The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 363 - Summer Visitors

On the tenth day of May, it was the release date.

“Listen to the announcement below!”

Sun Shaozong patted the wood on the table and said solemnly, "Wu Dayou from Tangni Alley has filed a lawsuit against his younger brother Wu Lao'er for having an affair with his father's concubine during his filial piety period. There is no evidence of this…”

“Lord Qingtian!”

Upon hearing this, Wu Dayou immediately became anxious and protested at the top of his voice, "How could it be that? I have presented a lot of evidence; how could there be no evidence to prove it!?”

Sun Shaozong glanced at him and continued with a cadence, "Another investigation shows that Wu Dayou has fabricated several pieces of evidence, intending to monopolize his family property and deliberately falsely accuse Wu Lao'er.”

“I am wrongly accused, My Lord. The evidence has already been examined by Magistrate Xu of Daxing County. How could it be false?”

Slam!

Upon checking that Wu Dayou was still denying it, Sun Shaozong smashed the wood onto the table and sneered, "You're such a person who doesn't shed tears until you see the coffin! Let me ask you, what happened when you said in the complaint that you took someone to catch Wu Lao'er, even though you didn't capture him in bed, you got a shoe he dropped in a panic as evidence, is there such a matter?!”

“Yes, My Lord.”

Wu Dayou hurriedly said, "That shoe was made for him by my younger brother's wife, and there are also specially embroidered marks on it! That thing has just been seen by you; how can you still say it's a forgery by me?”

“Hmph!”

Sun Shaozong snorted and leaned forward slightly, "It’s a waste that you and he are biological brothers from the same family, but you don't even know he has sweaty feet.”

“Sweat... Sweaty feet?”

“That's right.”

Sun Shaozong continued to sneer and said, "Nowadays, the weather is hot and humid. If you put on the shoes for more than an hour with sweaty feet like Wu Lao'er, the shoes will be wet and stained with many strange smells.”

“But why are the shoes you presented as evidence so dry and tidy?”

“Your Excellency.”

Wu Dayou was flustered, but he still spoke hard and said, "Maybe he just changed his shoes…”

Slam!

With a startled sound, Sun Shaozong reprimanded, "What a sharp-mouthed disciple! Private Advisor Sun, show him that confession!”

Sun Chengye immediately stood up from the secretary's seat and placed the confession in front of Wu Dayou, pointing to two paragraphs and saying, "You have to carefully read it! Your Excellency has asked twice before, and you have always insisted that Wu Lao'er was wandering for a long time, and when he returned home, he rushed to have an affair with his father’s concubine.”

Sun Shaozong sneered again in the hall and said, "Since he hasn't returned to his own room, where did he change his new shoes?”

“It's clear that you stole his shoes and took the opportunity to falsely accuse him.”

“This... This... This...”

Upon seeing the conclusive evidence of the crime, Wu Dayou's emotions suddenly collapsed. After several stutterings, he suddenly grabbed his head and said, “Please spare my life, My Lord. I was also momentarily lost in my mind; this is...”

Slam!

“Listen to the announcement below!”

But how would Sun Shaozong be patient to hear him cry and shout?

“Wu Dayou, as an elder brother, didn’t want to protect his brother. Instead, taking advantage of his father's recent death, he accused his younger brother Wu Lao'er of being disobedient to ethics and intended to monopolize the family property," he said in a loud voice.

“As for his crime, he should be sentenced to exile for thousands of miles and not be repaid if pardoned.”

“But to falsely accuse his younger brother Wu Lao'er, he disregarded the reputation of his deceased father's name, so the crime is even worse, and he is sentenced to gallows.”

“Spare my life, My Lord! I dare not do it again, My Lord... I…”

Sun Shaozong turned a deaf ear and picked up two tokens. He first threw one and ordered, "Someone, take Wu Dayou into custody for now and wait for the autumn verdict.”

Then he left another one and continued, "Wu Lao'er was wrongly imprisoned and ordered Daxing County to immediately release him. There must be no mistake!”

