The shocking news soon spread throughout Hanzhong. An accident occurred in the Ding family, and both the Ding family master and his wife died. Now there is only one Ding Xueling left in the Ding family.
Of course, there is another theory, which is that the Ding family offended King Rui, which led to the murder, and the Ding family lady is still under house arrest.
The ordinary people have nothing to do, but they are very excited to talk about it, and they will sigh in the end. No matter what kind of wealthy family you are, if you offend the royal family, your body will be exposed in the wilderness in the end. I heard that the Ding family
In the end, not even a whole body was left behind!
Ding Xueling opened the closet and looked at the pile of pure white dresses of all kinds, with mixed emotions.
She seemed to still remember the time when she tried on these clothes with cautious joy, and she could still remember the helplessness when her parents always tried to persuade her that King Rui was not her husband. One after another, one by one,
Vividly in my mind.
With a straight face, she ordered her servants to light a fire in the yard. She held the clothes and threw them into the fire one by one. The firelight reflected on her slightly pale face. Looking at these people who had tried so hard to find out, she didn't know how to escape.
The clothes she had picked out from so many places were all reduced to ashes. She seemed to finally be relieved and smiled indifferently.
Zhou Ze also heard about this incident shortly after returning to Beijing, but he really didn't have time to lament other people's stories now. After a long period of verification, the Ministry of Justice finally concluded that he was probably Wei Zhongxian**
conclusion.
To be honest, Lin Chong was very happy when he heard the news of Zhou Ze's return. He had been explaining it to himself for so many days, trying to come up with a suitable reason to explain the whole thing. However, the evidence produced by the Ministry of Punishment was different.
He always had nothing to say, and he kept suppressing this matter. Now that Zhou Ze was finally back, he could listen to him explain the matter in person, and he could also give Feng Ying an explanation. He was also curious about how Zhou Ze would explain this matter.
something.
When Zhou Ze entered the palace to meet the Holy Queen, he was not in a hurry to explain his affairs. He first explained clearly to Lin Chong what he had found out, "King Rui is by no means as easy to control as the legend says. It may be true that he is in poor health.
But this does not rule out that he also has ambitions, and this person must be on guard in advance."
Lin Chong nodded: "You wrote this very clearly on the letter you sent back, and I understand it."
"Your Majesty, if you have anything you want to ask, please feel free to ask. I will tell you everything I know."
Lin Chong took out a few pieces of paper from the table and handed them to him: "You might as well take a look at this first and then think about how to explain it to me."
Zhou Ze glanced at the contents of the paper, and there was nothing too unexpected. He put the paper back on the table: "I did send someone to the Tianlao, but I never said that I was from Dali Temple.
People, let alone poisoning them."
"Well, I believe this. There are not many people in Dali Temple, and it is easy to check the comings and goings. If you want to find a scapegoat in Dali Temple, it is really stupid. I also think this is not something you can do."
He paused for a moment and then continued to ask: "What about Wei Zhongxian's matter? Are you also unjust?"
Zhou Ze shook his head: "Regarding this, I can indeed be regarded as a remnant of Wei Zhongxian. But even though Your Majesty can ask the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple to investigate, has the official done anything that is harmful to nature and law over the years?"
Lin Chong felt puzzled: "In that case, why do you want to get involved with that group of people? You also know that they will never do anything good."
"I can't say that completely. There was a flood in my hometown one year, and the imperial court didn't have much spare power at that time. I really wanted to go back and see. At that time, Wei Zhongxian probably thought that I was a talented person, or he suddenly became kind-hearted.
Not only did they help me get home, they also gave me a sum of money to help me resettle my relatives and friends," Zhou Ze replied.
Lin Chong nodded: "So you are very grateful to him."
"Yes, so from then on I tried to help him as much as possible to prevent him from sinking deeper. But how could he listen to the advice of a small official?"
Lin Chong agreed that "most of the time he didn't even listen to the emperor's opinions."
"So not long after this incident passed, I cut off contact with Wei Zhongxian** and stopped communicating with them."
"So you interacted with him before because he helped you?"
"Exactly, maybe I can indeed be said to be a remnant of Wei Zhongxian, but I am definitely a remnant who has never done anything harmful to nature. However, I should not have hidden this matter from Your Majesty, so I am guilty."
Lin Chong nodded. If he had really not committed any crime, and his previous dealings with Wei Zhongxian were just to go back and visit his family, then this problem would not be serious for him.
But he had another thing to ask: "Where were the prisoners in the cell that day? What happened?"
"Regarding this, I did send someone to the Tianlao, but at that time I wanted to ask them something, so I sent my trusted aide there. Your Majesty can investigate this matter clearly."
Lin Chong frowned, so that was the problem. Zhou Ze claimed that although his people had been there, they had not been under the guise of Dali Temple, nor had they poisoned the prisoners. However, the people from the Ministry of Punishment said that the prisoners were registered before they died of poisoning that day.
The only visitor to the case was Dali Temple. When we followed the line of Dali Temple to investigate, we found something fishy, and finally found the Zhou family.
Someone must be lying between the two. Lin Chong felt that Zhou Ze would not lie to him about this matter, but he also did not think that the Criminal Department would make such an obvious mistake.
This put him in trouble. Feng Ying obviously believed what his subordinates said more. He did not tell himself about the inconsistent confessions between the Zhou family and the Ministry of Punishment. After much deliberation, he only thought of one way,
That is to let the two confront each other.
Feng Ying also entered the palace after hearing this, but when Lin Chong asked him, he looked very surprised: "The confessions are inconsistent? This has never happened. When we investigated the Zhou family, a servant of the Zhou family did admit it.
It was Zhou Ze who sent him to take people to Tianlao, and the things she brought were also given to him by Zhou Ze in advance. He didn’t know if there was any poison in them."
Zhou Ze was surprised: "Absolutely impossible. I just asked him to ask a few questions. How could I let him bring something with me?"
Feng Ying was a little unhappy: "Are you saying that I made up a false confession to deceive His Majesty and you?"
Zhou Ze shook his head: "I don't mean that, Master Feng's impartiality and selflessness are obvious to all. But there is something fishy in this matter. I never ordered him to bring anything to the prisoners in the prison, nor did I ask him to pretend to be a Dali Temple
, I wonder where this person is now? Can you let me see him and ask him about this in person?"
Feng Ying snorted coldly: "Of course this person is temporarily detained in the Ministry of Justice. He is waiting for Zhou Shilang to come back to verify the matter. Of course you can see him, as long as your Majesty gives you a verbal order."