Xia Chupi knelt down and replied, "Master, if the youngest son really got the precious fan pendant given by the Zhao family's wife, how could he show it in front of the Zhao family? This is not true or reasonable. It can only be said that the youngest son does not know that the pendant belongs to the Zhao family. As for where the fan pendant came from, please let the eldest master observe it clearly."

Prefect Lin questioned Xia Chupi: "That day, Xia Guiyu admitted that it was Zhao's daughter-in-law He who threw it over to seduce him. Why did you turn your confession on him? Don't you know that your son is not a godfather's fault?"

Xia Guiyu shouted, "Master, I couldn't beat the young one that day--"

Xia Guiyu was about to say that he was a traitor, but his father Xia Chupi stabbed his waist hard, then closed his mouth and looked at his father. Xia Chupi winked at him and told him not to talk too much. It would be a bad thing to anger Prefect Lin.

Xia Chupi had already seen Zeng Yu sitting behind Prefect Lin, and had a ardent hope in his heart, and reported: "Master, the youngest son was young and ignorant. He was sued for no reason and was sued to court for no reason. He was confused for a moment, and he did not know the origin of the fan pendant, so he confessed randomly that it was He who threw it to him. The younger son was an honest man. After learning that He had committed suicide by hanging himself, he felt very guilty. When he visited the prison the day before yesterday, he told the younger one that the fan pendant was not thrown to him. It was really picked up from the desk. If the younger son wanted to shirk the guilt, he would push all the mistakes on He. Anyway, there was no evidence of death, but the younger son was not such a person. He had a conscience. Please ask the eldest master to observe it clearly."

The general meaning of these words was what Zeng Yu taught Xia Chupi through Si Xi. It was reasonable and caught the key to the case. In ancient times, the law emphasized human feelings. All the officials in the hall, including Prefect Lin, looked serious. Prefect Lin asked the Zhao family father and son: "How did you realize that Xia Guiyu had an affair with He?"

Zhao Yuwu said, "The master is here. The young man said last time that the young man saw that Xia Guiyu's fan pendant was clearly my Zhao family's belonging. When he got home, he asked his wife to ask his wife for it. Not to mention that the fan pendant was gone, and even another Hanyu fan pendant was gone. He could not tell where the fan pendant was going. Of course, this was the fan pendant that was given to the adulterer."

Priest Lin said: "You are a father-in-law who knows the truth about your affair in the boudoir. Just a fan is not evidence. Let your son tell you it yourself."

Zhao Yuwu's son Zhao Xu was not only short and stupid, but also squinted. When he saw Prefect Lin ask him something, he looked at Prefect Lin with a squinted look, opening his mouth and not talking, looking dumb.

Zhao Yuwu hurriedly said, "Master, my younger son is timid and afraid of seeing the officials, so he can't say anything."

Zhao Xu knew it was a fool at first glance. Prefect Lin shook his head and suddenly asked, "What's the appearance of He's family?

Zhao Yuwu stammered: "This little guy can't explain clearly."

Priest Lin said: "Then let your son say it, or pass your wife into the court for questioning."

Zhao Yuwu hurriedly said, "Master, the youngest daughter-in-law He has a white face and red lips, and is quite beautiful. This makes Xia Guiyu become a beastly traitor and lust. Please ask the master to take charge of the common people, severely punish the beastly evil Xia Guiyu, and return my property."

However, the prefect Lin said to Zhao Yuwu: "A stupid son like you, marry him a beautiful wife. Isn't this just a lewd? A woman's nature, who doesn't like young and handsome men, but she is patient with living with you, a fool."

Zeng Yu shook his head secretly when he heard this. The prefect was a little stupid. If he was beautiful, he had a tool for sexual misconduct, which became evidence of the adultery between He and Xia Guiyu. What a fallacy.

I heard the prefect Lin ask again: "How many years have He married your son Zhao Xu?"

Zhao Yuwu said: "It's been three years."

