Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 58 Professionals take action
"nausea!"

If the last sentence had not been added, Zheng Yishu would have pounced on him without hesitation, which seemed quite sincere and heartfelt. But after the last sentence was added, Lu Bing immediately showed a look of contempt and spat.

Hai Yue looked at the steward Lai Fu and said, "Go get the doctor quickly! If anything happens to this man, it will be another life at stake!"

"Go to He's Pharmacy, ask for a doctor, and bring a large sum of money!"

Lai Fu obeyed, but he didn't agree in his heart: "It's okay for this lowly maid to die, what's the pity..."

In the Song Dynasty, maids were called "female servants" and formed an employment contract relationship with their masters. The court also limited the employment period. Perhaps this system was not truly implemented throughout the country, but compared with previous dynasties, it was finally upgraded from "things" to "people", which was an absolute progress at least on the legal level. During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was an incident in which a maid was abused and killed in the home of a prime minister, and the prime minister eventually stepped down in disgrace.

Unfortunately, this relationship regressed during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The Ming and Qing dynasties restored the "master-slave law" to strengthen personal dependence. In the fifth year of Hongwu, it was stipulated that the descendants of slaves would serve forever, and the descendants of slaves would always be slaves. What was human life? As a maid in the Fang family, letting Zheng Yishu go was betrayal, and she would be in the right to file a complaint with the government.

However, Lai Fu had just been slapped by Hong Qi, and half of his body was numb. He realized more deeply that he did not take the maid's life seriously, and the Jinyiwei never took the lives of people like him seriously, so of course they would do whatever he said.

While the doctor was here, Hai Yue began to ask, "When did Fang Wei start having nightmares?"

"It should have happened a month ago..."

"Which day exactly?"

"I... don't know..."

"You don't know? You are the steward of the mansion, how could you not know?"

"The young master is awe-inspiring and strict in his management of his subordinates. No one dares to discuss his unspoken matters..."

To translate this, it means Fang Wei is moody and extremely harsh to his servants. When he has a gloomy face and is in a bad mood, who dares to offend him?
Haiyue asked again: "Who was the first to spread this news?"

Lai Fu said bitterly, "Anyway, it was spread by the maids. The young master was furious about it and beat a few servants until their skin was torn to pieces. After that, no one dared to say anything!"

Haiyue asked about the details of these days and found that the manager did not show any signs of lying.

At this time, the errand boy also rushed in with a young doctor to treat Caiyun.

The group left the woodshed and returned to the inner house. Lu Bing looked at a group of servants trembling with fear not far away and suddenly asked curiously, "Is Fang Wei the only master of the Fang Mansion? Where are the male members of the Fang family?"

Lai Fu said, "Madam has taken the two young masters to the county, and the nine concubines have also just taken the young masters away..."

Lu Bing's tone darkened: "How many concubines does Fang Wei have?"

“Nine…nine…”

Haiyue next to him was secretly shocked.

An old Taoist priest once said that a real man would marry nine wives. Is this guy such a real man?
"Humph!"

Lu Bing's impression of Fang Wei grew even worse. "I'm not asking about Fang Wei's descendants, but about the other descendants of the Fang family. In such a huge Fang Mansion, is he the only one living there? What about the other branches?"

Lai Fu's eyes flickered, and Lu Bing said coldly, "Think of your answer!"

Lai Fu shuddered and said hurriedly, "The young master is not on good terms with the other branches, especially the third branch. We have no contact with each other for a long time..."

Lu Bing angrily scolded: "Sure enough, he is using Minister Fang's reputation to swindle people!" The third house is Fang Xianfu's lineage. Think about it, Fang Wei claimed to the outside world that he was the most beloved nephew of the current Minister of Personnel, but the actual situation is that the two sides almost fell out and rarely interacted with each other.

The Fang Mansion in Guangzhou City is truly Fang Wei's only family. He has one wife, nine concubines, and countless children from other families, not to mention so many maids and servants...

Haiyue's eyes suddenly moved. Looking at the magnificent house, she suddenly started to stroll around and asked as she walked:
"How many entrances and exits does this house have?"

"Three entrances and four courtyards. This line is the main axis. The entrance hall, sedan chair hall, main hall, and backyard are arranged in layers. On both sides are wing rooms, study rooms, and flower halls..."

"Is there a garden behind this?"

"The house and garden are one, with ponds and hills, and ancient trees and bamboo groves planted. This piece of Taihu stone was transported from Jiangnan!"

"Are these beams, columns, gatehouses, and brick carvings also in the style of Jiangnan gardens?"

"Yes! The young master loves the Jiangnan style and specially ordered it to be imitated. Those Jiangnan mansions don't have so much Huanghuali wood. We in Lingnan may not be as wealthy as Jiangnan, but we are not short of precious wood!"

"What is that stand used for?"

"It's the stage for the opera troupe. The young master likes to listen to the operas at the Qionghua Guild Hall. Every three or five days, he invites the entire troupe to perform!"

……

At first, Lu Bing followed with great interest, wanting to see how Hai Yue, the Qiongshan detective, investigated cases, and he was not reluctant to open a live case file.

But gradually, I felt something was wrong.

Finally, he couldn't help it, pulled the person aside, and whispered: "What are you asking?"

Hai Yue said sincerely, "I want to know how much wealth Fang Wei has."

Lu Bing couldn't help but take a deep breath: "Why are you checking this?"

"Don't you think it's weird, Mr. Lu?"

Hai Yue asked, "This nephew of Minister Fang rarely interacts with other families, yet he lives such an extravagant life. Where does his income come from? He can't rely entirely on the money provided by those who come to visit him, right?"

The distribution of money among ancient large families had different patterns in different periods.

From the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, the government offices were generally in charge of overall planning, the patriarch held centralized power, and monthly payments were distributed at a fixed rate. After the Song Dynasty, most clans in the south of the Yangtze River established charity estates, school fields, and other clan properties, with the profits distributed according to regulations to ensure long-term development.

The Fang family is a large family in Guangzhou, and the expenses and income of each branch are also the same. Fang Wei can claim to be Fang Xianfu's favorite nephew to the outside world, but he has little contact with Fang Xianfu's lineage internally. So he doesn't get much money from the family for his expenses. But he has such a luxurious house in Guangzhou, and he has a group of wives, concubines and servants at home. How can he get a stable income?
Lu Bing did notice that Fang Wei's life was too luxurious.

But the more this happens, the more concerns I have.

In ancient times, large clans were always connected even if their bones were broken and their tendons were broken. Unless they had completely fallen out, such as Wang Yangming's two sons, or Fang Xianfu's wife suing her nephew after his death in history, otherwise, to outsiders, they were all one.

Fang Wei was, after all, the nephew of the Minister of Personnel. He couldn't possibly investigate everything, could he? What if he did find something?

But facing Hai Yue's determined gaze, and thinking about the fact that this young detective he had hired hadn't lost his reputation so far, and that after the investigation, he could keep it completely secret and just report it to His Majesty, Lu Bing finally gritted his teeth and said, "Alright! Let's find out where Fang Wei's money came from!"

Apart from anything else, the Jinyiwei are the most professional when it comes to investigating and handling officials’ property!

(End of this chapter)