webnovelfull Chapter 2066: Trial and then killing
Chapter 2066: Trial and then killing
Su Zhenhai stood on the stone steps in front of the mansion gate, watching his men escort Scarface and his group into the western side courtyard. As he turned around, his voice was as deep as tempered iron: "Keep an eye on them. Don't let anyone get close."
The leading guard bowed in response. Su Zhenhai didn't give any further instructions and walked towards Huo Changhe's yard.
As he walked through the corridor, he could hear curses coming from the side courtyard. The scarred man's rough voice mixed with the sound of tables and chairs colliding. He sneered but did not stop.
Huo Changhe sat on the main chair, holding half a cup of tea between his fingers. Yan Ruyu stood by the window, feeding the mynah bird. When they saw Su Zhenhai come in, they both looked up at the same time.
Su Zhenhai walked into the room and stood still: "Your Highness, everyone is locked up in the west courtyard and someone is watching them."
Huo Changhe nodded. "Liu Jiulang has already sent someone here. He said that keeping Scarface alive would only cause trouble, and he wanted him to take his head and report back."
Su Zhenhai frowned. "Liu Jiulang wants to silence me? What the prince means is..."
Huo Changhe's voice was as cold as water: "Let him kill."
Su Zhenhai looked at him, and Huo Changhe put down his teacup: "Liu Jiulang is suspicious. If the silver ingot goes back empty-handed and he says Scarface is dead, he will never believe it."
"So, we have to let Yinding take something substantial back." Huo Changhe's tone was steady, yet revealed an unquestionable majesty. "I will personally interrogate Scarface and find out what he wants, and then let Yinding take action.
When the time comes, he will bring Scarface's head back, and Liu Jiulang will believe it - after all, dead people won't speak, and won't cause trouble again."
Su Zhenhai's eyes lit up, and he understood instantly: "Yes! I'll arrange it right away. Find a secluded yard, move Scarface there, and guard it strictly. Don't even a fly want to fly in."
Huo Changhe nodded: "The sooner the better. No outsiders can be present when he is being interrogated."
Su Zhenhai replied "I understand" and turned to walk out.
In less than half an hour, he sent someone to report that the east wing had been cleaned up and guards were deployed all around, all of whom were his trusted confidants.
When Huo Changhe and Yan Ruyu rushed to the east wing, they heard cursing from inside as soon as they entered the courtyard.
Scarface was tied to a pillar in the yard, the rope around him was tied very tightly, and the wooden bench at his feet was kicked halfway. His hoarse voice was full of anger: "Liu Jiulang, you bastard! No one in the Liu family is a good person. Don't let me get away, or I'll kill you first!"
Huo Changhe stopped and interrupted him coldly: "Are you done scolding?"
Scarface turned around and saw Huo Changhe and Yan Ruyu. His eyes were alert at first, then filled with anger. "Who are you? Where's Su Zhenhai? Let him come out! I want to talk to him!"
Huo Changhe took two steps forward and stood a few steps away from him, his eyes fixed on the hideous scar on his face. "Enough of your scolding, now let's talk about what happened between you and Liu Balang."
Scarface's expression froze, his mouth closed, and his eyes flickered. "I don't know what you're talking about. What could possibly be going on between him and me?"
"Don't know?" Yan Ruyu walked out from behind Huo Changhe, a sneer on her lips, and raised her hand to pat twice.
Two secret guards quickly walked in from outside the courtyard gate. They carried a heavy sack together and placed it in front of Scarface with a "dong" sound.
The mouth of the sack was not tied tightly, revealing the food inside. The words "military rations" written in black ink on the side of the sack were clearly visible in the sunlight.
Scarface's body straightened up suddenly, his drooping shoulders tensed up, and he stared at the bag of grain as if he had seen a ghost: "This... this is..."
Yan Ruyu bent down and gently brushed her fingers over the words on the bag: "You said you don't know? Then look at this, do you know now?
You are so bold that you robbed the military rations and didn't even change the bags.
Do you think no one dares to investigate, or do you think you have done it perfectly?"
Scarface's forehead was covered in sweat, and his voice was trembling: "This...where did you get it from?"
Yan Ruyu didn't answer, but just stood up and looked at him with a smile.
Scarface stared at the bag of grain, and suddenly seemed to remember something, his eyes widened: "It's you! You stole the warehouse!"
But as soon as he finished speaking, he shook his head again, his eyes full of doubt: "No... There's not only food in the warehouse, but also so much wine and valuables. How could there be so much noise without any sound? No matter how powerful they are, they can't transport everything away silently..."
He muttered to himself, and suddenly looked up at Huo Changhe and Yan Ruyu, with a hint of fear in his eyes: "Who are you?"
Huo Changhe had been silent until this moment when he slowly spoke. His voice was not loud, but it was like a blade, cutting through the silence in the courtyard: "Prince of Zhennan, Huo Changhe."
Scarface's mouth opened wide, the blood color on his face drained away in an instant, and he didn't even have the strength to curse. He just stared at Huo Changhe.
The three secret guards used the moonlight to watch the two guards leaning against a pillar, their heads nodding, and their heavy breathing could be heard from a distance of several feet.
The three of them floated down like three willow leaves, and when they landed on the ground, not even a blade of grass was disturbed.
One of them lowered his voice and glanced at the wooden house not far away: "That should be the wooden house that the prince mentioned."
The other person nodded and pointed to the east: "Use that as the direction, look east first."
The three of them walked close to the wall. When they passed a wooden house, they first touched the door to make sure it was not bolted, then gently pushed it open a crack. There was no light in the house, only moonlight filtering through the window paper, illuminating the wooden boxes stacked on the shelves.
"I'll look for another place, you two can look after the box."
One person quietly assigned tasks and went to the desk first.
The drawer was not locked. He flipped through it twice and found a stack of papers. He twisted the pages with his fingertips and flipped them over. They were covered with dense handwriting and many red circled annotations. It was the account book.
A wooden box has been opened here, and there are some small change and copper coins inside.
"That's all?"
The same thing happened in the other box.
The secret guard rolled up the account book and stuffed it into his arms. He walked over to the box and took a look. "Look again. We have to check all these rooms."
The three of them checked the two rooms next door and found the same thing as the first one, all of which were scattered coins and valuables.
"Go to his study and take a look."
Scarface's study is at the innermost part of the water fort and is larger than the other rooms.
When I opened the door, I smelled cigarette smoke and a hint of alcohol.
The three of them divided the work and checked the bookshelf, desk, and cabinet in the corner.
The bookshelf was filled with miscellaneous books, nothing special; in the desk drawer there were only pens, ink and a few pieces of unused paper; Amu turned the cabinet upside down and only found a few old clothes.
"How about we retreat first? We've found the account books, so that's a bit of a gain."
The leading secret guard didn't say anything. He stared at the wall next to the bookshelf and felt something was wrong.
This wall looked like any other wall, but when he touched the bookshelf just now, he accidentally touched the wall and it felt a little softer than the other walls.
"Come and take a look at this wall." He stretched out his hand and knocked on the wall. There was a solid muffled sound when he knocked on the left side, but when he knocked on the middle part, the sound suddenly became hollow.
"There's a problem! Is this empty?"