Chapter 228: Take the long view…Geez!

But after Master Zhan came back from Hua Zixu’s house, he called the steward Ma Liu and instructed him:

“Go to Ximen Qing’s house and tell him that there is a maid named Pang Chunmei in his family. I like her, Master. Tell him to send her here as soon as possible.”

“Oh, by the way, the master doesn’t want his maid for nothing, so you can bring a hundred taels of silver with you, as a token of the master buying her.”

“But most likely Ximen Qing won’t accept it, so just give it as a symbolic gesture.”

Ma Liu had accepted the money from Ximen Qing before and was feeling very nervous. When he heard Master Zhan’s order, he did not dare to say anything more. He bowed and agreed, and hurried out to find Ximen Qing to inform him of the news.

Ximen Qing had already received the news from Hua Zixu. He knew that Hua Zixu was dead and Li Ping’er had been captured by the captain Liang Zuo. The remaining matters were just some procedural issues. He was just worried that Master Zhan would intervene. When he heard Ma Liu coming to report the news, he hurriedly called him in to ask.

“What’s going on with Mr. Zhan?”

Ma Liu repeated what Master Zhan said, and then said nervously:

“I have brought a hundred taels of silver. Will you sell the maid or not?”

Ximen Qing was stunned at first, as he couldn’t remember who Pang Chunmei was. After thinking about it carefully in his mind, he remembered that there was a maid named Chunmei in the room of the eldest wife Wu Yueniang. He was not sure whether her surname was Pang.

However, he thought carefully about Pang Chunmei’s appearance and felt that she was just pretty, not outstanding. It could be said that apart from being a virgin, there was nothing worthy of the nobleman’s attention.

And… Chunmei seems to stay in her own backyard most of the time and rarely goes out. How did Mr. Zhan know her?

The more Ximen Qing thought about it, the more suspicious he became, and he couldn’t help but doubt the purpose of Mr. Zhan’s visit to Yanggu County.

Does this Pang Chunmei have any special background?
The relationships among the powerful families are very chaotic these days, and no one can tell which little person has a prominent father!

Back then, a raccoon cat could replace the prince, and now the emperor is a romantic figure. Who can guarantee that Pang Chunmei is not a runaway princess?
After hesitating for a while, he said to Ma Liu:
“I definitely cannot accept this silver. You can go back and bring it back to Mr. Zhan later.”

“As for Pang Chunmei, her status is too low, and it is somewhat beneath her status to accompany Master Zhan. I will ask Yue Niang to adopt her as an adopted daughter and send her to your mansion.”

He didn’t care whether Pang Chunmei was lucky or had someone to support her. Anyway, it wouldn’t be a bad thing for the two families to establish a relationship first.

Ma Liu didn’t care about all that. As long as he got the job done and didn’t get angry with either side, he would be happy.

Ximen Qing asked some more questions about Master Zhan, and Ma Liu answered them one by one. While they were talking, the butler Lai Bao suddenly came in and whispered:

“Sir, there’s news from the government office that something unexpected has happened.”

“Hmm?” Ximen Qing glanced at Lai Bao, only to see Lai Bao winking at Ma Liu, which clearly meant that this matter could not be known to outsiders, so he smiled and said to Ma Liu:

“You have done a great job today. If you have any news from Mr. Zhan, remember to inform me in time. I will give you a reward.”

Ximen Qing asked someone to give Ma Liu a few strings of cash and sent him back to report. Then he asked Lai Bao:
“What happened?”

Lai Bao then smiled bitterly and said:
“Do you still remember the Wu Erlang who killed the tiger before?”

“He was promoted to county lieutenant by the county magistrate. Now that he has taken office, he may want to make a big move to establish his authority. He discovered the clues in Hua Zixu’s case and went to the county magistrate to file a complaint.”

“I don’t know how he persuaded the county magistrate. Now the county magistrate has asked people to bring Li Ping’er and the witness Xiuchun to the back hall for questioning.”

“Du Tou Liang Zuo sent someone to report to us and ask for our advice on how to deal with it.”

Ximen Qing was immediately furious when he heard this, and he slammed the table and cursed:
“This blind man, is he treating me, Ximen Qing, as a soft persimmon?”

“He wants to use someone to establish his authority, but he doesn’t even consider whether he has the ability to do so!”

“This time, I will definitely break his teeth and let him know who has the final say in Yanggu County!”

He frowned and thought carefully for a while, then said disapprovingly:

“My family has always been on good terms with many officials in the county, and the various cooperations have been going on for a long time. He is just a newcomer, and he can’t cause any big trouble!”

