The doctor came not long after, treated Luo Youde's wound, and gave him some pills. Dai Chang said anxiously: "Luo Youde can speak as long as he can. Now he is asking for medical medication, which will delay the interrogation. It will be too late to call the doctor after the interrogation is over."
Chen Dong looked at him coldly, but Dai Chang didn't dare to say anything and picked up a cup to drink tea.
After some sorting, Luo Youde felt better. After the doctor whispered a few words to Su Huangzhe, Su Huangzhe said: "You can go and cook the medicine in the back, and you will take care of him during this period."
Chen Dong sat down, motioned to the government servant next to him to help Luo Youde up, and continued to ask: "We searched the thatched house in the back mountain. There were only some of your tea-making tools in it, but the place was small and we didn't find many. Things, do you have other workshops?"
"It's just a place to rest and dry tea leaves. The tea-making workshop is at Yao's house in the village. His house is near the foot of the mountain and far away from the market. No one goes there on weekdays."
An Ying thought for a while and wrote a note and handed it to Guo Langzhong. Chen Dong glanced at Guo Langzhong. Guo Langzhong immediately understood and continued to ask: "Then what was the so-called selling of the daughter before? What if this is the case? , you are not short of money, so what is the matter with Ping Niang?"
Luo Youde paused for a moment, then said with a wry smile: "Those are the hostages that He Qing took away from my house. If we let out the slightest bit of news, we will kill my little daughter."
"Who are you selling the tea cake to? How to sell it?" Judge Luo took over the interrogation task, while Chen Dong picked up a chair and sat down.
"We didn't know these things for the first ten years. We made tea cakes and packed them in bamboo baskets. He Qing would send people to pick them up at night. We didn't know what happened next. There were never many people coming to pick up tea cakes. Said. But after so many years, I have a guess in my mind."
"Oh, tell me." Guo Langzhong asked, thinking that because He Qing was so careful, Luo Youde was also able to find out a clue, and he was quite a capable person.
"Three years before Yongkang, we are not sure. It may have been given to nobles in the capital. But after three years from Yongkang, the tea cakes should be shipped to Xia State."
Guo Langzhong asked: "How do you know that it is shipped to Xia Kingdom?"
"Three years ago in Yongkang, the tea cakes were simply wrapped in bamboo leaves and then put into a tube in bamboo baskets, which made transportation easy. It would be no problem to take them out and repackage them wherever they were transported. After using Yongkang for three years, we When preparing to wrap with Ruo leaves as usual, He Qing sent someone to wrap it first with paper, and then wrapped it with Ruo leaves. He also sent someone to deliver the rattan box. The person who delivered the rattan box that day was probably Not knowing what happened before and after, he told me that this rattan box is well sealed. If you want to cross the Wei River, the goods inside will not get moisture. Do you think that if we cross the Wei River here, isn't it the country of Xia?"
Luo Youde talked a lot in one breath and was a little out of breath. Huang Suzhe motioned to the government servant next to him to bring him some water. He drank a glass of water and said, "Thank you, Mr. Su."
Guo Langzhong asked again: "So it took three years from Yongkang to start shipping to Xia. Do you have an account book or something to record the number of tea cakes you have over the years?"
Luo Youde nodded and said: "The quantity of tea made every year is recorded, and the money distributed to each family is also recorded. The account books are all with my eldest daughter Qiao Niang."
"So, your eldest daughter Luo Qiaoniang has also been involved in your family's tea cakes?"
"Yes. She has been helping in the workshop since she was sensible, and she has been in charge of the account books every year since then."
"Then why did she poison her? From what you've said, you have nothing to do with the Zheng family. What happened to her makes us confused."
"Master Guo, Master Chen, and Master Su, I really don't know why she did this at all? I haven't wanted to ask her for a moment in the past few days, why is this happening?" Luo Youde sat down again, Even started to cry.
"Don't you want to take this opportunity to get rid of the Zheng family and move your tea cake business from the dark to the open?" Guo Langzhong asked.
