Chapter 10 of Volume 1: The Bamboo Garden Thief (Part 2)

  After drinking enough wine and eating enough food, Xu Wuyan elegantly wiped his mouth, then looked at Zhu Mo who had almost finished eating, slowly stood up, walked around the table in a circle, and finally stopped beside Xu Qingli, reaching out to pat the 16 or 17-year-old Xu Qingli.

  Xu Qingli was startled and quickly stood up, looking at Xu Wuyan who was calm and composed. She lowered her head and didn't speak, her legs trembling as she looked to her side for help from her cousin.

  "What do you want to do? This is the residence of Duke Jun, and you can't be reckless here!" The oily-faced man stood up with a loud noise, pointing at Xu Wuyan, took a few steps back, and shouted loudly.

  Xu Wuyan glanced at the talking man and continued looking at Xu Qingli, "Fourth sister, where did this noisy man come from?"

  "I... my cousin... Cousin Aiwanchi!" Xu Qingli stuttered, it seems that this little girl has never received any love since childhood! She is the fourth miss of the Jun Guo Gong Fu, but she is not allowed to attend many occasions and has to mix with these people. Chu Jieyu, you are really ruthless!

  "Terminal cancer?" Xu Wu Yan deliberately repeated, then stared at the pale green youth standing beside him, timid and afraid of trouble, weak and despicable, not taking responsibility, hiding until the last moment, indeed no better than a person with terminal cancer.

  "What about this one?" Xu Wuyan stretched out his hand and pointed, everyone stood up and moved to one side, except for the woman sitting on the other side of Xu Qingli, who remained seated and unmoving, asking in a cold voice.

  "It's... Queen Mother!"

  "I am Wang Shi, a distant cousin of Qi Guizhen! What instructions does Third Miss have for me?" That Wang Shi didn't even glance at Xu Wuyan, and her words were even more arrogant, as if Qi Guizhen was the mistress of this mansion, and even a distant relative of a servant dared to be so presumptuous!

  "Crash!" A white porcelain plate shattered on Wang's head, "Ahh! Murder!" Wang let out a mournful wail, blood flowed down from the top of his head, spreading across that plump face.

  Xu Wuyan then threw the handkerchief he had wiped his hands with to the ground, the entire movement as smooth as flowing clouds and water, elegant to the extreme! "Zhu Mo, throw down five pieces of silver! Four pieces are for compensation for this porcelain plate, one piece is for stopping the bleeding!"

  Just as Xu's words fell, "Clang!" Five pieces of silver were thrown in front of Wang.

  "Alright! Now it's time to settle the accounts you owe me!" Xu Wuyan's mouth curled up slightly as he walked around, looking at the people standing in a row. Except for Xu Qingli, the others were basically not decent masters. It was also pitiful for Xu Qingli, whose mother was a concubine and came from a brothel, making Xu Qingli's status even lower and her situation more miserable; A beautiful woman, but unfortunately a thief!

  "The Bamboo Garden has lost 204 items, all of which were personally sent by Princess Jing! Each item is worth a thousand gold coins! Calculating this way, the total amount stolen from the Bamboo Garden reaches tens of millions of taels!" Xu Wuyan looked at the row of people in front of him, except for the weak and incompetent master, there were only slaves who relied on their power to bully others. "You'd better say something, such a large sum of stolen silver, according to our imperial law, what crime should we be convicted of?"

  "You...you'd better not spout nonsense here! What does the theft in Bamboo Garden have to do with us?" Ai Wanqi pointed at Xu Wuyan, who was struggling to sit up, and said, "Madam, let me tell you, Xu Wuyan is just a poor orphan girl, there's nothing to be afraid of."

  "Oh?" Xu Wuyan looked at Ai Wanting, his forehead covered in sweat, his eyes darting back and forth, his mind unsettled. He wanted to believe he was innocent, but there was no chance of that. "Zhu Mo, bring out the jade pendant that belongs to Prince Jing!"

