"I was originally a maid in the Xu Mansion. My name is Xiao Sui. About a year ago, I ran an errand for Madam Gu's servant, Nanny Gu, to deliver food to Brother Xu.
I was initially puzzled by the idea that Nanny Gu knew Big Brother Xu, but I didn't ask. Not long after, I heard that Big Brother Xu had fallen ill and died, and that his former wife, Sister Cai, had married Nanny Gu's son. I found this strange, but just as I was about to ask, Nanny Gu found an excuse to kick me out of the house.
The more Xiaosui spoke, the more intense the pain in his shoulder became. Xu Xiucai's eyes were almost bleeding. There must be something fishy going on!
Then he saw that Xiaosui's facial features were almost squeezed together, and he suddenly let go of his hand.
"Sister Xiaosui, come home with me and tell me what happened before, okay?" Xu Xiucai's expression looked very much like a child abductor, especially the smile on his face that was uglier than crying.
Xiaosui was reluctant at first, but when she thought of what the child said and the hardships she had experienced this year, she would never forget who had harmed her like this!
"good."
The twenty-seventh day of the winter month is the last official business day for all government offices in the capital. After today, it is time to have a good rest and go home to celebrate the New Year with their families.
Lord Shen, the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture, sat in the second hall, crossed his legs, and looked at the income of the past month or two.
Hmm! That's right! With these recent crackdowns on vendor violations, the fines and back pay we've collected are actually more than our revenue from the previous ten months!
These audacious vendors are so bold that you don’t know how to deal with them until you check. Once you check, you will be shocked to find that they dare to sell dog meat under the guise of selling mutton!
Take the oil shop, for example. They were clearly registered to sell vegetable oil and palm oil, but during an inspection, they found ten barrels of sesame oil! The tax on sesame oil is significantly lower than the market price of vegetable oil. It's surprising how much money they've made from this one item.
There were countless other small loopholes, which made Lord Shen very angry. He thought to himself, you bunch of parasites, you took the court's money and still dared to be so arrogant!
Thanks to the wisdom of our Second Prince, these merchants were exposed and paid a large amount of taxes. It seems that we can finally have a good New Year.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom!" The drum of reporting sounded at a very inopportune moment, shattering Lord Shen's joy.
"Who's beating the drum?" Lord Shen stood up and shouted to the yamen runners outside the door. You know, this is the last day before the festival, so don't let anything go wrong.
"Sir! Someone is beating a drum to complain. It's a man and a woman, Xu Xiucai, the victim. They're accusing General Fuyuan's servant, Madam Gu, of murder and abduction. They're also accusing Xu's mistress, Madam Gu, of allowing her servant to commit the murder!"
The bailiff had already run in and explained the situation at the door in detail.
"What, whose family?"
"The Xu family, the Xu family of the General's Mansion."
Lord Shen frowned, thinking that what he feared would come true. It turned out that he would not be able to have a good New Year.
"Go to court."
Although Lord Shen was reluctant, he still straightened his official uniform and walked to the front of the hall in a straight-step manner.
A group of people who came to watch the excitement had already gathered outside the door. Although the good people of the Great Xia Dynasty feared officials, the officials in the capital were so numerous that the people saw them day and night. The sense of mystery was gone, and they were not so afraid anymore.
Moreover, we just heard that the person making the complaint and the person making the complaint were not ordinary people, so we were all excited and quickly chose our seats, so we wouldn’t be able to watch them later.
With the bang of the gavel, the case was put on trial.
Lord Shen called out three times, "Who is here? What are you suing for? Do you have any evidence?" Xu Xiucai wrapped a white towel around her arm, with a sad face. She had already prepared her speech and handed in the complaint, just waiting to see that evil woman and tear her flesh and drink her blood.
It was all routine procedure. When Lord Shen saw the petition, he immediately sent someone to the Xu Mansion to bring the message, without any ambiguity.
If you ask, is Lord Shen so unreasonable and does not know how to be an official that he dares to offend officials in the capital at will?
No. As the saying goes, "Everyone is drunk, but I am sober." Lord Shen is such a wonderful person.
He was a serious scholar from a poor family. He had taken exams for most of his life and had won the first place three times in a row. He was the number one scholar chosen by the emperor at that time. Although he had many faults, his only good point was that he was not afraid of power!
Lord Shen had endured countless hardships in his life; his shoes had worn through half a basket just on the way to the exam. Having spent half his life reading sage books and witnessing the fickleness of the world, he was well aware of the principles of corrupt officials and their mutual protection, and he scoffed at them.
Of course, the emperor liked this straightforward person, but other officials were less so. So, despite his temporary glory as the top scholar, he was later marginalized and became a poor county magistrate for ten years! He was repeatedly blocked from promotion, but he refused to change his personality.
Speaking of the Jingzhao prefect, a fourth-rank official, he would be called a frontier official outside the capital, but in this capital, on the streets full of nobles, he is not considered a high-ranking official.
Before Lord Shen took over, this position changed hands frequently. The worst time was when three prefects were replaced in one year. Some of them were corrupt and accepted bribes, which aroused public resentment, while others were involved in party struggles, which was an unforgivable crime.
The emperor was in a terrible headache. Suddenly, he remembered the number one scholar from many years ago. He remembered him as a very upright person. So he quickly asked the Ministry of Personnel to dig up his official file. When he took a look, he was shocked! How could my favorite official be in that poor mountain village?
Looking back, huh? Year after year of awards, yet no promotion?
This was unacceptable! So the emperor issued a golden decree, digging Master Shen out from the ravines and placing him in this position for three years.
The situation had changed a lot in the past three years, but it hadn't changed for Lord Shen. This showed how tough of an official he was. Now that the emperor was extremely pleased with him, the ministers no longer had any plans to target him.
Anyway, it is too difficult to be the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture, and no one wants to let his own people go up and suffer losses in vain. It is enough to let such a loyal minister be in power, at least he will not help the opponent.
For the past two years, everyone has been saying that Lord Shen has become the Second Prince's disciple, but the Emperor alone seems to be dismissing the claim. He and Concubine Ying are indeed from the same state, and he has agreed with the Second Prince on several occasions. However, it would be premature to conclude that he is the Second Prince's disciple.
It was precisely because Xu Xiucai understood Mr. Shen's character that he dared to take such a gamble.
Not too long after, Mrs. Gu came to the court panting. She was busy distributing new winter clothes in the mansion, but who knew that she was brought here by the Jingzhao Prefecture yamen runners.
As soon as she saw Xiao Sui, she immediately felt something was wrong. Why did this damn girl come back? If she had known earlier, she would have killed her...
When Mrs. Gu arrived, she naturally kowtowed and introduced herself, and listened to the accusations against her with pretended surprise, but she was not very panicked inside.
Not to mention that this matter has long been impossible to verify, and Xu Housheng's body has long been burned to ash. Even if something really happened to me, with the prestige of the Xu family and his wife, I'm not afraid that they won't be able to save me.
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