As soon as the carriage turned out of the alley, a man came out from the side to block it.
"Your Majesty, Miss Lu, wait a moment!"
Yun Qi used a jade bone fan to open the curtain of the carriage and took a look. He smiled and said, "Yu Zhifu." He lowered his eyes and asked, "This new look of yours?"
Yu Fangjing did not wear official robes, but changed into a Confucian scholar's blue attire. He wore a Jinxian crown with a scarf on his head and Qingyun shoes on his feet, giving him the look of an academy student.
Yu Fangjing gave a wry smile and waved his hands: "Master, please don't make fun of me. Your Majesty has trouble with you two."
This matter is not a big deal, but it is exactly the purpose of Yun Qi and Lu Anran's trip.
The three of them chose a nearby teahouse and sat down.
Yu Fangjing spoke first and said, "You better not go to the county office. Your Majesty is here with Governor Xue. He has gone to see County Magistrate Qian. No, I only ran out to talk to you two when I have an opportunity."
When Yun Qi saw Yu Fang Jing's dress and listened to what he said, he immediately understood: "Oh? So, Magistrate Yu is hiding from Governor Xue?"
Yu Fangjing opened his mouth: "I didn't avoid it on purpose. It's just that Governor Xue has an upright temper at the moment, and the subordinate is afraid of trying to cause trouble."
Yun Di nodded, seeming to accept this explanation, and then asked: "What does Prefect Yu want to communicate with us?"
"Well..." Yu Fangjing pressed the tea bowl with one hand, turned his eyes slightly, and said, "Your Majesty, you guessed it right. Is the Crown Prince going to ask Qian Zhixian about the Zhou family?"
Although the words were full of questions, his tone showed a clear and thorough affirmation.
Yun Qi raised his eyebrows slightly, but did not say whether it was true or not, "I have heard that the Zhou family has a backer. Now that Xue Tai is here, this backer is very clear."
"This is one." Yu Fangjing raised a finger, "Officials and businessmen are mutually beneficial. Although the Ning Dynasty explicitly prohibits it, there are many people who do these things secretly."
Lu Anran had been silent, but now she asked doubtfully: "Is it because of the second prince?"
When talking about Xue Tai, we have to mention that the people behind him are the concubine Shu and the second prince who are far away in the royal capital. The so-called prosperity of one and the same, they are all connected by the same blood and inseparable.
Yu Fangjing shook his head, "This second point lies in the Zhou family itself."
From the Zhou family's encounter with Yaksha to the destruction of the family, and now the burning of the body, Yun Qi and Lu Anran have noticed that there is something unusual in this. This merchant family is not only closely related to the upstarts of the dynasty, but may also have a deeper hidden secret. A well-known secret.
"The Zhou family has been rooted in the land of Diqiu for generations. Counting Zhou Hou's grandfather's generation, they have been doing business. Even if they started as a small street vendor, they have built up some family businesses through accumulation over several generations."
Yu Fangjing began to tell: "But this family fortune is not enough to be the richest man in Diqiu, and even in Licheng there are few people who can match it."
Yun Qi put one hand on the table and leaned back lazily. When he heard this, he just glanced lightly and said nonchalantly: "According to what you say, if the Zhou family continues to grow, it won't even be able to fit in Licheng. It's going to be big." The richest man in the Ning Dynasty."
"That won't happen."
Yu Fangjing's tone was too firm, which puzzled the two of them.
"Why does the prince think that the Zhou family has so much wealth and still lives in Diqiu?" Yu Fangjing twitched the corners of his lips, his smile a bit sarcastic, "Because they are doing shady business!"
Yunqi became somewhat interested and raised his eyebrows, "Tell me about it."
"At first, the Zhou family opened a rice store and cloth village, just one of the many squires in Diqiu. Later, Zhou Hou took over the position of the head of the family and began to think about how to make the Zhou family a higher level, so he picked the most profitable and most profitable one. A shady business.”
Lu Anran thought about Fang Jing's words and abandoned the establishment of gambling houses and brothels. In any case, these are serious businesses with the permission of the government, and guessed: "Selling illegal salt?"
This was already the fastest and most dangerous way she could think of to make money.
Unexpectedly, Yu Fangjing shook his head again, "Although this is a crime of beheading, it is only his Zhou family that is at risk. The so-called black heart means abandoning ethics and morals and doing unscrupulous things, such as..."
He paused for a moment and said with a particularly cold expression: "Human trafficking."
Lu Anran frowned, and even Yunqi's movement of waving the jade bone fan stopped naturally. Both of them looked a little surprised.
After a while, the clouds rose and chuckled: "The Zhou family is so courageous."
Yu Fangjing sighed: "They specially recruited a group of bold gangsters to rob or abduct all the girls and sell them to further places. As for the children, if they meet boys, they may be sold to others, but the girls will suffer, and most of them will have their hands and feet broken." Let them beg on the streets and hand over all the money they get from begging, but they can't even have enough food and clothing."
If someone else had heard this, they would have been filled with righteous indignation and wanted to pull out the corpses of the Zhou family and whip them.
It's just that one of these two people has always been cold-hearted, and the other has a casual attitude towards everything in the world, so they sound calm, but there is still a hint of contempt from the frowning brows.
Yun Qi closed the fan in the palm of his hand and rubbed the jade carving on the handle with his fingers. His peach-blossom eyes were slightly lowered with a hint of coldness, "Since they knew what the Zhou family had done, but the government didn't do anything?"
Yu Fangjing heard the dissatisfaction in this, spread his hands and sighed: "Xiaoguan also said just now that the Zhou family has specially raised a group of extremely vicious people who are desperate for their lives. Those people are the ones who handle everything. Not to mention that they can't catch anyone. He was caught, and once you interrogate him, you will find that the Zhou family is not tainted at all."
