Soon after Cai Renliang's death, they captured Li Lanxiang, the woman in Cai Renliang's outer house, on the official road in western Beijing; This woman rolled up a lot of gold and silver in Cai Renliang's outer house and ran away, planning to go to her hometown in Shanxi to hide for a while, but she was caught up by the fans as soon as she left Beijing.

In a secret stronghold in the East Factory of Xuanbei Fang, Li Lanxiang knelt on the ground tremblingly, and a short, fat and fair-skinned person with a black crown sat on the big chair opposite her like a statue, staring at her with eyes like falcons, full of coldness and fierceness.

"How did Cai Renliang die, so he can explain it." The man in the chair asked faintly.

"Slave family...... Wronged...... When the slave family came back, he saw my master hanging himself on the lintel and hanged himself, and the slave family really didn't know what was going on. Li Lanxiang pleaded bitterly.

"You are lying to the ghost, although Cai Renliang is not young, his body is still strong, he is free of illness and disaster, and he is a figure with some status in the inner court, how can he not think of committing suicide? Someone come, and give her a punishment. ”

Several fans came forward to grab Li Lanxiang's body, put the clamp stick on her hands and feet and stirred vigorously at the same time, the rope creaked and tightened, Li Lanxiang screamed in pain, and shouted: "Official, old man, spare your life." What the slave family said is the truth, my lord was very good to me, ransomed me out of the prostitution, the slave family has served my lord for more than two years, how can he attack him? Oops, kill the slave family. ”

A fan shouted angrily: "My father-in-law, the superintendent of Dongchang, came to ask you personally, you are not honest, and if you use more force, you will break her fingers and toes." ”

Li Lanxiang's tears of pain flowed out, howling like killing pigs, as the clamp became tighter and tighter, the bones on her fingers and toes also made a slight clicking sound, as if she was about to be pinched off, but she always insisted that she did not kill Cai Renliang.

Liu Jin frowned and waved his hand, and the fans let go of the clamping stick, but saw that the woman's hands and feet were bruised and swollen, many places between her fingers were damaged, and blood flowed out, which was a mess.

"You said you weren't the murderer of Cai Renliang, why did you run away? Isn't there no three hundred taels of silver in this place for you to flee? Liu Jin squinted at Li Lanxiang and said in a low voice.

Li Lanxiang's face was pale, her face was full of cold sweat, her hands and feet were painful, she swallowed and cried: "My lord, the incident happened suddenly, the slave family was so frightened that he had no idea, thinking that if he reported to the official, he would be considered the murderer of my master, so he thought about it and simply ran away." ”

Liu Jin sneered: "Joke, Cai Renliang is a suicide, why should you worry about the government pursuing you?" ”

Li Lanxiang said: "As the adults said, my lord is very tough, and his life is passable, so how can he seek death?" The slave family knows that there must be something hidden here. ”

"Oh? So you conclude that Cai Renliang did not commit suicide? Liu Jin leaned over and stared at Li Lanxiang's face.

Li Lanxiang hesitated for a long time, as if there was something unspeakable, Liu Jin shouted in a dumb voice: "Don't make yourself uncomfortable, you can't stand my punishment here, the stick is just the most ordinary punishment, don't force our family to order someone to give you one by one, then you will be recruited, but people will not be saved." If you know something, tell it so that you don't suffer. ”

Li Lanxiang hesitated, Liu Jin waved his hand, and a fan clicked open a long wooden box on the table, the silver light flashed inside, and a row of thick silver needles lay in the box.

"See? This is the punishment of my East Factory to deal with women, called silver needle puncture milk, the taste is not pleasant, half a foot long needle pierced into it, pierced a dozen needles; The pain is not enough, there is a secret hemolytic medicine in the hollow needle, inserted into your breasts, but the blood does not coagulate, pull out the blood on your body from the end of the needle drop by drop, only half a day, you will become a dry corpse. Do you want to try it? Liu Jin twisted a trembling silver needle and said slowly.

Li Lanxiang hugged her chest and shrank back in panic, shouting repeatedly: "Spare your life, spare your life." ”

"Then you don't want to say it quickly?" Liu Jin shouted.

