Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2856 Master Qingsong 74.0
"Oh, I see!" Jin Miaomiao exclaimed in sudden realization. "Princess Jinyang did have some clever ideas; it is indeed more convenient this way. But didn't the people who moved in later remove this door? Don't they find it awkward to leave it like this?"

“Not all walls have this small door. Only the families of Gongsun Yue, Jin Yi, Ning Zhou, and Yan Chen have it.” Song Yaojia waved to Jin Miaomiao. “We guess that Gongsun Yue’s residence was the main courtyard of Princess Jinyang back then. Both sides are people she trusted, or more precisely, her confidants who were wholeheartedly on her side.”

“I understand now. But it’s quite unusual that people from the Imperial Observatory, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Judicial Review live together.” Jin Miaomiao clicked her tongue twice. “It is quite rare.”

"It's not surprising; they're all essentially related to criminal law."

"What do you mean?" Jin Miaomiao was a little surprised to hear Shen Cha say that. "The Imperial Observatory is also in charge of criminal justice."

“The Imperial Observatory is not responsible for criminal cases, but when Gongsun Yue was young, around twenty years old, he served as the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.” Shen Cha looked at Shen Haolin. “He held that position for about four or five years, didn’t he?”

“Yes!” Shen Haolin nodded. “When we were going through the case files sealed by the Dali Temple, we saw the cases that Gongsun Yue was in charge of handling. They were well-reasoned, clear and concise. There were basically no wrongful convictions in his hands.”

"Wow, he's that amazing?" Jin Miaomiao was taken aback. "Then why did he quit and go to the Imperial Observatory?"

"He preferred his job at the Imperial Observatory to criminal justice," Song Yaojia sighed softly. "He was very talented in both criminal justice and astronomy, but he would choose the one he liked better. When he entered officialdom, there were no vacancies at the Imperial Observatory, so he chose the Court of Judicial Review. Originally, the most suitable position for him was Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, but the Court of Judicial Review sometimes dealt with the Imperial Observatory, so he chose the Court of Judicial Review."

"I never expected him to have this experience."

“Yes, if I hadn’t seen his signature in the case file, I wouldn’t have believed it either.” Shen Cha smiled, looked at Song Yaojia, and said, “If I’m not mistaken, Gongsun Yue should be a generation older than Ning Zhou, Jin Yi, and Yan Chen, right?”

“Yes, when Gongsun Yue was the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, they were still studying at the Imperial Academy!” Song Yaojia took a sip of tea and continued, “The situation in Jinyang Ward is now clear. These families can go to each other’s homes through small doors in the walls, without having to go through the main gate. And the henchmen sent out by Gong Sheng don’t dare to openly climb over the wall; they can only watch from a distance, so they can’t see anything at all.”

"Are you completely afraid to approach?"

“It’s not that we dare not, but that we can’t.” Shen Cha raised an eyebrow at Jin Miaomiao. “Didn’t you go to Jinyangfang? Even small vendors don’t go there much. Basically, only residents move around. So, they only dare to look into the alleys from the entrances and exits. When sedan chairs and carriages pass by, they have to hide to avoid exposing themselves.”

"That's really not easy!" Jin Miaomiao pouted. "Why bother? A matter of one hundred taels of silver has caused a commotion of one thousand taels of silver."

"The bigger the commotion, the more it plays into Gongsun Yue's hands, right?" Shen Cha looked at Song Yaojia and said, "What did they discuss when they were all together?"

“My uncle doesn’t know how they discussed it, so I went to see Yan Chen specifically to ask him what happened those few days.” Song Yaojia chuckled. “He was quite surprised by what I wanted to ask.” “Surprised? Why?”

“Because so many years have passed, he thought no one would remember.” Song Yaojia shrugged. “He wasn’t wrong. Normally, people wouldn’t remember, but during that time, things weren’t very peaceful in the capital. Some people were imitating the Gong family from back then and were swindling people in the capital. The Prefect of the Capital went directly to my father for help.”

"Uncle Wang?" Shen Cha frowned. "Uncle Wang hasn't been involved in affairs for many years. Why is the Prefect of the Capital approaching him?"

"He's not really asking Uncle Wang for help; he just wants to use Uncle Wang's influence to ask Master to intervene." Shen Haolin shook his head helplessly. "Besides the palace, the only people who can get Uncle Wang to help are Uncle Ning and a few of our families. The Prefect of the Capital has been in charge of the affairs of the capital for many years; how could he not know this? He just wants to use the opportunity of seeing Uncle Wang to see Master."

“That’s right!” Song Yaojia nodded. “Later, neither of them took care of it, so it fell to me.”

"Why would I give it to you?" Shen Haolin was surprised. "I think you mentioned it before, saying you did an interesting job, is this it?"

“That’s right, that’s it. In my entire life, I’ve rarely heard of anyone swindling people in the capital, especially using this kind of method. I’m quite interested. I happen to have nothing better to do, so I’ll just treat it as a pastime. However, that swindler doesn’t have even a tiny bit of the Gong family’s skill; they caught him with ease.”

"That's really boring, isn't it?"

"It's not a bad deal. I heard stories from many years ago through this case. How wonderful!" Song Yaojia waved her hand. "None of that matters. I used the excuse of wanting to ask about what happened back then to go to Yan Chen. When Yan Chen heard what I was looking for, he didn't hide anything and told me everything that happened those days."

“The Gong and Ma families have deceived several people in the capital. I don’t believe that the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice haven’t noticed.”

“They not only noticed, they even planted informants among them, just to investigate these imposters posing as Taoist masters.” Song Yaojia smiled helplessly, recalling Yan Chen’s expression when he told this story, and said, “But…” He shrugged, “it all came to nothing.”

"They saw through you, didn't they?" Shen Cha immediately understood what Song Yaojia meant. "Even if they are frauds or fake Taoist masters, there are still thresholds to be met. The people they sent didn't even understand the ins and outs of this place, so they were definitely exposed as soon as they opened their mouths."

“That’s right.” Song Yaojia nodded. “Both the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice sent people at the same time, but the result was the same: they all returned empty-handed. These people had never suffered such a setback before, so they were very depressed at that time. Yan Chen said that at that time they even thought that they might as well go all the way and arrest them all at once, regardless of whether they were frauds or not.”

"Luckily they didn't do that, otherwise their reputation would have been ruined."

“That’s right.” Song Yaojia sighed helplessly and said, “Yan Chen said that just when they were at their wits’ end, they received a message from Lord Gongsun. This message was like a ray of light in the darkness, instantly lifting their spirits. After receiving the message, they went home from the yamen ahead of time, and several of them gathered at Ning Zhou’s house, opening the small gate that connected to Gongsun Yue’s residence, waiting eagerly. When Gongsun Yue finally arrived home, they couldn’t wait to go over and inquire about the situation, but Gongsun Yue stopped them.”