Chapter 140

When An Ruochen arrived at the government office, she was carried directly to a wing room.

An Ruochen observed carefully, outside the wing room, there were several yamen servants guarding, Baiying was putting on the posture of strict supervision.

After An Ruochen entered the room, the maid helped her onto the soft couch and asked her to sit on the couch to rest for a while. After a while, Bai Ying and Yao Kun came. Bai Ying said a few polite words to prevent An Ruochen from getting up and saluting, then repeated what Qian Pei said, and then said: “I have some questions to ask the girl.”

An Ruochen calmly said, “Master Bai, please tell me.”

“Did your fourth aunt Duan have conflicts with you several times because of your fourth sister An Ruofang’s disappearance?”

“Yes.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“The time she was instigated by Qian Pei to rob my carriage, I went to see her in the prison.”

Bai Ying glanced at Yao Kun: “Miss An is in the yamen of this county government, she can come and go as she pleases.”

Yao Kun remained silent. In the past few days, Bai Ying has picked enough of his faults, he guessed that if he could, Bai Ying would also like to imprison An Ruochen like he was imprisoned.

An Ruochen said: “Master Bai is serious. I strictly abide by the laws and regulations, but I have not done anything harmful to nature. Fourth Yiniang misunderstood me, fell ill again, and was thrown into prison. It is reasonable for me to visit. When I was in prison , It was only after going through the formalities and entering the roster according to the yamen’s regulations. My lord will find out after checking.”

Bai Ying asked again: “During the visit, what did you say to Mrs. Duan?”

“She kept saying that the fourth sister was alive and was hidden by me. I asked her how she knew.”

“Your fourth sister is alive? Is there any news about her whereabouts?” Bai Ying glanced at Yao Kun again.

Yao Kun was speechless, that’s enough, this matter is on him again. He was not good at handling the case, but he didn’t find it.

An Ruochen said: “I only heard rumors, but I never had any real clues about my fourth sister’s whereabouts.”

But Bai Ying said: “But it is clearly recorded in the case record that your fourth aunt committed the crime at the time, saying that you killed your fourth sister, but she never mentioned the fact that your fourth sister is alive. She robbed your carriage to save her daughter’s life.” Death for justice.”

“She said so on the surface, but when I caught her in front of the carriage, she got close to me and whispered something to me, saying that someone told her that my fourth sister is alive and in my hands, let me Hand over the fourth sister. I was very surprised, but after I figured it out, she kept saying that I killed the fourth sister and hijacked the carriage in public, causing a riot in the city. I was charged with murder. If I want to prove myself innocent, I will Only by handing over the fourth sister can we break the siege.”

Bai Ying was taken aback, it was quite reasonable, “Why didn’t you say it earlier?”

“During the interrogation of the previous case, my fourth aunt talked insanely and crazily. The prefect was wise, so she didn’t fall into my fourth aunt’s tricks and didn’t convict me. If I speak out, it won’t help the case, and I can’t be sure if it’s my fourth aunt’s crazy words. My lord has read the file and naturally understands that my fourth aunt has been a little crazy since my fourth sister disappeared. I can’t be sure, so I can’t talk nonsense. But I was puzzled, so I went to the prison Visiting, I hope Fourth Aunt can reveal more information when it’s just the two of us in private.”

Bai Ying asked, “Did she reveal anything?”

“She said that Master Qian Peiqian told her that my fourth sister was alive. She still insisted that I hand over my fourth sister.”

Bai Ying turned her head to look at Qian Shixin. Qian Shixin was expressionless and just listened carefully.

An Ruochen continued: “I told my fourth aunt that my younger sister escaped from marriage and left home, and I also ran away. Master Qian hated us to the bone. If my fourth younger sister is still alive and really returns home, I’m afraid she will be punished by money.” The master’s cruel hand. My father is a villain who is greedy for profit and forgets righteousness. It’s a pretense, because my fourth sister is young, he is afraid that my father will not agree to discuss the marriage directly, and it will be difficult to talk about it later. So he first made an appointment with me as a relative, and then used the jade business to get stuck in my father’s vein, and then Talking about the marriage of the fourth younger sister. Because of my relatives first, I took the fourth younger sister and took care of her. It seems that this matter is not so disgusting and shameless. This is their idea, but in my opinion, the disgusting Ji, my fourth younger sister was also scared out of her wits, she vomited on the spot when she heard the news, and my father was taught a lesson. Everyone in the An family knows about this, and adults will know when they ask. How did my fourth younger sister disappear? Qian Pei forced it. At that time, my father was afraid that I would run away from marriage, so he beat me half to death and locked me in the house. My fourth sister was terrified and almost desperate, so she ran away, and no one knew whether she was alive or dead.”

