Chapter 85: Scared the hell out of Her

Chapter 85

When the investigation reached this point, it was no longer within her control.

Private mining of gold mines was in itself a crime punishable by execution of nine generations of one's family, especially since this matter also implicated the imperial official sent by the court. The waters ran too deep, and one could easily drown if one was not careful.

This kind of matter still had to be handled by professionals.

After Jiang Yuqing left Daizhou City, she flew straight to the Capital City.

Taking advantage of the time when the Emperor left to eat dinner, Jiang Yuqing used her spiritual power to briefly seal the five senses of the guards of the hall.

She quietly and unknowingly placed a piece of gold, a map she had drawn herself, and the letters seized from the blue-clothed steward on the Emperor's desk.

When the Emperor returned and discovered the things on his desk, he was greatly surprised. After carefully reading the contents, he was even more furious.

He immediately summoned the Minister of Justice, the president of the Supreme Court, and several cronies, including the Duke of Zhenguo, who were at home eating tangyuan at night, to discuss matters in the palace.

The discussion lasted until late at night.

After the ministers left, the Emperor called out all the guards and questioned them carefully. During the time he went to eat, did anyone enter the imperial study?

The guards all said no one had entered and there was nothing unusual. These things seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

Seeing that he couldn't get any useful information, the Emperor could only wave his hand to let the guards leave. But he felt quite upset in his heart. The only comfort at the moment was that this "peerless master" did not seem to harbor any malice towards him.

After Jiang Yuqing left the palace, she did not stay on the crowded streets, but flew directly back to Huichun Yard.

She had promised to come back to accompany her master to celebrate the Lantern Festival, but was delayed for so long because of the gold mine incident. Fortunately, she could still make it in time to eat tangyuan with the old man.

Huichun Yard.

Doctor Qiu had just sent away the servant who delivered the tangyuan and closed the yard door when he turned around and saw his precious apprentice and her deer appearing in the yard. He was overjoyed immediately.

"You little rascal, I thought I had boiled the tangyuan tonight for nothing!"

Jiang Yuqing smiled and jumped into the old man's arms, snuggling up to Doctor Qiu's neck coquettishly: "I would never do that. I would certainly not go back on my word about accompanying you to celebrate the festival."

Doctor Qiu dissatisfiedly poked her forehead: "Then why did you come back so late?"

Dumpling said: "I set off early yesterday morning, but something happened on the way which delayed me until now."

Doctor Qiu did not ask in detail, only said: "You didn't get hurt, did you? Have you resolved it?"

Dumpling boasted: "Of course, how could your precious apprentice be so smart yet unable to resolve it?"

"Well, as long as it's resolved. Are you hungry?" Doctor Qiu stroked his apprentice's little head, full of affection.

"Hungry." Dumpling touched her flat stomach. Having rushed out of the mountain in the morning and only eaten two small snacks in Daizhou City at noon, her stomach was now growling with hunger.

She thought that one day when she had time, she should study alchemy, such as refining a fast pill or something. It would save a lot of trouble during busy times to simply take one pill.

Doctor Qiu pushed a bowl of tangyuan to her: "Eat while it's hot!" So Dumpling picked up a spoon and started devouring it with gusto.

There were two kinds of tangyuan fillings, one with peanut and sesame stuffing, and one with red bean paste stuffing. Both tasted very good.

Moreover, they were extremely fast with great fighting power. They were not afraid of death, were selfish and vindictive. She could only flee for her life when encountering them.

Therefore, after exchanging blows with them for just a short minute, Jiang Yuqing had used up all her Explosion Talismans, exhausted all her spiritual power. If not for Little Bramble being helpful and Bai Xiaoshi running fast enough, her dozen-odd jin of premium tender meat would have almost been delivered here.

Still shocked by the narrow escape, Jiang Yuqing sprawled by the edge of the Spirit Spring Pool, panting heavily. Looking between the transparent barrier here and the one connected to Zhengyuan Hall over there, she felt particularly intimate with them. These things were really——so reassuring!

She felt that before building her foundation, she'd better not go looking for trouble at the Yaoshou Mountain Range again.

Damn it, they scared her to death!

Jiang Yuqing stayed in her spirit space until after the second day of the second lunar month before finally "returning to the capital" again.

Upon her return, she heard about a big event.

Daizhou Prefect Bi Jieli was executed by slow slicing along with nine generations of his family members for illegally mining gold in collusion with remnants of the former dynasty in an attempt to rebel. His wife's natal family, the Fang family of Pingdong Earl's Mansion, and his senior maternal aunt Concubine Fang, who was also the birth mother of the Third Princess, were implicated.

The former were demoted to commoners with family property confiscated and exiled. The latter was demoted to a lower ranked concubine by the Emperor. It was said that the Third Princess cried every day, and the matter of selecting a son-in-law that was already prepared was also cancelled.

It was said that just the gold seized from Bi Jieli's mansion amounted to over seven hundred thousand taels, not to mention other treasures like jewels, antiques, paintings and calligraphy, etc. Just the double carriage wagons needed to transport them numbered a full thirty eight.

It was more than the national treasury of Da Xia.

Not a small amount of gold, silver, pearls and jade were copied from the Fang family, which can be imagined that Bi Jieli did not give less filial piety to the Yue family when he was in Bijie City.

The bigger melon is yet to come. Mrs. Bi, Mrs. Fang, was not Bi Jieli's original spouse, but his stepmother.

Originally, Bi Jieli was born poor and relied on his wife's dowry to support him all the way to passing the imperial examination.

He looked down on his wife's merchant family background. In order to ingratiate himself with the nobles in the capital to pave the way for his own career, he tried every means to attract Miss Fang, the second daughter of Fang House at that time, who later became Mrs. Bi, Mrs. Fang. He lied to her that he was unmarried.

In order to make room for Miss Fang, Bi Jieli even went so far as to hire a murderer on the road when his wife and son came to the Capital City, killing his wife and son, creating the illusion that his wife and children died accidentally.

This slutty operation can be called the Song Dynasty version of Chen Shimei.

Later, he married Miss Fang as he wished, and with the support of the Yue family, he rose to great heights.

It’s a pity that there are no walls in this world that are airtight. The dirty things he did were still known to those with ulterior motives, and they used it to blackmail him into being their umbrella for illegally mining gold.

Bi Jieli had no choice but to agree. At first he was nervous every day, but seeing so much gold being moved into his own house, he gradually lost himself in that piece of bright gold, became willing, and even took the initiative to facilitate convenience for that person.

Until that day Jiang Yuqing accidentally caught a glimpse of the mine pit guard chasing and killing the miner, this secret was finally revealed to the world.

The emperor was furious. Bi Jieli also got what he deserved. After the imperial court took over the gold mine, those miners were also rescued.

The imperial court took over and uniformly took care of them, giving each person thirty taels of silver as compensation.

As for those who had already died, if their families could be found out, the imperial court also gave their families compensation. As for those whose families could not be found, the imperial court could not do anything and they were lost in this world forever.

The mass grave with 10,000 corpses was permanently sealed off with a stone tablet erected.

In the future, on every first and fifteenth day of the month, sacrifices will be offered which can also be regarded as an account of these lives lost tragically. As for the remnants of the previous dynasty who caused this tragic case, I heard they are still under investigation.

These, then, no longer concern Jiang Yuqing.