Feng Mubai was kicked unconscious, and the room immediately became much quieter.
Madam Feng directed the servants to carry Feng Mubai out. She now hated Jing Zhe to death and knew that since the Feng family restaurant had been sold, Jing Zhe's presence here was no longer of much concern to her. Therefore, she prepared to go down with the servants to take care of Feng Mubai.
She had just reached the door when Jing Zhe spoke up: "Master Feng, have you heard that Xu Wenchang has been arrested?"
"Prefect Xu...Prefect Xu has been arrested?"
Master Feng was stunned, and Madam Feng, who had reached the door, stopped again and turned back.
"Are you telling the truth or not? We just saw Magistrate Xu this morning, how could he have been arrested?"
After Madam Feng finished asking her question, Master Feng nodded frantically.
Although he didn't particularly like Prefect Xu, he still needed him in Jiangling, so naturally he didn't want anything to happen to him.
“It’s true, of course. Just before I came to the Feng family, Xu Wenchang had me send people to arrest him. Of course, I haven’t released the news yet, and since Xu Wenchang has been arrested, naturally no one can inform you.”
"..."
Master Feng and his wife exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with shock and confusion. Master Feng then asked, "May I ask, Chief Jing... why was Prefect Xu arrested?"
"Well..."
Jing Zhe glanced at Madam Feng, and that one glance made Madam Feng's heart skip a beat, because she had a bad feeling that Prefect Xu had been arrested because of their affair!
Because apart from this reason, she really couldn't think of any other crime that Jing Zhe could find to arrest Magistrate Xu in such a short time!
"It's because of fraud and corruption."
Jing Zhe originally wanted to expose the entire affair of this adulterous couple, but then he thought it best to wait until the first issue of the newspaper was published before making the revelation. He believed that the effect would be explosive. Now, however, the effect was not as good.
"Fraud and corruption?"
Madam Feng breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately asked, "Whom did Prefect Xu deceive? And what did he embezzle?"
"The fraud was committed against the people of Jiangling, while the embezzlement was of the incense money that the people of Jiangling had offered at the original Peach Blossom Temple."
Jing Zhe looked at them and said, "Yesterday on Peach Blossom Mountain, I arrested the old monk Kongjing and his two disciples from the former Peach Blossom Temple. Because they were scared, the three of them confessed to all the things that Xu Wenchang had done over the years, ordering them to defraud people of incense money! So I sent people to arrest him!"
"..."
Upon hearing that Magistrate Xu had been arrested because of the matter of incense money, Madam Feng and Master Feng exchanged a glance, no longer having many doubts, as they already knew about this matter.
However, Madam Feng was still curious. If it was just Master Kongjing and the others confessing, and Magistrate Xu denying it, such a confession alone would not be enough to arrest Magistrate Xu. So she asked, "Magistrate Xu... did he confess?"
Jing Zhe nodded: "Of course he admitted it, and he even wrote a confession very sincerely. Otherwise, why would I have arrested him?"
"..."
Madam Feng and Master Feng both sighed inwardly. They didn't know what methods Jing Zhe had used to make Prefect Xu obediently write a confession. But now that he had the confession, he was like a fish on a chopping board, at the mercy of others.
Seeing that the two remained silent, Jing Zhe said, "Don't you want to ask him how much silver he embezzled and defrauded?"
After hearing this, Master Feng shook his head and said, "I don't want to know, because how much he has cheated and embezzled is his business and has nothing to do with us law-abiding citizens, so we don't want to know."
Magistrate Xu has already been convicted and imprisoned, so Master Feng naturally cannot save him. Of course, even if he could save him, he wouldn't, so he naturally wants to sever all ties.
Jing Zhe laughed and said, "It's alright. You probably don't want to know because you want to avoid suspicion. I understand. I'll just tell you on my own initiative."
"..."
Seeing that Jing Zhe insisted on telling them, Madam Feng and Master Feng were speechless: Why are you asking us this unnecessary question!
Then Jing Zhe said, "Xu Wenchang confessed that he embezzled a total of 20,000 taels of silver through fraud!"
"Twenty thousand taels?"
Feng, the wealthy man, was unfazed, as his relationship with Prefect Xu was merely superficial, and he had no idea how much Prefect Xu had embezzled over the years. So, upon hearing the figure, he was simply shocked.
But Madam Feng was different. As Prefect Xu's wife, she believed that Prefect Xu trusted and was completely honest with her, so he never hid anything from her, nor did he dare to.
According to Magistrate Xu, the total amount of silver he received from Peach Blossom Temple over the years was less than 15,000 taels, only a little over 14,000 taels. How did it become 20,000 taels now?
Who is lying?
Madam Feng glanced at Jing Zhe and felt that he couldn't and had no reason to lie to them. Moreover, he said that Prefect Xu had written a confession, and the amount of 20,000 taels was also written on it, so it couldn't be faked.
So, it turns out that Magistrate Xu lied to her, deliberately concealing more than five thousand taels, or perhaps even more…
Thinking of this, Madam Feng felt extremely angry. "I've let you play with me for free for so many years, and I even bore you children. Is this how you treat me?"
Yes, absolutely!
At this moment, Madam Feng felt no sympathy for Prefect Xu, only that this was retribution.
"This Mrs. Xu... Xu Wenchang, he's really embezzled a lot!"
Seeing that the situation was now settled and that Magistrate Xu was doomed to never recover, Master Feng felt he should say a few words to distance himself from him.
"Yes, they've embezzled quite a lot."
Jing Zhe softly echoed.
"..."
Then, the room fell into a brief silence.
Feeling embarrassed, Master Feng thought for a moment and then asked, "Did President Jing come here today just to inform us that Xu Wenchang has been arrested for embezzlement?"
His meaning was clear: if Jing Zhe had only come to discuss this matter, then now that things were settled, he should leave.
Jing Zhe shook his head again: "Of course not."
He then reached into his robes, rummaging through his belongings as he said, "Although the deed to this Feng Family Restaurant now belongs to me, the previous transactions were all done by Xu Wenchang and Master Feng, right?"
"yes…"
Master Feng asked with some concern, "What? President Jing isn't suggesting that because Xu Wenchang is guilty, the deal he made with us is invalid, is he? He was acting on President Jing's orders and using President Jing's money to make the deal! Is there a problem with that?"
Jing Zhe nodded first, then shook his head and said, "Master Feng is right. Xu Wenchang did come to trade with Master Feng on my behalf. I had already set the price and wanted to come by myself, but Xu Wenchang said that he knew Master Feng and that it would be easier to negotiate the deal if he came forward. At the time, out of trust in him, I entrusted the whole matter to him!"
"..."
————
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