Rebirth: From being expelled from the imperial court to becoming a high-ranking official

Jin Biao sat in the carriage with a gloomy face.

Although it was now basically certain that Jin Biao had at least killed Fang, Wu Bantou was still relatively polite to him. Not to mention shackles, he didn't even tie him up, but just sent two more people to accompany Jin Biao in the carriage.

Jin Biao's face has been gloomy since he met Jin Cheng. He never expected that such an unexpected incident would arise.

Jin Cheng, I should have killed him if I had known earlier.

Before leaving, he gave instructions to the stewards who stayed behind in the mansion, hoping that they would do their job effectively. Then even if he was convicted of murdering Fang, as long as nothing else was involved, it would be fine.

The Yang family had already left people guarding the Jin family. When they heard that someone had reported Jin Biao for killing Fang and that he was about to be taken to the provincial capital for trial, they immediately prepared horses to follow.

----

The Fang family lived in a village outside Fuyu County.

His family was originally quite well-off, and they had bought houses and land in recent years. Now, they are considered well-known landlords in the neighborhood.

Rumors have been spreading widely these days, and they naturally also heard the rumor that Jin Biao poisoned and falsely accused his wife, so they couldn't help but comment on it with interest.

The news that Fang might have been killed by Jin Biao has not yet reached here.

It was freezing cold and Fangshan didn't like to go out. He slept until 9:00 that day and hadn't gotten up yet, but a servant came in to report that someone was visiting.

"Who comes to visit at this time?" Fang Shan frowned and got up to wash.

"Replying to Master, he said he is the steward of the son-in-law's family in the city."

Fang Shan paused as he was about to wash his hands: "Son-in-law? Jin Biao?"

"Yes."

Fang Qin had been dead for several years, and the title of "son-in-law" sounded unfamiliar to Fang Shan.

"What are his servants doing here?"

As he asked this, he thought of the recent rumors and had something in mind.

Fang Shan quickly washed up and strode to the front hall to meet the visitor.

The young steward from the Jin family bowed and saluted as soon as he saw Fangshan: "Uncle, I have never met you before. How are you?"

Fang Shan actually had forgotten about this little steward a long time ago, and just said casually: "All right. What are you doing here?"

The young steward guessed that Fang Shan might not have heard about Fang's affairs, so he said, "Uncle, this is it.

You know, my wife had a miscarriage and then hanged herself, which was something no one expected. My master was also very sad at the time.

Who would have thought that someone would suddenly accuse my master of something yesterday, saying that my master had strangled his wife. Don't you think this is an unprovoked disaster?

But you also know that when officials try a case, they will definitely listen to confessions. You said that this happened so many years ago, how can my master prove himself?"

Fangshan was not stupid. He guessed it as soon as he heard this. What kind of unprovoked disaster? It was probably true.

He raised his eyebrows and said nothing, just waiting to see what the manager of the Jin family had to say.

The young steward took out a silver note from his sleeve and handed it to me, saying, "Our master said that he couldn't explain it clearly, so he planned to spend money to avoid disaster. Do you think it's okay?"

Fangshan took the banknote and took a look at it. It was five hundred taels.

Not a few, but not a lot either.

"Haha, my sister was raised at home for more than ten years and married into the Jin family at a young age. When my sister died, we thought we were related by marriage and said nothing. Now we know that she was murdered by someone. It's just a life, and you're only asking for five hundred taels?"

The young steward naturally knew that Fangshan was going to ask for a huge sum of money, so he said so.

"Uncle, you don't know that the informant not only falsely accused my master of killing his wife, but also falsely accused his wife of having an affair with him. If the government really judges according to this, everyone will know that the daughter of the Fang family is not chaste. This is not a good thing for the Jin and Fang families, right?"

Fang Shan's forehead twitched. He actually didn't care much about whether his sister was having an affair or not, but it would certainly not sound good if this news got out.

"Forget it. My sister has been dead for so many years. After all, we are relatives. Why should we make things difficult for each other?"

As he said this, he put the banknote into his sleeve.

The young steward also breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Then please ask the uncle to give me a certificate so that we can settle this matter as soon as possible."

Fangshan didn't care. He had already received the money, so he just wrote a receipt.

----

As soon as the news that someone reported that Jin Biao had killed Fang spread, the entire Fuyu County was in an uproar again.

