New and dark light years

Chapter 281 Thorough Investigation of the Entire Street

That evening, the owner of the brothel was arrested.

A wealthy businessman.

At this moment, Jiang Jili breathed a sigh of relief. This person was not someone he could afford to offend, and he was at ease.

The wealthy businessman's surname was Hu.

At this moment, Wen Bi sat in the courtroom, slamming his gavel and shouting, "You audacious criminal! You have murdered thirteen innocent women, imprisoned seven young women, and forced them into prostitution. Confess the truth at once!"

"Injustice! Injustice!"

The wealthy businessman surnamed Hu was an obese man whose belly was larger than that of a woman who was ten months pregnant.

He kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "I really didn't know! These things were done by the madam and the servants. I'm a law-abiding citizen!"

The wailing came in waves.

Wen Bi snorted angrily, "Bring on the torture."

Soon, the finger-pinching device was placed on the wealthy merchant's hand.

With his ten fingers dripping with blood, the wealthy businessman quickly couldn't take it anymore and confessed.

The constable then investigated the matter again as he had requested.

More tragedies were soon discovered.

In a secret room in her house, there were also several skeletons. Judging from the shape of the skeletons, they were women.

Wen Bi looked at the wealthy merchants below and asked, "County Magistrate, according to the law, what crime should this prisoner be charged with?"

"Execute him immediately, confiscate his property, and seize all his assets."

Wen Bi's eyes lit up, and he said, "Let's do as the county magistrate says. Men, throw him into the death row. Three days later, drag him to the execution ground and behead him."

Upon hearing this, the wealthy businessman fainted.

The courtroom fell silent again, with only traces of blood remaining on the floor.

Several bailiffs came in from outside carrying buckets of water and began to clean the courtroom.

Li Lin stood there and sighed softly.

Wen Bi stepped down from the main seat in the courtroom and said with a smile, "Finally, I've accomplished something great. I feel great."

He knew that he would soon have a large sum of money coming in.

Seizing properties and confiscating homes—that's all money.

That's the real reason he was happy.

Li Lin said, "This is just one brothel, yet the things it has committed are already shocking. What about the other brothels?"

Jiang Jili frowned: "You want to thoroughly investigate the entire brothel street?"

Li Lin nodded.

At this, both Wen Bi and Jiang Jili's expressions changed drastically.

Jiang Jili said, "Shenxing... County Commandant, I know you have a sense of justice, but if we do this, we will definitely cause the people of Yulin County to boil over."

Li Lin laughed: "Just investigating a few brothels, how could public opinion be so agitated?"

Wen Bi didn't speak, but just listened quietly.

He knew that he had no say in the matter.

Jiang Jili took a deep breath: "I know how the county magistrate feels, but as you can see, most of these cases were committed before you came! After you arrived, they all became much more restrained."

"Were those women who were locked in the secret room and abused the same people I did before I came to Yulin County?"

Jiang Jili was speechless for a moment, then said, "Please believe me, after you become the county magistrate, they really won't dare to act recklessly."

Li Lin looked at him: "How did you know? Or are you one of them?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jili immediately flew into a rage: "Li Kunge... what nonsense are you spouting? Even if I'm desperate for money, I will never associate with these merchants."

He was so angry that his chest was heaving rapidly.

For a young master from a prominent family, such an insult was far too much.

He was so angry that he started cursing people, using their surnames and given names.

Li Lin was taken aback for a moment, then said, "I misspoke, I apologize."

Jiang Jili was also taken aback; he hadn't expected Li Lin to apologize to him so quickly.

He took two deep breaths and said, "The matter of the brothel is not urgent; we will deal with it slowly."

Li Lin shook his head: "I can't wait!"

“You…” Jiang Jili snorted: “Why are you doing this? Can’t you just turn a blind eye? Most of it is in the past, and the government won’t investigate unless the people complain.”

"That's precisely why it's like this—because I can't do it." Li Lin smiled.