  Zhu Mo held the jade pendant that Chu Han had given to Xu Wuyan as a token, and walked in front of the group of people, "You really are reckless, even daring to steal the things of King Jing!" Zhu Mo looked at those people with disdain and annoyance.

  They were already apprehensive about Xu Wuyan, and after seeing the jade pendant, they became even more fearful. That was something that belonged to King Jing, after all! Stealing imperial property would be a capital offense! The crowd felt their legs turn weak and almost collapsed to the ground!

  "I've just looked at the Tianhuang dynasty's laws, and it says that if someone steals over 100 taels of silver, they'll be hanged; over 1,000 taels and they'll be beheaded on the spot. If it's 10,000 taels or more, then it's beheading on the spot, confiscation of property, and imprisonment of the entire family. And this is tens of thousands of taels we're talking about, plus it's imperial property... I'm afraid it'll be a case of lingchi execution, with the whole family being implicated!" Xu Wuyan raised his voice slightly and walked over to Xu Qingli, speaking in a low tone, "Lingchi execution means using sharp blades to slice off pieces of your flesh, one by one, until you've been cut 108 times before you're allowed to die."

  Xu Qingli fell to the ground with a thud, "Sister, spare my life! I dare not, I will never dare again!" Xu Qingli knocked her head repeatedly, begging for mercy in a continuous and pitiful manner.

  "Third Miss! We dare not anymore! Third Miss, please spare us!" The remaining people also hurriedly knelt on the ground to beg for mercy, except for Ai Wanqi and Wang Shi.

  Xu Wuyan walked slowly to Ai Wanjie's side, "When did this Jun Guo Gong Fu ever get someone like you in here!" Although Ai Wanjie was wearing a silk long shirt, it was wrinkled and roughly made. As soon as he moved, a strong, pungent scent of rouge wafted out, and with his crooked eight-shaped eyebrows and thin, dry lips, it wasn't hard to tell that this person had a lustful nature and often indulged in debauchery.

  "You! You're nothing but a useless burden!..." Ai Wanjie hadn't finished speaking when Zhu Mo slapped him hard, "You dog! How dare you insult Miss! Are you tired of living?!" Zhu Mo spat and scolded loudly.

  Xu Wuyan looked at the others, "You all heard him, he insulted Jun Guo Gong! I am here by imperial order to live in Jun Guo Gong's mansion, and Jun Guo Gong is also a person who obeys the sacred teachings; now he insults me, saying that Miss has no one to teach her manners, so doesn't that mean that my emperor and Jun Guo Gong are no different from beasts in his eyes?"

  Xu Wuyan's face turned stern as he glared at Ai Wanting, "How dare you, insolent fool! You actually dared to insult His Majesty!" His words were severe and his tone was icy.

  Bamboo looked at the stunned row of people and said sternly, "Such a lawless person, don't you take action to teach him a lesson?" "Such a scoundrel, you are treated with kindness by the Duke's mansion every day, but you allow him to insult and humiliate, it seems that you are all in cahoots; tomorrow I will report to the Duke and deal with you people impartially!"

  Everyone who heard Zhu Mo's words was in an uproar, thinking of their wives and children at home, or their parents, they couldn't care about anything else anymore. One by one, they went forward to beat Ai Wanqi, and because of Ai Wanqi's usual evil behavior, everyone beat him with even more ferocity!

  Ai Wanqi was shocked by Xu Wuyan's words and even thought she had slandered Jun Guogong and the Emperor, so she didn't dare say anything else, and could only shout for help.

  "Alright! Stop!" Seeing that Evan was almost beaten up, Xu Wuyan intervened and walked towards Xu Qingli who was kneeling on the ground with a frightened expression, and Wang Shi who was standing aside with her head down.

  She probably thought that her backstage was Qi Guifei, the lady's personal maid, and knew that the lady didn't get along with Xu Wuyan, so she was sure that Xu Wuyan wouldn't dare to do anything to her, so she dared to treat Xu Wuyan's words as if they were air.

