The rumor circulated wildly and it said that Aunt Yue"s disappearance seemed to be connected with the esteemed guest. However, they didn"t dare to confirm whether the kidnapper was truly the esteemed guest. Without beating around the bush, Hong Wen interrogated the servants and maidservants inside the Crescent Lake one by one --- he even used reward and heavy punishment to make them talk.
Too bad that they really didn"t remember who talked about it first, but they seemed to recall that someone had mentioned that there was something in the study room where the esteemed guest was currently staying. That "something" was the proof that made the servant who spread the news came up with such a conclusion.
"What kind of thing?" Hong Wen asked curiously. He felt happy when he finally found a lead for the evidence.
"This servant also doesn"t know for sure but this servant heard that it has the same symbol as the gate..." The servant answered while trembling fear. That was really the only thing that Ah Zhao and Zhuo Li told the others. They wanted to make it more mysterious, so Hong Wen would believe it even more.
If they told them directly that it was a jade pendant, people would feel suspicious. After all, it would be hard to break into the esteemed guest"s place. How could they know for sure?
Hong Wen even resorted to harsh punishment just for the sake of information --- thus, everyone was scared of him and of course, hated him. Because of this, Hong Wen knew that no one would dare to lie to him, so the information should be accurate. Even if they hated him, so what of it? They were just lowly servants and they meant nothing to him.
The servants compared him with Uncle Qiu and realized how kind the latter was... even though the latter was also from the capital, he never abused his position.
Hong Wen had never seen the symbol before and he needed to take a lot at the so-called gate. Before the servant could say anything, Hong Wen had already gone ahead. When Hong Wen came over to the gate along with his advisor, he was dumbfounded because there was a hole in the middle of the gate where the symbol was supposed to be placed. Hong Wen asked about it and the servant explained everything in details.
Hong Wen could only ask each servant whether they remembered the symbol or not. How could he find the evidence if he didn"t know how it looked like ah~?! If someone was able to give him the picture in details, hHong Wen would reward them with twenty silver taels. Thus, in less than half s.h.i.+chen, he already got a good and detail picture of the symbol.
Hong Wen smirked and quickly went to the esteemed guest"s courtyard. The advisor wanted to tell him to be polite but he was already gone in a flash. Thus, he could only follow Hong Wen from behind while grumbling. Sooner or later, Hong Wen would be dead without knowing the reason.
Hong Wen didn"t even politely ask permission to enter Bai Bing Wen"s courtyard or show any courtesy, instead, he yelled loudly, "Open the door for this official!" He tried to show off his power without thinking further about the esteemed guest"s prestige.
The esteemed guest"s subordinates felt angry because of Hong Wen"s arrogant behavior. No matter what, even the Han Emperor needed to show some degrees of respect their master and yet, this lowly official dared to behave arrogantly like this!
"Who are you?!" One of the esteemed guest"s guards asked. He didn"t even try to give Hong Wen a face which made the latter angrier.
"How dare you questioning me?! You are only a lowly guard and yet, you dare to be impolite to this official!" Hong Wen pointed at the guard angrily.
"Naturally, this one is the esteemed guest"s subordinates. Surely you already knew that before you came here, right?" The guard mocked Hong Wen which made his fellow guards laughing. They treated Hong Wen like an ant.
"You... you!" Hong Wen yelled while pointing at the guard angrily. The advisor tried to make him calm by tugging his sleeve as a reminder. However, Hong Wen had been blinded by his anger and he couldn"t think straightly. He called his subordinates and said, "People... come! Drag this guard away and give him a beating for offending me!"
"Yes, sir!" Some of Hong Wen"s subordinates already came out and wanted to seize the guard.
Bai Bing Wen"s subordinates" face darkened, knowing that they had met an unreasonable official. Even though they could be called as ordinary in Bai Bing Wen"s eyes, they were still far more powerful than Hong Wen"s subordinates. They quickly pulled out their swords without any hesitancy.
"Who dares to come?!" The leader yelled menacingly.
Seeing their fierce expression, Hong Wen"s subordinates didn"t dare to move and s.h.i.+vered in fear.
"Are you trying to rebel?" Hong Wen asked while squinting his eyes in displeasure.
Bai Bing Wen"s subordinates looked at him and feeling that this man was really an idiot. "We are not from your kingdom... how come you accuse us of rebelling?"
"Yes! Remember! We are from another kingdom... by attacking us, do you want to start a war?" One of Bai Bing Wen"s guards cleverly asked.
Hong Wen froze on the spot. How could he forget about it? He was too excited because he wanted to gain merit and he became hasty. Yes, it was because of his own greediness. Hong Wen glanced at his advisor who looked at him blamingly and flinched. He knew that he had done something wrong.
Before he could say anything, a man came out of the door and asked in annoyance, "What is going on here?"
Hong Wen saw a beautiful man who shamelessly wore a bright red color came out --- it was in contrast with his snow-white skin. The former was blinded by the man"s beauty and couldn"t help but ask, "Who are you?"
Bai Bing Wen furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Hong Wen with concealed disgust. He knew about his own handsomeness but it was disgusting to be looked at like that by a man --- and an ugly one! However, Bai Bing Wen wasn"t stupid and he understood his position in this kingdom.He didn"t want to make troubles for himself.
Bai Bing Wen answered, "This one is the esteemed guest, Bai Bing Wen. Why are you here?" Bai Bing Wen sneered inwardly. If he was in his own kingdom, he would already beat this man to death!
Hong Wen cleared his throat and felt lucky that Bai Bing Wen suddenly appeared, at least, he was able to get away from his embarra.s.sment. He gave a signal so that his followers could go back. Seeing this, Bai Bing Wen"s subordinates naturally also drew their swords back without being told by their master.
"Da Ren, this one just wants to talk to Da Ren about something and see if Da Ren could cooperate with us," Hong Wen said politely. He could offend the subordinates, but not the esteemed guest himself.
Bai Bing Wen raised one of his eyebrows and asked, "What kind of important matter that made you behave so unruly? Don"t you have any manners?"
Hong Wen felt ashamed and a bit guilty, but he didn"t let it show on his face. He smiled amiably and asked, "It"s just a misunderstanding. How could I do that? Can we talk inside?" He tried to save his face by asking to speak alone with Bai Bing Wen.
Bai Bing Wen"s subordinates sneered when he heard what Hong Wen had just said. This man couldn"t be more two-faced, he could even tell such a blatant lie in front of them. Shameless! Really really shameless!