Chapter 38 Golden Silk
Early the next morning, Liang Yue went to the garrison, clicked his forehead, and immediately ran to the Yamen of the Ministry of Justice.
It was another trip from the south of the city to the north of the city, and I saw the transformation of both sides of Longyuan City's Tianjie from simple to prosperous, and then from prosperous to solemn. I felt deeply every time I walked this road.
Nancheng is really poor.
If the construction of Babel Tower can make Nancheng prosperous, it would be a good thing.
But those people, like the Longya Gang and Zhen Changzhi, are using their power to pocket these dividends.
The only word to describe it is greed.
Zhen Changzhi's death may really be an opportunity.
Thinking about it this way, he lived frugally for most of his life. He didn't spend even a tael of the money he got greedily, and it all went back to the treasury. If it were through his death, the profit network behind him could be uprooted.
Then he is really a person who is beneficial to the country in his life.
But in a rather passive way.
"Captain Ling, I found something wrong with the Zhen family's account books!" When he arrived at the Xingbu Yamen, he immediately found Ling Yuanbao.
"Ah?" Ling Yuanbao's eyes suddenly shone, "Have you thought of it?"
Yesterday, she thought Liang Yue had failed, but the magic of the Imperial Guard that impressed her was no longer there. Ling Yuanbao was about to despair. Unexpectedly, he said that if he goes back and thinks about it, he can really come up with the result.
"Let me point it out to you." Liang Yue asked her to dig out the Zhen family's account books again.
"Zhen Changzhi is known as the breeze on his sleeves. The Zhen family's food and clothing expenses are also extremely poor. There is only one thing that is a little strange." He opened a page in the account book.
It records an expenditure on cloth purchased by the Zhen family: five hundred coins purchased a piece of floral cloth, and two taels of silver purchased ten feet of gold silk to make clothes.
"Oh...here!" Ling Yuanbao looked like he suddenly realized something.
But after a while, she tilted her head and looked at Liang Yue, "Why is this strange?"
Liang Yue explained: "You may not understand the life of the poor. With the Zhen family’s food and clothing expenses, spending a few taels of silver on such expensive silk and satin is very inconsistent with other expenses.”
When he saw the fabric he accidentally chopped up last night, he felt distressed. Then he suddenly remembered that the Zhen family was also in poverty, so why could they buy such expensive silk?
This is completely contrary to Zhen Changzhi’s management personality.
When things go wrong, there must be a reason.
"But..." Ling Yuanbao thought for a moment and said, "As a court official, if there is any occasion where he needs to dress decently...or make a set of good clothes for his children during the holidays, Isn't it normal? And even if it doesn't match, it's still a matter of two taels of silver?"
"No more." Liang Yue turned to the next page.
There are also records about cloth: six taels of silver were used to buy thirty feet of gold and silk to make clothes.
If you continue to scroll, every time you look at the accounts related to the purchase of cloth and the production of clothing, there will be an expense for buying gold and silk.
"Did you find these expensive clothes made of so-called gold silk when you searched Zhen's house?" Liang Yue asked.
"Indeed not." Ling Yuanbao thought about it carefully, shook his head, and suddenly said: "Ah! When Zhen Changzhi's body was found, the rope used to hang himself was a piece of silk embedded with gold wire, which appeared in The Zhen family was a little strange. They thought it was brought here by the murderer. "
"And the most important thing is..." Liang Yue opened the file again.
"This?" Ling Yuanbao gradually showed a surprised look: "Every time the Zhen Mansion purchases gold silk, it is one month after he handles a certain project!"
After noticing that there is something wrong with the gold silk, Later, Liang Yue compared the timeline in the file with the timeline of purchasing the golden silk in his mind, and found this clue that was not a coincidence.
"If my guess is correct, then the golden silk in the accounts is most likely a reference to something that replaces money." While Ling Yuanbao opened his mouth, Liang Yue continued to output: "Maybe this is the bribe Zhen Changzhi accepted!"
......
Ling Yuanbao turned over the evidence, and also turned over the ribbon hanging Zhen Changzhi come out.
It was a red silk ribbon with gold thread embedded inside. It was several feet long. It felt densely made and of high quality. It looked like extremely expensive fabric. The fact that such a thin piece can support such a big living person shows that the quality is absolutely excellent.
Liang Yue said: "I have never seen this kind of fabric before. It looks very unique in craftsmanship."
"Me too." Ling Yuanbao nodded immediately.
"Our only breakthrough now may be to find the origin of this golden silk." Liang Yue said again.
Of all the seemingly perfect things run by Zhen Changzhi, this is the only place where something is wrong, and they must continue to dig deeper.
