposed in Xue Shu’s letter last night.

The East Factory only obeyed the orders of the Emperor, and the East Factory Supervisor was a close minister to the Emperor. If one wanted to touch its roots, one had to file a complaint and make a big fuss.

The feud between the Sun family and Gao Yuan was escalated into a conflict between literati and eunuchs.

Although Emperor Longfeng hated the remnants of Emperor Xiaozong's reign, he also cared deeply about his own little remaining reputation.

Although the Sun family was a merchant family, Sun Miao was a scholar and had a good reputation. The Sun family had supported scholars for many years and had a very good reputation. If some of these scholars stood up and criticized them verbally and in writing, they would be able to make Emperor Longfeng drink a pot of wine.

There has never been a precedent in the Great Yan Dynasty of punishing people for their words. If Emperor Longfeng wants to calm the anger of the literati, he can only give up Gao Yuan.

Of course, the premise of all this is that Grandpa Sun is willing to take the lead.

When Xue Shu received the news, Old Grandpa Sun had already led people to carry the coffin and arrive in front of the Meridian Gate, beating drums to protest the injustice.

Behind him, there were many scholars following, and they were all very angry.

When the Ministry of Public Administration heard that someone was beating drums at the Meridian Gate to protest injustice, it sent the Right Councillor to investigate the situation.

After finding out the whole story, the Right Councillor accepted the complaint and put Old Lady Sun in jail.

The next day, according to the rules, Old Grandpa Sun had to be beaten with the cane twenty times in front of the Meridian Gate in public.

After that, the case will officially begin trial.

Old Grandpa Sun was already over 60 years old. She had a sack on her body and her hair and beard were gray. She was pressed on a bench with only her head sticking out. She was still shouting out her injustice.

Gao Yuan had received the news a long time ago, but he did not show up. Instead, he watched from afar.

His face was not looking good: "Didn't I let you do it yesterday? How come you let him live till today?"

The guy following him stammered and couldn't speak.

He had arranged for someone to go yesterday, but they only sent in food with added ingredients, but the other party did not eat it. When he wanted to use other methods, he lost the opportunity.

Gao Yuan was already feeling annoyed and didn't want to listen to his explanation. He just said gloomily, "Go and tell the executioner to beat him carefully."

Fight with all your might and leave no one alive.

The clerk did not dare to say anything more, and took the order to greet the executioner. This kind of thing happened frequently in the palace, and he was familiar with it. He stuffed a bag of silver into the executioner's sleeve, and the two smiled at each other, and the matter was done.

But when the time of execution came, the jailer's toes were pointed outward, like his feet were turned outward.

There are many tricks to beating someone with a stick. If you want to cripple someone, you say "beat him hard". If you want to kill him, you say "beat him with all your heart". If there is no sound, you can also look at the direction of the toes. If the toes are facing outward, it means you are just pretending; if the toes are facing inward, it means you are beating him to death.

When the file manager saw the pigeon-toed figure, his heart skipped a beat.

Then I looked at that old lady Sun. After being beaten with a stick, the man did not faint but was still cursing and shouting for injustice.

After the twenty strokes of the board were over, Grandpa Sun was helped down by someone. Although her steps were unsteady, she was still full of energy.

Gao Yuan, who was watching from afar, obviously also realized that something was wrong. Before he could react, he saw Xue Shu slowly walking towards him from afar. His eyes paused on him, and he smiled at him from afar before walking to the execution ground and saying, "Your Highness the Crown Prince has arrived."

Although it was a complaint, in reality most cases were still handled by the Ministry of Public Security or the Ministry of Justice. Only a few cases that alarmed the emperor would be supervised by him personally.

Now that Emperor Longfeng is not in the capital, it is natural that Yin Chengyu will come forward.

Yin Chengyu and Xue Shu came over one after the other, but they didn't look at him. Instead, they looked at Old Lady Sun, who was kneeling on the ground, and said, "I have heard about the injustice of the Sun family. I will personally supervise this case and hand it over to the Ministry of Justice for trial. I will definitely give an explanation to the Sun family and to all the scholars and students in the world."

After that, he looked at Xue Shu and said, "I heard that Supervisor Xue was also in prison that day, so you will be there to assist in the investigation."

Xue Shu naturally bowed and responded. He looked at Gao Yuan gloomily and said, "I obey your command."

When Gao Yuan saw them singing the same tune, his expression suddenly became extremely ugly.

The author has something to say:

Gou Gou: I! Want! To! Celebrate! My! Birthday!