Cheng Qingwen curled her lips and wondered why this person couldn't answer the question.
Motoqi also realized that what he said was a bit inappropriate, so he changed the subject and said: "My wheat looks like something is wrong. I will ask you to go take a look with me later."
"good."
Cheng Qingwen responded, and when she turned her eyes, she saw the people next to her snickering.
She gently pulled Song Qiaoqiao's sleeve and looked at her doubtfully.
After a while, there was no response.
The group of people walked to where Yuan Qi lived and saw Mrs. Wang and Widow Chen standing in the yard with their heads lowered, looking innocent.
Cheng Qingwen followed the young man and walked in. Before he could stand still, he heard the village chief walking in from outside.
"Master Yuan, my daughter-in-law is crazy and has good times and bad times. She really didn't do this on purpose. How about we resolve it privately?"
"If you lose your mind, you can unleash it and bite people?" Cheng Qingwen looked at the woman who dared to be angry but dared not speak out, and chuckled: "When Mrs. Wang saw Mr. Yuan, who was born in a famous family, she knew how to exonerate herself.
It seems to me that he is very sober."
"You little bitch, you..."
"Shut up!" The village chief quickly covered Wang's mouth and glared fiercely at the girl standing aside.
Yuan Qi glanced at the slap mark on Wang's face, and said calmly: "I'm not good at judging cases. I will send Chen and Wang to the pavilion chief later. It is up to the pavilion chief to decide how to convict. Tomorrow morning, I will definitely give them
You all will explain."
When Cheng Qingwen heard this, he frowned fiercely and asked the pavilion chief to handle it. Wasn't this just to let these two people go?
Everyone present thought of this. She looked at the smiles on the faces of Mrs. Wang and Widow Chen, and her face darkened. Just as she was about to speak, a thought flashed through her mind.
She glanced at Yuan Qi, who had a normal expression, thought for a moment, and swallowed her words.
Cheng Qingwen walked over, grabbed the mother and widow Liu who wanted to seek justice, and took them home.
Cheng Hua'er returned home and slapped the table: "That dog official is partial to the village chief's family. Why did you stop me just now?"
"Auntie, Mr. Yuan has his own reasons for doing things." Cheng Qingwen poured a cup of tea for the two women and said softly.
"But, this is clearly partiality. He is indeed not a good official!"
"Yesterday you said Lord Yuan was a good official, but today he has become a bad official?" Cheng Qinghan glanced at the woman and said with a smile.
Cheng Hua'er opened her mouth but didn't answer, sitting sullenly at the table.
Cheng Qingwen didn't say much, and took Song Qiaoqiao to the fields to pick all the unfinished grain in the morning.
The two looked at more than a dozen bags of corn and soybeans, frowning and worrying.
In the evening, I went home carrying the food.
After the two of them got home, they put down the food and went to have dinner.
After dinner, Widow Liu took Song Qiaoqiao back home.
Cheng Qingwen sat in front of the table, looked at the still angry woman, chuckled, and handed over the poured tea.
"Aniang is still angry?"
"Shouldn't I be angry? Wang almost scratched your and Qiaoqiao's faces. Instead of punishing them severely, he sent these two unruly women to the pavilion chief. No one in the village knew that the village chief and the pavilion chief were colluding together.
, just put some money and you can settle this matter!"
"In order to settle this matter, will the village chief give money to the pavilion chief?"
"That's natural. The director of the pavilion is greedy for money. How can he settle this matter if he doesn't stuff some money into it?"
"Then Aniang thinks that Lord Yuan will know things that everyone in the village knows?"
Cheng Hua'er was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and thought carefully for a while: "You mean, Yuan Qi did it on purpose?"
"It is a serious crime for officials to take bribes no matter where they are." Cheng Qingwen took a sip of tea and said calmly: "Since Mr. Yuan has said that no later than tomorrow morning, let's just wait. I believe we will be given an explanation."
Cheng Qingwen's guess was correct at all. At this moment, Yuan Qi was taking the county magistrate, sitting in the teahouse closest to the Pavilion Chief's Mansion, drinking tea.
"I heard that the purple yang tea from Huaxian County is very delicious. I tasted it today and it really lives up to its reputation."
"Yes, yes."
The county magistrate was sweating profusely. Although he was a seventh-rank official and was one level higher than the person in front of him, he couldn't stand it. He was in front of the emperor. One sentence was much more useful than a book of his.
What's more, this man is still the only son of the Yuan family. Even if he offends His Majesty and is demoted to this position, as long as the prince ascends the throne in more than ten years, he will definitely be recalled to the capital for re-employment.
"Don't be nervous, Magistrate Wei. Today, I just invite you to drink tea." Yuanqi smiled and made a gesture of invitation.
"Thank you, Master Yuan."
Yuan Qi nodded slightly and looked out the window.
After a while, he watched the village chief and Song Da carry a box and sneak through the door.
"Isn't this the village chief of Songjia Village? It's really an extraordinary friendship to come to the pavilion chief at such a late hour."
After hearing this, County Magistrate Wei quickly looked over and saw the two men holding the box, feeling an ominous premonition in his heart.
Sure enough, the next second, A Zhu walked in and reported.
"Sir, I just saw that the boxes held by Village Chief Song and Song Da were filled with gold and silver treasures. I also heard that these two people were bribing the pavilion chief to ask him to bring both the Wang and Chen families tomorrow.
Let it go."
Yuan Qi turned the tea cup around, his expression as usual: "Are you sure?"
"yes."
"I wonder what County Magistrate Wei thinks?"
Magistrate Wei looked at the man in front of him who didn't even raise his eyes, and said tremblingly: "It all depends on Lord Yuan."