“County Magistrate Li should be able to suppress the matter with Hua Zixu, but I’m afraid we’ll have to bleed more this time.”

“Hurry up and prepare a gift, no, several gifts, and send them to the officials. At the same time, make my family’s attitude clear to them, and ask them to control Wu Song and stop him from biting around.”

Lai Bao took the order and left, but Ximen Qing went to the house himself to interrogate Chunmei about the matter.

Chunmei didn’t know that good luck had come yet. When she heard her master asking her questions, she answered everything.

“My father’s surname is indeed Pang, and none of my ancestors were high-ranking officials. Why are you asking these questions, sir?”

Ximen Qing then asked:

“Have you been out recently? Have you met Mr. Zhan?”

Chunmei shook her head repeatedly and asked other maids around her to testify that she had indeed never gone out.

Ximen Qing became more and more puzzled.

But before he could continue questioning, a chaotic noise came from outside. Just as he frowned, Lai Bao ran in in panic, shouting:

“My lord, this is bad. The county lieutenant Wu Song has come with his men to arrest us. My lord, you better run!”

“What?” Ximen Qing was filled with shock and anger. He stood up suddenly, raised his eyebrows and shouted, “Who gave him the courage to come to my house to take someone away?”

He strode out the door and saw Wu Song rushing in with a group of yamen runners. When Wu Song saw him, he pointed his spear at him and shouted:
“Are you Ximen Qing?”

Ximen Qing thought that he had a strong background and was a local boss in the county, so he did not take Wu Song seriously at all. He just snorted coldly, raised his head and said arrogantly:

“Yes, County Magistrate Wu has just taken office, but he has never come to pay respects at the dock. Is he coming here to make up for the etiquette?”

Wu Song snorted coldly and shouted:

“The news that you instructed the housekeeper Lai Bao to force the maid Xiuchun of the Hua Mansion to murder Hua Zixu has already been exposed. The maid has confessed everything. You should come back to the government office with me and confess your crimes!”

Ximen Qing originally thought that Wu Song came here to blackmail him, but he didn’t expect him to bring up Hua Zixu’s affairs. He was startled and denied it flatly:
“County Lieutenant Wu, please stop making up stories and framing me!”

“Hua Zixu and I are sworn brothers, and we are as close as brothers. Everyone in Yanggu County knows this.”

“It’s obvious that the one who killed Hua Zixu was that maid in his family. After failing to frame his own mistress, he framed me instead.”

“I, Ximen Qing, am not an ordinary person who would allow others to frame me. For such a matter, I must go to the Magistrate Li to have a good talk with him and ask him to give me justice!”

Originally, he wanted to put the blame on Li Ping’er first, then he would play the role of a good guy and save the person, and then hand her over to Mr. Zhan, thus pleasing both sides.

But now that the truth has been revealed, he didn’t dare to put the blame on Li Ping’er. Otherwise, if the matter was settled in the future, he would probably be blamed by Master Zhan.

Therefore, the best way is to make the little guy who did the job the scapegoat. I think no one will argue with him for a little maid.

Wu Song was not a seasoned official. Seeing him shirking responsibility and trying to harm others in front of him, he immediately became furious and shouted, “What are you doing?”

“Whether you have killed anyone or not, the county magistrate will naturally know the truth. Stop talking nonsense and follow me back to the government office first!”

“Come on, tie him up!”

Ximen Qing was very unhappy at this. He had been doing evil in Yanggu County for so many years and had never been humiliated like this. He immediately turned hostile and shouted:

“Wu County Lieutenant is here to arrest people, but I’m afraid Magistrate Li doesn’t know about this, right?”

“You are just an outsider, and you dare to act wildly on my territory. Do you think your life is too long?”

“Not to mention you, even Li Datian wouldn’t dare to speak so loudly to me, the master!”

When Wu Song saw that he dared to disrespect his prime minister, he flew into a rage and stepped forward to grab him.

Ximen Qing turned his head to dodge, and was about to be punched on the head, but Wu Song grabbed him and kicked him to the ground. He waved his hand and shouted:
“Take it!”

Ximen Qing was furious. He stood up and glared at everyone, “Who dares to take me?”

All the yamen runners knew that they could not afford to offend Mr. Ximen, so they looked at each other and no one dared to step forward.

Lai Bao also called all the retainers in the village, and they all drew their swords and spears, and rushed out to rescue the emperor.

Wu Song became even angrier upon seeing this, and shouted, “Do you want to rebel?” He reached out and grabbed a water and fire stick, swung it in the air, and knocked Ximen Qing to the ground again.

