The Grand Secretary’s Pampered Wife

Chapter 558 Confession (1 more)

Xing Shangshu entered the palace to meet the emperor.

The emperor was reviewing the memorial in the imperial study, and was brought in after listening to Eunuch Wei's report.

"My minister, I greet Your Majesty."

Xing Shangshu saluted respectfully.

Sitting behind the desk, the emperor put down one of the reviewed memorials, picked up another, and asked, "Shangshu Xing suddenly entered the palace, why?"

Xing Shangshu hesitated for a moment, and said: "I have something to play."

The emperor opened the memorial: "Why can't we wait until the early court?"

Xing Shangshu thought to himself, if he could wait until the early court, he was afraid that you would be unhappy if he said it in front of civil and military officials.

Having said that, I just ran into Lao Jijiu and Yuan Shoufu on the way. Lao Jijiu probably didn't read the content of the document clearly, right?

Just glanced at it, and it stands to reason that it couldn't be seen clearly.

Even if he saw it clearly, as a veteran minister, he would not publicize this matter.

Thinking of this, Xing Shangshu secretly felt relieved.

Xing Shangshu cupped his hands and said respectfully: "It's a case, and I'm not sure whether I should bring it up in court."

"What case?" asked the emperor.

Xing Shangshu answered truthfully: "The case of Xianleju."

"Xianleju?" The emperor frowned, "Is it the most famous brothel in the capital?"

"Your Majesty also knows." Xing Shangshu was surprised.

No wonder he was so surprised. The reputation of Xianleju seems to be great, but in the end it is just a brothel. The imperial city has distinct classes, and it is more difficult to cross the barriers of classes than to ascend to the sky.

As long as the emperor is not interested in visiting brothels, he will not pay attention to it.

"I've just heard about it." The emperor said indifferently, "Does a brothel case need to be brought up in court?"

Xing Shangshu said with a complex expression: "This case involves a lot and is related to the royal family."

The emperor said indifferently: "Which prince went to the brothel and had an accident?"

It's fine if it's the prince, I'm afraid you won't feel so embarrassed.

Xing Shangshu understood that if he stretched out his head today, it would be a knife if he retracted his head, so he had to say: "The oiran of Xianleju died, it happened on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year."

On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, the emperor had the impression that it was the day when the army returned, and it was also the day when he saw Ning An again.

What happened to such a good day?

The emperor frowned.

At first, Shangshu Xing only thought it was a murder case among the people, and there was no need to alarm His Majesty, so he didn't mention it in the court.

Xing Shangshu went on to say: "But after investigation, I accidentally found that the oiran of Xianleju was not dead. She had faked her death and found a substitute, Jin Chan, to escape her shell. Her real purpose was to get close to Dr. Gu in the hospital."

The emperor didn't have much interest in the matter of a brothel oiran, and he paused when he heard this: "Which hospital's Doctor Gu?"

"The medical hall next to the women's school is called Miaoshoutang." Xing Shangshu didn't know the relationship between the emperor and Gu Jiao. In order to attract the emperor's attention, he added, "Doctor Gu is Xiao Liulang's wife."

Xiao Liulang is the new champion handpicked by His Majesty, His Majesty should have taken care of him somewhat.

In fact, Gu Jiao is also the daughter of the Marquis of Ding'an, but Gu Jiao never admits it.

There was a bit of coldness in the emperor's eyes: "What does an oiran from a brothel approach a doctor from a medical clinic?"

Minister of the Ministry of Punishments: "Assassination."

"Assassination..." Little miracle doctor? !

The emperor's expression became puzzled and serious: "You just said that the case of Xianleju is related to the royal family. Could it be...the royal family ordered that oiran to harm Doctor Gu?"

Xing Shangshu did not answer directly, but took out the confession and the case file from the wide sleeve he had sewn halfway.

The emperor brought the confession and files over, and he recognized these were Xiao Liulang's handwriting.

Xiao Liulang also served as the Secretary of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs. In Gu Jiao's words, he was the secretary and spokesperson of Xing Shangshu.

It is normal for him to write the dossier and confession.

Of course, not all confessions were written by officials of the Criminal Ministry, and some of them were written by criminals themselves.

The confession statement stated that Bai Kun was not very literate, so Xiao Liulang, the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishments, wrote it for him.

