Interrogation

  At the hour of Xu, Min An heard the transmission and hurriedly walked into the warm pavilion to burn incense, suppressing the refreshing scent of the medicinal herbs on his back before entering the second-floor study.

  The slave with the shaved head was kneeling on the ground, his body curled up into a ball, his face pale and covered in cold sweat. Min An bowed to Li Peinan in the chair, then walked over to the slave's side, where he saw that his left hand had been broken, the bone protruding from the skin with a patch of blood on the outside.

  Min An's heart skipped a few beats, Li Peinan didn't say anything, but Lishou lowered his head and recounted the events of Fei Zhe breaking General Wing's arm in detail. Afterwards, he cut off his own left arm and came to apologize to Li Peinan.

  Min An slightly lowered his head to listen, but couldn't help but click his tongue, thinking that a living person was no match for the young master's beast. Li Peinan moved his pair of bright black eyes onto Min An's face and suddenly said: "From now on, you'll be in charge of taking care of it."

  Min An suddenly looked up, then reacted and said along the lines of his eyebrows: "The general's body is so precious, I'm afraid that if something goes wrong in my hands again, the young master will not pursue it heavily, I dare to take care of it."

  Li Peinan puckered up and blew, the General flapped out of the cage and landed on his left arm. He stood up and walked to Min An's side, his arm was very steady, but the General on top was flapping its wings, with feathers falling off constantly, revealing the skeletal frame wrapped in bandages on both sides.

  The general wailed in pain, like a cuckoo weeping blood under the moonlight.

  Min An sighed and said, "I was wrong, the young master's arrangement is correct, I will take good care of General." He took General from Li Peinan's arm and hugged him in his arms.

  Li Peinan waved his sleeve to dismiss the servant, and soon a maid ran upstairs to bring Min'an the items needed to care for the general. Min'an put the general in a small bamboo basket at his feet, hung a tame falcon around his neck, and stood obediently beside the screen waiting for orders.

  The general was tied up in a bamboo basket, flapping his wings and fanning out the wind. Min An saw Li Peinan still looking at him, hesitated for a moment, bent down to pick up the bamboo basket, and held the eagle bird with the frame in his arms. He reached out to touch the remaining feathers on the general's neck and said softly: "From now on we will depend on each other for life, you are my relative, oh no, you are my ancestor, isn't that good?"

  "General, if you make another mistake, you will be severely punished."

  Examples of severe punishment have already been given, ten military whips and the severed hands of thieves. Min An hastily hugged the bamboo basket and bowed his head in response: "Yes, yes." The general took advantage of the situation to peck at his lowered nose, he covered his nose, looked up at Li Peinan: "Does the young master have any further instructions?"

  Li Peinan asked: "What did you ask from Wu Mei?"

  Min An replied, "Wu Mei indeed didn't know where the account book was, only told me about Mao Shi San's favorite places. I thought back carefully and can rule out two other possible locations for the account book, leaving only one most likely place: Peach Blossom Village."

  Li Peinan didn't respond, so Min An continued to explain: "Taohua Village is a brothel, and Mao Thirteen likes to rob and plunder everywhere. No matter how far he goes, he always ends up returning to Taohua Village to meet his old lover. So I think it's highly likely that the account book is in her hands."

  Min An's conjecture was reasonable. He had followed his former master Bi Su to the Battle of Huangshi Slope, and later searched for the Green Eyebrow Bandits' hideout after they were defeated. However, nothing unusual was found. Given the relationship between Master Bi and Wang Huailie as allies, if Bi had discovered the ledger while searching, he would have already presented it to Wang. Therefore, Min An thought that the ledger might still be outside, possibly in the hands of someone trusted by Mao Thirteen.

  Li Peinan said after listening to Min An's explanation: "I'll call Li Qun to go with you."

  "Thank you."

  Li Peinan pulled out three documents from the large envelope on the table and placed them in front of Min An. The first document was the original appointment letter of Zhu Qiming, the former county magistrate of Qingquan County, with a note from an official who had a private relationship with Peng Yinxin, indicating that Peng Yinxin had instructed him to do so. This proved that Peng Yinxin was in cahoots with Zhu Youcheng, Zhu Qiming's old boss, and was helping him by dispatching his trusted followers to various places. The second document was a detailed file on Zhu Youcheng, the county magistrate of Sanhua County, which outlined his turbulent career over the past eleven years, including the names of his relatives and followers. Since the documents were extracted from the archives of the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Revenue, they did not contain much private information, except for a note in the section on Zhu Youcheng's children, which stated that "his son Zhu Moxi has been betrothed to the daughter of Min Chang, the former county magistrate of Jinzhou".

  Min An's mind went blank as he read the clear text, and he couldn't help but think of Zhu family's fat and stubborn son. When they were young, that person always followed him around, bowing respectfully and calling out "Xuanying, Xuanying" in a soft voice that was deeply etched in his mind, no matter how hard he tried to shake it off.

  After drifting away for several years, he came to Chu State on official business, and this marriage agreement seemed to follow him like a shadow, reminding him once again that he was merely a betrothed man to a woman named "Xuan Ying", and that after some time had passed, he would still have to marry that fat scholar.

