Chapter 79 As Expected
As Xu Li was being carried by two constables towards the main hall, the brocade robe he was wearing had become somewhat stiff because of the blood stained on the front of it by Xu Ren.
He stumbled as soon as he stepped into the main hall.
Thanks to the bailiffs who tightened their grip, they were able to help him stand still.
It took him a while to notice Liu Jingchang and Xiao Yunzhan sitting at the head of the table, as well as Pei Zhiwei and Xie Ji standing beside them.
His lips moved, and he finally knelt down and kowtowed respectfully, his voice hoarse: "This sinner, Xu Li, greets Your Highness and Lord Liu."
Xiao Yunzhan spoke first, his tone flat, yet carrying an unavoidable pressure.
"You and Xu Ren are brothers, and you've lived under the same roof for so many years. Did you really not notice anything unusual about him?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Li trembled almost imperceptibly. After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke, "No... I really didn't notice."
He was introverted and quiet from a young age, and he wasn't very close to me.
I just assumed it was his personality and didn't think anything of it.
He took a long breath, then exhaled deeply, and said with a hint of self-deprecation, "Father does favor me. He always puts me first in the family business and land."
Since ancient times, there has been a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children; which family doesn't do this?
I thought he understood this principle, knowing that he was born out of wedlock, so he never argued much.
Sometimes I felt that my father was too biased and I was afraid that he would feel uncomfortable, so I would secretly give him some money or items.
I thought... I thought that even if our relationship wasn't particularly good, at least we weren't enemies.
At this point, he could no longer hold back, and tears streamed down his face.
"Brothers from other families either fight over the family property or fight over women."
But he and I never even exchanged a single word.
I never imagined that he harbored such deep resentment, hating his father so much that he wanted to kill him…
He became more and more agitated as he spoke, his chest heaving violently, until finally he covered his face and began to cry silently.
Pei Zhiwei stood beside him, looking at his appearance, and felt a little uncomfortable.
Xu Li appears to be a composed person, but in the end, he was spoiled by his father, Xu Fengyan, as he grew up.
In just a few days, first his father died a violent death, then his younger brother became the murderer of his father, and was killed by his own hands.
Such repeated blows would be unbearable for anyone.
Xiao Yunzhan didn't urge him. He waited until the crying subsided before asking, "Do you know why Xu Ren held Wang Shi hostage with a knife?"
Was there anything wrong with how Lady Wang treated him?
Xu Li suddenly raised his head, and after a long while, he hurriedly shook his head: "Impossible! Mother has never treated him badly!"
If Father and I were blinded by the rules of legitimate and illegitimate children and didn't consider his feelings, Mother never did.
He knelt up straight, as if afraid that others would misunderstand Wang Shi, and said somewhat urgently: "Since the year I entered the family, Mother has prepared things for me, and she must have prepared a set for Xu Ren as well."
Most of the time, they are exactly the same in terms of specifications and appearance.
My father once told my mother, "You don't need to favor him so much," and my mother replied, "I watched him grow up, there's no such thing as favoritism."
He realized at this point that he was actually aware of many things, but he had simply taken them for granted.
He tugged at the corners of his mouth, forcing out a smile that looked even uglier than crying.
"Now that I think about it, the only person in the family who truly treated him as the proper second son of the Xu family was probably my mother."
Xu Ren usually respected his mother and would go to great lengths to give her little trinkets during holidays. How could he suddenly kidnap her...?
"I've heard," Xiao Yunzhan interrupted him, seeing that what he said was similar to what they had investigated and there were no new clues.
"A few years ago, when you went out to inspect the shops of the Xu family in various places, you encountered bandits on your way back. Is that true?"
Xu Li was completely stunned, his eyes wide open as he stared at Xiao Yunzhan, unable to react for a long time.
He opened his mouth, and after a long while, he said, "Yes, that happened two or three years ago... Why did Your Highness suddenly ask about this?"