“That’s all!”

Stepping on the majestic aftertaste, Sun Shaozong paced back into the back hall but immediately pulled off his official uniform and threw it on the panel. Then, he grabbed the white jade bone folding fan from the coffee table and lifted his shirt to vigorously shake it.

“Quickly, quickly fetch the watermelon frozen in the well for me. This heat, my goodness…”

“It’s like heating people to death.”

When he went to host the Dragon Boat Festival a few days ago, it was already scorching hot.

Who could have imagined that after only a few days of hard work, the temperature had skyrocketed a lot, estimated to be at least 36 or 37 degrees Celsius? Wearing a long-sleeved and elegant official robe in this weather, was like being punished!

Sun Chengye came in holding a dossier, and upon seeing the unorthodox appearance of his Thirteenth Uncle, he was momentarily speechless and tense. In the public court, few could compare to him in terms of the severity of official authority; But in private, this uncle was also an informal person.

He shook his head helplessly, organized the files on his own, and pulled out two more pleadings, asking, "Uncle, the remaining two cases...”

“Delay it, delay it.”

Sun Shaozong said without hesitation, "Anyway, they are just neighbors' disputes. If we push them back, they may have made up on their own.”

At this moment, the chilled watermelon was finally delivered, and Sun Shaozong was too lazy to use a knife when he took it. With a gentle chop of his fingers, the watermelon was split into several pieces.

He picked two pieces at random and handed them to Sun Chengye. While sucking the flesh of the melon, he said indistinctly, "What's more, in the evening, Uncle Wei's son is going to have a three-bath day; I naturally have to go there earlier. Ting Yi and Cheng Tao, please help me find out if there is a good result for the title conferred on those who passed the annual civil service examination."

On the afternoon of the eighth day of the lunar new year, the old butler Wei Licai finally had a son in his old age and was overjoyed. Of course, when his Big Brother saw him, he inevitably urged Sun Shaozong to work for two more nights.

Sun Chengye nodded and said with some emotion, "I thought Ting Yi would make a great achievement this time. I didn't think that... Sigh I hope he can pass the annual civil service exam this time."

This was purely worrying about nothing.

To save the face of the retired Emperor, Emperor Guangde demoted Yu Qian to the last place in the top three. After that, he had to make some compensation, not to mention the affection of Minister Wang. The annual civil service exam was at least 70 or 80 percent, he could still get good results.

But Sun Chengtao, although he was lucky enough to become a second-tier successful candidate, still lacked some talent. He was afraid he might not be able to pass the annual civil service examination.

However, when Sun Shaozong looked at his actions, he seemed more willing to be a ”Country Magistrate” in the local place than to be a minor Capital Official. So it was not necessarily a bad thing for him to fail the annual civil service examination.

“That's right.”

Sun Shaozong suddenly remembered something and ordered, "Don't forget to send a document to Daxing County later, instructing them to be sincere and not to neglect their carelessness. I wonder what happened to Xu Huaizhi. In the past month or so, they have misjudged several cases.”

Sun Chengye hurriedly responded and inquired about the tone and scale of the official document. Without touching the watermelon, he hurriedly went to the Criminal Department to write the document.

This nephew was becoming more and more proficient in handling official duties.

When Sun Shaozong had eaten most of the watermelon and poured some herbal tea, it finally relieved his heat, and reluctantly put on his official robe again. He paced back to the Criminal Department.

He was originally planning to change into regular clothes in the hall so he could bring a gift directly to Uncle Wei's house.

Unexpectedly, before the official robe could be taken off, someone came in to report that they were relatives of the Ningguo Prefecture and had something important to ask for.

Did the relatives of Ningguo Prefecture come to see him?

Upon hearing this, Sun Shaozong felt somewhat puzzled. His relationship with the Ningguo Mansion was only superficial, and how could there even be relatives of the Ningguo Prefecture coming to visit him?