"But where to find it?" Ling Yuanbao asked: "Zhen Changzhi is dead, and it is not stated in his account books."
"Maybe someone knows..." Liang Yue said lightly A smile. After Zhen Chang's death, because the origin of the stolen money in the family was never investigated clearly, and the investigation of the Ministry of Industry was not concluded, the Zhen family were also imprisoned in the Prison of the Ministry of Punishment, with constant pressure on them, hoping that one day they would be able to Speaking of valuable content - in fact, only two people, Zhen Xiaohao and the old concierge.
Ling Yuanbao took Liang Yue down to the dark prison. The damp and smelly environment around him made him frown. From time to time, screams came from the depths, and the torture instruments everywhere were stained with blood.
In this kind of environment, after being bullied and frightened for many days, even without severe torture, it is difficult for a person's mental state to be normal.
When Liang Yue saw Zhen Xiaohao, this arrogant and domineering second-generation official who bullied his classmates was digging dirt on the ground.
Seeing Liang Yue coming over, Zhen Xiaohao jumped up, pointed at him and shouted: "He killed my father! They must have killed my father! Let me go, let me go! Ah Ah!”
Both of them didn’t bother to pay attention to him and walked over.
In order to prevent collusion, the old concierge was detained far away from Zhen Xiaohao’s cell.
The old man seemed much more stable. He sat there and stared blankly at the cell door, wondering if it was a professional habit.
He is the person Liang Yue is looking for.
"Uncle!" Liang Yue waved the piece of golden silk at him outside the cell door, "Do you know where you bought this piece of golden silk?"
" Ah?" The old man was stunned, "What kind of gold silk?"
"This piece of gold silk!" Liang Yue shouted.
"Golden monkey?" the old man replied loudly.
"Come on..." Ling Yuanbao covered his forehead, "It was the same when we interrogated this old man. He was deaf and confused, and couldn't communicate at all."
"That's it..." Liang Yue turned his back and said to her in a low voice: "Forget it if he doesn't know anything else. If he can't tell you the origin of this golden silk, it's useless to keep him. If you ask me, you might as well murder the master's family. Let him be charged with the crime and just settle the case..."
"Yes, that's all we have to do," Ling Yuanbao whispered, "I originally wanted to let him go after he told me. It seems that it’s okay to blame it all on him. Anyway, he is old and stupid. He probably won’t know what he is doing in court.” Mosquitoes were no different. After the old concierge stretched out his neck to explore twice, he immediately screamed: "This golden silk is from Longsheng Cloth Village!"
"Ha." Ling Yuanbao sneered: " He is really pretending.”
"Yeah, I'm just saying that this old man's memory may not be worse than mine." Liang Yue also said.
It turns out that before he came here, he had guessed that the old man might pretend to be stupid, and had discussed a small strategy with Ling Yuanbao in advance.
The old concierge rubbed his head: "Oh, my ears just come and go."
"We've already paid for it, so let's not pretend to be uncles. "Liang Yue said with a smile: "Tell me what happened."
"Hehe." The old concierge laughed twice and said, "I don't know the details, but I remember September 10th eight years ago. On the 2nd, April 3rd six years ago, July 6th five years ago, April 2nd three years ago, August 3rd last year... someone came to the house and presented the master with a piece of cloth, which is this golden silk. The master doesn’t like any jewelry or antiques, but he loves this piece of cloth and often plays with it in his study.”
Liang Yue asked again: "Do you know where Longsheng Buzhuang is?"
"I really don't know this, I have never been there." The old concierge shook his head and said: "I am old. I’m confused, I only remember so much.”
Liang Yue said sincerely: “Uncle, you are too humble.”
Some young people he knows, such as Pang and Chen. His memory may not be as good as that of a good old man, let alone the one in front of him.
It can only be said that this is what they do.
After being released from prison, Ling Yuanbao was full of energy. The ponytail tied behind his head was bouncing. It seemed that he felt the joy of investigating a case for the first time.
"Longsheng Buzhuang!" She waved her fist, "I'm going to find out where it is!"
......
When the two walked out of the prison of the Ministry of Punishment , suddenly heard the sound of a gong, and was catching up with a horse riding in front to clear the street.
Two teams of armored light cavalry at the rear were guarding a chariot with four tall horses in the center. With great momentum, the team slowly marched towards the Yamen of the Criminal Department.
The rider in front arrived at the yamen gate, turned over and dismounted, and said loudly: "The Left Prime Minister has arrived——"
Is this the car driven by the Left Prime Minister Liang Fuguo?
No wonder...
Liang Yue chuckled and said: "What a grand occasion."
"Eh?" Ling Yuanbao said suspiciously, "Lord Zuo Xiang Back?”
Good morning.
(End of this chapter)