The Ming Dynasty took an unconventional approach

Chapter 417 Theft
"Meow—" A cat's meow sounded. Pan Jun and Xue Shao looked up at the same time, and saw Pan Xiaohei walking towards them gracefully on the wall. He tilted his head and meowed at Pan Jun a few times, "He is as confident as you."

Pan Jun pretended not to hear and asked, "Did you get the things?"

"Meow—no more, no less."

Pan Yun was satisfied and opened her arms to embrace it.

Pan Xiaohei jumped into her arms, raised his head high and meowed.

Pan Jun carried Pan Xiaohei away, turned around and said to Xue Shao who was staring at the cat, "Then it's settled. If you can't find a suitable opportunity, tell me in time and I'll break the ice."

Xue Shao came back to his senses and nodded, "Okay."

The two parted ways at the intersection. Pan Yun carried Pan Xiaohei home and asked on the way, "How much did you take?"

Pan Xiaohei: "Wash it out."

Pan Yun's eyes lit up and he quickened his pace while holding it.

Yin Song had been waiting at home long ago. When he saw her, he hurried over to her and asked, "What's up? The emperor didn't say he was going to arrest you and chop you up, did he?"

"No, I didn't reveal my identity, and I didn't scold him, so why did he catch me and chop me?"

Pan Jun hurried into the house holding Pan Xiaohei.

Yin Song followed her, "What are you doing?"

Pan Jun put Pan Xiaohei on the table and said with a chuckle, "Take out the things."

Pan Xiaohei looked at her speechlessly, raised his cat paw and moved it on the furry neck, pulling out the jade hidden under the neck hair. With a thought, a box appeared on the table.

Pan Yun recognized it at a glance. This was the money box that the Wang family's servant had used to store money.

She immediately stepped forward to open it. Yin Song looked at it with his mouth wide open. Just as he was about to ask something, something indescribable suddenly appeared on the table.

All kinds of things, made of gold, silver, and jade, appeared out of thin air. The table was no longer able to hold any more things, so they fell to the ground with a thud.

Yin Song and Wang Cong were quick to catch it, fearing that it would be bumped or scratched.

When the things stopped falling, everyone was holding something in their arms. Miaohe stroked the golden Buddha in his arms, his eyes seemed to be shining, "Master Junior, Xiaohei, did you rob the emperor's treasury?"

Pan Jun closed his open mouth, jumped back a step, three feet away from Pan Xiaohei, and immediately distanced himself from him, "Pan Xiaohei, you are you, I am me, we are two independent individuals."

Everyone looked outside and saw that the already dark sky had turned completely dark. In the darkness, even through the window, it was impossible to tell whether the weather had changed.

Pan Yun immediately opened the money box, counted out three hundred taels of silver, and then snapped it shut. He handed the box to Pan Xiaohei with both hands, "The rest is yours."

Pan Xiaohei looked at her with contempt, "Do you think it's useful? Don't you forget what the main function of your merit points is? You and I are one. There is no difference between putting it with me and with you."

Pan Yun immediately put away his hope and asked Yin Song seriously, "Second Brother, is there any trouble in the country recently? I want to donate money."

Yin Song: ...

He looked at Wang Cong.

Wang Cong asked Pan Yun, "Master Junior, where did this money come from?"

Pan Yun: "Wang Zhen."

Wang Cong said solemnly: "Ill-gotten gains must indeed be donated."

Yin Song then said, "The country is in too many troubles. I will go to the Ministry of Revenue tomorrow and find out."

"But the banknotes can be donated directly, but what about these things?" Yin Song picked up a golden statue, speechless, "This golden statue is made according to Wang Zhen's appearance. I dare not say that it is 100% similar to him, but at least it is 60% similar. As soon as this thing is taken out, the Jinyiwei will come to our door."

Pan Yun reached out to take it, looked at the golden man carefully, then grabbed its face with his five fingers, exerted force, and then took it away, and five fingers appeared on the golden man's face.

Yin Song: ...

Pan Yun thought it was useful, so he immediately exerted force with both hands, applied his Yuan power to his hands, and squeezed and pinched them. The golden man was turned into a bumpy ball with all the marks of his fingers.

Pan Yun took a look and found the fingerprints left on it particularly annoying, so he found a pair of gloves, put them on and pinched it again.

Yin Song: ...

Pan Yun held a huge, extremely ugly ball of gold in front of Yin Song and said, "Second Senior Brother, do you think anyone can recognize it like this?"

