Chapter 361 Interrogation

Haitang also felt that this matter should not be taken lightly, and she said, "You go ahead and do your work, I will take care of An'an."

Xie Wanniang nodded, "I'll go take her pulse in a bit and see if I need to prescribe a calming soup for her."

After the master and servant settled the matter, Haitang withdrew to continue her work, while Xie Wanniang went to her daughter An'an's room to take her pulse.

The little girl was indeed a bit frightened, but not to the point where she needed to take calming soup. She begged her mother to agree to sleep with her that night, and then the little girl went about her business.

After soothing the child, Xie Wanniang instructed Cunyu, "Go and tell the people who take care of Linlin that no one other than me can take Linlin out during this period, no matter what the reason."

In the past, the children would occasionally go out with servants to stroll around the streets, buy things, or go to the countryside to fly kites and enjoy the scenery. But now Xie Wanniang is worried about it.

The family's arrival was indeed too suspicious; she felt that there was someone else watching them from behind the scenes.

Just as she was pondering this, several guards, including Wu Qing, Da Yang, and Yang Xiaowei, came to see her one after another.

After Cunyu invited the people in, Wuqing spoke first, "Princess, Wu Kun and all of Wu's servants have confessed."

Yang Xiaowei also said, "That old woman, her daughter-in-law, and her grandson have also caused a lot of trouble."

Through the brief accounts of the two women, Xie Wanniang learned that while she was comforting her daughter, Wu Qing and the others had already begun to attack Wu Kun and his group.

Wu Qing, accompanied by several guards, locked Wu Kun and the Wu family servants in separate rooms for interrogation. Most of the instruments of torture were neatly arranged in the corner, but a small portion were held in their hands and compared against the group of men.

Although no actual torture was carried out, it still terrified those who usually acted arrogantly and domineeringly.

The same thing happened on Yang Xiaowei's side. Before they could even torture those guys, they had already wisely started confessing.

"That family, from the master to the servants, are all bad people, especially the mother, the three of them, who are all bullies who prey on the weak and fear the strong. They are really disgusting."

Wu Qing told Xie Wanniang that this family hadn't become so arrogant and domineering after arriving in Dinghai County. They had always been disliked wherever they went in the Wu clan and when Wu's father was in office. However, back then, Wu's father was strict, so they didn't dare to be too outrageous. At most, they mistreated their servants, deducted from their tenants' wages, and had poor relations with their neighbors, but they never caused any major trouble.

But after Wu's father died, they were no longer under his control and began to act recklessly.

At that time, they lived in the territory of the Wu clan. The Wu clan was very prestigious in the area because several of its members held official positions. This family, relying on the power of their clan, did a lot of nonsense outside.

The Wu clan chief and elders tried to persuade, scold, and punish them, and even joined forces to put pressure on them, but unfortunately, they couldn't change their minds. Finally, the Wu clan members could no longer tolerate it, so they drove them out of the Wu clan territory and cut off their clan's supplies.

Xie Wanniang tapped her fingertips lightly on Wu Kun's stack of confessions. "Then why did they come to Dinghai County?"

“There must be someone instigating this behind the scenes.” Yang Xiaowei handed over the stack of confessions from Madam Wu. “Madam Wu said that she originally planned to take her children and grandchildren to the capital to seek refuge with her elder brother, who is also the biological father of our master.”

"But her brother wrote to Madam Wu, saying that our master now holds great power in Dinghaiwei, and that Princess, your family is very wealthy, unlike the Earl's family which is in a difficult situation. Not only does he himself have no real power, but all the young masters are unemployed at home. Moreover, because there are many people in the family, the living quarters in the mansion are cramped and the expenses are difficult to cover."

"Madam Wu had already heard about the recent situation of the Earl's Mansion, and upon hearing this, she gave up the idea of ​​going to the capital."

"She said that Dinghai County was prosperous enough, and Ningbo Prefecture was even more wealthy. As the aunt of the Dinghai Guard Commander, she could live as she pleased anywhere. So she brought Wu Kun's family to Dinghai County in a grand manner."

Xie Wanniang scoffed. The Marquis's family was in a difficult situation, and on the other hand, Jiang Tong was probably also very annoyed by his sister.

After all, they were siblings, and the two families had always maintained contact. How could Jiang Tong not know what kind of people his sister and her younger relatives were?

Fearing they would cause trouble in the capital and disgrace the Earl's Mansion, they decided to shift the blame eastward.

Xie Wanniang asked Wu Qing and Yang Xiaowei, "They must have caused quite a bit of trouble along the way, right?"

Wu Qing nodded emphatically, “They never pay for meals or lodging. If the innkeepers are slightly dissatisfied, they threaten to send the Dinghaiwei people to demolish the shops. They even deliberately cause accidents involving carriages, just like when they crashed into our carriage before. Once they find a carriage with few attendants and not particularly luxurious carriages, they will deliberately crash into it and use our master's name to extort money.”

Seeing Xie Wanniang's face turn dark quickly, Wu Qing paused for a moment before adding, "Wu Kun is the most outrageous; he even went so far as to forcibly abduct women."

"Fortunately, the girl was both feisty and clever, and her family members were not afraid of trouble. They were not intimidated by their reputation as 'relatives of the Dinghai Guard Commander.' Instead, they rallied their fellow villagers, drove away Wu Kun and his servants, and even threatened to sue them for abducting a woman."

"Madam Wu was afraid that this matter would escalate and cause her family to offend our master before they even met him, so she forced Wu Kun to get into the car and leave."

Yang Xiaowei stood to the side with her arms crossed, sneering, "To put it bluntly, they only pick on the weak. When they encounter someone timid and willing to swallow their anger, they become more and more demanding; but when they encounter someone who would rather die than bend, they know to restrain themselves."

The more Xie Wanniang listened, the angrier she became. She raised her hand and rubbed her temples. "Our family has always been cautious in our words and actions, afraid of being caught with even the slightest bit of dirt, which could lead to the death of the whole family. But these guys who came out of nowhere dare to use A Yuan's name to ruin his reputation for such petty gains."

Although Jiang Yuan was not present, Xie Wanniang knew very well that, given his personality, if he knew that he had such a group of relatives, he would definitely deal with them severely as a warning to others.

As she was pondering this, Wu Qing tentatively asked, "Princess, what are your plans to do with them?"

Xie Wanniang sat up straight. "Their confessions are here, and they are here too. Let's send them to the county government with drums and gongs, demanding a public trial and severe punishment to give justice to the people they have bullied."

She paused for a moment and then said, "Magistrate Liu is a smart man. You just need to send the person over with a lot of fanfare, and he will handle the rest himself."