Priest Lin said: "There are only one son and half daughters."

Zhao Yuwu looked ashamed and shook her head and said, "No."

The officials in the hall looked at Zhao Xu, wondering whether this stupid person who looked like a boy could do sexual intercourse. It should not be possible to see that He is a widow. In this way, it is very reasonable for He and Xia Guiyu to get into a traitor.

Prefect Lin asked again: "Why did He commit suicide? Our mansion just told her to come to court to ask, why did she suddenly hang herself?"

Zhao Yuwu said: "When the master said that, He was thin-skinned. He heard that he wanted to meet officials, but he was afraid of jokes from the neighbors. He couldn't think about it for a moment and then found a short-sighted view."

Prefect Lin sneered: "Since he loves face and is afraid of gossip among the neighbors, why did he commit a scandal of having sex with Xia Guiyu?" The prefect confirmed the affair case.

Xia Guiyu shouted: "Master, I only do business and study in my spare time. I have always been a law-abiding person. I have never met the He family before. How can I talk about affair, Master Qingtian?"

But the prefect Lin said, "Then where do you think the Canan incense fan pendant came from?" He turned around and walked around again.

Xia Guiyu said: "Where is the Canan incense fan pendant from? The young one really can't figure out. Maybe it was taken by the Five Gods, maybe it was brought by a mouse. Anyway, the young one has never received any private gift from He. Last time the man searched my shop, there were no other clothes and treasures besides this fan pendant. Zhao Yuwu was falsely accused."

Xia Guiyu's sentence "Maybe it was brought by a mouse" made Prefect Lin's heart tremble. Yesterday, Xu Wei's letter disappeared, causing trouble for the whole government office. Later, it was found in the rat cave. There were rats in the government office. How could there be no rats in the residential shop? How could the falling was not dragged by a mouse from the Zhao family to Xia Guiyu's bedroom table.

Zhang Muke was the ruling master who assisted Lin in charge of Xing Ming. At this time, he walked to Lin's side and whispered: "Dongweng, Wansheng carefully checked the canan incense fan pendant and found that the fan pendant was a bit incomplete and seemed to have been bitten. He didn't pay attention to it at that time. Now he thought it was just a rat bitten? The Duke might as well ask someone to search for the rat holes of Zhao and Xia families. If some physical evidence can be found, wouldn't it be a strange case?"

Prefect Lin pondered for a moment and asked Zhao Yuwu and Xia Chupi: "Do you both have cats?"

Both Zhao and Xia said they would not raise them.

Prefect Lin asked again: "If you don't keep cats, how much are those mice?"

Zhao and Xia said a lot, so the prefect Lin ordered four men to follow Zhao Yuwu and Xia Chupi, saying, "Where is a rat hole that can be removed, you can take anything inside to see me."

After the messenger and Zhao and Xia left, the prefect Lin said to Xia Guiyu: "This case depends on whether the mouse is causing trouble. If not, then what else do you have to say? What are the five gods involved? Such words have to fool the foolish people and how to obtain evidence."

At this time, Xia Guiyu had no choice but to look for the mouse and kowtowed, "It depends on the master's decision."

It took a while for the mouse to search for the hole. Prefect Lin and a group of bureaucrats retreated into the back hall to drink tea and chat. The officials clearly distinguished between public and private affairs. After leaving the hall, they never talked about the affair case, but only talked about the important news of the mansion and the anecdotes in the officialdom.

Of course Zeng Yu was not so sure. The Canan incense fan pendant was brought by a mouse and was just a guess. Although this possibility is very high, there are many uncertain factors. There are only no other way to do it for the time being. Who can calculate the complete plan?

Xu Wei chanted lightly, "The big rat and the big rat, I don't eat my millet." He was very calm and it was nothing to do with him.

