Datang: Hiding private money, exposed by Xiao Sizi

"After that, he was leaving, so he really didn't care about being discovered that he was abnormal. He didn't do anything all day."

"But, just before he could escape, he was murdered!"

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes.

"Coincidence?"

"Or did someone know that he was going to escape, so they killed him?"

Shen Lian fell into deep thought.

The discovery of Zhang Qin’s office gave Shen Lian many possible speculations.

Normally, since Zhang Qin had decided to escape, he would have run away after setting the fire, or even before the fire started.

In this case, he must have been extremely well prepared.

However, despite such full preparation, he was killed before he could escape!
Why is this?

Why didn't he just run?
When leaving the file room, there were people from the Ministry of Works along the way. Even if the murderer wanted to kill someone, it would not be so easy.

If the murderer wants to kill someone, he must choose a time when the two of them are alone and there is no one else around.

In the bustling Ministry of Industry, this is not an easy task.

Therefore, it would definitely not be easy for Zhang Qin to be killed.

So, why didn’t Zhang Qin just run away?
Instead, he was alone with the murderer in a place where there was no one else?

Did he have any special purpose in meeting the murderer before escaping?

Shen Lian thought about it, then he looked at the official from the Ministry of Industry who was accompanying him and asked, "Has Zhang Qin ever had any conflicts with anyone from the Ministry of Industry before?"

The official thought about it, then shook his head and said, "Probably not."

"Zhang Qin is a kind person who rarely gets angry with others. Sometimes, even if he encounters some unfair things, he just laughs it off and doesn't care too much."

“So, it’s not easy to have a conflict with him.”

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes.

Zhang Qin is a kind person and rarely has conflicts with others?
This doesn't fit with Beidou's selfish character.

However, considering that Zhang Qin is the Beidou Society's internal spy hiding in the Ministry of Industry, it is understandable that he does not want to be noticed by others.

But Shen Lian believed that with the personalities of the Beidou Society members, they would never let their benefits be snatched away by others, and they would really be able to just laugh it off.

He said, "You said before that Zhang Qin had encountered some injustice. I want to know what it was."

"This……"

The official hesitated.

Shen Lian said, "Don't worry, I am not from the Ministry of Works or the Ministry of Personnel, so I will not feel unfair for Zhang Qinming. I just want to understand and see if these things can help solve the case."

Upon hearing this, the official spoke up, "About three years ago, when Lord Zhang was not yet a minister, he was working on something. But just when the thing was about to succeed, the credit was taken away by Lord Zhao..."

"No, you can't say it was robbed."

The official said: "Master Zhao didn't know that Master Zhang was doing this at the time. He was on another mission and happened to have something related to this one, so he did it by the way. He didn't expect that the completion of this matter was all thanks to him."

"And this matter also took Lord Zhang a lot of time and energy, but at the last minute, it was completed by Lord Zhao who came by coincidence. So this matter made many people in the Ministry of Works feel helpless at the time."

"After all, they are both our colleagues, so we can't say anything."

"Later, Lord Zhao also felt that it was inappropriate, so he offered to compensate Lord Zhang, but Lord Zhang didn't care. He said he didn't care about these benefits. This made us all feel that Lord Zhang was a very good official, and we admired him very much."

Shen Lian nodded slightly.

Although there may be some coincidences and reasons, this is an attack.

Zhang Qin has spent so much time and energy on this matter, could he really not care?
Shen Lian felt that given the selfish nature of the Beidou Society members, he would definitely hate them to death.

But in the end, he just let it go and laughed it off.

why?
Shen Lian narrowed his eyes and asked, "Where is Lord Zhao?"

The official said, "Lord Zhao is handling things in front. If Lord Shen wants to see him, you can go and call him."

Shen Lian nodded slightly: "That's troublesome."

After the official left, Wang Xiaohua suddenly spoke up and said, "Is the Lord Zhao he was talking about Zhao Yeqin, the doctor of the Ministry of Works?"

Shen Lian raised his eyes: "Do you know him?"

Wang Xiaohua shook her head. She pointed to a few books on the bookshelf and said, "These books all have his name on them."

"It seems that he gave them all to Zhang Qin."

