Time passed in a flash, and Shen Qingqiu pretended to be Gu Yanwei's little servant and followed behind him.
At the banquet, the magistrate of Hangzhou County, who had reported the matter yesterday, was also among them.
Jiangnan is a rich region, with all kinds of delicacies on the tables.
Drinking was necessary at the banquet, and although the officials did not dare to use the wine glass to get the prince drunk, it did not prevent the latter from doing so.
Gu Yanwei sat high up on the stage, shaking his wine glass in his hand and raising it with a smile: "I just came to Jiangnan. I hope you can help me with anything I don't know."
After a glass of wine, the relationship seemed to become heated. The officials couldn't help but talk to each other: "Have one more drink!"
"Another one!"
Gu Yanwei raised his glass again and signaled to the officials in front of him: "Here's a toast to you." He covered everything with his sleeves, pretending to drink but secretly pouring out the wine in the glass. How could he get drunk when he came to the banquet today with a purpose?
After three rounds of drinking, the atmosphere had become intoxicating. It seemed that everyone had drunk a lot, with blushes on their faces.
There was a faint smell of alcohol in the air, and every official was leaning crookedly in his seat.
A slight smile appeared on Gu Yanwei's lips. He got everyone drunk on purpose just for the scene before him.
As long as a person is in a drowsy state, it is impossible for him to be clear-headed.
After losing one's mind, certain words become easy to come up with.
The magistrate of Hangzhou County was also present at the banquet, and that was why he had to take action.
"The Ninth Prince has just arrived, and I don't have anything to give you. I hope you can accept some gifts that are not very presentable." The magistrate of Hangzhou County stood up shakily and clapped his hands to signal the people behind him to leave.
"This is just a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it." The magistrate of Hangzhou County flattered him.
A considerable amount of silver was placed in front of him, and there were even a few women standing beside him.
The magistrate of Hangzhou County said flatteringly: "I don't know whether His Highness likes it or not."
Flattery, money and beauty will please any man. The magistrate of Hangzhou County made special arrangements.
Gu Yanwei's lips curled up into a smile, but his eyes were faintly cold. However, he concealed this well, so that the people in front of him could not notice it.
The magistrate of Hangzhou County clearly wanted to bribe him. Once you accept it, you will be in trouble.
Gu Yanwei pretended to be greedy and lustful, and used his drunken blush to show his greedy look: "Good, well done."
"As expected of the magistrate of Hangzhou County, you know how to behave yourself." Gu Yanwei praised without any reservation, and seemed to be pleased by what was in front of him.
The relationships between people have been brought closer, and the hidden barriers have quietly disappeared.
The magistrate of Hangzhou County flattered: "As long as you like it."
Shen Qingqiu rolled his eyes behind him and resisted the urge to take action.
"How much do you know about the textile factory?" Gu Yanwei took advantage of being drunk to find out the truth.
The magistrate of Hangzhou County was already drunk. He would use the alcohol to find out the real situation. He would definitely take the bait if he was seduced.
As expected, the drunken magistrate of Hangzhou County had already lost all sense of the directions and answered every question the other party asked one by one.
"There is no need to hide anything from you, sir. I will tell you the truth."
"Jiangnan Textile Factory has actually always been doing well. It wasn't like this at the beginning."
The magistrate of Hangzhou County spoke in a daze and confessed everything: "It was all his fault that someone died in the textile factory!"
Gu Yanwei chuckled and poured the other person another glass of wine, using alcohol to numb his mind and induce more topics.
"The textile factory is very profitable. Who wouldn't be jealous of such a job? Everyone wants to have a piece of the pie and get the gold, silver and treasures."
One sentence seemed to have told the whole story, and the conspiracy hidden in the dark was about to be exposed.
"I heard that the prefect wanted the textile factory and had said several times, openly and secretly, that he wanted the textile factory to pay tribute, but this was not accepted by the textile factory." The magistrate of Hangzhou County burped.
The alcohol made him dizzy and his thoughts were incomplete. He answered whatever the other party asked him, seemingly unaware that he had revealed the truth of the conspiracy.
Gu Yanwei's eyes were fixed on the county magistrate. It seemed that the other party had not spoken the truth on the first day and tried to cover it up with some false lies.
Officials colluded with each other and covered up the matter layer by layer, resulting in the fact that people at the top had no idea of the truth of what was happening at the bottom.
If he believed the so-called truth presented by the other party, he would be fooled by them.
The magistrate of Hangzhou County was still saying: "If the textile factory had been more sensible, how could it have failed like this? If it had compromised with the prefect earlier, these things would not have happened..."
The magistrate of Hangzhou County uttered these words in a daze. Everything in front of him began to blur and his brain was dizzy and he couldn't make sense of his thoughts.
The next second he fell heavily to the ground, snoring loudly.
Shen Qingqiu heard the whole thing clearly, and a sneer flashed across his brows.
The truth of the matter seemed to be revealed at this moment! Combined with what Hui Niang said, the textile factory was ruined because someone deliberately caused trouble.
There is no way she would let the other party off for these things!
Shen Qingqiu clenched his fists tightly, suppressing the anger in his heart.
Looking at the person staggering in front of him, Gu Yanwei stood up straight and said, "Let's go."
"I want to investigate what the Jiangnan prefect is hiding."
The governor of Jiangnan was able to do such a thing and even wanted to take action against the textile factory. He must have enormous power in the local area.
The textile factory refused to pay tribute and collapsed. He did not believe that the prefect had no hand in it.
Starting from the prefect of Jiangnan, perhaps we can know some unexpected things.
Shen Qingqiu raised her eyebrows. Since Gu Yanwei chose to investigate the prefect of Jiangnan, she would go to the Ge family.