Naturally, Bai Ying did not know these details. After hearing this, his expression was extremely ugly.

An Ruochen observed, and then said: “My fourth younger sister is beautiful, and everyone knows it. My lord, go and find out. Her beauty is not praised by anyone. This is also my father’s greatest pride. He intends to wait for her After the fifteenth day, we talked about being close friends. But under Qian Pei’s persecution, I had to agree to marry my fourth sister. Qian Pei tried his best to get my fourth sister. So I told my fourth aunt that Qian Pei Let her rob my carriage and want to use this method to get me to hand over my fourth sister. The intention behind it is not clear. Don’t say that I don’t know where my fourth sister is, but I do know. Could it be that as a mother, she really wants to give up my fourth sister? Warm your daughter, and send her to that wicked man to be ruined?” An Ruochen paused, looked around at the three adults from left to right, and said, “My lord asked me why I visited the prison, and told my fourth aunt What, that’s all.”

The three adults were silent, Baiying’s face became more and more ugly, and Yao Kun was quite embarrassed. He had an ominous premonition in his heart. In order to protect himself, An Ruochen blamed the disaster on Qian Peina instead of strictly investigating Qian. Bai Ying will definitely blame her for Pei’s matter. Yao Kun glanced at Qian Shixin, Qian Shixin frowned, as if deep in thought. Yao Kun guessed that Qian Shixin also felt the pressure. So he just said, don’t push An Ruochen into a hurry, the more this girl is pushed, the more alert she will be, not to mention she really has a lot of things in her hands.

An Ruochen said again at this time: “My lords, check it out. On the surface, it seems that Fourth Auntie hates me to the bone, but in fact, she listened to my words. I fell and was bedridden a few days ago. Second Auntie and my second sister came to visit me. Sick, my second sister said that my fourth aunt asked her to pass some messages to me. The fourth aunt wanted to tell me that she had figured it out, and she would do her best to protect her fourth sister. She said that Qian Pei was already in prison, and no one would Don’t hurt the fourth sister again. Sir, you can ask my second sister about these words. The fourth aunt and I have already cleared up the past, and our common goal is to protect the fourth sister. Although I don’t know if she is alive, although I don’t know where she is , but we have the same heart for her. Si Yiniang does not hate me, and I will not hurt Si Yiniang. Aunt Lu, Lord Lu, and Lord Tian have no reason to hurt her. I can think of someone who will attack Si Yiniang, no My father is Master Qian. Please check clearly, Your Excellency.”

Yao Kun couldn’t help but look at Qian Shixin again, and Qian Shixin happened to look over. The two exchanged glances. Very good, this matter was launched in a blink of an eye.

Bai Ying also glanced at the two of them and asked, “What do you think?”

Qian Shixin said first: “My lord, Miss An’s words are not unreasonable, and all the clues in it are still to be investigated. I will arrange to investigate An’s family in detail immediately. And my father is already in prison. It is said that he has no contact with the Duan family. Any grievances in the past have been smoothed over, so it won’t be a killer. But to be on the safe side, to find out whether there are unexpected inside stories behind the scenes, you can check the visiting list to see who he has been in contact with. He To do this, you can only instruct others to do it. Besides, the case of robbing Miss An’s carriage was found out last time by the prefect. It was a bearer who was driven out of my father’s house. The bearer left The mansion has been gathering for a long time, and we don’t know who has gathered. We estimate that it may be a secret operation. It took advantage of the enmity between the Duan family and Miss An to do this, and wanted to take the opportunity to rob An Ruochen to control the frontline battle. Maybe it was a secret operation. Killing the mouth killed the Duan family. All these possibilities must be carefully investigated.”

