"I understand your intentions." Wu Shilai nodded with difficulty, temporarily suppressing the chaotic thoughts in his mind, and asked the truth: "Is that thing really on Zhao Xiaolian?"

"It's hard to say, that's why we have to investigate." Cao Sanyang sat back on the official hat chair and picked up the teacup to moisten his throat, but found that the tea had gone cold. "Ni Dahong said that among the people who might have had contact with Lu Xuan that day, only their family and your nephew were not investigated."

Wu Shilai hurriedly stood up, took the copper kettle from the stove, and changed the tea for the prefect. Hearing this, he said softly, "I will go back and look carefully."

"Well, I naturally believe Wu Zhai." Cao Sanyang looked at Wu Shilai with satisfaction, and said casually, "There is a person named Feng Wu in the account book. He is the servant of Shang Baoqing Xu Ying..."

Wu Shilai's hand trembled and he spilled water on the table.

Xu Ying is the third son of Lord Xu, and runs the Xu family's huge business in Songjiang...

I didn’t expect that the Xu family might be involved in this?

But on second thought, how could the Xu family not be involved?

When he was the magistrate of Songjiang, he knew that the Xu family had more than 200,000 acres of land and tens of thousands of weavers, and occupied a leading position in the two major pillar industries of local silk weaving and cotton spinning.

And that was nearly twenty years ago...Now these numbers are probably more than doubled.

Besides, Lord Xu, Yan Shifan, and Lu Bing are all in-laws... Is this just for self-protection, or is there something else going on?

Wu Shilai didn't dare to think about it, but he didn't dare to take it lightly either.

~~

Zhao Hao and his son waited in the prefectural government office.

After waiting for nearly an hour, Wu Shilai returned with a serious expression.

Seeing that his face was darker than the sky, Zhao Hao knew that something bad was bound to happen.

"All of you get out." Wu Shilai dismissed his attendants, closed the door, and sighed, "This is a big trouble."

"Ah..." Zhao Shouzheng couldn't help but gasp and sat back in his chair.

Zhao Hao's expression was also very unpleasant. He patiently asked, "Uncle, please make it clear. Even if we are going to die, we have to be clear-headed."

"I was just about to explain this to you." Wu Shilai walked up to the two of them and said carefully:

"Let me put it this way. Do you remember that when you entered the capital, you encountered someone being hunted?"

"Yes, that's true." Zhao Shouzheng nodded. After all, such intense scenes are rare in daily life.

"That man was a wanted criminal in Shuntian Prefecture, and he was carrying something that affected the lives of many people." Wu Shi said this while looking at Zhao Hao and his son. "But after we caught up with him, we didn't find the thing on him."

"After interrogation, he confessed that he stuffed the thing into your carriage when it passed by your carriage."

When saying this, Wu Shilai felt a little apologetic, but since the matter was of such a serious nature, he had no choice but to not be so righteous this time.

The intention, naturally, is to add pressure to the Zhao father and son.

"Is that so?" Zhao Shouzheng asked in surprise, "What on earth is that?"

"It's two account books." Wu Shilai was also a prosecutor, so he knew how to read people's expressions. Seeing that Zhao Shouzheng didn't look fake, he felt relieved. "Why not go back and look for that thing?"

"Well, we haven't even seen this account book." Now Zhao Hao couldn't just say that it didn't exist, wouldn't that be like 'there is no silver here'? To prove his innocence, he took the initiative to propose:

"But since Uncle Shi has suspected us, I think we should just leave it at that. Please go with Magistrate Ni to my house and look for it. If you find it, it has nothing to do with us. If not, I hope the matter will end here."

"If my dear nephew has this attitude, things won't be difficult to handle."

This made sense, Wu Shilai nodded and said, "I'll go ask the governor for instructions right away."

After Wu Shilai left, Zhao Shouzheng finally couldn't hold it in anymore, and looked at his son with a sad face and said, "Son, we won't be in trouble, right?"

Zhao Hao rolled his eyes and thought, is this what a father should say?

But he could only comfort her softly: "Don't worry, Dad. We have done nothing wrong, so we are not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. Besides, I am here for you."

"Yes." Zhao Shouzheng finally calmed down, but he said to his son in a low voice, "You have to cheer up. If things don't go well, don't worry about me. Run for your life."

Zhao Hao thought, where can I run to? Even if I want to escape, I still have to take their boat.

~~

Wu Shilai went to the prefect's signing room again and told him Zhao Hao's suggestion.

Cao Fu Yin slowly shook his head and said, "Let his father stay with you first, and you and Ni Dahong go with him to look for him."

"This..." Wu Shilai couldn't help but say, "The love between father and son is as deep as the sea. I'm afraid that this will cause trouble again."

"Wouldn't it be even more embarrassing to let the person go and then catch him again?" Cao Fuyin had a big chin with knife-like lines, which made him look resolute and tough.

"Let's wait until all suspicion is eliminated before we talk about it..."

"This..." Wu Shilai felt a headache and didn't know how to tell Zhao Hao later.

At this time, there were chaotic footsteps outside, followed by the anxious voice of Ni Tuiguan:

"Mingfu, can you release him now?"

Cao Fu Yin's face darkened, and he scolded Ni Tui Guan who ran in sweating profusely. "What kind of nonsense is that?!"

"Ming Fu, there are more and more candidates outside, and there are already two or three hundred of them!"

Unexpectedly, Ni Tuiguan's next words frightened the hard-line Prefect Cao so much that his face turned pale.

"What?" Wu Shilai was also shocked and asked, "Didn't I tell you to stop them?"

"We tried to stop them, but as more and more candidates gathered, we couldn't stop them!" Ni Tuiguan said hoarsely, "We couldn't use force, so we could only reason with them, but who could win over them?"

"Mingfu, you must release him immediately!" Wu Shilai didn't bother to ask in detail, and hurriedly clasped his fists to Cao Fuyin and said, "Before the matter gets out of hand, we should make up for it."

"Yes, Master Ming, they said that if no one shows up within an incense stick, they will go and beat the drum to report the incident!"

Ni Tuiguan also spoke anxiously from the side.

Cao Fu Yin glared at Ni Tui Guan as if he wanted to eat someone, and cursed in his heart: "You are the one who said to arrest people, and you are the one who said to release people. Are you making a fool of me?!"

Just as he was hesitating whether to uphold the dignity of Shuntian Prefecture or to take a step back and wait for the situation to calm down, he heard the doorman outside hurriedly come in to report:

"Master, the young master of the Princess's Mansion wants to see you."

"Why is he here to cause trouble?" Cao Fuyin was a third-rank official, so naturally he would not take Li Chengen, who didn't even have a formal title, seriously.

"He is holding the eldest princess's jade token..." Menzi added.

"Open the middle door quickly!" Cao Fuyin's face changed immediately. He ignored Wu Shilai and Ni Dahong and hurried out to greet them.

The eldest princess and His Majesty are close siblings, and the prefect cannot afford to offend them.

Ni Tuiguan and Wu Shilai were still waiting for him to make a decision, so they hurriedly followed him out.

As soon as the three of them arrived at the gate of the prefectural government, they saw the young master Li Chengen, wearing a Sichuan brocade cotton robe and a snow-white fox fur cloak, walking in with a gait that showed he didn't recognize any of his relatives.

ps. Fourth update, 5900 votes plus more, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes!!