The Ge family must be hiding something, and everything they saw must not be the truth! The next day, Shen Qingqiu and Tu Jiu went to find Hui Niang and asked, "Can you go to the Ge family with us?"
The Ge family is hiding something strange, perhaps we can learn something from the dead.
The three of them went to the Ge family together, but when the Ge family saw them, something went wrong.
"It's all your fault! Get out!" The Ge family members shouted angrily, staring at the people in the photo and shouting: "The people in the textile factory are all murderers!"
Hui Niang was the manager of the Jiangnan Textile Factory, which aroused the anger of the Ge family.
"It's all your fault that my mother lost her life! You took away things that belonged to us, occupied our land with malicious intent, and were even so unreasonable!" The Ge family was very angry and seemed to have no intention of reconciliation at all.
"The textile factory should be closed down soon! It is only right that a person should be punished by death! How can people like you keep the factory open for a long time?"
"I want justice! I want you to pay with your lives!"
Such words came out endlessly, and he yelled loudly to vent his emotions.
Shen Qingqiu watched all this with cold eyes, and didn't seem to see any difference in these situations.
"Be quiet, I'm the manager of the textile factory and I want to know some information." Shen Qingqiu stated his purpose and tried to talk.
These words seemed to anger the Ge family. They clenched their fists and roared, "Killing someone means paying with your life. This is only natural. What is there to talk about now?"
"Your textile factory deliberately killed people for your own purposes, causing the death of my mother! How dare you show up in front of us and show off your power now!" Ge's son spoke angrily, further escalating the conflict between the two sides.
Shen Qingqiu frowned. She came here today just to investigate some things and didn't want to have a conflict with the person in front of her.
The matter has not been completely resolved yet, and the Ge family is too angry.
"The textile factory is already in a very bad state. I came to you today to discuss things reasonably." Shen Qingqiu raised his eyebrows and spoke with a smile.
"No need! You must pay with your lives!"
"bump!"
Shen Qingqiu slammed his hand on the table, and under his palm was five hundred taels of silver.
The moment the five hundred taels of silver appeared, the atmosphere at the scene changed. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the five hundred taels of silver, with a hint of greed and jealousy flashing in their eyes.
Shen Qingqiu chuckled, and his oppressive aura gradually spread to the surroundings: "This is a five hundred tael silver note."
Shen Qingqiu looked around and swept his gaze over each member of the Ge family one by one, clearly memorizing the changes in everyone.
"I hope you can adjust your attitude. After all, talking nicely will make discussions easier." There seemed to be a hint of threat in his words.
Shen Qingqiu looked at everyone and said, "We can give you these five hundred taels as compensation. What happened has already happened, and there is no way to undo it. All we can do now is to let the dead soul rest in peace."
"I'm also very sorry that there was an issue with Mr. Ge's death. This is just a small compensation."
With just a few words, the Ge family quieted down and stopped causing trouble.
"As long as the textile factory is willing to return the old house they occupied before, we will not pursue the matter regarding mother's death." The leader of the Ge family stepped forward and made their request.
What was needed did not seem to be much, just a place that the textile mills should not occupy.
Shen Qingqiu's eyes fell on the person in front of him, as if he was considering the authenticity of this matter, and he was not sure for a while.
The air gradually became oppressive, with a cold wind blowing through it.
Shen Qingqiu slightly restrained his eyes and thought, keeping the Ge family members stable so that it would be easier to investigate what happened next. Everything was very strange.
Shen Qingqiu nodded under the gazes of all the Ge family members: "Okay, I agree."
Tu Jiu quietly lowered his head and spoke into Shen Qingqiu's ear, his tone slightly anxious: "Do you really want to hand it over to them?"
Shen Qingqiu chuckled. In the eyes of the Ge family, money is the most important thing.
"What do you think?"
"I am just pretending to agree to this matter, but whether I should really give them the land occupied by the textile factory..."
"Why should we believe some words? They are just excuses."
There seemed to be a conspiracy between his eyebrows.
Shen Qingqiu turned his gaze to the other party again: "Since I have promised you so many things, will you also promise me?"
"I want to see the Ge family's tomb." Shen Qingqiu said lightly, his eyes fixed on the other person.
The Ge family was stunned, somewhat confused, and didn't know why they did this.
"Can."
After a slight hesitation, the Ge family members looked at each other and agreed.
Ge’s tomb is not far from here. There is a sign on the small mound with Ge’s name clearly displayed on it.
Everything in front of him seemed to be the truth. The other person's name was on the grave, as if he had already been buried.
Shen Qingqiu looked left and right but couldn't find anything wrong, so his inquiring eyes fell on the simple wooden sign.
I always feel like something is strange but I can't tell what it is.
"Are you done?" The Ge family was a little impatient and urged Shen Qingqiu to leave.
Shen Qingqiu's eyebrows curved, and after a quick scan, he quickly raised his head: "Okay."
At three o'clock in the morning, several furtive figures suddenly appeared next to Ge's mound.
"Girl, we are..."
Tu Jiu didn't quite understand their actions.
"Dig graves!" Shen Qingqiu simply stated the purpose of this trip.
When I first saw the Ge family’s tomb, I always felt that something seemed to be wrong. If I dig up their tomb tonight, perhaps I could confirm my guess.
Although Tu Jiu and others did not know what the other party's intentions were, since they had been ordered, they had to do as they were told.
Several people took hoes and dug the soil, but as time went on, a coffin was finally revealed.
When the coffin was opened, everyone at the scene was stunned.
"Empty?"
"Why is it empty?"
Questions arose one after another, and everyone expressed their doubts.
Didn't they say that Ge was dead? But why was the coffin in front of them empty? What was hidden inside?
The Ge family lied!
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