Even a very calm person like Miao Zhen, who remained calm even when faced with a huge disaster, was shocked by Yuchi Jiming's sudden move and cried out, "You... what are you going to do?"
Yuchi Jiming ignored her, but reached out and grabbed her other foot.
Miaozhen knew immediately that this girl with outstanding martial arts skills wanted to cripple her other foot as well. She panicked immediately, but the shackles on her feet were so strong that no matter how she struggled, one of her delicate feet was easily dislocated.
Yuchi Jiming stood up and looked at Qiu Yizi expressionlessly, then nodded slightly.
Qiu Yizi also nodded in agreement, then turned to Miao Zhen and said, "The layman is very skilled in martial arts. I was about to go out to do some things, and I was afraid that the layman would be unhappy staying here, so I left without saying goodbye. That's why I came up with this bad idea. When I return to the city, I will treat the layman and prepare a banquet to apologize."
Miao Zhen Lay Buddhist calmed down in the blink of an eye. He endured the pain from his ankle, gritted his teeth and forced a smile, saying, "Your Excellency is really good at this! What a good method!"
Qiu Yizi was originally a kind-hearted person, and he did this out of helplessness. He felt a little guilty, so he said "I'm sorry" and left the cell without even looking up.
Before Qiu Yizhi left Beijing, Emperor Zheng Rong specially conferred him the title of Earl, and considering that he would be traveling far away and it would be inconvenient for him to receive the Earl's salary, he gave his adopted son the salary for the next ten years, together with the reward for his previous meritorious service, nearly 100,000 taels of silver, all at once. Qiu Yizhi took out half of it for banquets, rewards, and pensions, and still had 50,000 taels of silver with him, so he was very tight on money. So he took one-tenth of it, that is, 5,000 taels of silver, with him on this trip, so that he could deal with it calmly in Jinling, this den of money.
After all this preparation, Qiu Yizi finally felt relieved, and took Yuchi Jiming and Wang Laowu with him, and the three of them rode two horses to Nanjing, the capital of Jiangnan Road.
This was Qiu Yizi's second time walking this road.
The last time, he went to Shanyin County to take up his post after reporting to Yin Chengliang who was stationed in Jinling. It was a time of spring breeze and high spirits, and he enjoyed the scenery along the way and felt that time passed very smoothly. It took only five or six days to reach the destination. But this time when he went to Jinling, Qiu Yizi was full of worries and felt that the journey was difficult. After going through countless rugged roads, it took him three days to reach the foot of Jinling City.
It was already dusk when Qiu Yi and his party arrived in Jinling.
Normally, as he was an official appointed by the imperial court, he could live in the imperial post station for free. However, he did not want to get entangled with the officialdom in the south of the Yangtze River at this moment, so he found an elegant inn along the Qinhuai River and lived there.
The next morning, Qiu Yizhi dressed neatly in the robes of a seventh-rank county magistrate, and led Yuchi Jiming and Wang Laowu to the Jiangnan Road government office. However, he heard the gatekeeper say that the governor Yin Chengliang was not in the government office.
Qiu Yizi had already been mentally prepared for this, and without saying a word, he took two followers and went to "Qingya Temple".
When reporting his name to the official in front of the Qingya Temple, Qiu Yizi was particularly careful and did not say that he was the magistrate of Shanyin County. Instead, he said that he was appointed by the governor of Yuezhou, Cai Min, to come and pay a visit to Yin Chengliang, the governor of Jiangnan Province.
With that said, Yin Chengliang naturally had no reason to refuse the guest, so he called a little Taoist priest to go out and greet the guest as usual. Qiu Yizhi left Yuchi Jiming and Wang Laowu outside, and followed the little Taoist priest to the depths of "Qingya Temple".
Yin Chengliang was still practicing calligraphy in his study. He looked up and saw that the person who came to see him was Qiu Yizi. He was a little surprised and asked, "I wonder what important matter has Governor Cai come to that has troubled Lord Qiu to come here in person?"
Qiu Yizi quickly handed the note she had taken from Cai Min to Yin Chengliang.
Yin Chengliang took the note and looked at it, cursing inwardly, "Cai Min, you old fox, actually pushed this hot potato into my hands."
However, he was very shrewd after all, and calmly asked back, "Are you here for the 'Thirteen Lives Case' in your county?"
Qiu Yizhi nodded and said, "Your Excellency is indeed very observant. This case has caused a great stir among the people. The people of Shanyin are full of resentment. We only hope that the main culprit can be brought to justice as soon as possible. I submitted the document to the prefect Cai half a month ago, and he also said that it has been submitted to Lord Yin. Therefore, I was sent here to inquire about the progress of the case."
Yin Chengliang nodded slightly after hearing this, and asked Qiu Yizhi to sit down. He said calmly, "Master Qiu has only been in office for a few months, and he has solved such a big case. He is really a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger!"
Qiu Yizhi sat upright, bowed slightly and said, "Master Yin, thank you for your praise. This is just my duty."
Yin Chengliang added, "But Lord Qiu, have you ever thought about this? For such a shocking case, from receiving the complaint to arresting the real culprit, and then discovering the other twelve bodies, it took only five or six days. Isn't it too hasty?"
Qiu Yizhi was stunned when he heard this, and thought to himself: "This case has evidence in hand, and Miaozhen has confessed everything, so it is reasonable to handle it quickly. I don't know where the word 'hasty' comes from."
But he couldn't refute it in person, so he pretended to be ignorant and said, "I don't know the rules here, please explain it to me, Lord Yin."