Yin Song: "There are only two flaws now. First, who would make the gold so ugly? Second, the weight of the gold is the same as the weight of the gold man. The smart and experienced Jinyiwei will be suspicious as soon as they find this ball of gold."

Pan Yun looked at the other gold ornaments, picked them up, and pinched them together, "This is also simple."

Pan Yun lamented: "What a pity! If we were on the mountain, we could turn the gold into water and directly pour it into gold bricks. This way, there would be no last flaw."

Pan Yun tilted his head, "How about I give it a try and see if I can knead it into a gold brick?"

Yin Song: "As long as you are happy."

Yin Song pushed all the gold items to her, and pushed the silver items into a pile. He gathered the remaining jade, wood, and calligraphy and paintings together and asked, "What should we do with these?"

Pan Yun was in deep thought.

Wang Cong raised his hand and said, "If you trust me, Junior Master, let me handle it."

He said: "The price will be lower and it will take longer, but I can be sure that after the cash is converted, it will not be traced back to us."

Pan Yun immediately said, "Give it to you, give it to you, all of it is for you."

Pan Yun and Wang Cong put away the things in batches.

Yin Song came back to his senses from the shock and began to walk around Pan Xiaohei.

Sometimes he looked at Pan Xiaohei, and sometimes he looked at the jade faintly visible on its neck.

As he looked at it, he felt something was not right, so he leaned forward to take a closer look.

He glanced at Pan Xiaohei, then gently reached out and touched the jade. A piece of it fell off the black jade, revealing a hint of white.

Yin Song took a look at the thing on his finger and was speechless for a long time, "What is this?"

Pan Yun looked up and said, "Ink."

Yin Song glanced at the jade on its neck and said nothing, "Why would such a good piece of white jade be covered with ink?"

"Who told it to be black instead of white?" Pan Yun said, "The white jade looks good on its neck, but many people stare at it when it goes out. It was stolen three times along the way. Fortunately, it ran back before someone sawed off the chain, otherwise the jade would have been gone."

"So to prevent future troubles, we painted the jade black."

Yin Song: "Who came up with this genius idea?"

Several people pointed at Tao Yanbai together.

This surprised Yin Song a little, "Is this Yanbai's idea?"

Tao Yanbai smiled embarrassedly and said, "I have experience in hiding money. Hiding jade is the same as hiding money."

Yin Song nodded and finally asked the question he wanted to ask the most, "Where did this space jade pendant that can hold things come from? Are we in Sanqing Mountain so rich that we can even buy a space jade pendant for a cat?"

"Eh?" Pan Jun looked up, "Second Brother, didn't I tell you that I did this?"

Yin Song said coldly: "No."

"Then I didn't give you the gift I prepared for you?"

Yin Song had a blank expression on his face: “Neither do I.”

Pan Jun slapped his head and said, "Look at me, I am so busy that I am dizzy."

She turned around and scolded Wang Cong, "You too, I don't remember and you don't remember either. He is your master. You even forgot the gift you prepared for him. Do you really think about your master in your heart?"

Wang Cong: …

He forced a smile and said, "Yes, I was wrong. I'm sorry, Master, I'm sorry, Junior Uncle."

Pan Jun took out a jade pendant from his sleeve and gave it to Yin Song, smiling at him ingratiatingly, "Second Brother, this is for you, hehehe..."

Yin Song took it and looked at the jade pendant carefully, raising his eyebrows, "Junior Sister, you have this ability, why worry about money?"

Pan Yun: "Oh, it's just a formation. Senior brother can learn it too."

Yin Song: "The formation is indeed not difficult for me, but my cultivation is not enough."

Pan Yun: "If your cultivation is not good enough, you have to practice!"

She took out a jade token and handed it to Yin Qingjun, who was squatting on the side packing things, "Second Junior Brother, this is for you."

Yin Qingjun didn't expect that there would be a share for him. He was very surprised and quickly stood up and took it with both hands, "Thank you, Junior Master."

Pan Yun waved her hand and said, "Let your master teach you how to use it. As long as you can convert your inner force into energy, you can master the space." She encouraged him, "I see that your Taoist practice is much better than Wang Cong's. You can draw talismans and formations well. You should practice more and strive to surpass your master one day and refine your own space magic weapon."

Yin Song tapped her forehead and said, "Do you think everyone can be like you and that practicing is as easy as drinking water?"

Yin Song took the jade pendant and turned away, waving his hand and saying, "Thank you very much."

