Chapter 124 Chapter 124 Chapter 124
The prison cells of Dali Temple had a distinctive damp and gloomy smell. Miaozhen wouldn't have dared to come alone; thankfully, Xiao Jingshi was with her. Madam Zhu had only fainted and was not seriously injured. Miaozhen gave her a few acupuncture needles and had someone administer medicine before she slowly woke up.
“Mrs. Zhu, the case hasn’t been investigated yet. If you hang yourself like this, people will think you committed suicide out of fear of punishment,” Miaozhen said.
Mrs. Zhu coughed a few times, her eyes glazed over: "Mrs. Xiao, even if I get out, what then? A daughter like me, who has been to prison, will still be despised by others."
“Mrs. Zhu, how could you think like that? If you die, you'll have nothing left. You have sons and daughters; any normal person would want to walk out with their head held high, unless you really instructed someone to push Miss Zhu Er.” Miaozhen said.
Upon hearing Miaozhen's words, Mrs. Zhu quickly waved her hands, "No, I really didn't. You must believe me!"
Seeing her say this, Miaozhen couldn't help but say, "Of course I want to believe you. Our two families are related, otherwise my master wouldn't have sent me here specifically to treat you."
"Although Er Yatou is not my daughter, and I have not treated her as my own, I would not kill her." At first, when Madam Zhu heard that Er Yatou had fallen into the lake, she felt gloating and thought that the girl did not deserve such good fortune. However, after the maids around Er Yatou were interrogated, they all said that she was the most suspicious.
Compared to Miao Zhen's gentle persuasion, Xiao Jingshi was too lazy to waste words: "That Miss Zhu got a good marriage before she died. I heard that you were unhappy about it, cursed her, and even slept with her for several days."
Mrs. Zhu felt a little guilty upon hearing this: "That's what I said, but that's because I think my eldest daughter is much better than her. Why should she marry better than our eldest daughter? But even so, I was just saying it. I never thought of harming her."
"So, you are indeed the prime suspect," Xiao Jingshi said calmly. Madam Zhu couldn't detect any other emotion on Xiao Jingshi's face, so she quickly protested her innocence: "Commander Xiao, I really didn't do it."
“If you really want to clear your name, you have to tell me the truth.” Xiao Jingshi’s eyes were piercing.
...
After a long interrogation, Madam Zhu still said the same things, so Xiao Jingshi had no choice but to have her detained. This time, he couldn't let her really hang herself again.
Emerging from the Dali Temple, it was already quite chilly despite being early autumn. Xiao Jingshi personally draped a cloak over Miaozhen's shoulders. Miaozhen looked up at him and asked, "How is it? Still no progress?"
“There’s been progress. I’ll go ask the Vice Minister of Justice tomorrow. This case isn’t big, but it involves officials,” Xiao Jingshi said with a smile.
Miaozhen pointed to the wonton stall not far away: "I'm a little hungry, why don't we grab something to eat before heading home?"
Xiao Jingshi readily agreed.
On the other side, Miss Zhu also broke the cake into pieces and put them in her mouth. Although she hadn't gone out these days, she had heard many people say that her mother was jealous of her cousin and had harmed her. Even her father asked her this. When she said no, her father said that the person had been arrested. Why would they arrest her if she hadn't done anything wrong?
Miss Zhu knows her mother well; she is indeed not a kind, gentle, respectful, frugal, or modest person, and she is not very good to her cousin either. It is absolutely impossible for her to have harmed her.
To put it bluntly, the son of the Vice Minister of Justice is a playboy who frequents brothels. Who knows what the future holds? Marrying him at such a low level, I wonder if there's something wrong with that.
Why must Mother do this?
The next day, Xiao Jingshi targeted the residence of the Vice Minister of Justice and left early. After Zhao Ge'er came to pay his respects, he asked Miao Zhen, "What happened with the Zhu family?"
“Your father said we need to investigate everywhere, not just the Zhu family. After all, the Zhu family used to be fine, but things went wrong after the Vice Minister of Justice’s family came to propose marriage.” What Miaozhen didn’t mention was that Xiao Jingshi had people keeping an eye on the Vice Minister of Justice’s residence from the very beginning.
Zhao Ge'er sighed, "Mother, I thought it was because of jealousy among women."
“Everything should not be generalized. I think your father judges cases this way; he never has preconceived notions, and you must not do the same. For example, the case we handled in Jizhou last time turned out to be a case of a narrow-minded man slandering someone because he couldn't win their love. This time it may not be Madam Zhu either. I don't deny that such things may happen in the inner quarters, but you must not judge cases with fixed ideas.” Although Miaozhen may not be an expert in judging cases, she has often listened to Xiao Jingshi talk about cases these days and has been able to summarize them.