"Neither the magistrate nor I will help you. Let's see how you mobilize the yamen runners and local militia," Jiang Jili said angrily. Li Lin laughed and said, "Then I'll bring in the garrison troops from outside the city."

"You!" Jiang Jili was furious: "You've gone too far. Was it really necessary? That's three thousand soldiers. You know what the consequences would be if they entered the city."

"There will be no consequences; the only ones who will get into trouble are the brothels that have committed offenses."

Jiang Jili wanted to say something, but when he saw Li Lin's eyes, he subconsciously took a step back.

He sensed a murderous aura emanating from the air.

At this moment, Jiang Jili was somewhat frightened, so he said helplessly, "Fine... send all the yamen runners to investigate the brothel street thoroughly."

He then turned to the magistrate and asked, "Magistrate, what do you think?"

"I'll listen to both of you," Wen Bi said with a smile.

The next day, the local militia surrounded the entire brothel street, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.

Then a large number of yamen runners went in to investigate.

In just three days, they thoroughly investigated the entire fireworks street.

The results were shocking.

Of the nine brothels, six were forcing women into prostitution, and many people had died there.

Only three of them acted with a modicum of humanity.

All six brothels have been shut down, and their owners have been arrested and imprisoned in the county government.

Wen Bi was very excited.

His eyes lit up every time he saw a merchant who had been captured.

The cycle of raiding homes and sealing off properties continues endlessly.

County Magistrate Jiang Jili was extremely exhausted.

He had to balance the accounts and appease the merchants who came to the station.

They're all locals from Yulin, so even if they've committed a crime, they still have connections.

They dared not approach Li Lin, but instead went to Jiang Jili.

If you have money, contribute money; if you don't, talk about feelings.

This gave Chiang Chi-li a real headache.

In the end, only two people were executed immediately, while the other four were imprisoned, and their release date will be discussed later.

Although Li Lin was somewhat dissatisfied, he knew that he had already done a good job.

Jiang Jili did his best.

In any case, the atmosphere in the fireworks street improved significantly after that.

Li Yanjing even said that the resentment in the fireworks street area had dissipated a lot, and the amount of resentment generated was not as much as before.

About half a month later, Li Lin placed the golden phoenix hairpin in front of Li Yanjing: "Take a look at this, is there any significance to it?"

This golden phoenix hairpin was originally evidence, but now that the case involving the brothel is almost closed, Li Lin took it back separately.

No one has an opinion.

Because everyone in the county government, as well as the local militia and prefectural militia, knew that they might be getting a share of the money again, who would spoil the mood at this time?

Even if Li Lin took a box of jewelry, let alone a single gold phoenix hairpin, no one would say anything.

Li Yanjing looked at it for a while and said, "There is still lingering yin energy on it... It seems to be a magic artifact? But it doesn't quite look like one!"

Li Lin then recounted the story of the 'embroiderer' from a year ago.

Li Yanjing thought for a while and said, "This seems to be a kind of mysterious method of creating evil spirits, but I have never heard of it before. Husband, am I very useless?"

After comforting Li Yanjing, Li Lin sighed and had no choice but to return the golden phoenix hairpin, not keeping it.

After all, Li Lin would never keep something from a pile of bones at home, much less let his wife use it.

They don't lack these pieces of jewelry.

Li Lin arrived at the county government office and resealed the gold hairpin back into the case-related files.

At this moment, a constable came over, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "County Commandant, we've made some progress on the matter you asked us to investigate."

"explain."

"Ten days ago, a scholar came to the Red Cloud Brothel... According to the young ladies, the scholar stayed for a few days and liked to wander around the backyard, which was very strange."

"Oh?" Li Lin asked, "Do they remember what that scholar looked like?"

"Yes!" the constable said. "One of the young ladies is skilled in painting. She said that she would only paint the scholar's likeness if you came to see her in person."

(End of this chapter)