The first work of the imperial prison

In the Quiet Nuo Pavilion, Shen Jiang asked a soul question, if there are unspoken rules in the workplace——

"Is Jiang Yiqing with Zhao Xingde or Wan Chengyun?"

The answer to this question is a bit subtle, Ye Baiting and Qiu Xingqing looked at each other and already had an idea in their hearts.

It's not that Shen Jiang didn't guess it, but he just felt that the direction was too unimaginable. He took out his small notebook, searched carefully for a while, and finally found it.

"It's true! There are rumors in the market that Zhao Xingde is a masculine man. He has been to the Xiaowan's House, probably because he cherishes feathers. He hasn't been there since he became the servant of the household department. But someone once saw him and Jiang Yiqing. Good morning, come out of the same room one after another..."

Because both of them are men, he didn't pay much attention to this message, just like himself, when he was busy with official duties, he was so busy that he fell asleep when he was sleepy. Who knows which brother is beside him, but If this is the truth...

Shen Jiang felt terrible when he thought about it: "This household department is a bit scary."

Qiu Yiqing thought for a while, and added: "Regarding the relationship between Jiang Yiqing and Zhao Chengyun, I also found out a yard before, two keys, one in Zhao Chengyun's hands, and the other in Jiang Yiqing's hands. I didn’t pay much attention to it, I just felt a little strange, what can’t be said in the household department, and I have to meet outside in private? Looking at it now, there is indeed a problem.”

There is a direction and evidence, and we will investigate this matter together later, and we will see the outcome.

Ye Baiting was holding the teacup, and his brows and eyes were filled with heat: "Jiang Yiqing looks pretty good, and she seems to be able to let go. She doesn't mind this kind of thing, but some people may not be willing to—"

Shen Jiang: "Who?"

Ye Baiting turned to him: "Who will enter the household department next?"

Shen Jiang's pen tip landed on another name: "Meng Nanxing."

"According to Jiang Yiqing's experience, we can easily guess what happened to Meng Nanxing. It's probably the same way, starting from working overtime alone, being considerate alone, and giving opportunities alone..." Ye Baiting's eyes darkened, "Guess he started from Already?"

Shen Jiang thought about Meng Nanxing's low-key manner, trying not to flaunt in front of Shangguan: "No way?"

Ye Baiting lowered his eyes: "Meng Nanxing was confined to study in a room since he was a child, and he has never been bullied much. Whenever he was scolded, his mother would block the door and scold him for a whole day. He is good at writing and talented, so he must have a heart , I guess, at the beginning, he will definitely not follow. But his understanding of authority..."

"Parents and leaders are very similar in some parts. Since childhood, the authority of his biological mother has been suppressed, which has trained Meng Nanxing's sense of obedience. Facing Wan Chengyun's aloofness, he can't overthrow the shaking power. His first The first reaction must be to escape and feel uncomfortable, but the household department is the place where he came from a poor family and worked so hard to get there. Once he feels like quitting, let alone the threat and coercion from Wan Chengyun, his mother, the prince Shi didn't do it, because he was her only hope, he had to glorify the lintel and win honor for her... He must have struggled for a long time, the process must have been painful, he couldn't accept it in his heart, but in the end he half pushed and half gave in, and he complied."

Ye Baiting spoke very slowly, as if he was thinking and analyzing: "That's why he is so special in the household department. He can ask for leave at will, and it doesn't matter whether he works or not. He can do whatever he wants, and he can go to social events or not, I guess. His vomiting may be related to this incident. He hates such close contact with his boss and feels sick, so every time he vomits afterwards, but most of these scenes happen in private, and he himself will pay attention to avoiding people , and will not be seen by others, he should hate himself like this, so he drifts with the crowd, has no self-motivated, dawdling around, from the household office to his own home, life is like a big net, covering him firmly When he got up, he couldn't get rid of Shangguan, and he couldn't get rid of his biological mother, the only thing left for him was probably a little 'unreconciled'..."

