The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

The petition of Prince Beijing could be described as stirring up a thousand waves with one stone.

Although the court was originally filled with undercurrents, it still maintained its surface calmness. However, this piece of paper had torn apart the cover cloth.

The quickest responders were naturally those who relied on chewing their tongues and playing with their pens to make a living. In just half a day, impeachment memorials were piled up on the cabinet desk like a hill.

As the old saying goes, ”Ten thousand people beat the drum, the wall falls and everyone pushes.” Among these dozens of memorials, no one spoke for the Niu family, all of which echoed the remarks of Prince Beijing and, impeached and criticized the Niu family.

For a moment, it seemed as if the noble head, Prince Beijing had also become the leader of a clear current.

However, in the face of this snowy memorial, Emperor Guangde only said, “Catching the wind and shadows is not enough to rely on,” and then issued an order to extend the ban on Prince Beijing for one month, completely ignoring it.

On the contrary, Empress Dowager Niu refused to let go and repeatedly issued a decree urging Emperor Guangde to thoroughly investigate her own family. She also insisted on resigning from all official positions except for the feudal title of nobility conferred for meritorious service to all her nephews and threatened that if suspicion was not cleared for a day, the Niu family would never step into the court.

Under such circumstances, Emperor Guangde finally dispatched several trusted ministers to ”assist” the Niu family in verifying their innocence.

Verify innocence?

Sun Shaozong repeatedly chewed on the words on the residence newspaper, chuckled a few times, and casually threw the newspaper to Yang Licai. He also grabbed a pair of chopsticks and poured half a pot of his lamb wine with the sour and spicy dried bamboo shoots on his plate.

This was a small restaurant located in the northwest of Qingxu Temple. There was nothing new about the food and drinks nearby, but this sour and spicy dried bamboo shoot was extremely appetizing and refreshing, making it a unique dish in the southern city.

Seeing Sun Shaozong taking his time and picking up a plate of dried bamboo shoots, feeling bored and fidgeting with the chopped cornus with his chopsticks, Yang Licai couldn't hold back his temper and tilted his shoulder while holding the newspaper, saying, "Your Excellency, why don’t I go and urge them…”

“No need.”

Sun Shaozong shook his head and placed his chopsticks on the plate.

The shopkeeper of that small shop has been looking at the counter for a long time. When he saw Sun Shaozong put down his chopsticks, he quickly ran up and smiled, saying, "Are you still satisfied with the dried bamboo shoots in our shop?”

Sun Shaozong smiled and said, "If I were not satisfied, I wouldn't have visited your house three times in just four days.”

The shopkeeper's face immediately turned red with joy. He took out a small note from his sleeve and presented it to Sun Shaozong with both hands. He respectfully said, "Since you like it, it's better to hand it over to the cook in the mansion. If the chef has any questions, just ask me.”

“What's this?”

Sun Shaozong looked at the prescription and said, "Do you recognize me?”

“Your Excellency, when you raise a court for questioning, I was almost there at all scenes.”

He met his fans.

Sun Shaozong smiled and was about to say something to the shopkeeper when a few unattractive men suddenly rushed in from outside. The others looked for an empty table to sit at, while the leader quickly approached Sun Shaozong and whispered a few words in his ear.

After a moment of contemplation, Sun Shaozong stood up and took the prescription handed over by the shopkeeper. With a smile, he said, "Since you have shown kindness, I won't be polite.”

The shopkeeper hurriedly shook his hand like a rattle and said, “It's nothing to worry about.” He then returned to the back of the counter.

Sun Shaozong sat down again and then raised his chin at Yang Licai, saying, "Zhou Ying, it's confirmed to be correct.”

Yang Licai quickly took out a brush and vermilion from his backpack and then flipped out a booklet, heavily erasing the name ”Zhou Ying” with vermilion.

There were as many as eleven names on the booklet that were also covered in cinnabar.

