Chapter 4: Dumbfounded
“This is the evidence you said.”
The Imperial Censor stroked his beard and squinted his eyes. "Why can't I see anything but air? Where's the food you mentioned? Could it be that General Guo's eyesight is blurry due to his old age?"
"If that's the case, then I'm starting to suspect I'm not fifty, but twenty, while General Guo is over fifty."
Guo Qiang's face was already ugly, and when he heard Yu Yushi's words, his face turned even darker. He turned around and glared at his subordinates fiercely.
The subordinate shrank his neck in grievance. He really didn't know where the food had gone. It was impossible that the rats had eaten it all in one night!
"There are several more warehouses, maybe it's hidden in other warehouses."
The men thought quickly and found a way out soon. Maybe the Chen family discovered something was wrong and transferred the grain to other warehouses.
"Walk!"
Guo Qiang suppressed his anger and continued to open the next blind box, ah...warehouse.
The man came to the door of another warehouse, and his hand holding the door suddenly began to tremble.
If, if the relief food isn't here, then...
Thinking of this, he first opened the door of the warehouse, leaving a gap, and took a look with his own eyes.
However, before he could see clearly, Guo Qiang kicked the door open and then snapped it open.
The result is still empty.
The huge warehouse is empty, making people wonder if it is a warehouse at all. Why is there nothing there?
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
Several mice on the ground were startled by the sound of the door opening. They seemed to notice the confusion on the visitor's face, and suddenly felt a sense of sympathy.
They also want to know, where is the food?
Where did their dinner go?
"Next!"
Guo Qiang gritted his teeth and looked very ugly. He just didn't believe that he couldn't find relief food.
The Chen Mansion is so small that it is impossible to transport it away, which means it is still hidden inside.
However, what greeted him was an empty warehouse.
"Next!"
"Next!"
"Why are they all empty? Don't the Chen family members eat?"
Guo Qiang's face looked very ugly, especially since he had vowed before that the relief grain must be in the Chen family warehouse, but now not a single grain of rice was found. Oh, no, he did find a grain of rice, but it was snatched away by a rat.
In short, there was no sign of any relief food.
This is obviously abnormal.
He arranged it personally, and his subordinates delivered it personally, so how could it disappear?
"Go, call a servant over!"
He waved his hand and asked another subordinate to find a servant of the Chen family, intending to use threats and inducements to make him explain where the things in the warehouse went.
After a while, his men brought the person over.
It turned out to be Chen Xue.
"I asked you to bring servants!"
Guo Qiang glared at his subordinate fiercely and asked, "What do you mean by bringing your master to me?"
How could she possibly tell the truth about where she hid her things?
The subordinate felt a little embarrassed. Actually, he didn't want to do it. He had planned to bring someone here. However, there was nothing he could do. Chen Xue kept calling him "little brother", which made him indulge in the call... cough cough. In short, he brought the person here in a daze.
However, before Guo Qiang could ask, Chen Xue spoke up.
"Are you looking for something in the warehouse?"
Guo Qiang's eyes lit up when he heard this, "Do you know where it is?"
I didn't expect that there are people who would sacrifice their own relatives for the sake of justice.
Guo Qiang was very happy, but at the same time he felt sympathy for Chen Yuan. How could he have given birth to such a daughter? Tsk tsk tsk.
However, he saw Chen Xue showing an aggrieved expression.
"We are a very poor family. There is actually nothing in the warehouse because we don't have money to buy food!"
“…………”
Guo Qiang was dumbfounded.
How come this is different from what I imagined?
Wait, your family is poor.
Are you kidding me?
A dignified third-rank official is actually poor and cannot even afford to buy food. This is simply the funniest joke in the world.
However, just because Guo Qiang doesn't believe it doesn't mean others don't believe it.
Upon hearing this, the censor immediately showed sympathy, "I knew how a man as honest as Zhengyuan could be corrupt. I didn't expect him to be even more honest than I thought."
Zhengyuan is the pen name of Chen Xue’s father Chen Yuan.
When the censor thought that the warehouse of a third-rank official's home did not even have food, he felt sympathy and heartache.
No wonder his son said that Zhengyuan never spends money lavishly, and even when he eats out, he often packs up food to take home. He was even teased by many people for being stingy. It seems that everyone has misunderstood him.
It turns out that Zhengyuan is not stingy, but honest, and his family is just in financial difficulty.
However, the real reason was that Chen Yuan's money was in the hands of his wife, so he had no money to spend on wine and women outside.
As for packing up the food, it was because Chen Yuan thought the food was delicious, so he packed it up and took it home to eat with his wife.
When the censor misunderstood Chen Yuan, Guo Qiang's face turned ugly. This development was not right. He had clearly successfully framed Chen Yuan, so how could it seem like he had helped clear his name?
Chen Xue didn't care about that. Seeing that the censor believed her, she continued to say aggrievedly, "Sir, although our family looks rich, we are actually very poor..."
"If you don't believe me, you can take a look. We don't have many valuable things at home. Even the lake in the yard has dried up and we don't have the money to hire someone to clean it up..."
When the censor heard this, he thought of the silt in the lake he had just seen, and suddenly realized that it was no wonder that he saw a deep pit. It turned out that there was no money to deal with it.
Thinking of this, the censor felt even more sorry for Chen Yuan, and he no longer believed that he would be corrupt. He became even more determined to help him prove his innocence.
"hehe!"
Guo Qiang sneered, "You must have hidden it."
"Let's go check out the other rooms."
He just couldn't believe it, and he searched the entire Chen Mansion but couldn't find any relief food.
As for Chen Xue's crying poor, haha, when he came to the Chen Mansion not long ago, there were several antique vases worth thousands of taels displayed in the hall. Not long ago, even Chen Xue spent several thousand taels in one go to buy jewelry.
He heard this from his cousin. His cousin also liked the jewelry set, but it was a bit expensive. Who knew that Chen Xue also liked it and even bought it at a high price without bargaining, which made his cousin very angry.
Therefore, Chen Xue’s crying poor is simply bullshit.
Only a fool would believe that.
Thinking of this, he turned to look at the censor. The censor was confused and stroked his beard, saying, "Look at what I'm doing. General Guo is the one who is responsible for the confiscation of property."
Guo Qiang retracted his gaze and came to the Chen family treasure house. Seeing the padlock on it, he shouted to his men, "Smash it open!"
Although no relief grain could be found for the time being, as long as a lot of gold, silver and jewelry were found, the false fact that the Chen family was very poor could be exposed in front of the censor.
In this way, the censor would be angry and realize that he had been deceived. He might give up on overturning the case for the Chen family, or even file a report to the emperor to accuse Chen Yuan.
Bang!
With a sound, the padlock fell to the ground. Guo Qiang kicked the door open and rushed into the treasure house.
"Where's the stuff?"
Guo Qiang was dumbfounded again!
He could understand that there wasn't much money in the warehouse, but it was wrong that there was no silver in the Chen family's warehouse.
Although the Chen family only has a few decades of foundation, it is impossible that there is not a penny in the family's warehouse.
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