Shen Jiang hissed, and flipped through his little notebook again: "I found a lot of daily information here, but I thought it was useless, but I understand what the young master said. These are evidences, so they are not useless! Then Meng Nanxing is always sick, saying that he is restless and deficient, and he has diarrhea at five o'clock. He is so young and his body is like this, but he refuses to take medicine to recuperate. Who doesn't want to be healthy? This must be another way to evade Shangguan The reason! He was expressing his resistance in a subtle way—you wouldn’t be that interested in dealing with a crooked, crooked, dying person, would you?”

Flipping through the pages, he said again: "Also, on the day of last year's Qixi Festival, Guan Xiuzhu died, didn't he leave very late, and was forced to be called back after others walked, and he was always in the government office? I'm checking In his daily life, he found that he had to stay at the government office for a few days every month. He is not a busy person who is particularly active in business. How could he work overtime so far? I understand now that he is not working overtime. , but was asked to stay!"

Ye Baiting narrowed his eyes: "When he stayed overnight, Wan Chengyun was there?"

"That's right! Because I didn't pay much attention to this information at the time, now that I'm looking through Wan Chengyun's visit information, their time often overlaps here. Most of the time when Meng Nanxing stayed overnight, Wan Chengyun returned home very late, or even didn't return..." Shen Jiang flipped through the small book and paused, "That's right, last year's Chinese Valentine's Day, Wan Chengyun was also in the government office all the time!"

Ye Baiting: "Where are Meng Nanxing and Zhao Xingde's time overlapping?"

Shen Jiang looked for it: "I'm not sure about this...but I can check it! I'll check it tomorrow!"

He lacked a chain of clues, so he couldn't be sure, but Meng Nanxing and Wan Chengyun had something to do, so it was a sure thing!

Holding a pen, he swiped twice, and drew a straight line between the names of Meng Nanxing and Wan Chengyun, indicating the relationship as "has an affair", and connected a dotted line with Zhao Xingde, writing "to be confirmed".

Then came Li Guangji and Guan Xiuzhu.

Shen Jiang looked at the former's name and shook his head: "Li Guangji is definitely not good. He looks too shabby, and he can't be said to be shabby. He is just an ordinary person. He can't find it on the street. How could Shangguan like it?" He murmured, "I just said, why did their household department pick out a lot of them and they all look good, and the co-authors picked them out!"

"These two people entered the household department together, so Wan Chengyun's new target should be Guan Xiuzhu? The young man is handsome, he loves to smile, he is helpful, and has a good temper..."

"Guan Xiuzhu didn't follow suit."

Ye Baiting narrowed his eyes: "Although Guan Xiuzhu doesn't have such a tough background as Deng Huaqi, he picks places to hang out at will, and is not afraid of any troubles. After all, he is also a scholarly family, with integrity in three views, and the bottom line of being kind and good-tempered is not to be bullied. He either didn't understand the olive branch offered by the other party, or he understood it and rejected it directly..."

"That's why we suffered such a catastrophe!" Shen Jiangguang felt very sorry when he heard it.

After regretting it, he still had a question that he didn't understand: "What about Li Guangji? Isn't the Ministry of Households recruiting people based on their appearance? How did he get in? His family doesn't seem to be very rich, so it's impossible for him to have money!"

Ye Baiting's voice was cool, with sarcasm: "Given so many conveniences, everyone has to be taken care of, so there must be someone who does the work?"

"A worker?"

Shen Jiang thought about it, and thought it made sense. Today, when he went to the household department, he went through Li Guangji's case table, and there was almost nothing to put on it. Thinking about the endless pile of files, he suffocated for Li Guangji.

Ye Baiting: "The personnel composition of the household department is very obvious, such as Jiang Yiqing and Meng Nanxing, no matter whether they are willing or not, in the end people will follow. Obedient people must give something sweet, right? Or promotion and salary increase, or reduction of work and responsibility "Ordinary public affairs, someone has to do it? Like Li Guangji, his family background is not obvious, he has no officialdom to rely on, and he is timid and afraid of getting into trouble, so he has talent and can use it. Don't squeeze anyone; there are so many things going up and down. , Some people still want to embezzle and cause trouble. What should I do if this little braid is caught? When something happens, someone must take the blame. If you don’t train it in advance, prepare one? Disobedient and tough like Guan Xiuzhu, If you are too upright, if you give the opportunity many times and still don’t get on the road, then I’m sorry, I usually keep it casually, it doesn’t matter if I don’t use it, won’t I use it in the future?”

