Chapter 99 A Happy Event in the Mansion
The eldest princess opened the second opera script. She was very calm at this time, not as angry as when she first listened to the opera yesterday.
After reading the whole story, she knew that it was an allusion to the scandal in the Yongyi Marquis's mansion, but it had some similarities with the royal secrets.
No matter how foolish and tyrannical the previous emperor was, as long as the matter concerned the dignity of the royal family, it had to be covered up.
The eldest princess said, "Tell them there is no need to investigate further."
Shen Mingzhu bribed the troupe owner to sing a play to destroy Shen Qingtan, so the second person who bribed the troupe owner, even if it was not Shen Qingtan, would be related to her.
The Jinyiwei were all smart people, and they probably suspected Shen Qingtan, but they just didn't have any evidence.
And since she specially invited Shen Qingtan to visit the Princess's Mansion today, the Jinyiwei people were unsure of her attitude.
Therefore, before finding any evidence, he sent someone to report the progress and test her attitude to see whether she wanted to investigate the matter thoroughly.
The female official replied, "I will go and reply."
"Wait." The princess stopped the court lady and ordered, "If those who were abducted have done nothing evil, help them find their parents."
"Yes." The female official did not retreat, but asked, "Your Highness, the troupe owner also confessed a matter. One of the children was abducted and sold by him. Do you want to investigate?"
Then, she took out a piece of paper and a jade pendant. "This is what the Imperial Guards found at the troupe owner's residence. According to the troupe owner, it's a token of trust left by the person who bought the child."
The eldest princess frowned and asked, "They also sold the child?"
The female official nodded and said, "The specific details will have to be passed on to you by Master Liu."
The princess really wanted to know how many crimes the troupe leader had committed, so she asked the female official to call in Lord Liu of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
After a while, Lord Liu entered the hall and bowed to the eldest princess.
The eldest princess asked, "How many children did that man sell?"
"Your Highness, he only betrayed one person." Lord Liu pulled out a thick stack of confessions and turned to this case. "At first, the band leader refused to confess. We used torture to pry him open."
"He said he was performing a play in Nanlingzhou and kidnapped three or four children he liked. When they were about to leave, a well-dressed servant came to him and asked him to kidnap a little girl who was watching the play in the audience."
"The little girl was dressed in rich clothes and was brought to the theater by a young boy. The servant told the troupe owner that the little girl was his mistress's child."
"Because the child's father came from a wealthy family, and her daughter's family was humble, the man forcibly took the child away and was unwilling to give her daughter a legitimate marriage."
"Her young lady couldn't bear the pain of separation from her own flesh and blood. No matter how much money she spent, she was determined to get the child back."
"The troupe owner was afraid of getting into trouble and would never kidnap a child from a wealthy family. However, the other party offered a lot of money, and he was blinded by the money and took the risk to rob the child."
"The troupe boss was wary, worried that someone was setting him up. He had the servant write a written document guaranteeing that she had commissioned them to kidnap the man. Finally, just to be on the safe side, he stole the servant's jade pendant."
Lord Liu confessed all the specific details of the class leader's crime.
The eldest princess frowned. This was probably the first time that the troupe owner had kidnapped a child from a wealthy family. He was afraid of getting into trouble, so he kept these two pieces of evidence with him for so many years.
Suddenly, a clear voice sounded.
"Master Liu, there is someone with the little girl. How did the class owner kidnap her?"
Lord Liu looked in the direction of the voice and saw that Shen Qingtan's expression was a little strange, but he couldn't tell what was strange about it.
"They were openly robbing her. They specifically ordered a few martial artists to fight each other. The fight reached the little girl, then the boy with her. They took advantage of the chaos to snatch the child away, drugged her, and took her away."
Master Liu continued, "The troupe owner said he remembered it so clearly because after he kidnapped the child, the person who had lost the child reported it to the authorities. He hurriedly led his men out of the city to avoid the storm. Only then did he notice the unusual bracelet on the little girl's wrist. Fearing he might get into trouble, he didn't dare to steal anything from the child. He waited until the storm subsided before returning the child to the client."
Shen Qingtan murmured, "Is that so?"
Master Liu replied, "Yes, the troupe owner said he was terrified at the time. If he hadn't taken this job, he would have moved on long ago. The little girl was fussy, so he had to wait for the drug to wear off before continuing to use it to cover her up. If the authorities continue to investigate, he will kill the child and escape."
The reason why he knew so much detail was because it was a case assigned to him by the eldest princess. He did not dare to be careless and had to find out every detail of every matter.
Shen Qingtan pinched her fingers hard, her eyes once again falling on the document and jade pendant in the eldest princess's hand.
This jade pendant was so familiar to her that she could feel the patterns just by touching it with her eyes closed.
Because Wei's mother had an identical one on her body. She had previously said that it was a token of love given to her by a man, but she lost it somehow.
Madam Shen rewarded her with a piece of top-grade Hetian jade. Madam Wei's husband used this jade to make her a jade pendant that was exactly the same as the token of love.
The only difference is the quality of the jade material. One piece is low-quality and rough jade, and the other is high-quality Hetian jade.
There is no difference in the engraving patterns.
She once thought that Mrs. Shen took advantage of her separation from her family and secretly abducted her.
She never expected that Madam Shen would hire someone to rob her openly!
"This little girl is quite lucky." Shen Qingtan suppressed the turbulent emotions in his heart and tried his best to remain calm: "Can the class owner recognize the buyer?"
"They were very cautious and didn't show up. The servant looked ordinary, and the master has long forgotten what he looked like." Lord Liu said, "They kidnapped several people together. The city was in chaos at the time, so he didn't dare to ask who the little girl belonged to."
"Alright, you were originally working for the Emperor. I've obtained his oral order for you to carry out this mission." The Princess pressed her eyebrows together and handed the receipt and jade pendant back to Lord Liu. "Turn everything over to the Dali Temple for processing."
"Yes." Lord Liu left.
Shen Qingtan's lips moved, and he seemed to want to say something but stopped himself several times.
After all, it was the first time to deal with the eldest princess, and Shen Qingtan had not yet figured out what kind of person she was. He did not dare to rashly ask the eldest princess for help to let the Jinyiwei continue the investigation. After all, the Jinyiwei was not something that the eldest princess could mobilize at will.
At least she is now one step closer to the truth. After deciding to go back, she asked Zhao Yi to help send someone to the government office in Nanlingzhou to investigate which families had reported the incident to the authorities that year.
——
When Shen Qingtan returned to the Duke's Mansion from the Princess's Mansion, the doorman informed her, "Second Madam, Boss Qin is waiting for you in the main hall."
Boss Qin is here. Could it be that his brother-in-law has sent a message?
Thinking of this, Shen Qingtan quickly walked towards the main hall.
When she was halfway there, she saw the servants in the mansion walking quickly in one direction with happy faces. "Walk faster! Go get the reward! Why are you so slow?"
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