After about an hour, the messenger reported that he had dug four rat holes from Zhao and Xia families, and all the fragments in the hole were picked up in baskets. The messenger also said: "Master, I have caught 17 rats of all sizes, including thirteen living and four dead rats, but they were shot dead just because they refused to be arrested."

The officials burst into laughter.

Prefect Lin couldn't help laughing and shouted, "What are you going to catch the mouse? I'll throw it away quickly. What's the point of running around in the court later?"

Priest Lin went to the hall to ask about the case again, and saw a load of baskets placed in the lobby. The baskets were filled with millet, rice, and soybeans mixed with fine garbage. Two large baskets were filled with them. The rats were really digging holes and storing grain.

Prefect Lin ordered a large piece of linoleum to be laid under the hall and poured out two baskets of fine pieces, asking Zhao Yuwu and Xia Chupi to carefully identify them on the side, and pick out some fragments from time to time, either from the Xia family or from the Zhao family. Suddenly, someone picked out something, and the police shouted: "Master, Master, found a jade pendant."

Zeng Yu, who was watching, breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Xu Wei and laughed. He was lucky and the mice were willing to help.

Zhao Yuwu was stunned. The jade pendant found in the rat hole was the Hanyu fan pendant he handed to his daughter-in-law He and the Ganan incense fan pendant together. The woman did not need to fold the fan, and He knotted the silk threads of the two fan pendants together in the box. So when the Ganan incense fan pendant appeared in Xia Guiyu's hands, he went back to ask his daughter-in-law He for two fan pendants but they were gone. Of course, he thought that He had given both fan pendants to his adulterer Xia Guiyu. Today, the Hanyu fan pendant was found from the rat's nest. Doesn't it mean that the two fan pendants were stolen by the rat.

Prefect Lin glanced at Zhang Muke, and Zhang Muke nodded. Prefect Lin knew that he had beaten Xia Guiyu, but it was impossible to ask him to admit his mistake in court. The mistake was all about Xiaomin. Zhao Yuwu was going to be unlucky. Prefect Lin said to Zhang Muke: "This case has always been assisted by Zhang Muyou. Now that the most important physical evidence in this case has appeared, Zhang Muyou will sort out the case on behalf of our office and pursue the crime of false accusers." Prefect Lin was unwilling to talk to him in person, so he was spoken by his friend.

Zhang Muke bowed to the prefect Lin, turned around and glared at Zhao Yuwu, shouting, "Zhao Yuwu, why did you falsely accuse Xia Guiyu and force your daughter-in-law He to death?"

Zhang Muke was stern, and Zhao Yuwu was so scared that he was out of control. He knelt down and kowtowed, "Master Zhang, Master Zhang, I don't know if it was a mouse who stole the fan."

Zhang Muke said aloud: "Master Fuzun has long doubted your complaint. If Xia Guiyu really had an affair with He, how could he spread the fan that He had given privately everywhere? No one with a wise mind would do this. Can Xia Guiyu be regarded as a fool like your son? This is one; the second is that you said on the paper that Xia Guiyu swept his clothes and played with a fortune, but the messenger searched the Xia paper shop but there were no such rare objects. You said that Xia Guiyu wanted to kidnap He, but you discovered that Xia Guiyu beat you up, which was all nonsense. Fuzun knew this clearly, because the bandits approached, defending the city and protecting the people was the first task, so he did not interrogate again—"

He said to Xia Guiyu again: "Qu you stayed in prison for several days because He hanged himself. After all, life is at stake. Of course, you cannot be released until the truth of the case is revealed. This is the caution of the court's court hearings--"

Xia Chupi quickly poked his son's waist again, and kowtowed first, "The eldest master is wise, the eldest master is wise, and his younger son is innocent, otherwise his younger son will be over in this life, and the ancestors of the Xia family are also shamed. The eldest master's kindness will make it difficult to repay the young father and son."

Although Xia Guiyu was resentful, he was scared in prison these days. He only wanted to be released from prison, so he did not dare to argue with the prefect of being wronged and getting stuck. He kowtowed with his father Xia Chupi and said, "The big old mansion is bright and bright, and he is still innocent."