Seeing his mother like this, Zhao Ge'er couldn't help but tease her, "Mother is even better than Father was when they were in Henan."
"Don't make fun of your elders." Miaozhen was close to the children, and she wasn't really angry when her son said that.
Zhao Ge'er went back to read for a while, then went out alone to investigate. This time, he found out that when the son of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice was proposing marriage to the Zhu family, the family was actually discussing marriage. He was blinded by lust and insisted on marrying someone else after seeing the second Miss Zhu for a fleeting moment.
But just as he was about to tell Xiao Jingshi, Xiao Jingshi had already solved the case.
Miaozhen hurriedly asked, "Heavens, who is it?"
"It's funny," Xiao Jingshi said. "The family he had previously arranged a marriage with had a daughter whose status was indeed much higher than that of Miss Zhu. They had agreed that if the marriage was arranged, his cousin would go south to buy the dowry. You know how profitable buying dowry is. Suddenly, the marriage fell through, and that man lost a source of income. He was also humiliated by the son of the Vice Minister of Justice. He happened to be strolling around a temple when a wicked thought arose in his mind, and he sent someone to push Miss Zhu down the steps."
Miaozhen sighed, "It's truly a twist of fate."
Xiao Jingshi stood with his hands behind his back: "Who says otherwise? Why didn't we have so many things going on when our daughter was being betrothed?"
"So, things are accomplished by keeping secrets and ruined by leaks. That's the idea. Actually, when our Fu'er came to the capital, Liu from the fifth branch of the family wasn't without her intentions. But I always brought my daughter with me, and even when we finally exchanged birth certificates with the Han family, I didn't even tell my third sister-in-law. It's best not to talk about things that didn't work out." Miaozhen thought that she was always careful, just in case things turned out this way.
Xiao Jingshi gave a thumbs up, and Miaozhen stepped forward and took his hand: "You must be tired these past few days. There are some fresh pears here, I've had them cut up for you to have some."
"I also want to eat oranges," Xiao Jingshi added.
Miaozhen agreed indulgently, "Okay."
After this case, Mrs. Zhu remained silent for a long time. Miss Zhu suggested that a memorial service be held for Miss Zhu, because no matter how unpleasant she was in life, the deceased should be respected.
Miss Zhu even thought that if she were chosen by the son of the Vice Minister of Justice, perhaps she would be the one to fall into the lake.
At the end of the year, the Zhu family married their daughter to a young man from their own household. They heard that the family was just an ordinary gentry family, but the important thing was that the man was down-to-earth and honest.
When Xiao Jingshi told Miaozhen about this, Miaozhen frowned: "Giving up so quickly? Are you scared out of your wits by just one thing? That's not responsible for her daughter."
"Huh? What if it were you?" Xiao Jingshi couldn't help but ask.
Miaozhen laughed and said, "You know how afraid I am of river bandits, and you also know how much I dislike dealing with people. So what? I still travel thousands of miles by boat to find out more for my daughter."
For the sake of our children, we may not have to go through fire and water, but we cannot give up halfway.
Xiao Jingshi greatly admired Miaozhen because he was also such a person. No matter how difficult something was to accomplish, as long as they wanted to do it, they would definitely do it well. No matter how difficult the journey was, they would do their best.
"My wife, I feel I love you more and more," he said with a smile.
Miaozhen glanced at him and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Do you hate me just because I don't have these good qualities?"
"Don't talk nonsense, that's not what I meant," Xiao Jingshi said.
At the end of the year, the tea ceremony between Zhao Ge'er and the Han family was finally over. They were just waiting for the spring of the following year for the Han family's daughter to marry into the family. With Fu Jie'er accompanying them this time, Miao Zhen was much more relaxed. Although Fu Jie'er had been betrothed to the Han family before, she had never even met Han Sanlang. Now that they were in-laws, Miao Zhen and Fu Jie'er were both very open and generous.
Han Sanlang looked somewhat embarrassed, but also appeared very composed.
Grandma Han was the only one who was naturally very jealous. It would have been fine if she hadn't known about this before, but after she found out, she subconsciously started comparing herself to Sister Fu.
Look at Xiao Fu, she has a bright and beautiful face and a tall figure. She wears a peacock blue long coat with a diagonal opening and a white floral and bird skirt. She doesn't wear a bun, but only a bun on her head, which is decorated with kingfisher feathers and gemstones. She smiles and looks as beautiful as a fairy, like a lady in a flower-adorned painting.
No wonder the Han family was willing to marry Xiao Fu back then, even though she was just the daughter of a prefect. She was indeed both talented and beautiful.