Lu Anran's eyelids narrowed slightly: "What a good idea."
"It's not just that." Yu Fangjing took a sip of tea and continued: "This matter was later exposed. A man from another county came here to work as a helper, and he recognized that the girl with mutilated legs begging on the street was their neighbor. He was also cautious about his daughter who had been missing for three years and did not make any announcement at the moment. Instead, he went back secretly and called all the men in the village to come over. During the dispute, he directly beat to death the man who was guarding the girl at the time. "
If this matter gets too big, the Zhou family will definitely not be able to do anything about it. While they were busy trying to distance themselves from each other, the girls they saw all the time on the street disappeared.
"Where did the person go?" Lu Anran had a bad premonition.
Yu Fangjing let out a sigh of relief, "Originally, no one knew that the previous magistrate Wang was very worried about this matter. He couldn't sleep at night when he thought about it, so he sent people to look for it for a long time."
"found it?"
"In a pool behind a barren mountain, there were not only those girls, but also dozens of burly men."
After the words fell, the three of them fell into varying degrees of emotions and remained silent for a while.
Yun Qi was the first to break the silence, "Those big men must be under the orders of the Zhou family?"
Yu Fangjing nodded: "Not bad."
"I have some doubts. Although the Zhou family has evil intentions, it is still a family of ordinary merchants. How can they deal with everyone so cleanly overnight."
Forget about a few little girls, those poor gangsters are not easy to mess with, how can they let people hold their necks and deal with them casually.
"This official doesn't know." Yu Fangjing said: "Master Wang was still thinking about this matter before he left office, so he specifically informed the official that he hoped that the official would beg for compensation for the girls who died in vain and the women and children who were trafficked to unknown places. It’s fair.”
Mentioning these was a bit heavy, so Yun Qi deliberately changed his subject, "Could it be that the Zhou family accumulated wealth through this and became the richest man in Diqiu?"
Contrary to their expectations, Yu Fangjing denied it again, "This transaction didn't last long, but the Zhou family made huge profits from it, which laid the foundation for them to stand out among the squires in the future."
"My prince has a question," Yun Qi rubbed the jade pendant, his eyes darkened slightly, "Xue Tai can be involved."
Yu Fangjing thought for a while and said: "According to time calculation, Governor Xue had not yet taken office in Licheng at that time."
Yunqi nodded and motioned for Yu Fangjing to continue.
"Perhaps the Zhou family has tasted the sweetness, or maybe their desires have been nurtured. After cutting off all ties with the previous transaction, they thought of another discount - letting the accounts go to make profits."
This time, the Zhou family was very covert. "The reason why they found out was entirely because of Mr. Wang's stubbornness towards the Zhou family."
Using normal means of livelihood as a cover, they secretly engaged in shady business that was unknown to the public. The Zhou family made huge profits and became the richest family in Diqiu County and even Licheng.
"So the Zhou family will not leave Diqiu. Here they will do whatever they want like a local emperor. They may not be able to be as comfortable as a fish in water if they leave."
What Yu Fangjing said was completely contrary to what Butler Zhou said. Yun Qi and Lu Anran looked at each other and it seemed that it was necessary to ask Butler Zhou for detailed interrogation.
There is still a question at the moment, "Since Mr. Wang has found out so much, why didn't he report it? Just because the Zhou family later had Xue Tai covering it?"
"That's not the case." Yu Fangjing's face twitched strangely, "To say that the Zhou family has been safe and sound for so many years, in addition to being careful in doing things, I'm afraid it's because of God's care."
Yun Qi sneered: "It seems that God is really short-sighted."
"The witness who revealed this to Mr. Wang suddenly suffered from an old illness and passed away before Mr. Wang sent people to collect the evidence. The evidence was mixed among the relics and burned by his family."
Should I say Mr. Wang is unlucky, or the Zhou family is blessed.
After saying this, Yu Fangjing revealed, "According to Mr. Wang's investigation, I don't know whether Governor Xue knew about the Zhou family's profiteering, but Governor Xue once cooperated with the Zhou family to occupy the mountain and excavate privately."
"What to dig for?"
"It is said to be a small copper mine, located in the watershed area."
After the pot of tea had cooled down and the matter was almost over, Yu Fangjing said: "The reason why I am waiting for you two is that Governor Xue will be angry if he knows that the prince is responsible for the Yaksha case. Although the prince is not afraid of him, he still avoids him. It's better to open up; besides, Magistrate Qian has been in Diqiu for a long time, and the Zhou family must have heard about these things. Since he has the intention to conceal it, he will not tell the truth truthfully. No one will be offended until the critical moment."
Yun Qi chuckled: "Aren't you afraid of offending Governor Xue, Magistrate Yu?"
Yu Fangjing smiled unnaturally, "To be honest, according to Xiaguan's past style, it would be troublesome to try my best to avoid these things, but it is not only Miss Lu who is kind to me, but also Mr. Wang... "
Every time I think of Mr. Wang, who is getting old, his eyes are full of tears, and he clasped his fists and bowed his hands to the end, begging him to investigate this case thoroughly, give justice to the innocent victims, and let all the filth and filth be exposed. Under the light of day, he felt uncomfortable punishing such unscrupulous businessmen as the Zhou family.
"Although a lower official values his official career, he is also a father, a husband, and a son. He will not take action when there is injustice in the road, and he still has a lot of passion and courage."
With such impassioned speech, Yun Qi just raised his eyelids and said, "What Master Wang failed to do, you were lucky enough to solve it as soon as you took office."
Now that the entire Zhou family has been wiped out, it can be considered a solution in another sense.
However, Yu Fangjing was not as relaxed as the matter was settled, and said with exhaustion: "Master, do you really believe that Yaksha exists?"