"Sir, our tea cake business is firmly in the hands of He Qing. Whether it is in the dark or in the open, we have to listen to He Qing's arrangements. What's more, He Qing is now the magistrate of Huzhou, how can we escape? The palm of his hand.”
Guo Langzhong asked for some other details. Seeing that Luo Youde could not tell much, he was about to ask someone to take Luo Youde down. At this time, Su Huangzhe suddenly asked: "The Yongkang you mentioned was probably sent to the capital three years ago." Sir, how did you guess this?"
Luo Youde thought for a while and said: "This was mentioned when my father was still alive. In fact, I didn't know it myself. One year, probably the first year of Yongkang, He Qing took tea cakes made by my father and gave them to the nobles in the capital. I heard that the best tribute tea from Fujian was outcompeted. The nobleman was very happy, so he rewarded He Qing with a box of things. It happened that my father went to He Qing's house that day and happened to meet He Qing who was rewarding the box. He Qing was so happy that he could not help but say a few more words about the treasure, and he also rewarded my father with a few things."
A flash occurred in Su Huangzhe's mind, and he immediately asked: "Is this the crystal mountain in your study that you are rewarding?"
Luo Youde nodded and said: "There is indeed a crystal mountain, a tooth-bone fan and a copper incense burner. I gave them to Qiao Niang as a dowry."
After Luo Youde was taken away, Chen Dong asked: "Why did you suddenly ask about Crystal Shanzi?"
Su Huangzhe pointed at An Ying and said: "She saw it in Zheng Ping's study that day and felt something was wrong, so I asked Xiao Yi to check it out. Now it seems to be right."
"What do you mean?" Chen Dong raised his eyelids. What bothered him most was that Su Huangzhe always couldn't explain himself clearly.
Xiao Yi came out and said: "Back to Mr. Chen, that day I checked the major jade shops in Huzhou and Hangzhou. Several shopkeepers said that they had never seen crystal materials with such good quality. It didn't look like something used by the people. . Only then did I feel that the matter was serious. I had an acquaintance who worked in a jade shop in the capital, so I hurriedly wrote to him. Only then did I realize that this piece of crystal material was exactly the same as the batch that the palace had brought in a few years ago. It should be the same material. It was collected locally. I checked the old records and found that a good piece of crystal was collected in Gan County, Jiangxi Prefecture about ten years ago. At that time, twelve crystals were made. The late emperor rewarded six crystals, and now there are still six left in the palace. Apart from the royal family members, only the former Crown Prince and Grand Tutor Wang Qianyi was rewarded."
After hearing this, Dai Chang's face turned as white as paper. He grabbed Guo Langzhong and said, "Old Guo, how come this matter is related to Mrs. Wang again? It's not bad."
Chen Dong chuckled lightly: "The noble man in the capital is actually that old man Wang. It will be troublesome to settle the case now."
Su Huangzhe scratched his head and said: "This case has not yet been clarified. Why did Luo Qiao Niang poison her? This is the most critical issue. Don't forget, we were investigating the poisoning case from the beginning."
Chen Dong glanced at An Ying sitting in the corner and said, "Miss An, you can notice that the mountain is very good." An Ying, who was suddenly praised, could only laugh twice.
Guo Langzhong said: "Then bring Luo Qiaoniang for another trial."
Chen Dong said: "Wait a minute and bring He Qing up first."
"After all, He Qing is an official, and he is cautious and tactful. He has also been deliberately smuggling private tea for more than ten years. He must be a capital crime, and the most difficult thing to try is. I'm afraid he won't say anything no matter what." Guo Langzhong said: "Then Luo Qiao Niang After all, it should be easier to interrogate a woman with a young daughter and parents."
Su Huangzhe said: "Lao Guo, now that this case has been investigated, don't you think we are being led by Luo Qiaoniang?"