“Master, how are we going to investigate the remaining five?”

After collecting the booklet, Yang Licai looked eagerly at Sun Shaozong - after four days of investigation, out of the 17 suspects who could be ruled out, most of them had been cleared, and the remaining five were truly difficult to continue.

And this was also a good opportunity to witness the true nature of Lord Sun's ”Divine Judgement!”

Sun Shaozong folded the recipe first and carefully placed it in his sleeve pocket. Then he looked up to meet Yang Licai's expectant gaze and calmly said, "Stop the team and report to the Yamen.”

“Ah?”

Yang Licai almost thought he had heard the wrong thing, why did he have to stop the team at the critical moment?!

Besides, who was the spy? It was not clear yet. How should the Yamen report to the town magistrate this time?

However, before he could question anything more, Sun Shaozong took out a piece of silver and placed it on the table, standing up, and went off.

When Yang Licai finally realized and chased out of the door, Sun Shaozong had already neatly boarded the carriage. He couldn't catch up for a moment to inquire, so he angrily called his subordinates to turn over and mount the horse, guarding Sun Shaozong's carriage.

There were no words along the way.

It wasn't until he entered the Northern Detective Department that Yang Licai finally found the opportunity to approach Sun Shaozong and reminded him in a low voice, "Your Excellency, Pacifier Lu is very attentive to the matter of internal traitors. If you just report back like this, I'm afraid it's not easy to explain.”

“Not easy to explain?”

Sun Shaozong paused slightly and asked, "So, are you sure that in a short period, you can find out who among the five of them leaked the news?”

“This…”

Yang Licai's words were immediately blocked. If it were really easy to distinguish the true spies from these five people, how could he judge Sun Shaozong's ”Diving Judgement” ability?

“These are all elites brought back by Pacifer Lu from the south. If spies can blend in without being detected, they are naturally not easy to distinguish. If there was no circumstantial evidence at present, how can they be distinguished?”

As Sun Shaozong spoke, he stepped back and said, "So from the beginning, I was prepared not to detect any spies.”

“But...”

Yang Licai couldn't help but say, "If you can't identify the spy, how can you explain it to the Pacifier?”

Sun Shaozong suddenly sighed and stopped his steps again. He turned his head and asked, "I didn't even get confused. Why did you confuse between the Central Judicial Office and the Northern Detective Department?”

Without waiting for a response from Yang Licai, he strode into the front hall again.

Not to mention how inexplicable Yang Licai was looking at his back.

Sun Shaozong entered the hall and gave a detailed and appropriate account of the investigation over the past few days to Lu Hui. Finally, he took out the roster painted with vermilion and presented it with both hands, saying, "Your Excellency, please take a look.”

Lu Hui took the roster and spread it out in his hand, checking the names of the five people back and forth several times, his face becoming increasingly gloomy.

One Trial Thousand Households, two Hundred Households Inspectors, and two Generals.

The first three were the commanders of this operation, and the other two had sneaked into the inn alone to spy on the enemy situation - both of whom were close confidants cultivated by Lu Hui during his time in Jiangnan.

Sun Shaozong continued to report, "I am not familiar with these five people, so it is difficult to distinguish them clearly at the moment. I am afraid I can only invite you to come forward and check it personally.”

“No need.”

With these cold words, the booklet was thrown onto the ground by Lu Hui, and he said in a stern tone, "Since we can’t clear the suspicion, let's put them all together in the dungeon. When we clear the suspicion, it's not too late for me to personally apologize to them. If we can't clear the suspicion forever, I'm afraid they can only blame for their bad luck.”

Indeed, as he expected!

Sun Shaozong sighed in his heart but pretended to hesitate and said, "I'm afraid it's…”

“Inspector Sun.”

Lu Hui straightened his body and interrupted Sun Shaozong's words, saying calmly, "Please note that this is the Northern Detective Department, not the Central Judicial Office. In our place, these words are enough.”