Chapter 40, Overnight Interrogation

  The people in the ancestral home exchanged a look with each other, and after hearing Han Dang's words, they were already convinced of Deng Mao's suspicion.

  After a brief pause, Han Dang continued: "This thief Wang Zheng soon confessed that this matter was done by Deng Mao and a group of idle rascals from nearby towns. He was just an outsider who only helped with reconnaissance and cleanup, and did not participate in the horse theft on that day, and didn't know much about the specific situation. According to him, Deng Mao was one of the minor leaders of this horse theft case, and because they had made too big a stir recently, these people had long since fled and were nowhere to be found."

  "A furious uncle from the ancestral home slammed his hand on the table and scolded: 'You dare to offend the dignity of our ancestral home, you are simply looking for death!'"

  Others also whispered to each other, although most people had already guessed that this matter was related to Deng Mao, but at this moment, the conclusion was reached, and a belly of anger could not be stopped from surging up. As the head of a wealthy family, they would not allow some small thieves to offend them, and there were too many grievances that could no longer be tolerated.

  Zu Zhao did not show much excitement, as he had expected this to happen. His concerns were naturally different from others at this moment. With a serious expression, after a moment of contemplation, he finally spoke up and asked: "Brother Han, has the thief mentioned anything about this matter being related to the Taiping Sect?"

  Han slightly furrowed his brow and shook his head, saying: "This thief hasn't mentioned this matter. Han is not very knowledgeable, so he can only ask a key question. It's precisely because of this consideration that Han thought to bring this thief directly to the Young Master's residence, where later they can just use cold water to wake him up and then continue questioning."

  Zu Zhaixin smiled and said: "Still, Brother Han is considerate. He rushed overnight with this thief, it's really hard work."

  Han let it go and wrote lightly: "What's the point of mentioning it?"

  Zu Zhao said, "It's still early now, Brother Han, you can rest at the villa first. We'll discuss this further when it gets light outside. Alright?"

  As early as the backyard horse farm, Han Dang agreed to Zu Zhao's invitation to drink a cup of hot tea at his villa, simply because he anticipated that he still had a role to play in this matter. Now that Zu Zhao has almost openly expressed his attitude, he naturally would not have any excuses and directly agreed.

  Then, Zu Zhao ordered the servants waiting outside to first tidy up a side room and prepare some wine and food. He personally escorted Han Dang out of the side hall door and watched him leave along the corridor before returning to the main hall. Several uncles and cousins, including Zu Tan and Zu Ji, were still discussing in hushed tones, with many people's emotions stirred up, and some thought that they should inform Old Master Tai and Madame Chen as soon as possible.

  "Is this man reliable?" Zǔ Zhàn didn't know Hán Dāng, and after seeing Zǔ Zhāo return, he hastily asked again.

  "Don't worry, Han Yigong is a man of his word in this generation, he must keep his promise." Zu Zhao said without any doubt.

  "What should we do next?" asked Zu Yan again.

  "Didn't Ah Cheng and them come back yesterday?" Zu Zhao asked calmly, with an air of confidence.

  "No. I suppose they couldn't make it out of the city and stayed in Lingzhi County with Ah Zhong, Ah Bao and the others." said Zu Yan.

  Zu Zhao nodded slightly, but his mind was racing with thoughts. He couldn't help but feel that this world was indeed old-fashioned. He had thought that Han Dang, who was as elusive as a dragon's head and tail, would need to be slowly won over in the future, but he didn't expect him to have such a chivalrous heart, quietly taking care of things without a word. He also felt grateful that he had asked Hong Shu to help Han Dang's family, considering it a return favor.

  "Go, to the horse feed room." Adjusting his thoughts, Zu Zhao said resolutely.

  Everyone has no objection and hopes to get more clues as soon as possible and understand this matter as soon as possible.

  A group of people followed Zu Zhao out of the side hall and hurried to the backyard. When they arrived at the horse feed house in the backyard, the door was open, and several young men were guarding it tightly inside and outside. Wang Zheng was still unconscious, lying motionless on a pile of cold hay.

  "Go fetch a bucket of water." Zu Zhao instructed.

  Zu Ji didn't let the other children go, he rolled up his sleeves and personally went outside to fill a bucket with cold water. Returning to the horse feed room, after getting Zu Zhao's consent, he suddenly poured the entire bucket of water over Wang Zheng's head. Wang Zheng was suddenly stimulated, struggling and shouting as if he had just been pulled out of the mud like a loach.

  "Spare my life, spare my life, I don't know anything."

  Wang Zhengyi didn't take a good look at the situation around him, he just kept his head down and trembled with fear, struggling to get further away from the people around him.

  "You dare to shout again, try it!" A young man kicked Wang Zheng's foot fiercely and shouted loudly.

  Wang Zheng was originally short and had triangular eyes, which were now scrunched up into a ball, making him look like a large rat. He let out two painful yelps and was so scared that he didn't dare make another sound.

  Zu Chao took a step forward, looking down at Wang Zheng from a high position. The horse house was dark, with only the light from outside shining through the door and window, casting a special kind of majesty on him.

