Chapter 879 Si Lili's Transformation

With the clue of poison, the Inspection Bureau quickly arrested a group of secret agents planted by the Jinyiwei in the capital.

After severe interrogation, these Jinyiwei secret agents also admitted that they were the ones who ordered Xia Keming to kill Li Hongcheng.

As for the motive, they didn't know, they only knew that it was an order from the Jinyiwei high-level officials, and they were only responsible for execution.

For this investigation result, Fan Xian was more certain of his guess, but he did not immediately confront Qin Hao, but reported the results to Emperor Qing.

The second prince rushed into the palace and yelled at Fan Xian.

"Fan Xian, you should know that the person who died was the prince of Jing, a royal relative. You want to close the case with such a light memorial?"

Fan Xian clenched his fists and asked word by word: "The lives of royal relatives are lives, but the life of Old Jintou is not life? The lives of countless wronged souls in Shijia Town are not lives?"

"Fan Xian!"

"What do you think, Second Prince!"

Just when the two were on the verge of a fight, Emperor Qing suddenly spoke.

"Since it was done by the Northern Qi spy, then send a letter of divorce to the young emperor of Northern Qi and ask them to hand over the person."

The second prince hurriedly stopped him: "Father, it is clear that someone used the Northern Qi spy to kill people."

"Oh? You mean, the mastermind behind this is my Qing people? Killing the royal family in my Qing capital?" Emperor Qing shouted sternly.

The second prince's legs softened and he knelt on the ground. He was unwilling and terrified. He felt that Li Hongcheng's death might have some connection with him, but he couldn't figure out what the connection was.

"Okay, both of you go down. I want to be quiet."

After sending Fan Xian and the second prince away, Emperor Qing asked Eunuch Hou to call Chen Pingping over.

"The murderer behind Xia Keming has been found out. It was a spy from Northern Qi. What do you think?"

Chen Pingping said calmly: "Northern Qi suffered a new defeat and sent the eldest princess to marry. It must not be the intention of the Queen Mother of Northern Qi or the young emperor."

"Sean went back." Emperor Qing said gloomily.

Chen Pingping's face changed slightly when he heard this, but he recovered quickly: "It is true that I miscalculated. I didn't expect that Ku He and Shen Zhong couldn't kill him together and let him return to the throne. However, with the current national strength of Northern Qi, one Sean is not enough to change the situation."

"Sean has no grudges against Li Hongcheng. Why kill him? Can I still trust your Inspection Institute?" Emperor Qing asked in a deep voice.

Chen Pingping lowered his head in horror: "Your Majesty can always trust the Inspection Institute. I will definitely find out the truth and give you an explanation."

"Do you think Fan Xian knows something? Otherwise, with his character of getting to the bottom of things, he didn't refute me just now."

"Perhaps the young man has experienced setbacks, matured, and knows how to put the overall situation first?"

Emperor Qing glanced at Chen Pingping: "Do you think it's possible?"

"When I saw Fan Xian a few days ago, he was wiping the stone tablet at the entrance of the Inspection Institute." Chen Pingping lowered his head and answered respectfully.

Emperor Qing put his hands behind his back and sighed softly: "It may be a good thing for young people to suffer some setbacks."

After leaving the palace, Fan Xian first returned home and waited until midnight before sneaking out.

The residence of the Minister of Justice.

Qin Hao was meditating and practicing Qi, and the sweat on his forehead fell layer by layer. Just two days ago, his skills had recovered to the peak of the ninth rank, but he was still a certain distance away from the threshold of the Grand Master, mainly because the true Qi in his body was not perfect enough.

"You've been standing at the door for almost half an hour. Aren't your legs sore? Come in."

Fan Xian pushed the door open and slowly came to Qin Hao.

"Did you kill Li Hongcheng?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Qin Hao asked back: "Why?"

"Why did you choose Xia Keming?"

"You have to find a reasonable reason."

Fan Xian looked at Qin Hao in disbelief: "That's all?"

"That's all. Even if it wasn't Xia Keming, there would be others."

"Why? Old Qin, I always thought you were different from them. Why have you become like this now? Is it so interesting to play with other people's fate?"

Faced with Fan Xian's questioning, Qin Hao stood up slowly, looked straight at him, and said slowly.

"Don't you understand? This is the essence of this world. Has your ideal fairness ever really existed?"

"From the moment human society was created, there have been classes. You want to seek justice for Old Jintou, but what is justice? Killing someone to pay for his life is justice, but can you do it? The identity of the second prince is doomed. As long as the Qing Kingdom is not destroyed, he will never pay for the life of a commoner!"

