From the crack in the door, first a head popped out, and then a figure slowly emerged. It looked like the housekeeper of the Ye family. He walked out with a flattering smile and cupped his hands and said: "Mr. Bai County, what's going on? Why are you waiting for such a battle?" , Our Ye family has always abided by laws and regulations, and there has never been any violation of discipline!"
However, Bai Yunbian had no intention of playing tricks with him, and stepped forward without saying a word.
The butler's calculations were disrupted, his eyes clearly showed a bit of panic, and he wanted to close the door and retreat.
"you dare!"
Bai Yunbian shouted, "Do you want to test whether the swords in the hands of my officers and men are sharp?"
The aura of being an official of the imperial court, and the magnanimity of having been born into an official family since childhood, all exploded at this moment. Although the housekeeper of the Ye Mansion opposite usually showed off his power, he was just a commoner after all. He was completely shocked. He watched helplessly as Bai Yunbian kicked the door open. He led the crowd in, not daring to stop him in the slightest.
Behind them, after a brief silence, there was a roar of discussion, mixed with sneaky cheers.
All the way to the guest reception hall, I met the leader of the Cao Gang, Ye Wenhe, walking towards me.
Ye Wenhe laughed loudly, clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty Bai! It has been a few days since we had a farewell banquet that day, and your magnanimous demeanor is even better than before!"
After all, the other party is the leader of the Cao Gang and the helmsman of one of the largest families in Longshou Prefecture. With such an attitude, most people should not be too upset.
But who is Mr. Bai? He said with a cold face and a hint of sarcasm: "It turns out that Gang Leader Ye is in the house. I thought there was no one in the house."
"What are you saying, Lord County Lord? These servants were frightened by Lord County Lord. They did not notify you in time and neglected you. I will definitely reprimand you when you turn around!"
Ye Wenhe added with a smile, and then changed the subject, "Come, sir, please come in, let's sit down and talk."
Bai Yunbian did not refuse. The two came to the main hall and sat side by side on the main seat.
Bai Yunbian said directly: "Leader Ye, I will tell you what I have to say. A murder occurred in Baihua Building last night. Long Ziwang, the son of a member of the Cao Gang, was killed. Your son Ye Mingfeng is the suspect in the case. I am here today to tell you. He was arrested and brought to justice.”
After hearing Bai Yunbian's words, Gang Leader Ye's expression suddenly changed, and he said with a look of shock: "Sir, my son has always been obsessed with classics and history, and likes to write and write. He has always restrained himself, returned to etiquette, and abided by the law. Where do you start talking about this?"
Bai Yunbian said calmly: "Leader Ye, the matter has come to this, is it interesting to act like this? In Chuning County, there are not even a thousand but eight hundred people who know about this matter. Can you still pretend?"
Gang Leader Ye was startled, as if he didn't expect Bai Yunbian to be so direct, and sighed, "Lord County Lord, what I mean is that the nephew of the Long family died unfortunately, and I know it, but the murderer is not a dog! "
Bai Yunbian said coldly: "Yes or no, you can check it yourself after you follow me back to the Yamen."
"Your Majesty Bai County, I don't need you to worry about this anymore!"
At this moment, an old man walked in outside the door. He was suddenly the father of Long Ziwang, the white-haired man who sent the black-haired man to the black-haired man, and the third elder of the Caogang, Long Zhengqing.
He cupped his fist towards Bai Yun and said, "Your Excellency, I found my son's suicide note today. He actually committed suicide. This matter has nothing to do with nephew Ye Xian, so I won't bother you."
Bai Yunbian looked at Long Zhengqing in astonishment, obviously the news was completely beyond his expectation.
Gang leader Ye said from the side: "Your Excellency, the county government handles cases, and it is important for a citizen not to be punished by an official. No matter what, a murder occurred in the jurisdiction, and the official reputation of your Excellency will be lost after all. Since it has been found to be a suicide, it is It’s a matter of convenience.”
He clapped his hands, and the housekeeper brought a small box. Gang Leader Ye reached out to take it, and handed it to Bai Yunbian with both hands, "Your Excellency, the county magistrate, loves the people like his own children. We admire him deeply. A little gift is not a sign of respect."
Bai Yunbian didn't answer, and stared straight at Long Zhengqing.
Long Zhengqing lowered his head silently, as if he didn't dare to look at him.
In an instant, Bai Yunbian figured out a lot of things.
The education he received from his parents since he was a child, the knowledge gained through travels, and after a long period of fermentation, under the influence of the scene in front of him, it quietly turned into an aura in his mind.
