After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 267 Xu’s “Death”

No matter where Xu "died", we can know from Jin Miao's words that the second wife of the Jin family had a conflict with Xu after they came to Beijing and asked Jin Juren to divorce his wife. Jin Juren refused, but in order to calm the second wife's anger, It was better to send Mrs. Xu to the Wu Mansion, preparing to enter the palace to be a wet nurse for Empress Wu's soon-to-be-born heir.

Then Xu "killed herself".

The Hai family brothers and sisters all knew that Concubine Xu Xian never came out after entering the palace. Otherwise, she would not have to stay in Cining Palace and be a palace servant for so many years. So what happened to the three people in the Jin family who believed that she was dead?

The version Empress Dowager Zhou told Duke Zhen in her family letter was that the palace attendant Xu Xianfei recognized her sister Xu, who had been separated for many years. After rescuing her, she quietly sent her out of the palace. However, Xu was frightened after returning home. He fell ill and died soon after, and the Jin family left Beijing together.

This was what Empress Dowager Zhou said, but there was no reason for the Jin family not to know that Mrs. Xu had never left the palace. They all believed that she was dead, and that she died of illness. However, Jin Miao did not say anything clearly, and the prisoners suspected that the second wife of the Jin family did not like Jin Juren's wife and killed her. Jin Miao refused to admit it, and even scolded the Xu family for being the source of trouble and refusing to stop even after death. This made the whole family uneasy and forced them to flee back to their hometown. He still owes debts in his hometown!

No matter what the prisoners in the prison said, Jin Miao never revealed that her cousin-in-law Xu, who was "serving the noble man," actually went to the palace to be a wet nurse, nor did she say that she had once walked through the palace and met Kunning Palace. The fire was as if she suddenly fell ill at home and died. Obviously, he is very aware of the taboos here. Even if he is a brainless fool, he also knows that some taboos cannot be said easily.

So what are the facts determined by the second brother of the Jin family?

Hai Jiao told her sister Haitang, but Jin Miao gritted her teeth and refused to tell. Jin Liu and Aunt Jin were in the women's prison, but they still refused to tell what happened at that time. However, these two women entered the prison for the first time. After being held for a few days, they were even more frightened than Jin Miao. They still confessed some trivial matters that they thought were insignificant.

The confessions of the three people about what happened in the capital that year are basically consistent. The slight differences are due to their different positions and different ideas. For example, the Jin Liu family felt that her brother-in-law Jin Miao was too prodigal and put her own family behind. The couple was implicated more than Jin Juren and Xu; while Aunt Jin believed that both brothers were too greedy and ruthless, while Xu was not kind-hearted enough, but Jin Liu was more ruthless.

Their accounts of Xu's death also differed.

Jin Liushi claimed that the person died of a sudden illness, and it was a plague. It was useless to ask a doctor to prescribe medicine. He died of illness in two or three days, which shows that this person was not blessed. As for where she contracted the disease, what doctor she had consulted, and what medicine she had taken, her eyes flickered and she was vague.

Aunt Jin said that she had served patients for a month, and she still remembered the doctors she saw and the prescriptions she prescribed. She expressed pity for the patients in her words. She felt that Mrs. Jin Liu was too ruthless to the patients, which made her uncomfortable. I was frightened and stayed away from my eldest sister-in-law from then on. But when talking about Mrs. Xu, her tone became cold and disgusting, as if her previous pity was all fake.

She also mentioned that the Xu family was buried in the capital, and the funeral arrangements were carried out in a very hasty and crude way. Even as soon as they left the city for burial, the Jin family left the capital and did not return to the city to pack their luggage. Listening to this, Huang Captou always felt that they seemed to have used an excuse to leave the city for Xu's funeral and took the opportunity to escape from the capital. Is there something wrong with being in such a mess and haste?

Could it be that there was really something behind Xu's death, and that the second roommate of the Jin family fled in a hurry to avoid being discovered?

Huang Captou was very concerned about this and wanted to get to the bottom of the investigation to find out whether the second roommate of the Jin family had committed a felony murder more than ten years ago. If both members of the Jin family had committed crimes, the Chang'an government office would have sentenced them directly, so there would be no need for further verbosity.

When Haitang heard this, she couldn't help but ask Hai Jiao: "Does Capt. Huang know about Concubine Xu Xian?"

