When we arrived at the largest white jade hall in the elegant room, the banquet had already begun. More than twenty academic scholars gathered in a large circle, changing cups and drinking enthusiastically.
An orchid danced gracefully in the middle of the lobby, and everyone cheered.
When Li Ye came in, Wei Song waved to him quickly, "This way! This way!"
The young master who is hosting the guests today is named Zhang Yan, a famous official son of Taixue. His grandfather is the grandson of Zhang Shuo, the famous prime minister of Kaiyuan Dynasty, and his father is Zhang Jun, the Minister of Punishment.
Zhang Yan has many friends, and many of the twenty or so people invited today are unfamiliar with each other. Everyone sits separately. The three people sitting at the table next to him are Li Ye's friends, Wei Song, Wang Qian, and Lu Wei.
Li Ye sat down and asked in a low voice: "Is everyone here?"
"not yet!"
Wang Qian filled Li Ye's glass of wine and said with a smile, "Our guests have started eating before the host has arrived."
Wei Song also smiled and said: "He pays the bill anyway, so let's just eat and drink!"
Another friend, Lu Wei, laughed and said: "Ah Ye is always on time, why are you late today?"
"Don't mention it, I was originally on time, but I met a drunken and troublesome drunkard on the stairs, and I dealt with it, which delayed a little time.
"Drunk and causing trouble?"
Wei Song laughed and said, "You're not talking about Sun Jiliang, are you! He was in the elegant room next door, and he called some of the waiters. Hu Ji was not satisfied. He was making trouble just now!"
"Who is Sun Jiliang?"
"The nephew of Sun Mian, the young minister of Dali Temple. His father is Sun Tao, the governor of Tongzhou. He works as a guard in the palace. He is a very rude guy."
Li Ye nodded, "Maybe it's him. It's okay. I persuaded them to leave."
Everyone drank a few glasses of wine, and the appointed time passed long ago, but the host never showed up. The guests at several tables began to talk in low voices. Li Ye also felt a little strange. Zhang Yan had never been late for dinner before.
, what's going on today?
At this moment, a frightened scream suddenly came from not far away. It seemed to be a woman's voice. The room suddenly became quiet. Even the dancing Hu Ji stopped. Everyone looked at each other, wondering what happened?
Not long after, shopkeeper Cheng walked in nervously and whispered a few words to Li Ye. Li Ye was taken aback and said to the three of them: "I'll come as soon as I go!"
Li Ye followed shopkeeper Cheng out of the lobby, his face immediately turned livid, and the little singer Shi Lian was actually killed.
He immediately asked: "Have you reported it to the official?"
"We have sent someone to the county government office!"
Li Ye followed Shopkeeper Cheng to the innermost room. The innermost room was the rest room for the singer and the wine girl. The door was full of guests, talking about it. Several bartenders stopped everyone and refused to let them in.
Shopkeeper Cheng separated everyone and took Li Ye into the room. The rest room was divided into two rooms, inside and outside. Everyone rested and chatted outside. If you wanted to change clothes, you could go to the inside room.
Several wine beauties were so frightened that they squatted in the corner and trembled. Another singer, named Pomegranate, was Shilian's biological sister. She sat aside and wiped her tears.
Li Ye pushed open the door to the inner room and saw the thin Shilian lying on the ground, wearing only a close-fitting nightgown, her eyes protruding, her tongue hanging out, and a rope hanging from the beam above.
"Who discovered it?" Li Ye asked.
"His sister Shiliu discovered it. When she came in, she found that she had committed suicide by hanging from the beam."
Li Ye shook his head, "She didn't hang herself from the beam, she was strangled to death. There are still marks on her neck from pinching her hands, and her nails scratched the skin of her neck."
"ah!"
Shopkeeper Cheng was shocked. He thought Shi Lian was bullied and then hanged herself. Unexpectedly, she was actually killed.
He suddenly panicked, "Sir, what should we do?"
Li Ye sighed, "Let the guests disperse first! Wait for the government to come and deal with it."
Now that a murder has occurred, it is obviously unrealistic to continue operating.
Shopkeeper Cheng hurriedly went with the bartender to persuade the customer to leave, so he could only waive the order today.
The guests were leaving one after another. At this time, Wannian County Lieutenant Feng Min came with a group of government servants. Although Feng Min was just a small county captain, he could be a county magistrate in Chang'an. Who is not a human spirit?
He ordered all the government officials to enter the restaurant, not to stay outside, and to close the door tightly. There were too many pedestrians outside Pingkangfang. If a few government officials stood there, they would definitely be surrounded by three floors inside and three floors outside. Who would dare to come in the future?
