Chapter 68: Chunhui Garden Female Corpse Case
"After visiting for several days, I heard from the old servant who was previously in charge of cleaning Chunhui Garden that there are many women imprisoned in the basement of the garden.
These women were used for the entertainment of the nobles.
If those women unfortunately died, they would be thrown directly into the lotus pond in the backyard.
The backyard of Chunhui Garden is connected to the Jian River. I guess Sun Moer must have crawled out of the lotus pond, and her body floated down the Jian River."
Upon hearing this, Qi Zhuo, the Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, hurried out to defend himself:
"Huan Zi'an, what you said is just your speculation and cannot be used as evidence."
After hearing this, Huan Zian turned around and looked at Hu Qizhuo coldly:
"Then you'll have to ask Minister Qi. His Majesty has verbally ordered you not to obstruct my investigation.
But you first sent people to assassinate Sun Moer's parents, and then you did everything you could to obstruct the people I sent to investigate Chunhui Garden.
Do you take His Majesty seriously by disobeying His Majesty's orders?"
His Majesty the Emperor was shocked when he heard this. What on earth was Qi Zhuo trying to cover up?
They used all kinds of means to obstruct the Dali Temple's investigation.
Li Yueyao listened from below and sneered at Qi Zhuo, which was expected.
When people are about to die, they will struggle a few times in their last moments.
The emperor considered it for a moment and said, "Qi Zhuo will be confined to his home for now. He is not allowed to leave the house until the case is fully investigated."
Then he asked, "Where is Feng Qing?"
Feng Qing walked in from the main gate: "I'm here."
"After the court is dismissed, you will take the Thousand Feather Guards and follow Shaoqing Huan to Chunhui Garden to investigate the case."
"My lord, I obey the order."
Li Yueyao added casually, "If anyone obstructs the investigation, they will be killed on the spot."
Feng Qing listened to the silky words and said, "Yes."
The court officials below were somewhat dissatisfied with Li Yueyao's murderous order and wanted to argue.
But when he looked up and saw the emperor at the top of the table, who looked accustomed to it and very supportive, he didn't dare to say anything else.
After the court was dismissed, Li Yueyao was worried when she saw that Feng Shenyu did not attend the court today, so she sent someone to check on Feng Shenyu.
When Cui Xin appeared at Feng Shen Yu Mansion with his homemade specialty pastries, Yan Xin received him.
Cui Xin was puzzled: "Why are you here today? Where is the inkstone?"
Yan Xin replied carefully: "He made a mistake and needs to rest for a while."
Cui Xin didn't say anything after hearing this, and handed the food box to Yan Xin:
"My master asked me to ask why the Right Prime Minister didn't attend court today."
"Something happened at the mansion last night, and my husband went to bed in the early morning. He had a cold, so he asked for leave."
Cui Xin nodded and asked, "My master asked, how is the Right Prime Minister?"
Yanxin replied: "An."
Cui Xin nodded and prepared to go back.
Yanxin, however, cleverly pulled Cuixin aside and said, "Sister, you've come all this way, why don't you sit down and have a cup of tea and try some of our pastries?"
Cui Xin was already unhappy because Li Yueyao ate the meal sent by Feng Shenyu and did not eat the meal she cooked.
I came to the Right Prime Minister's Mansion and wanted to meet that skilled chef and learn from him.
Now that he had heard Yanxin's words, he naturally went along with it and sat down without moving.
Seeing this, Yanxin asked Yanmo to deliver the food box to Feng Shenyu.
He stayed behind to keep Cui Xin company, and had tea and pastries served to her.
Cui Xin was not interested in the tea, but she tasted each of the pastries one by one.
“This osmanthus cake is too sweet.
This yam and taro paste cake is too hard.
This lotus cake is too oily..."
Yanxin didn't say anything, but stood quietly by the side listening to Cuixin's criticism.
After a while, Cui Xin picked out the problems of the cakes on the table one by one, and then she spoke:
"Your chef is just average. Why does His Highness love to eat the food sent by the Right Prime Minister?"
Yan Xin laughed and said, "Is it possible that His Highness didn't think the food we sent was delicious, but..."