Shen Jiang: "Then there is Deng Huaqi?"

"In most departments, there are always one or two parachuted people who can't be provoked or dropped off. They just serve as mascots. If there is trouble someday, you can ask the forces behind the mascots for help, right?" Ye Baiting His face was expressionless, "As for Zhao Xingde, he came from this road, either he is a superior official who is not picky, and he can talk even if he is ugly, or he is following Li Guangji's way, but his brain is better than Li Guangji's, and things are done smoothly Well, don't worry Shangguan a little bit, Shangguan is satisfied, pull him into his own camp, become a confidant, let him get involved in some dirty things, share interests with each other, form a more stable alliance, can he run away? "

Look, a small household department has everything that should be there, neat and tidy. There are not only endless jobs in the workplace, overtime in [-], but also suppression and control hidden in the dark. Every newcomer comes in, A fixed direction has been planned long ago. Every step you take, every choice you make seems to be made by yourself, but in fact it is all in the hands of others. , drifting with the tide, becoming the appearance you hate the most; either, you actively join in with the crowd, and the scenery is boundless for a while, surrounded by flowers and flowers;

Here, everyone's possessions, talents, appearance, character, goodness and care from Shangguan are all secretly priced.

Ye Baiting's voice was very low, slightly gritty: "I guess, the methods Wan Cheng uses to suppress and control his subordinates are not limited to these. As we know, Xu Lian is not the tip of the iceberg."

With a "pop", the candle exploded, breaking the oppression and silence in the room.

Shen Jiang picked up his teacup, poured a cup of water, thought it was wrong, picked up the teapot again, very respectfully, as if he was a god, and offered Qiu Yiqing another cup of tea.

Qiu Yiqing frowned: "Huh?"

Shen Jiang: "I just suddenly felt that... our North Town Fusi is very good, except that we will be punished if we don't follow the rules, and we will be punished with a silver salary if we do something wrong. Our colleagues are very bad-tempered, and they will do it easily. It is very troublesome to accumulate credit. , It's not easy to be promoted..."

Seeing that the commander's face was getting darker and darker, Shen Jiang immediately stood at attention: "At least there are no such messy things! Where to go depends on your own ability. Close the door and only talk about ability. You have to cover yourself and open the door. Commanders are the most protective ones, anyone who dares to bully us will be dead, commanders are mighty! The subordinates are willing to serve as commanders for the rest of their lives, and be loyal!"

Qiu Suiqing: ...

Shen Jiang quickly pulled the topic back: "But I really didn't see that this Wan Chengyun is so capable? Master, don't you think so?"

Ye Baiting gave him face and helped him continue the topic: "People are ghosts, when you don't have much contact with them, how do you know if he is a human or a wolf in human skin?"

"So he was also responsible for the corruption of Ku Yin last year?" Shen Jiang suddenly clapped his hands, "Then isn't he the one with the most obvious murderous intentions and the easiest way to do it!"

But Ye Baiting shook his head: "Whether it is murder or not, there is not enough evidence right now, so it cannot be determined at will, but Ku Yin is corrupt, and it is too risky for one person to do it alone. Looking at his heart and wrist, I tend to be another way. He has received enough benefits. But it may not be possible to leave a lot of evidence by personally handling it, and it will be used as a handle."

He guessed that there was an accomplice in this matter. Once an accident occurs and the matter is exposed, the people who have divided the money are like grasshoppers on the same rope. They must work together as a team to eliminate hidden dangers.

Shen Jiang: "Guan Xiuzhu is a hard-headed person from the beginning to the end in the mouth of the household department. He is ignorant, does not listen to persuasion, and does not cooperate. According to the young master, in this incident of embezzling Kuyin, he He is the one who is responsible, but he is not stupid, so if he is asked to carry it, he will carry it? Could it be that he has some reason and was caught by others? Or is all the evidence at that time all framed?"