Now that Fu Jie'er has dealt with Zhao Er's family, she is feeling very comfortable. After the meal, she even talked to Miao Zhen about the hot springs: "Back then, Mother took us to soak in the hot springs in Fujian. Now our Hou Mansion has a large hot spring resort in Fangshan. We'll go there together sometime."
"Wouldn't that be troublesome?" Miaozhen was quite tempted.
Fu Jie'er smiled and said, "It's no trouble at all. The young master just said he wanted to take Zheng Ge'er hunting. After hunting, we can have a barbecue on the estate. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Mother, please agree and take the younger brothers to play too."
"Alright." Miaozhen nodded slowly.
The mother and daughter had always had a good relationship. Mrs. Han knew that nowadays, even if a woman took care of her own family after marriage, she was afraid of being blamed by her husband's family. The fact that her husband could openly take care of her family together with her showed that she held a very secure position and had a good relationship with her husband.
After the arrest of the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Zhao Rui was promoted smoothly from the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to the commander. Although the literati had some reservations about Xiao Jingshi, after all, Xiao Jingshi originally came from a family of upright officials, but married his daughter to a nobleman, which was despised by the literati. Fortunately, his political achievements were outstanding. Even after entering the Dali Temple, he completed the trial of all the backlog of cases in the Dali Temple within three months, and even overturned many wrongful convictions. As a result, people who reported cases almost all went to the Dali Temple instead of Shuntian Prefecture.
However, the Xiao family was truly wealthy, and the tea gifts they sent were exceptionally generous, amounting to nearly ten thousand taels of silver, comparable to those of the imperial family, which speaks volumes.
After the Xiao family returned home, Mrs. Han told her daughter about the Xiao family's situation: "Your son-in-law is the top student in Southern Zhili. As long as he passes the imperial examination, given his age, he will definitely enter the Hanlin Academy. With your father's support, even if he doesn't become a prime minister, he will certainly be able to stay in the Hanlin Academy."
Since the prime minister comes from the Hanlin Academy, and none of the Han family's sons have yet passed the imperial examination, they can certainly support their son-in-law first.
Han Ruozhen smiled shyly.
At the end of the year, when heavy snow was falling, Miaozhen's family went to the estate with Fujie'er, and they also brought Xiao Jingtang and Xu Kun's family along.
Xiao Jingtang has been studying at the Imperial Academy recently. Every time he takes a test, his ranking is asked. He dares not be careless and his face turns pale from studying so hard. Fortunately, he can now relax a bit.
Zheng Ge'er went out with his brother-in-law. Zhao Rui was a real veteran who had been to the battlefield, and he talked a lot with Zheng Ge'er along the way. Xiao Jingshi didn't want to join in the fun, so he was watching Miaozhen brew tea in his room. After the tea was ready, he picked up a piece of yam cake and put it in his mouth, then sipped his tea.
"Let's go soak in the hot springs first, and then wait for the son-in-law and Erlang to come back. We can also have some barbecue. It's been so long since we've had barbecue while enjoying the snow. It's wonderful." Since it was time to rest, Miaozhen didn't want to go out again.
When Xiao Jingshi heard her mention soaking in hot springs, his heart stirred, but considering that they were in front of his daughter and son-in-law, he suppressed his romantic feelings. After all, Zhenzhen's reputation was the most important thing, and if he liked her, he had to respect and cherish her.
Actually, you should only soak in a hot spring for a maximum of two quarters of an hour, otherwise you'll feel uncomfortable. This estate has two hot springs. Miaozhen and Fujie soaked in one together, and when they came out, both of them felt a warm feeling in their lower abdomen.
Soon Zhao Rui returned with Zheng Ge'er, whose forearm was injured. Zhao Rui hurriedly said to Miao Zhen, "Mother-in-law, it's all my fault. I didn't take good care of Zhiya and let Zheng Ge'er suffer."
Zheng Ge'er quickly said, "Mother, don't blame brother-in-law. I was just too eager to chase the prey."
“I haven’t even said anything yet, and you’re all blaming me. It’s common to stumble and fall when you go hunting. Zheng’er, come here and let me see you.” Miao Zhen smiled, not making a fuss, and then said to Zhao Rui, “Didn’t the son-in-law say he wanted to roast some meat? I’m a little hungry.”
Zhao Rui hurriedly went down to prepare, while Miao Zhen pulled open Zheng Ge'er's clothes and saw a deep wound. She first cleaned the wound with wine, and then mixed two qian of Busang Gui San (a traditional Chinese medicine) with warm wine and made him take it.
This medicine is a miraculous remedy specifically for falls from horses, falls from vehicles, beatings, and injuries to the wrists and arms. It is best taken internally, and for external use, apply Hongyu Powder.
Seeing that his mother remained silent, Zheng Ge'er asked anxiously, "Mother..."
"It's alright, it'll be fine in a few days," Miaozhen said.
