Chapter 18: I have to put down my old face and ask for help
Wen Ya made arrangements for the rest of the matter. She left the officials behind and took Song Jin and the servants to Meilin Courtyard. She also brought out the three concubines and asked Song Jin to identify them one by one.
Chunyun was no exception, but when she heard that it was a person wearing a white silk jacket, she knew it was not her, so she stood timidly in the crowd, waiting to be identified.
He just glanced at Song Jin uncontrollably with his eyes, fearing that she would change her words at the last minute.
Compared to Chunyun who was beaten and forced to set the fire, the instigators Ye Wenfu and Xu Cuiyun looked calm as if it was none of their business. However, the maids who knew about the incident wished they could hang their heads to the ground.
A row of people stood in the yard, Wen Ya sat on a chair, Song Jin stood in front of everyone and looked at them one by one, with one hand stretched into the air, ready to call on anyone at any time.
Ye Wenfu rolled her eyes at her, not for any other reason, but because she knew that she did not go out last night, and she also knew that Song Jin, who was dressed as a man, must have a secret, so she was fearless.
Just as the masters were feeling confident and the maids were holding their breath, Song Jin suddenly withdrew his hand, walked to Wen Ya, and whispered something.
Everyone saw Wen Ya's face suddenly change, and she glanced at the crowd. They didn't know what Song Jin said, but they heard Wen Ya say, "Okay, you all go back."
Upon hearing this, Ye Wenfu and Xu Cuiyun smiled triumphantly, flicked their sleeves and went back to the house. Zhao Yilu also went back with the help of the servants.
"Then how should we deal with this matter?"
Wen Ya walked out while asking Song Jin, saying that this matter should not be made a big deal.
"Grandma, don't panic. After all, someone needs to take responsibility for this matter. Since we have found the culprit, and she is a woman, we can ask for mercy and handle it ourselves. The most important thing is not to let Si Niang expose it in front of everyone."
Wen Ya sighed, feeling annoyed. First, she was annoyed that Song Jin had done this without discussing it with her in advance, and mentioned it to the emperor. Second, she couldn't believe that Ye Wenfu would actually dare to do such a thing.
But Song Jin had her reasons. Why did Wen Xin pull her back to stir up trouble? Wasn't that just to find a cannon fodder? Of course she dragged others into the water, and it was a ready-made one.
"Now I have no choice but to swallow my pride and ask for help."
She had no choice but to take this loss. If someone found out that there was firewood inside, all her previous efforts would be in vain.
Once a person has evil thoughts, he or she will have to do countless things to cover them up.
So is Wen Ya, and so is Song Jin.
A group of people helped Wen Ya walk in front of the two officers. Wen Ya started crying as soon as she entered the hall.
"It's all my fault. I didn't discipline my family well, which caused the sisters to have grudges and led to this terrible disaster. Now the house of the neighbors has not been burned. If it had been burned a little bit, I would have been blamed for it..."
After saying that, he started beating his chest and wiping his tears. Song Jin supported him and glanced at the two officers out of the corner of his eye.
Qingzhuganzi was as serious as ever, but Lord Lu spoke up: "Hey, what does this have to do with the old lady? If someone started the fire, just hand him over, and the government will naturally give you justice."
Wen Ya cried even louder: "If you want to arrest someone, just arrest me. It's my fault that I didn't discipline them well, which made my sisters resentful. That's why they have these evil thoughts. It's all my fault."
As soon as she finished speaking, she was about to kneel down. Lord Lu hurried over to help her up, but Wen Ya could not stand up. "Sir, the criminal this time is a woman, and she is still young. If she is arrested by the government, how will she live in the future? Lord, just consider it as saving a woman's reputation."
Lord Lu was in a dilemma, Wen Ya was crying breathlessly, but Qing Zhugan was silent.
Just as the two sides were arguing, the doorman outside suddenly ran into the hall and said, "Grandma, Grandma, the master is here with his men."
This time, Wen Ya didn't bother to pull anymore and let Lord Lu help her up while sobbing.
"Sister-in-law, this time we have to finalize the succession issue no matter what."
Bai Xiaotian really couldn't wait any longer. It had only been a few months and he had already burned down a small courtyard. If he waited any longer, this family would probably be gone.
Therefore, after hearing about the fire, he immediately sent someone to report to the authorities, and he once again invited the clan leader to discuss the succession issue.
After entering the room and arguing, he saw that there were officials in the hall. He hurriedly bowed and called him "Sir Lu", but then he was troubled by Ji Shubai who was sitting there motionless like a mountain.
"Who is this?"
Ji Shubai then stood up and saluted, saying, "I am Ji Yun, the new Tongzhi of Suzhou Prefecture. I have assumed my duties today and have not changed into my official uniform because I am in a hurry today."
Bai Xiaotian and his group were busy paying respects and greetings, and at the end they said to the two men, "You two adults are just here, please help us judge. My brother passed away at the end of last year, and he had no children. It is said that my nephew should be appointed as the heir. But for some reason, my sister-in-law insisted on delaying the matter of appointing a successor until today. If my son could have been appointed as the heir earlier, this big mistake would not have happened today."
Wen Ya was prepared and immediately responded, "What are you thinking? Don't you think I don't know? My husband was also focused on running his business, but you took him to the brothels. You knew he was in poor health, but you still took him to drink and prostitute. I think he died early because you drained his body."