After the emperor read it, he slapped the confession letter on the desk: "It's unreasonable! Who tried the prisoner!"

Xing Shangshu simply said to the emperor in order to avoid extraneous incidents: "It was the interrogation by the minister himself, and Xiao Liulang was temporarily acting as the pen and calligraphy."

The swordsman and pen official of the Ministry of Punishment is generally served by the litigator of the yamen, but when the litigator is not in the yamen, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment can also appoint someone else to take the place.

Xiao Liulang was born in Hanlin, so he is not even qualified to be a knife and pen official.

If the case was tried by others, the emperor was afraid that he would have to retry one or two cases, but Xing Shangshu and Xiao Liulang were both officials promoted by the emperor, and the emperor still trusted them both.

The emperor didn't know Xiao Liulang's talent in solving cases. If Xiao Liulang was the only one trying the case, the emperor might wonder if he was deceived by others, but Shangshu Xing was a veteran in solving cases, and he would never let a thief fool him. up.

Could it be...the princess of the royal family did it?

But that's ridiculous, isn't it?

Calling Jin Shanghuang, in other words, the young master behind the scenes in Xianleju is his sister.

He has only three younger sisters - Ning'an, Xinyang and Huaiqing.

None of the three seemed suspect.

Needless to say, Ning An, such a kind and simple person, how could she associate with the power of the brothel and do something that hurt the little genius doctor?

Huaiqing is an idiot, let alone have no such ability.

It will never be Xinyang.

Xinyang is indeed a powerful character. Among so many princesses, she has neither the blessing of the mother nor the favor of the father, but she has never suffered a disadvantage in anyone's hands.

She also got a great marriage that her father prepared for her before his death.

She is indeed a woman with wrists.

But she has no reason to frame the little miracle doctor!

Xing Shangshu boldly asked: "Does Your Majesty have something in mind?"

The emperor said angrily: "What clues do I have? Are you sure you weren't blinded by the murderer?"

Although the emperor trusted Xing Shangshu's ability, if he wanted to doubt his sister, he would rather question Xing Shangshu's wrong judgment.

When the matter progressed to this point, Xing Shangshu basically had a guess in his heart, but there was no conclusive evidence right now.

Xiao Liulang can tell him that the son-in-law was killed by the brothers and sisters of the Gu family. This is the reasoning of the case by the officials of the Ministry of Criminal Justice-providing effective clues to speculate on the motive of the real murderer behind the scenes.

But he couldn't tell the emperor that.

Just as Xing Shangshu was thinking about how to speak to the emperor, Eunuch Wei's voice came from outside the imperial study.

"Princess Ning An, why are you here?"

"I stewed some ginseng soup and sent it to Brother Huang, is Brother Huang in it?"

"Uh……"

Yes, I just don't know whether it is convenient or not.

"Ning An, come in." The emperor said.

Eunuch Wei stepped aside with a smile: "Princess, please."

Princess Ning'an carried the food box in one hand, lifted her skirt slightly with the other hand, and stepped into the imperial study.

Xing Shangshu turned his head and bowed to Princess Ning'an.

"This is..." Princess Ning An looked at Xing Shangshu in astonishment.

The emperor introduced: "This is the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, surnamed Xing."

"So it's Master Xing." Princess Ning An nodded, "I'm sorry."

Xing Shangshu cupped his hands and bowed: "I don't dare."

Princess Ning'an said embarrassingly: "It seems that I came at the wrong time. If I knew that the emperor was discussing official affairs with the ministers, I would come back later."

The emperor said: "It's okay, it's just a speculative case. Now that you're here, you can take a look."

As the emperor said, he handed the confession and file to Princess Ning'an.

Princess Ning'an put the food box on the table, took the document and read it.

When she was reading the documents, Xing Shangshu was looking at her unobtrusively.

The more Princess Ning An watched, the more surprised she became, and at the end Liu Mei frowned: "It's actually someone from the royal family who killed Dr. Gu? But why?"

There was a trace of doubt in Xing Shangshu's heart, Princess Ning'an didn't have the slightest guilty conscience on her face, could they have guessed wrong?

It stands to reason that it is not enough to have only the motive of committing the crime, and there must be the timing and evidence of committing the crime, commonly known as witness evidence.

The emperor snorted, "You also think it's ridiculous, don't you?"