Bai Ying pondered. Work carefully! “If Duan’s death is related to the meticulous work, then that is the most important thing. Maybe Duan has some inside information, but you were negligent in the past.” He glanced at Yao Kun.

Yao Kun didn’t speak.

Bai Ying said: “Then I would like to trouble Master Qian to send someone to investigate these things quickly, and Master Yao and I will delve into the previous case records to find loopholes.”

Qian Shixin agreed. Bai Ying turned to An Ruochen and said, “For safety’s sake, Ms. An should live here. It won’t be inconvenient if there are maids to take care of her. Master Yao will find a doctor to see Miss An. Don’t let others think that we are negligent. In the past, Ms. An needed to assist in the investigation of various cases. Ms. An only knew the details of the inside story. The case of the Duan family did not rely on Ms. An’s news to get new information Progress, other cases may also be like this. I also hope that Miss An will not keep it private, and tell them all.”

An Ruochen knew in her heart that at this point, it would be impossible to say that she was in poor health and couldn’t cooperate with the confession. So An Ruochen asked: “My lord, my fourth aunt’s body was found in Mrs. Lu’s former residence. Who, when and how did she find it?”

Yao Kun said: “Aunt Lu’s neighbor next door heard someone talking in Aunt Lu’s house last night, and thought it was Aunt Lu’s return. In the morning, she found a hairpin under the door of Aunt Lu’s house, and decided it was left by Aunt Lu, so she went to Knocked on Mrs. Lu’s door. But there was no answer in the house, so she looked in through the courtyard door. The courtyard door was wide open, facing the house door. The door was not closed, and she saw a pair of women’s feet lying on the ground. Someone seemed to have fainted on the ground. The man mistakenly thought that it was Aunt Lu who had fainted due to sudden illness, so he hurriedly called for someone. Unexpectedly, after entering, he found that it was not Aunt Lu, but the body of a strange woman. After the autopsy, Duan was probably He died last night. And the hairpin belonged to Duan’s family, presumably it was lost by moving the corpse into the house. Mr. An said, yesterday he asked Miss An’s mother’s tablet, and Duan’s family and the tablet disappeared together. Shi wanted to use the girl’s memorial tablet to lure the girl out to have a conversation in order to murder the girl, but she was killed by the girl.”

An Ruochen said: “Yesterday I heard about the humiliation of my mother’s memorial tablet. Let Nanny Lu and Mr. Tian go to An’s Mansion to ask about it today.”

But Bai Ying said: “Falsely inquiring afterwards to cover up one’s ignorance is also a common method used by criminals.” In other words, An Ruochen said a lot just now, but before he found out, he still didn’t rule out An Ruochen’s suspicions. suspected.

An Ruochen said calmly: “Ms. Duan stole the tablet in the middle of the night, how can I contact me? The An family said that she disappeared last night, that is to say, her whereabouts during the day are clear, but she was at home all day? What happened again at home?” What happened? The adults locked the murderer on me and the people in the Ziyun Tower, will they ignore the other side of the An family? Guards Lu and Guards Tian are both lieutenant generals. They have martial arts and want to kill people. You can slap him to death with one palm, and cut off your head with one sword. Disposing of the corpse is also sloppy, why is it placed in Mrs. Lu’s house? Wouldn’t it be better to move it back to Si Yiniang’s house and pretend to hang herself? That’s all, why would it happen? I don’t know if I dropped the hairpin so carelessly, and made such a loud noise for the neighbors to hear.”

Qian Shixin lowered his eyes. In the past, he heard that An Ruochen reacted very quickly and was articulate, and she was accused of arranging the matter of catching Qian Pei. quick thinking. In fact, there are indeed many loopholes in this matter, but in front of Baiying, the pressure is huge, and she has been imprisoned and in a dire situation. She can still calm down and talk freely, which is also considered a character.

Yao Kun remained silent, he was too familiar with An Ruochen’s skills, but he was curious about how Baiying would deal with it. It’s just that he felt that An Ruochen used the wrong method, the more witty she was, the more Bai Ying would dislike her.

