As Su Qingluan spoke, she took something out of her bosom and threw it on the ground. It turned out to be a dark blue purse embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns.
When the purse fell to the ground, it made a clanging sound, and it was obvious that there was some silver and money inside.
Sui Qingluan pointed to the purse and said, "There should be a few taels of silver in it - come to think of it, the liar just stole more than ten taels of silver, right?" Su Qingluan raised her eyes and looked at Madam Xi.
By this time, Madam Xi had already taken out all the silver and money that had been cheated from the swindler. After counting it, including the scattered copper coins, there were about twelve or thirteen taels.
Su Qingluan sneered: "Adding the silver in my purse, there should be about twenty taels - it doesn't matter if there is not enough, I will go to my parents' stall and get some later."
While saying this, Su Qingluan kept looking at the liar who was wriggling on the ground like a maggot but unable to break free with a half-smile.
The three strands of the swindler's beard, which originally looked like an immortal, had been rubbed against the very dirty yellow earth and mixed with the mud, becoming hardened into a whole piece. It looked very messy and shabby, and there was no trace of his previous elegant appearance.
The liar seemed to have thought of something. His expression changed, and the muscles on his cheeks began to tremble and twist with fear. "You...you bastard, what on earth are you going to do?!"
"I didn't do anything, but according to the laws of this dynasty, if theft, fraud, or misappropriation of property reaches a certain amount, it's definitely not something that can be dealt with as simply as a flogging, right?"
In fact, the so-called "flogging" is not really a whip, but a stick to the buttocks. However, this kind of torture instrument is relatively thin, so the damage is relatively small. At most, the person who is flogged will be bedridden for ten days or half a month. After that, the person can recover and move around as before.
However, if the amount of property is large enough, it is not just a beating, but also a higher level of punishment, such as caning and exile. Those exiled will definitely be sent to guard the border or do hard labor. Although this is not a death sentence, as the saying goes, "Since ancient times, few have returned from the battles", this is basically just a reprieve.
In short, if the amount of other people's property embezzled through theft or fraud is too large, it is very likely that the money will be lost due to punishment.
Although the swindler didn't know how much money he had to defraud to be sentenced to "exile", it did not prevent him from knowing that there was such a law.
This person usually just cheats and does some petty thefts. He doesn't have the courage or ability to do anything evil, so naturally he never thought that he would suffer the pain of exile.
So when he heard Su Qingluan's words, he immediately understood what she was trying to do and started struggling: "You're lying! I didn't take... That money isn't mine!"
"Does it matter whether it's yours or not?" Su Qingluan casually lifted her purse, untied the drawstring, and with a flip of her hand, she scattered the silver coins and scattered copper coins in front of the swindler. "You pretended to be a Taoist priest and came here to cheat people. The neighbors saw it clearly, and you did steal the money."
So as for how much was defrauded, as long as Su Qingluan colluded with the Liu family to coordinate the confessions, the Liu family has been able to catch the doctors in Huichuntang in recent years, so for them, a few taels of silver is not an insurmountable astronomical figure, and will not arouse anyone's suspicion, but it can make the scammer "guilty more serious."
In fact, this con man deserved what he sowed. If he hadn't cultivated a "half-immortal" persona for himself and kept a low profile, without a third-party witness, the case would have fallen into a deadlock where each side had its own reasons.
But in order to gain the trust of Liu Sheng and Xi Niangzi, this person was very pretentious at the beginning. He basically wanted to pour clean water on the street and clear the way with a red carpet - although there was no red carpet.
When he arrived at the Liu family, he performed shaman dances and offered sacrifices, and many neighbors witnessed the whole process. Now that Su Qingluan had discovered his scam, these neighbors who were watching the fun were the best witnesses of his deception.
It is really the law of karma, no one can escape it.
Seeing the liar's face turn pale with fear, Su Qingluan squatted down, pulled his hair from above, and said with a smile, "Of course, you have another choice. Just confess who your accomplice is."
"Accomplice?" Madam Xi frowned when she heard that. "But girl Su, the only one who came here from the beginning to the end is this Taoist priest with a big nose?" Well, it seems that Madam Xi was also very angry, and she stopped calling him "master" and "immortal" all the time.
Su Qingluan released the liar's head, turned around and looked up at Madam Xi: "Have you ever thought about why your Uncle Liu was recovering well, but suddenly his condition took a sharp turn for the worse, and now he's suddenly well again after being casually 'exorcised'? Isn't this too much of a coincidence?"
Liu Yunniang raised her eyebrows when she heard this: "Qingluan, are you saying that the quack doctor who treated my father before was also a liar?"
Su Qingluan nodded. "And he's probably this guy's accomplice, but he might actually be quite capable. It's easier to deceive people with half-truths and half-lies like this, and it's easier to gain their trust. Most importantly, I suspect the reason Uncle Liu felt his legs becoming numb and weak was a temporary effect of some drug this guy secretly used."
"So, Daddy's legs aren't 'getting better' today, they've 'returned to their original state'—because that quack doctor didn't 'treat' Daddy today, so naturally, he didn't have the chance to get close enough to do anything to Daddy's legs!"
Su Qingluan snapped her fingers. "Yunniang is so clever! More importantly, this liar is here to 'exorcise' evil spirits today. If he can calculate the time for the medicine to take effect correctly, then Uncle Liu's legs will gradually 'get better' after he performs his 'ritual'. Naturally, everyone will have even more faith in him as a 'master'!"
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