amaotonovel Chapter 418 The Real Purpose of Asking for an IOU
Chapter 418 The Real Purpose of Asking for an IOU
Soon, Yang Manman pushed away the crowd of onlookers with hatred on her face and left the inn.
Jiang Suining also returned to the carriage at the innkeeper's polite greeting.
However, looking at the IOU in her hand, she did not return to the Jiang family, but asked the driver to change the route to the Shen family.
When the servant outside the Shen family's door saw Jiang Suining, he immediately came forward to greet him warmly. While asking someone to report quickly, he respectfully welcomed Jiang Suining in.
"Miss Jiang, please come in. The master has specifically told you that if you come, you don't have to wait outside the door. Please come in directly."
Jiang Suining nodded and thanked him.
Halfway through the journey, I saw Shen Yanxi hurrying over.
Shen Yanxi walked forward, sent the servant away, and looked at Jiang Suining with a smile, "Did you just get off duty in the palace?"
"I guess so." Jiang Suining nodded and went straight to the point, "I read the letter you sent last night."
While she was waiting in Mu Shi's courtyard last night, she happened to receive Shen Yanxi's letter.
The letter said that they had found out from the Ministry of Personnel that Feng Yimin and Chu Yishen were actually brothers, but due to misfortunes in their families when they were young, Chu's father became seriously ill and died, and the two were raised separately.
Chu Yisheng followed his uncles and aunts and thus retained his original name, but Feng Yimin was taken away by his mother because he was still young, and later remarried a businessman named Feng, and also changed his surname.
But Chu Yisheng was already twelve years old, and Feng Yisheng was five years old, so they should have remembered each other. Or maybe they had already recognized each other, but they just didn't show it.
Shen Yanxi also said in the letter that when investigating the relationship between the two, he found that Liu Sheng, a minor official in the Ministry of Personnel who was in charge of organizing archives, seemed to know about this matter.
The family relationships among officials are a key focus of the Ministry of Personnel, so Liu Sheng made a special investigation, probably wanting to find out the truth and then record the matter in the archives.
But not long after, Liu Sheng and his colleagues died unexpectedly.
"I saw in your letter that Liu Sheng's death involved Duke Yang and the Ministry of Personnel, but Duke Yang and his men refused to speak, so we can't confirm the truth for now. So I wanted to ask if there has been any progress today."
Shen Yanxi was not surprised by Jiang Suining's purpose of coming. "You came at the right time. Pei Zhaozhi is here too. We are discussing this matter."
Jiang Suining followed Shen Yanxi to his yard, where Pei Zhaozhi was sitting.
Shen Yanxi had already told Pei Zhaozhi about the identity of Jiang Suining's biological father after getting Jiang Suining's permission. Therefore, Pei Zhaozhi did not intend to hide the things he had found out from Jiang Suining.
"According to the current clues, Liu Sheng is very likely to have discovered the relationship between Chu Yisheng and Feng Yisheng, or even discovered more. It was precisely because of the investigation of him that the incident between him and another official from the Ministry of Personnel was revealed. As for that official from the Ministry of Personnel, I suspect he was silenced because he discovered that Duke Yang and officials from the Ministry of Personnel were secretly manipulating the appointment of officials."
"Is there any evidence?" Jiang Suining asked.
Pei Zhaozhi shook his head. "Not yet. Although buying and selling official positions is a serious crime, if it is combined with murder to silence the witnesses, it is undoubtedly a capital crime. Therefore, the officials in the Ministry of Personnel refused to speak. As for Duke Yang, it is the same. Because the account books handed over by his daughter are solid evidence, he confessed to colluding with the Ministry of Personnel, but he did not mention anything else."
After he finished speaking, Pei Zhaozhi looked at Jiang Suining, who was deep in thought, and continued.
"So now we can't be completely sure whether the deaths of those two people were accidents or murders. If they were murders, we can't be sure whether Liu Sheng was accidentally implicated or discovered the secret manipulation of the Ministry of Personnel. Or..."
Jiang Suining took over Pei Zhaozhi's words, "Or maybe, he discovered the relationship between Feng and Chu, and was taken advantage of to kill him."
"That's right." Pei Zhaozhi sighed, looking disappointed. "I never thought at first that this matter would be so complicated, with all the implications and entanglements. It may not be easy to sort it out completely in the short term."
The case of embezzlement in the Ministry of Works due to the collapse of the palace involved Chu Yishen and Cheng Jiao. This matter has not been fully investigated yet, and then there is the case of Feng Yimin and the embezzlement of disaster relief funds. As a result, now, the Ministry of Personnel has also been implicated in taking bribes and officials being killed.
From the local area to the imperial city, from an official to a prince, and from the Ministry of Works to the Ministry of Personnel.
Everything is like a tangled mess, which not only makes people feel upset, but also makes them feel cold in their hearts.
If all the speculations are true, then the entire court is truly a den of corruption and how many innocent lives have been lost!
Seeing Pei Zhaozhi's brows getting more and more furrowed and his expression becoming more and more solemn, Shen Yanxi poured a cup of tea and pushed it in front of him.
"Even if it's a mess, as long as you are patient and unravel it, you will eventually be able to figure it out. As for those sinister and despicable things hidden in the dark, they are indeed disgusting, but isn't it your lifelong ambition to expose those conspiracies and tricks in the dark to the sunlight?"
Pei Zhaozhi looked at Shen Yanxi, and the next moment, he picked up the teacup in front of him and took a big sip of tea.
"You're right. What I want to do is to find out the truth. No matter how many people are involved or how deep they hide, I will dig them out sooner or later!"
Pei Zhaozhi regained his spirits, "Next, I need to think carefully about where to start in order to find out the truth."
"How is Duke Yang?" Jiang Suining asked, "If he can give in, those officials from the Ministry of Personnel might not insist on it any longer, and we will know what happened between Liu Sheng and that official before they died."
"But Duke Yang doesn't seem to have any intention of giving in. And although he has been imprisoned, his status as a Duke has not been abolished, so it's not a good idea to execute him rashly." Pei Zhaozhi frowned, "It's hard to pry open his mouth."
Shen Yanxi's eyes have been on Jiang Suining's face since she started talking. "Ningning, have you thought of any solution?"
Jiang Suining was silent for a moment, a faint smile appeared on his lips, "Since there is no breakthrough for the time being, why not trick Duke Yang and tell him that Yang Manman not only handed over the account book, but also reported him for murder."
Pei Zhaozhi shook his head. "No evidence, Duke Yang won't believe it."
“It’s not completely groundless.”
Jiang Suining raised his eyebrows and spoke. Under the inquiring gazes of Shen Yanxi and Pei Zhaozhi, he took out the IOU signed by Yang Manman from his sleeve.
"This is Yang Manman's own signature, covering the contents of the IOU. There is a lot of blank space left on the paper, so you can use it as you like. Although it cannot be used as real evidence and cannot withstand close scrutiny, if Lord Pei can perform well, it may be possible to use it to scare Duke Yang."
When she saw the letter last night, she was not too anxious. After all, the investigation had progressed very quickly in just one day and one night.
Outside the inn, when Yang Manman actually asked her for money, she suddenly remembered that the letter mentioned that Duke Yang was unwilling to ask, so she came up with this idea.
Yang Manman was right. She really didn't care about the several hundred taels of silver on the IOU, but she had never thought of publicizing the matter and embarrassing Yang Manman.
All she wanted was a chance to trick Duke Yang!