This time he added a little more force, and Ximen Qing was hit by the stick. He felt severe pain all over his body and couldn’t get up for a long time.

The group of thugs hired by the Ximen family rushed up to fight, but were defeated by Wu Song alone with his stick.

These thugs have always bullied the weak and feared the strong. Seeing that this man was so ferocious, they dared not provoke him. They looked at each other, whistled, and then scattered like birds and beasts.

Wu Song saw that these people were not good people, so he ordered them to be arrested one by one and tortured to see what criminal records they had. At this time, Ximen Qing felt scared and begged for mercy:
“Please calm down, Lord County Lieutenant. I was just impulsive and spoke without restraint.”

“Please show some mercy and let me go. I will have a banquet at Yuanyang Tower to apologize to you and give you a valuable gift.”

Wu Song ignored him and just scolded the many yamen runners for being incompetent and cowardly, and for disgracing the county magistrate.

These people knew they were in the wrong, so they obeyed his orders and tied up Ximen Qing and others and brought them back to the yamen.

As for Mr. Zhan, after receiving Ma Liu’s reply, he nodded with satisfaction.

Ximen Qing is still very smart, but unfortunately he is the male protagonist of “Jin Ping Mei” and is destined to be slaughtered and eaten by Master Zhan.

Now that Wu Song has returned to his position, all three women in Jin Ping Mei will be in his hands soon. The matter in Yanggu County has been settled, and there is no need for Ximen Qing to stay any longer. When Xue Pan arrives, he will be arrested and escorted back to the capital, where he will be slaughtered in the paradise to see what gold coins can be found.

He was just thinking about how to deal with Ximen Qing when a guest came outside. He called him in and found that it was Ying Bojue.

Ying Bojue was the second among the ten brothers. He was also born into a wealthy merchant family in the county and ran a silk shop. By his generation, the family had fallen into poverty. He hung out with Ximen Qing and others, making some money to barely keep his family business afloat. He was the best at making jokes and flattering others.

This man usually had a smiling face and a very humorous temperament, but now he looked panicked. When Master Zhan saw him, he asked:
“Nephew, why are you so flustered? Is there something wrong?”

Ying Bojue was sweating profusely. After paying his respects, he did not sit down but stood in the hall, shouting in panic:
“Uncle, do you know that Hua Lao Si is gone?”

Master Zhan didn’t understand yet, and smiled strangely:

“I just came back from his house. He was there fine. How come he just disappeared?”

Ying Bojue stamped his feet and said:
“Uncle, I’m not joking with you. Hua Lao Si is really gone.”

“He was poisoned!”

“Ah?” Master Zhan was also shocked. “How could he be poisoned to death? Who poisoned him?”

“It is said that it was his wife, Li Ping’er, who has now been arrested and taken to the government office.”

“What? This is impossible!” Master Zhan slammed the table and stood up suddenly. “They are a loving couple and respect each other. No one knows better than me. It is absolutely impossible that Li Ping’er did it.”

Ying Bojue sighed and said:
“How could I not know? Actually, this kind of thing… was most likely done by Brother Ximen, who just framed others.”

“Brother Ximen used to take on lawsuits in the county. I don’t know how many such things he had done. We brothers just kept a distance and never said anything.”

“But now, I don’t know what Brother Ximen is thinking. He even killed Hua Lao Si. What will happen in the future, in the future…”

No one is not afraid of death, especially these playboys.

In the past, Ximen Qing and the people in the county government had colluded with each other to harm people secretly. They knew about this, but these things had nothing to do with them, so they were too lazy to care.

It was precisely because they were familiar with Ximen Qing’s methods that as soon as Hua Zixu died and Li Ping’er was arrested, everyone immediately knew who the murderer was.

This time Ximen Qing went too far and even killed his own brothers. How could they not be afraid?

Moreover, Ying Bojue also had some selfish motives. Before, Hua Zixu was the one most valued by Master Zhan, and he could not compete with him. Ximen Qing was rich and powerful, so he did not dare to compete with him.

But now Hua Zixu is dead. If he can make Mr. Zhan dislike Ximen Qing, he might have the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and become a powerful figure.

That’s why he took the risk and ran to Master Zhan to complain.

He had seen the behavior of the powerful people in Beijing before, and he didn’t expect that Master Zhan would really avenge Hua Zixu and kill Ximen Qing.

