Proofread by Fu Tianying
Several guards put Ma Lian into a sack nimbly, pressed his head and then threw the tightened sack into the river no matter how he struggled.
Wu Zhong was shocked and stunned. It took a while for him to recover. He ran over immediately to stop them, but Ma Lian was thrown into the river earlier. He didn"t expect Ma Tian"en was so vicious that she chose to abuse illegal punishment.
"Get him up right now. How dare you kill a person casually! We"d better send him to the government, or we will be accused." Wu Zhong cannot swim, so he did nothing but worry about it.
While Ma Tian"en burst out laughing when she saw Wu Zhong"s anxiety. Then Wu Zhong noticed as she made a gesture that there was a rope in a guard"s hand when Ma Lian was thrown into the water. Up the rope came the sack with Ma Lian in it after a moment. It turned out that a rope connected the seal of the sack and the hand of a guard.
Ma Lian appeared wet all through as the sack was torn open. He was almost scared to death and flatted on the ground weak and limp. They all grew up by the water, so they were clear that he would be scared rather than drowned.
Ma Tian"en came over and kicked Ma Lian: "Anything else? I don"t like a dead dog. If you cannot think of anything, just go back into the water to calm down, and then something may come to your mind."
"I recollect it! I remember it! Steward Tian asked me to make those people guarding the outer door drunk tomorrow night because he wanted to change a few boxes of goods." Ma Lian revealed everything he knew, daring not to play tricks.
The granary of Ma Family has two kind of doors: the outer door and the storeroom door. Uncle the Fifth and Ma Chaosheng keep the keys of the storeroom door while the outer door is guarded by people in turn. As usual, each time the goods arrive at the wharf, special people will check and accept them, and then those goods will be sent to the granary and cla.s.sified into various storerooms. But the workers refused to send the goods to the storerooms after throwing them into the yard because of the haunting ghost. People were so anxious and worried that many goods had not been checked and sent to the storerooms. Considering that there were still several days before the delivery, Ma Family intended to check those goods after solving the issue of the haunting ghost. It seemed that the real goal of the ghosts was on the goods.
"Those goods are glutinous rice, which have been checked by me, but not been sent into the storerooms. It is not worth it that they have done so much just for a few boxes of rice." Uncle the Fifth was confused. Though sold, that could not pay what they gave to Ma Lian, let alone ask someone to pretend a ghost.
"That depends on what they want to put in." said Wu Zhong thoughtfully. With so many efforts for such arrangements, they must not end up stealing a few boxes of rice. It seems that the things they want to put in matter much.
"Yes, if they want to change a few boxes, they must put in some other things. They must want to frame Ma Family!" Ma Tian"en also realized it.
Wu Zhong nodded. It seems that they want to play a big game. First, they faked a ghost to sway the mind of people, and then they put in the things for framing. The next step should be reporting to the government.
Now that we know their plan, it will be easier to solve the following issues. Ma Lian cannot be killed because he was needed to cooperate for the play tomorrow.
"Tomorrow, you just guide them to the inner yard as usual, which will make amends for your fault. Then I will not blame you for what you did before. But if you dare to play tricks, I will throw you into the river to feed the fish, do you understand?" Ma Tian"en kicked Ma Lian with dislike, and Ma Lian said yes and yes.
"Should we tell Lord Ma?" Wu Zhong felt it better to inform Ma Chaosheng since such a serious thing happened.
"No, no need. We can tell him for a surprise after we deal with such a trifle." Ma Tian"en denied immediately as Wu Zhong proposed it. She thought it a rare chance to prove herself, but if she told her father, he would worry about her safety. Then she could do nothing but watch as his father would send people to tackle the accident, which will be disappointing.
"I also think that we should inform Lord Ma in case there are mistakes tomorrow." said Uncle the Fifth without confidence.
"I have said, no need. There will not be too many people if they come to put in something, so we can just catch them. In our place, what is worth worrying? Just tell my father that nothing has been found as we go back later. It will be an honor to tell him after we catch the ghost tomorrow." Said Ma Tian"en without any care. Seeing that she insisted, Wu Zhong and Uncle the Fifth gave up the thought to persuade her. But what she said was reasonable. In Ma Family"s place, no matter how bold they are, they can just do something furtively. As there will be no other trouble, it will be a good opportunity for Ma Tian"en to improve her fame if she can solve it perfectly.
The next night, Ma Lian took a jug of liquor and a roasted chicken to drink with two guards of the outer door in a small room.
"Ma Lian, why are you so generous to treat us to drink today?" Said Ma Da, one of the guards.
"I bought the liquor because I won some money. Thinking of that it has no fun to drink myself, I want to treat you two brothers for your care. You lent money to me, right, Ma Da?" Ma Lian had already compiled an excuse, so he answered smoothly.
"You can be called a man of conscience. Ah, I am worried all the time as I have been tossed by the haunting ghost. It"s good to drink for courage." As he said, Ma Da took over the cup from Ma Lian who quickly handed another cup to the other guard. The three drank together happily.
After a few cups of liquor, Ma Da and the other guard fell in a faint and fell into sleep. Ma Lian couldn"t help but feel that Master Ma really had talent in tricks. It took effect immediately as he put the knockout drops in the cup! Otherwise, it would be harder to make them drunk as he thought at the beginning.
Seeing that the two fell down, Ma Lian got out of the room and found that it was a dark and quiet night, which was a good chance to do something bad. Ma Lian made some mews, and then a few people came out pus.h.i.+ng a cart respectively with a box on it, who were followed by a person with nothing in hand. They walked towards Ma Lian.
"Hurry up! There is someone on duty in turns later. You must not be caught." groaned Ma Lian.
Ma Lian opened the outer door to let them push the carts into the yard. Those who followed them picked a few boxes in the yard, which were exchanged with the ones on the carts.
Ma Lian could not recognize the two people, which was acceptable because Tian Family dared not to send local people to the place of Ma Family in case they confessed their ident.i.ty as they were caught. Just as Wu Zhong thought, those people were brought out from the family by Hu Chunqiu, who are reliable because their families were controlled by Hu Chunqiu, so once they were caught, they could do nothing but bear the responsibility themselves without any possibility of betrayal.
They left the granary pus.h.i.+ng the carts as they finished changing what they wanted. Ma Tian"en and several guards followed them to find out where they were going. Wu Zhong knows nothing about Kungfu, so he stayed at home tonight. But he enjoined Ma Tian"en not to take risks, which was equal to asking a cat not to eat fish; in other words, it is useless.
They followed them to find that those guys were going towards the head dam of Tian Family. "Shall we continue?" Asked Uncle the Fifth in a whisper.
"Sure, look at where they put the things, and then we can go there to query why they have the mark of Ma Family printed on boxes. At that time, we can accuse Tian Family of stealing."
Each family has its own mark due to various wharves charged by different families. The boxes sent to the granary of Ma Family were imprinted the mark of Ma Family.
Unconsciously, Ma Tian"en followed them to a small forest. They seemed to be tired and stopped, so Ma Tian"en and her guards also stopped. After crossing the woods, it is the head dam of Tian Family.
Ma Tian"en dared not to follow them too close, so they just watched those people at some distance. Seeing that they were getting up after a short rest, Ma Tian"en urged her guards to follow them.
Then those people turned around and walked towards Ma Tian"en. Ma Tian"en was seized by a bad feeling as she thought that they should not be so bold to come back with just four people.
Sure enough, a burst of laughter came.
"Ma Tian"en, it is time for you. How about my strategy to catch a rat in the hole? Wonderful, right?"