Proofread by Fu Tianying
Two people wrapped in black cloth were pushed out in the night. Torn off the black cloth, they were shrouded in red with long hair falling loosely—they were just the two female ghosts in the granary.
"Childe Hu, help us!" One of the ghosts shouted to Hu Chunqiu.
"Are you mad? I do not even know who you are." Hu Chunqiu did not expect Wu Zhong could catch the two ghosts so quickly and brought them over here.
"Hu Chunqiu, do you wanna turn your back on us? Do not forget that we have your token." Having already antic.i.p.ated Hu"s betrayal, the other ghost shouted angrily.
Ma Tian"en did not expect that Wu Zhong caught those two ghosts in such a big warehouse in such a short time. That was not the right time to ask him, however. He should set aside the interests and be patient to see what Wu would do. It became a matter of even greater urgency that Wu Zhong had to push Hu to admit the guilt.
"Don"t you remember the gold leaf? How about the gold leaf which was found on the ghost. It was the tribute that Burma paid to the Emperor if my memory does not fail me. You may get it from your uncle, right? Giving the royal gift away at will and using it to hire someone to disturb the water transport are really big crimes. Governor, please render fair judgment."
Hu did receive the gold leaf from his uncle. Once caught playing ghosts in the granary, the two martial arts masters would receive harsh punishment. They were not willing to take a risk. Thus Hu persuaded them by using the gold leaf as a guarantee. If something was wrong, his uncle would try to protect them since the gold leaf was royal gift. How could he expect Wu Zhong would find it out?
Though the gold leaf was kept as evidence, it could not speak as human.
"This was the royal gift that my uncle kept in my house. It suddenly disappeared a while ago. You guys stole it! Governor Liu, I am innocent. The gold leaf has disappeared one month ago. It was stolen by them to frame me. Thank Heaven it is found now or I will be beaten to death by my uncle." Hu Chunqiu was determined to deny everything, so he made a false countercharge.
"You are right. These two stole the gold leaf and then played ghosts to rattle people. Come on, take them..." Liu Ping was interrupted by Wu Zhong before he finished.
"Governor, I still have evidence." Wu Zhong took out one piece of paper and spread it in front of people. It was clearly written on the paper that two men were hired to play ghosts with one hundred taels paid in advance and another one hundred taels after it was done. Hu Chunqiu"s signature was clearly at the bottom.
"It is a forgery." Hu Chunqiu jumped to s.n.a.t.c.h it but was interrupted.
"Just compare the handwriting of the paper with the handwriting of Childe Hu. We will know it in court tomorrow." Wu Zhong said. He put away the paper rather than give it to Governor Liu.
"Governor, we already have human testimony and material evidence. I beg you to uphold the justice!" Then Wu Zhong bowed to Governor Liu respectfully.
With so many witnesses and much evidence, Governor Liu could not cover up the evil deeds of Childe Hu.
"Get them! And take them to the government office!" Governor Liu gave orders that Hu Chunqiu and others be sent to the office at once.
Hu Chunqiu was greatly mortified and wanted to fight against. Being a scholar, however, how could he free himself from strong government runner?
"Wu Zhong, you want to set me up. But you know, you"ll pay a price!"
Ignoring all Hu"s complaints, Wu Zhong respectfully sent the Governor off and returned to Ma family.
It was already at midnight but the lights in the study of Tian family were still on. Tian Ronghua drank tea absentmindedly with eyebrows furrowed. According to the plan, someone should have been sent by Hu Chunqiu to tell him good news. Even Ma Tian"en escaped, and there should be some news. Maybe, something was going wrong.
At that time, the door of study was pushed open and the housekeeper of Tian family rushed in, "Master, Childe Hu got into trouble!"
"What"s wrong? Tell me fast." Tian Ronghua shot up like a spring and realized that something had gone wrong.