Ning An suddenly lowered his eyes, and smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty has only three younger sisters, and among these three, only I have the most contact with Dr. Gu, and the son-in-law died at the hands of her and Gu Shizi. From this point of view, we The biggest suspect."

The emperor's face darkened: "Nonsense! How could you do this! From my point of view, it is clear that someone has evil intentions and wants to pour dirty water on the royal family!"

Princess Ning An sighed: "But didn't the murderer plead guilty?"

The emperor said coldly: "It's not necessarily true that the murderer is lying. Or, he didn't lie, but someone approached him pretending to be the princess of the royal family."

Princess Ning'an turned her head slowly, and looked at Shangshu Xing: "Master Xing, do you think there are these two possibilities?"

Xing Shangshu opened his mouth, took a weak breath, and said: "Before the truth comes out, all hypotheses are possible."

"By the way, there are two other witnesses mentioned above, one is the oiran of Xianleju who faked his death, and the other is a girl from Xianleju, her name is..." Princess Ning An didn't seem to remember this name, she looked at the document After looking at it, he said, "Ah, Hua Xiyao."

As she spoke, her eyes fell on Xing Shangshu's face again: "Master Xing, where are these two witnesses now? Can they be allowed to testify in court? Just based on the one-sided words of a killer, it can be concluded that Xianleju has a relationship with the royal family." The collusion is a bit arbitrary, what do you think, Lord Xing?"

Princess Ning'an's eyes were very gentle, but for some reason, Xing Shangshu's forehead felt a little cold.

He collected himself and said: "Princess Ning An's words are very true, but these two witnesses are unable to testify in court now."

"Why?" Princess Ning An asked softly.

Xing Shangshu said: "Hua Xiyao took the medicine and didn't wake up until six or seven days ago. Another girl named Mo Qianxue was seriously injured and is undergoing treatment in the hospital. According to Xiao Shuling, her condition is not very good."

Otherwise, according to the normal procedure, Mo Qianxue would be brought back to the Yamen of the Ministry of Criminal Justice for custody.

Princess Ning'an sighed thoughtfully: "It's really a coincidence that one was drugged and the other was injured. Lord Xing, they are important witnesses in this case, you must protect them well, don't Let them be silenced, and the truth of this case will never be revealed."

Xing Shangshu subconsciously glanced at Princess Ning'an upon hearing this.

Princess Ning'an smiled at him frankly.

Xing Shangshu lowered his eyes, frowned, cupped his hands and said: "What the princess said is very true, I will definitely add more people to protect them!"

...

After leaving the palace, Xing Shangshu returned to the Yamen of the Ministry of Punishment.

Xiao Heng's valet was just behind Xing Shangshu's valet, when he heard the movement, Xiao Heng put down the pen in his hand and went to Xing Shangshu's valet: "My lord."

Xing Shangshu slumped down on the chair tiredly, and told Xiao Heng about the conversation that happened in the imperial study room: "...there is really no flaw. Could it be that the wrong person is suspected? The murderer is actually Princess Huaiqing or Princess Xinyang?"

Xiao Heng was not at all surprised by this development. If the other party didn't even have this means, they wouldn't be able to get to where they are today.

He was very glad that he didn't put his chips on the emperor.

Xiao Heng said: "It's not Princess Xinyang."

Xing Shangshu gave him a strange look: "You know?"

"I often go to the medical clinic." Xiao Heng said, "Princess Xinyang suffered from heart disease a few years ago, and only Doctor Gu can cure her. Her illness has not yet recovered, and she is still taking the medicine that Doctor Gu gave her. Dr. Gu will be killed at this time."

Xing Shangshu had heard a little about Princess Xinyang suffering from heart disease due to the loss of her beloved son. He heard that it was for recuperation that he followed the advice of the imperial doctor, away from the sad place of the capital, and went to Fengdu Mountain to recuperate.

"Princess Huaiqing?" Xing Shangshu shook his head resolutely, "Will someone really pretend to be a royal princess?"

Xiao Heng suddenly said: "Actually, it's nothing if she doesn't remind Sir."

Xing Shangshu was puzzled: "What do you mean by that?"

Xiao Heng smiled faintly, and said: "My lord, Princess Ning An is right, you need to send more people to keep a close watch on both the medical center and the criminal prison, so that no one will have the opportunity to kill people."