Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 54: Forced Confession
Old Gu came out of the small dark room. Outside was a dark small hall with a broken table and a pot of wine on it. Wu Chengjian was sitting there, drinking the wine while cracking some peanuts.
"He's really stubborn!" said Lao Gu. "He let out a few words, got so scared that he peed his pants, and still insisted that he was innocent."
"It's definitely not an injustice," Wu Chengjian poured a glass of wine for Old Gu, "but if he lets out one truthful sentence, then there will be a hundred, a thousand more, all of which will be poured out like beans. So you have to hold on to this first sentence."
Lao Gu drank the wine and said, "Let's torture him!"
Wu Chengjian laughed and said, "How can this be! Our Wu family is a legitimate business family. Today I asked Uncle Gu to invite Third Uncle Hou to come and have a chat in this old ancestral hall. Your way of asking him is not quite right. You said that I am the acting head of Yihe Bank and I have something to discuss with the Third Shopkeeper. It is reasonable to keep him for a few days. But if you resort to lynching, what will happen?"
"Get lost!" Lao Gu said, "What means will I use? Can you imagine it? Let me do the dirty work. I don't want to bear the dirty name at all."
"Uncle Gu, you are wronging me by saying that." Wu Chengjian smiled and said with a mean look on his face: "I am not as bad as you say."
"I originally thought you were just a bit bad, but today I know that you are full of bad intentions. You set up a trap at home and even hid it from my father and sister-in-law. What else can't you do?" Old Gu said, "In fact, you have guessed those things yourself. Why are you asking him? Are you really going to write a confession for him to sign and send him to court?"
"Why send him to court?" Wu Chengjian said, "I just want him to tell the truth. First, we use what we know to make sure he is telling the truth, and then ask him the second truth we know, and then ask the third, fourth, and fifth. If a person tells too many lies, he will easily lie all the time. If he tells the truth too many times, he will probably tell the truth habitually. In the end, we will embed the two questions we really want to know into the many questions."
Lao Gu asked: "Which two questions?"
Wu Chengjian said, "The first question is, who sold the Huizhou tea line, Du Tieshou or Hu Pulin? The second question..." He lowered his voice and whispered in Lao Gu's ear, "Who brought that batch of our tea into the warehouse? Was it Cai or Xie?"
Lao Gu's eyes suddenly lit up: "Where did you get the information? I was the one who went to Huizhou, I didn't even know anything about it."
"No news." Wu Chengjian said with a smile, "It's just a wild guess. But I think it's about 80% right. The remaining one or two depends on whether we can pry open the mouth of Shopkeeper Hou San."
Lao Gu couldn't sit still any longer: "I'll go in and torture you right now!"
"No, you can't use torture!" Wu Chengjian stopped them.
"How can he speak honestly without torture?"
"Yes, yes." Wu Chengjian said, "Let's ask him carefully, slowly, and repeatedly, and he will definitely tell us."
Lao Gu cursed: "If I hadn't seen you doing bad things with my own eyes this time, I would have scolded you for being too soft-hearted. But now I know that you are not a good person either!"
"Anyway, we'll keep asking." Wu Chengjian said with a smile, "Give him the food and soup as usual, but just don't let him fall asleep."
Lao Gu was about to curse, but then he suddenly remembered something and blurted out, "So that's how it is...Haha, you kid, you're so cruel!"
After throwing the shopkeeper Hou San to Lao Gu, Wu Chengjian went back home. As soon as he entered the house, he was stopped by Wu Liu: "Third Master."
Wu Chengjian smiled and asked, "Has Nanhai County been sentenced?"
In order to shut up Galulu, Wu Guoying actually sent Wu Liu to the Nanhai County government office.
"What's the verdict? Do you have to bring such a small matter to the attention of the master?" Wu Liu said, "I just entered the yamen, and Xiao Qi arrived right before me. He complained to Secretary Jiang, and then he signed a note and let me go."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "This is a good job. It's hard for Jiang Xingshu to still give our Wu family some face at this time."
As he spoke, he walked towards the left courtyard. Wu Liu stopped him and said, "Third Master, the eldest young lady wants to see you."
Wu Chengjian said, "I have come a long way, I will go back and take a shower first, then I will go see my sister-in-law later."
Wu Liu said, "No, the eldest young lady said that you have to go see him when you come back, and she will drag you there no matter what." He was really ready to come up and hug Wu Chengjian.
Wu Chengjian shouted, "Enough, enough! Enough! Can't I go?"
Everyone in Xiguan knew that he had a good relationship with his brother, and he also had a very close relationship with his sister-in-law. He would usually stroll around the Right Courtyard whether he had anything to do or not. But today, he made excuses and took a long time to get to the Right Courtyard.
This time he set up a trap, laying out three lines in Yihe Bank and five lines at home, hiding it from everyone, even Wu Guoying and Cai Qiaozhuo. This led to the appearance of shopkeeper Hou San. This matter was understandable, but once it was revealed, he would inevitably be scolded by the old man and the eldest sister-in-law. So he wanted to avoid Cai Qiaozhuo when he returned home this time, but he didn't expect that he still couldn't avoid it.