Liu Jingchang coughed beside him, his eyes darkening: "Just answer my questions, why all this nonsense?"
Xu Li was startled by the sternness in his tone and quickly nodded, "Yes, yes, I will tell you now."
He rested his hands on his lap, his brows furrowed, as if trying to recall the scene.
"That year was late spring, and it rained for three days in a row. I went to Huzhou to inspect the Xu family's silk shop, and I was supposed to return by the official road as originally planned."
Halfway there, while resting at a tea stall, they overheard people saying that the road ahead had collapsed due to the rain, and several horse-drawn carriages were stuck in the mud, completely blocking the road.
"The manager who came with me is called Xu Chu. He is an elder in the family and has a lot of experience in running a business."
They advised me then, saying, "Young master, let's turn back to the previous post station and wait for the road to be repaired before continuing. There's no rush."
His brows were furrowed, and although his eyes were looking at Xiao Yunzhan, he felt that his eyes could not focus because he was recalling the scene at that time.
"But at the time, all I was thinking about was getting home as soon as possible and reporting the situation of the shop to my father, so I didn't listen to him."
“I told Xu Chu, ‘Let’s ride around on horseback, it’s only a short distance, it’s very fast.’”
Xu Chu also advised me to bring more people, saying, "The detour is to remote places, and it might not be safe."
I didn't listen. I only took three guards with me, leaving the rest to watch the goods.
Xiao Yunzhan pressed, "And then what? Did you really encounter bandits?"
"We ran into them."
We hadn't gone far down that path when a dozen or so men wielding knives rushed out of the woods and started robbing us.
My legs went weak. The guards were about to attack, but I quickly stopped them, saying, "Give them all the money, just don't hurt anyone."
But those men weren't satisfied with just the money; they brandished knives and charged at me.
"Xu Chu shielded me behind him, shouting 'Young Master, run!' and together with the guards, they blocked the way."
But we were outnumbered and couldn't hold out for long; two of our guards were also injured.
Just then, the sound of horses' hooves came from afar—it was Lord Cui's entourage!
At this point, his tone became a little more lively, "At that time, Lord Cui was not yet the military governor of Huainan; he was just here on official business."
They happened to be passing by with their men when they heard the commotion and came over. The bandits, seeing it was government troops, were so frightened they immediately ran away.
"Did Lord Cui say at the time why he was in that area?" Xiao Yunzhan asked again.
Xu Li nodded: "I have said so."
At that time, because one of us was injured, Lord Cui escorted us to the clinic.
On the way, I asked him why he was here. He said that they had to take this detour because the road ahead was blocked and they were in a hurry for official business. The rain in the past few days had already caused them a lot of delays.
We didn't expect to run into them.
Pei Zhiwei stood to the side, listening more and more, and felt that this was just a simple coincidence? Every step seemed reasonable.
She secretly glanced at Xiao Yunzhan and saw him sitting there, his gaze fixed on Xu Li. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but she always felt that he wasn't as calm as he appeared.
She couldn't help but ask, "Young Master Xu, so much time has passed since this incident, have you felt anything was amiss afterward?"
Even something small, like someone's words or actions, that struck you as odd?
Upon hearing this, Xu Li frowned, thought carefully for a moment, and then shook his head: "At the time, I didn't think anything of it. I just thought it was bad luck, but I was lucky to run into Lord Cui."
But now that you've asked...
He paused, a hint of doubt in his eyes, "If I had to say what's strange, it would be Xu Chu."
Given his personality, if he really felt unsafe, he would definitely argue with me, but that time he only offered a couple of words of advice, and when he saw that I wouldn't listen, he stopped talking.
Also, the guards who took the detour with us were all chosen by him.
Looking back now, those three weren't exactly top-tier fighters in the team.
At the time, I thought he was leaving behind someone with better skills to escort the valuable goods.
But now that I think about it, my life was definitely more important to the Xu family than those goods.
