Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 231: Poised to Burn the Sky

The Zongrenfu Yamen is located in Huihongfang in the east of the city.

The current head of the clan affairs office is Prince Zhongshun. Although he and the current emperor are not born of the same mother, they have been close brothers since childhood.

When His Majesty ascended the throne, Prince Zhongshun and Marquis Zhongjing Shi Ding were both his followers, and therefore have always been highly regarded by the current Emperor.

Prince Zhongshun had been sitting firmly in the position of Chief of Clan Clan for ten years. Although he was a prince, he was not arrogant or extravagant. He was very diligent and spent almost every day in the government office handling official business.

Prince Zhongshun was a serious and stern man, who often admonished and despised the royal family's extravagance and wastefulness. Most of the royal family and nobles in the capital were in awe of him.

As he had been in office for more than ten years, he had been so busy that even the restaurants and eateries near the clan house knew his eating habits very well.

Everyone knows that this prince loves fresh food. For example, the newly opened Beichuan Lamb Shop, which is fifty steps to the left of the yamen, is very much his favorite.

Many people know that in the past month, Prince Zhongshun would ask his personal servant to go to this lamb shop every lunch time and order a dish of lamb chops cooked in seven-treasure wine.

So it was easy for Jiang Liu to find out about this matter.

On this day, the servant of Prince Zhongshun ordered the lamb chops stewed with seven-treasure wine as usual.

The boss naturally greeted him warmly. Prince Zhongshun was a frequent customer of the store and had an important status, so he did not dare to neglect him in the slightest.

He asked the servant to wait for a moment, as the lamb chops cooked with Qibao wine needed to be steamed for another half a cup of tea before they were cooked.

The boy was waiting bored. White steam was rising from the steamer. The aroma of the fermented lamb chops became increasingly stronger. Two diners were chatting at a small table at the door. Everything was as usual.

"Yesterday I went to visit relatives at Rosewood Castle in the eastern suburbs. Do you know who I met there?"

"Who did you meet?"

"It was Qi Guan who performed at Chunyang Tower in the East Market three months ago. He played the female role. His figure and complexion were absolutely amazing. He looked more like a woman than a woman, hehe."

The servant who was waiting for the lamb chops cooked with Qibao wine to be cooked widened his eyes and pricked up his ears unconsciously when he heard Qi Guan's name.

"A place like East Suburbs Rosewood Castle is a remote and poor place. How could a famous actor like him appear there?"

"You probably don't know this. It's because that place is remote. I heard that he bought some land and houses there, and it seems that he is living with someone..."

"The prince's lamb chops are ready. You'd better hurry up and take them back. If they are left for a long time, the taste will deteriorate. The prince is an expert."

The waiter seemed to be awakened all of a sudden and hurried to take the food box handed over by the boss. When he turned around again, the two diners threw a piece of silver on the table and walked away.

……

In a nearby alley, a dark-faced young man was waiting there. The boy was agile, with his felt hat pulled down low on his head. His eyes were bright and focused as he looked towards the entrance of the alley.

After a while, two people came in. They were obviously the two diners who were talking in the lamb shop just now.

The boy asked, "Is it done?"

One of the two diners said, "Don't worry, young master. We brothers do this for a living. This is not the first time. The other party took our words seriously. There will be no problem."

"Here's twenty taels of silver. Spend it. Don't say I didn't warn you. If you let it out and someone comes to trouble you, I won't be able to save you!"

One of them smiled flatteringly, "Don't worry, young master. We are in this business for a long time and we know the rules. We will never ruin our jobs, let alone play with our lives."

The three people left the alley separately. The young man walked for a while and then went behind a shop. When he came out, the felt hat on his head was gone, his coat was different, and his dark and red face became white.

He paced to a place not far from the clan government office and saw more than a dozen guards swarming in. A four-person sedan came out of the office and went east with the guards.

The young man breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this. Brother Cong had told him early in the morning that Zhang Shouan would start the trial in the Dali Temple today, and he would probably give out Jia Rong in no time.

