Chapter 177 Too bold, too cruel
Shang Ruyi looked at him for a while and said, "You're quite stubborn."
"..."
"It's a pity that others are stubborn because they are innocent, but you are stubborn because you want to make excuses. Fine, I'll let you die knowing why, after all, I have two pieces of evidence in my hands."
Hearing her say that, everyone present was taken aback.
Aunt Hui quickly replied, "Yes, which two?"
Just as they were talking, Yuwen Ye subtly gave Mu Xian, who had already retreated to the side, a wink. Mu Xian understood and immediately and carefully withdrew. At the same time, Shang Ruyi said, "Actually, I am certain that he is the one who owns the Yue kiln cup because of the date on this list."
"date?"
Aunt Hui was shocked when she saw it, and Hu Hua's expression changed immediately.
Shang Ruyi said calmly, "On the day the Yue kiln cup was stolen, Chang Wan was locked in the woodshed, so the pawnshop matter was naturally none of her business. From that day on, only the people in your tea room would go out. At the same time, I had She'er order all the back doors and side doors of the Duke's mansion to be closed, allowing you to enter and exit only through the side door. Therefore, I remember the people who come and go very clearly."
"On the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, you carried the food box to Tinghelou to get tea and snacks; on the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, you also went; on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, it was Chen He; on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, it was Li Sande... Hu Hua, do I need to make it clearer?"
Hu Hua's face gradually lost its color, turning white inch by inch, almost starting from his neck.
He glanced at Shang Ruyi, then at Aunt Hui, and then at the Duke who remained impassive. His legs were trembling like the strings of a pipa, but he still insisted, "But even if I went out that day, how can you be sure that I took the things? There were so many guests coming and going. Maybe it was someone from another family—someone from another family?"
Shang Ruyi said, "We've come this far, and you still want to falsely accuse others?"
Hu Hua, with his neck stiff, said, "I, I am innocent."
Shang Ruyi shook her head in disappointment: "The word 'innocence' has been unjustly tarnished by your words."
After saying that, she sneered and said, "Actually, I only need to send someone to invite the clerk of the Dengfeng ship over so that he can recognize the person and that will settle the matter."
Hu Hua immediately showed a look of horror.
Shang Ruyi looked up at the sky outside and said, "However, it's already late and so cold, so we won't go far. Have you forgotten that even if you pawn the cup, you'll probably destroy the pawn ticket, but you won't destroy the money you get, will you?"
Hu Hua's face immediately turned pale.
Before he could argue, Mu Xian's heavy footsteps sounded outside again, this time even more urgent.
He strode in from outside, carrying a cloth bag in his hand, and placed the contents directly on the table: "Duke, Second Young Master, Young Madam, these are the things I just found in Hu Hua's room: a bag of thirty taels of silver, a string of cash, and some loose change."
Upon seeing the thirty taels of silver, Yuwen Yuan's face immediately darkened: "Hmph!"
This time, Hu Hua had no way to deny it. He was so frightened that he knelt down with a thud and kowtowed repeatedly to them: "Your Excellency, please forgive me this time!"
Yuwen Yuan ignored him, but Shang Ruyi coldly said, "Hu Hua, you're doing your job as a tea server, why do you have to steal? And steal it at the Madam's funeral, especially this Yue kiln cup that she left behind! And you're trying to frame Chang Wan, who serves the Madam. Are you just too bold or too heartless? Are you deliberately trying to make the Madam's spirit restless in heaven?!"
Upon hearing this, the expressions of some people in the dining hall changed drastically.
Yuwen Yuan roared, "Drag him away!"
Seeing that Mu Xian was about to circle around and grab him, Hu Hua was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, crying and begging for mercy: "Duke, spare my life! Young Madam, please spare me!"
While giving Mu Xian a meaningful look to slow down, Shang Ruyi coldly said, "I've made myself clear just now. If you confess now, it will be considered a surrender, and you can be kicked out of the manor. But if you steal something and then deny it, then you're determined to be a thief. Since you're a thief, you can't escape forty lashes. While you're being beaten, think carefully about whether you'll dare to steal again in the future!"
She deliberately emphasized the word "steal," her gaze fixed intently on Hu Hua.
Hu Hua panicked and hurriedly said, "Young Madam, I... I only took the things out, I didn't steal them!"
As soon as he said that, one person in the crowd panicked.
Uncle Gui stepped forward and said, "You, Hu Hua, are you still trying to make baseless accusations at a time like this?"
Upon seeing him step forward, Shang Ruyi's face revealed a disdainful sneer. Yuwen Yuan also frowned and looked at him. Uncle Gui suddenly came to his senses, but before he could react, Hu Hua wiped away the snot and tears on his face, turned his head and pointed at him, saying, "It's obvious that you embezzled the things, and were afraid that the young mistress would come to search, so you asked me to take the opportunity of going to Tinghe Tower to get some snacks to send the cup out and throw it away."