Pan Jun shouted behind him, "Brother, don't forget to ask about the donation for me."

Yin Song waved his hand.

The next morning, as soon as he entered the imperial city, he went to hang out in the Ministry of Revenue.

The official from the Ministry of Revenue had been looking down on everyone lately, and he frowned when he saw him, "Does the Imperial Astronomical Observatory have expenses this year? Didn't you allocate the money for the observatory a long time ago?"

Yin Song stopped and said, "I'm not here for the money. I'm just passing by and saw that the weather here is not good, so I came in to take a look."

He glanced over their faces and shook his head slightly.

The officials were nervous and immediately asked, "Master Yin, is there something wrong with us?"

Yin Song started walking around, and after a while he stood in front of a bonsai pine tree and asked, "Who put the pine tree here?"

"At the beginning of spring, the earth energy rises and the wood energy begins to flourish. At this time, if you can use the earth energy and wood energy, you can calm the anxiety in your heart, which is of great benefit to your body and mind. As a result, this pot of pine is placed here, blocking the earth energy, and its wood energy is weakened, so the wood energy transmitted to you is also reduced."

Yin Song asked, "Have you been very angry recently?"

"It's huge! It's more than huge. I'm so anxious that my mouth is covered with blisters. Lord Yin, don't you know that at the beginning of spring, all the ministries ask us for money, but the national treasury is so small. Don't we have to give the most important ones?"

"Given the important ones, others feel that they are being treated unfairly and come to the Ministry of Revenue to quarrel every day..."

Yin Song said: "Tell me what's the most urgent issue. Who is arguing with you? I will adjust the Feng Shui of the courtyard for you."

These things are not confidential. Except for very few confidential grants, the money applied for by various departments and the Ministry of Revenue is public and can be found by asking the various departments.

Otherwise, if you have patience, you can squat under the wall of the Ministry of Household Affairs for a few days and hear almost everything.

After all, in order to get money, the Ministry of Revenue did not dare to quarrel every day, but they would quarrel at least once every three or two days.

Yin Song wanted a more comprehensive answer, so he asked the officials from the Ministry of Revenue directly.

They had just arrived at work, and the anger that had been pent up all night was instantly aroused. It happened that everyone hadn't yet gotten into the working state, so they all gathered around Yin Song and started talking to him.

Half an hour later, when Yin Song walked out of the Ministry of Revenue, his head was still buzzing and his ears were filled with their voices.

Yin Song returned to his office with his eyes wide open. After screening in his mind, he made a list of names, all of which were places and people where Pan Jun could do good deeds and donate money.

Just as he put down his pen, Yin Qingjun ran over and said, "Master——"

He leaned close to Yin Song's ear and said, "I noticed that this morning a young eunuch hurried into the palace, and not long after, Wang Zhen left the palace with a group of people."

Yin Song asked, "Where is the emperor?"

"The emperor is discussing matters with his ministers in the imperial study."

Yin Song pondered, "Wang Zhen never missed the emperor's meeting in the imperial study. It seems that the things Xiao Hei brought back made him sad, and he chose to leave the palace at this time."

Yin Qingjun was worried: "I see he brought a lot of Jinyiwei with him, he won't find out about Junior Master-Uncle, right?"

Yin Song: "What are you afraid of? I have asked carefully. She appeared at the side door of Wang's house with the emperor yesterday. If Wang Zhen investigates, he will find the emperor first. I don't believe that he dares to continue investigating after finding the emperor, but..."

Yin Song fell silent.

Yin Qingjun: "But what?"

"However, Wang Zhen may misunderstand the emperor, but the emperor will definitely not misunderstand himself. Your junior uncle may be able to hide it from others, but she certainly can't hide it from him. Does she know that the emperor will guess it?"

Pan Yun was weighing gold and silver at home.

After a night of hard work, she rolled all the gold and silver into two large balls.

After weighing it, she wrote it down. Miaohe also counted the money in the cash box. "Master Junior, the money has been counted."

Pan Yun glanced at the number she had written down and raised his eyebrows, saying, "No wonder everyone likes to be an official. Being a corrupt official makes more money than any other profession in the world."

"Wang Zhen was sitting in the palace, and his family outside received so much money in one day. Then the money he received over the years..."

The more Pan Jun thought about it, the hotter his heart became, and he couldn't help but look at Pan Xiaohei.

Pan Xiaohei is eating small fish.

It was early in the morning. Wang Cong bought some small fish from the market. Pan Yun fried them. They were still warm and especially delicious.

