Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2879 Master Qingsong 97.0
"Why are you so shocked? Don't they know what they've done?" Jin Miaomiao raised an eyebrow. "They've been swindling their way from Jiangnan to the capital; they should have been prepared to be caught, right?"

"That's true, but they thought they would be arrested by the Jingzhao Prefecture, the Ministry of Justice, or the Dali Temple. Unexpectedly, they were caught red-handed by the Director of the Imperial Observatory. What they didn't expect was that the Director of the Imperial Observatory would set a trap to arrest them."

"Didn't expect that?" Merlin asked, puzzled. "How could I not expect that? This kind of thing is under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Observatory. Even if the Capital Prefecture, the Ministry of Justice, or the Court of Judicial Review want to arrest someone, they would have to ask the Imperial Observatory for assistance, right?"

“They probably don’t know what you’re saying,” Jin Miaomiao patted Meilin. “The things they’ve been exposed to since childhood are completely different from what we’ve been exposed to. Families like the Gong family and the Ma family wouldn’t tell their younger generations these things. Firstly, they don’t believe they’ll be arrested one day, and secondly…”

“The elders of these families probably don’t know either, because they’ve never had any dealings with the capital. If they don’t even know this themselves, how can they tell their younger generations?” Shen Cha sighed softly. “But Gong Sheng’s shock shouldn’t be about his own arrest, but about Gongsun Yue, right? I heard Master Huilan mention that these sorcerers and fortune tellers seem to have a strange kind of worship for the Director of the Imperial Observatory, right?”

“Xiao Cha is right. In their eyes, the person who can manage the Imperial Observatory is like a celestial being, unattainable. He never imagined that there would come a day when he could not only speak eloquently in front of the head of the Imperial Observatory, but also be captured by him personally.” Song Yaojia sneered and said, “Gong Sheng’s original words were that he would have no regrets in this life if he could be captured by Lord Gongsun personally.”

"His love for Gongsun Yue is really..." Jin Miaomiao couldn't help but complain, "...so deep!"

"Who can argue with that!"

"Your Highness, besides thinking that the layout of that house was bad and made him feel uncomfortable, did Gong Sheng say anything else?" Jin Miaomiao thought for a moment and carefully considered her words. "It was the kind of profound and thought-provoking remarks that really resonated with people."

"Isn't it enough to have Gongsun Yue sell the house directly? Isn't that enough to be shocking? Saying that Princess Jinyang's residence has a bad layout and is an inauspicious place isn't that enough to be memorable? You should know that this is the place that the Yun family chose back then. In the eyes of those in the know, his saying this is tantamount to stepping on the Yun family. Master Qingsong was watching all of this from Yan Chen's courtyard next door. Fortunately, your advisor is broad-minded and doesn't like to fuss over trivial matters, otherwise, with his nonsense, he could have dragged him straight to the Gong family."

"Is that even possible?"

“Why not?” Song Yaojia spread his hands helplessly. “The previous Grand Tutor of the Yun family was the one before your master. Let alone a small Gong family, if he was unhappy, he wouldn’t even care about the palace.”

“I know that. I’ve heard my master say that the Yun family’s imperial advisors are all very temperamental,” Jin Miaomiao sighed and said. “It seems that my master’s advisor has the best temper.” She thought for a moment, “Then did he overlook all the pitfalls my master’s advisor made?”

“I didn’t overlook it, I just glanced at it and didn’t pay much attention.” Song Yaojia’s expression was helpless. “Yan Chen said he was really surprised when he looked at it. Even as a layman, he could see that the pits were abnormal, but Gong Sheng couldn’t see it at all, really.”

“He probably wasn’t blind to it, but rather his judgment was clouded by the influence of the residence,” Jin Miaomiao sighed, pointing to her head. “I don’t know exactly how much influence the Princess’s residence has on Gong Sheng, but it will definitely make him act differently than usual.” “It seems so,” Song Yaojia thought for a moment, “There are other reasons as well. Yan Chen said that Gong Sheng once picked up a talisman that Master Qingsong had buried in a tree pit, but he immediately threw it away as if he had been burned by it. After that incident, Gong Sheng never touched any of the things that Master Qingsong had arranged again.”

"I see." Jin Miaomiao nodded. "Speaking of which, there's still one problem. It was my advisor and Gongsun Yue who lured Gong Sheng and Gong Wu into the trap, but this time when they came, only Gongsun Yue showed up. My advisor didn't appear. Didn't Gong Sheng sense something was wrong? Didn't he ask?"

"Of course I asked, and I asked as soon as I walked in," Song Yaojia said, taking a sip of tea. "Gongsun Yue told him that Master Qingsong was ill and resting in his room. They could look after him, but they mustn't disturb him. Gong Sheng agreed wholeheartedly. He knew that sick people were particularly afraid of loud noises, so he warned the others not to approach the room." He chuckled softly at this point. "Yan Chen said that when the master heard Gong Sheng's words, he smiled and said that if he hadn't been born into the Gong family, things wouldn't have turned out this way."

"Does the advisor think he's not a bad person at heart?"

"That's roughly the idea," Song Yaojia nodded, "but I don't think so."

“I don’t think so either.” Jin Miaomiao agreed with Song Yaojia’s statement. “But the advisor must have his own way of making judgments, and we don’t need to say more.” She thought for a moment, “So, after he looked through the entire mansion, what plan did he come up with before Gongsun Yue took action to arrest the people?”

"Miaomiao, have you forgotten? Actually, it was because those people from the Yun family panicked and tried to run away that they caused a commotion, which is why we acted prematurely." Shen Cha smiled at Jin Miaomiao, then turned to look at Song Yaojia. "Gong Sheng, aren't you surprised that the Yun family caused the commotion?"

“Gong Sheng was surprised and wanted to stop them, but before he could take two steps, they were all arrested.” Song Yaojia spread his hands. “The whole thing went very fast, and the arrests were made very quickly. Even Yan Chen didn’t know what was happening and hadn’t even reacted before it was over.” He smiled and said, “I guess not only did he not react, but those who were arrested didn’t react either.”

"If Master's men decide to arrest someone and they realize what's going on, then they'll have to be sent back to the factory for retraining."

“Hey, Haolin is right, that’s what my uncle said too.” Song Yaojia said with some regret, “It’s a pity we can’t see them arrest people with our own eyes. I really wanted to experience it myself.”

"Don't worry." Shen Haolin smiled at Song Yaojia. "You'll see it at the border too."

"Is this case really over?"

“Yes, it’s over just like that.” Song Yaojia nodded. “Of course, we’ve arrested Gong Sheng and the others here, and we’ve also closed in on their hideout, wiping out all the charlatans. The rest has little to do with Gongsun Yue and Master Qingsong; that’s a matter for the Jingzhao Prefecture, the Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Justice.”