……

Since Jia Cong rescued Feng and Liu Ping from Zhen'an Prefecture, he asked Jiang Liu to find out from the people in Zhen'an Prefecture who asked Zhang Shou'an to take action against Xiuniang's incense shop. When Jia Cong was in Jinling, he had close contact with the Jinling government office because he needed to search for Zhou Suqing in the market, so he had a deep understanding of the personnel structure of the government office.

This also gave Jiang Liu some direction. Zhang Shouan would definitely not let many people know about this kind of private matter, but the people who were ordered to arrest people and were responsible for torturing them probably knew the inside story.

This person was most likely a yamen runner or constable who was trusted by Zhang Shouan.

So Jiang Liu inquired in a roundabout way for half a day and finally confirmed who Liu Erzhen was.

On that day, many people witnessed Liu Erzhen coming to arrest people.

Following Jia Cong's suggestion, he found a lively horse dealer in the West Market, promised him benefits, and asked him to invite Liu Erzhen to dinner in the name of inquiring for information in exchange for the information.

As a result, he only spent one hundred taels to find out that the person who colluded with Zhang Shouan was Jia Rong from Ningguo Mansion.

As for the horse dealer, he was from the northwest. After finishing his business, he would sell horses and return home. He would only come back to the capital once every few years. There was almost no future trouble.

Jia Cong knew that Prince Zhongshun regarded Qi Guan as a forbidden insect, but Jia Rong happened to be having an affair with him.

Jia Rong colluded with the government, plotted to steal the secret recipe of the incense shop, and tortured Feng Shi severely. No matter from which perspective, Jia Cong had no reason to let him go.

Based on Jia Cong's understanding of Jia Rong, he does not seem to have such thoughts and courage, so the person standing behind him must be Jia Zhen, which is almost self-evident.

In order to eliminate the threat of being coveted and to completely free Keqing from risk, he had to deal with the entire Ningguo Mansion.

But even if Zhang Shouan confessed Jia Rong in the Dali Temple, he might not be able to do anything to Jia Rong, because he is the eldest son of Ningguo Mansion, and he has Jia Zhen behind him and the blessings of his ancestors.

Then let’s use this Prince Zhongshun to add more fuel to the fire!

……

After Zhang Shouan was brought to trial in the Dali Temple, he knew that he could not escape the blame and his half-life of career in the political arena had come to an end. Now he just wanted to save his life.

Therefore, before the Dali Temple started the torture, he explained in detail how he put the owner and clerk of Xiuniang's incense shop in jail and how he forced them to confess the secret recipe.

These things were already known to everyone, so there was no need for him to hide them any longer.

In order to reduce his guilt, he also confessed everything about how Jia Rong of Ningguo Mansion had promised him a huge sum of money in order to seize Xiuniang's incense shop and secret recipes.

Therefore, it only took the Dali Temple one day to investigate the entire case of Xiuniang Incense Shop and compile a file, which was then reviewed and signed by the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate.

The news that Jia Rong from Ningguo Mansion was the culprit in the Xiuniang Incense Shop case quickly spread through various channels.

The Ningguo Jia family is one of the most noble families in the country. They have been favored by the emperor for generations. The hereditary descendants of the family are so vicious and cruel, and they have no regard for the law, which makes many people look at them with surprise.

However, the various ministries did not take any action, as if they were waiting to see what would happen.

Because this matter involves the top families of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and behind them are the four kings and eight dukes and a group of nobles. The emperor has been on the throne for more than ten years and has not acted rashly, let alone others.

The Ning and Rong Jia families have two dukes in the family. Since the founding of the country, Ning and Rong's ancestors followed Taizu to conquer the world, and the family has a deep foundation.

No one can be sure whether this incident will eventually shake Ning Rong's foundation.

As for the matter of Xiuniang's incense shop, the current focus is on the fact that the prefect Zhang Shouan was greedy and harmed the people. After all, no one was killed in the end, and even if the mastermind Jia Rong was convicted, the severity of his crime is still unclear.

In the court, there are many students and old friends from the Ning and Rong mansions, and there are even more fence-sitters and centrists. Officials will not make a bet easily before they understand the situation clearly.

Even the talkative censors in the Censorate who heard rumors and reported matters to the emperor became more cautious.

Just wait for the case files from the Dali Temple to arrive in the palace, listen to the holy voice, and then take action.

(End of this chapter)