Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 403 Covering the sky with one hand
Manager Li was exceptionally clever; now that things had taken a turn for the better, he could not give the truthful account.

He rolled his eyes and said, "I'm innocent, sir! I only heard the officials mention some kind of demonic sect, and I have no idea how I was accused of such a crime?"

"Today I was preparing to lead the people in the village to plow the fields for the spring, but suddenly a lot of people broke into the village. They attacked us first, and then set fire to the houses."

"In the midst of the chaos, the officials arrived and began arresting people without saying a word. I was afraid something was amiss, so I led my men to try to enter the city to report to the authorities. But as soon as the boat reached the Bian River, we encountered the Guo family's fleet. These people were quite strange; they rammed our boats straight into us. Fortunately, the young masters of the Xia and Xie families arrived and rescued us; otherwise, we would have drowned in the river."

"As for why an official ship came and took us to the yamen... I'm still in the dark."

"We've always worked honestly for our employer and have never done anything illegal or unethical..."

Upon hearing this, Weng Yi frowned and rebuked, "Nonsense! We clearly found many women in your village."

Manager Li was immediately reminded, and he asked blankly, "What woman? Where did a woman come from on the estate?"

Weng Yi raised his eyebrows, but pretended to be solemn: "Lord Xu saw with his own eyes those women being locked in the cellar of the estate. Are you still going to deny it now?"

“A cellar? You’re wronged, sir,” said Steward Li. “It’s true that we have a cellar on our estate, but we only store some winter vegetables in it. There’s no woman there.”

Weng Yi was extremely satisfied upon hearing this; it was exactly the result he wanted.

If everyone in the village tells the same story, Xu Huaiyi, who found the woman, becomes even more suspicious. In the He family gambling case, only the robbery part remains unsolved; if Xu Huaiyi can thoroughly investigate this case, he can use this merit to return to the Dali Temple.

Lord Xu had been waiting for this day, how could he let it slip by? So... he had some other ideas.

Weng Yi continued, "And what about those nuns? Why did they appear at the manor?"

This was a difficult matter to explain, but Manager Li quickly came up with another explanation: "I don't know... The nun is compassionate, perhaps she was being blackmailed? If someone holds those women's lives in their hands, the nun has no choice but to submit."

Weng Yi lowered his eyes in thought. To make everything go smoothly, careful planning was still needed. He looked at Steward Li, and the two exchanged glances, understanding each other perfectly.

Weng Yi instructed, "Send this man back to the cell first, and I will continue the interrogation later." Releasing Steward Li was to allow him to collude with the servants on the estate. Steward Li would do everything in order to save his life.

The situation is even better for the nuns. They were able to get away smoothly. Why would they rush to go to jail?

The women rescued from the village were a bit more difficult to deal with; fortunately, they were all weak and probably wouldn't live more than a few days. There's a saying: "The dead have no way to testify."

He succeeded in this matter, and the He family, the Li family, the Xia family, the Xie family, and even the Zhou family who sailed on the Bian River all thanked him.

After making arrangements with Steward Li, Weng Yi immediately led his men to visit Xia Ziqiao and Xie Chengrang.

The two were placed in the innermost cell. Before Weng Yi even reached the cell, he heard a faint groan. Weng Yi knew that it was Xia Wulang.

"Open the cell door quickly." Weng Yi suddenly quickened his pace, pretending to be in a hurry, and ordered the jailer next to him before he had even stopped.

The jailer quickly took out his key and opened the cell door.

Weng Yi simply hunched over and went inside. He looked up and saw Xia Ziqiao lying on the haystack, with Xie Chengrang taking care of him.

"Fifth Master," Weng Yi called out in a low voice.

Xia Ziqiao's face alternated between pain, surprise, and joy, his eyes reddening. He had never suffered such hardship since childhood, pampered and pampered. First he was whipped, then beaten; his identity as Xia Wulang suddenly became useless. Lying on the ground, his buttocks and back burned with pain. His heart was filled with resentment, thinking that once he got out of here, he would definitely take revenge on Xu Huaiyi. Only with that thought could he endure the torment and avoid begging for mercy.

