“Greetings to both honored officials.” The man clasped his hands together.
With a “fawning” flavor.
But who was he?
Ji Yunshu looked him up and down.
The man raised those eyes full of surprise and delight, looking at Ji Yunshu, and said, “This must be… Lord Ji, the Director of the Bureau of Judicial Review at the Ministry of Justice, correct?”
It seemed the servant had just informed him.
Ji Yunshu nodded.
He immediately continued: “I am Liu Zhinan, president of the Zhongdu Commerce Association. I never expected to meet the renowned Lord Ji of the capital. Liu is truly honored.”
Full of smiles, he bowed deeply once more.
Ji Yunshu returned his courtesy with a smile. This person seemed to carry a ball of fire about him, appearing very enthusiastic, making her unsure how to respond.
Liu Zhinan asked, “May I ask what brings my lord to Wenlai Pavilion today?”
She said, “I came to ask President Xing about some minor matters.”
“Oh? Could it be regarding the General President of the Commerce Association?”
“President Liu overthinks it. The matter of the commerce association president is managed by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Personnel. It has nothing to do with the Ministry of Justice.”
Liu Zhinan smiled awkwardly, yet said in a joking tone, guessing: “Then could it be that… President Xing was caught bribing someone privately? Is that why Lord Ji was alarmed?”
Huh?
Ji Yunshu’s expression changed.
“What makes you say that?”
“Liu was just speaking casually. My lord need not take it seriously.”
I almost believed you, old fellow.
Ji Yunshu was covered in metaphorical black lines: “This official still has urgent matters to attend to, so I won’t chat further with President Liu.”
“Please go slowly, my lord.”
After Ji Yunshu boarded the carriage, she suddenly recalled Liu Zhinan’s earlier words.
“Capital Magistrate.”
Capital Magistrate beside her asked, “Lord Ji, what is it?”
“Trouble you to make a trip to the Censorate. Have them investigate who in the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Personnel is responsible for the matter of the General President of the Commerce Association. Check their pockets… see if anything extra has appeared.”
“Something extra?” Capital Magistrate was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood. “Lord Ji suspects that Xing Xiyang’s fifty thousand taels were used to…”
He didn’t finish speaking directly!
Upon returning, Capital Magistrate immediately went to the Censorate.
Investigate secretly!
Unexpectedly, news came quickly!
As it turned out, among those responsible for the matter of the General President this time, there really were people whose pockets had extra money.
As the saying goes, if you don’t sift through the rat droppings in the rice jar, you truly don’t know how many grains there are!
With one pull, they dragged out five or six officials.
The Chief Censor sent people to interrogate them one by one, only to discover that the person who had bribed them was actually Xing Xiyang!
To become the General President of the Commerce Association, he had secretly bribed officials. Those silver taels added up to exactly fifty thousand taels. This money had already cleared all the channels—they were just waiting for the final announcement that Xing Xiyang was the president.
Once verified, those officials were all dismissed from office!
As for Xing Xiyang, it was as if someone had struck him on the head, or as if someone had stripped him naked and left him to bake in the sun.
Based on witness and material evidence, the Chief Censor ordered that Xing Xiyang’s home in Lingnan be raided.
He also told the truth. “Jiao Shiniang and I… were actually lovers. She knew I wanted to become General President, and she knew I wanted to bribe those officials. But if I used my own silver, when the matter came to light, they would certainly trace it back to me. So Shiniang used her money for me instead. I also promised to definitely repay her later, which is why there was that loan receipt.”
To put it more plainly, Xing Xiyang was the president of the Lingnan Commerce Association. If he suddenly moved fifty thousand taels to become General President, it would naturally arouse suspicion. It was like how a company must undergo capital auditing before going public—even if a single penny didn’t match up, it would have an impact. So he didn’t dare use his own funds for bribery and could only move a sum of money under the pretext of borrowing it.
Only someone with Xing Xiyang’s business-minded brain could have thought of this.
Ji Yunshu worried that he had killed Jiao Shiniang in a moment of hardened resolve to cover up the traces of bribery, so she had the Censorate order that he be confined to Wenlai Pavilion until Jiao Shiniang’s case was clarified, only then would he be allowed to leave the capital.
However—
When Xing Xiyang was confined, he kept shouting incessantly: “I didn’t kill anyone! The murderer isn’t me! It must be Liu Zhinan! It must be him framing me!”
Liu Zhinan?
Could there be some connection between the two?
Of course, that was a matter for later.
Ji Yunshu sat in the carriage, constantly thinking about Jiao Shiniang’s case. If Xing Xiyang didn’t admit to killing her, then who could the murderer be?
The more she thought, the more absorbed she became!
Suddenly—
“Neigh~” The sound of a horse came.
At the same time, the carriage stopped abruptly and shook violently.
Her left shoulder struck heavily against the carriage wall. Her brow furrowed lightly in pain.
Once the carriage steadied, the driver outside asked, “Lord Ji, are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” She lifted the curtain to look outside while asking, “What happened?”
“A child suddenly rushed out.”
A child?
She craned her neck to look and saw a little girl crouching in front of the horse, picking up marbles scattered on the ground. Flustered and hurried, she seemed frightened as well, yet didn’t forget to continue picking up those beads.
Ji Yunshu quickly got out of the carriage, walked to the front, and crouched down to help her pick up the marbles.
The little girl’s small, dirty hands suddenly paused!
A pair of round eyes lifted to look at the young man before her. She was stunned for a moment, then continued picking.
The scattered marbles were picked up one by one and placed into the girl’s pocket.
“Thank you, big brother.” The girl smiled at her.
Ji Yunshu looked down at her dirty little face, took out a handkerchief to wipe it for her, and said, “Be more careful next time, understand?”
“I understand.”
“Do you like marbles very much?”
“Not really, but these are ones I won.”
“How impressive.”
After she finished speaking, she noticed the girl’s knees. Probably when she had rushed out just now to pick up the marbles, she had accidentally landed on her knees and gotten scraped.
“Where do you live? Big brother will take you home.”
The little girl blinked: “Is that okay?”
“Yes.”
The little girl was very happy and climbed into the carriage herself, extremely adorable.
But this carefree child—if she were in modern times, who knows, she’d probably become a target for human traffickers.
On the way to take the girl home, Ji Yunshu used the medicine kept in the carriage to treat her wound, simply bandaging it.
When they arrived at the girl’s residence, Ji Yunshu discovered it was right behind the Longfu Inn.
From here, one could directly see the window of the room where Jiao Shiniang had been killed.
At this moment, the window was tightly closed!
“Oh my, Xin’er, how did you get so dirty?” A woman’s voice came.
Ji Yunshu withdrew her gaze.
She saw a woman emerge from the house and grab the little girl, both angry and disgusted: “Did you go rolling in mud again?”
“Mother, Xin’er didn’t! I went to play marbles and won back lots! Look.” She opened her pocket, showing off to her mother.
The woman was helpless and sighed, suddenly noticing Ji Yunshu nearby. “You are?”
“I…”
Before she could finish speaking, the little girl said, “Mother, this big brother brought me home.”
The woman hurriedly expressed her thanks: “Thank you, young master. My child is mischievous—you’ve been so troubled.”
She smiled: “It was nothing.”