An old case!
In Zhao Douan's expectation, the "file bag" would contain things like whistleblower letters, hidden asset clues, or various other miscellaneous items.
But upon looking, he realized it was actually a dossier.
It recorded a murder case that had occurred thirteen years prior, during the reign of the Old Emperor, in the "Orthodox era."
And this file was from the records within the City Governnt office.
The case docunts seed proper at first glance, but a brief perusal revealed a frustratingly low amount of information.
It was almost entirely bureaucratic procedures, the stamping and processing from various departnts.
"Just look towards the back, forget it, flip straight to the last page and see the seal of the official in charge of the case."
Haitang curled her lip, directing him.
The important stuff is at the top... clueless, clearly lacks experience in handling matters... Zhao Douan grumbled internally.
Skipping the beginning, he pulled out the last page, his eyebrows raising:
"The presiding officer, Inspector of the Imperial Court of Supervision... Zhou Cheng? Huh? He worked as an official there?"
Zhao Douan was surprised.
Zhang Han, with a poker face resembling a dedicated professional, recited as though from mory:
"Zhou Cheng was born poor and loved reading from a young age. Brilliant-minded, he beca a Scholar at sixteen, then successively passed the Imperial Examinations and beca an Advanced Scholar, entered the Ministry of Revenue as Chief, overseeing the nation's finances, and that was when he first beca colleagues and developed camaraderie with the current Pri Minister.
Afterward, he transferred roles several tis within the six ministries and was then dispatched to Linfeng Prefecture City as Magistrate. Due to his outstanding performance, he was promoted to Inspector on the Huai River and then to governor...
Later, he was called back to the Capital and entered the Imperial Court of Supervision as the Imperial Censor, coinciding precisely with the Orthodox era."
Haitang, who was idly munching sunflower seeds, casually added:
"By the way, it's worth ntioning that at that ti, the role of the higher Imperial Censor was vacant, so as the next in rank, he was in charge of the entire Imperial Court of Supervision."
Damn... this guy has quite an impressive resu... indeed, none of those who beco one of the nine ministers are simple.
Zhao Douan knew that the "Imperial Censor" was the deputy to the "Grand Imperial Censor," a fourth-rank position.
Essentially a stepping stone before ascending to the role of Minister of the Ministry of Justice.
"Eh, what's with this long list of criminal officials? I rember this started as a minor case."
Zhao Douan glanced over the nas of the accused, his expression darkening slightly.
This ti, without the need for a reminder from his colleague, he focused and quickly flipped through from the beginning.
——
The case was as follows:
During the Orthodox era, one day in the Capital, a hundred-household officer nad Yang An suddenly fell ill and died at ho.
While his family was grieving and dealing with the funeral, a colleague of Yang An stepped forward, claiming Yang An hadn't died from illness but was the victim of a plot by adulterers.
He accused Yang An's wife, surnad Yue, of having an illicit affair with her brother-in-law.
As Yang An had a chronic illness, this adulterous couple, with the help of a neighbor surnad Hao, recruited a low-ranking Magician from the Heavenly Master Mansion by the na of Shen to act, mixing talisman paper into the dicinal soup to aggravate his illness and thus bring about Yang An's death.
The complaint was submitted to the governnt office.
After investigation and trial by the governnt office, it was indeed confird that the adulterous couple, the neighbor Hao, were all arrested and imprisoned.
Even the Magician surnad Shen, for violating the law, was "extradited" from the Heavenly Master Mansion and thrown into the dungeon.
As the case involved a homicide, the governnt office's verdict had to be reviewed by the Three Agencies.
The case passed through the hands of both the Imperial Court of Supervision and the Ministry of Justice, with both bodies affirming that the criminals deserved the death penalty.
But when it reached the Ministry of Justice, it was overturned by an official nad Xue Lin, who served as the Junior Minister at the ti.
Zhao Douan was thoroughly engrossed as he read, becoming deeply absorbed.
