Chapter 178 The villain succeeds
Liu Zongzhou then asked with a straight face: "Tell me, who is the owner of this Tianbao Pawnshop?"

Although Ada and Aer were beaten to a bloody pulp, they were half thugs and half lackeys after all, and were physically strong, so nothing was a problem.

He shuddered all over when he heard that, and immediately rushed to tell the details of Tianbao Pawn Shop.

Just as the passers-by said, the boss behind the Tianbao Pawnshop was none other than Yangwu Hou Xue Lian.

Liu Zongzhou glanced at Chongzhen, and when he saw him nod, he continued to investigate the case. He pointed at Wang An and sneered at the three pawnshop owners, "I'm sure you are familiar with this young man, right?"

The three pawnshop owners then noticed Wang An and were immediately horrified.

The pawnshop owner was even more confused. He racked his brains to understand why Liu Zongzhou wanted to pick a fight with his master. But he never imagined that the greasy hair was actually caused by a fish!

Wang An didn't know yet that he had become a helpless fish in the eyes of both the yamen runners and the pawnshop owner.

Seeing Liu Zongzhou pointing at him, he thought he wanted him to be a witness in court, so he immediately took a few steps forward in a show of strength, and bowed to Liu Zongzhou like in the TV series, then pointed at the three people and rebuked them righteously:
"As the saying goes, there is a god above us, and God is watching us! Moreover, in our great Ming Dynasty, justice is in the temple!"

Wang An flattered Liu Zongzhou, thinking he was smart, and turned around to give Liu Zongzhou a dog-licking smile, and then continued to accuse him righteously: "You three bastards actually dared to steal my big pearl, why don't you give it back to me!"

The pawnshop owner pointed at his aide beside him, sobbing and foaming with blood, unable to speak.

The aide immediately took out a large pearl from his bosom. Wang An took a closer look and immediately recognized that it was the one Wei Zhongxian had given him.

However, the aide did not give him the pearl directly, but respectfully placed it on Liu Zongzhou's desk and said, "Sir, here is the evidence."

Liu Zongzhou picked up the pearl and looked at it for a few seconds. He was surprised. "It is indeed a good treasure. No wonder this young man named Wang An is so nervous."

Seeing the surprise on Liu Zongzhou's face, Wang An felt somewhat proud.

Are you kidding? How could the pearls that were collected by the eunuch Wei Zhongxian be cheap?

But he immediately became worried, fearing that Liu Zongzhou would take a fancy to this big pearl and want to take it for himself.

After all, he still understood the principle of being guilty of possessing a treasure.

However, Wang An did not know that although Liu Zongzhou was amazed at the preciousness of the pearl, he would not dare to embezzle it in front of Cong Zhen even if he was given 800 pearls.

While Wang An was worried about gain and loss, Liu Zongzhou was reluctant to put down the pearl in his hand. He looked at the shopkeeper below and sneered: "Such a good treasure should be priced at least three thousand taels!"

"What's more, according to the Ming Dynasty Law, anyone who robs others of their property will be sentenced to death, regardless of whether they kill or injure others! Haha, even if I chop off your three heads ten times, it won't be enough!"

The three of them were completely panicked at this point. They had originally thought that even if Liu Zongzhou was impartial and just, he would still stand up for a small minnow.

But for the sake of Yangwu Marquis Xue Lian, at most he would be spared the death penalty. By then, his lord could use some connections and spend some money to get himself out.

But I didn't expect that Liu Zongzhou, this old fool, would just open his mouth and execute him!

Now the three of them didn't dare to resist anymore. Even the pawnshop owner who was slapped in the face sobbed and wanted to say something.

But he couldn't explain it clearly, and he was so anxious that his face turned red and sweat covered his forehead.

Fortunately, Ada and Aer were able to speak normally and quickly told the truth, accusing them of being instigated by someone behind the scenes.

Needless to say, the person who ordered them to do this was the boss behind the scenes, Yangwu Hou Xue Lian.

Although the pawnshop offered a very low price for the pawned items, Xue Lian was still not satisfied. He directly instructed the shopkeeper to switch the items if he came across any treasures.

This was not the first time they had done something similar. Some people had wanted to make trouble in the past, but when they heard the name of Yangwu Hou Xue Lian, they had no choice but to swallow their anger.

Furthermore, those who are able to pawn their items are generally poor families, or wealthy families who have fallen on hard times, and they pawn the few valuable items left in their homes.

For those items that are worthless or not very much, the pawnshop is still the same pawnshop, no different from any other pawnshop.

But if they come across something particularly valuable, and the buyer seems to be of humble origin, the shopkeeper will switch it.

These people had no power and were down and out, so they could not afford to offend Xue Lian, the Marquis of Yangwu. Therefore, even though the pawnshop owner had done this many times, nothing happened.

Unexpectedly, this time he fell into Wang An's hands.

After listening to the confessions of three of them, Liu Zongzhou was secretly shocked.

I have long heard that Xue Lian, the Marquis of Yangwu, has committed illegal acts, but I never expected that a marquis and a hereditary noble would use such despicable means to make money.

It has completely brought shame to the imperial court and the Ming Dynasty.

Chongzhen on the side was even more indignant. He originally took into consideration that the other party was the descendant of a meritorious official and was afraid that punishing him would have a bad impact on his image. But now it seems that punishing this person will not only not affect his image, but will even make the people applaud!
There is no need to continue the case at this point. The three pawnshop owners were just small fry, and all these crimes were instigated by someone else.

Therefore, Liu Zongzhou immediately ordered the bailiffs to put the three men into jail and announced the adjournment of the court on the spot.

It's not that he didn't want to send people to arrest Yangwu Hou Xue Lian immediately, but the nobles involved in the incident were no longer under the jurisdiction of his Shuntian Prefecture Camp.

Liu Zongzhou only had the power to impeach, and the specific handling depended on the emperor's will.

However, Liu Zongzhou was not worried about this. Just by looking at Chongzhen's expression, he knew that the end of Yangwu Marquis Xue Lian would not be good.

When all the yamen runners around had gone up, Liu Zongzhou even drove away his staff, and Wang An immediately came up with eager eyes.

Liu Zongzhou felt a little amused that as the elder brother of Emperor Chongzhen, he actually cared so much about a pearl.

Although this pearl is indeed valuable, it is really not worthy of Wang An's status.

After handing the pearl to Wang An, Wang An smiled happily and praised Liu Zongzhou as a loyal official to the people.

Liu Zongzhou originally wanted to keep the three people for dinner, so that he could take this opportunity to get closer to Chongzhen. Although he felt a lot of pressure, such an opportunity was hard to come by.

However, Chongzhen rejected Liu Zongzhou's invitation in the face of Wang An's puzzled gaze, and after a few casual polite words, he took Wang An away from the government office.

Seeing this, Liu Zongzhou could only send Jiangshanren to the government office gate with regret.

(End of this chapter)