Ch. 56 - Reward with Silver, Hire Talents with Zero Dollars, and Ask about what Daiyu likes for her Birthday
The Famous Detective of the Red MansionThis chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
Although the case of "Heavenly Hound eating heart" had been solved before yesterday afternoon, it was only a temporary interrogation on the scene. To properly close the case, they also needed to take the offender back to the Central Judicial Office and follow the procedure of having a court trial.
In addition, detention, filing, punishment, and reporting...
All kinds of procedures were mixed in, and he only managed to finish until late at night.
Sun Shaozong went home and went to bed for merely two hours, and he had to rush back to work again. Because the case was very serious, the higher-ups had sent someone to verify and inquire, so he didn't even have the opportunity to ask for a leave.
Yawning his way to the Central Judicial Office, Sun Shaozong handed his horse to the gatekeeper and was about to go to his office to squint for a while, but an official of Jia Yucun had been waiting at the second gate, saying that the Prefectural Magistrate had an invitation.
Having no choice, Sun Shaozong had to gather his spirits and head over to Jia Yucun first.
After entering the door, he saw Jia Yucun vibrantly leaning on the desk and writing something, and in the middle of the room, there were two big wooden boxes.
As soon as he saw Sun Shaozong enter, he pointed to the two boxes with his chin and grinned, "Among them, one thousand silver taels are the rewards given by the Ministry of Punishment, and the other two thousand silver taels are the bonuses given by the Ministry of Public Work in the name of Vice President Ge. I have already requested the reward money for you, but I don’t care how you will distribute it.
Tch!
The lives of humans were really no match for it!
In the past, it was great to get rewarded with more than ten silver taels for several homicide cases solved by Sun Shaozong, and it often needed to be delayed for a long time. Now, before the official closure of the case, three thousand silver taels had been paid.
But…
"Is it reasonable to say that the silver reward issued by the Criminal Department must be handed over to Governor Liu first?"
Jia Yucun waved his hand with pride and said, "Don’t need to. It's clear from the official document that the silver taels were given to the people who handled the case. Did you ever see the person with the surname Liu show his face when we investigated the case?"
Minister Han and Governor Liu probably regretted it until their intestines were green at this time.
Jia Yucun and Sun Shaozong had originally dumped the case to let them bear the consequences of being unable to solve it. Who would have thought that a strange case that seemed to be caused by demons would be solved by Sun Shaozong in half a day!
Moreover, the absurdity of the case was appalling. Now not only the government and the public were discussing the case, but it was also said that it was widely spread in the palace.
Jia Yucun, as the main operator, although his part in the case was not comparable to that of Sun Shaozong, gained a face that was exposed to the sky!
Therefore, he was now in high spirits, not to mention that Governor Liu and even Minister Han had to stand aside for the time being!
"Oh right."
Thinking of the palace, Jia Yucun hurriedly said, "You should prepare well these days. Maybe the Emperor will call for you and me for an audience and report the case of Vice President Ge in detail."
To see the Emperor again?
Will he make a stage play again this time?
Sun Shaozong criticized in his heart, but his face was solemn. He then called four factotums from the outside, lifted the big wooden box containing silver taels, and went straight to the Criminal Department.
With his strength, walking fast and vigorously with two boxes in his hands was easy, but it was not proper to walk around with two boxes of silver in the Yamen as a sixth-grade Assistant Prefectural Magistrate.
Being unsure, someone might accuse him of being a “philistine.”
Sun Shaozong took the silver taels to the Criminal Department. He first reported to Governor Liu, and mentioned the reward of silver taels.
Hearing that it was the silver taels specially allocated to the operator, Governor Liu's face became gloomy again. In his view, this was clearly an act to challenge his financial power!
He could still make an act to the Ministry of Public Work. However, the Ministry of Punishment was one of the dual leaders of the Criminal Department. How dare he violate the meaning of the Ministry of Punishment?
So he could only express his bitterness and let Sun Shaozong distribute the silver taels himself, he didn’t need to report anything to him after distributing the silver.
Sun Shaozong “gladly obeyed” and asked people to carry the silver taels back to his small courtyard. Later, he heard that after he left, Governor Liu, broke a full set of high-quality ink-slab made in Duanxi and pen holders, which cost at least five or six hundred silver taels.
—Dividing Line—
When Sun Shaozong returned to the courtyard, Cheng Rixing had already welcomed him in. With a full bow, he said cheerfully, "Congratulations to Master on breaking this strange case. Now you have become famous in 49 cities, and the day of your promotion is probably not far away!"
"Don't suck up to me on this kind of matter!"
Sun Shaozong rolled his eyes, pointed to the two boxes of silver taels, and said, "The Prefectural Magistrate has asked for a large amount of silver taels as a reward. You should quickly draw up a list of people who have helped with the case to send these silver taels to them."
Cheng Rixing responded in a hurry, and he was full of eagerness to fawn as he led Sun Shaozong into the main room. This private adviser of his, who was a protege, was so flattering that it seemed to have become an instinct. Sun Shaozong told him several times that he really couldn't change, so he had to go with him.
Entering the main room and seeing Cheng Rixing laid out his writing brushes, ink sticks, paper, and inkstones, he was ready to splash ink. Sun Shaozong hurriedly added, "Remember to write Zhou Da's name on the front."
Cheng Rixing grabbed the right hand of the pen holder and paused. His eyes rolled around the box. Suddenly, he was excited and asked in a low voice, "Master, are you going to hire talents with a large amount of money?"
Sun Shaozong smiled and said calmly, "It's not a large amount of money. Instead, use a few hundred of silver taels to set a model. Besides, after this case, it's time for the people below to brighten their buttocks again."
Because he had heard Sun Shaozong talk about the theory of "Buttocks decide the brain" before, Cheng Rixing immediately understood what he meant, so he became even more excited.
Thus, he took advantage of his enthusiasm and splashed ink. In a moment, he drew up a list, distributed the three thousand taels of silver in order, calculated it through the abacus, and checked it twice carefully. He then held it in his hands and presented it to Sun Shaozong.
Sun Shaozong saw that behind Zhou Da's name were Zhao Wuwei and his other guards in the Yamen, so he nodded with satisfaction, shouted for the outside factotum, and asked them to notify all the officials on the list and go to the lobby to receive the reward at noon.
After dealing with these chores, Sun Shaozong couldn’t wait to go to the East Wing room to sleep. Suddenly, he remembered something and hurriedly called Chen Rixing to find out, "You have been in the Rongguo Mansion for so many years, you should know the preferences of the ladies in the Jia Mansion, right?"
Hearing this, Cheng Rixing's face showed some embarrassment. Sun Shaozong thought he didn't know, and he thought of leaving it at that and was waiting for him to say that he didn't know.
Cheng Rixing suddenly bowed his hand and said solemnly, "Originally, I shouldn't have said this after being nurtured by Old Master Zheng for many years, but for the sake of Master's future, I will let you know. Although all the young ladies in the family have a beautiful appearance, they are all daughters of the concubines, and they are not valued by the Old Master and his wife, so they are not a good choice for marriage."
Sun Shaozong was so embarrassed by him that he quickly waved his hand and said, "When did I say I would marry the daughter of the Jia Mansion? I overheard from the one in my house that her god sister was about to have her birthday soon, so she asked me to collect some lovely gifts for her. But how do I know what little girls like?"
After all, Ruan Rong was not a legal wife and couldn’t be called "Madam.” Sun Shaozong didn’t want to call her a concubine, so he used the word “in my house” in front of others.