Hai Jiao said: "I heard what he said. Magistrate Huang must have known it, but I don't know if he told Huang Captou. Huang Captou never mentioned Concubine Xu Xian to me. He only claimed that Jin Juren had offended the Sun family. Only then did he attract a killer. And his wealth made the second wife of the Jin family jealous, so they colluded with the killer and killed his family. He never mentioned that Jin Jiashu's biological mother had ever entered the palace, nor did he say that she and Concubine Xu Xian were biological sisters. However, I am just a friend of Jin Jiashu, so even if he knows the inside story, he may not tell me the truth." This is true. Even if the Zhou family did not know the true relationship between Concubine Xu Xian and Jin Jiashu, they would not spread the gossip about the concubines in the palace casually, let alone the scandal of Concubine Sun sending assassins to kill people. The Duke of Zhen and Magistrate Huang would not spread the news, but Huang Baotou was valued by Magistrate Huang, so even if he knew about it, he would hide it. The current official version of the Jin family murder case in Chang'an City all says that Jin Juren was upright and disobeyed the Sun family's treacherous officials, which led to revenge, and that the second brother of the Jin family was greedy for money and afraid of death, and betrayed his relatives. Even if someone knew that there was a secret fight between the two palace concubines, they wouldn't just shout about it in the streets.

Regardless of whether Huang Captou knew that Concubine Xu Xian and Mrs. Xu were "sisters", he now insists on pursuing the truth about Mrs. Xu's "death", and he doesn't know if it was Magistrate Huang's instruction. Magistrate Huang obviously wanted to offend Concubine Sun, so he simply turned around to please Concubine Xu Xian and the eighth prince born to her, paving the way for his future.

He is a very flexible official.

Hai Jiao admired Magistrate Huang very much: "He is a good judge of cases. Do you know why the prisoners Jin Miao met in the prison tried to trick him? This was specially arranged by Magistrate Huang!"

The reason why Magistrate Huang was not in a hurry to interrogate the Jin family's second bedroom and three others was because he had unique interrogation skills. He used to like to have his officers disguise themselves as prisoners and use the undercover to trap other prisoners. It was because the four undercover agents asked Huang for key information from important prisoners that he stood out from the crowd and got Huang. The prefect looked at him differently.

However, Huang Captou has been undercover too many times, so this trick no longer works. On the contrary, some prisoners who had watched his undercover story-telling experience shrewdly proposed the terms of the deal to Magistrate Huang, expressing their willingness to cooperate with the government and trick the new prisoners in order to achieve meritorious service in exchange for a reduced sentence.

After thinking about it, Magistrate Huang selected some prisoners whose crimes were not serious. They were all imprisoned for crimes such as being forced to fight back or accidentally hurting others. They were not really vicious criminals. They were not stupid or stupid, and they were a little bit naive. The clever one designated a special prison area to hold them, and gave them preferential treatment in terms of daily food and supplies in exchange for the prisoners' cooperation in interrogation.

This method is quite useful. The prisoners who cooperate can live a better life and can see their relatives more often, and some new prisoners who are tight-lipped are also tricked. Those who have committed crimes cannot escape, and those who are really unjust can avoid disaster.

Jin Miao, one of the three members of the Jin family, was classified as such a prisoner by Magistrate Huang. Entering this special prison area, he indeed revealed a lot of truth. As for Mrs. Jin Liu and Aunt Jin, normal interrogation is enough. Although Mrs. Jinliu is more cunning and tight-lipped, the interrogator is also experienced and is more than enough to deal with a country woman like her.

Haitang reviewed the news revealed by Mrs. Jin Liu and Aunt Jin, and believed that the "Xu family" who died in the capital that year was very problematic: "Aunt Jin seemed to have different attitudes towards Mrs. Xu and the patient. Could they be two people? At that time, the Jin family Is it true that a woman died of illness and was buried in the capital? The Jin family buried her as Mrs. Xu, and only told the outside world that Mrs. Xu died? "

Hai Jiao raised his eyebrows: "Young sister is saying that the Jin family believed that Mrs. Xu died in the palace fire, so in order to avoid being implicated, they took another woman to be her and buried her in the capital? But this woman would Who is it? Doesn’t she have any family members looking for her? "

　The first update of 2024, I wish everyone a Happy New Year~~~A safe New Year~~~~~

　　(End of this chapter)