Seeing that his attitude was sincere and modest, Yin Chengliang waved his hand generously and said, "It's not a matter of giving me advice. I also know the former magistrate of your county, Li Shenshi. Although he can't be called a genius, he is not a stupid person. I have also seen a few cases he judged. He is quite clear and capable. In addition, he has been running Shanyin County for a long time. This case has been delayed for a long time. Why didn't he notice it? Lord Qiu, don't you find it strange?"
Qiu Yizhi heard that Yin Chengliang's words clearly showed his intention to open up new opportunities for Li Shenshi. Not knowing what his intention was, he said, "Mr. Li is certainly not an incompetent person. However, there may be some hidden reason, otherwise he would not have led people to attack the plaintiff in the middle of the night. As for what the hidden reason is, it is inconvenient for me to interrogate Mr. Li because he still has a reputation. Therefore, I would like to ask Mr. Yin to issue a document to temporarily remove Mr. Li's reputation so that I can examine him carefully."
"Nonsense!" Yin Chengliang said angrily, "Mr. Li's fame, like Mr. Qiu's, was earned through three attempts at examinations, and how can it be taken away just like that?"
"But Lord Li is indeed very strange in this case." Qiu Yizhi heard that Yin Chengliang seemed to intentionally ignore the details of Li Shenshi's attack on Yang Qiaoer, and he was anxious, so he repeated, "In the middle of the night that day, Lord Li brought a dozen dismissed yamen runners and ran to the plaintiff Yang Yinger to commit murder. He was caught by me. This is a fact that cannot be denied. Lord Yin, please pay attention to it."
Yin Chengliang raised his eyebrows, looked annoyed, and said, "Are you questioning Lord Li or me?"
Qiu Yizi didn't expect that Yin Chengliang would put aside the case and suddenly mention such a question. He was stunned and said hurriedly: "I dare not, I dare not."
Yin Chengliang then glanced at Qiu Yi and said, "Let's not talk about Li Shenshi. Let's talk about this Taoist nun named Miaozhen. She lured and killed so many men just for some illusory pursuit of Taoism. It's really unbelievable."
Qiu Yizi replied, "This is indeed a bit strange. However, there are many strange things in the world. I remember that when the emperor led the army to the south to quell the rebellion of Tianzun Sect at the beginning of last year, I also saw several cult members. This group of people just believed in the details and gave up their good life and took risks to become enemies of the court. Thinking about it this way, Miao Zhen's motives seem not difficult to understand."
Yin Chengliang sneered after hearing this and changed the subject, "I know you are a Jinshi selected by the emperor, so you must not be arrogant and lose the emperor's heart. Do you understand?"
Qiu Yizhi was stunned again after hearing this, thinking: I was explaining the case properly, why did Yin Chengliang change the subject for no reason? But he said, "Thanks for reminding me, Lord Yin!"
Yin Chengliang was of course aware that Qiu Yizi was dissatisfied, but he just wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible - however, this ignorant little magistrate was very difficult to deal with and he wanted to get to the bottom of everything.
So Yin Chengliang said, "Besides the motive, there is something else strange about this Miao Zhen."
"Please give me some advice, Governor!" Qiu Yizi said perfunctorily.
While racking his brains to piece together the sentence, Yin Chengliang said, "This Miaozhen is just a woman, and her 'Liaochen Palace' is full of young nuns, but the victims are all middle-aged men. Even if Miaozhen wanted to kill someone, I'm afraid it would be difficult to succeed, right?"
Qiu Yizi replied, "Miao Zhen used her beauty to seduce the men, and used drugs made from wisteria flowers to confuse them, so that they could not let down their guard before they attacked. Moreover, Miao Zhen was extremely skilled in martial arts, and when I was trying to catch her, she showed no fear of the law and arrested me, and I was almost in danger. Fortunately, some righteous people came to my rescue and I was able to save my life. Miao Zhen signed and acknowledged all the above facts."
Yin Chengliang glanced at Qiu Yi and said, "This is another suspicious point. Most of the big bandits, except for some extremely vicious ones, will either evade the charges or talk about trivial matters after being caught by the government. They have to be tortured to make them confess honestly. But this Taoist nun Miaozhen confessed all the charges without even a hair being hurt. Don't you think this is very strange, Master Qiu?"
These words really stumped Qiu Yizi. This laywoman Miaozhen was indeed a bit strange, but she was very tight-lipped and smart. She took all the blame on herself at the first opportunity, so that even if Qiu Yizi wanted to dig out the whole truth, she had no idea where to start.
Qiu Yizhi was silent for a while, but could not answer the question raised by Yin Chengliang, so he had to ask: "What do you think, Lord Yin?"
Yin Chengliang finally smiled and said, "It's nothing strange. I think these thirteen lives were not killed by Miaozhen, but someone else killed them and buried their bodies in the 'Liaochen Palace'. Miaozhen is just a woman who has never seen the world. After the government dug up so many bodies, she was confused for a while and had to agree to it casually..."
The more Qiu Yizhi listened, the more he felt strange: This inference by Governor Yin was really unreasonable, and it seemed that he was intentionally trying to excuse Master Miaozhen...
Yin Chengliang was not a fool, and he knew that his explanation was hard to convince others. Seeing Qiu Yizi's brows gradually furrowed, he said to Qiu Yizi, "Master Qiu, it seems that you don't believe my judgment?"
"I dare not." Qiu Yizi said modestly, and then asked, "But there are many doubts in your inference. For example, according to the coroner's investigation, the time of death of these corpses is not the same. The oldest died five or six years ago, and the most recent victim, Bi Xiuwen, just died. If according to your inference, someone else deliberately placed the bodies in the 'Liaochen Palace' after committing the crime, then this person is too patient and bold; and Miaozhen is too careless. Someone sneaked into her Taoist palace and buried more than a dozen bodies in a long period of five years. Did she know nothing about it?" (To be continued)