Through Ren Liqiu's tracking for five days, coupled with the fact that Steward Liu himself is not a big person, it quickly became clear. "My lord, this Steward Liu's real name is Li Xiangyang, and he is a concubine of the Li family, and he buys boys near Gyeonggi every day in the name of the Li Mansion Zhaoshutong, or buys boys all over the country through the influence of the business, and selects the beautiful children among them to give to Li Xuekai, that is, Li Gong to have fun."

"Since he is Li Gong's tentacle, does this person have any foundation?" "He's just a concubine, and his uncle's family has no power, so how can he talk about the foundation?" "I mean, is there anything wrong with him that the law of the land does not tolerate?" Liqiu nodded, "It is rumored that this person loves beautiful women very much, especially the beauties of someone's family, there is a saying that there is a Yang beauty in Baoding, because he did not obey him, he was burned alive, and his husband was not allowed to report to the official." ”

"You check carefully, you must find out this person's family, as well as the detailed records of this case, it is not enough to have legends. Steward Qin, please prepare, I will go out to investigate the case in the next few days, and you can prepare all the items. Xu Yuan rubbed his hands nervously: "Also, don't make a noise about this matter." ”

"Where is this Yang from?" "My lord, the Yang family is from Baoding Mansion, and there is a tofu stall at home, and I heard that this Yang family is as smart as tofu." "You, it's really time to find a wife for you quickly, just thinking about how to investigate the case if people are not smart?" Liqiu lowered his head and smiled: "My lord, I still think that a man should start a business first and then start a family." ”

Set off to Baoding, although the journey is not far, but there is no emperor's will. Under normal circumstances, if you go through the legal process, the case that is not Gyeonggi is investigated by the magistrate, or the magistrate will be investigated with the Dali Temple. But in the second case, the emperor must personally issue an order to the Beijing officials before they can leave Beijing, but in this case, it will definitely alarm Li Xuekai.

In the palace, His Majesty the Emperor looked at Xu Yuan's investigation results and asked, "This housekeeper is indeed very suspicious, but Li Xuekai can get himself out of the matter, and it is difficult to blame him." "Your Majesty, this person is suspected of collecting boys for Li Xuekai to play with him, if you can take down this person, you will definitely be able to involve him."

The emperor made a secret order, Xu Yuan pretended to go out of the city, quickly whipped his horse, and arrived in Baoding in the afternoon. Ren Liqiu, who had been waiting here for a long time, took him to the interrogation room, where Yang's husband Zhang Jianxiang was already inside. "My lord, who are you, I haven't done anything illegal."

"Zhang Jianxiang, your deceased wife Yang, what's going on?" Zhang Jianxiang looked frightened: "Who are you?" I have never reported to the official, please let me go, I will not offend the eldest master. "We are from Gyeonggi Dali Temple, this is our Lord Xu, and we have come to investigate the Yang suicide case by the emperor's secret edict."

"Yang, my wife, she didn't commit suicide. Sir, she didn't commit suicide. Zhang Jianxiang's tears slowly fell, he made tofu all year round, his hands were a little white, he covered his face to prevent them from seeing it. The eldest man in Gyeonggi, surnamed Liu, has several trading houses in Baoding, and a few months ago said that he was looking for a few little scholars in Baoding. ”

"Our family is not a wealthy family, but we don't want our children to do the work of serving people. My child and my wife were selling tofu on the street, and he took a fancy to our child, so he came to negotiate the price. I refused, he wanted to rob it. My wife was also taken by him, and that day they found a dozen people to break into my house in the middle of the night and take my wife and my children away. ”

"When I was found the next day, my wife had been burned to death, and she was covered and naked. My child, my six-year-old doll, still doesn't know if it's alive or dead. "Zhang Jianxiang, let me ask you, on which day was your child and wife snatched away?" "October 17. On that day, we also said that my doll would celebrate her birthday in a few days. ”

"What's your doll's name?" "Zhang Bao." "Why didn't you report your wife's death?" "I don't dare, they say they have someone in Gyeonggi, and if I dare to report to the official, they will kill me." "Then you're going to do nothing?" Liqiu looked at him with some disgust. "Master, I really want to do it, if someone told me what I could do, I would have wanted to do it when I died, but my mother is only my son, she can't be left alone."

"I'm going to let you go to Gyeonggi with me now, take your mother with you, and get a revenge for your wife, will you do it?" Zhang Jianxiang was obviously hesitant, not knowing whether it was true or not. "If you go early, your doll may still be alive, but if you hesitate, he will not be able to survive." Liqiu added.

"I'll go, my lord, you all have hands and eyes, I don't have any knowledge, and I have never been out of such a far door in my life, can you let me go home and talk to my mother?" Xu Yuan stood up: "Your mother, I have arranged for someone to go to greet you, don't go now, go with us to identify the scene, and your wife wants to let her do an autopsy again, do you agree?" ”

Before he could reply, he was about to leave, and the governor of Baoding Mansion was already waiting. "Lord Xu, the villain has admired Lord Xu's name for a long time, and it is really an honor to finally see him today!" Xu Yuan nodded and was about to leave, leaving his embarrassed departure was not a governor who stayed or not. He grabbed Liqiu: "This lord, where are you going?" ”

"The case of the Yang family in Baoding has alarmed the saint, and His Majesty has ordered us to investigate this matter thoroughly." "But we haven't received the decree?" "Your Majesty's secret decree, do you really want to see it?" "If you want to keep it secret, I won't read it, these days you will be unwell and can't go out, and Baoding Yiying people and others will all be dispatched by you."

A dilapidated small warehouse, the walls inside were burned gray and black, Zhang Jianxiang staggered to a corner: "My wife was found here, she was burned at that time and there was only one breath left, I carried her to many doctors, no one dared to treat her, I saw her in my arms without life." ”

Xu Yuan nodded, there were yellow traces everywhere in that corner, and said, "My lord, this is Yang's grease, she struggled very violently before she died." Xu Yuan asked, "Then why didn't she run?" He shook his head: "Maybe she was knocked unconscious, or maybe she was restrained, but this will not be known until the coffin is opened." Xu Yuan nodded: "Then let's go open the coffin." ”