The tactful attitude of the father and son of Xia family made Lin quite satisfied. He twisted his beard and nodded, saying, "These days, our residence has been thinking about how the canan incense fan fell to Xia Guiyu. Yesterday, the government lost an important letter and finally found that it was dragged away by a mouse. The residence remembered that this affair case was also a mouse that created a mystery from it, so he asked the sender to dig a rat hole. As expected, this case was caused by a rat. If it weren't for the careful investigation of it, wouldn't it cause an unjust case?"

All the officials in the hall and the neighbors who came to testify in the City God Temple Square under the hall praised Lord Fu Zun as a god. Zeng Yu sneered in his heart: "Very good, an unjust case has become Lord Fu Zun's political achievements. Officials are really good at turning bad things into good things. We will hold a commendation and celebration meeting tonight."

The officialdom is like this, and the salary of officials in the Ming Dynasty is meager, and the salary of fourth-rank officials like Lin, who are only a few dozen taels of silver, is simply "officials are not living a life of not having sex". They are righteous and want to be corrupt, so Zeng Yu is not very interested in being an official, and he can take advantage of some power to make himself and his family live a more comfortable life.

Because he found the Han jade pendant of the Zhao family from the mouse cave, it cleared the suspicion of Xia Guiyu's adultery with He. Prefect Lin ordered Xia Guiyu to be released in court. The more than 100 taels of silver collected from the search of Xia's paper shop last time was also returned to Xia Guiyu. The father and son of Xia were naturally grateful and shouted, "The Master Qingtian was hanging high in the mirror." After kowtowing, Xia Chupi helped his limping son to go out of the court.

The Zhao father and son in the hall were stunned. The neighborhood witness kowtowed, "Master, since there is no love affair, the little people can go home, right?"

Zhang Muke whispered a few words to Prefect Lin. Prefect Lin nodded and said majestic: "You unlucky people, neighbors should have lived in harmony and settle the matter, but you used the Canan incense fan to instigate Zhao Yuwu to complain, fearing that something would happen between the Zhao family and the Xia family would not have any trouble. The death of the Zhao family's daughter-in-law He family would be inseparable from you."

The seven or eight City God Temple witnesses were scared. They were originally unable to stand Zhao Yuwu's usual scandals in other people's boudoirs, and they wanted to see Zhao Yuwu's jokes when they borrowed a fan. They never thought it would cause trouble and shouted: "Master, the villains have never stirred up the flames. It was Zhao Yuwu who was suspicious and forced the affair to his wife He. He was forced to do so, so he found a short-sighted view and was not related to the villains."

Another neighbor said: "The master clearly understands that Zhao Yuwu's son Zhao Xuyang is short and looks like an eight-year-old child. He really can't do the couple's affairs. Zhao Yuwu married such a beautiful wife for his son. Zhao Yuwu was unhappy with kindness."

Priest Lin, Zhang Muke and others laughed, and Zhang Muke asked the neighbor why he knew that Zhao Xu could not do a husband and wife. The neighbor said: "I saw Zhao Xu peeing this summer, but I haven't grown up."

Zhao Xu didn't understand what these people were saying, but felt a little uncomfortable when he was kneeling. His father Zhao Yuwu was already blushing and scolded the neighbor of the street: "Li Laizi, you're spraying feces all over your mouth."

Prefect Lin shouted: "There are no roars and scolding people in the court."

Xu Wei signaled to Zeng Yu that he could leave. The case was nothing to say. It would be better to drink and discuss poetry.

The two of them then complained to the prefect Lin to retreat. As soon as they left the back door of the southern yamen, a soldier came to Xu Wei back to the military camp and said that General Qi had returned from Fengling Head and asked Mr. Xu to discuss the matter.