Ye Baiting: "My tendency is to frame. Guan Xiuzhu is a good person. The commander and I have walked the road he walked on the Qixi Festival last year. Some people are very impressed with him. When people chat naturally in daily life, most of them will not Lie, I can feel his tenderness and consideration, he is happy to help others, and I know that he has great ambitions and a bright future, and he is indeed a man of character...Isn't he, Commander?"

Qiu Xunqing refilled his cup of tea: "...um."

Shen Jiang turned the pen in his hand, thoughtful: "But to frame a trap, there must be something. There is nothing, how to frame? Do you do it temporarily? There are too many loopholes, and it is easy to be found out!"

"That's why I said, this is the one who was prepared 'in advance' to take the blame."

Ye Baiting narrowed his eyes: "It's not easy for a Shangguan with a heart to kill a subordinate? He knows what he wants, what he has taken, what he is going to take, and where he can make it easier for others. What is possible? Exploding Thunder, I picked out some related matters and handed them over to Guan Xiuzhu——Guan Xiuzhu only joined the household department last year, and he was a newcomer in the workplace. A hidden cat buried in layers of matters? As long as he picks up, handles, and has his signature and stamp in the formalities, then if something happens, he won’t even try to run away, no one else is needed, and the household department will check it out by himself , you can pick out his various 'little braids', if you have carefully collected evidence about him, you don't have to be limited to the days when he died, look forward, and you should find relevant evidence."

Shen Jiang lowered his head, flipped through his little notebook again, and slapped his thigh after a while: "It really is! In April and May, Guan Xiuzhu was very busy. During that time, the household department entered the tax bank. There are many things to be busy inside and outside, and the records need to be supplemented. After the flood in the south of the Yangtze River happened, he was even busier, and it seemed that he had arranged a lot of... shopping?"

Ye Baiting: "Buy?"

No matter how detailed Shen Jiang was, he couldn't find it, so he could only shake his head, and the room quickly fell into silence.

Qiu Yiqing spoke slowly, explaining to the two of them: "The Ministry of Households draws out money for disaster relief, but what the disaster-stricken area needs is not money."

Ye Baiting understood in seconds, his eyes lit up: "It's something you can buy with money!"

Hatred and suspicion: "From the moment the silver is out of the warehouse, even before it is out of the warehouse, the direction of distribution has been decided. What needs to be replaced, what can be bought in the local area, should be replaced less If you can’t buy it locally, you can exchange more. The money and supplies must arrive at the disaster area at the same time, so as to alleviate the plight of the people in the disaster area as soon as possible. Check it out."

It seems rigorous and there are no loopholes, but in fact, there are many places where you can do it.

"When the merchant accepts the order, he knows that it was purchased by the government and will not be in arrears. Generally, he will immediately check the shipment and send it out directly. It doesn't matter if the money arrives later, but only the person who handles it knows the quality, quantity, and price of the goods. gone."

There should not be too much room for manipulation here. Every time the money changes hands, it will be less. Everyone who handles it knows that as long as the books match up, the number of things is enough, but the things that are actually sent to the disaster area may not be so good. up...

There is no need to explain this kind of thing, everyone can think of it, Shen Jiang touched his chin: "So where did the price difference in the middle go..."

Ye Baiting's eyebrows were dark: "Businessmen probably don't dare to be greedy. At most, they make small profits but sell quickly. On their own business orders, they can be regarded as making a lot of money. Those who buy and do things will also get some small profits. Making false claims, such as asking merchants to take inferior goods, but charging high prices on the books, earning dirty money from intermediary communication, how much you earn depends on whether you are ruthless or not, and whether you have a good relationship with the backer, big head, naturally It has flowed into the hands of the corrupt Gao Mi, whoever these middlemen are, and whoever the money will eventually flow into.”

Qiu Xunqing: "The household department has to go through a lot of procedures for disaster relief. Almost every department has to go through it, and every important official has to sign an approval slip."

Shen Jiang was very surprised: "Doesn't it mean that everyone knows about this and everyone participated?"