But then, he realized the docunts in his hand had a sudden gap.
It seed like a portion was missing.
On the new page, there was only a brief ntion that due to inconsistent opinions within the Three Agencies, the case was ultimately presented to the late Emperor for judgnt.
Upon investigation, it was determined that the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Junior Minister Xue Lin, and others had accepted bribes, collectively breaching the law and shielding the criminals.
The late Emperor, furious, had several Ministry of Justice officials led by Xue Lin collectively imprisoned. After interrogation, it also implicated a group of criminal officials.
In the end, what was not considered a major case involved a batch of people.
Criminals and officials were executed or exiled.
——
"Where's the middle part?"
Zhao Douan raised his head, tossed the docunts onto the table, and skeptically said:
"This dossier is missing a part, right?"
Even a blind man could see that from the point where Xue Lin overturned the governnt office's verdict to the late Emperor's sentencing and the imprisonnt of Xue Lin and his associated officials, there was a gap in the story.
Beside the square table, Zhang Han shook his head expressionlessly:
"No more, the middle part of the dossier is completely lost."
Zhao Douan's eyebrows rose, "Explain in detail!"
Zhang Han looked at the Daffodil Hall Master opposite and said:
"You're the one who knows this old case the best since you were the first to dig it up. You tell him."
Zhao Douan was suddenly interested, cracking sunflower seeds and turning to look at his striking female colleague:
Co on then, show and tell.
"..." Sighing, Haitang said helplessly:
"Actually, before you received this assignnt, the Imperial Court had not overlooked Zhou Cheng, but there were no significant findings.
Of course, that was also because His Majesty had not permitted us to investigate, but I, in my pursuit of being ranked first among the Nine Halls, paid extra attention to these high-ranking court officials."
Oh, I get it... you're too eager to advance... Zhao Douan showed approval.
Haitang continued:
"So, I started looking into the major cases he had handled and that's when I found this, a case from the ti he served as the Imperial Censor. It was only when I tried to delve deeper that I realized sothing was amiss."
Zhao Douan's eyes twinkled:
"You discovered the dossier wasn't complete?"
"Exactly!" Haitang's face filled with recollection:
```
"With the authority of the Imperial Court, even the records from the Three Agencies could be accessed.
I found a pretext to investigate and discovered that besides the parts regarding 'murdering the husband' initially focused on, the records in the archival repository were quite well docunted.
But all parts involving Xue Lin's involvent later on had disappeared; even the remaining records were nothing but brief fragnts of sentences."
```
Zhao Douan sat up straighter:
"Do you suspect that soone is covering sothing up?"
Haitang nodded earnestly:
"It's just that the records from a decade ago should still be relatively complete, by all accounts.
Moreover, given how many officials were implicated in this case, to the extent of even beheading a Junior Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and considering how many governnt offices were involved, it's highly abnormal for all of them to have lost their records!"
Zhao Douan asked, "And then?"
Haitang leaned back, arms folded, listless and silent, before saying,
"Then I tried to look into it discreetly on my own, but made no progress. Besides, I had a pile of cases at hand at the ti and couldn't afford to satisfy my curiosity, so I put it aside and forgot about it for a while."
Zhang Han added,
"It wasn't until she learned that you were facing off against Zhou Cheng that she picked up this clue again.
Both of us are convinced that there's definitely sothing fishy going on.
The main judge of the case at that ti was Zhou Cheng, and aside from the late Emperor, he was the most likely person who could have erased the relevant records."
```
Brilliant!
If Zhou Cheng really destroyed those records, it ans that there might be sothing within the old case that threatens his current position.
Zhao Douan smacked his lips, playing with a lon seed:
"So you're saying there actually is a breakthrough. But it seems a bit difficult to investigate. I'm no expert in solving cases, this is your field. Do you have any suggestions?"
What he's best at was handling people.
Not picking out clues from tangled mists.