"Then arrest him." Yuanqi stood up and said calmly.
After receiving the order, A Zhu went out immediately.
Yuan Qi stood up and walked out slowly. Magistrate Wei followed behind him fearfully.
For a moment, I didn’t know who was the superior and who was the subordinate.
A Zhu led his men and kicked open the door, walked in swaggeringly, and stood next to two boxes of gold and silver treasures.
The director of the pavilion was startled when he heard the sound, and walked over cursing.
"Who are you? You dare to break into my mansion. Come on, catch him!"
As soon as the voice fell, more than a dozen soldiers rushed out.
"It seems that the salary of the pavilion chief is so high that he can even support the soldiers of the palace."
Yuan Qi glanced at Village Chief Song and Song Da, and looked at the people in front of him with a smile.
The pavilion chief looked at his expression, and when he saw Magistrate Wei behind him, his legs almost gave out and he knelt down.
He quickly winked at the person behind him and closed the two boxes of things. Unexpectedly, Motoqi had sharp eyes and walked directly to the side.
"What are you doing? Do you need so many chips to play leaf cards?"
"Yes, yes, we are quite big." The director of the pavilion thought it was a step for him, and he quickly agreed.
After hearing this, County Magistrate Wei wiped his face and silently took a few steps back.
"Really, what about the Leaf Card?" Yuan Qi picked up the safety lock in a box, looked at the fine jade inlaid on the lock, and asked playfully.
"This, I just asked this servant to..."
"If you haven't told the truth yet, are you going to try all the ten torture methods of the Ministry of Punishment?"
Yuan Qi turned his head sharply, with a stern look on his face and cold eyes.
The director of the pavilion shivered violently and did not dare to say a word.
"Come here, put these three people into the county jail and interrogate them overnight!" Yuan Qi turned around and looked at the person standing not far away: "County Magistrate Wei, please come with me."
"Yes, yes." Magistrate Wei nodded like a rattle, unable to utter a word in rebuttal.
Motoqi smiled faintly and was about to put the safety lock back into the box.
When he lowered his eyes, he saw the words Cheng Qinghan engraved on the lock.
He bent down, looked at the box of gold and silver treasures that he took out the safety lock, and frowned.
After a while, he stood up and hid the safety lock in his sleeve.
"Move these two boxes to the county jail."
After saying that, he got on the carriage and headed to the county jail.
When Yuan Qi arrived, County Magistrate Wei was already on trial.
He took the notebook recorded by his master and read it carefully.
"Whose box is this?" Moanqi asked coldly, pointing to the box locked by Ping An.
"It's mine." Song Da said loudly.
"Most of the items in this box are women's jewelry, but are they your own?"
"It's mine, it's my wife's dowry, it's not stolen!"
When Yuan Qi heard this, he frowned. Widow Chen's mother-in-law lived in the next village. It was unlikely that she could give such a generous dowry, not to mention that there was a safe lock with the words Cheng Qinghan engraved on it.
After hearing this, A Zhu suddenly thought of the gossip he had heard. He quickly stepped forward and leaned into his ear and said: "Sir, someone in the village said that Mrs. Cheng was married to this Song Da, but she was later divorced.
Already."
Yuan Qi nodded slightly, looked at the person in front of him and asked, "But Cheng Hua'er's dowry?"
"Yes, yes, it's hers."
"Why haven't you returned the dowry even though you two have separated?" Yuan Qi sat on a chair, playing with the brush on the table: "Lingguo law states that regardless of whether a couple reconciles or divorces, the dowry must be returned to the woman.
Violators will be fined twenty taels of silver and punished with five canes."
"Cheng Hua'er didn't even come to me to get it, why do you care about these things?" Song Da became anxious and asked angrily.
"Ah Zhu, I'll go to Cheng's house tomorrow and ask if I really don't want it, or if I have some hidden agenda."
Yuan Qi watched A Zhu agree and began to interrogate how much bribes the pavilion director had accepted over the years.
It doesn't matter if we don't investigate. Even Magistrate Wei will be shocked if we do.
During his ten years in office, he accepted bribes, more than ten boxes of gold and silver, and hundreds of taels of silver, all of which were found in the pavilion chief's house.
The village chief has been in office for seven years and has oppressed the villagers. In the name of paying taxes, he has conquered several levels of villagers and is evenly divided with the pavilion chief.
Yuanqi immediately wrote a note and ordered people to rush to the capital.
When we walked out of the county jail, the sky was slightly bright.
He rubbed his swollen and painful temples and said softly: "Take the box of dowry and Song Da back to Songjiacun and ask Mrs. Cheng what happened."
"yes."
A Zhu agreed, immediately moved to the carriage, and hurried back to Songjiacun.
When Cheng Qingwan woke up, she saw a dark carriage parked in front of her house.
She was stunned for a moment, and then it looked more and more familiar. Isn't this the same car she had been in?
Before she could step forward, the people in the car got out.
"Miss Cheng, is Mrs. Cheng here?" Yuan Qi was still wearing yesterday's clothes, and he couldn't hide the dark circles under his eyes.
Cheng Qingwen nodded and called the person out.
Yuan Qi pointed to the dowry box and asked, "Is this Mrs. Cheng's dowry?"
When Cheng Hua'er heard this, he quickly stepped forward to check: "Yes, yes, this is mine, but a lot of things are better."
Cheng Qingwen looked at the pinned Song Da and thought: "Did he take this box of things to bribe the director of the pavilion last night?"
Yuan Qi nodded slightly, took out the safety lock from his sleeve and put it in her hand: "Thanks to your safety lock, otherwise I really wouldn't have known that this box of jewelry was your mother-in-law's dowry." This chapter has been completed!