The gang leader's son killed his own son, and his son's death was a foregone conclusion, but the gang leader was able to decide his own fate while he was still alive.
If he finds himself making deals and making appeasements, some decisions are not without trace.
Thinking of this, looking at Long Zhengqing who lowered his head and did not dare to look at him, and looking at Ye Wenhe who was smiling and handing over a box of gifts, Bai Yunbian almost gritted his teeth and said: "This incident happened in full view of Baihualou. Mr. Ye has instigated his followers to escape and resist arrest. This is no longer a matter for the people to ignore. Gang leader Ye, please bring your son out!"
As soon as these words came out, Long Zhengqing suddenly raised his head.
Ye Wenhe narrowed his eyes instantly.
"Your Excellency, do you think the Cao Gang is really easy to bully?"
Bai Yunbian looked at him coldly, "The wind and waves suddenly rose as high as the sky. I rode the waves to make the tide myself. Can the storm in Caogang be greater than the storm of Shi Dingzhong, a corrupt official who had his house confiscated, or the storm of Qin Weizhong, the traitor who fell? The wave?"
If Xia Jingyun were present, he couldn't help but applaud Bai Yunbian. He has indeed grown up, and everyone knows that when he is pretending, he is using the tiger's skin as a banner.
But Ye Wenhe also had his own reliance, and said in a cold voice: "As the saying goes, a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake. If Bai County Zun and Cao Gang are in peace, Cao Gang can cooperate to ensure that everything under the jurisdiction of Lord County Zun is safe and sound." If you have good political connections and people, you will be able to advance to other places in the future. But if you insist on going your own way, I can't guarantee what these tens of thousands of gang members will do!"
Bai Yunbian sneered, "If you really had such strong control over the Cao Gang, the Fifth Elder wouldn't have sent someone to cause a big disturbance at the Third Elder's wife's birthday party yesterday."
"you!"
Ye Wenhe also tore off the disguise of kindness, showing the domineering attitude that a prominent figure in a state should have towards an ordinary county magistrate. He leaned back and leaned on the back of his chair, "I want to ask Bai Bai, the gang leader." County Magistrate, what if I don’t hand over the person? Do you still dare to search my Ye Mansion?"
But in this battle, if Bai Yunbian is timid, he is not the proud white man who dares to recite in front of Jiang Yuhu "The world only knows that the mountains and trees are high, but they don't know that the white clouds cover them"!
He said calmly: "You can try it! I also want to ask, if I want to search, do you dare to resist the imperial officers and soldiers?"
Ye Wenhe was stunned. He really didn't dare to do something that was tantamount to rebellion, but the question is, can you, a small county magistrate, just deal with this?
You are so brave, don't you want to think about how to end it afterwards?
Aren't you afraid of the overwhelming revenge from the Cao Gang afterwards?
Don’t you imagine how difficult it is for you to achieve the fame you earned after studying so hard for so many years?
So the old fox faced off against the stupid young man, and the situation immediately reached a deadlock.
At this moment, a high-pitched horse neighed through the screen wall, followed by a rush of footsteps, and a bright red appeared in everyone's eyes.
The red dress was like fire, with flying skirts, her ponytail hair was flamboyant and wanton, and her long boots made her already slender legs even more attractive. She walked in quickly from the outside, and her light and carefree posture made her whole body look like The red butterfly flying in the wind is like a blazing flame.
Ye Wenhe stood up quickly, with an unstoppable smile on his face, "Nanny, are you back?"
When Bai Yunbian heard this title, his mind instantly recalled some of the rumors he had heard in the past few days, and he knew the identity of the person in front of him.
Ye Hongluan, the second young lady of the Ye family, has countless fans in Longshou Prefecture and Cao Gang.
I saw that his eyebrows were like distant mountains, his eyes were like cold stars, and his heroic face paired with this neat outfit made him look so cool.
He looked at Ye Hongluan, but Ye Hongluan didn't look at him at all, but looked at his father coldly, mercilessly, "Are you stupid? How could you do such a thing to protect your son? !”
Ye Wenhe was startled, "Nanny, what do you mean by this?"
Ye Hongluan said directly: "As soon as I returned to the city, I met the idiot's long follower of my eldest brother. He told me your plan and told me not to worry. I kicked him over on the spot and rushed over. You How can you act like this?"
Ye Wenhe's face froze and he said quickly: "Nanny, let me introduce you to me. This is my Lord Bai, the magistrate of Chuning County."