Zheng Ge'er breathed a sigh of relief: "I thought you would blame me."
“These things are unavoidable when you go hunting. However, you are going to take the imperial examination. If your arm is injured and you can’t hold a pen, what will happen to you in the future? Think about it yourself.” Miaozhen was not stopping them from going out, but she wanted them to be mindful of the limits.
Zhengge nodded earnestly: "Mother, I won't do it again."
Miaozhen patted his shoulder and said to him, "If you're out here, have fun. Don't look so gloomy." She especially disliked scolding or hitting children over trivial matters, which would upset everyone.
Everyone had a great time on the trip. Not long after Miaozhen returned, she hosted a banquet for the Yunjianhou family to come and have some fun. She even personally cooked lotus root and pork rib soup.
This soup tastes best in winter.
The 41st year of the Jiajing reign passed in this way. The following year, Xiao Jingtang consistently achieved above-average scores in the Imperial Academy examinations. Xiao Jingshi went to the Ministry of Personnel to make some connections, and the Ministry of Personnel said that there were two suitable official positions for Xiao Jingtang to choose from.
"One is the magistrate of Guiyang County, Chenzhou Prefecture, Huguang Province. This is a senior official position, and senior officials are not subject to much constraint from others. The other is the administrator of Fengyang Prefecture. Fengyang Prefecture is the capital of our Great Ming Dynasty, so its status is self-evident."
Needless to say, his experience as a prefectural official would be even better, and the people he would be in contact with would also be at the prefectural level. With Xiao Jingtang's social skills, he is bound to achieve great things in the future.
Xiao Jingtang also chose to serve as the prefect of Fengyang. Soon after, he received his official appointment certificate and prepared to take up his post in Fengyang. Naturally, he also went to pick up his family members on his return journey.
In a way, Xiao Jingtang had returned home in glory. Although the position of Prefectural Administrator was not a high-ranking official, in a place like Fengyang Prefecture, even Lou Qiongyu was overjoyed and willingly agreed to go with him.
"Well, you will all go then, but I will only be a guest, staying in the official residence, which is probably not very big."
It wouldn't be good to only bring Lou Qiongyu. Qin Ying has been with him for several years, and Yu Zan has also given birth to a daughter for him in the capital. She has taken meticulous care of him over the years.
Lou Qiongyu was displeased, thinking that she should just go by herself and not bring Xiao Jingtang's two concubines along.
But now that Xiao Jingtang is in charge, she has no grounds to object. When Madam Ren heard that the place where she lived was not big, she kept her grandchildren by her side and took the initiative to help take care of them. She even said with a smile, "Fu-jie and Wei-jie are both married, Zhao-ge is getting married, and Li-ge is also getting married. I'm feeling lonely by my side, so I'll keep them here with me."
Qin Ying quickly replied, "Then we'll have to trouble you, Grandma. It's a blessing for the children."
What a joke! Children born out of wedlock are not like children born out of wedlock. They have the support of their maternal family. In recent years, she has had no income. If her children stay with the old lady, firstly, their status is different, and secondly, if the old lady shows them a little bit of money, they will be able to live comfortably.
Lou Qiongyu's mood instantly soured. The Qin family man was like a fox; Yu Zan, who used to seem honest, was no good either. She couldn't understand why her in-laws wouldn't send a concubine to Xiao Jingshi, but only to her own husband.
Why is it so unfair?
Ren didn't think she had done anything wrong. Back then, it was Lou who made a big fuss. In order to prevent the Xiao family from being associated with bullying an orphan, she made Xiao Jingtang take a concubine. Back then, it was Lou Qiongyu herself who didn't want to go to the capital. She couldn't leave her son alone, so she gave him the jade hairpin.
Lou Qiongyu previously said she couldn't leave Miao Ge'er and Wei Jie'er, but now Miao Ge'er is studying alone at home and hasn't even been married yet, so how come she's relieved? This shows that she was only dissatisfied with her son not being an official before.
A mother dislikes it most when others look down on her son. The Lou family and the Xu family both relied on the Xiao family for their favor. The Xu family is one thing, but the fourth daughter-in-law always stood by her fourth son. The sixth daughter-in-law, however, only wanted to be an official's wife and was a snob.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law parted on bad terms, leaving Miao Ge'er without anyone to care for him. He was already twenty years old (by Chinese reckoning) and still unmarried. By the time his father finished his term in three years, he would be twenty-three. What would become of him?
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A note from the author: Let me first tell you about the novel's schedule. The novel will be completed at the end of this month, and some extra chapters will be planned.
After the novel is finished, I will first have a minor surgery. I have developed quite a few health problems from writing non-stop for the past few years, but it won't be long before I start a new novel. Please look forward to it.
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