Deep down, he longed for his father to take him away, which is why he was so excited when he heard someone call him "Fifth Prince" again. His father had intervened, and he could finally escape his current predicament.

“Don’t rush,” Weng Yi said, “I will take the two gentlemen out immediately. Once we get to the duty room, I will send someone to fetch the doctor.”

As he was speaking, Weng Yi was about to order the constables to carry Xia Ziqiao away, but Xie Chengrang stopped him.

Xie Chengrang tentatively asked, "Where is Lord Xu?" Weng Yi replied, "I'm afraid he hasn't finished writing the official document yet. The Minister has handed this case over to me."

Through this exchange, Xie Chengrang understood the current situation. He lowered his voice and said, "Please trouble you, sir, to pass on a message to the Minister, saying... the Guo brothers might be related to the Xie family of Daming Prefecture. My fifth son and I just saw the Xie family on the Guo family's boat."

At first, Weng Yi didn't understand who this "Xie" the young master was referring to was, but after a moment's thought, he suddenly remembered such a person. But that was all.

However, since the young master of the Xie family asked him to pass on the message, he will tell the Minister to listen.

After saying this, Weng Yi waved his hand: "Hurry up and take the two young men to their duty room to rest." Once he reports back to the Minister, he can find any excuse to say that the two young men were innocently implicated when they left the capital by boat, and then they can be released.

……

On the other side, the Ministry of Justice assembled its troops to head to the South City Wharf. A clerk rushed over and whispered a few words in the head constable's ear.

"Capture the men of Guo Xiong's fleet and immediately ask them where the woman on the boat was. Once you find out her whereabouts, bring her to the yamen as well."

Since it was the order from above, the head constable naturally dared not ask any further questions.

She's just a woman; we can bring her back.

As Xia Mengxian walked out of the yamen, preparing to head to Kaifeng Prefecture, he watched the head constable leave with his men. He hoped they could find Xie Shi; ideally, they could eliminate her as well. If they couldn't drag Xie Shi into this mess, they could at least expose her whereabouts to avoid further speculation in the capital.

The coal had only been in the capital for a short time, yet it had already caused them a great deal of trouble. This substance was probably an ominous sign for them.

"Master," the steward whispered as Xia Mengxian sat down in the sedan chair, "what if that Steward Li really is a member of the Demonic Cult..."

Xia Mengxian said calmly, "We'll deal with them privately when the time comes."

The manager responded.

Xia Mengxian lowered the curtain and breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately... this matter had reached the Ministry of Justice, and he could still intervene to stop it; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

While the Ministry of Justice was arresting people everywhere.

In Yunqi Temple, a female official sent by the Empress Dowager was offering Buddhist scriptures to the Sutra Repository.

After the nuns finished reciting the scriptures, the female attendants clasped their hands together in Buddhist prayer and prepared to leave. Abbess Miaojing looked as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

She wanted to explain why Yunqi Temple had so few nuns, but she didn't know where to begin, because she was also unaware of the details.

Just as the group was about to walk out of the Sutra Repository, they saw a nun rushing in in a panic.

"What are you doing?" Master Miaojing scolded in a low voice.

The nun did not back down; instead, she whispered in Master Miaojing's ear, "Master Mingzhen and the others have been arrested by the authorities."

Master Miaojing's expression immediately changed.

The main hall was too quiet. Even though the nun's voice wasn't loud, the female historian could still hear her clearly. She looked at Abbess Miaojing and asked, "Why is this?"

Miao Jing also looked bewildered as she looked at the nun who had brought the news.

The nun shook her head: "I...I don't know..."

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly heard a rustling sound from the corner of the hall, followed by a frantic voice: "Relic box... Buddha... corpse... don't come any closer... don't come any closer."