It is always not easy to wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep. Li Hao thought about what he said. Gu Tingye was afraid that he might not be able to hear it. He thought it would be most appropriate for two people to talk about it, one was Sheng Changbai and the other was Grandma Chang.
Let Li Hao choose between these two people. Who can Li Hao choose? Of course, the only choice was Sheng Changbai. Li Hao and Grandma Chang didn't know each other, so they talked about this for no reason. I'm afraid people thought Li Hao was planning something.
So after being released from office, Li Hao came to Sheng Mansion to find Sheng Changbai. This time Li Hao didn't go anywhere else because he had something to do, and went directly to Sheng Changbai's yard.
After seeing Sheng Changbai, he said, "There is something about Gu Tingye that I want to tell you."
After hearing this, Sheng Changbai was very confused and said, "Just go and talk to him about Zhong Huai's matter. Why are you coming to me?"
After hearing this, Li Hao looked around and pretended to be very hesitant and embarrassed to speak.
Seeing this, Sheng Changbai ordered his servants: "You all go out to the yard and watch and don't let anyone in."
After all the servants had left, he said, "What happened to Zhong Huai? Please tell me quickly."
Li Hao pretended to hesitate for a moment and then said: "The main thing is this. It has to do with the outer room where he raised his family. This...this..."
After hearing this, Sheng Changbai asked in a low voice: "Could it be that you bumped into her and stole someone?"
After hearing this, Li Hao clapped his hands and said, "You guessed it, so I'll tell you."
"Speak quickly." Sheng Changbai said.
Li Hao said: "It's like this. It turns out that I accidentally bumped into Gu Tingye's wife's private meeting with a man on the road. At that time, I was thinking that she, a foreign wife who had just come to Bianjing, could meet someone in Bianjing, so I I followed them and saw the two people sneaking into a house. I guessed that she had stolen someone, but I originally thought she was just a concubine in Bianjing, so I thought of letting someone steal her. Just find out the details of that man and then hand it over to Gu Tingye for disposal together."
"But after an investigation, it was found that the man was not from the border, and that he returned to Bianjing from Jiangzhou with Gu Tingye and the others, just a few days apart. Moreover, since the man arrived in Bianjing, he has had nothing to do. He often goes in and out of casinos. The money spent in the casino and daily expenses are all given to him by the outer room. It doesn't look like they have just been together. I don't know how long they have been hanging out. It's a pity that Jiangzhou is there. I can’t find out the news, otherwise it would be clear.”
After hearing this, Sheng Changbai said in a solemn tone: "You mean they have been together as early as Jiangzhou, and even knew each other before Zhong Huai."
After hearing this, Li Hao understood that Sheng Changbai had taken the bait, so he said, "I can't tell this clearly, so you know why I didn't tell Gu Tingye."
After hearing this, Sheng Changbai nodded and said, "You are right. If this is really the case, what will Zhong Huai's two children say? You must not make a hasty decision on this matter, let alone let others know, otherwise there will be endless disasters." After a pause, he asked again: "Cousin, what do you think now?"
Hearing what Sheng Changbai was asking now, Li Hao said: "I just came to see my cousin because I had no idea. I thought that after all, my cousin is the most familiar with Gu Tingye, so maybe there is something I can do."
After finishing speaking, Li Hao looked at Sheng Changbai and fell into silence. Sheng Changbai also looked at Li Hao at this time. Their eyes met but no one was talking, and the courtyard fell into silence for a moment.
After a while, Sheng Changbai said: "This matter cannot be hidden from Zhong Huai no matter what, but before telling Zhong Huai, we must first capture the man and ask about the situation before talking about anything else. Do you know where that man is now. "
Li Hao replied: "I asked my subordinates to keep an eye on him at all times, and he can be questioned at any time. And the excuse is ready. How Gu Tingye's belongings fell into his hands, I'm afraid he can't explain."
Sheng Changbai said: "Well, without further ado, let's tie him up now and let's go and question him. But we can't go to Kaifeng Mansion for this matter, and it's not convenient for us to come here."
Li Hao then said: "Take him directly to my place. Anyway, there is no one there right now, so I can ask questions."
After hearing this, Sheng Changbai said yes, then pulled Li Hao and walked out.
After leaving Sheng Mansion, Li Hao immediately asked Fu Deng to inform the people watching, find an opportunity to tie up the person, and take him directly to his house. Then he and Sheng Changbai returned home and waited for someone to arrive.
Li Hao and Sheng Changbai returned to Li Mansion. After a while, they saw a man being carried in from the back door. He was tightly tied with a rope. The rope in his hand was connected to the rope on his feet. The whole person was forced to curl up, his eyes He was covered with a black cloth, and his mouth was stuffed tightly with a piece of cloth, and he struggled to put it in front of the two of them.
This made Li Hao think that this was the correct way to tie someone up. It wasn't like in a costume drama, where they only tied them twice. It felt like they couldn't afford the rope.
