“What did you say?” Tuo Bai asked, his eyes bloodshot and his teeth gritted.
The woman shot him a glare. “What? You still don’t believe me? He was a foolish doctor. To please me, he gave me all the money he had from running his pharmacy in Linzhou. He vaguely suspected I might be deceiving him, yet he had the audacity to say he’d take me to Beidi for our wedding?
That’s the kind of person he was. When I killed him, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of mercy! Did you dig up his bones? Tsk, they’re probably crawling with maggots by now!”
“You!” Tuo Bai clenched his fists, his entire body trembling with rage. This was the yamen; anywhere else, he would have torn the woman in front of him to shreds.
“Young Master Tuo!” Zhong Li walked up to Tuo Bai, placing a hand on his shoulder and applying a slight pressure.
Tuo Bai’s consciousness was pulled back. He glanced at her, then stepped aside.
Zhong Li crouched down to look at the woman kneeling on the ground. “Your name is Chang Shuyi, isn’t it?”
Chang Shuyi froze, looking at Zhong Li in confusion. No one had introduced themselves since they were captured.
Zhong Li smiled. “Don’t be surprised. I merely found this name in the household registration records. By coincidence, it matches your life story: ‘A prostitute from Beidi, fallen on hard times in Linzhou.’ Plus, you used a name with a similar pronunciation before, which led me to make an educated guess.”
“Hmph!” Chang Shuyi scoffed, offering no confirmation.
Zhong Li looked at the man with a gaunt face standing not far away. “And you? What’s your name?”
The man snorted. “I stand by my name! I am Yu Tianhua.”
“And you?” Zhong Li looked at the thin man who had remained silent throughout.
The man rolled his eyes at Zhong Li and said nothing.
Zhong Li was not angered. She simply stood up and began walking towards the yamen exit. “It matters not. You have killed so many people, your death is inevitable. If you don’t speak, becoming fertilizer for the soil won’t be too bad either.”
“I… I’m Lü Gu!” Lü Gu hesitated for a moment before uttering his name.
Three days later.
Led by Tian You, Zhong Li entered the Linzhou disciplinary room.
A person was already waiting for her inside; it was Lü Gu.
He was frail to begin with, and after three days in the prison, he looked as though he was on the verge of death.
“Lü Gu!” Zhong Li sat on the official’s chair, looking at the man opposite her who appeared listless.
Lü Gu remained silent, only curling himself up tighter.
Zhong Li glanced at the young bailiff accompanying her.
The young bailiff leaned closer and whispered, “Lord Zhong, Lü Gu is unwell.”
“In what way?” she asked.
“He barks like a dog at fixed times and sometimes self-harms! Look at his ears and hands, they’re both injured,” the bailiff replied.
“Fixed times? Has it been like this for the past three days?” Zhong Li inquired again.
The bailiff nodded. “Yes. On the first day, several of us guards were terrified and almost called for a doctor. But after that period passed, he got better on his own. For the next two days, we’d grown accustomed to it.”
“Alright, I understand!” Zhong Li nodded, her gaze returning to Lü Gu. She had felt there was something off about him before, and now it seemed even more apparent.
She rose and walked towards Lü Gu.
Seeing this, the young bailiff anxiously warned, “My lord, be careful.”
Zhong Li nodded, signaling that she was fine, and began to examine Lü Gu’s body.
As she moved Lü Gu, he showed no signs of resistance, merely gazing at her with a dying expression.
“Lü Gu, I know what you want most right now. If you’re willing to answer me properly, perhaps I can consider getting you some,” Zhong Li said.
Lü Gu showed no reaction, continuing to look at her in the same manner.
Zhong Li leaned close to his ear and whispered three words.
Lü Gu’s eyes suddenly widened, and he looked at Zhong Li with an expression of disbelief.
“What, you don’t believe me?” Zhong Li smiled and stood up. “Then never mind.”
Lü Gu recovered and immediately scrambled to hug Zhong Li’s ankle. “I’ll… I’ll talk… I’ll tell you whatever you want to know!”
A moment later.
Lü Gu knelt on the ground, looking at the scattered account books before him, a hint of panic in his expression.
“These are all the silver transactions of the Wu Family Silver Bank over the past five years. Among them, there are tens of thousands of taels of silver recorded under your name in the Wu Family Silver Bank. What is your relationship with the Wu Family Silver Bank? Don’t tell me you don’t know.”
In the Nanyue Kingdom, if the money deposited in a silver bank exceeded ten thousand taels, the account holder’s income source and background would be thoroughly investigated. Since Lü Gu had deposited so much money, the Wu Family Silver Bank must have been aware of his affairs.
Lü Gu swallowed a few times. “Replying to your honor, truthfully, I don’t even know my relationship with the Wu Family Silver Bank.”
Zhong Li knitted her brows, looking at him with confusion.
Lü Gu explained, “For the past five years, Chang Shuyi, Yu Tianhua, and I have been engaged in this business of killing people and extorting money. In the beginning, the amounts weren’t large. Some victims’ families, knowing their deceased relative was gone and unable to afford to redeem the body, simply didn’t bother. Initially, the three of us lived lives that were sometimes extravagant and sometimes rough.”
“Until… one time, we killed a noble lady from Beidi and obtained a considerable amount of wealth. The manager of the Wu Family Silver Bank’s branch in Linzhou then approached me, offering to help manage our finances, and even occasionally to cover for us and lend a hand.”
Hearing this, Zhong Li’s eyebrows furrowed tightly. “How did he know about you killing people and extorting money?”
Lü Gu shook his head. “We still don’t know that. At first, we didn’t believe him. Yu Tianhua even wanted to kill him to silence him. It wasn’t until a few times when we committed our crimes that he actually helped us a bit, and only then did we gradually begin to trust him.”
“How did he help you?” Zhong Li asked.
“He helped us find our targets,” Lü Gu replied after a moment’s thought. “It was with his help that we found Tuo Lou and Shan You. We indeed gained a lot of money from it.”
“So, he also informed you about Shen Tu Jue’s matter?” Zhong Li asked.
This time, Lü Gu shook his head.
“Your honor, having thoroughly investigated this case, you must also know that finding these targets is not easy. To avoid being detected by the Nanyue Kingdom’s court, we specifically targeted foreigners. That’s one reason.
Secondly, these foreigners cannot have deep roots in Linzhou, otherwise, we risk exposure.
Based on this, we haven’t encountered any good ‘opportunities’ this past year. Moreover, Shuyi went to the Wu Family Silver Bank to inquire about the situation, and the manager merely told her not to act rashly recently before sending Shuyi back.
With no other options, we could only wait. It wasn’t until Shuyi met Shen Tu Jue at the Drunken Red Pavilion that we decided to seal his fate. He was generous with his money and foolish, and he was also a foreigner.”
Zhong Li was not at all surprised by Lü Gu’s words. Shen Tu Jue was known for his womanizing, and wherever he went, he would visit the courtesan houses thoroughly. It was precisely because of this that he even lost his life.
“You weren’t short of money, were you? Why didn’t you listen?” Zhong Li asked.
“Who doesn’t want more money?” Lü Gu retorted.
Zhong Li smiled knowingly. “One last question. When did you start consuming Qat grass? Also, Qat grass was completely banned by the court last year. How did you get your hands on it?”