Miao Chu

Chapter 87 Bending Over
Song Miao thought for a moment, but instead of asking directly, she praised, "Second Madam's embroidery skills are truly exquisite!"

Cheng Erniang hurriedly said, "I only did a few mendings. I used to want to take on some jobs at the shop, but the shopkeepers wouldn't accept my work after seeing my attempts. How could it be considered good?"

Song Miao then pointed to the bamboo branch and said, "Isn't it beautifully embroidered enough?"

When Cheng Erniang came over and took a look, she shook her head and said, "I didn't embroider this. The clothes were like this when they were washed. They were originally brought by the higher-ups."

As she spoke, she turned up another garment hanging nearby and showed Song Miao the patched area, saying, "This is the patch I made; it's really not presentable."

Upon closer inspection, Song Miao found that the stitches were indeed only fine, with some areas even being uneven. It was fine for mending and patching, but definitely not suitable for embroidering bamboo branches.

She then pointed back to the bamboo branch and praised, "It's really beautiful. I'd like to have someone do some embroidery on it. The craftsmanship here is outstanding. I wonder how much it costs? Could you ask the owner of the garment?"

"It must be a large room in the south wing."

As she spoke, Cheng Erniang glanced at the cuffs of the clothes and laughed, "You guessed it right away. I washed his clothes twice, and I tattooed words on the cuffs."

Song Miao looked at the cuff and sure enough, there was a small "Xu" embroidered there.

Although it's just a single character, it looks like it's newly embroidered. It's not just simple horizontal and vertical lines, but rather the work of flying needles and threads, already formed, making the clothes that have been worn out for who knows how long look even more pitiful.

"I wonder if Xu Da is here right now?"

“I only saw him twice when I came here, and I haven’t seen him for the past few days,” Cheng Erniang said. “Next time we meet, I’ll ask him for you.”

Song Miao smiled and thanked her before taking the bamboo basket off her back. She said, "I didn't come here for anything specific, but I saw some fresh fruit on the way, and the price was right, so I accidentally bought too much."

“I can’t eat this much, but since you live nearby, I brought it over and we’ll share it in two.”

She took a small rope bag of pears out of the bamboo basket, and instead of giving it to Cheng Erniang, she handed it to Xiaolian.

What child wouldn't be tempted by fruit?
Xiao Lian would even pick up and eat the wild wheat that others dropped while feeding their horses. She hadn't tasted fruit for a long time, and she wanted to harvest it but didn't dare to. She could only timidly go to see her mother.

Cheng Erniang hurriedly reached out to stop her, saying, "No, no! We have no gift to return, how can we accept fruit from you, young lady!"

Song Miao said, "I'm here to return the favor. It's just a few pears, the flesh is coarse and sour, not worth much—I can't afford anything more valuable anyway. This is to thank Xiaolian for the stone she gave me last time."

As she spoke, she half-squatted down, placed the rope-bound bag of pears on the ground, and handed the end of the rope to Xiaolian, saying with a smile, "Thank you. That stone is rounder and prettier than the others. I've already kept it. I'll put it together with the fish in a few days."

Xiao Lian shook her head repeatedly, clutching the rope, but first swallowed hard before turning to look at Cheng Erniang.

Seeing her daughter's expression, and glancing at Song Miao, Cheng Erniang couldn't bring herself to refuse, so she said, "I have some lotus seeds that I brought from home..."

Song Miao laughed and said, "There's really no need to return the gift—I just received a packet of dried lotus seeds yesterday, and I can't possibly eat that many by myself."

He added, "I won't bother you any longer, Second Mistress. If I need anything, I'll come back to you for help."

Without saying much, she carried the basket out of Guangji Temple, bought the necessary ingredients, went home to tidy up, calculated the time, took the remaining three or four catties of dried pork and the half-length of cloth, and went straight out to the Kyoto government office.

***
The atmosphere in the Kyoto Prefectural Government Office, specifically the Military Patrol Office, was rather somber.

Qin Jie summoned the patrol inspectors and several key officers who were also involved in the case of the missing women and children, intending only to have them give a routine report.

After everyone had taken turns introducing the situation they were interrogating, Qin Jie made a bold statement, telling everyone to bring up any trouble they encountered, and that he would help them solve it.

While others exchanged a few polite words, Xin Feng rattled off a string of numbers for half a day without stopping.

The matters he raised were all thorny, most of them not so easy to resolve overnight. Some were slightly simpler, but they still required the concerted efforts of various departments, and inevitably, one had to go to Prefect Zheng.

Qin Jie was completely bewildered.

When he heard the last case, Xin Feng criticized the prosecutors who came to help him for not being thorough enough in their interrogation, and felt that the confessions they obtained were not quite right. He proposed to conduct a retrial, which made him even more agitated.