Cui Xin listened to Yan Xin's words and asked, "But what?"
Yanxin didn't answer, but asked Cuixin: "Our Right Prime Minister is making a piece of jewelry for His Highness, but I don't know what His Highness likes."
After hearing Yanxin's words, Cuixin paused, staring at Yanxin's face for a long time before she said, "Your Highness likes jade."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Yanxin and said, "Now that you have finished exploring this, can you answer my question?"
Yan Xin smiled and said, "Sister is smart.
I want to ask, is it possible that Your Highness likes my master's feelings?"
After hearing this, Cui Xin said with a depressed look on her face, "A token of appreciation? Are tokens of appreciation really that delicious?"
After saying that, he stood up and prepared to leave.
Seeing Cui Xin's lack of understanding of the situation, Yan Xin smiled and sent her out of the house.
Then he turned back and reported: "My dear, Miss Cui Xin said that His Highness likes jade."
Feng Shenyu grinned and ordered:
"Bring the best white jade from the storehouse."
In the afternoon, Feng Shenyu was carving a jade hairpin while listening to Yu Zhan's report.
"After the morning court session, Junior Secretary Huan and General Feng, along with the Imperial Guards and the Dali Temple, went to Chunhui Garden.
Twenty-three female corpses were dug out from under the lotus pond and flowers in the backyard.
At noon, Huan Shaoqing entered the palace, and then Qi Zhuo was thrown into the sky prison."
Fengshenyu blew away the jade powder on his hands and said casually:
"Gao Hongchen wants to sacrifice Qi Zhuo and survive. It's a good idea, but I'm afraid it won't go as he wishes.
There will be some excitement at the morning court tomorrow."
Sure enough, Feng Shenyu arrived early at the next morning court session, and the first person to appear in the class today was the old Grand Tutor Zong.
Because of his last fainting, the emperor arranged a seat for Grand Tutor Zong in the court.
Feng Shenyu stood behind him with an obedient look.
At the morning court session, the emperor asked Huan Shaoqing to describe the progress of the Chunhui Garden case, but Huan Zian directly took out a list of names.
Gao Hongchen was standing at the top, and when he suddenly heard Huan Zian mention the roster, he felt unwell.
Regardless of the fact that they were in the court, he looked up and glared at Feng Shenyu fiercely.
Feng Shenyu stood by with a smile on his face, as if he was watching a show.
Li Yueyao knew about the list early on, so she was now thinking about whether she should get angry tactically and cooperate.
Who knew that after Sun Fu handed the list to the emperor, the emperor became furious.
He threw the list down from the throne at the top.
"You are wearing official robes, standing in the temple in a panic.
Instead of thinking about sharing the king's worries and speaking for the people, he only knows how to oppress the good, disregard human lives, and take pleasure in treating human lives as worthless.
To have failed to live up to my trust is an unforgivable crime!"
When the emperor said this, all the court officials bowed their heads.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. We are guilty."
Li Yueyao and Feng Shenyu were watching a play when they suddenly saw that the emperor was so angry.
He quickly bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down."
Li Yueyao stepped forward and picked up the roster. She had already looked at it and knew who was on it, so she pretended to look at it again.
After reading it, his face turned pale and he said, "Come here, imprison all those implicated on the list for investigation and punish them severely according to the laws of the Great Jin Dynasty."
Gao Hongchen stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the law does not punish the masses..."
Li Yueyao interrupted him and said, "Left Prime Minister, you're worrying too much. These people are only imprisoned and awaiting trial. If they have nothing to do with the case, the Dali Temple will release them."
Gao Hongchen hurriedly added, "Your Majesty, with so many officials imprisoned at once, the court is short of manpower..."
Feng Shenyu then said, "Let the Ministry of Personnel replenish its staff."
After saying that, he glanced at the Minister of Personnel.
The Minister of Personnel, Song Yinian, stepped out and said, "Your Highness, may I have a look at the list?"
Li Yueyao handed the list in her hand to Song Yinian, who looked at it and said:
"Most of the people on this list are from the Ministry of Revenue..."
As he said this, he handed the list in his hand to the Minister of Revenue Jiang Xun, who almost fainted after reading it.
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