Daming: Internship also counts as work experience

Chapter 160 Fake Straight

Commander Lu took a sip of tea from the table, sat down in a chair, and continued:

"Zou had never borne any children, so Zhou Cheng took several concubines. Because they were favored, he flaunted them in front of Zou. In a fit of anger, Zou did punish some of them, and then they all died of illness. Of course, this is Zou's own account. Zou meant that those concubines were not punished because they were pregnant; none of them had ever been pregnant. But Zhou Cheng didn't believe it. Over the years, whenever he returned home and no one was there, he assumed that Zou had killed them after they became pregnant..."

“But Madam Zou knew it wasn’t that. So many women had never gotten pregnant, so Madam Zou thought it might be Zhou Cheng’s problem, so she went to Zhao Dewen, wanting to borrow a seed.” Jia Chuan interrupted Lu Baihu and said calmly.

Lu Baihu nodded emphatically and said, "Zou said it was all seven or eight years ago. She only said she was going back to her parents' home for a few days. Zhou Cheng never stopped her. At that time, Zhou Cheng could listen to whatever Zou said. That's how Zhao Dewen was promoted to deputy envoy. But Zou said that since Zhao Dewen was promoted to deputy envoy, he has never been to Zou's parents' home again."

Gao Yuntian's eyes widened as he asked, "The other three didn't get up here in the same way, did they?"

Lu Baihu shook his head and said, "Besides Zhao Dewen, Zou's brother also helped her find a pharmacy clerk, but her belly just won't budge..."

"Also? You mean Zhao Dewen was also found by Zou's brother?" Jia Chuan asked.

"Zou Shi spends all her time in the inner quarters. Even if she had the desire, she wouldn't have the opportunity. This method was even devised by her brother. She said that back then, Zhou Cheng was so poor that he was barely clinging to life. It was the Zou family that took him in and made him a clerk in their pharmacy. It was only after he married her that his family used money to send him to the herb-gathering bureau. For the first few years, things were fine. Zhou Cheng didn't show any obvious disdain for Zou Shi. But after he gained a foothold, he started to treat Zou Shi differently. Originally, Zou Shi's family sent him to the herb-gathering bureau to make it easier for their pharmacy to do business. But gradually, Zhou Cheng's attitude towards them changed. Zou Shi's family thought that if they had a child, Zhou Cheng would behave himself."

Jia Chuan remained silent, frowning in deep thought.

Gao Yuntian thought for a moment and said, "That means Zou and her family conspired to poison Zhou Cheng, just to prevent the family's wealth from flowing out. Think about it, a simple set of jewelry costs several taels of gold. That's what we know. How much more is there that we don't know about? Zou believes all of this should belong to her. She has no children and no one to carry on the family line. If Zhou Cheng brings a child back one day, this vast fortune will have nothing to do with the Zou family anymore."

Jia Chuan looked up at Commander Lu and asked, "How much or how little jewelry did you see in the study yesterday?"

"It's not a lot. There are also some jade pendants, antiques, calligraphy and paintings. I..." Commander Lu glanced at Gao Yuntian: "I brought back some of them."

"For a wealthy family, are those things nothing?" Jia Chuan seemed not to have heard the second half of the sentence.

Lu Baihu nodded and said, "He's only slightly better off than an average wealthy household, but he doesn't quite match Zhou Cheng's status... It's a lucrative position for him. Every year he secretly withholds some medicinal herbs, and he makes a fortune just by reselling them..."

"Aren't you afraid of being reported to the old prince for doing this?" Jia Chuan asked, frowning.

Lu Baihu stared at Jia Chuan and, noticing that Jia Chuan was asking seriously, looked at Gao Yuntian with a puzzled expression.

Gao Yuntian calmly said, "In his eyes, people with official positions should only receive a salary."

Jia Chuan exclaimed, "Oh dear," and said, "Never mind if I asked. I was just saying. If this position is so lucrative... how many people would be eyeing it? How could he have held it so smoothly for so many years? It seems like he doesn't have any powerful backers..."

Before Jia Chuan could finish speaking, Chen Mo's voice came from outside the city gate: "Be careful! Shunzi isn't married yet. When using 'Dahuang' (a type of herbal medicine), the worst thing you can do is lose control. If Shunzi hadn't dodged quickly, you would have murdered your husband! Han Guang! Stay away from your aunt, or she'll stew you tonight."

The door was pushed open, and Chen Mo entered the room. Jia Chuan frowned and asked, "Aunt? From which lineage do we recognize her?"

Chen Mo grinned mischievously and said, "You, as Han Guang's father, saved his life, so there's no need to be modest."

“Then you should call her Auntie,” Jia Chuan said seriously.

"Judging by her figure, she's an older woman." Chen Mo picked up the cup that Commander Lu had just used, drank half a cup of cold tea, and said, "The Prince of Runan has gone mad, he's practically eating shit. I really couldn't bring myself to try it."

