Chapter 66 We Have a Thief Among Us! (Part 1)
"Brother, shouldn't we leave some room for maneuver? After all, her surname is Xie, and I've heard she's a Qi cultivator with considerable potential."
“Ambience? Second brother, since you’ve entered the Dragon City scheme, you’ve agreed to play by the rules. No matter who they are, whether they are kings, generals, or nobles, no one can escape it. They all have to fall into the mud and roll around in it.”
"Our Liu family is like this, the new magistrate is like this, and the eldest daughter of the Xie family is also like this. Does that great scholar of the Xie family not know the ways of this place? Didn't he still leave his daughter with the Su family? Besides, allowing Qi cultivators to enter is the greatest lack of manners, so what right do we have to be particular?"
"No matter how noble the Xie family is, can they be more noble than the Wei family who are in power? Even the Wei family, when tricked by the pro-government faction and mistakenly let in a wolf disguised as a little white rabbit, had to swallow their anger and accept the rules. How much more so the Xie family?"
"Second brother, now that the Liu family has taken sides, don't worry about whether the knives are dirty or not. The dirtier they are, the easier they are to use, and the more reluctant the Wei family will be to throw them away."
"But brother, a dirty knife will eventually be thrown away."
"It's alright. As long as that thing can be born, as long as it exists, even the dirtiest knife can be washed clean. It might even give our Liu family a chance to break free from the constraints of Longcheng, Jiangzhou, and even Jiangnan Circuit, and rise to become another new noble family in Luoyang!"
There was a moment of silence.
The voice belonging to Liu Zi'an hesitated for a moment:
"Then...they probably don't know what we're doing for the Wei family, right?"
"If they had known, things wouldn't be so calm now. The first ones to come knocking would probably be those female rulers of Yunmeng Sword Marsh."
"In the eyes of the court officials, the most important thing in this small Longcheng County in the south is nothing more than the family living on Luming Street; everyone thinks that the main battlefield of the Liwei conflict is in Luoyang and Chang'an, but little do they know that this could be the key to victory or defeat..."
The voice, belonging to a certain young master of a family, paused, then sighed:
"Second brother, your contribution to the rise of the new emperor is truly immense. After so many years of preparation, it all depends on whether you can seize this enormous fortune."
“I… understand. Then let Third Brother go tomorrow. We really can’t wait any longer. If our Liu family doesn’t fight back and continues to endure, it will only make us look like we’re hiding something.”
"That's right, and there's also this Ouyang Lianghan. Let's see if he's a dog protecting the sheep or a wolf trying to steal the meat!"
...
Deer Street.
The streets were packed with people, making it impossible to move.
Along the street, the mansions of several wealthy landowners, with their red walls and green tiles, were occasionally adorned with the curious peeks of young ladies and maids from their secluded chambers.
On the bustling and crowded street, a large open space stood in front of the county government office, and all eyes were now on this spot.
Besides the young county magistrate, the county magistrate's assistant, registrar, and county constable all arrived one after another to sit and listen.
The constables and clerks who had been sent out earlier also returned one by one with their men.
“My lord, Hu Ji Yingniang has been brought back. I found her in a guest courtyard of the Su residence.”
"Madam, the intermediary Luo Er and the owner of Yuanminglou, Boss Zhu, have been brought along."
Ouyang Rong's gaze swept over the rather familiar Hu woman, then turned to the latter two.
Luo Er was a chubby young man, wearing a turban and a round robe, with a timid expression;
Boss Zhu is a middle-aged man with the air of a Confucian businessman. Ouyang Rong had dealt with him once before when he held a fundraising banquet. Yuanming Tower is mainly run by this Boss Zhu, but it also has shares from several other wealthy merchants, including the Liu family.
The three entered and knelt down to pay their respects in the open space between Xie Lingjiang and Liu Zilin.
Ouyang Rong slammed his gavel on the table, silencing the entire room, and then began to speak:
"You're Luo Er?"
"Greetings, sir. I am the second son in my family, and everyone calls me Luo Er."
"Did you buy Yingniang, the Hu woman from Yuanming Tower, from Boss Zhu?"
"Reporting to you, sir, a few days ago I was entrusted by a noble person to buy Yingniang with a luminous pearl. Boss Zhu and the officials of the Market Bureau can testify to this," the chubby young man said respectfully.
“Your Excellency, Yingniang was indeed bought by Luo Er a few days ago. The market contract and the transaction pearl are all here.” Boss Zhu nodded and took the items out of his pocket.