Upon hearing this, Shen Lian turned his head and looked at the bookshelf.

Then I saw Wang Xiaohua casually flipping through some books.

These books look very old, and the pages are yellowed.

Wang Xiaohua looked at Shen Lian with a puzzled expression and said, "Sir, do you know how valuable these books are?"

Shen Lian listened to Wang Xiaohua's question with a special tone. Based on his understanding of Wang Xiaohua, Shen Lian's heart moved slightly.

He said, “Very expensive?”

Wang Xiaohua nodded.

She picked up a book at random and said, "Based on my past experience as a thief, I have an innate sensitivity to anything valuable."

“These books caught my attention at first sight.”

"Master Shen, look."

Wang Xiaohua opened the book and said, "These papers have turned yellow."

"And the cover of this book. The style of the cover is from the late Han Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms period, the style began to change, and in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it was even more different."

“So, all of this means one thing.”

He looked at Shen Lian and said, "These books are from the late Han Dynasty. There are definitely not many of them that have been preserved until now."

"In other words, these books can be called unique copies."

"In this world, things are valuable because they are rare. In the eyes of many readers, rare books are priceless."

"Even if it means they lose everything they have, they will still do it if they can get a rare copy."

As a thief, Wang Xiaohua has also studied this business.

If you want to steal, then naturally you'll pick the rich.

And if something has money, it requires a certain level of skill.

Therefore, Wang Xiaohua has studied it specifically, both gorgeous ones, such as jewelry and jade, and inconspicuous ones, such as calligraphy and paintings, and books.

Which one is valuable and which one is authentic cannot escape Wang Xiaohua's eyes.

That's why he can be a knight-errant instead of a thief.

When Shen Lian heard what Wang Xiaohua said, he immediately understood the value of these books on the bookshelf.

He came to Wang Xiaohua and looked at the bookshelf.

There were a total of ten books placed together in this row.

In other parts of the bookshelf, the books are just the very common Four Books and Five Classics.

Those books are obviously worthless.

Shen Lian took out a rare copy and looked at it carefully. Although he could tell that the book was quite old, he was unable to judge its value.

If Wang Xiaohua hadn't reminded him, he really wouldn't have paid much attention to these books.

Shen Lian opened the first page and saw the handwriting of doctor Zhao Yeqin on the title page. Zhao Yeqin wrote that a sword is given to a hero and a good book is given to a scholar. He knew that Zhang Qin was knowledgeable and loved books, so he gave these books to Zhang Qin.

Wang Xiaohua said: "There are similar words on the title page of every book."

Shen Lian thought for a moment and said, "What do you think the total value of these ten books is?"

Wang Xiaohua pondered for a moment and said, "These ten books are all unique copies, and they are all unique copies from the late Han Dynasty."

"During the Han Dynasty, papermaking had just emerged and books were still very valuable."

"Also, there are quite a few people who are used to using bamboo slips."

……

"So, the number of books from that period was very small, and even fewer that have been passed down."

“Therefore, these ten rare copies may be all the rare copies that can be handed down from the end of the Han Dynasty.”

"Therefore, its value is extremely precious, more valuable than other rare copies."

"If I were to estimate, if I met someone who really knows the business and is willing to spend money, these ten rare books would be enough to buy three large mansions with three entrances and exits in Chang'an City, where every inch of land is worth a lot of money!"

…………

Even though Shen Lian was mentally prepared, he was still shocked by Wang Xiaohua's words.

He said, “Three large houses with three entrances and exits.”

"That's a lot."

A house with three entrances and exits occupies a considerable area.

Moreover, it is in Chang'an City, where every inch of land is valuable.

If it were placed in a first-tier metropolis in later generations, it would be equivalent to three courtyard houses of several thousand square meters in the core area.

Worth at least hundreds of millions!

So, this is equivalent to Zhao Yeqin directly giving 100 million to Zhang Qin?

Why did Zhao Yeqin give Zhang Qingui such a valuable gift?

Is it because he stole the credit from Zhang Qin and feels guilty?
But no matter how guilty you feel, you wouldn't give someone such a big gift, right?
Shen Lian narrowed his eyes. He keenly felt that there were some special secrets hidden behind these gifts.

But what is this secret?