"We have been tipped off that Childe Hu and two men who played ghosts were all sent to the government office. It is said that Ma family has found the evidence to accuse Childe Hu of instigating two men to play ghosts. The two cases of smuggled salt that framed Ma"s were also impounded. Master, will Childe Hu rat us out? I found Ma Lian and we gave them salt..." In the dim light stood the housekeeper, dripping with sweat. He ran back in a hurry for he was fearful. After all, Tian family had powerful relatives in office but Tian family was only influential in local. If anything was wrong, Tian family would take the blame.
Tian Ronghua sighed deeply. In fact, he already thought about results of failure at the very start, so all people were found by Hu Chunqiu except Ma Lian who was arranged by the housekeeper. In case of trouble, the housekeeper would be the only one in Tian family to take the blame. However, the housekeeper knew a lot of Tian family for being here for quite a long time. Once he was caught, what he would say may get Tian family involved.
"Do not worry too much. Childe Hu is mostly responsible for that. We just help Ma Lian clear his debt off. They lack the evidence to accuse us. You are sweaty. Take a break." Tian Ronghua gestured to let him sit down but the housekeeper refused in a hurry for fear of disregard to Tian.
"You have been here for over thirty years. We grew up together. I see you as my brother and you are my servant in name only. Take it easy; I will protect you as long as I am here. Actually, you just follow my order. If something went wrong, I will be the one to blame." Picking up the teapot, Tian Ronghua poured out a cup of tea and gave it to the butler.
"Have some tea. It"s getting late. You can go back after drinking. Tomorrow I will inquire about the details in the government office. We will give some money to Ma family if we have to."
Seeing Tian Ronghua so calm, the housekeeper felt comforted by his master"s words, draining the cup quickly.
"Master, if Tian family gets involved, I will take all the blame without implicating you and the whole Tian family."
"Do not say that. You are a part of our family. How could we abandon you? Just take a rest. Everything will be fine." Tian Ronghua patted the housekeeper on the shoulder. Then the housekeeper left, greatly moved.
After the housekeeper left and the door had been closed for a long time, Tian Ronghua stood there still, motionless.
Having been on the go all night, everyone in Ma family was so exhausted that they all went back to take a rest. But Ma Tian"en was so energized. Drawing Wu Zhong to his room, he asked him how he managed to catch those two ghosts.
Wu Zhong did not beat about the bush and said with a smile, "It"s easy. I just wait for them to get out."
"Ah, why are they so obedient?"
In fact, Wu Zhong did not go to the granary with Ma Tian"en. He felt uneasy, thinking about it over and over again. In the end, he told everything to Ma Chaosheng. The moment he heard it, Ma Chaosheng called together all people in Ma family and some from Datong gang. Li Dafu sent all people he could find to help Ma Tian"en. Thus, over a hundred people were a.s.sembled to a.s.sist Ma family. Then, some followed Wu Zhong to find Ma Tian"en. Meanwhile, Ma Chaosheng went to ask Governor Liu to come to the scene. As regards the two ghosts, Wu Zhong caught them by a trick. He opened the door and let some people kindle wet firewood. With burning firewood sending up clouds of smoke, the granary was full of people who ran around and screamed fire at the same time. The two ghosts believed. Since there were a lot of people in the granary, the two ghosts planned to get away while in a mess. No sooner had they got out of the granary than they were caught.
Though Wu Zhong said all those things with understatement, Ma Tian"en could feel how tense and anxious Wu was at that time. He felt so moved and said, "Teacher, you are so kind to me."
Ma Tian"en said so sincerely that it made Wu Zhong feel somewhat embarra.s.sed.
"Well, Teacher, why would Hu be so stupid to write a note?"
"Well, I wrote it."
"Ah, teacher, how could you imitate Hu Chunqiu"s handwriting? That"s not the point, right? The key point should be how I could frame others." Wu Zhong began to doubt his instruction of Ma Tian"en when he saw Ma stare at him with deep admiration.
"I have seen it and I remember it."
"Teacher, I will learn how to imitate handwriting of others, such as my father"s. Then I could draw cash anytime!"
"Teacher, please do not go now...Wait..."