Ye Hongluan said directly: "I know, there is no need to avoid him on this matter."
She said directly: "Looking at you like this, you still think that you are doing something quite skillful, right? Do you know what your behavior means? It means that regardless of whether the elder brother has committed murder or not, you have been firmly convicted of this crime. It’s on his head!”
"If the person is really killed by the eldest brother, even if you can avoid the investigation of the court law in this way, but can you avoid the public discussion of the gang? Can you avoid the elder Long who lost his son in old age and gave him black hair? Do you want to inflict pain on others? It is already a big mistake to kill the elder's son at will because of personal grudges. The gang leader also shows favoritism to protect others, which is even more wrong. Do you want the Ye family to be conscious of themselves among the gang? "
"If the eldest brother did not kill anyone, it would be an even greater loss. Not to mention all the losses and injuries just now, our Ye family has been innocently responsible for all the crimes. Elder Long's resentment will only be directed towards us, and the real The murderer is on the loose and we are having fun, is this what you, a family leader and a gang leader, should do?"
Ye Wenhe was scolded mercilessly by his daughter. Neither he nor Long Zhengqing showed any surprise. Obviously this was not a rare thing in their lives.
Ye Wenhe was also awakened by this call and asked subconsciously: "What do you think?"
Ye Hongluan pointed directly at Baiyunbian with his horsewhip, "Hand the person over and let him investigate and find out a fair truth. It was the eldest brother who was obsessed with making a big mistake. We will try our best to apologize to Elder Long and ask for forgiveness. At the same time, Explain the situation to the gang members to show that we have no partiality and to rectify the gang's mentality."
"But if he wasn't the one who killed me, we must find out the truth and give our Ye family justice. The Ye family cannot be framed by such a scheme!"
"The power of the Ye family should not be used for stupid and disgusting things like hiding criminals and trading power for money, but should be used to prevent the eldest brother from being tortured to extract a confession!"
Marven Ye swallowed his saliva, "Can it be done?"
Ye Hongluan turned around and walked to Bai Yunbian, stepped on the case table, swung his riding whip, and made a crisp sound in the air. He looked at Baiyunbian coldly, "You investigate the case fairly and impartially, and you are not allowed to use torture to extract confessions. Answer Don’t agree?”
Bai Yunbian, who had been stunned just now, was frightened by the sound of the whip, "I answer. I agree."
Having agreed on this, Ye Hongluan went to the backyard in person and looked at the housekeeper, "Where is the eldest son?"
The butler hesitated and didn't dare to speak. Ye Hongluan's eyebrows were raised and his eyes were wide open. The butler silently stretched out a finger from his sleeve and pointed in the direction.
Ye Hongluan looked along, snorted coldly, and walked quickly.
In the room of the mistress of the Ye family, Ye Mingfeng was sitting in her mother's room with a sad look on her face, "Mother, I really didn't kill anyone!"
Mother Ye reached out and patted his shoulder, "Okay, okay, mother knows. Don't worry, your father has made arrangements. How dare a mere county magistrate embarrass our Ye family."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a burst of noise outside the door, and then the door was kicked open. Ye Mingfeng was so frightened that he immediately hid in his mother's arms, and then there was a disdainful voice in his ears, "Man A real man, when something happens, he just hides in his mother's arms and cries, he is not ashamed!"
Hearing this voice, Ye Mingfeng breathed a sigh of relief and quietly stood up. Her confidence returned, "What do you know! You have the nerve to accuse me! Which woman is as hot-tempered as you?"
"You still dare to be so stubborn?" Ye Hongluan snorted and stepped forward. Ye Mingfeng quickly hid behind her mother, "Mom, take care of her. See if she still looks like a woman!"
Ye Mu also said warmly: "Nanny, your eldest brother is very busy right now. Don't talk to him anymore."
Ye Hongluan said directly: "I'm not here to talk to him, I'm here to take him to the county government office!"
"Mom! I don't want to go! They will definitely force me to confess. I really didn't kill anyone! Little sister, you know your brother, you don't even dare to kill a chicken, how could you kill someone? I was drunk that night Yes, there really was no killing!"
The eldest son of the Ye family was so anxious that he almost cried, and Ye Hongluan couldn't help but soften his tone, "It's because I knew this that I asked you to go to the county government. Do you want to live your whole life as a murderer?" ?”
"I won't go! Is that a place for people to stay in the prison? Then it will be meat on the chopping board for them to slaughter!"
"We have already made an agreement with the county magistrate, and he will never torture you."