Li Lanxiang gritted her teeth and said, "My lord, the slave family said it all." The night before yesterday, a group of people broke into the house in the middle of the night to discuss things with my master, and the slave family was sent out, and I didn't hear their conversation, but after they left, my master sighed, and the slave family asked him what happened, and he didn't say anything, but only scolded me not to do much......"

Liu Jin frowned and said, "Who are those people?" What face? ”

Li Lanxiang said: "One seems to be called Zhang's father-in-law, and the other two seem to be officials of Jinyiwei, and one of them is called Hou Ye...... The slave family was frightened at the time, and he really didn't remember it clearly. ”

Liu Jin said coldly: "Is it called Marquis Song?" ”

Li Lanxiang thought for a long time and said, "It seems to be called that, but it's not necessarily." ”

Liu Jin suddenly got up and paced a few steps and said, "Go on, after they left, is there anything unusual about Cai Renliang's behavior compared to usual?" ”

Li Lanxiang said: "The master was a little restless, and he went to the palace to take a day off the next day, and returned to the outer house to sit with his head bored for a day, and he didn't let the slave family disturb him." Yesterday he didn't eat all day, and in the evening he had a fever, so the slave family had to go out to the pharmacy to get medicine for him and come back, intending to stay up and cure him; But I didn't expect that as soon as the slave family returned home, they would see the old man and him...... He hung on the door and died...... The slave family was so frightened that they knew that it had something to do with the events of that night, so they packed up their things and escaped, hid in a relative's house in the city for the night, and went out of the city early the next morning to return to their hometown in Shanxi, but they were arrested by you. ”

"Hold it down, and record her confession just now." Liu Jin waved his hand and said slowly.

The two fans dragged Li Lanxiang down, Liu Jin stood motionless in the room thinking about Li Lanxiang's words just now, if nothing else, two of the three people who entered Cai Renliang's house that night were Zhang Yong and Song Nan, and these two went to visit a small chief eunuch of the needlework bureau together, and the matter was really strange. Cai Renliang is not a character at all, what are these two sneaking to find him in the middle of the night? What's even more strange is that Cai Renliang died on the third day after their visit, what kind of thing caused Cai Renliang to lose his life?

All kinds of questions are like a mess entangled, Liu Jin is also a resourceful person, but he has never been able to figure out what is going on. But one thing he was vaguely sure of was that this matter must be closely related to Song Nan and Zhang Yong's sneaky actions recently, maybe this qiē was all to deal with him, but he hadn't figured out their methods yet.

Liu Jin was driven crazy by these questions in his heart, in the afternoon, Liu Jin quietly found Jiao Fang, and the two stood in a secluded place outside the cabinet office to discuss the matter.

"Gonggong Liu, I'm afraid you really have to be on guard, Zhang Yong and Song Nan's move is the most obvious, this move is really poisonous."

Liu Jin was stunned and said, "How can you say this?" ”

"Father-in-law, are you really confused or fake, the reason why the emperor has been a little estranged from you recently is not because Song Nan and Zhang Yong are making trouble? The bad thing is that you have had a relationship with King Anhua, if I were Song Nan and Zhang Yong, I would definitely make a big fuss here? ”

"Do you still have to say that? Our family has long understood that they want to involve our family in the rebellion, but they will not succeed, the process of interaction between me and King Anhua, the emperor knows everything, and the emperor will not believe them; The reason why the emperor is estranged from me is indeed because these two people are secretly making trouble, but I have no collusion with the rebel king at all, how can they tolerate me? ”

"Father-in-law, I don't know what to say, the emperor naturally trusts his father-in-law in every way, but if Song Nan and Zhang Yong really come up with the so-called evidence, the emperor may believe it if he doesn't believe it."

"What evidence? What evidence can Cai Renliang provide them? Could it be that if I really collude with the rebel king, I will let the chief eunuch of the needlework bureau know about it? What a joke. ”

"Father-in-law, Cai Renliang's needlework bureau is naturally nothing, but it is a place that can make the crown of the emperor's dragon robe, maybe Song Nan wants to use this Cai Renliang to frame his father-in-law, otherwise they can't explain their intention to find Cai Renliang at all."