Then he turned to Shang Ruyi and said, "Young Madam, I swear to God, I really didn't steal it. It was Uncle Gui who stole it!"
Uncle Gui pointed at him with a ferocious expression and cursed angrily: "You're spouting nonsense!"
Hu Hua didn't argue with him further, but said to Shang Ruyi, "Young Madam, I really didn't steal it. I was just greedy. Uncle Gui took the cup and told me to take it out of the manor and throw it away, just don't let anyone in the manor see it. He even gave me a string of cash. I... I was really confused..."
Shang Ruyi glanced at the string of coins and the rest of the loose change in the cloth bag, then shook her head with a cold smile.
She looked up at Uncle Gui, who was clearly flustered, and said, "This cup has only passed through the hands of three people—you, Hu Hua, and Chang Wan. Now that Chang Wan has been proven innocent, her words are credible. Do you remember what Chang Wan said that day?"
"...!?"
Uncle Gui was taken aback.
Shang Ruyi sneered, "Chang Wan made it very clear that the cup was taken back and handed to you for inclusion in the register, but you insist that it didn't happen. This is obviously a lie. Compare this with Hu Hua's words, and the matter becomes very clear."
"..."
“You decided to frame Changwan from the beginning, so when the item was handed to you, you didn’t register it. When the truth came out, you heard that I was going to search the mansion for this cup. To protect yourself, you had to destroy the cup, but you couldn’t leave any trace in the mansion. So you had Hu Hua take the opportunity of going to Tinghe Tower to send the cup out of the mansion. That way, you could rest easy.”
At this point, she suddenly stopped talking.
Everyone in the dining hall felt a sudden pause in their breathing. Shang Ruyi turned to Yuwen Yuan and said, "Father, please decide how to handle this matter."
Yuwen Yuan's face was grim. He glanced coldly at the nobleman and said, "Throw him out of the mansion. Settle his wages in full, and from now on, he is not allowed to set foot near the Duke's mansion again!"
Uncle Gui knelt down with a thud: "Duke."
Yuwen Yuan seemed to have no desire to see him again, and got up and walked out. Shang Ruyi said to Aunt Hui without saying a word, "Aunt Hui, I'll have to trouble you with Uncle Gui's wages. And Hu Hua too, no need to call him anymore."
Aunt Hui showed no emotion on her face and respectfully said, "It is my duty."
After saying that, he walked up to Uncle Gui and said, "Come with me."
Uncle Gui shrank back, got up and followed her, and the rest of the people in the tea room also dispersed.
Shang Ruyi then pointed to the silver in the cloth bag on the table and said to Mu Xian, "Take this money and go to Dengfeng again to redeem the cup. Be careful not to break it."
Mu Xian put away the cloth bag: "Yes."
After saying that, he turned and walked out.
Only the three people at the dining table and Tushe'er remained in the dining hall, and the atmosphere suddenly became eerily quiet.
Yuwen Ye, who had been silent all along, suddenly said, "How can you be so sure he would take the cup to pawn? What if he's determined to throw it away?"
Shang Ruyi glanced back at him and said with a wry smile, "I'm gambling too."
"bet?"
“If we had enough people around that day, we would have sent someone out to follow him and catch him red-handed. But we didn’t have enough people, so we had to gamble. Actually, if the items had just disappeared, it could have been stolen by him, but since the theft was related to whether the money had been deposited into the accounts, then the only suspects were Changwan and Uncle Gui. I deliberately closed the back door and the side door, only letting the tea room staff go out and only letting them use the side door. I gave them a way out and forced them to deal with the cups.”
"Then what?"
"Then, Uncle Gui will be scared and will definitely try to get rid of the cup as soon as possible through this channel."
Yuwen Ye said, "I'll say it again, what if Hu Hua insists on throwing the things away?"
Shang Ruyi said, "He didn't steal the things, but he went to do the cleanup work. Obviously, someone offered him a huge reward. It's obvious that this person is greedy. How could a greedy person not be tempted by such a huge profit?"
Yuwen Ye asked, "You mean, that cup?"
Shang Ruyi nodded: "I deliberately mentioned that the cup could be pawned for dozens of taels of silver at any pawnshop. How could he not be tempted? Even if Hu Hua wasn't the one who disposed of the cup, he would understand who had it after I said that."
"……Um."
"Then, I gave him an extra string of cash."
"What does this mean?"
“If a person has never tasted good things, good things cannot tempt him. He must taste the sweetness before he will be willing to destroy something valuable. He has received so much money from me and from the people who asked him to do things. He will not only not be satisfied, but will become more insatiable. This is the nature of a greedy person.”
"..."
"In that case, I was certain that he would find a place to pawn that Yue kiln cup."
"..."
Yuwen Ye looked at her, remaining silent.
However, perhaps because of the flickering candlelight across from him, his eyes gleamed.
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