Qin Shousheng also frowned and warned without any politeness, "Yuanze, Madam has told me everything about her past. If you abuse your power and protect Fan Tong, don't blame me for putting justice before family and disregarding our years of camaraderie."
Shen Yuanze was stunned. Chen Ruolan was ruthless enough to tell Qin Shousheng such a shameful past. He felt a chill run down his spine, his expression panicked, and his voice trembled, "Sir, this is all a misunderstanding. How could my brother-in-law dare to covet Madam? He was framed by someone else!"
"Alright, I don't want to dwell on the past, but—" Qin Shousheng said, his face darkening, drawing out his words, "but—do I need to tell you what kind of person your brother-in-law is?"
Everyone in Qingshui Town knows that Fan Tong is a local tyrant. Over the years, he has been a bully and oppressor of the villagers, committing all sorts of evil deeds. The people hate him to the bone, and there are countless lawsuits against him. Any one of these cases could lead to his death.
Every time, if it weren't for your forceful suppression, and if it weren't for the sake of our colleague relationship, you would have been dismissed, investigated, and exiled to the frontier long ago for protecting your relatives and friends. Now what exoneration do you still want? Have you been living a good life for too long and forgotten your place?
Shen Yuanze's face turned pale as he recalled the scene from ten years ago.
At that time, he was twenty years old, handsome and dashing. He passed the imperial examination and became a successful candidate in the provincial examination, enjoying immense prestige and becoming the youngest county magistrate in Anyang County.
Logically, he should have married a woman of equal social standing, but he preferred to have affairs with respectable women. However, no wife would let him have his way with her for free. So he came up with an outrageous idea: he built a small temple in the suburbs and named it the Temple of Guanyin Who Grants Children.
He built one of the rooms completely sealed off, leaving only a small door for entry. Women who came to offer incense had to be virgins and free from disease, and had to stay in the temple overnight. Men were not allowed to accompany them.
There was no sound coming from outside the room, but he had dug a tunnel under the bed. Whenever a woman stayed overnight, he would sneak in and have sex with her.
He was certain that the women wouldn't tell anyone for the sake of their reputation, and just as he thought, his despicable acts went undetected for three years.
As luck would have it, Qin Shousheng's first wife had not given birth to any children. She came to Anyang with Qin Shousheng to take up his post and, having heard of this temple, stayed overnight.
Shen Yuanze came to her for sex at night, but she subdued him and sent him to Qin Shousheng.
Qin Shousheng originally wanted to kill him, but seeing that he was eloquent and also considering that he had just arrived in Anyang to take office and needed people, he kept him on and used this matter to blackmail Shen Yuanze into working for him for so many years.
Now I can hear the warning in Qin Shousheng's words.
Shen Yuanze couldn't help but curse Qin Shousheng's ancestors for eighteen generations in his mind.
This greedy and corrupt official is utterly shameless; he still has the nerve to say such things. Every single time, wasn't it him who took bribes to cover things up?
Now they're acting like pushovers, shifting all the blame onto others.
If this corrupt official really pushes me too far, even if I'm exiled or beheaded, I'll still bite you to death!
He glanced again at Chen Ruolan, who was beaming with smugness. "You vicious, filthy woman," he thought, "don't be so smug now. You'll be held accountable later."
Shen Yuanze gritted his teeth in hatred, but since he was currently working for Qin Shousheng, he had to endure it.
If you anger those two scoundrels, that beast will retaliate against you behind your back, and your life will be over.
Thinking of this, he dared not argue any further and nodded repeatedly, "Your Excellency's reprimand is absolutely correct. This humble servant will never interfere in Fan Tong's affairs again."
Qin Shousheng smiled with satisfaction, "That's right. But don't worry, given our relationship, I will not make things difficult for your brother-in-law. Let him stay in jail for a few days, and then I will release him to go home."
"That's excellent, thank you very much, sir."
"Alright, alright, let's not stand on ceremony." Qin Shousheng then changed the subject, "Yuanze, has Chen Qingqing signed and fingerprinted her statement?"
Shen Yuanze suppressed the hatred in his heart and a slight smile appeared on his face. He reported truthfully, "Sir, I have already given orders for the jailers to torture Chen Qingqing every day, but she is stubborn and refuses to confess or sign her confession."
"It's been so many days, and they still haven't gotten the prisoners to confess. They're a bunch of useless idiots!" Qin Shousheng couldn't help but curse, then looked at Chen Rulan, "Madam, do you have any good ideas to get them to confess and submit to the law?"
Chen Ruolan gritted her teeth, her murderous intent surging. "I don't believe she's made of iron. In my opinion, her men didn't beat her hard enough. They should beat her to death every day until she confesses."
"Yes, Madam is absolutely right." Qin Shousheng was a complete scoundrel. He obeyed Chen Ruolan's every word. He instructed Shen Yuanze, "Go to the prison right now and start torturing Chen Qingqing. Stop when she confesses to anything. Make sure to compile the case file today so that it can be reported to the Ministry of Justice as soon as possible. If you do well, I will release your brother-in-law tomorrow."
"Yes, sir, I will take care of it right away." Shen Yuanze accepted the order and left the room, unable to resist spitting on the ground and cursing under his breath, "Damn Qin Shousheng, I curse your ancestors, you are a treacherous villain who forgets morality for profit. If I had known that corrupt officials were so black-hearted, I would have rather died than collude with you."
Thinking that the money he made from doing business with Fan Tong hadn't even been divided up yet, and had already gone into Qin Shousheng's pocket, Shen Yuanze was furious, but he didn't dare to delay and went straight to the prison.
Chen Qingqing was lying in bed resting with her eyes closed when suddenly Sun, the jailer, rushed in like his pants were on fire.
"Miss Chen, something terrible has happened! Magistrate Shen is here. Please cooperate with him immediately."
"County Magistrate Shen? Let him come, what does it have to do with me?" Chen Qingqing said dismissively, without making a move.
“Miss Chen, what are you saying? How could this have nothing to do with you? Magistrate Shen came here specifically for you.” The jailer Sun was sweating profusely. “You don’t know, Magistrate Shen has already given orders for us to torture you severely every day. If he comes in and sees you lying here as if nothing happened, wouldn’t that give us away? So, Miss Chen, please cooperate with our work. As soon as we get rid of him, I will treat you like a queen.”
"I see, alright then!" Chen Qingqing stood up. "How do I need to cooperate?"
"That's simple. Just tie you to the execution post with ropes and make them look like you've been severely tortured. That'll fool them."
Chen Qingqing frowned unhappily, "We still have to tie him up! Warden Sun, are you sure you're not mistaken!"
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