The hatred in Xu Jiang's heart surged back, her eyes like chisels, ready to chip away at Xu Dang's bones bit by bit. She laughed furiously, "If you scrape off this body of flesh and blood, sever all ties with Xu Yan, then this will be none of your business. Three crimes combined, and with your relatives implicated, even if you're not exiled, you should be caned and driven out of the capital."
These words were half true and half false. Even though Xu Dang knew that Xu Jiang was trying to scare him, he couldn't help but believe it a little bit and kept silent for a while, not daring to say anything.
Afraid of being caught.
Xu Jiang turned to face Xu Twelve, stared at him intently, and said, "And you, as a slave, betrayed your master for personal gain and murdered him. You should be executed according to the law."
Xu Twelve broke out in cold sweat, partly because of the pain and partly because of fear.
He begged for mercy: "Miss, I was wrong. I had no choice. Please let me go."
Xu Jiang suppressed the anger that was overflowing in her heart and said, "I can let you go. As long as you explain in detail why you came to the capital, how you came to the capital, and your purpose in pestering me, I will let you go."
Xu Twelve was about to respond when Xu Dang beside him growled, "She's trying to trick you, you..." Before he could finish his words, Xu Jiang kicked him in the face and he could only cry out in pain.
"Go get paper and pen." Xu Jiang said to Liang Mo.
Liang Mo quickly rushed back to the house and brought out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone and set them aside.
"He says one thing, you write one thing down. With the neighbors as witnesses, none of us can lie." Xu Jiang turned to the neighbors and bowed, saying, "Please all bear witness with me."
"Okay!" Everyone agreed.
Xu Jiang kicked Xu Twelve and said, "Go ahead."
Facing Xu Dang's threatening gaze, Xu Twelve spoke hesitantly.
"Last year, after I left with the caravan, we moved to Qianzhong. After returning to Qianzhong, I really didn't want to follow the caravan anymore, so I begged the cook to let me go to the Fourth Master and ask him to redeem me. The Fourth Master agreed."
"How did you agree to this?"
"I...I told him I knew your whereabouts, and told him that you opened a bookstore in the capital and made a lot of money, and that I could help him pay off his gambling debts. As long as he redeemed me, I would bring him to the capital to find you."
Hearing this, Xu Jiang snorted coldly.
The onlookers spat at him.
After Xu Dang felt the pain, he wanted to stop him, but the words on his lips were choked back by Xu Jiang's raised foot.
"Go on." Xu Jiang said to Xu Twelve.
"After the Fourth Master redeemed me, he sold the old family house, keeping half for travel expenses and using the other half to pay off some gambling debts. Only then was he released by the creditor, and he brought the Fifth Master and me to find you, hoping to get some money from you."
Given the greed of a gambler, he would definitely take more than just a little from her, but would want to take advantage of her completely.
"Then why are only the two of you here today? Where are the others?"
"After we arrived in Beijing, we were mistaken for refugees and placed in an orphanage. Later, we met someone who knew you in the orphanage. When he knew we were coming to look for you, he reminded us that you now have a backer and are not easy to mess with. If we rashly come to you to ask for money, we will suffer. The Fourth Master was skeptical about his words, so he asked me and the Fifth Master to test you first. He..." Xu Twelve glanced at the alley entrance.
Xu Jiang looked towards the alley entrance and saw a figure flash by.
After delivering the rice, Shopkeeper Wang was driving his ox cart back when he was unexpectedly bumped into by a blind man, giving him a fright.
Fortunately, the ox cart was moving slowly and he pulled the rope in time, so he was not hurt.
"On the street, he walks without even looking where he is going."
Xu Si stopped, glared at Shopkeeper Wang, and cursed, "Whether you read it or not is none of your business."
Then he glanced into the alley again and saw someone coming this way, so he quickly dodged to the side. "You're lucky. If I hadn't been busy today, I would have made sure you were in big trouble."
After cursing, he raised his leg and walked away in a hurry.
Shopkeeper Wang spat, "You're blind, yet you act so arrogantly." Then he roared, "Who's afraid of you? Come back here and have a fight!"
Xu Si turned around, spat at him, and ran out of sight into the street.
"What bad luck!" Shopkeeper Wang cursed and turned into the alley in a depressed mood.
As soon as he entered the alley, he saw a group of people gathered at the door of Xu Jiang. He quickly called his helper who was craning his neck to watch the fun to come and lead the cow, and then ran quickly towards Xu Jiang's bookstore.
"What are you all doing here? What happened?"
"Brother?" Xu Jiang smiled only after seeing Shopkeeper Wang. "It's okay."
Seeing her reluctant expression, Shopkeeper Wang frowned slightly. Turning to see Xu Twelve, he immediately understood what was going on. His anger, which had been ignited by that impudent fellow, flared up as he cursed, "You shameless coward! How dare you come here?"
When he cursed, Xu Jiang's heart suddenly felt hot and her throat felt a little dry.
Shopkeeper Wang then saw Xu Dang being restrained and asked, "Who is this man? Is he your accomplice?"
Xu Jiang said, "He is from the Xu family."
Shopkeeper Wang immediately understood, rolled up his sleeves and wanted to rush forward to hit the man, but was stopped by Xu Jiang.
She had a reason to hit Xu Dang, but if Shopkeeper Wang did it, he would be in the wrong. Moreover, this was a feud between her and the Xu family, and she didn't want to involve Shopkeeper Wang and cause him trouble for no reason.
"Brother, please calm down. I will handle this matter myself."
Liang Mo also quickly advised: "Brother Wang, we are currently trying someone, we will fight with them after the trial is over."
Seeing the pen and paper in front of him, Shopkeeper Wang knew he was recording his confession. He quickly suppressed his anger and withdrew his fists and feet. "I'll spare your lives for now!"
Seeing that he had calmed down, Xu Jiang continued to interrogate Xu Twelve, "Who did you just say Xu Si had an appointment with to meet at Qingmen?"
"That man, using the alias Wang Muzhi, hid in the poorhouse, claiming he had a grudge against you and advising us to be careful. He then conspired with the Fourth Master to help him collect money from you, splitting the money 50-50 with him... Later, when the police arrived, we learned he was a wanted criminal."
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