The last sentence was like a heavy punch to Boss Ye's heart.
He was so frightened that he trembled, and no one told him that Shen Jing was actually the Crown Prince's tutor, a first-rank official.
He called over Wu Laosan, who was also somewhat flustered by what Pei Yao had said.
Boss Ye feigned composure and asked in a deep voice, "Is this Shen Jing really the same as what this little girl said?"
Wu Laosan shuddered. When he investigated, there was indeed a tutor to the Crown Prince, but he honestly couldn't remember his name. However...
He glanced cautiously at Boss Ye: "Boss, it's true that the Shen family father and son weren't on our list at the beginning."
Wu Laosan dared not say that the Shen family father and son were forcibly brought here because they bumped into him...
Wu Laosan's words made Ye Laoda feel that Pei Yao's words were more credible.
Pei Yao was speechless and rolled her eyes inwardly. It was rare for her to tell the truth, but these people still doubted her.
Everything she just said is true. He specifically asked Shen Yu about it on the way here in the carriage.
Zhang San had previously mentioned that the Shen family father and son were not on the initial list of those going to the mine. Those not on that list were mostly people who had held high-ranking official positions. Therefore, Pei Yao guessed that Shen's father must have held a high-ranking official position in the past.
Pei Yao's memories have been fragmented for a long time, so there are many things she doesn't know.
Pei Yao had only asked Shen Yu a gossipy question, but Shen Yu explained it to her very seriously.
Upon hearing this, Old Master Ye kicked Old Man Wu and looked at him speechlessly: "How did he get here if he didn't have his name?"
Wu Laosan dared not speak, and lowered his head: "Boss, I don't know either."
Seeing his cowardly appearance, Boss Ye waved his hand impatiently and told him to get lost: "Get lost, get lost, you idiot, you don't know anything."
When she looked up at Pei Yao again, the look in her eyes became more polite.
"Are the two members of the Shen family alright?" Old Master Ye asked guiltily.
Ye Laoda's current status is entirely due to the fact that he has relatives working for the county magistrate; he himself is not very bright.
The thought of what Pei Yao had just said made him tremble. She was a first-rank official, the Crown Prince's tutor, just like the little girl said, the Crown Prince's mentor.
To put it bluntly, who knows, the emperor might pass away one day, and when the crown prince ascends the throne, he might just remember his mentor...
The more Ye Laoda thought about it, the more uncertain he felt.
Pei Yao shook her head, feigning sadness, and said, "It's very bad. The doctor said his life is in danger. You know, Uncle Shen was the Crown Prince's favorite tutor back then. If it weren't for..."
Pei Yao paused here, not explaining directly, and then continued, "How could we have fallen to such a state of uncertainty, where his fate is now? Back when we parted in the capital, I could still see His Highness the Crown Prince's figure on the city wall from afar..."
Pei Yao spoke with such conviction that she seemed to believe it all. When she got emotional, she even put one hand on her chest and reached out with the other, her face full of regret.
Ye Laoda became increasingly flustered by her words. When Pei Yao reached out and grabbed him, it felt as if she had grabbed his neck, making him tremble uncontrollably.
"Young Master Shen, oh no, Grand Tutor Shen, was framed?"
Pei Yao lowered her head and remained silent, not answering Boss Ye's question, but Boss Ye felt that silence spoke louder than words at this moment.
He felt like the sky had fallen, and he wanted to kick Wu Laosan right then and there. This wasn't hiring someone to do the work; it was practically hiring a living father.
Just like Pei Yao said, if Shen Jing really dies, then he will definitely be implicated.
He has always been a high-profile and attention-seeking person. Although the common people did not see it, many saltworks workers did see it when he went to the saltworks to recruit people.
If His Highness the Crown Prince were to hold me accountable in the future, I would certainly be implicated.
Ye Laoda felt extremely guilty. He looked at Pei Yao, trying hard to find any flaws in her lie on her face.
After all, the other party is just a young girl of about ten years old, so it wouldn't be hard to tell if she was lying.
But the more Ye Laoda looked at Pei Yao's face, the more uncertain he became.
Because this girl was so calm, she really didn't seem like she was lying.
"How much ransom did you bring with you?"
After staring at Pei Yao for a long time, Ye Laoda asked, "Although I am afraid of the Shen family father and son, I can still ask for a ransom since the two Pei family members are of low rank."
Pei Yao went out for a while, then took out all fifty taels that she had just left with Shen Yu: "We only managed to scrape together fifty taels. This is the most silver we could gather. We really can't raise any more. Even this fifty taels was raised by everyone in the village... I don't know when we'll be able to pay it back..."
"Fifty taels to redeem four people? Little girl, you must be joking with me. No way." Boss Ye refused Pei Yao without even thinking. After all, the original four hundred taels had been cut down to fifty taels, and he naturally wouldn't agree to it.
Pei Yao wasn't in a hurry. She glanced at Boss Ye and said, "How can it be fifty taels? Manager Qian gave you fifty taels before, so it's a hundred taels in total."
"That's still not enough to redeem four people..."
"Brother Ye, when we took those four people away, you had already tortured them half to death. Whether they can be saved now is another matter. If we don't save them, you won't even get the fifty taels, and you'll also risk offending His Highness the Crown Prince." Pei Yao looked up at Brother Ye with an indifferent expression.
Old Master Ye looked at Pei Yao suspiciously, then at Old Master Wu who had been keeping his head down, and asked, "Old Master Wu, are those people really that badly injured?"
Wu Laosan was suddenly called out. After thinking about the previous situation, he nodded: "He was indeed seriously injured."
Zhang San had been listening to Pei Yao and Boss Ye's conversation, and at this moment he also spoke up appropriately: "Boss Ye, if those four people are not redeemed by us, even if they stay in the mine, they will still die. In that case, it will be a deal where we lose everything."
Boss Ye glanced at Zhang San, who was speaking, his small eyes narrowed, and he was thinking.
He may have a big head, but he doesn't have much brains.
In fact, exchanging 100 taels for four dying people was not a bad deal, because the county had initially offered them 20 taels per person to redeem them. It was the lower-level officials who wanted to skim some money, so they said 100 taels.
However, over the years, it has been very rare for a million to be spent to redeem a person. Sometimes, people are redeemed even if they are short by one or two taels, since the wages of the officials are so low, and they all want to make some extra money from other sources.
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