Chapter 34: Being Set Up

  "What about the corn?" Min An grasped the edge of the vat and continued to search for the monkey everywhere. After glancing around for a while, he knew that it was Fei Yi who had tricked him out.

  He couldn't help but walk over and give Min'an a cold, hard knock on the forehead, saying in a low voice: "Everyone is looking for you, but you're hiding in the water tank sleeping. Don't you know the severity of the situation?"

  Min An covered his forehead and shouted: "I'm dizzy, I have to hide to guard Mr. Li's body."

  "Come on out." Fei Yī grasped the timing and said.

  Min An smiled wryly: "No strength, can't get out."

  Fei Yi didn't say anything else and ordered the servant to carry the entire water vat into the flower hall. Li Peinan saw Fei Yi come in with a round thing and his expression was still calm. He stood up and walked over to the vat, tapping on its ceramic body, saying: "Speak."

  Min An listened to Li Qun's brief account of what had happened outside the prison gate after he entered the second courtyard, and also knew who he was facing now. He hastily stood up, stepped on the bottom of the vat, and gave a literary salute to Li Peinan, saying: "Mr. Li's face is purple, his eyes are bulging, his feet are swollen from his neck, and his blood flow has not been smooth. It can be seen that he was hanging upside down before he died. I picked out a few strands of cotton thread from his eyes, nose, and seven orifices, and also found some grass ash on his body. From this, I inferred that the old man was probably killed by a kind of secret method called 'basin suspension'. If the young master wants to understand the inside story, I can say more details."

  Li Peinan waved his hand and said, "No need for that. I only asked you, are you sure about this inference?"

  Min Ankang said in a deep voice, "There are too many dirty and messy things in the prison that are not usually shown to outsiders. I have seen cases like this before, so I can assure you, Your Highness, that this inference is absolutely reasonable."

  Li Peinan took a few steps back, away from the dirty and polluted water tank, turned around and said: "From this, it can be seen that someone in the prison first harmed Mr., then caused chaos, and finally took advantage of the opportunity to escape, trying to cover up these twists and turns."

  The idle tea drinker, Fei Yi, spoke up and said: "I suppose the young master has also made prior arrangements for personnel to come and block any further unexpected events?"

  Li Peinan had indeed considered all aspects of the situation and arranged for people to prevent the prisoners from escaping, so he readily admitted that he was about to make a sneak attack. Min An felt unwell and leaned against the edge of the vat, listening drowsily. Li Peinan turned his head and saw his appearance, growling: "Still not coming out?"

  Min An woke up a bit and stuttered: "The water tank is too deep, I can't jump out, can you set up a ladder?"

  Li Peinan coldly looked at Min An, and Fei Yi also had an expressionless face. Min An cast a pleading glance at Li Qun, who understood the meaning of his family's young master. He picked up a pear wood block and placed it outside the vat, saying in a low voice: "Young Master, please come out quickly, or you will trample on Mr.'s body."

  Li Qun walked out of the flower hall and ordered the guards at the door to prepare a white coffin, etc. The water in the vat became the focus of attention for the two people in the hall. Min An felt even more embarrassed, put his hands on the slippery edge of the vat to gain strength, and wanted to flip over with one foot, but was afraid it wouldn't look good, so he tried to jump up and down a couple of times, and ended up slipping and falling into the bottom of the vat.

  The flower hall was extremely quiet, leaving only Min'an's angry voice: "Brother Li is really something, doesn't he know to throw the cushion into the jar?" He poked out his upper body and climbed onto the mouth of the jar, beckoning to Fei Yi to come and help him.

  Fei Yi could only walk over and pull Min An out of the water tank. Min An looked at himself, his body covered in black, blue, gray, and white dirt, and quickly ran to a very far place to stand. However, Li Peinan did not let him off, and coldly said: "Wash cleanly before coming back!"

  Min Anxun hastily performed the ritual, then rushed out of the door and went to the official residence to clean himself again. He bandaged his wounds once more. After a day and night of busyness, the wound on his back from being flogged with a military whip throbbed in pain, and his head spun so badly that he couldn't think straight when facing Li Peinan. After walking around the official residence for a while, he hastily ate two steamed buns, then fell asleep on the earthen platform.