Jia Chuan raised an eyebrow, not at all surprised. There seemed to be no better solution at the moment. He pursed his lips and said, "His trick works temporarily, but it won't save his life! You instructed Prince Zhou to keep a close eye on him?"

"Do I need to tell you this? I had to go through three checkpoints to see the Prince of Runan. Right now, all his attendants are imprisoned. The Prince of Zhou said that his secret letter has been sent to the capital, and he is just waiting for the imperial decree to decide how to deal with his good brother. But as for who gave him the medicine, I'm afraid we'll have to wait a while longer. In any case, he is still the Prince of Runan. The emperor has not yet convicted him, so I can't really use any torture instruments. Let's wait and see. It should be soon."

As he spoke, Chen Mo sat down in a chair and said, "The government office asked when Zhou Cheng's body would be removed?"

Jia Chuan frowned: "The people from the government office came all this way just to ask this?"

Chen Mo waved his hand and said, "They wanted to ask about the progress, which I managed to handle, but Prefect Cai wanted to see me, so how could I not go and say hello? I watched for a while at the Prince's residence as the Prince of Runan pretended to be crazy, chatted with the Prince for a few words, and then went to the government office."

"Did you leave some food for me?" Jia Chuan asked.

"I'm telling you now, I don't dare to eat anything outside. Even at the government office, I only eat until I'm half full."

Gao Yuntai snorted and said, "What's the difference between half-full and full? If it's really poisonous, you'll die whether you're half-full or full. Your precautions are unnecessary. What use would they have for you?"

Just as Chen Mo was about to retort, Jia Chuan stood up and said, "Tell me, what are their opinions?" Then he began to wander around the hall.

"They both thought of the same thing: if they could find out the truth, they should do so as soon as possible; if they couldn't find out the truth, they should find a reason to close the case quickly. They put it very tactfully, which is my summary: one was afraid of delaying his career, and the other was afraid of affecting his title. In short, they wanted to make a big deal out of a small deal and a small deal out of a big deal."

Jia Chuan strolled around for a few steps, then stopped and asked Chen Mo, "I understand that Your Highness is anxious, but why is Prefect Cai also so anxious? The herb-gathering bureau was set up by the Prince's Mansion, so any problems should be handled by the Prince's Mansion, not the Prefectural Government..." "Prefect Cai means that most of the yamen runners are being occupied by us, which is delaying the Prefectural Government's own affairs. In addition, this matter has already spread throughout the city, causing panic among the people. Naturally, he, as the local official, is anxious."

"Why are the people so panicked?" Jia Chuan asked, puzzled. "Although we didn't arrive in time after the incident, by the time the autopsy confirmed poisoning, no one could leave the herb-gathering station. Who spread the news? Immediately order a few Imperial Guards to go to the streets in plain clothes and listen to what Prefect Cai said..."

Chen Mo interrupted Jia Chuan and said, "When I went to the Prince's mansion, I had already ordered people to do so. The Prince's intention was to close the case as soon as possible while few people knew about the incident. That's the difference between the two of them, even though their goals are the same... When I left the Prince's mansion, the people I sent out came back. They all said that there were no rumors in the city, and that people only knew that someone had died at the herb-gathering bureau. That's all."

Jia Chuan sat back down, rubbed his nose, and said, "I was just wondering how Zhou Cheng could have stayed in his position for so many years without moving if he didn't have a powerful backer? Such a lucrative post, and no one else is eyeing it? Doesn't he have many enemies?"

Chen Mo said, "From what the prince said, Zhou Cheng's biggest backer is actually the old prince. When the old prince was alive, he said that anyone who wanted to become an ambassador had to pass his test. Besides good character, one also had to be proficient in medicine. Zhou Cheng must have performed well in both aspects, which made the old prince feel at ease. The old prince often praised him. If anyone said anything to the old prince in private that involved Zhou Cheng, the old prince would not only not believe it, but would also get angry."

“It’s been almost a year since the old prince passed away. Surely someone has been looking for a new prince?” Jia Chuan asked.

"Naturally, someone wants to replace him. The prince said he was too lazy to deal with these things, so he hasn't changed anyone. I asked who had come to see the prince, and he said he usually doesn't see anyone easily. For example, if the deputy envoy wants to see him, he usually won't see him. He will only pass on a message saying that the herb-gathering bureau has something to do and needs to go to Zhou Cheng. But if the prefect comes, he can't not see him. However, the purpose of Prefect Cai's visit to the prince was to persuade the prince not to change anyone. The herb-gathering bureau is of great importance. The old prince left in a hurry, and right now only Zhou Cheng can stabilize the situation. Oh, that's about it."

“So,” Gao Yuntian analyzed, “the government won’t take action. They probably still expect Zhou Cheng to make money for them. But who knows, maybe Zhou Cheng is disobedient and they’re thinking of replacing him?”