Given that Inspector Xin was experienced and capable, Qin Jie had no choice but to reassure him, "We'll discuss this matter later. Let's finish interrogating the suspect first, and if anything goes wrong, we can come back to it later."

Qin Jie saw these words as an attempt to appease, but Xin Feng interpreted them as a sign that the matter was over.

Xin Feng had been working tirelessly day and night, and was already extremely irritable. When he received this reply, he felt that he had been humiliated. How could he accept it? He glared at the group of inspectors and shouted, "It was the judge himself who told us to speak. Why don't you want to listen to what I've said?"

Qin Jie frowned and said, "You need to make your point to convince people to listen—these suspects have already signed their confessions and pleaded guilty. Now, based solely on your statement that something feels off, you want a retrial? Where is the logic in that?"

"What I said wasn't just a single sentence."

Xin Feng angrily said, "I've been handling cases for decades, and to put it bluntly, when I'm arresting criminals, those officials from the Provincial Judicial Commission are probably suckling somewhere! What kind of reason do you expect? If an old and experienced inspector like me feels something is wrong, isn't that reason?!"

He added, "There are several inconsistencies in their testimonies; isn't that reasonable?"

Feeling embarrassed by his subordinate's retort, Qin Jie said unhappily, "It's just a few minor details. If you say that, then the confessions you've interrogated will also contain inconsistencies..."

"How can that be the same? Sir, don't you know which confessions are important and which aren't? Do I need to teach you?!"

These words were like a slap in the face to Qin Jie.

In the past, he might have offered some words of comfort, but after working non-stop for several days, Qin Jie was also restless and felt like he was on fire from head to toe, and his temper flared up.

"You should clean up your own mess first!" Having spent so much time with the inspectors and officers of the Left and Right Military Patrol Office, Qin Jie was no longer the same as before, and couldn't help but start cursing, "Have you finished interrogating all your prisoners?! Have you finished interrogating them all? You haven't even finished your own work, why are you worrying about others? Everyone disperse, go do what you were supposed to do!"

Upon hearing this, Xin Feng's face darkened, he abruptly stood up, kicked the chair behind him, and slammed the door shut as he left.

For a moment, no one in the room dared to speak.

Seeing Xin Feng's behavior and hearing the door slam, Qin Jie's veins bulged on his hands. Having served as an official for several terms, he had developed a certain composure. He acted as if nothing had happened, asked the people present a few questions, and then dismissed them.

Xin Feng left the room, but had no intention of going back to the interrogation room. He was seething with anger and went back to his own room.

After a while, the roommates returned one after another, and they all came to persuade him.

Xin Fengyue became more and more enthusiastic after being persuaded, and shouted: "You go and interrogate the suspect yourselves. I'm used to being a troublemaker, and I'm not afraid of being punished by my superiors!"

Having no other choice, the group had to leave.

After everyone had walked for a while, Xin Feng was sitting by himself when he suddenly heard the door being pushed open. He looked up and saw Han Li and Kong Fuyang coming together.

He sneered, "What, are you trying to persuade me too?"

Kong Fuyang said, "Why is the inspector so angry? I am also straightforward and I think from the bottom of my heart that there is no problem with what you have raised. You are just doing your job for the public good. It's just that Judge Qin is your superior, and it is really not appropriate to do it in front of so many people..." These words were like stirring up a hornet's nest.

Xin Feng sneered, "Are you learning how to handle cases from me, or from Qin Jie? Whose side are you on? So, I've been teaching you for nothing these past two days?!"

Kong Fuyang was dumbfounded and wanted to defend himself, but before he could speak, he heard Xin Feng say coldly, "I know that a great talent like you will be carrying a cool umbrella in the future. You probably think I'm just a brute who doesn't understand any reason, right?"

"I……"

"I know what you're going to say, you want to teach me how to conduct myself, right? Do you think your Grandpa Xin has been doing nothing all these years?! You think a mere brat like you can teach him?!"

Seeing that Xin Feng was in a fit of rage, spouting off one sentence after another like a firecracker, Kong Fuyang, who had a bellyful of prepared remarks and was confident that he would not lose to Zhang Yi in the slightest if given a chance to speak, was unexpectedly silenced.

Seeing this, Han Li gave Kong Fuyang a wink.

The latter hesitated for a moment, then left.

After Kong Fuyang left, Han Li did not speak or try to persuade him. Instead, he went straight to the seat opposite Xin Feng, took out paper and pen, dipped them in the readily available ink, and began to write.

He didn't speak, and Xin Feng muttered a few curses to himself. Seeing that no one paid attention, he got bored and had no choice but to shut up.

Xin Fengben was holding back his anger, waiting for the other party to persuade him so he could immediately back down. But the other party's actions made it difficult to either scold him or argue back.

After sitting there for a while, Xin Feng was feeling very frustrated. Seeing that Han Li still didn't speak, he felt his bottom getting increasingly pointed and he couldn't stay in the chair any longer. So he half-stood up, leaned over to look, and asked, "Zhengyan, why aren't you going back to do your work? What are you writing here?"