"It seems that General Qi is going to withdraw his troops back to Jinhua." Xu Wei said to Zeng Yu: "Brother, if the army will start tomorrow, then I won't come and say goodbye to you specifically. If I have to delay for another two days, I will come to you to have a drink.

The two bowed and parted. Zeng Yu saw that it was still early, so he went to Chenghuang Temple Square to visit Xia Chupi and his son. However, he saw that the small paper shop was open. Xia Chupi directed a servant to set off firecrackers, "Crackling", and the smoke of gunpowder was filled with smoke. Many people were inevitably watching the fun. Xia Chupi bowed and shouted: "All the virtuous neighbors and distinguished guests, below is Yongfeng paper merchants. This shop has been managed by the child Xia Guiyu. Ten days ago, the child was suddenly circulated by the government and said that he had an affair with his neighbor's wife. But I knew that my son had always been honest and would not do such a thing. Today, the mansion master retried the case and made my son innocent and was acquitted in court."

Xia Guiyu held the shoulders of the guy Xiao Wu and walked out of the store, bowing to everyone.

The case between Zhao and Xia families was circulating in the east of Shangrao City. Many people knew about it. Seeing that Xia Guiyu was really released from prison, they couldn't help but ask what happened. Xia Chupi talked about the mouse stealing fan, and everyone was amazed.

In order to win back the reputation of his son and Xia’s paper shop, Xia Chupi was so excited that she saw Zeng Yu standing under a big tree and smiling, and hurried forward and said, “Mr. Zeng, thanks to Mr. Zeng’s help this time, otherwise my son——”, and shed tears as she said that, this time shed tears of joy and gratitude.

Zeng Yu said: "If you don't talk about this, I'm here to see if Brother Xia Shi's legs are tight."

"Please, please." Xia Chupi led Zeng Yu into the store. Xia Guiyu was sitting on a big chair. When he saw Zeng Yu coming in, he first looked at the strange scholar blankly and heard his father say, "My son, this is Zeng Hunter, who is your savior." Xia Guiyu struggled and knelt down.

Zeng Yu quickly helped Xia Guiyu to sit down and said, "Brother Shi, don't move around. Let's find out about medicine. Let's see if your leg is seriously injured?"

Zeng Yu examined Xia Guiyu's injured leg, which was pretty good. He had applied the medicine. Xia Guiyu was still young and should be cured. However, this injury did not feel anything when he was young, but it would attack when he was old. Zeng Yu heard from his brother Zeng Yu say that many people who had broken legs when they were young had broken legs after being reconnected. After the bones were reconnected, they looked nothing wrong. As soon as they got older, the broken leg would gradually become shorter and they would walk a little lame. However, for Xia Guiyu, it was a great blessing to be released from prison without guilt. This disaster was over.

Xia Chupi rubbed his hands on the edge and kept saying that Mr. Zeng didn't know how to repay his kindness. In other words, he should just take more than 100 taels of silver back from the government as a thank-you gift, but he was afraid that Zeng Yu would be abrupt.

Zeng Yu said: "Xia Chaofeng, don't tell anyone about my idea in this case. Lord Wu Zun will blame me-"

Xia Chupi hurriedly said, "Mr. Zeng had already given instructions the day before yesterday. I didn't mention Mr. Zeng in front of outsiders, and I didn't mention Mr. Zeng in front of the door just now."

Zeng Yu nodded and said, "It's great. Brother Xia Shi, please recover from his injuries. If you really think you want to thank me for some gifts, then I'm not polite. Just give me two good paper papers. The paper paper is good for calligraphy and painting. Don't mention the rest. We are fellow villagers, so how can we stand by if we can put some effort on our side?"

Xia Chupi said repeatedly: "Okay, okay, I'll follow Zeng Gong's instructions. Tomorrow, my father and son will send the paper to the mansion and ask Yu'er to kowtow to Lingtang. This is a must, otherwise how can my father and son feel at ease?"
Chapter completed!