The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 94: There is Only One Person Left for the Holding of Court Meeting

In the evening, Sun Shaozong of course did not go to the "Western Wing wedding room." Instead, he spent another night outside the main room. After Ruan Rong became pregnant, the two separated temporarily, mainly because she was afraid that Sun Shaozong would accidentally hurt the fetus in her stomach if he slept dishonestly at night.

A night without a word.

But Sun Shaozong said that before dawn the next day, a servant girl came to report that someone had sent a message in the middle of the night, asking him to go directly to the river Governor's Yamen without going to his Yamen for the morning call today.

Sure enough, Zhou Da was right!

The riverway Yamen was located in the outer city, which was quite a distance from the Sun's mansion. Therefore, Sun Shaozong hurriedly washed up, simply filled his stomach, went inside to inform Ruan Rong, and hurried out of the courtyard.

Unexpectedly, just after leaving the yard, he ran into Sun Shaozu, his eldest brother.

Seeing his solemn face, Sun Shaozong thought that he had heard that he was going to fight floods and participate in the rescue mission, and that he was going to exhort him on the things to be careful of. So he quickly assumed the posture of brotherhood and waited.

Unexpectedly, his big brother came up, and only asked, "The one you brought back yesterday is a good one to raise?"

Sun Shaozong, "......”

His elder brother has gone crazy wanting a "son!"

After a few wordless perfunctory remarks, Sun Shaozong was able to get away. He called Zhang Cheng to prepare the carriages and went straight to the outer city in the rain.

When he arrived at the riverway Governor's office, it was more than a quarter of an hour before morning [7:00 a.m.]. He thought that he should have come earlier because of the heavy rain. Unexpectedly, he was led to the back hall by petty officials. He saw that there were almost no empty seats on the chairs on both sides.

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Sitting upright in the middle was naturally Wang Yan, the Minister of Public Work and the Governor of the river, whom Sun Shaozong had met once.

Jia Yucun was sitting at the right head, and not far behind him were Zhao Rongheng, the salt and Iron General Judge who also led the river work, Xu Huaizhi, the Magistrate of Wanping County, and others. After Sun Shaozong greeted Wang Yan, he quietly sat in the empty seat between Zhao Rongheng and Xu Huaizhi.

Since then, several more groups of officials have arrived. At least those above the seventh grade still had a seat, and those below the seventh grade could only wait in the corridor.

At 7 a.m. sharp, Wang Yan, who had been silent for a long time, cleared his throat and asked in a loud voice, "Are all the people who should be here today present?"

A green-robed official with a roster immediately appeared in the lower part of the hall and bowed to say, "Report to the Ministers of the Hall. A total of 127 civil and military officials from the Ministry of Public Works, Riverway, the Central Judicial Office, Patrol Camp, and Urban Defense Camp have been summoned for this meeting. Now 124 people have been present. Two others have reported being sick. Xu Mingtang, the Embankment Ambassador of the Yongding River, is missing!"

Wang Yan's face suddenly sank. If someone else was late, it would be fine. But Xu Mingtang, as the "Ambassador of the Yongding River Embankment,” could be said to be the first and most important person to bear the brunt of this flood prevention!

What's more, he was originally an official stationed on the River Yamen. At present, all the people sent by the "brother units" to support him have arrived, but he, the Master, has not yet arrived. How can this make sense?!

Crack!

Wang Yan hit the tea table heavily and said, "Come here, go and get Xu Mingtang..."

"Your Excellency, something bad has happened! Your Excellency, something bad has happened!"

Before Wang Yan could finish speaking, he saw several officials in green robes rushed in, in a panic, and shouted, "Lord Xu, Xu Mingtang has... Has been killed!"

Boom!

The people inside and outside the hall were all in panic from the news they heard!

Seeing that natural disasters were approaching, the "river embankment ambassador" responsible for repairing and protecting the embankment, was suddenly killed. Who would believe that there was nothing fishy about this?!

Even Wang Yan was stunned for a moment and was unable to speak for a while.

"Your Excellency, should we ask about the whole situation first?"

Jia Yucun gave a careful reminder, and Wang Yan came back to his senses. He slammed his hand on the table, got up, and shouted, "Be quiet, all of you!"

When the tumultuous voices were suppressed, he then gritted his teeth and questioned the petty officials, "Say clearly, who killed Lord Xu?!"

The petty officials looked at each other. In the end, one of them, a thin and elegant man, took the initiative to say, "Report back to the Minister. After Lord Xu left work and went home last night, he came back in a hurry. He said that he had urgent business to deal with overnight. He asked us not to disturb him casually."

"Since Lord Xu had ordered, I naturally didn't dare to alarm him. But this morning, I saw that the proceedings were about to start, but there was still no sign of Lord Xu coming out. I felt a little strange, so I called two colleagues to go in to check it out. Unexpectedly, as soon as I entered the door, we saw Lord Xu hanging on the beam. It is obvious that he had been hanging for a long time!"

"Hanged?"

Wang Yan frowned and said, "How do you know that he was harmed?"

The civil official hurriedly said, "I initially thought that the Lord had killed himself, but later I found that even if the stool on the ground was placed upright, it was still a foot away from the toe of Lord Xu!"

When they heard this, they could not help but be in another uproar.

Wang Yan's face also darkened a little. This deliberate act of pretending to commit suicide must be to hide something and Xu Mingtang happened to be the Ambassador of the Yongding River…

"Your Excellency."

At this moment, Zhao Rongheng, the General Judge of the Salt and Iron, suddenly stood up and recommended, "Since there is a murder case, why don't you let Assistant Prefectural Magistrate Sun go to investigate?"

Wang Yan's eyes suddenly brightened, and he hurriedly turned to the Central Judicial Office's side to arch his hands and said, "I'm afraid I have to trouble you, Comrade Sun!"

Hearing this case, he knew that the water was deep. Sun Shaozong didn't want to get involved at first, but how could he refuse Wang Yan when he said the word "trouble" in the honor of the Minister of Public Works?

He had to give Zhao Rongheng a horizontal look, arch his hand, and said, "Since Your Excellency has given the order, I will go to see what happened."

With these words, he let the petty officials lead the way and rushed to the crime site.

All the officials inside and outside the hall, seeing that it was the "Divine Judgement" who had personally taken the initiative to solve the case, wished they could come over and have a look at it with their own eyes. But Wang Yan had a dark face there, who dared to try their luck?

Not to mention how people are itching.

Sun Shaozong followed those petty officials through the courtyard and went to a cross courtyard in the northwest corner.

Seeing that this pattern was even more open and bright than the Department of Criminals, Sun Shaozong asked curiously, "What is the rank of this Lord Xu?"

It was still the thin clerical official who took the initiative to dispel his doubts and said, "Most ”River Embankment Ambassadors” are from the fifth grade, but because the Yongding River is close to the Capital, it is not comparable. So our Lord Xu is from the fourth grade, and the position is only below the River Governor and Commander."

Tch!

No wonder people were willing to be officials in the Capital. This small tributary of the Yongding River, however, was more precious than the big rivers when it touched the edge of the Capital.

While talking, he reached the door of the room. The thin clerical official pushed the door open and saw a rope noose hanging high on the beam in the middle…