  In the flower hall, the guard troops reported to Li Peinan about the outcome of clearing out the prisoners. Li Peinan listened carefully and asked, "What about Liu Er?" A little while later, another message arrived saying that Liu Er, Jin Gu, and "Liang Shang Jun" (as called by Li Fei) were found dead on the road to the county garrison, along with Wang Huaili's corpse which had been trampled by horses beyond recognition.

  All the escaped prisoners fled towards the side of Huangshi County with open nets, and the three of them were fine, running ahead of the guards. It seemed as if they were not afraid of being chased by the guards. As soon as Li Peinan heard this, he knew there was something fishy going on inside. He said in a condensed voice: "This idea is not bad, use a chaotic battle to settle all the people involved in Wang Huaili's case."

  So apart from the account book, there was no longer any effective physical evidence left in Li Peinan's hands.

  Fei Yi sat idly by and asked, "Young Master, do you suspect that tonight's disturbance was the result of human machinations?"

  "It had to be this way." Li Peinan replied, "I reckon the Zhu family has sent another military advisor over."

  It suddenly occurred to him that only the Zhu family would take advantage of the situation to make a big deal out of it, and in the process, they would quietly kill Wang Huairu without leaving any evidence, deliberately erasing the connection between Wang Huairu and the account book. As a result, when Li Peinan investigated further, he encountered the usual practice in official circles - "merit outweighs guilt, guilt is not pursued to death".

  Because Wang Huaili was taken hostage by the prisoners and died miserably on the mountain road tonight, he can only be counted as a martyr. Since he has been martyred, all responsibilities cannot be attributed to him, and according to convention, the imperial court must also propose awards and provide preferential treatment to the official's family members.

  Li Peinan had naturally thought through the severity of this relationship before releasing the prisoners. His intention was to suppress the news of the prison break and maintain the dignity of the imperial court. In the memorial he submitted afterwards, he would inevitably not mention in detail the process of tonight's incident.

  Afterwards, the memorial he sent back indeed wrote "Qingquan County government prisoner conflict, county magistrate went to suppress, died on duty" meaning, thus covering up the Wang Huali bribery case.

  Fei Yi couldn't help but ask when he heard Li Peinan express this idea: "If the young master does this, won't it be exactly what the Zhu family wants? By covering up the corruption and embezzlement, you will only benefit the Zhu family."

  Li Peinan took two steps back and replied, "The Zhu family has sent someone with brains this time, I didn't expect that. But don't worry, I've already made arrangements for the next move."

  "What's next?"

  "Wang Huai-li is dead, Bi Si is still alive. I'll go and beat him up, make him change his statement to be a witness for bribery, and then bring out the case of corruption in Chu Prefecture."

  "The prince handed him over to me after he was done with him."

  Li Peinan couldn't help but glance at Fei Yi: "What do you want him to do?"

  Fei Yi coldly replied: "Bisi committed a capital offense, let alone me tolerating him." He also found it inconvenient to mention the old matter of Bisi's disrespect towards him.

  Li Peinan is a sharp-eyed person and immediately made his choice: "Depend on you."

  Fei Yi felt completely at ease after getting Li Peinan's guarantee. As for the matter of Su Qingzhou's corruption, he had never been concerned about it in the first place. Staying by Li Peinan's side, he was only looking out for Wang Ye's face and playing a supporting role, hoping that Wang Ye would change his impression of him and feel a bit more affectionate towards him. Li Peinan understood his intentions and pointed out some obvious places in the plans, big or small, without mentioning anything inconvenient. Fei Yi thought of something important and specifically brought it up to ask: "When the Young Master said 'I didn't expect', was he admitting that he had been tricked by Zhu Jiajun?"

  Li Peinan did not deny anything and readily admitted it.

  Fei Yi said faintly: "Someone who can make the young master lose face is not a simple person."

