Back at the county government office, Su Yong instructed one of the yamen runners to give Gu Er a separate cell.

County Magistrate Lu chuckled: "I'm getting more and more curious about how Lord Su will handle this case. It's really unexpected that Gu Er looks like a young man."

They were even tougher than the most vicious mountain bandits.

After a dozen or so strokes, even a normal man would start howling in pain.

This person didn't utter a single word..."

Master Jin seemed to have lost his connection, standing there dumbfounded.

"Master?"

Jin the clerk probed, "What if Gu Er is truly innocent?"

County Magistrate Lu looked at him with suspicion, as if he were a fool.

"They all ate the soup, and out of the Gu family, he's the only one who survived. Tell me, was he wronged?"

...

The next day, rumors about the Gu family tragedy quickly spread throughout the city.

Rumors are circulating that the Gu family has been possessed by evil spirits, that they have offended some unknown King Yama, and that the whole family has been taken away...

Some say that, apart from Gu Erlang, the whole family is dead, completely wiped out.

“My seventh maternal uncle’s neighbor works as a coroner in the yamen. I heard that the Gu family’s faces were ashen and bluish-black, which was obviously due to poisoning. It’s very likely that they ate something unclean.”

"Hey, do you guys think that the second son of the Gu family lost the family's cloth shop a while ago? Could it be that he offended some ruthless person and they're secretly taking revenge?"

At the same time.

The manager of the Chu family pawnshop came to the Gu family's house, intending to seize their cloth shop and residence...

As Bo was still supporting the cloth shop alone, someone suddenly told him.

"Steward, people from the Chu family have come. They insist that the house already belongs to them and that we should take our belongings with us. Everything else is theirs!"

"What?! Me?!"

The old man's face turned red with anger, and he burst out with profanity.

When he rushed back to the house, the shop assistant smiled and showed him the contract.

"Look, this is the fingerprint of your second young master of the Gu family. Not only this house, but we also have thousands of acres of land belonging to the Gu family..."

The room fell silent upon hearing this.

Ru Bo's hands trembled, his eyes were fixed on the contract, and he roared to the sky!

"No!

"The Gu family's legacy built over generations, gone just like that?"

He collapsed to his knees on the ground, utterly defeated!

The shop assistant said irritably, "Old man, speak properly. We are a pawnshop, not a gambling den!"

"You two young masters took the money, and we got the shops, houses, and land. We didn't just take it all for free!"

Despite saying that, the onlookers burst into laughter.

“When you get to your pawnshop, a perfectly good pearl necklace costs several hundred taels, but if you knock it out, it's just a few rotten pearls that have been polished and worn out. You'll be lucky to get even a few dozen taels of silver!”

You've taken so many good things from the Gu family, and you're still acting innocent? Bah!

The rest of the men scattered and rushed towards the house, taking away tables, chairs, porcelain tea sets, and even valuable flowers and plants!

"Damn it, the Gu family still owes us several months' wages, and they haven't paid us yet. Usually, we don't see any money for half a year!"

Now that the Gu family is all dead, there's only one half-dead left. We'll take whatever we can get.

The pawnshop clerk led the people to start counting: "Ten people, take your bedding rolls. If you try to take anything other than your bedding rolls, you'll be beaten to death!"

The burly pawnshop clerk, holding a wooden stick as thick as his wrist, glared fiercely at the servants.

The Gu family guards and Uncle Ru had a fairly good relationship.

He advised, "Alright, Butler Ru, I know you've been with the Gu family for many years and you're used to it, but we're just employees, not family."

There's no need to run around trying to take care of the family.

Let's go, even just moving a vase from the courtyard would be enough to pay us several months' wages.

Whether we go back home to retire and farm, or go elsewhere to work as laborers, we'll have enough to eat.

Ru Bo sighed and said, "Alright."

His eyes were filled with complex emotions. Gu Junshan was strict and harsh towards the people in his household. If anyone did something wrong, he would either beat or scold them.

Even Uncle Fu was often scolded by him, and he would frequently insult his mother.

He deserves what he has now.

With the shackles on his head removed, Rubo suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

They quickly packed their things and quietly left.

I plan to go to Yingzhou Prefecture to see if there's any room for me to survive.

"How could the Gu family, which was doing so well, just disappear like that..."

Who exactly is pushing the Gu family toward destruction?

Looking at the tall, mottled city wall, Ru Bo's thoughts began to surge...

Is he a wealthy young master, a commoner from a cloth shop, or the Gu family member who had a brief encounter with the master a few months ago?

He overheard someone in the study saying that the master had arranged for several groups of people to eat at the Chen family's stall, seemingly because of the eldest son's matter.

The image of that ordinary-looking man inexplicably came to mind.

As Gu Junshan's confidant, Ru Bo had come into contact with some of Gu Junshan's dark schemes.

Anyway, I was thinking of leaving, but I ended up in the food street without realizing it.

I asked around for a while.

"Hey, boss, what happened to the Chen family's stall that used to be here? The one that used to sell braised pork, and they even had their wife with them?"

The man selling sesame cakes nearby glanced at him.

"They're in trouble. Apparently, the meat and vegetables at their restaurant are unclean; someone's set them up..."

As Uncle nodded.

Quitting?

Something feels off...

Unfortunately, these things have nothing to do with me anymore.

His relationship with the Gu family was merely that of an employer and employee.

The old man walked with heavy steps, occasionally turning his head to look at the bustling street.

...

Cloth shop.

Uncle Fu was just about to process the cloth that Song Shaobai needed.

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