Manager Feng, after all, is just a county merchant. If he doesnāt have backing, he wouldnāt dare to strike hard against the Gu Family.
"Is your relative an official? A mere lowly merchant, what kind of relative could be an official?" Gu Jināan laughed, then his face turned cold, and he ordered Qiu Lang, "The Feng guy impersonating an officialās relative is a grave crime. Keep beating him. If we beat him to death, it would be a merit for our Gu Family!"
"Yes." Qiu Lang understood Gu Jināanās intention, which was to beat Manager Feng harshly but only make him feel extreme pain without causing any real harm.
But Manager Feng didnāt understand this. When the pain on his body grew worse, he thought he would die and shouted at the top of his voice to survive: "The Assistant Judge Jia of Tongāan Prefecture is my relative, a close blood relative. If you kill me, he wonāt let you off!"
Manager Feng nearly tore his throat, and after shouting this, he collapsed from exhaustion.
Gu Jināan frowned and looked at the other people present.
Chai Sanfuās mother, his elder brother, a person dressed as a steward, and four people in government official uniforms were all here, but their hands and feet were bound, and their mouths were blocked, so they couldnāt speak.
"You, tell me, what kind of relative is Manager Feng to Assistant Judge Jia?" Gu Jināan pointed at Chai Sanfuās brother and said, "Tell me, and I can let you go."
Manager Feng has a concubine who is a Chai Family woman, and the daughter is close to her grandmother. Originally, Chai Sanfuās mother should be asked, but old lady Chai looks tricky, and asking her would give her a chance to entangle, so Gu Jināan asked Chai Dafu.
Chai Dafuās eyes lit up after listening, and he made muffled sounds toward Gu Jināan.
Qiu Lang stepped forward, removed the cloth gag from his mouth, and Chai Dafu immediately said, "You will really let me go? You didnāt lie to me?!"
With a swish, Qiu Lang drew a dagger and pressed it against Chai Dafuās neck: "The Young Master is a scholar, he keeps his word and disdains to deceive you, stop with the nonsense, tell us everything you know."
"Donāt, donāt slash my neck, Iāll talk, Iāll say everything!" Chai Dafu was trembling as he spoke: "My family said that in August this year, Manager Feng was suddenly very happy one day, and held a large family banquet, even letting the concubine sit at the table. She was curious, wondering what great event Manager Feng encountered? It took her more than half a month to secretly find out that Manager Feng had a grandson born in Tongāan Prefecture."
Grandson?
Gu Jināan frowned, suddenly recalling a piece of gossip he heard at Young Master Douās place.
It was said that the Assistant Judge Jia of Tongāan Prefecture had got a Jiangnan beauty, doted on her a lot, and in August, that beauty gave birth to a son. Assistant Judge Jia wanted to record that illegitimate son under his legitimate wifeās name, but his legitimate wife didnāt agree and made a big fuss.
It seems the beauty who gave birth to the son is Manager Fengās daughter.
Ha, Manager Feng is something, having a family in Jiangnan, sowing seeds everywhere, using his beautiful daughter to climb into high-class circles.
And Young Master Dou is in a big business, needing to know a lot about the officialās information, so as long as itās an official of a certain rank, Young Master Dou always has someone keep an eye on it, thus knowing about this news.
"Mmph!" Old lady Chai, seeing her son easily reveal everything he knew, was very anxious, making muffled sounds at Gu Jināan, her eyes glaring, looking as if she wanted to eat Gu Jināan.
Gu Jināan laughed and had Qiu Lang remove the cloth gag from old lady Chaiās mouth to hear what she wanted to say.
"You mud-legged Gu bastard, my Sanfu died in your house, compensate ten thousand taels of silver, without ten thousand taels, this old lady will go to the Capital to file an Imperial Petition, wipe out your entire family!" Old lady Chai was fierce, and as soon as she could speak, she ignored the Feng Family, immediately demanding ten thousand taels.
Gu Jināan laughed coldly and said, "It was your Chai Sanfu who sought death! But since you care so much about Chai Sanfu, I might as well be kind and let you reunite with your son."
Old lady Chai, who prays three times before a meal to God, was terrified at these words, her face turning white, her teeth clattering nervously: "You, what do you mean... San, Sanfu isnāt dead?"
Gu Jināan smiled warmly: "King Yama saw your Chai Sanfu being filial, so he let him come up to take you for a reunion."
"Take, take me!" Old lady Chai was about to go crazy, shouting: "No, no, I donāt need to, let Sanfu be reborn first, Iāll leave a few years later, then be his granddaughter."
"Thatās not for you to decide." Gu Jināan called Ah Duo from outside, and Ah Duo brought Chai Sanfu in.
Although Chai Sanfu narrowly escaped death, he was still greatly weakened by the poison, looking worn out, face pale with a greenish tint, eyes swollen, eye sockets dark, almost like a ghost. Upon seeing old lady Chai, he was tearful: "Mother, my dear mother, I thought Iād never see you again in this life!"
"Ghost!" Old lady Chai screamed, her eyes rolling back, and fainted.
Watching this, Gu Jināan said disdainfully: "So easily scared, Chai Sanfu didnāt die, their poison was already cured."
Having said that, he looked at Manager Feng and said: "Manager Feng, wake up, stop pretending, your scheme failed, Chai Sanfu and the others arenāt dead, even if you have the Chai family and the waitersā families report to the authorities and raise a ruckus, my family will be fine."
Manager Feng wanted to kill Chai Sanfu and the others, intending to make a scene at the workshop and house. If someone died there, even if the Gu Family wasnāt ultimately responsible, they would still suffer.
Manager Feng was shocked. He used the most potent poison, which should have been lethal upon consumption. How could Chai Sanfu survive? Could it be he discovered the poison was swapped and defected to the Gu Family?
Manager Feng couldnāt pretend any longer, opened his eyes, and made one last effort: "Good Brother An, this is a misunderstanding. I didnāt have Chai Sanfu poison the others... I brought him because his sister is my concubine, that wretch wanted Chai Sanfu to gain some insight, so she begged me to bring him to the wedding feast, Iām innocent... mmph!"
Before he could finish, Gu Jināan stuffed his mouth with a cloth gag.
Gu Jināan looked down at Manager Feng and said, "All in this room are witnesses, the poison is physical evidence, the evidence is irrefutable, thereās no need for you to waste words."
Then he turned to the ones dressed as government officials and said: "Do you know impersonating government people is a capital offense? If you donāt want to die, point out Manager Feng as the mastermind, and Iāll plead with Lord Magistrate to spare you."
Those people were shocked, not expecting Gu Jināan to see through their impersonation, they were frightened and regretful, seeing Gu Jināan wasnāt even afraid of Manager Feng, or Assistant Judge Jia, and seemed intent on escalating to the Prefecture, they were completely scared, quickly nodding and willing to identify Manager Feng.
But the person dressed as a steward wasnāt as easy to deal with, intending to attack when Gu Jināan removed the cloth to take their statements.
However, Luo Wu approached him calmly saying: "Clerk Wang, it doesnāt matter if you lost your post in Hukang County, but donāt throw your life away."
Clerk Wang was shocked, surprised that his identity was discovered!
Luo Wu hadnāt spent years as a squad leader for nothing and had connections with officials in several nearby counties, so he recognized Clerk Wang.