Sure enough, Bai Ying retorted: “I didn’t slap her to death just to cover up the murderer’s skill in martial arts. Perhaps it was to cover up the fact that Mrs. Duan was dead and hide the corpse in an empty room, so that people would think that she ran away from home and disappeared. This is to achieve other purposes. Although it is too careless to drop hairpins, it is also human nature.” Bai Ying paused, and said: “Miss An, don’t worry, I will definitely find out the truth. It’s not just this case, girl don’t forget Yes, there was another case before, Tian Qing and Mrs. Lu were also involved in a murder case. The widow of Ye Qunfei is in Zhonglan City, waiting for us to give her justice. It’s a coincidence, two The cases are all related to the same people.”

An Ruochen was speechless, she didn’t know much about Ye Qunfei’s widow, so it’s not appropriate to say more about this situation, besides, she already felt that Baiying’s tone was not very good. She thought she had made the mistake the general had reminded her once again, and she had to hide her cleverness when it should be hidden. She was wrong. She should know more about Bai Ying before she can deal with it.

Bai Ying continued: “It seems that the girl is recovering well, so I will wait for the girl to quickly recall all the details of the previous investigation, so as to help me clarify the many clues of the case.”

An Ruochen responded respectfully: “The girl of the people will definitely go all out.”

“Master Yao.” Bai Ying turned to Yao Kun: “Tell the maids and women to take care of her, don’t let Miss An get tired, and don’t let her bump into her again, otherwise it won’t be good if she gets hurt.”

Yao Kun gave An Ruochen a sympathetic look, look, he really bored Master Bai.

An Ruochen sighed in his heart, anyway, it’s like this, so let’s say a few more words. “Speaking of injuries, I wonder if the grown-ups have checked whether my father has scratches on his hands or face? If he didn’t, did An Ping, the steward of the An family, have them? Fourth aunt might have resisted before she was strangled to death.”

Bai Ying was taken aback, then turned to look at Qian Shixin. Qian Shixin hurriedly said, “I’ll send someone to investigate right away.”

Chunxiao waited anxiously in the Ziyun Tower, until late at night, An Ruochen, Aunt Lu, and Tian Qing did not return. Gu Wenda and Zhou Qun brought back the news that Mrs. Bai Liu’an lived in the government office, and she had allocated a girl and mother-in-law to take care of her. She probably won’t come back in the next few days, and the matter involving Aunt Lu, Lu Zheng and Tian Qing Still checking.

“It’s all right, I’ll be back after checking it out.” Gu Wenda said. Zhou Qun also thinks the same way, after all, he is a member of the military, no matter how Bai Ying dares to draw conclusions lightly, she still has to explain to General Long. It’s just that if you don’t handle it well in the middle, it will cause trouble.

Chun Xiao asked: “Can I go and see the girl? I didn’t bring all her things, I’m afraid it would be inconvenient for her to live there.”

“I’m afraid it won’t work. We couldn’t see it today.” Zhou Qun said.

Chun Xiao’s heart sank.

That night, Chunxiao found two servants, and according to An Ruochen’s instructions, let them go out of the city early in the morning, and go to Wu’an County to buy some special delicacies and come back. Remember to hurry up and go back quickly. She wanted the girl to have it when she came back.

Then Chunxiao went to say hello to Zhou Qun, saying that since the girl won’t be back for a while, there is nothing important in the building, she wants to take advantage of these few days to go home and have a look, and she will be back in three or four days. Zhou Qun didn’t care about what happened to her family. At this time, one thing more is worse than one thing less, so he agreed.

Early the next morning, Chunxiao stared at the two servants and set off. She didn’t know that not long after the servant rode out of Ziyun Building, someone rushed to Qian’s mansion to report the news from the street outside. Not long after, several people rode out on fast horses, went to the city gate to inquire, and chased in the direction where the two servants left the city.

Chunxiao didn’t bring anyone with her, and didn’t bring any baggage, she greeted the guards as usual and went out. When he got outside, he observed carefully and arrived at Liu’s mansion smoothly.

Zhao Jiahua naturally recognized Chun Xiao, and upon hearing her intentions, his face collapsed: “Does An Ruochen think I’m the delivery man?” Qi Zheng was taken away by the yamen for questioning and locked up all night, and he was just released this morning. This An Ruochen threw another trouble for her.

