In the backyard of Duke Zhou's mansion, when Xue Yujin saw Wu Chengsi for the first time, she had an urge to beat him.
I saw him wearing a white undershirt and a yellow jacket, holding a cattail leaf fan in his hand, sitting at the stone table with his legs crossed, playing chess with his maid.
After seeing a few people, he waved his cattail leaf fan and said with a smile: "Haha, why do you have time to see me? Come here, come here, I will teach you a fun game."
Zheng Lingxuan burst out angrily: "Wu Chengsi! Didn't you say you would help our family avenge you at the beginning? But now you have only sentenced He Lanmin to exile. Is this your promise?"
Xue Yujin was startled and thought to herself: "This woman is so rude to Wu Chengsi, I'm afraid she will anger him." Unexpectedly, Wu Chengsi was not angry at all, and waved his hand: "Come here, I will explain to you."
Zheng Lingxuan snorted and walked to Wu Chengsi. After hearing him whisper a few words, she asked suspiciously: "Are you telling the truth? You won't lie to me, right?"
"A child has no deception and no lies. After one year, you can do whatever you want to him!"
Zheng Lingxuan nodded, seeming to accept his statement.
Di Renjie glanced at the chessboard and said with a sullen face: "Wu Shaoqing, it's time to go to the Yamen. If you don't go to Dali Temple to sit in the Yamen, why are you playing chess at home?"
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "Di Si Cheng, you also know that I have been really busy these days, so just let me rest for two days!"
Di Renjie snorted: "When I was on duty at Dali Temple, I often worked for days and nights without rest in order to investigate a case. What kind of hard work do you think this is?"
Zhuge Nan glanced at Di Renjie in surprise and thought: "This guy always loves to discipline others, but he is still polite to Wu Shaoqing. Unexpectedly, after experiencing the Baiyun'an case, even Wu Shaoqing would dare to teach him a lesson!"
Little did they know that Di Renjie was polite to Wu Chengsi before because he was disgusted and did not want to deal with him more. After experiencing the Baiyun Nunnery incident, his impression of him improved, so he criticized him.
"Yes, yes, I'll go to the Yamen office right now, head office!" Wu Chengsi said angrily.
Xue Yujin looked at Wu Chengsi in surprise. Although she had met him before, she had never spoken to him. All she knew about him came from rumors.
When I saw him today, I thought to myself: "The rumors are really not credible. Although this person is timid and cowardly, he is kind to others. How can he be as domineering as the rumors say?"
At this moment, Wu Chengsi noticed her, looked at her for a while, and felt that he had seen her before, and said curiously: "You are..."
Xue Yujin bowed and said, "My daughter, Xue Yujin, the Lord of Pingyang County, has met Zhou Guogong."
"Oh, it's you. Please get up. What's the matter with you?" Wu Chengsi stretched out his hand and continued to think about the identity of this woman.
Xue Yujin did not hesitate and said straight to the point: "That's it. When I was at an inn outside the city, I accidentally saw a group of Koreans and heard them mention a few names."
"Are those Koreans the Koreans you killed?" Zhugenan crossed his lips.
"...Well, I guess, after they found out that I was eavesdropping, they sent people to hunt me down, and then I killed them back!" Xue Yujin said, she was not used to lying and looked at the ground when she said these words.
"Didn't you say that you killed those Koreans to save others?" Zhugenan, as a case handler, loves to find fault in people's words.
Xue Yujin secretly cried out, glared at Zhugenan fiercely, and thought to herself: "This little guy talks a lot of nonsense!"
Di Renjie suddenly said: "Miss Xue, the person who eavesdropped on those Koreans was not you, but the person you saved, right?"
Xue Yujin was startled, silent for a moment, and coldly snorted: "I am here to remind you with good intentions. I am not here to be interrogated by you. Since you don't want to hear it, I won't say anything!" After that, he turned and left.
Wu Chengsi hurriedly called her to stay, but Xue Yujin walked in a hurry and disappeared around the corner after a while.
Wu Chengsi frowned and said, "Di Si Cheng, what on earth is going on?"
Di Renjie briefly told the story of the killing of the Koreans outside the city, and then said: "Shaoqing, the case of the Hanlin Academy was snatched away by the Ministry of Punishment, and Hei Te Changzhi was also imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment. My subordinates feel that something is wrong with this matter!"
Wu Chengsi narrowed his eyes and said, "That's right. If there wasn't something hidden behind the scenes, the Punishment Department wouldn't have interfered? We'll leave for the Punishment Department immediately!" As for Xue Yujin's words, he ignored them because of Zhuge Nan's intervention.
"Can I go with you?" Zheng Lingxuan suddenly asked.
Wu Chengsi saw her lowering her head and pinching the corners of her clothes, and suddenly thought that this woman had no relatives in the world and was helpless, which was quite pitiful. He asked, "Miss Zheng, what are your plans for the future?"