What was the reason that made Zhao Yeqin give such a big gift?

Shen Lian carefully looked through the title pages of each rare copy, on which there was a reason for the gift written by Zhao Yeqin himself.

It was as if he was afraid that Zhang Qin would not want it.

Or maybe he was afraid that other people would think that these things were not given by him.

Why would he do this?
The ten rare books placed here look ordinary.

But in fact, it is worth three large houses in the core area. To say that it is worth 100 million is an understatement.

And it is said very rarely. Normally, one billion can be sold.

Therefore, such a huge gift has completely exceeded the scope of normal gift-giving between colleagues.

It is too abnormal for Zhao Yeqin to spend such a huge amount of money on gifts.

And there is one more thing that is worth discussing.

That is, Zhao Yeqin was a doctor in the Ministry of Works, and his rank in Chang'an City was not very high. How could he possess such a valuable unique copy?

How did he get these rare copies?
All kinds of doubts and confusions filled Shen Lian's mind.

Shen Lian found it difficult to understand for a while.

He said: "It seems that we really need to have a good talk with Zhao Yeqin."

Shen Lian sat back down, looked at Wang Xiaohua again, and asked, "Are there any other valuables?"

Wang Xiaohua shook her head: "No more."

"These are the only valuable things in the entire office."

"Moreover, these books are randomly placed on the bookshelf. If someone who doesn't know much about this would not know that these books are so valuable."

Shen Lian pondered for a moment and said, "It seems that Zhang Qin did this on purpose."

"He wants to show off, but he can't show off directly."

"So they are placed here. Anyone who enters his office can see them, but they have no idea how valuable these books are."

"Zhang Qin placed it here casually on purpose to satisfy his sense of superiority."

Wang Xiaohua nodded.

Agree with Shen Lian’s words.

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes: "Since he put these books here to satisfy his sense of superiority, it means that he cares about these books very much. But he is going to escape, why didn't he take these books with him?"

"Or has he not had time to pack up these books yet?"

Shen Lian tapped the desk with his fingertips.

After Zhang Qin set the fire, shouldn't he have come back immediately to pack up such valuable books and prepare to run away?
Where did he go again?
What, or who, would come before this?

Shen Lian only felt that his vision seemed to be blocked by thick fog, making him unable to see the truth of the matter.

However, as long as the fog is blown away, the truth will be revealed to him without reservation.

"Sir, Lord Zhao is here."

At this time, the voice of the yamen runner sounded.

Shen Lian looked up and saw a middle-aged man in doctor's uniform standing outside the door.

The middle-aged man was a little thin, with dark circles under his eyes, and it seemed that he had not rested well at night.

When Shen Lian saw him, he bowed quickly and said, "Your humble servant Zhao Yeqin greets Lord Shen."

Shen Lian smiled and said, "Master Zhao, there is no need to be so polite. I am here to ask you something. Don't be nervous. Just answer truthfully..."

Zhao Yeqin hurriedly said, "Excuse me, sir."

Shen Lian looked at Zhao Yeqin, his eyes were deep and gleaming.

He said, "I heard that Lord Zhao and Zhang Qin had some conflicts, is that right?"

Zhao Yeqin said hurriedly: "It's not a conflict. I just didn't know that Lord Zhang was handling the same thing... But later, Lord Zhang and I talked it out, so it's not a big deal."

Shen Lian looked at Zhao Yeqin deeply and said, "Then what kind of person do you think Zhang Qin is, Lord Zhao?"

Zhao Yeqin's eyelids twitched slightly, and he looked down slightly and said, "Master Zhang is naturally a very considerate, non-competitive, and very good person."

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes.

Although Zhao Yeqin hid it very well.

However, his eyes and his subconscious little movements still revealed that he was lying!

It seems that Zhao Yeqin knows Zhang Qin's character better than anyone else.

As expected, Zhang Qin didn’t just laugh it off?
What happened between the two of them behind their backs?

Shen Lian casually took out a rare book from the bookshelf and said, "Are these books given to Master Zhang by Master Zhao?"

What happened between the two of them behind their backs?

Shen Lian casually took out a rare book from the bookshelf and said, "Are these books given to Master Zhang by Master Zhao?"

(End of this chapter)