Liu Jin gasped, his heart suddenly brightened, the truth is so simple, he couldn't figure it out, in fact, he didn't bypass this bend, after being broken by Jiao Fang's words, the more Liu Jin thought about it, the more he felt that it must be so, otherwise what use value does this Cai Renliang have?

"You mean, they want Cai Renliang to accuse me of making a dragon robe crown for the rebel king? This can't rule out this possibility, these two dogs are determined to spread the collusion between me and the king of Anhua in front of the emperor, the emperor must not believe their words, but if they present the emperor's dragon robe crown and other things, and lie that it is our family for the king of Anhua, and then there is Cai Renliang's confession, then the emperor may really believe it. These two mad dogs seem to be going to fight to the death with our family. Liu Jin scolded angrily.

Jiao Fang shook his head and said: "Father-in-law doesn't have to be anxious, no matter whether our guess is true or not, but at least now it seems that their plan has failed, and Cai Renliang must be unwilling to listen to them to frame his father-in-law, so he was killed." ”

Liu Jin said: "Could it be that they have already succeeded, so that Cai Renliang will be killed?" ”

Jiao Fang smiled and said: "If you care, it's chaotic, Gonggong Liu is messing up, without the help of the Needlework Bureau, how can they get a fake dragon robe?" Even if Cai Renliang is alive and is coerced by them to accuse his father-in-law, without physical evidence, how can they justify themselves? ”

"Maybe they can make zuò in other ways, but they don't have to rely entirely on the needlework bureau."

"Even if Starry Night sends someone to Suzhou to weave secretly, it can't be completed in a month or two, and with such a long time interval, my father-in-law can't think of a countermeasure, then I have nothing to say."

Liu Jin paced slowly with his hands in his hands, and said for a while: "What do you say we should do now?" ”

Jiao Fang said: "Doesn't my father-in-law plan to check along this line?" The woman only needed to identify the fact that Song Nan and Zhang Yong visited Cai Renliang that night; confessed another confession that Song Nan forced Cai Renliang to make a dragon robe to frame his father-in-law, and his father-in-law made trouble in the court, and we followed up and seconded the proposal and impeached him continuously, are you afraid that Song Nan will not be tired of dealing with the anxiety? ”

Jiao Fang frowned and shook his head and said: "No, this method is not appropriate, it is not difficult to fabricate a confession of that woman, the difficult thing is that it is impossible to bring down Song Nan with a confession, even if everyone impeaches him together, after all, the evidence is insufficient and there are many loopholes." Besides, he also has helpers in the court, and most of the troubles will not be over, and the emperor must be even more unhappy with me in his heart. ”

Jiao Fang nodded and said: "I didn't say that I could bring him down, I just taught Song Nan to die of this idea of slandering his father-in-law, after this matter was made public, Song Nan definitely didn't dare to do it, so that his father-in-law would have more time to plan how to get rid of him." ”

Liu Jin waved his hand and said: "Don't be so troublesome, now is the opportunity, let's pretend not to know anything, if Song Nan dares to really fake the dragon robe to frame him, wouldn't it just be just for me to get the stolen goods?" At that time, it was he Song Nan who made the dragon robe privately and intended to rebel, do you guess whether the emperor would spare him. ”

Jiao Fang stroked his palms and praised: "Good way, the Needlework Bureau will not work, if Song Nan does not give up, he will definitely find other ways, just keep an eye on them, come and get the stolen goods, or you can arrange to lure him into the bait." By the way, there is a ready-made crown in the Shangyi Prison, keep an eye on the Shangyi Prison and its leader Sun Jin, Song Nan may beat their ideas, if the father-in-law can let Sun Jin come in a plan, maybe he can really get the stolen goods. ”

Liu Jin nodded slightly and said: "What I said is that in addition, we need to send people to Suzhou immediately to secretly check whether there is anything in the Yunjin Weaving Workshop secretly making zuò, in short, if Song Nan doesn't have this idea, as long as he stretches his neck, we will give him a knife." ”