"I don't believe it! If you are really capable, you should have protected me from going to the county office! You clearly know that I was wronged!"
"You can go or not!"
"Don't go!"
"Then I'll give you two choices. First, follow me out and follow you. Second, I'll break your legs and drag you out."
"Mom! Look at him!"
Mother Ye finally couldn't listen anymore and said, "Nanny, he is your brother after all. You should think of more solutions."
Ye Hongluan said with a sullen face: "Mom, you are not only his mother, you are the head of the Ye family, and you are also the wife of the Cao Gang. There are some things that you should know, and you have to believe that we won't do them. The kind of thing where you sell him for peace.”
Ye Mu remained silent and moved out of the way.
After a while, Baiyun escorted the exhausted eldest son of the Ye family, Ye Mingfeng, away. Naturally, he was greeted with a burst of exclamations and cheers from the people outside the mansion.
When the son of the leader of the Cao Gang committed a crime and was arrested so forcefully by the county magistrate, the word fairness appeared in everyone's minds for the first time in a long time.
The head of the Ye family, Ye Wenhe, also sent Long Zhengqing away with an apologetic look. Before leaving, Ye Hongluan said to Long Zhengqing: "Elder Long, you should know my eldest brother's temperament. He is determined to do anything." If such cruel things happen, not to mention that he has always been on good terms with the Young Master, there must be something fishy here. Before the truth comes out, I hope Elder Long will not fall into the trap of the traitor."
Long Zhengqing looked at her deeply and didn't say much. He just said in a deep voice: "I am determined not to let go of the murderer of my son!"
After hearing this, Ye Wenhe truly understood how stupid his self-righteous operation was.
After returning to the house, Ye Wenhe breathed a sigh of relief, and then said with a smile: "Nanny, thank you for reminding me in time, otherwise it would have been a big mistake!"
Ye Hongluan couldn't help but shook his head when he heard this, "Father, don't you understand yet? The other party is not here for the eldest brother, but for the Cao Gang!"
Ye Wenhe's expression changed slightly, "What?"
"The core members of our Ye family are the First Elder and the Third Elder. The Fourth Elder and the Fifth Elder have always been dissidents. Recently, they have colluded with outsiders and instigated so many riots, causing people in the gang to panic and even the imperial envoys were invited. You Think about it again, why do people want to frame the suspect as the eldest brother?"
Ye Wenhe frowned when he heard this, "If Feng'er killed the nephew of the Long family, then the third elder will definitely hate my Ye family, and will probably be won over by them. At that time, the only people who support our Ye family will be the eldest elder and Now that we are the second elder, there are three of them. But the gang leader only has two votes, so they can’t beat us!”
Ye Hongluan snorted, "The second elder has always been neutral. What if they had secretly won over the second elder? Three to four, plus the support of the people behind them, the Ye family might be slowly ignored. This Caobang will soon no longer have the surname Ye."
Ye Wenhe felt sweat on his forehead, as if all the heat in this midsummer was rushing towards him.
"This is just the worst-case scenario I'm talking about. They may not have the ability, so there's no need to panic."
Ye Hongluan comforted him, "Let's deal with it like this first. Then we will mobilize our own people to investigate the situation and try to clear the eldest brother's grievances as soon as possible."
Ye Wen and Ben are naturally weak people, otherwise they would not have allowed two opponents to enter the Presbyterian Church under the control of the Ye family. At this moment, hearing what his daughter said, he felt a little confused, and his mind suddenly Thinking of something, he said: "Oh, by the way, the imperial envoy will be here soon. He is the number one scholar who has won three yuan in a row. It is said that he is unparalleled in intelligence and scheming. He can definitely help us!"
Ye Hongluan pursed her lips and shook her head slightly, "I'm a little tired, so I'm going back to my room first."
She walked out of the living room, returned to the room, and slowly took off her clothes. There were wounds on her arms and legs. They were injuries she sustained when she took the guards trained in Caobang to suppress bandits in the surrounding areas. They were already soaked in blood. The red clothes dried up and turned brown, but her parents didn't notice.
She sighed softly and asked her maid to prepare water to clean the wound.
Let’s go to Baihua Tower later and have a look.
She thought to herself as she skillfully applied medicine and bandage on herself.
——
In the Baihua Tower, Xia Jingyun successfully entered the building as a flower-seeker.
During the communication with the oiran, he quietly brought the topic to yesterday's murder case.
Then after some superb acting skills, he once again came to the scene of the incident with a lively and curious attitude.
(End of chapter)