Zheng Lingxuan lowered her head and said, "I don't know, maybe I wander around the world."
Di Renjie and Zhuge Nan looked at each other and pulled Wu Chengsi aside. Di Renjie whispered: "Wu Shaoqing, Zhuge Si Cheng and I both live in Dali Temple. It is really inconvenient to take in Miss Zheng. But you are different. You have such a big family."
Zhaizi, it would be easy to make room for Miss Zheng."
"Or give her some money to buy a house in Chang'an City!" Zhuge Nan interjected.
Wu Chengsi glanced at these two guys with low emotional intelligence. Even though he didn't have much contact with Zheng Lingxuan, he could still feel that she was arrogant. She would never accept either of these methods.
After thinking for a moment, he walked up to Zheng Lingxuan and said warmly: "Miss Zheng, the Queen has mentioned it to me before and said she wanted to give you a title to compensate you. What do you think?"
With the title, Zheng Lingxuan has a fixed income and can be self-reliant.
"I don't want it." Zheng Lingxuan refused, paused, and whispered: "Can you let me enter Dali Temple? I want to solve the case with you and uphold justice for the people."
Zhuge Nan was shocked and said: "I'm afraid this is not possible? I have never heard of a woman being able to enter Dali Temple? There were female officials in the Ministry of Punishment!"
"Officers can do it too!" Zheng Lingxuan said hurriedly.
During the Tang Dynasty, there was no system in which subordinate officials were not allowed to participate in the imperial examination within three generations, so there was not such a clear distinction between subordinate officials and officials. Unlike later generations, subordinate officials almost became despicable.
"In that case, I will go to the palace in the afternoon and explain to the Queen for you that entering Dali Temple is not guaranteed, but entering the Ministry of Punishment should be no problem!" Wu Chengsi said.
Zheng Lingxuan smiled and said: "Thank you very much!"
Wu Chengsi laughed, put on his clothes, and left the palace with a few others, heading to the Criminal Department.
…
In the back hall of the Ministry of Punishment, Shangshu Yang Deyi was very troubled when he heard that Duke Zhou came to ask for someone. He walked back and forth in the hall for a few steps and said with a glare:
"I said that when Zhuge Sanyuan came in person, he should hand him over, but you insisted on convincing me not to hand him over. What now? Have you caused trouble?"
Guo Zhengyi, the Minister of Criminal Affairs, said: "I didn't expect that Dali Temple would take this case so seriously. After all, the Prime Minister's Office sent someone to speak, so we can't help but listen!"
"But now that Duke Zhou has come here in person, how do you think we should deal with it?" Yang Deyi said angrily.
Jiang Rong, a doctor in the Ministry of Punishment, said: "Mr. Yang, how about we hold him back first, and then send someone to the Prime Minister's Mansion to inform them of the situation?"
Yang Deyi laughed angrily: "Then it will be up to Jiang Langzhong to stop Zhou Guogong?"
Jiang Rong apologized and said with a smile: "The official position is low, how can I stop that man?"
Yang Deyi snorted coldly and sat back in his chair, his eyes flickering. Jiang Rong said again: "Mr. Yang, why don't we do what we did to Fang Ge Sanyuan and avoid seeing him."
"Can this be the same? Although Zhuge Sanyuan was a minister of the third grade of the temple, he came from a rough background and had no foundation in the court. It was okay to offend him. Wu Chengsi was the empress's direct nephew and the leading figure in the Wu family.
, if you offend him, neither you nor I will be able to live with you!"
"Yes, yes, then we have to find a way."
Before Yang Deyi could answer, an official reported urgently that Duke Zhou Guogong had barged directly into the back hall.
Yang Deyi was shocked and shouted: "Shilang Guo, since you are the one who caused the trouble, I will leave it to you to deal with it. I will step aside." He hurriedly ran towards the side hall.
After a while, Wu Chengsi and Di Renjie and others strode into the back hall. Guo Zhengyi stepped forward and said: "Guo Zhengyi, the minister of the Ministry of Punishment, has met the Duke."
"Shilang Guo, I believe you already know the purpose of my coming here. I hope you can give me a reasonable explanation. Otherwise, don't blame me for reporting this matter to the Queen!" Wu Chengsi said with a heavy burden.
Said with both hands.
Guo Zhengyi cupped his hands and said: "This matter was indeed done by the lower official. The lower official is here to apologize. If the Lord decides to impeach the lower official, I have nothing to say."
"Why are you doing this?" Wu Chengsi shouted.
Guo Zhengyixin was silent for a while and said in a low voice: "The official just thinks that Dali Temple has always been responsible for unjust and wrongful cases, and the Criminal Department is more suitable to investigate and deal with such cases."
"Then I, the Minister of Dali Temple, came to ask for someone in person, why are you holding him back?" Zhugenan said loudly.
Guo Zheng glanced at him and said calmly: "The lower official thought this was a matter of competition between Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment for the right to handle cases. It has happened in the past, so he did not agree."