"I admit that I did use Xia Keming and exchanged his life for Li Hongcheng's life, but do you want to know what he said when the Northern Qi spy found him?"

Fan Xian asked in a trembling voice: "What did he say?"

"It's worth it to exchange the life of a royal relative with a commoner's body!"

Fan Xian's pupils shook violently, and his eyes seemed to reflect Xia Keming's desperate and crazy look in the dungeon.

Qin Hao wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Fan Xian word by word, "I am not as great as you, and I am not committed to saving the people. I am a very selfish person. The only people I can protect with all my strength are my family. In my heart, Ruoruo has long been a family member. No matter who tries to hurt Ruoruo, I will make him pay a heavy price, even if it is the high and mighty Emperor Qing."

For a long time, Fan Xian didn't say another word, and he only left one sentence before leaving.

"What about Ye Linger?"

"She's family, too."

Fan Xian paused. He knew that soon there would be an even more violent bloody storm in Kyoto.

The next day, Fan Xian went to the Inspection and Inspection Institute. Eunuch Dai from the Vegetable Inspection Department was the culprit who caused Lao Jintou's daughter to voluntarily sell herself to Baoyue Building. He also temporarily blamed the two real culprits behind Lao Jintou's death. The prince had no choice but to send Eunuch Dai down first to make amends to Lao Jintou.

The Seal of the Inspection and Vegetable Department forced Princess Dai to take bribes. Fan Xian collected bribes in full view of the public, which immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, who complained repeatedly.

As a result, Fan Xian ignored him at first, but when the imperial censors started to make a fuss, he asked Wang Qinian to send a letter saying "The barking barks", which completely aroused the indignation of everyone in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the memorial was like snowflakes. The letters fell in front of Emperor Qing's desk, all demanding that Fan Xian be punished for corruption.

When Eunuch Dai heard about this, he was so frightened that he almost fainted.

At the court meeting that turned around, Lai Mingcheng, the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, stood up emotionally to impeach Fan Xian, accusing him of accepting bribes and being arrogant and perverting the law. Fan Xian refused to plead guilty and shouted that he was wronged. Lai Mingcheng took out a thick witness book Emperor Qing did not read the testimony and sent someone to call Eunuch Dai to go to court for confrontation.

As a result, Eunuch Dai was inevitably punished, but Fan Xian had already handed over the three thousand taels of silver that Eunuch Dai had given him to Chen Pingping, and was acquitted on the spot.

And under Fan Xian's flattery, Lai Mingcheng, the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, took over the hot potato of investigating official corruption.

Qin Hao watched the whole process with cold eyes. In fact, in Qin Hao's view, the entire power structure of the Qing Kingdom was quite backward. Officials were corrupt, princes formed cliques, and aristocratic families from all over the country were crazy about annexing land and raising slaves. It was difficult to support their slaves. Imagine this is a country that has just emerged.

The entire superstructure is crooked. Checking and filling the gaps will not solve Qingguo's problems at all. What Ye Qingmei failed to do back then will be even harder to do twenty years later. Once someone tries to change the existing structure, vested interests will The group will definitely make him disappear from this world at all costs, just like it did when it killed Ye Qingmei.

After coming out of the palace, Qin Hao took the initiative to find Fan Xian and directly handed him a five thousand tael silver note.

"Is this considered a bribe? Are you afraid of being targeted by Lai Mingcheng?"

Qin Hao shook his head: "Let me make a deal with you."

"What deal?"

"Sell Baoyue Tower to me."

Fan Xian looked at Qin Hao in surprise: "Why did you buy Baoyue Tower?"

"Since Li Hongcheng's death, Liujing Riverside has been closed for half a month. We don't know when it will be reopened. Si Lili doesn't plan to continue working in Zuixianju. He has to have a place to go. It just so happens that Baoyuelou is now It’s a hot potato for you, so you might as well sell it to me.”

Fan Xian thought for a while and pushed the banknote in front of Qin Hao.

"What, do you think the money is too little?"

"It has nothing to do with money. The Baoyuelou incident started because of Versace, so I should take care of it to the end. Besides, I promised Miss Sang Wen that I would give her her freedom."

Qin Hao did not take the banknote, but pushed it back: "What? Are you afraid that I will continue to exploit them and force them to sell themselves?"

"Then why would you buy Baoyue Building?"

"You should know my relationship with Si Lili. Do you think I will let her become a brothel madam?"

"You still have the nerve to talk to me about Si Lili. Forgetting a Ye Ling'er and getting a brothel girl, where do you put my sister?"