"Who should we replace?" Chen Mo asked. "The strangest thing about this case is that if you don't know about poisons, who would use this method to kill someone? Take you for example. You have an iron ruler. Even if I give you poison and tell you how to use it, would you use the iron ruler or the poison? If we change it to someone else, would you use a knife or the poison? An iron ruler is indeed easy to expose your identity."

Jia Chuan was very pleased.

Gao Yuntian thought for a moment before saying, "If you ask me to poison you, then I have no choice but to poison you."

"Under what circumstances would I give you such an order?" Chen Mo asked.

Gao Yun thought for a moment and said, "I can't think of anything."

Lu Baihu interjected, saying, "If it's not intentional, there's really no need to go through all this trouble just to kill someone. At least we should wait. Even if the poison takes effect quickly, it won't kill you instantly. How can we go back to report if we're not sure you're dead? How can it be as quick and easy as ending it with a single blow? Especially since you can come and go freely."

Chen Mo said, "If it was intentional poisoning, then it was deliberately trying to lead us to investigate the herb-gathering bureau. But first of all, this person would have to have poison in their possession. After all this talk, it's probably still related to these people from the herb-gathering bureau. Could it be that they're trying to steal our business?"

"How could we not leave? Don't forget that the old prince has always had ties with Yunnan..."

“Many people have dealings with the old prince, but none of them stay at the herb-gathering bureau year-round. Right now, no one at the herb-gathering bureau has noticed anything unusual. What is unusual? It’s unusual if someone who shouldn’t be there appears…”

"As long as there is an inside agent in the herb gathering bureau, it shouldn't be difficult to bring someone in without attracting attention. If that fake Shunzi is the inside agent, with him around, it will be much simpler to do whatever we want."

"It seems that the fake Shunzi must still have some problems. Regardless of why he was killed, Zhou Cheng's death is definitely related to him."

……

The three debated back and forth, which pleased Jia Chuan. He listened quietly for a while, then suddenly asked, "You still think that the fake Shunzi is a servant, and that if you want to complete this case, there should be other people involved. Have you not considered that if the fake Shunzi is just a servant, and suddenly he ends up by Zhou Cheng's side, where does Zhou Cheng get the trust to keep him by his side?"

Gao Yuntian hurriedly said, "Even if the fake Shunzi isn't a real servant of the Zhou family, he's still someone else placed by Zhou Cheng to monitor him. In the end, he's still a servant. If he could be in charge, why would he pretend to be a servant? He could just let Zhou Cheng appoint a deputy envoy or have him stand aside and give orders."

"Could it be that he really ingested poison elsewhere, and only became poisoned after resting after returning?" Chen Mo asked.

Jia Chuan said, "No matter where he ingested the poison, the reaction was quite loud. He would struggle, shout, and vomit. How could the people attending to him not know? One of the reasons I said before that Zhou Chengxiang voluntarily drank the poison was this. Unless he didn't want to make any noise and forced himself to endure it, but that's unlikely. He couldn't control it."

"Have you been poisoned?" Gao Yuntian asked.

Jia Chuan couldn't catch his breath, so he took another deep breath before continuing, "Furthermore, Zhou Cheng didn't have any signs of fighting, which is another reason why I suspect he voluntarily drank the poison. But if we're sure that the fake Shunzi was involved... then there's no need for anyone else."

"But why kill him too? It's not at the same time. Are we really going to wait for him to report? We don't even need him. It's just a matter of time. By noon, someone will find out, right?" Gao Yuntian asked, then looked at Chen Mo.

Chen Mo said, "Why go through all this trouble? If you feel it's necessary to poison them both, just do it the next morning. If the fake Shunzi won't drink it, the murderer will have to work hard to get it down. The most important thing is that you have to find a way to stay overnight, seize the opportunity, and calculate the time to successfully poison him after he screams. I'm embarrassed to say whether the murderer is lucky or smart."

Jia Chuan smiled, and Lu Baihu hurriedly asked, "Did you already suspect that the guy named Jia Shunzi was suspicious?"

“As I just said, the most likely explanation for Zhou Cheng’s death is that he voluntarily ingested poison. The so-called truth we heard is that the attendant got up before dawn, discovered the body, and ran out shouting… I couldn’t have suspected this attendant was suspicious earlier, but I just can’t understand why he would be alive if his master was dead. Zhou Cheng went home at noon. If he had left a suicide note or something, it would have cleared the attendant of suspicion. But he went back to get jewelry, leaving three other attendants behind and only taking one back to the herb-gathering bureau. And this one happens to be someone who has no home in Kaifeng and was the most recent one to join Zhou Cheng…”

Jia Chuan paused for a moment and then said, "Leaving aside the motive for the murder, from the process of Jia Shunzi killing Zhou Cheng, it is the most reasonable."

(End of this chapter)