"Sister-in-law, what do you mean? This leg is on a person's body. If he doesn't want to, who can help him..."
The two sides were arguing fiercely, Bai Xiaotian was spitting everywhere, Wen Ya was crying, and Lord Lu and Ji Shubai looked at each other in bewilderment.
"See? We didn't report the fire to the police because of the money."
Lord Lu, whose name was Junnian and whose courtesy name was Siqi, had served as the magistrate of Suzhou for several years. He knew the situation of the Bai family much better than Ji Shubai did. When he saw people quarreling, he immediately understood what was going on.
"The two sides are not getting along and there's some quarrel going on. Go back." Lu Junnian whispered in Ji Shubai's ear. Ji Shubai looked around and somehow his eyes fell on Song Jin.
Song Jin had always been on guard against him because he looked too upright, so when his gaze swept over him, he immediately noticed it, and when his gaze passed by, he felt cold sweats breaking out on his back.
"The issue of succession can be discussed with the clan leader. I will not get involved in household affairs." After saying this, he waved his hand and was about to leave. No matter how the Bai family tried to stop him, he refused to stay.
Lu Junnian's behavior is not unreasonable. Suzhou is so big, and there are countless affairs in a year. The succession is a family matter, so why drag him into it? Isn't it embarrassing?
If the order of the clan really needs to be changed, someone will naturally file a complaint. In short, he won't handle the case without a complaint, and he is not an idle person.
On this point, Lu Junnian was much more tactful than Ji Shubai, who had just arrived, so he just laughed it off and left with his people.
Seeing that the officer didn't care, the other party had no choice but to hold Wen Ya tightly and said that they had to have a good discussion today.
As luck would have it, the housekeeper was keeping an eye on things at the restaurant for the past two days and there was no one at home to see the guests off. Since Song Jin called her aunt, naturally she had to help with the etiquette, so she went to see the guests off reluctantly.
Lu Junnian walked forward as if he was fleeing, but Ji Shubai, for some reason, was hesitant. Song Jin felt that if he walked faster, he would be able to follow him on the heels.
Who would have thought that the person in front stopped when the heel didn't step on it.
The stone blue satin boots turned around, Song Jin didn't dare to look up, a voice sounded above his head, which was gentler than before.
"I wonder how old Master Wen is this year?"
Song Jin quickly cupped his hands and said, "I just turned seventeen this year."
"Have you ever participated in a scientific expedition?"
Song Jin was stunned by this question. He looked up and found that the person was not as serious as before, but... she was a fake.
"I am not good at studying, and my teacher also said that I am dull, so I am afraid that I will have no future in the imperial examination."
Ji Shubai frowned after hearing this: "Which sir? You are only seventeen, how can you be so sure? If you are wrong, wouldn't you be misleading the students?"
He meant well, but Song Jin couldn't bear the question. What if he was in the mood to test her on her writing? Wouldn't it be immediately exposed?
An evil thought flashed through Song Jin's mind.
"I have limited talent for classics and policy essays. Even if I read hard, I still can't understand it."
"So what do you usually read?"
Song Jin raised his head and said seriously: "I like to read some poems, such as gentle face like jade, shy face like fairy. Heroic and brilliant, beautiful and charming..."
Before he finished reading a few lines of the poem, Ji Shubai's face, which was originally white against the green clothes, suddenly turned red, from his cheeks to his ears. He changed his gentle appearance just now, glared at Song Jin, and cursed in a low voice: "You wild bastard!"
It's absolutely shameless.
Ji Shubai had good intentions. Seeing that Song Jin had a pretty appearance and that although she called him Aunt Wen Ya, she was wearing a blue cotton robe, he knew that they were not close. This time, she came to seek refuge but was only asked to look after the warehouse, so she would definitely not be taken seriously.
He originally thought that if he was smart and studious, it would be a good idea for him to enter the provincial school at this age. However, who would have thought that after just two questions, he would get such a result. He was so angry that he felt so disappointed in himself and thought that he deserved to be ignored.
He didn't ask any more questions, just glared at her and walked away.
Song Jin waited until the sedan chair left the Bai family’s gate before he breathed a sigh of relief.
Finally she managed to fool him. She was so frightened that she almost passed out.
Speaking of officials, Song Jin had quite a few of them in his previous life.
This businessman is not afraid of meeting an official, but is afraid of meeting an honest official. But Ji Shubai gave her the impression of being an honest official, and a newly appointed one at that. She didn't want to be in trouble, so she avoided him.
Seeing that everyone had left, Song Jin did not return to the main hall to watch the quarrel. As the mistress, Wen Ya had her own way of dealing with it, not to mention that she had already hired a lawyer. Now that they had talked it out, they wrote a petition and submitted it to the government office, and then it was up to the lawyer.
Song Jin didn't worry about this, so he went straight back to the backyard to eliminate the evidence.
After the officials were withdrawn, Song Jin ordered his men to quickly clean up the fire scene and clean up everything that needed to be cleaned up. Anything that was not completely burned and could still be burned was stuffed into the stove and burned.
The servants looked at the steam on those things and wondered, "Won't it be choking to death if they burn?"
"Then boil less at a time and use it to boil water. In any case, boil it all away."
This is called destroying evidence, and Song Jin kept a close eye on it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