Qiu Xunqing: "Whether it is true or not, and how much you participated in, are still being investigated."

Shen Jiang looked at Ye Baiting: "Then Guan Xiuzhu, whose world is turbid but only me is pure, isn't he also..."

Ye Baiting's eyebrows were dark: "He was excluded."

Shen Jiang: "But didn't the household department still have a banquet in his private house?"

"Didn't you hear what Jiang Yiqing said today? This is the rule of the Ministry of Household Affairs. From top to bottom, people there will inevitably organize banquets and cultivate cohesion. There are both upper and lower officials, and he is the only one who is missed. Isn't it true? Too obvious?"

Ye Baiting said: "When he rejected those 'opportunities' and refused to listen to other people's 'persuasion', he had already been abandoned. He was cheerful and loved to laugh, he was willing to help others, he had a bottom line in his heart, and he was persistent, but he was isolated. .It is easy to break if it is too rigid. 'When the water is clear, there will be no fish'. This is the official rule here, and it is not so easy to do it with the light."

The truth in these words is too heavy, Shen Jiang, a man, was hit hard: "Yes, is that so?"

As a Jin Yiwei, he had to admit that he had done a little bit of bad things and made a little bit of profit, but he had never seen the scary way of the household department before.

Qiu Yiqing: "After investigation, Zhao Xingde, Deng Huaqi, Jiang Yiqing, Meng Nanxing, and even Li Guangji all had a large amount of unidentified property flowing into their names after Qixi Festival last year. Some shops under their names suddenly took over big business and made a lot of money. Some of them picked up leaks outside and bought very expensive calligraphy and paintings with very low money, and some took calligraphy and paintings that were not worth much and sold them to others at high prices..."

It seems that all of them are very common, not illegal income, just good luck, but Ye Baiting should not understand too much, this is an alternative way of money laundering.

Shen Jiang couldn't close his mouth in shock: "Meng Nanxing also..."

Ye Baiting reminded him: "Didn't you also check before that Meng Nanxing handed over all the salary and gifts to mother for safekeeping?"

Shen Jiang: "Yes."

"Is there a lot of them?"

"Not too little."

"Even if he is talented, he entered the household department at the beginning and did some things, but he is a petty official after all, and he is not good at socializing. How did he get so much income?"

That's right... If you are a serious official, your salary is only so little. If you don't get something, how can there be so much money?

Shen Jiang's expression was a bit complicated: "That's why you were so sure before that Meng Nanxing followed?"

Ye Baiting nodded: "It's not easy for him, so he has more guilt towards Guan Xiuzhu."

Shen Jiang: "So before leaving the capital, he went to Guan Xiuzhu's house?"

"He likes Guan Xiuzhu." Ye Baiting said, "At the Ministry of Household Affairs today, Li Guangji admitted that he liked Meng Nanxing, but he didn't get any feedback from Meng Nanxing. Sheng, he has a sweetheart, I guess what he wants to do before leaving the capital is to say goodbye to his sweetheart."

But there is no more evidence to support this matter, so far, it can only be guesswork.

With the analysis of the characters from point to line, Ye Baiting's thinking has broadened: "If this incident is as we speculated, there is one thing that is easy to understand. Guan Xiuzhu died on Qixi last year, and the Kuyin corruption case followed. Closing the case, Meng Nanxing should be very painful. He likes Guan Xiuzhu, but he can't save this situation. Even he himself is the villain who caused Guan Xiuzhu's death, but he didn't show it, because the investigation result does not allow it, Shangguan Not allowed, not allowed by Mother Wang, not even his own past experience."

"After Mrs. Wang's death, everything was different. The things that were pressing on him, or in other words, the things that supported him were gone. What he yearned for, what he wanted, but he didn't get it, and he would never get it, and he would have other thoughts. It's normal, he may have the evidence of the case back then, and he has made a decision in his mind."

"He will be killed, most likely on the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month. On the day he left the capital, he came to Guan Xiuzhu's mansion. All kinds of emotions surged up, and he couldn't control himself. He met a colleague again, and his words were too loud. Extreme, and even said some cruel words to reverse the case - he was silenced."