  Li Peinan said coldly: "I will have to go and meet him myself."

  The conversation had already been said, and he smiled and left the flower hall. After a day and night of hard work, his robe was stained with dirt, making him very uncomfortable. He stood in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, waiting for Li Peinan to order the team to return. Lü Qún walked by him and took the opportunity to ask: "Where is he?"

  Ligou thought for a moment and realized that the second son of the family was asking about someone, so he hastily replied: "He's asleep."

  "Are you okay?"

  "Once we return to the mansion, I'll call for a military doctor to come and give Young Master a thorough examination. What do you think, sir?"

  Fei Yi nodded and stepped aside, clearing the way for Li Peinan to enter. Li Peinan rushed in and reported all the arrangements for the aftermath of the incident. After everything was taken care of, Li Peinan ordered his trusted troops to return by the original route, and the guard squad withdrew from the county government office.

  At the hour of Ox, the Qingquan County government office was brightly lit, with nine red-lacquered cowhide drums lined up in a row outside the gate. Nine soldiers held drumsticks and began to beat them loudly: Boom! Boom! Boom! The majestic sound spread into the night sky, first resonating with a long, drawn-out tone, then suddenly pouring out like a torrent of rain, rolling out rapidly.

  The flat drum beats out the military order, and the soldiers of the legitimate faction naturally know what to do. A row of silver-armored cavalrymen holding torches rushed out quickly, drew their waist knives, and pointed their sharp blades towards the dark night sky. As they galloped, the knife edges shone brightly in the darkness, and even when they were far away, they could still dazzle the eyes of the gatekeepers who stayed behind. After the cavalry cleared the road ahead, the guard troops withdrew from outside the ceremonial gate and stood guard on both sides in front of the county government office.

  The coachman stopped the purple sandalwood and white jade carriage used by the crown prince's mansion in an open space, waiting for Li Peinan to come out. According to the rules of the yamen, the six main doors were rarely fully opened. Tonight, Li Peinan had quelled the disturbance, eliminated all escaped prisoners, and played a role in turning things around. Therefore, the chief clerk of the county yamen took charge and opened all the large gates. He led the people from the yamen to kneel on the ground in front of the screen wall behind the gatehouse, unable to lift his head under the stern and majestic power of the crown prince's mansion.

  The flat drum continued to beat, the sound was urgent and intense, covering the entire county government, the light offenders who had not escaped from the prison heard the loud voice, feeling lucky that they did not follow the wind and run out, and thus retrieved a life. Min An, who was sleeping in the official residence, was awakened by the drumbeat, he rubbed his eyes and walked out to take a look, knowing that it was time to return home, and hurriedly walked to the white horse's side and stood still, staring at Fei Yi with eager eyes.

  Fei Yu naturally wanted to ride the white horse back to the mansion, and seeing Min An's eager appearance beside him, he suddenly understood his intention. Min An was injured and it would be difficult for him to ride a horse alone without falling off, so he hoped Fei Yu could hold him up and put him on his back, letting him tightly cling to his waist.

  Fei Yi thought that there were hundreds of eyes watching them at the scene, and at this time, he couldn't avoid suspicion. Just as he hesitated for a moment, Li Peinan, who was dressed neatly, walked out from the gate, glanced at Min An and said: "You come with me to ride back."

  Min An bowed to Li Peinan, then turned around and saluted the officials in the yamen with a slight bow, before reluctantly climbing onto Li Peinan's carriage.

  The sound of the drum stopped, and the torches went away in a winding path. The county government officials stood up to bid farewell to the entire team from the Prince's mansion. For a long time, no one dared to discuss Li Peinan's handling of the situation tonight, including the methods used to kill people and set fires.

  Thank you Coco for the hand grenade (*^__^*)

  Thank you to the beautiful ladies, Hua Hua Mi Mi, Xiao Bai, Sun, Rong Ya Ya, Xiao Bai and Mei Ren Ru Hua for their landmines (*^__^*)

  Covered pig's ears and threw a grenade Throwing time: 2014-07-02 12:03:22