"You don't need to worry about this. Uncle, please give me a few words to tell you whether it's okay or not."

Fan Xian stared at Qin Hao for a long time and said seriously: "What on earth do you want to do with Baoyue Tower?"

"Well, knowing that you, Mr. Fan, are upright and upright, I have discussed with Si Lili and plan to build Baoyue Tower into the most elegant song and dance hall in the capital. The singers and dancers will only sell their skills and not their bodies. I guarantee that they will be the best." Is that okay if you don’t engage in any intelligence gathering work?”

Fan Xian pondered for a long time: "Baoyue Building can be sold to you, but the deed of sale must be destroyed. The people inside can stay or leave of their own free will."

"Sure, forceful melons are not sweet, and Si Lili doesn't keep everyone. She doesn't want those with poor skills."

Fan Xian then agreed to sell Baoyue Building to Qin Hao.

Soon the handover was made between the two parties. In the Baoyue Tower, Fan Xian burned their contracts of prostitution in front of everyone. Most of the women who were deceived chose to leave, except for a few who really had nowhere to go. Choose to stay.

Si Lili wore a long black dress and slightly opened her red lips: "Thank you sisters for staying. I used to be like you, making a living by the Liujing River. Now I can work with you. I dare not say anything else. As long as I If I have something to eat, I won’t treat you badly.”

"The world is tough, and women are even more harshly treated. We will be together and depend on each other from now on. If you think highly of me, just call me shopkeeper. If you don't want to, just call me by name. It's okay."

"Thank you, shopkeeper."

"Shopkeeper, I will follow you from now on."

Si Lili nodded with satisfaction and looked at Qin Hao with a smile.

Fan Xian saw that he had nothing to do here, so he left Baoyue Building on the grounds that he was busy with official duties.

Qin Hao stayed.

"Who among you is Yuan Meng?"

A woman wearing a green dress and holding a round fan stood up.

"Yuan Meng has met General Qin."

Qin Hao looked at the woman and frowned slightly: "Do you know me?"

"No one in the capital knows that General Qin is famous, let alone the romantic story between you and Miss Lili. Shopkeeper Si is widely circulated along the Liujing River." Yuan Meng said with a smile on his face.

Qin Hao looked at Si Lili and asked, "So I'm so famous?"

Si Lili rolled her eyes at Qin Hao.

The scene of the two flirting with each other also caused a burst of laughter from the girls present.

Qin Hao cleared his throat awkwardly: "I remember you were managing Baoyue Tower before, Yuan Meng, right?"

"That's right, the eldest and second masters rarely ask about the specific affairs of Baoyue Tower. Everything is taken care of by the slave family." Yuan Meng replied politely.

"From now on, you will be responsible for teaching girls singing and dancing skills. You don't need to worry about other things."

Yuan Meng's expression changed, but soon returned to his original state, and he agreed with a smile on his face.

Qin Hao glanced at her meaningfully, then turned to look at the guard thugs on the side.

"I heard that Baoyuelou has caused many deaths before. Is it all your fault?"

Upon seeing this, the nursing staff quickly defended themselves: "General Qin, we are all following orders."

"Oh? I am acting on orders, but whose orders are I following? I think Master Xiao Fan should be interested in this meeting. Why don't you call him back to listen to what you have to say?" Qin Hao said with a cold face.

None of the nursing staff dared to say anything anymore.

"From today on, you will have nothing to do with Baoyue Tower. Get out of the capital before sunset tonight, otherwise"

"Young men, please leave now, General, please calm down."

These nursing homes only bullied ordinary people. Qin Hao could make their lives worse than death with just one word. He didn't dare to ask for severance pay, so he hurriedly packed a few clothes and left Baoyue Building in a hurry.

The girls in the building had been bullied by these vicious guards many times before. Seeing that they were all gone, all of them breathed a sigh of relief. Only Yuan Meng had an inexplicable emotion flashing in his eyes, but he quickly covered it up and pretended to be angry. Looking very happy.

"I will make separate arrangements for the guards of Baoyue Tower in the future. If they do anything inappropriate, you can just complain to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper will punish them. Don't be afraid. You are all free now. If there is any If you are not satisfied, you can ask the shopkeeper to check out and leave at any time, Baoyuelou will not deduct a penny of your wages. "

Hearing the word "wage", the girls all smiled like flowers, which means that all they will earn in the future will be clean money.

After the explanation, Qin Hao and Si Lili came to the single room upstairs.

"Shawn has agreed to destroy your Jinyiwei spy files, and your brother has been properly placed. You no longer have to worry about it."

Before Qin Hao could finish speaking, a hot body fell into his arms.