  Xu Wuyan stomped his foot on Wang Shi's knee, and Wang Shi couldn't bear the pain and knelt down to the ground. "You're just a slave, how dare you show off in front of your master? No matter what, Fourth Sister is the real mistress of this mansion; she's kneeling, but you're standing, what a big nerve you have! Are you saying that Wang Shi has become the master of this Jun Guo Gong Fu at some point, and even the madam has to kowtow to you when she sees you?"

  "I dare not!" Wang said in a stifled tone, holding back her breath.

  "How dare you?" Xu Wuyan gave a signal to Zhu Mo, coldly asking back; Zhu Mo stepped forward and grabbed Wang Shi's collar, "Slap!" Another loud slap was given! Then with a sudden push, Wang Shi's body swayed, and a red cloth package fell from Wang Shi's arms. Wang Shi hurried to pick it up, but Zhu Mo quickly snatched the red cloth package.

  "Miss! These are your accessories!" Zhu Mo opened the red cloth, and inside were all the accessories sent by King Jing for Xu Wuyan.

  "Both the culprit and the gain are obtained!" Xu Wu Yan coldly glanced at Wang Shi, who had fallen to the ground, and also at Xu Qing Li, whose soul had already fled in terror, and dully spat out these few words.

  "A den of thieves! Starting tomorrow, the Minister of Justice will come, and you'll all be locked up in prison! Hmph!" Bamboo looked at them with extreme disgust and said indignantly.

  "Third Miss! Spare our lives! Third Miss, spare our lives!" The crowd rushed to kowtow to Xu Wuyan, begging for mercy.

  "Third sister! Spare me! I'll never dare again!" Xu Qingli crawled to Xu Wuyan's side, tugging at her hem with utmost sorrow and pleading.

  "I didn't want to make things difficult for you! I just want to know who instructed you this time?" Xu Wuyan asked sternly, looking at the crowd of people kneeling on the ground. Although he had heard what they said earlier, it was still better to confirm it personally!

  Those who were still kowtowing and begging for mercy just now, as soon as they heard Xu Wuyan's words, they all shut up; both sides are masters, neither can afford to offend the other!

  "Alright! You don't want to talk, then wait for the government to take you away for questioning!" Xu Wuyan was impatient and threw out a sentence before turning around to leave.

  "Sister! I'm telling you!" Qingli pleaded, tugging on Wu Yan's hem. Wu Yan turned around to look at Qingli, who was kneeling on the ground with tears streaming down her face. It was truly pitiful to be born in an era where the difference between legitimate and illegitimate children was so great!

  "Yes... it's the mistress, it's what the mistress has us do!"

  Xu Qingli nodded in agreement, and the others hastily followed suit, acknowledging that it was Chu Jieyu's idea. Xu Wuyan's eyes grew even colder; this Chu Jieyu was indeed ruthless, able to wreak havoc without even showing her face!

  "Alright! I won't pursue this matter any further. Here are two confessions, as long as each of you signs them and returns the stolen goods tomorrow, I'll consider this incident never happened!"

  Zhu Mo took two copies of the indictment, along with the red seal mud, and walked to the front of those people, letting them one by one press their handprints. At first, everyone was hesitant, but Xu Qingli looked at Xu Wuyan's serious face and pressed her handprint first, followed by others who also pressed their own handprints one after another.

  Xu Wuyan took a look at the handprint on the confession, confirmed one was missing and handed it back to Zhu Mo. He looked at the others, "This matter ends here, I won't pursue you further. By tomorrow, I want to see all the stolen goods from Bamboo Garden! Otherwise, the big prison is still open for you!" Xu Wuyan said, then turned around and left in big strides.

  Zhu Mo looked at the group of people who were scared out of their wits and secretly ridiculed them in his heart. The dignified wife of the Jun Guo Gong had instructed such a group of people to steal things from her own mansion, it was truly laughable!

  It just so happened that this group of people encountered Xu Wuyan, who was so intelligent and clever, and everything was settled with just a few words. It seems that the young lady is indeed a match made in heaven for the king.