Pan Xiaohei noticed her gaze, looked up and meowed at her, saying, "There is only this box of money in that room. I searched several roofs but didn't see anything hidden."

Pan Yun looked away with regret, "Forget it, I'll go back next time when I have the chance, write down the order, and when I've done something good, I'll hand the order to the emperor. Humph, I didn't steal his money. I take it from the people and give it back to the people. I'm a great good man."

Wang Cong and the others nodded together, "He is a very good person."

At this time, Wang Zhen had already rushed to his residence. Looking at the empty shelves, desks, and even the precious calligraphy and paintings that were originally hanging on the walls had disappeared, he could not suppress the anger on his face.

He turned around and stared gloomily at the person kneeling on the ground, "Everything in the room is gone, and you didn't realize it until morning?"

The servants trembled and said quickly, "Master, we really didn't hear any movement at all."

Wang Zhen laughed angrily, "So many things coming in and out, and there's no movement at all?"

His face suddenly turned cold, and he said gloomily: "No matter if there was any movement or not, there is only one possibility for so many things to be stolen, there is an insider!"

"That's good. I worked so hard to make money, but a mouse appeared in my house. That's good, that's good..."

Wang Zhen directly said to the Jinyiwei standing beside him: "Drag them all away and find the person for me!"

The Embroidered Uniform Guards agreed.

The servants were all paralyzed on the ground in fear, begging for mercy, "Zhangyin, it wasn't me, it really wasn't me. When I put the money box and the things I received in, they were all here. After delivering the money, I locked the door and left. I went home immediately. Several brothers went home with me to drink at that time. They can all testify that I didn't leave all night."

Wang Zhen was too lazy to listen to their arguments and waved his hand, saying, "Go and talk to the Jinyiwei. Unless you can find the person who stole the things immediately, the Jinyiwei will be the ones to determine the authenticity."

The servants burst into tears. Their small brains raced, and before someone was dragged out, they shouted, "I know, I know. It must have been those people from yesterday who did it. I thought they were weird..."

Just as Wang Zhen was suppressing his anger, the emperor in the palace also ended his morning meeting with his ministers.

As the ministers left one after another, he also walked to the fish tank, blinking his eyes, to watch the goldfish swimming and soothe his eyes.

Cao Jixiang handed him a cup of tea.

The emperor took it casually and found that the temperature of the teacup was not as suitable as before. He raised his eyelids and found that it was the tea brewed by Cao Jixiang.

He glanced around and asked, "Is Mr. Wang not back yet?"

Cao Jixiang bowed and whispered, "Mr. Wang has left the palace."

The emperor frowned slightly, "Didn't they say that there was something going on in the Imperial Household Department? Why did they leave the palace?"

Cao Jixiang took two steps forward and whispered in the emperor's ear, "Someone came this morning to report that Mr. Wang's residence outside the palace was robbed."

The emperor was stunned while holding the tea. After a while, he asked quietly, "Are there many lost properties?"

Cao Jixiang looked at his face carefully and found that there was no joy or anger on his face, but his eyebrows were slightly raised, and he did not look angry.

Cao Jixiang lowered his voice and said briskly, "Not a few. I heard that everything in the whole room was lost."

"Is that so~" The emperor gently slid the lid of the tea, took a sip of tea and said slowly: "Then Mr. Wang must be very angry."

Cao Jixiang whispered, "If I had lost so much money, I would be angry too."

The emperor hummed and said, "Send someone to Yin Song's residence to see if the thing is in his house."

After a pause, the emperor added: "Send someone from the Northern Pacification Office. This matter must not be known to Mr. Wang."

Cao Jixiang agreed.

The emperor seemed to be in a better mood. He returned to his seat holding the teacup, thinking of Tian Daniu yesterday, and ordered: "Go to the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple, and get Tian Daniu's case file out. Ask the Jinyiwei of the Northern Pacification Office to check if there is really a problem."

"If someone is wrongly accused, he should be exonerated and vindicated."

Cao Jixiang responded with a smile and complimented, "Your Majesty is wise. If Tian Daniu knew of this favor, he would definitely be grateful."

The emperor nodded and sat on the chair for a while. He couldn't help but let his mind wander. He simply put down his brush and waved to Cao Jixiang who was grinding ink. "Tell me, was Mr. Wang's mansion robbed? Was it Pan Yun who did it?"

　Two chapters merged into one

　　(End of this chapter)