Huo Ming quickly waved his hand, his face full of anger, and explained, "Boss Li, we've barely spoken a few words to each other, why would I harm your family! No, it's definitely not me!"
Li Zhensheng nodded and replied, "Yes, we know it wasn't you, otherwise you would have been beheaded by now. In the end, it was your dog that listened to others and bared its teeth at our Li family!"
Did your own dog listen to what others said?
Huo Ming felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head, leaving him completely chilled. Now he finally understood, "You mean... Manager Bao was bribed to target your Li family, and then I'm made to take the blame?"
“Yeah,” Li Zhensheng shrugged and spread his hands, “You have to consider the owner before you beat the dog. At least we’ve come here, but we haven’t found the person behind it.”
"To be honest, I only asked you a few questions because I trust you. Otherwise, if I had secretly plotted against you, we would have both ended up hurting each other, and the person behind it would have been laughing all the way to the bank!"
"Who is it?" Huo Ming asked through gritted teeth.
Tonight's scare turned out to be because I took the blame for someone else.
"Then we'll have to ask your dog?" Li Laosi pointed to the sack in the corner. "We arrested Liu Sanzi, but he certainly doesn't know as much as Steward Bao!"
Huo Ming nodded, his face darkened, and went out to the corner where he pulled a rope.
The rope was probably connected to the gambling den, because a person's head appeared on the wall after a while.
Huo Ming gave a few instructions, and then the man disappeared.
Soon, there was a knock on the courtyard gate.
Li Laosi personally led his men to guard the door. When Steward Bao pushed the door open, he had barely stepped in when his mouth was covered and he was dragged into the house.
The steward was terrified. He was forced to kneel on the ground, his eyes darting around, and he was sobbing.
Perhaps because he saw the familiar faces of Li Zhensheng and Li Lao Er, his body stiffened for a moment, and his struggles weakened.
Li Laosi quickly tied him up and gagged him.
Huo Ming could no longer hold back and stepped forward, kicking him several times. "You bastard, I trusted you so much, you were practically the one in charge of the casino, and you actually caused me trouble! You tried to pin the blame on me! I'll beat you to death, you traitor!"
"Alright, Second Master Huo!" Li Zhensheng stopped him.
They didn't want the man surnamed Bao to be beaten to death, which would delay important matters.
"Let's find out who's behind him first," Li Lao Er added.
He stepped forward, squatted down, and grabbed the manager's hair.
Li Laosi even dumped the unconscious Liu Sanzi out of the sack and piled him up next to Manager Bao like a pile of garbage.
"Don't even think about lying to get away with this. You have to tell the truth, or you'll be in big trouble tonight!"
A glint flashed in the eyes of the steward, but he clenched his teeth, clearly intending to resist to the end.
Seeing his demeanor, so resolute in his refusal to betray another master even at the cost of his life, Huo Ming was furious.
This dog, which had been raised for many years, was won over by a single bone, and then, despite its unwavering loyalty, it turned around and bit the person hard...
He didn't even need Li Laosi to lift a finger; he used punches, kicks, and even his ultimate move of pulling hair.
The steward was gagged and whimpered in pain, struggling to escape, but Li Laosi stepped on his ankle and he couldn't break free. Instead, the pain made one of his legs feel like it was useless.
Huo Ming took the narrow-necked porcelain bottle, inserted the steward's fingers into it, and twisted them back, one by one, with a very crisp sound.
The steward was in excruciating pain and wet his pants. He finally started begging for mercy.
Li Laosi ripped the contents out of his mouth, and he immediately confessed.
“I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you! It was the second steward of Old Master Wang Bowei’s mansion who came to me and asked me to do a little thing, which was to ‘raise fish’ in Suijintan.”
"I figured the casino business wasn't good either, so I figured fishing was the same no matter where I went, and I agreed. But as soon as I caught a fish at Broken Gold Beach, the line broke."
"I didn't take it seriously at first, and I was even thinking of continuing later, but then the second steward of the Wang family came to me again, asking me to find someone to set up a honey trap, with the target being the Earl of Zhongshan. That's when I realized I was in trouble, having been used as a pawn. But it was too late to get off the ship; the Wang family wouldn't let me off the hook, so I..."
Enraged, Huo Ming kicked him in the face, leaving a bruised and battered face, and cursed, "You're afraid the Wang family won't let you off the hook? What about me? Do you think I'll let you off the hook?"
Manager Bao burst into tears and grabbed Huo Ming's leg. "Master, please forgive me this time, for the sake of our more than ten years of service. The Wang family gave me five hundred taels, and I'm willing to give it all! Master, please forgive me!"
Huo Ming shook him off and looked at the three Li brothers.
Now he finally understood: the Wang family was targeting the Broken Gold Beach and the Li family, and he was just unlucky enough to be dragged into it. His only purpose was to take the blame when things went wrong.
But he couldn't shake it off or stay out of it. Thinking this, he wished he could beat the steward to death right then and there.
Li Zhensheng had expected this answer, so he smiled and pulled Huo Ming to sit down, saying, "Second Master Huo, calm down. It turns out it was all a misunderstanding. I knew you were a well-known and honest man who made money ethically. How could you resort to such underhanded methods?"
"However, to be fair, the Wang family's actions are rather unethical. They schemed against our family and then tried to pin the blame on you; they have no good intentions. Neither the Second Master nor our family can swallow this insult. There's no reason to be beaten and then have to smile and offer our faces, is there?"
"So let's have a good talk about how to resolve this. Second Master and our Li family both need to vent our anger!"
Huo Ming took the wine that Li Zhensheng had poured and drank it down in one gulp; the taste was somewhat complicated.
Just a moment ago they were about to chop off his head, and now they're comrades in arms. Things change so fast...
No wonder the Li family rose to prominence so suddenly and rapidly; few people could match Li Zhensheng's ability to change his tune so easily.
Li Laosi retied the steward and Liu Sanzi, gagged them, and threw them out.
The four of them sat down and began to discuss the matter.
Li Zhensheng said, "This matter could have been discussed at length, but the old lady of the Gong family is dead, and it's uncertain when it will be discovered. When that happens, things will definitely escalate and become uncontrollable."
"Why don't we take action first and expose the matter? My second son will take the Gong sisters to the government office to report the case. The Prefect of the Capital will then find the old lady's body, and the Gong family members will definitely be imprisoned."
“When the Wang family hears the news, they will definitely think that the matter has been exposed. But if we detain Steward Bao and Liu Sanzi, they will become suspicious. They will be worried that they are hiding or have been arrested by us, and they will be constantly on edge, fearing that they will show up and expose their family.”
"And then?" Huo Ming pressed. Li Zhensheng smiled, took a few peanuts, and chewed them slowly. "Then, I haven't thought about it yet, but from now on we'll be in the shadows, and the Wang family will be in the open. They'll have to be on guard against our revenge all the time."
"Of course, we'll need Second Master Huo's help with the specifics. After all, he's been running this new capital for over a decade and is quite a local tyrant. It shouldn't be too difficult for him to bribe a servant of the Wang family to keep an eye on their situation."
Huo Ming's expression was strange as he cautiously asked, "You're not planning to poison the Wang family, are you...?"
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