At this moment, Han Li finished writing the last sentence, signed his name, blew on the ink on a few sheets of paper, stood up, walked to Xin Feng's side, placed the paper on the table in front of him, pointed to the lower left corner, and said, "Here—Inspector, put your seal here."

"what is this?"

Xin Feng first went to find inkpad and obediently pressed his fingerprints one by one next to Han Li's name. After he finished, he seemed to realize something was wrong and asked a question.

Han Li turned the papers over and pointed to the title, saying, "Didn't you want to re-examine those suspects arrested outside Song's restaurant? Zhang, Xu, Deng, Zeng, is that the four you're looking for? I'll sign off on it with you and pull out the files from their previous interrogations. I'll take a look at them when I have some free time later."

Xin Feng was taken aback and said, "You have so many things to do, how can you have time to worry about this!"

“Others might just treat it as a chore and not take it too seriously, simply following the procedures. But the inspector is different—this is a case you uncovered yourself, so you must be familiar with it. Although I only followed along, I also have a good understanding of it. I read the confession this morning, and there was indeed something wrong with it.”

Han Li said, "Official Qin only looks at the big picture and doesn't care about the details. Since our positions are different, we can't say whether he's right or wrong, but we won't waste our breath on him either. Since you say there's a problem here, then there must be a problem."

“I’ve already set aside some time. I spent the afternoon working with the inspector to work on it, and then I submitted the application in the afternoon to request a re-examination according to the procedure.”

In just a few words, he swiftly and decisively arranged everything for the afternoon.

This time, it was Xin Feng's turn to be dumbfounded.

He said, "Following the procedure? How can we follow it? The confessions are already signed, it's too much trouble to have a retrial! I don't know how many documents we'll have to write, or how many officials we'll have to get approval from..."

"I don't need you to write it." Han Li shut him down with a single sentence.

Xin Feng was originally furious, but now that anger turned into helplessness.

"Are you really going to reopen the case?"

He couldn't help but say, "Those prosecutors and judges were specially borrowed from the Provincial Judicial Commissioner by Prefect Zheng. If they turn around and overturn all the cases they have already tried, what will the Provincial Judicial Commissioner think? How will they get help in the future?"

—As expected, Xin Fengfang was not joking; he understood the underlying principles better than anyone else.

"That's something for Lord Qin and Lord Zheng to worry about," Han Li said dismissively, only offering a cold laugh. "How much are their salaries compared to ours? If they can't even handle this simple matter, what are they good for? What kind of officials are they?"

Xin Feng was stunned for a moment.

He recognized those words very well.

"If you can't even handle this simple matter, what are you all good for?"

"You can't even do this little thing right, what kind of job are you?"

In the past, when his superiors pointed their fingers at him and berated him like this, he only felt stifled. But now, hearing Han Li pass the buck to his superiors, he felt completely at ease.

No wonder superiors like to use this phrase to insult people!
That was really awesome!

Xin Feng couldn't help but rub his hands together in anticipation, but after a short while, he asked with concern, "What if Lord Qin refuses to approve it?"

“If we really find a problem, and we signed off according to the regulations, who would dare not sign? If something goes wrong in such a big case, will he have to take responsibility himself?”

After saying this, Han Li's tone softened a bit, and he laughed, "The inspector is the type who gets things done and doesn't bother with these complicated details. This is something that the superior should help resolve—anyone with eyes here should treat such a capable person with respect. How come these two are acting like idiots? Do they even know how to be officials?!"

These few words, while cursing Qin Jie and the previously ignorant official, repeatedly praised Xin Feng, making Xin Feng seem so good that he wanted to grow a tail and flaunt it to Han Li in front of him. His eyes were truly hot, and he almost couldn't hold back his tears.

Having worked in the Kyoto Prefectural Government for so many years and handled countless cases, I've never been on the list of those who get promoted, except when I'm accumulating seniority. But when I get scolded or when I'm assigned dirty or hard work, my name is always mentioned.

Xin Feng was well aware that it was his own personality and his loose tongue that had caused the trouble.

But he really couldn't bend down like that.

After blinking hard a few times, Xin Feng turned back and said, "You go about your business and don't linger here. I'll go submit this approval document, find out the problems, and then I'll call you back!"

Han Li sighed inwardly.

Human energy is finite.

If you spend too much time scheming, you'll naturally spend less time doing real work.

It is the kind of thing that officials should be able to distinguish who should do what.

If someone who knows how to use people were here, they wouldn't have been driven to this point.

Thinking this, he picked up the few pages of documents and said, "Just wait here, I'll be right back."

Just then, there was a knock on the door—someone whispered through the door, "Is Young Master Han inside? I'm the guard on duty in the back office today. Miss Song is at the door; I'm here to let her know."

(End of this chapter)