Although there were rumors flying around before, in the end there was no evidence or witnesses, and Jin Biao had been staying in his mansion the whole time.

But this time there is real witness, and Jin Biao is about to be arrested and brought to the provincial capital for trial.

Wei Chengji didn't expect that things would develop to this extent.

When the rumor first started, he just thought it was ridiculous and didn't take it too seriously.

Jin Biao probably knew that it was a false accusation when he accused Yan of adultery and murdering her husband.

He thought it was possible that Jin Biao might have poisoned Yan. But how could it be possible that Jin Biao poisoned several wives?

He had come into contact with many wealthy gentry and knew a lot of secrets of various large families. Who would poison the person next to him again and again for no reason?

Now there is witnesses proving that Jin Biao killed Fang, it seems that this story is very likely to be true.

This matter is getting bigger and bigger. If it is true, I am afraid it will be more than just a reprimand.

Wei Chengji was very upset. How could he meet such a stupid person like Qin Wen?

----

Wu Bantou and his group took Jin Biao back to the provincial capital first, while Zhang San and Li Si continued to stay in Fuyu County to see if they could find any other clues.

The people who helped them spread rumors and gather information were naturally not idle either.

Soon, a hanger-on came in excitedly and brought a piece of news: the brother of Jin Biao's second wife, Zhang, had returned to visit his relatives.

The Zhang family had actually just arrived not long ago. Unexpectedly, right after settling in, an old acquaintance came to hand in a visiting card and wanted to have a good chat.

His family had left Fuyu County many years ago, but he didn't expect that someone would still miss him so much. Although he was a little confused, Zhang Ben didn't think much about it until Zhang San and Li Si came to visit him directly.

Zhang Ben was not very interested in these two people who were obviously hangers-on and wanted to get rid of them casually, but he did not expect Zhang San to say something shocking.

"Uncle Zhang, don't you want to know how your sister died?"

"What do you mean? My sister died of illness. How else could she die?"

Zhang Ben's sister had been dead for many years. Although he was very upset about her death at the beginning, his sister had been ill for a long time after all, so in the end the matter was left unresolved.

I didn't expect that someone would talk about this again now.

"Mr. Zhang has just returned, so he probably hasn't heard about it yet. Recently, the cause of death of Jin Biao's wives has been widely reported."

As he spoke, Zhang San falsely accused Yan of poisoning Jin Biao, and told Zhang Ben about the rumor that someone had reported that Jin Biao had killed Fang, and that Jin Biao's first two wives were also poisoned to death by Jin Biao.

The more Zhang Ben listened, the uglier his expression became. Finally, he clenched his back teeth and spoke after a long while.

"Where is the gold label now?"

"Jin Biao has been taken to the prefectural government office for trial."

Zhang San looked at Zhang Ben's expression and knew that Zhang Ben must care about the girl very much, and he would definitely get to the bottom of it.

----

Qin Yunhe has been in the government office for the past few days and has been getting a little anxious waiting.

I went to visit my senior brother that day and told him the current progress of the case.

Gu Zhi had never expected that his junior fellow apprentice would be involved in such a big case right after taking office. Although there are some clues now, the case is complicated, especially since it was originally decided in Fuyu County.

They were worried that he would not handle the follow-up well, and they were also worried that this would cause dissatisfaction among Wei Chengji.

Although Wei Chengji was only a county magistrate, he had been in office for many years and must have some familiar friends and acquaintances.

Qin Yunhe has just entered the official career, and he is so reckless. I wonder if it will affect his future promotion.

What Qin Yunhe was more worried about was that this matter could not be handled perfectly and that he could not redress the grievances of those Mrs. Jins who died unjustly.

Fortunately, finally, Wu Bantou came back with good news!

"That's great. Thank you all for your hard work. The Dianshi will make arrangements and we will go to court tomorrow!"

----

PS. Regarding the statement about the price of life being silver, it is just a private assumption in the article, please do not examine it too much.

(It is said) that in ancient times, the Mongolians had the concept of life price silver, and once the life price silver was received, no further revenge could be sought. Then in the Yuan Dynasty, there was a system of burning and burying silver in murder cases, which was considered an extension of the life price silver. It is said that the Ming Dynasty continued this system, but it should not have been in other dynasties.

Then the setting in this article is that if the murdered party is at fault first, then if the murderer and the victim's family can negotiate the price of the life, the crime can be reduced or exempted.