As soon as these words were spoken, the whole hall was in an uproar.
Privately storing disrespectful items is a capital crime, and the illegitimate son of the Li family was involved.
Emperor Xuande's expression darkened. "Disrespectful item? Do you know what it is? And what is the identity of the person Li Yunzhou is protecting?"
Su Chengyan knelt down and replied, "I don't know what's in the carriage. That person is Lin Wanyin, the current owner of the Lin Trading Company in Northern Zhili. She was formerly the wife of the Marquis of Pingning."
It was surprising that this matter involved Li Yunzhou, but it also involved the people from the Pingning Marquis Mansion who had already divorced.
The important thing is that she is also the mother-in-law of Lord Shen.
At this time, not only the civil and military officials, but even the emperor looked at Shen Zhixiu meaningfully.
Shen Zhixiu still stood there, without even raising his eyelids.
The matter was of great importance, so Emperor Xuande asked Su Chengyan to explain in detail what had happened.
Su Chengyan came prepared and spoke.
"Your Majesty, yesterday I was patrolling the city gate as usual. Lin Wanyin arrived at the gate with a dozen followers and five carts of goods. As soon as she arrived, someone secretly reported to me that she had something disrespectful in her cart."
"I was shocked at the time and prepared to check. If there was nothing, I would naturally let her go. But she kept making excuses and refused to let me check. Seeing her panic, I knew that this might be true."
"Just as I was about to conduct a forced inspection, Li Yunzhou, the fourth young master of the Li family, arrived and pushed me to the ground. I fell backwards and passed out."
"I don't know why Young Master Li Si didn't let me investigate. But I can see one thing clearly: these two people look panicked."
After Su Chengyan finished speaking, he knelt on the ground and waited for the emperor's decision.
Emperor Xuande frowned and said nothing for a long time.
The so-called "greatly disrespectful objects" were inauspicious items that harmed the emperor or the royal family. Starting with Emperor Taizu, the possession of such items was a capital offense.
The last time this happened was during the reign of the previous emperor. Because of a dragon robe stained with chicken blood, the emperor was furious and countless corpses were laid to rest.
Therefore, all the court officials did not dare to say anything at this time. Even the censors in the Six Departments Corridor, who usually talked the most, kept their mouths shut.
Emperor Xuande looked at Chen Zheng, "What do you think, Minister Chen?"
Chen Zheng walked to the center of the hall and said, "Your Majesty, it's still difficult to come to a conclusion on this matter. To catch a thief and seize the stolen goods, we must first find something."
Emperor Xuande asked Shen Zhixiu again, "Mr. Shen, please tell me."
Shen Zhixiu also walked to the middle of the hall and stood half a step behind Chen Zheng.
"In reply to the Emperor, what Lord Chen said makes sense. We must first see the object. If there is truly something disrespectful, then the Ministry of Justice will conduct a thorough investigation."
Emperor Xuande thought for a moment and said, "Order the Dragon Guard Commander Puyi to personally lead people to search Lin Wanyin's residence."
"All items brought back to the capital yesterday must be carefully searched, and any suspicious items must be brought into the palace."
"Summon Li Jingchuan, Yongjia, Li Yunzhou, and Lin Wanyin to the palace."
Shen Zhixiu, standing to the side, lowered his head, his eyes solemn. If this was a frame-up, his people would surely discover it. However... he didn't know if he could handle it properly.
At this time, the Mansion of the Marquis of Loyalty on Zhuque Street in West City was welcoming two uninvited guests.
Su Qingyu and her mother Lin Wanyin were sitting in the main hall drinking tea. Behind them, Feicui was holding a box more than two feet high.
Lin Wanyin looked around and thought to herself that the Marquis of Loyalty was indeed the most prestigious family in the capital. Just looking at the layout of the reception hall, one could tell of the family's heritage.
After a while, footsteps were heard outside the door. Then, Mrs. Song from the Loyalty Marquis's mansion walked in, surrounded by maids and servants. Also with her was a beautiful woman, Mrs. Wang, the wife of the Loyalty Marquis.
The old lady of the Song family wore a red jacket with a pattern of fortune and longevity, a headband, and a transparent jade hairpin made of warm mutton fat in her hair.
Among all the old ladies of the big families in the capital, this old lady Song ranked first. After all, she was the emperor's mother-in-law, and everyone who saw her had to respect her.
Su Qingyu and Lin Wanyin stood up and bowed to Old Madam Song and the wife of the Marquis of Loyalty.
Shen Zhixiu and Marquis Zhongyi are brothers, so Su Qingyu calls Old Madam Song aunt.
"Please sit down, niece-in-law. You are a rare guest." Old Madam Song said with a smile, and then looked at Lin Wanyin, "Madam Lin, how are you these days? We met before at the funeral of the old man of the Su family."
Old Madam Song was surprised. The mother and daughter came to visit suddenly. Maybe something happened?
Lin Wanyin leaned forward and said, "Yes, the old lady has a very good memory."
Madam Song smiled and sighed, "I'm old now. I can remember things from the past clearly, but I tend to forget more recent things."
Su Qingyu smiled and joked, "You're joking. I don't see much gray in your hair, so how can you be old?"
The old lady is in her sixties, but her hair is still shiny black with only a few white hairs here and there, so she doesn't look old.
After a few more pleasantries, Su Qingyu found the right moment to speak: "Aunt, I came here today to give you something."
This thing is a hot potato for her, but for the Song family, it is something they are thinking about all the time.
The old lady was confused. "What is it that makes it so mysterious?"
Su Qingyu gestured to Feicui to come forward, and she stood up and opened the large agarwood box, which contained a statue of Guanyin.
Su Qingyu carefully took out the Guanyin statue and placed it on the nanmu square table next to Old Madam Song.
Madam Song and Mrs. Wang were both horrified, especially Madam Song, who stared at the Guanyin statue and burst into tears.
"Zi Ning...my son..."
The late Empress, whose maiden name was Song Zining, accompanied the Emperor on his southern tour when Luoyang was hit by a flood. The late Empress was kind and worked tirelessly to provide disaster relief.
Later, the people of Luoyang asked someone to sculpt this statue of Guanyin and enshrine it in the White Horse Temple.
The appearance of the Guanyin statue is exactly the same as that of the late queen.
Su Qingyu looked at Old Madam Song crying while holding the Guanyin statue, and felt a little sorry for her. But she could only bring this thing to the Song family.
This morning, just as Shen Zhixiu left for court, Jiang Qi, who was guarding Yushu Hutong, returned home to report that he had discovered someone had put something in the carriage that returned to Beijing yesterday.
Lin Wanyin hadn't packed up the carriages yet, and the goods were still loaded intact.
Su Qingyu immediately felt that this matter was unusual, so she took a carriage and quietly went to Yushu Hutong.
When she saw that there was a stained Buddha statue inside, she was so scared that her whole body turned cold.
She had seen this Buddha statue in her past life. Zhao Ziyi, the Right Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate, had his entire family executed because of this Buddha statue. And Zhao Ziyi's daughter had been the Crown Prince's concubine in both her past and present lives.
After much deliberation, she decided to clean the statue and send it to the Song family. As for the original location of the carriage, she had already made arrangements.
Mrs. Song and her mother-in-law cried for a while, then they suppressed their grief and held back their tears. Another maidservant came forward and helped the two of them to wash and dress again.
The old lady calmed down and looked at Su Qingyu and her daughter.
"Excuse me, but a few years ago, someone came to the White Horse Temple to tell me that the late queen's Buddha body had suddenly gone missing. My family searched for it for several years but couldn't find any trace of it."
"Where did you find it?"
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