After seeing the people arriving, Li Hao first asked all the government officials of the Military Patrol Court to retire, and ordered his servants to place food and wine in the courtyard so that they could eat and drink outside and not leave for the time being.
Then he called in the servant who had signed the death contract, and then said: "Take the cloth from his mouth, or ask more questions."
After taking out the cloth from his mouth, he heard Brother Zhu Maniang say: "Hero, spare your life, hero, spare your life. I don't know what you guys want to do by tying me here. If you want money, no matter how much, I will collect it and give it to you. Please let me live."
Hearing this, Li Hao was a little surprised as to why this guy thought they were robbers, so he called Fu Deng over to ask about the specific situation. Fu Deng said in a low voice: "He just came out of the casino and walked into the alley when he was kidnapped by the inspection department's yamen. He was wearing casual clothes at the time and no one revealed his identity, so this guy may have thought we kidnapped him. I came here to ask for money.”
After hearing this, Li Hao told Sheng Changbai the situation. At this time, Zhu Maniang's brother listened to the whispers outside, but no one paid attention to him. He thought they were discussing how to deal with him, and he panicked. He said: "Everyone, I have a sister who is working as a concubine for the legitimate son of Marquis Ningyuan. You can't kill me, otherwise I will definitely be traced. Why don't I give you money, a lot of money, and let me go?" , I haven’t seen your appearance anyway, so you don’t have to be afraid of my revenge.”
As soon as these words came out, Sheng Changbai's face changed and he whispered to Li Hao: "I heard Zhong Huai say that Zhu Manniang had an elder brother, but he was dead. Zhong Huai said he buried it with his own hands. Do you think this is what happened."
After hearing this, Li Hao replied: "There are only two possibilities, either the person in front of me is lying, or Gu Tingye was deceived by Zhu Manniang. If you want to know the truth, just ask this person."
So Li Hao asked aloud: "How do you prove that what you said is true? I don't believe that you, a poor person, can get into the Ningyuan House and serve as a concubine for the legitimate son of the House. Why don't you just say I'm serving as a surrogate for the Marquis, you think I'm so easy to fool, it seems you have to fight for it."
Zhu Manniang's brother quickly explained: "Brothers, I really didn't lie to you. My sister's name is Zhu Manniang. She was brought here from Jiangzhou by Gu Tingye. She now lives in Xiaotianshui Lane. Just send someone to have a look. You will know. In addition, where I live there is also the title deed of the farm shop that Gu Tingye gave to my sister. You can also send someone to take a look, and then you will know that I am not lying."
After hearing this, Li Hao said: "I will definitely send someone to look at it, but I also think that if what you said is true, then I can't let you go. Otherwise, what if you let Ningyuan Houfu send someone to arrest us?" Come on, little people like us can't break the Ningyuan Marquis's thighs, so why don't we kill you? If you don't see your body alive or dead, it will be easy for everyone, what do you think?"
After Zhu Maniang's brother heard this, he was so frightened that he almost wet his pants and said with a cry: "I definitely don't dare, and it's useless even if I want to. He tried all his means to get my sister to get into Gu Tingye's way. He thought I was It’s impossible for me to tell him that he’s already dead, and neither will my sister.”
After hearing this, Li Hao said: "But only you know the truth or falsehood of what you said, and we don't know. If you deliberately deceive and want to retaliate later, the lives of dozens of our brothers cannot depend on your words, so How about you die reluctantly? The knife is very fast and you won’t feel uncomfortable. This way everyone will be relaxed, do you agree?”
"No, no. Please give me a way out. I will do whatever you ask me to do. I just ask you to let me go." Brother Zhu Maniang shouted at the top of his lungs.
Seeing that Zhu Maniang's brother was so frightened, Li Hao pulled Sheng Changbai aside and said, "Looking at his behavior, I don't think he dared to tell lies. Zhu Maniang probably really deceived Gu Tingye."
After hearing this, Sheng Changbai was silent for a while and said, "Then tell me what to do next."
Li Hao replied: "Since it was Gu Tingye's concubine who deceived him, what we say may not work. Why not call him here and listen to what this person has to say personally. As for how to deal with it, let Gu Tingye decide for himself."
After hearing this, Sheng Changbai said, "Then please help my cousin watch here while I go find Gu Tingye." He stood up as he spoke.
Seeing this, Li Hao reminded again: "We can't let Zhu Manniang know about this now. Judging from her deep intentions, if she knew it in advance, no one knows what she would do."
After hearing this, Sheng Changbai replied: "I understand, I will find another excuse to call Zhong Huai." After saying that, he was about to leave, but before leaving, he suddenly said: "My cousin's trial method today is really disappointing to me." I was shocked."
After hearing this, Li Hao said: "After all, I am an official in Kaifeng Mansion, so I have learned a little bit, but this is nothing. When it comes to judging cases, the senior officials in Kaifeng Mansion are really good."
After Sheng Changbai heard this, he left directly to find Gu Tingye without commenting.