But no matter, his past life taught him a lesson: being a leader doesn't require understanding the technicalities—having subordinates who do is enough.
Haitang's lips curled slightly, clearly displaying an "I knew you'd co to for help eventually" kind of smugness.
She picked up the teacup beside her, sipped theatrically, then indifferently proposed,
"The records are destroyed, but the people who knew about the affair back then are still here. Xue Lin was beheaded, and almost his entire family died, but his daughter is the sole survivor, and she's right here in the Capital."
His daughter... Zhao Douan realized:
"Are we going to the Teaching Bureau next?"
Normally, the male mbers of an official's family guilty of major cris would be sent to the border for hard labor, and the won would be forced into governnt-run brothels under the Ministry of Rites to work off the debt.
Considering that the entire Xue family had been extinguished, save for a daughter, Zhao Douan suspected that she was likely forced into such a fate.
Zhang Han also nodded, sharing the sa speculation and rose to his feet.
Contemplating how to justify the expenses for the "entrance fee" to the Teaching Bureau.
Haitang was montarily stunned, then realized the line of thought of the two n, her cheeks flushed with annoyance as she pounded the table and spat,
"Can't you two think of sothing clean for once? That girl is doing just fine; she didn't end up in that kind of place."
She then explained,
"When Xue Lin was imprisoned, many officials also campaigned for him. Xue Lin's only daughter, nad Xue Xuan, had an arranged marriage with the eldest grandson of Grandmaster Dong, but since they were both too young at the ti, they hadn't t.
After Xue Lin's imprisonnt, Grandmaster Dong diated the situation, but ultimately couldn't save his life. Naturally, the marriage arrangent was canceled, but Xue Xuan was saved and spared from the ordeal.
Now, thirteen years later, that Xue Xuan has grown up.
She lives in East City, running a small private school. If we can pry open her mouth, we might find out what's missing in the records..."
So it was like that... The two n felt a wave of embarrassnt; their imaginations had been too sordid.
But if there was soone they needed to handle, that simplified matters.
Zhao Douan wasn't versed in cracking cases, but dealing with people... that he was good at.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Why pick a date when today is as good as any? Accompany to visit this descendant of the Xue family."
Zhao Douan flicked the lon seed shells off his hand and got up to leave.
The sentint was shared... his two colleagues also rose, paid the bill, and left the building.
Downstairs.
Zhao Douan stepped into the carriage, while his two colleagues chose not to ride, instead mounting their horses.
Since they were trying to catch Zhou Cheng red-handed, a quieter approach was warranted, which is why they had brought no attendants.
"Here we are riding horses while he takes a carriage, like we're truly his subordinate guards," Haitang said with a snort of defiance, the image of vigor with her long legs, tall ponytail, and striking features.
Beside her leading the horse, Zhang Han remained silent, thinking to himself:
Didn't Lord Dong assign us to him exactly for that purpose—to serve as his subordinates and guards and prevent further assassination attempts?
"Haitang, if you don't like riding horses, co join here."
Inside the carriage.
Hearing her grumbling, Zhao Douan laughed heartily and patted the seat cushion next to him.
The rascal... Haitang rolled her eyes in disdain and ignored him, mounted her horse, and with a crack of her whip,
"Hyah!"
...
...
anwhile, outside the Teaching Bureau.
On the street, a carriage ca to a slow halt.
The driver whispered,
"Sir, according to the report, that lackey of Zhao Douan's nad Qin Qiu ca here last night and hasn't left since. It appears he spent the night."
Separated by a thick curtain, inside the carriage.
Not wearing his green official robe but in casual attire, with an appearance seemingly full of righteousness but actually harboring debauchery, Hee Zheng awoke from a nap.
This Minister of the Ministry of Justice, who had clashed with Zhao Douan twice, raised his hand to stroke his mustache and looked through the carriage window toward the Teaching Bureau across the street.
His eyes darkened: "Find him."
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