At noon, a carriage from Zhaofu Restaurant to buy food from other counties left the city unobtrusively and headed towards Yuguan County.

Nothing special happened during An Ruochen’s stay at the county government office that night. After Bai Ying left, Yao Kun found a doctor for her. An Ruochen put on sick clothes and practiced for many years, and she is very familiar with it. The doctor diagnosed that the girl probably had a bone injury, the bone injury was not healed, her vital energy and blood were depleted, she was exhausted, and she needed to rest quietly and so on. The medicine and ointment were prescribed, and An Ruochen fell asleep after changing the medicine and drinking the decoction.

If someone is watching, let’s watch her, work harder, sleep!

Sleeping in the dark, the personnel do not wake up. Bai Ying didn’t want to say more after listening. He only told her to let Mr. Clerk record the confession when she woke up tomorrow morning.

In the morning of the second day, the clerk really went, and An Ruochen was stared at the record while eating breakfast. So An Ruochen talked about how Qian Pei murdered her family and coveted her fourth sister, how she set up traps and persecuted her, what happened in her family, how the aunts and aunts reacted to this matter, and the younger sisters said what.

Mr. Clerk was writing with smoke on his head, and interrupted several times to ask An Ruochen to talk about the main points. An Ruochen only knew that these were the origins of the incident. What Master Bai wanted was the details. She wanted to find clues from the details, but she didn’t know. Which ones are useful, so I have to describe things in detail from beginning to end. Say it all over again.

Afterwards, the prefect’s wife, Meng Jiayue, came to visit An Ruochen. Mr. Wenshu looked at his wife as if he were a lifesaver, and took the opportunity to sincerely leave.

Meng Jiayue came to show her kindness. First, he greeted her, and checked what An Ruochen was missing, and then talked about the case. She said that Yao Kun had said that the case was full of doubts and there were too many flaws, it was only a matter of time before An Ruochen, Aunt Lu and others were proven innocent. It’s just that Lord Bai wants to take this opportunity to detain An Ruochen, so even if the charges are cleared, An Ruochen may still have to live here for a while.

An Ruochen was not in a hurry, she only said that it would be the same wherever she lived, but she hoped that the prefect would, for the sake of the general, quickly return Aunt Lu and the others to their innocence, so as not to make them feel wronged. After all, Tian Qing and Lu are members of the military. Detaining them in the name of suspects will damage the reputation of the general and discredit the military. The impact can be large or small.

Meng Jiayue hastened to say that she understands that the Lord has already explained the stakes with Lord Bai. He also told An Ruochen that none of Tian Qing, Lu Zheng, and Aunt Lu were imprisoned, they were just locked in a separate room in another courtyard, and they were in good condition. That boy Qi Zheng was also released early this morning. Things were resolved quickly. She hoped that An Ruochen would speak for Yao Kun when she saw Long Da in the future. After all, Yao Kun tried his best to excuse An Ruochen and the others at the risk of angering Bai Ying in this incident, thinking about General Long’s reputation, he really did his best.

An Ruochen naturally understood her intention and agreed without hesitation. Meng Jiayue was devoted to Yao Kun, so she naturally wanted Bai Ying and Long Da not to offend, and no matter which side gained power in the future, Yao Kun would not suffer. An Ruochen thought of the information Xue Xuran gave her, and couldn’t help thinking.

Not long after Meng Jiayue left, Fang Yuan came.

An Ruochen was naturally overjoyed to see Steward Fang. Fang Yuan did come to report the news to her. He told An Ruochen that he saw many raw faces wandering in disguise in the two streets outside the county government office and the prefect’s mansion. “I am very familiar with this place. With my eyes closed, I can know which shop, which street vendor, which post is on, and where the trees are planted and where the fruits are produced. I also know. It is indeed unusual nowadays. It seems that many people guard the street At the end of the street. Did the girl send someone here?”

An Ruochen was taken aback: “It’s not mine.” Gu Wenda would not be so stupid to let the military people wear civilian plain clothes to surround the Yafu, it’s not that they want to rebel.

Fang Yuan said: “It’s not the staff of the yamen either.”

The two looked at each other, both feeling doubt and danger.