Shopkeeper Cheng also reacted very quickly. He hung a sign at the door saying "The private venue is temporarily closed to the public" and locked the door.
Professional government officials went to inspect the corpse and the scene. After taking a moment, Feng Min pulled Li Ye aside and whispered: "There was a murder case in Pingkangfang tonight."
Li Ye was startled and asked quickly: "Where? When did it happen?"
"Half an hour ago, I was at the entrance of the alley next to Shanshui Restaurant. I just came over there and I was in big trouble." Feng Min sighed.
"Did the deceased have an identity?"
Feng Min nodded, "The nephew of Sun Mian, the young minister of Dali Temple, don't you think it's troublesome? Now that Dali Temple officials have taken over the place, I can escape."
Li Ye was startled and asked quickly: "Could it be that the deceased is Sun Jiliang?"
"It's him!"
How could it be such a coincidence? Li Ye really had doubts in his heart. Sun Jiliang forced Shi Lian to stay with him, but he stopped him. Then Sun Jiliang died and Shi Lian also died. Is there any relationship between the two?
"How did Sun Jiliang die?" Li Ye asked again.
"I was shot into the back of my neck with a flying knife. It was so severe that my throat was pierced."
"What?" Li Ye's eyes narrowed instantly.
Li Ye handed over the follow-up matters of the restaurant to shopkeeper Cheng, and he rushed to the Prime Minister's Mansion to see his grandfather. In these two cases, Li Ye had already smelled a strong smell of conspiracy, targeting him.
Li Linfu was not asleep yet. After calmly listening to his grandson's story, he asked slowly: "What kind of flying knife did the other party use?"
"The same flying knife as my grandson is also a willow leaf flying knife."
Li Linfu nodded, "You are right, there are people who want to frame you. If my guess is right, the little Hu lady named Shi Lian was also bribed by them."
"Grandpa, what you mean is that things are not that coincidental?"
Li Linfu said calmly: "If she hadn't been bribed, how could she have met you on the stairs by chance and hold your hand in front of Sun Jiliang? How could Sun Jiliang not be furious? In this way, everyone saw that you and Sun Jiliang had a dispute.
, I also saw that you took Sun Jiliang hostage."
Li Ye sighed, "So when she was killed, the other party also wanted to silence her?"
"It's absolutely true. People think she committed suicide because she was afraid of being retaliated against."
Li Ye was puzzled and asked: "Why do you want to frame me?"
Li Linfu sneered, "You have to understand who Sun Jiliang's mother is?"
"Sun Jiliang's mother is Yu Wenhui, the daughter of Yu Wenrong and the cousin of Yu Wenluo. Sun Jiliang's grandfather Sun Jin was also implicated in Yu Wenrong's case and was dismissed from office. However, his two sons are doing well. The eldest son Sun Mian
, is now the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and his second son, Sun Tao, is the governor of Tongzhou. It seems that someone wants to provoke a fight between me and the Yuwen family."
"Will someone from Dali Temple come to arrest me tomorrow?"
Li Linfu shook his head, "You are the county magistrate. Anyone who wants to arrest you must first report to the Emperor of Heaven and deprive you of your title before taking action. Otherwise, what is the meaning of your title?"
"Thank you, grandpa, for clarifying my doubts!"
Li Linfu waved his hand, "This is not as simple as framing you. This is a response to my recommendation of Wei Jiansu to be the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The other party wants to provoke the Yuwen family to deal with me."
"Why did you choose to start with me?"
Li Linfu said calmly: "Because your father married your mother last year, which made the Yuwen family very dissatisfied. On the day of the wedding, Yuwen Jing sent someone to send him a pair of old clothes. Do you understand what it means?"
"Aren't clothes as good as new and people as old?"
"Yes! I didn't tell your father about this, so I tolerated it, but I know that the Yuwen family is extremely dissatisfied with you and your mother. Now you are suspected of killing Sun Jiliang, Yuwenjing's nephew, old and new grudges, regardless of
Did you kill him? Yu Wenjing is going to explode."
Li Ye sneered and said: "Even if Yu Wenjing is angry to death, it has nothing to do with me. Now I have to get rid of this murder suspicion first. I don't want this so-called suspicion to affect my life. The day after tomorrow, I will have to play for Gao Weng."
"Gao Lishi invited you to play ball again?"
Li Ye nodded, "He will come over to me in the afternoon!"
"He didn't say anything to me."
Li Linfu thought for a while and then said slowly: "Forget it, just play for him! I will arrange the Sun Jiliang incident. Generally speaking, if it is an official from the Ministry of Punishment, then it is my person."