"Bring it up."
"yes."
Yan Liulang took it and presented it to the magistrate's desk. The young magistrate glanced at it, then handed it to the older magistrate to verify its authenticity. He then announced loudly to those below:
"Luo Er, who is the benefactor who gave you the pearl and asked you to redeem people from Yuanming Tower? Is he here? You must tell the truth without any concealment. In court, every word will be used as evidence."
The young county magistrate had a cold and serious expression.
“Yes, right here.” Luo Er nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
Then the chubby young man timidly looked at Xie and Liu, who were standing to his left and right.
Liu Zilin stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the sky.
Xie Lingjiang turned around and frowned at the familiar, chubby young man. That day, the chubby young man had taken Yingniang and Boss Zhu to the Market Authority to redeem people, and she had been watching from a short distance away. Later, she was also the first to check the market voucher contract.
A profound silence fell, as if everyone in the room was holding their breath in anticipation.
Luo Er looked at Xie Lingjiang and pointed at her, whose expression had softened slightly.
The chubby young man nodded firmly and said:
“Your Excellency, I remember her. She is the one who robbed Master Liu of his concubine yesterday. I went to Yuanming Tower to redeem her on behalf of Master Liu. I had just finished the transfer procedures yesterday evening and had not been out of the city magistrate's office for long when this thief robbed me.”
The entire place erupted in noise.
The grain merchants and gentry watching exchanged glances, each with a different expression.
The sound waves from one end of the street to the other came in waves, as if they were real, causing Xie Lingjiang's delicate body to sway slightly as if she were about to lose her balance.
Liu Zilin smiled and glanced at a young county magistrate in front of him, only to see the latter staring at the case documents without saying a word.
Bang!
Another gavel fell.
"quiet!"
Ouyang Rong raised his eyes and continued to ask earnestly:
“Yingniang, you are the person involved. The Great Zhou Law does indeed stipulate that a slave must conceal the master’s secrets and not accuse the master. However, Luo Er is no longer your master. I only ask you, is what Luo Er said true? Were you forcibly taken away?”
Yingniang knelt on the ground, timidly raising her head with a hint of fear on her face. She glanced at Liu Zilin, who had his back to her, and Xie Lingjiang, who was staring back at her.
The latter's eyes held a hint of hope and encouragement.
Yingniang smacked her lips, hesitated for a long while, then lowered her head and banged her forehead heavily on the ground, murmuring, "I...I don't know, I don't know..."
Bang!
Ouyang Rong frowned, stood up, and slammed his hand on the table. "Do you know or not! Why so much evasiveness and childishness in court?"
Yingniang trembled with fright, and then she caught sight of Liu Zilin in front of her, who seemed about to turn around. She immediately burst into tears, wiping away her sobs as she wailed:
"That's right, Luo Er is right! I...I was kidnapped! She...she kidnapped me! I didn't want to go, but she dragged me away! Your Honor, you must do justice for me!"
The noise in the street suddenly became uncontrollable again.
The onlookers whispered among themselves.
But the Xie lady could no longer hear any of this; all she could hear was white noise, and suddenly the whole world seemed much quieter.
So that's how it was...
She was too ashamed to look at her senior brother anymore.
Xie Lingjiang turned her back to Ouyang Rong, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Not enough, she took another deep breath... and another deep breath...
She opened her slightly reddened eyes, raised her chin, and looked down at the kneeling, weeping Hu woman. She stated her story, word by word:
“Weaving abundance”.
"You cried to me about how you were constantly being looked down upon and bullied, and how you were worried about retaliation from the Liu family."
"It was your idea to have someone buy the goods first and then redeem the slave, so as to avoid the Liu family's attention."
"You recommended the agent Luo Er to me, and told me to entrust him with the only valuable things I had left."
"It was you who told me to pick you up at the City Management Office this evening, saying that Luo Er had rescinded your indenture and that you were now free to come with me..."
The woman surnamed Xie, who had been deceived from beginning to end, nodded calmly:
“I was wrong, I was really wrong, wrong in that I actually believed that everyone has a conscience.”
The next second she suddenly turned around and shouted to the entire audience:
"But I didn't steal anything! Because a person without conscience and shame is worthless, not even worthy of being called a thing!"
She was just silly; she picked it up.
The entire room fell silent.
A Hu woman lying on the ground trembled.
Behind the magistrate's desk, a young county magistrate silently gazed at the slender figure below.
He wasn't really that angry anymore; that's what a junior sister is like.
...
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