  Li Peinan carefully looked at Min An's face, which was alternately red and white, and calmly produced the third document: Min An's origin. It stated that Min An lost his parents at the age of six and wandered among the people with his older brother Min Cong. Later, Min Cong was killed by a group of thugs in an alleyway, and Min An followed Wu Ren to drift outside until he was 11 years old, when he finally settled down and became a gatekeeper in Jingmen County. At the age of 13, Min An went to Qishui County, studied hard, passed the imperial examination for children, and entered the county school to study for two months before dropping out due to some reason. Wu Ren arranged for him to be sent to the county government as a gatekeeper through personal connections. At the age of 15, Min An took the provincial examination outside the yamen and obtained the qualification of a student, entering the prefectural school to study for half a year before dropping out again. He left Minzhou and came to Chuzhou, where he became a clerk in the Bi family, serving as a bookkeeper, long-term follower, and other positions.

  It can be seen from this document that Min An has been turning around the government office, actively seeking a way to advance, but unfortunately, he was born low and could only mix to the level of "official birth", which is far from being an "official". Moreover, the boundaries between officials and officials are clear, and it is not easy for him to be transferred. Even if he passed the official school twice, it cannot be used as a favorable condition.

  So Min An wanted to be a regular official, and the only remaining shortcut was to be promoted by the imperial court. To put it accurately, it was Li Peinan who recommended him and King Zhen Nan who approved. As for the quota of officials in the Imperial City, he didn't dare to think about it.

  Li Peinan took out the documents, it can be seen that he had already investigated Min An's background, how could Min An not feel nervous.

  Li Peinan asked: "Why did you 'withdraw for reasons' both times after being admitted to the Imperial Academy?"

  Min An lowered his head and replied: "On stormy days I get sick, startling the other students. The instructor advised me to drop out of school."

  "What's wrong with you?"

  "My mind is burning fiercely, I'm getting confused and don't recognize people."

  "Is it serious?"

  Min An didn't dare say the truth and just shook his head.

  Li Peinan remained silent for a while, staring at Min An. Min An didn't dare to look up, and in the silence, he suddenly heard Li Peinan ask: "Are you male or female?"

  "Male."

  "According to the household registration records, the Min family had a pair of dragon and phoenix twins. The eldest son was called Min Cong, and the second daughter was called Min An, who had been drifting outside all along. You are Min An, how can you suddenly become a man?"

  Min An looked into Li Pei Nan's eyes and felt an unprecedented sense of pressure, his usual quick-witted responses now faltering: "I... I was just trying to... repay Little Sister's kindness..."

  Li Peinan shouted: "Tell the truth!"

  Min An pressed his lips together and didn't speak, only shaking his head and kneeling down to express his plea and inner torment. What he insisted on, others might not understand, let alone the fact that he had been carrying the kindness of his brother giving him his heart all along. At this moment, he also didn't dare to hope that Li Peinan would suddenly understand him.

  Li Peinan reached out and grabbed Min An's hair from behind, pulling him all the way to his front, looking into his eyes and saying: "No matter if you're a boy or a girl, don't mess with me, got it?"

  Min An closed his eyes and replied: "Understood."

  He really understands.

  At present, his master's son is in charge of rectifying the official administration of Chu State, which also involves Zhu Yuancheng's faction in Min State. As a daughter-in-law, she had previously been engaged to Zhu Muzi, and this relationship made her position in front of Li Peinan somewhat embarrassing. Whether or not to use him, and how to use him, has become a problem that Li Peinan cannot avoid considering.

  Min An followed four masters in a row, and he was most convinced of Li Peinan, but also feared him the most. At this moment, Min An didn't rush to show his loyalty to Li Peinan, but only thought about how to get through the current crisis.

  Fortunately, Li Peinan did not make things difficult for him and directly sent him out of the door.

  Min An walked out the door, only then realizing that a large patch of sweat had seeped onto his back, making his wound ache. Although his back hurt, he felt relieved in his heart, knowing that Li Peinan was not going to make things difficult for him, which was a good thing. At the same time, it could also be seen that, regardless of whether he was male or female, at this moment, he occupied very little weight in Li Peinan's heart, because he could only be considered as a vanguard soldier in a practical plan, and such soldiers usually die in battle.

  Unless he was like Xiao Zhiqing of Changping Prefecture, who worked hard to climb to a height where Li Peinan couldn't ignore his existence. After all, in the Crown Prince's residence, as long as you were useful, you could get promotion opportunities regardless of your background.

  Min An understood this truth and felt that he could endure the back injury. He then rubbed his fists and prepared for the next day's travel arrangements.

  Please take some time to read what the author has to say:

  The author has something to say: Dear readers MM (*^__^*)

  This little novel will be entering V mode from tomorrow, which is Monday. It has just reached the V line with 500 collections. On Monday, there will be three updates on the same day. After entering V mode, I will work hard to update the story, and the plot will still follow the pace of about one case every six chapters or so. If you like it, please continue to follow along, thank you:)

  Before writing this, I prepared for half a year. I bought 3 books about official residences, 2 books about ancient food and clothing, 1 book about medicine, 4 books about history, 1 book about autopsy, and 1 book about fine cuisine. Then I locked myself in the study room to research, taking many reading notes, including hand-drawn diagrams of the official residence layout. I invested a lot of enthusiasm into writing this detective story. Regardless of whether it's good or bad, I'm happy to discuss with everyone who left comments, and thank you all for your support and comments along the way:)

  This story is equivalent to my dream, I want to stick to my dreams:)

  If you don't want to follow along, MM, please accept my thanks and delete the collection when you leave. Thanks O(∩_∩)O No other meaning, just want to see how many readers of detective stories there are, for me, it's a wind vane for writing next time (*^__^*)

  Thank you all very much, I love you guys =3=

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