  "Before I ask you any questions, let me tell you the rules. This isn't a government office and we don't have much patience. If you can't answer one question, I'll cut off one of your fingers. Once your fingers are gone, then I'll start on your toes. You can take a moment to calculate how many chances you have."

  Zu Chao spoke in a slow tone, devoid of any emotional color, with a chilling coldness that seemed to come from the depths.

  Wang Zheng's face suddenly turned pale, his wet body trembling more and more violently. Even the surrounding ancestral family members were surprised by Zu Zhao's words, never expecting that the usually gentle and elegant young master would say such cruel things. Of course, they were surprised, but no one showed it too clearly, thinking that perhaps the young master was just trying to scare Wang Zheng with harsh words.

  "How many of you were involved in stealing the horse."

  "I'm just a small person, I really don't know... I'm just doing odd jobs... helping to gather information..."

  "Bring me a knife!" Zu Zhao ordered expressionlessly to those around him.

  Everyone was stunned for a moment, looking at each other in confusion. No one dared to confirm whether the young master was intentionally intimidating them or really wanted to use the knife. Before long, Zu Qi was the first to take action. Although he had doubts in his heart, he believed more in the young master's instructions. He quickly fetched a short knife from outside the house and handed it over to Zu Zhao.

  "Pinch his hand." Zu Zhao twisted the knife and said coldly.

  "Spare me, spare me... Oh my god... I'll say anything, I'll say anything." Wang Zheng was suddenly frightened by the shiny short knife and started crying out loud.

  Zu Zhao didn't stop and went on to pull Wang Zheng's fingers.

  "Forty-six people... no, forty-nine people, counting those few, forty-nine people..." Wang Zheng hastily called out.

  "Next time you dare to cheat me, I will cut off two of your fingers at once." Zu Zhao said coldly, his voice was like a soul-calling messenger that made people's hair stand on end. After he finished speaking, he fiercely inserted the short knife in front of Wang Zheng, and his skin could almost directly feel the chill of the blade.

  After this, the people in the scene more or less put down their minds. On the one hand, they no longer felt sympathy and pity for Wang Zheng, a treacherous person. On the other hand, they were even more certain that Zu Chao was just intentionally "making a show". Everyone couldn't help but admire the young master who could see through this villain at a glance.

  However, for Zu Zhao, he was not just making an empty threat. If Wang Zheng still refused to confess or really didn't know anything and couldn't answer, he would definitely cut off his fingers without hesitation. It could only be said that Wang Zheng's luck wasn't bad, as it turned out he knew a lot of inside information.

  "Yes, yes, I dare not hide anything again."

  "Who planned the horse robbery? But you specifically targeted my ancestral home?" asked Zu Zhao.

  "There were three people, but I only knew two of them. No, one person, and another person I didn't know what his name was, I just recognized his appearance. The person I knew was Deng Mao, he was one of the masterminds. The other person wasn't a local, judging from his accent, he wasn't even from Youzhou. Deng Mao said that person was someone specially sent by the great virtuous teacher of Jizhou to collaborate with them." Wang Zheng spoke incoherently due to tension.

  Zu Zhao exchanged a glance with several uncles, and most of the people present had serious expressions, but they were not too severe. As for others, there weren't many or few who had heard of the great virtuous teacher of Julu, but now that the Taiping Dao was making a big fuss, the reputation of the person who started it all was naturally spreading wildly. From this, it can be seen that the horse robbery case and the Taiping Dao are indeed directly related!

  If it is said that "Daxianliangshi" still has some ambiguity, then in history, there was only one Zhang Jiao from Julu who could be called "Daxianliangshi".

  Zu Zhaoming's heart was secretly hiding a excitement, for him this news is absolutely not bad news!

  "Go on."

  "Besides the two of them, there is another person. However, this person does not often appear, and I have only seen him a few times. Deng Mao also mentioned very little about him to me, just saying that he is a ruthless character with several formidable helpers by his side. That's all I know... Zujia, targeting Zujia? Zujia... which Zujia?" Wang Zheng was momentarily confused and mistakenly thought that Zu Chao's "Zujia" referred to the home of their ancestors.

  "Are you and Deng Mao both believers in the Taiping Way?" Zu Zhaohui asked, not daring to hide it, and then continued to ask.

  "No, no, Deng Mao is not a Taoist. However, he often associates with those Taoists on ordinary days. There's a Shengxian Law Master and a Fengxian Upper Master, two Taoists who usually live in the broken temple outside the city, and Deng Mao is very familiar with them." Wang Zheng hastily said.

  The names "Shengxian Fashi" and "Fengxian Shangshi" sound suspiciously like those of the Taiping Tao, but what's more, the ways in which people worship the Taiping Tao vary greatly from place to place. Among ordinary folk, there may be some who genuinely believe in and follow the teachings, but most are low-key and unassuming, diligently keeping to their own roles. Not only would they not take on such a showy title, but they would instead silently and sincerely help others. What's more, no one has ever officially conferred or recognized these titles of "Fashi" or "Shangshi".

  However, it can be said that those who can influence a group of people with such titles are obviously directly related to the leadership of the Taiping Tao. As Wang Zheng said, this horse robbery case was indeed entrusted by the great virtuous teacher to send his disciples to respond. From this, it is not difficult to infer that the Taiping Tao is indeed making a move.