Cai Qiaozhu was sitting under the pear tree that was saved by Wu Chengjian. When she saw Wu Chengjian coming in, her face looked very bad. Lian Qiao gave him a good look and quickly took the servants out.
Wu Chengjian stepped forward and said with a smirk, "Hello, sister-in-law." He looked at the pear tree and sighed, "Although it is not the flowering season now, the autumn branches of the big tree also have a unique charm. Fortunately, I stopped the person that day, otherwise our Wu family mansion would have lost a scene."
"Don't talk nonsense to me." Cai Qiaozhu said angrily: "Have you been suspicious of Shopkeeper Hou San from the beginning? Or do you suspect me too?"
Cai Qiaozhu was the head of the household after all. Although she realized the matter later than Grandpa Wu, things happened one after another. Afterwards, she put together various clues and thought carefully, and she discovered the trick.
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "I don't doubt Hou San, I doubt everyone - of course, except father and sister-in-law."
"If I really did exclude you, why didn't you tell me anything beforehand?" Cai Qiaozhu's eyes suddenly turned red: "You obviously don't believe me!"
Wu Chengjian was anxious: "It's unfair! It's unfair! If I, Wu San, had really doubted my sister-in-law, I would have called..."
He raised his finger and was about to swear to the sky, but before he could say anything, Cai Qiaozhu stuffed a handkerchief into his mouth and shouted, "Shut up! Don't say anything unlucky!"
Wu Chengjian pulled back his handkerchief and said, "I have never doubted my sister-in-law, so I am not afraid of any oath, no matter how cruel it is."
After hearing this, Cai Qiaozhu's heart softened and she said, "It's not that I don't believe you, but why didn't you let me know when you realized it?"
Wu Chengjian said, "Someone has set a trap for our Wu family this time. The tea incident in Huizhou is just one of them. I don't know what else happened. Some of them are top secret in our Wu family, and only a few people know about them. But the news still leaked out. It shows that there is not only a traitor in the family or the industry, but also that this traitor is very meticulous and can see the big picture from the small details. If I pass the news to you first, he might find out the flaw. It's better to hide it from the beginning. You don't know I'm setting up a trap, so naturally there will be no flaws to find."
Cai Qiaozhu lowered her head and thought about it. She also felt that what Wu Chengjian said made sense, but she still said bitterly: "After all, you still don't believe me."
Wu Chengjian cried out, "I didn't! How could I not trust my sister-in-law? You are closer to me than my own sister. If I had a wife, I would doubt my wife but not my sister-in-law."
Cai Qiaozhu spat at him: "You're trying to trick me again! Who would believe your rumors?"
Wu Chengjian laughed slyly, "Really, really."
Cai Qiaozhu sneered, "When your wife is married, tell her in front of her, and I will believe you."
Wu Chengjian begged for mercy: "Oh, sister-in-law, please forgive me. Anyway, this time will not happen again. I will never dare to do it again. Never again."
Cai Qiaozhu snorted, still with a tense face, but Wu Chengjian, who grew up with her, knew that she actually had no grudges, but was just feeling blocked in her chest, so he opened the fan and fanned her.
"Go away!" Cai Qiaozhu said, "You can set up any trap, but you shouldn't use light to cross the bridge."
Wu Chengjun smiled and said, "We have to use Guang'er to cross the bridge. This will make the story real enough and even the traitor won't think of it. Besides, I've already calculated that Guang'er won't lose any meat. He'll just take a carriage out for a spin."
"You, didn't you see that...what was the name of that Manchu slave?"
"Galoo."
"Yes, gah!" Cai Qiaozhu said, "What if he frightens the children with his ferocious appearance?"
Wu Chengjian said with a smile: "If he was three or five years old, it would be fine. But Guang'er is almost ten years old now. It's time for him to see the tigers, leopards, jackals and wolves outside. When I was his age, I had seen the Guangzhou general, let alone a Manchu slave."
"What are they similar to?" Cai Qiaozhu said, "Although we are all descendants of the master, you are precocious. Even the master of Guangxiao Temple said that our Haoguan is a spiritual root of wisdom brought from the previous life, which is incomparable."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Thank you, sister-in-law, for the compliment."
Seeing that he was being shameless again, Cai Qiaozhu pulled back her handkerchief and slapped him in the face: "The master also said that Guang'er needs to go through training, and I think it makes sense, but the current situation is not ordinary. Although Guang'er has returned safely, it will be difficult to send him away again... Unless, unless you, Haoguan, are really sure to turn the tide."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, " I'm not sure I can turn the tide yet, but I've already made arrangements to send Guang'er away."
Cai Qiaozhu exclaimed: "After this incident, the outsiders will definitely keep a closer eye on us. How can we send people away?"
"Don't worry, sister-in-law." Wu Chengjian said, "If I really want to send someone away, let alone just sending Guang'er away, even if it's for our entire family to settle down in England or France, I can do it."