What he wanted was a very simple thing, which was to make Mr. Zhan hate Ximen Qing and value him for taking the initiative to come and tip off.

that’s enough!
Of course, there are risks involved. At least if Ximen Qing finds out about this, he will definitely hate him.

If it wasn’t Hua Zixu who died, he definitely wouldn’t have the courage to do so, but Hua Zixu’s death was a great stimulus to him, so he decided to take this gamble.

Master Zhan failed to protect Hua Zixu from death before. If he lets this person who has taken refuge die again, Master Zhan will be disgraced.

He dared to gamble, so he came.

Most of the other brothers had also received the news, but they didn’t dare to gamble, so they didn’t come.

And this is Earl Ying’s opportunity.

Sure enough, when Mr. Zhan heard that Hua Zixu was killed by Ximen Qing, he became furious, walked up to him and pulled him out.

“My dear nephew, Ximen Qing is so reckless in his killing that we cannot tolerate him!”

“Let’s go to the county government office and ask the local magistrate to issue a warrant to arrest Ximen Qing. We must punish him severely!”

“Uh…eh?” Ying Bojue was caught by Master Zhan and stumbled out. He suddenly panicked and shouted hurriedly: “Uncle, don’t be so impatient. We need to think about this matter carefully.”

“Although I know that this must have been done by Ximen Qing, I have no evidence!”

“Besides, Ximen Qing has bribed everyone in and out of the county government. I’m afraid Li Ping’er has already confessed under torture. Even if we go over there, we won’t be able to bring him down!”

Master Zhan kept walking, smiling coldly:
“Ha ha……”

“Still considering the long term?”

“What a plan!”

“What the master said is the evidence!”

“What other evidence do you need?”

“Even if Li Ping’er confessed, what would happen? The master said that the confession was false. Who dares to say it is true?”

“In our Song Dynasty, power is always respected. A higher-ranking official can crush others to death. As long as Magistrate Li is not a fool, he will not dare to offend me!”

These domineering remarks immediately shocked Ying Bojue so much that his whole body went limp. It was a pity that he was not a woman, otherwise he would have thrown himself into Master Zhan’s arms and sobbed.

The two men went out, got in the car, and headed straight for the government office.

Wu Song had just captured Ximen Qing and was reporting to Li Datian when the lawyer came over quickly and whispered:

“Master Zhan has arrived and is standing outside the door now.”

Li Datian was startled and quickly interrupted Wu Song’s words with a wave of his hand.
“Master Zhan is here, Erlang, follow me to greet him.”

Wu Song didn’t know who Mr. Zhan was, so he had to follow him out. He saw Mr. Zhan standing in front of the yamen gate with his hands behind his back, looking very dignified. Behind him, Ying Bojue was bowing and serving him, just like a little follower.

“Ah, sir, I am sorry for not welcoming you. Please forgive me.”

At this time, Master Zhan had already heard from the people in the yamen that Ximen Qing was captured and executed by Wu Song, and he was very happy. The more he looked at Wu Song, the more he liked him. He thought that Wu Song did things that were to his liking, and wanted to recruit him under his command.

However, this was not the time to recruit people, so he just glanced at Wu Song, smiled, patted Li Datian on the shoulder, and praised:

“Mr. Li is very efficient. This case just happened and you have already captured the real murderer. You are indeed a capable official of the court and deserve the title of a capable minister.”

When Li Datian was praised by Master Zhan, he knew that he had done the right thing. He felt so relaxed that he smiled. He wanted to flatter Master Zhan, but he found that Master Zhan had been sitting on the throne and had nothing to do with the case. He was not his superior, so he could not even be considered a good leader.

His mind raced, and the people carrying the colorful sedan chair began to praise Wu Song.

“Thanks to County Magistrate Wu’s keen observation, he discovered the clues of the case in advance and came to inform me. Otherwise, I would have been deceived by these despicable villains.”

When Wu Song heard En Xiang praising him so much, he felt even more grateful. He quickly said a few humble words and attributed all the credit to En Xiang.

The two of them pushed each other around for a long time before Master Zhan laughed and put the matter to rest.

“You two have made great contributions, and you both deserve rewards!”

“I will ask Erlang to escort Ximen Qing to the capital. Then I will reward you two for your merits and help you get promoted and make a fortune!”

County Magistrate Li was overjoyed and expressed his gratitude profusely.

As for Ximen Qing, no one paid any attention to him at all.

The charges had already been determined before the interrogation, just like when he took over the lawsuits against those powerless people.

Those who rely on power will eventually be crushed by those with more power.

All I can say is that it’s the cycle of karma and he deserves it.

(End of this chapter)