Therefore, this is not in line with his cautious nature.
Xiao Yunzhan asked, "Where is Xu Chu now?"
"I'll be the manager of the Xu family's ink workshop," Xu Li replied readily.
"After that attack, Xu Chu told his father that he didn't want to run the trade route anymore and wanted to find a stable job."
His father, mindful of his service in protecting his master, entrusted him with the management of the ink workshop. He has remained there ever since, never venturing far from home.
Xiao Yunzhan didn't ask Xu Li any more questions, but simply tilted his head towards Liu Jingchang, giving him a meaningful look.
Liu Jingchang immediately understood and gestured with his chin toward Wei Wu, the head constable beside him.
Wei Wu pointed to two shrewd-looking constables, leaned over and whispered a few words to them. The two constables nodded, tiptoed, and quietly walked towards the back door.
They probably felt that Xu Chu was still a member of the Xu family, and if they alerted him, he might escape or destroy the evidence.
After the yamen runners left, Xiao Yunzhan asked some more questions about Xu Chu.
For example, Xu Li answered all of his questions about his hometown, how many years he had lived in the Xu family, and who he was close to, without finding anything unusual.
Xiao Yunzhan was silent for a moment, then changed the subject: "It is said that more than a year ago, during Zhang Xuren's birthday banquet, Zhang Xiao's vicious dog injured someone."
Were you there at the time?
When Zhang Xiao was mentioned, Xu Li's expression changed, and he nodded: "Yes, I was there."
It's said that Zhang Xiao's dog was raised from a puppy and has a very fierce temperament. It once bit a tenant farmer to death outside, and Master Zhang paid some money and that was the end of it.
On the day of the birthday banquet, Lord Zhang set up dozens of tables in his garden and even hired an opera troupe.
As everyone was enjoying the opera, they suddenly heard a dog barking. Zhang Xiao, shouting "Come back quickly!", chased after them, sweating profusely.
"The dog ran very fast, dodging left and right, avoiding several people."
Unfortunately, my dad was standing right in front of it at the time. He couldn't dodge in time, and the dog pounced on him, its jaws snapping open to bite his neck!
Xu Li spoke hastily, raising his hand to gesture about the scene at the time.
"Luckily, Lord Zhang was quick-witted and grabbed a wine cup from the table, smashing it right on the dog's head. The dog paused for a moment, stopped attacking my father, and instead turned and charged at my mother!"
"My mother was so scared that she kept backing away and almost fell to the ground."
At that moment, Lord Cui was having an archery contest with someone not far away. He held a bow in his hand, raised his hand, and fired an arrow. The dog didn't even whimper before it was killed.
He breathed a sigh of relief, as if he were back in that scene.
"Later, Zhang Xiao made a scene for a while, saying that Lord Cui had killed his dog. Lord Zhang quickly pulled him away and apologized to Lord Cui a lot."
Xiao Yunzhan raised an eyebrow: "So, all things considered, Lord Cui has saved your Xu family twice."
Your Xu family must be extremely grateful to him, right?
Xu Li nodded quickly, his tone full of gratitude: "Of course!"
My father has said many times that Lord Cui is the Xu family's savior; without him, my mother and I would probably be in grave danger.
As if afraid that others would misunderstand that Cui Yanwu was taking advantage of their kindness, he quickly explained: "Although my family sent valuable gifts, Lord Cui did not accept them and has never been very close to my family."
Given Lord Cui's important position, it is only right that he avoids any appearance of impropriety.
Our Xu family is not one of those small-scale merchants; we understand this principle, and that is precisely why we respect him even more.
Since then, my father has always said that as long as Lord Cui gives the word, whether it's money or manpower, the Xu family will do anything, without hesitation.
These words confirmed their speculation from last night.
Pei Zhiwei, Xiao Yunzhan, and Xie Ji exchanged glances. Although they didn't speak, they all understood each other perfectly: it was exactly as they had guessed.
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