Originally, Chu Qing said that he came in because of "murder", but he was still half-convinced.
Now, I believe it 100%.
He kills people outside, gets caught, and then comes in and kills another person. What a fucking beast!
Hiroko, who was already frightened and out of his wits, dared to hide everything and told everything he knew.
It turns out that it was no coincidence that Chu Qing met Hong Gaozhi here.
This fat man should have been imprisoned in the Criminal Department, but the Li family used their connections to get him into the Jingzhao Mansion Prison on the grounds that he was seriously injured.
This cell is relatively clean. Both of them are second-generation officials, so they met here.
As for why the Li family wanted to get this fat man out of the Ministry of Justice, it was because of the "account book".
Li Mu, the county magistrate of Xiao County, not only embezzled tax money, but also corrupt officials' money. Among the six ministries, only the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry were able to use money and food. Li Mu was a corrupt official, and Hong Haishang was also a corrupt official. The two hit it off and started cheating together.
He secretly sold work and materials, colluded with others, and embezzled an unknown amount of money.
This is also the reason why Shang Honghai can hold the position of right minister despite his mediocre ability. It is precisely because someone from the Li family protects him.
Hiroshi Shang was not a fool, and he was more cautious. He recorded the amount of corruption over the years and recorded it in an account book.
After the right servant was arrested, he asked someone to bring a message to Li Mu, asking the Li family to rescue him, or else the accounts would be handed over to the Ministry of Punishment and everyone would die together.
In the Ministry of Justice, the Li family had no way to take action and get out Hiroshi Shang, so they asked his fat son to get it out, thinking that as the eldest son of the Hiron family, the fat man might know where the account books were hidden.
It turned out to be like this. Heng Gaozhi didn't know where the account book was, but he knew that his father had a private house where he hid a lot of shady things.
However, a few days ago, it was not only Jiayi who questioned him, but also a guy who called himself Zhang Yun. He said that he was the third housekeeper of the Li family and could spare the fat man's life. The fat man believed it and revealed the truth.
Based on the fat man's description of his appearance, Chu Qing immediately thought of the middle-aged scholar who was with Li Lin today.
However, Chu Qing is now in prison and has too much time to take care of himself. He has no time to worry about such things.
After asking about the jailer's shift situation, he quickly changed into Jiayi's clothes, tied up the guy tightly and gagged him, Chu Qing found a fire and water stick, and hid in the shadow of the prison entrance.
The outside of Jingzhao Mansion is full of guards and soldiers, and he can't get out at all. The only thing he can do now is to buy time and take a gamble.
Like a thief waiting for his target to take the bait, Chu Qing, holding the water and fire stick tightly, extinguished all the torches and waited patiently for the changing jailer to come in.
Fortunately, there were not many cells on this floor, and there were only a dozen prisoners in charge. Most of them were haggard criminals, either asleep or sitting there with eyes blank, so it did not cause any sensation.
Time passed minute by minute, the sound of footsteps came, and Chu Qing held his breath.
The first jailer walked in, and when he saw the dark people, he slightly said "Hey", and the second jailer followed closely behind.
Chu Qing picked up the water and fire stick and hit the second jailer on the back of the head with great precision, causing him to fall down.
The first jailer didn't even realize what was going on. He raised his stick and dropped it, and another one fell down.
Chu Qing let out a long breath. He didn't expect that he had the talent to knock out sap.
He quickly hung up the prison iron rope, found the rope, tied the two of them, gagged them, and hung the key on his body. Chu Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Now, the entire underground cell is full of his "hostages"!
Next, we can only leave it to fate and see if Tao Shaozhang and Wei Changfeng can arrive in time.
At this moment, Chu Qing did not trust anyone in Jingzhao Mansion, including Ma Rui, the governor of Jingzhao Mansion.
…………
In the main hall of Jingzhao Mansion, Ma Rui was holding a tea cup and humming a tune, quite proudly.
The Li family, I can't afford to offend you. If you are offended, I don't know how to retaliate against you.
The Tao family is the least worthy of me. If I offend you, the prince and young master don’t know how to scold me among the scholars.
But this Chu family, hehe, is so offended.
Not to mention Liu Xun, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, who is also a minister with no real power, so there is nothing to be afraid of.
The son of a minor minister of the Ministry of Works, he was arrested as soon as he was arrested. Once the Ministry of Punishment accepted it, he had nothing to do with the Jingzhao Mansion and no one was offended. It was a blessing.
Just as he was about to take a sip of tea, a clerk ran in.
"Sir, Mr. Qiu Wanshan, the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, would like to see you."
"What Li Lin said is indeed true. The Chu family has really taken refuge in Qiu Wanshan." Ma Rui didn't look surprised on his face and said with a chuckle: "Please come in."
The clerk ran away, and after a while, he came in with Qiu Wanshan.
"Hey, Brother Qiu, I haven't seen you for a while."
Ma Rui stood up, walked up warmly with a smile on his face.
Qiu Wanshan also smiled: "Master Ma, you are very polite."
The two chatted casually for a while, and Ma Rui felt at ease.
Looking at Qiu Wanshan's cheerful expression, he was probably just going through the motions and not really prepared to escort Chu Qing out.
"I knew Brother Qiu was coming, so I specially prepared new tea."
Ma Rui laughed and they both sat down.
Qiu Wanshan cupped his hand and said, "Thank you very much, Mr. Ma, for your hospitality. Now that I know Qiu's intention, I will get straight to the point."
Ma Rui smiled bitterly and said: "Brother Qiu, you are making things difficult for me. Li Lin from the Li family has specifically told me that I cannot make the decision in this matter."
Qiu Wanshan's expression changed slightly: "You're not even allowed to ask?"
"What do you have to ask? It's not a big deal." Ma Rui lowered his voice: "Well, Li Lin, I know Brother Qiu is coming, why not do this? You leave quickly, and I will treat you as if you haven't come here, so you don't have to worry about it.
You have a bad relationship with the Li family, it’s not a big deal anyway, so what?”
Qiu Wanshan was silent for a moment, then nodded: "That's the case. If we offend the Li family for this, it would be a bit unworthy."
Either Qiu Wanshan is an old fox, and Wei Changfeng asked him to ask about Chen Yan. When this guy heard that the Li family was also here, he immediately backed down. The other one is that there is nothing to ask, it is just that Chen Yan was framed.
.
"Okay, Brother Yu, I won't bother you anymore and I'll treat Master Ma to a drink some other time."
"It's easy to talk about."
Ma Rui quickly stood up and saw each other off, one in front of the other.
Seeing Qiu Wanshan approaching the threshold, Ma Rui said something else unintentionally.
"Brother Qiu, please rest assured. As for the Chu family, you can deal with it as you please. Chu Qing will definitely not suffer any punishment in the prison of Jingzhao Mansion."
"Chu Qing?" Qiu Wanshan was stunned, turned his head, and was confused: "What does it have to do with Chu Qing?"
Ma Rui was even more confused than Qiu Wanshan: "Isn't Brother Qiu just here to ask about Chu Qing, the son of Chu Wensheng, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry?"
"I want to ask Chen..." Qiu Wanshan's expression changed drastically and he shouted out loud: "Chu Qing is in your prison in Jingzhao Mansion?!"
Ma Rui nodded subconsciously: "That's true. Isn't that why Brother Qiu..."
Before Ma Rui could finish speaking, Qiu Wanshan yelled: "Are you fucking trying to kill me?!"