Guo Langzhong was stunned and said: "It's true what you said. I almost believed her at first. But do you really want to interrogate He Qing first? I heard that He Qing hasn't said a word since he was detained in solitary confinement until now. , and has secretly sought death several times. Generally nothing can be found out about such people."
Chen Dong sneered and said, "Luo Youde couldn't find anything in the trial before. Wouldn't he be tricked now?"
An Ying had been looking at the confession on the ground before, but Chen Dong looked at her coldly and ignored her. Now he saw her looking at it carefully and asked: "Miss An, what did you see?"
An Ying stood up and said, "Did you separate Luo Qiaoniang, Luo Youde, Luo Youcai, and the farmers in Shuanglin Village?"
Xiao Yi returned: "Yes, Luo Youcai doesn't seem to know anything. There are not many single rooms in the prison. He is detained in a military prison outside the city with more than 40 people from seven families in Shuanglin Village. The others are all separated. Detained alone in the government prison."
An Ying said: "Can you imprison Luo Youde in the prisons of the Luo family and the farmers in Shuanglin Village, and take Luo Qiaoniang there too. Listen carefully."
Dai Chang said impatiently: "What are you doing? The top priority is to try out the person? These tricks of listening to others are all women's tricks. What they heard is just a quarrel between parents."
An Ying was a little fed up with Dai Chang. He was confused, always confused about the key points, and bullied the weak and afraid of the strong. He was about to retort when he was targeting himself, when he heard Chen Dong say: "You are thinking of Mr. Su. Mr. Su just now It’s been arranged this way.”
An Ying looked at Su Huangzhe in surprise and saw him smiling and said: "It seems that we have the same idea." Then he turned to Guo Langzhong and Dai Chang and said: "The confession Mr. Chen just showed Luo Youde was from Shuanglin Village. Why did Luo Youde break through the defense? It was because he was thinking very hard about the Luo family and the dozens of people in Shuanglin Village, and he was dealing with He Qing, thinking just to save these dozens of people. He restrained the villagers with an iron fist. Leakage of wealth, but you think about it, holding thousands of silver in hand, eating chaffy vegetables and wearing homespun cloth, how many people can bear it? But Luo Youcai secretly bought some things for the villagers. Miss An, you found out those households from the Shen family’s account books It was Luo Youcai who secretly paid for the dowry. So the villagers only remembered Luo Youcai's goodness and kept complaining about Luo Youde secretly."
An Ying answered: "Indeed, I just saw the confession. Luo Youde is more cautious than I expected. Based on the income from smuggling tea for fifteen years, it is hundreds of thousands of taels at least, but I Thirty thousand taels were found in the books, which shows how careful he is on weekdays. Judging from the villagers' confessions, Luo Youde has been very strict with the villagers in order to cover up these incomes in recent years. He should have done a lot for those villagers. There are few things, so after seeing these confessions, I can't accept it. If they meet face to face, they can pull out more things from each other. Especially this Luo Qiaoniang, judging from Luo Youde's performance, he poisoned Luo Qiaoniang She didn’t know anything about it, and Luo Qiaoniang is the accountant of the Luo family’s tea and cake business, so she should have Luo Youde’s trust.”
"So let Luo Youde ask Luo Qiaoniang to find out what we can't." Su Huangzhe said.
Only then did Guo Langzhong suddenly realize: "So we will interrogate He Qing first. But He Qing has not said a word since he was detained. How can we get him to speak? The longer this case drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be to us. There are too many details to ask for. Got it." He said while stroking his sparse beard.
Su Huangzhe touched his nose, looked at Chen Dong, and then said slowly: "Master Chen has his own methods from our Criminal Department, Lao Guo, don't worry about it."
Chen Dong raised his eyebrows, glanced at An Ying, and said, "Take them to room D. I will take them there later."
Su Huangzhe turned back to Langzhong Guo and said: "Lao Guo, you and Miss An go to the military prison outside the city together. Lao Dai, we will go to interrogate He Qing. We will act at the same time and let each other know if there is any important news. Xiao Yi, you are responsible. Pass in the middle.”
