Zhou Wanyou's voice was neither hurried nor slow, "In the capital, there are laws and principles. Killing is naturally not allowed. However..."
She paused, then raised her voice, "According to the law, anyone who trespasses into the mansion of a first-rank official shall be imprisoned and receive twenty strokes of the cane, regardless of the reason."
The crowd exchanged glances.
The man continued to be stubborn, "Don't think we haven't read books. Who knows if this law exists? What if you made it up?"
"Fine, even if you are unaware of the law this time, you must surely know that illegally detaining the legitimate son of a general's mansion is a grave offense, right?" Zhou Wanyou flicked her sleeves, her tone deepening.
"Did the person who advised you not tell you about this regulation?"
The crowd's expressions immediately changed.
Seeing the fear in their eyes, Zhou Wanyou softened her voice.
"You want money, but there's no need to risk your lives. The General's Mansion is a reasonable place. If someone from the General's Mansion truly owes money, we will naturally repay it."
She turned and called out to Acai, "Go and collect all the promissory notes with signatures and seals. Report the total sum to me."
Acai stepped forward to collect the debt notes from the crowd.
Seeing that Zhou Wanyou was indeed handling the matter and not evading, the crowd relaxed their vigilance slightly.
After all the debt notes were collected, Acai reviewed each one.
All of them bore Su Qing's signature.
Su Qingtian also saw the signature, his face so grim it looked like water could drip from it, "Guards! Go and bring the Old Master here!"
It was one thing to borrow money under the name of the General's Mansion, but to have Si Qi held hostage was something a grandfather would do!
The servants went to fetch Su Qing.
Zhou Wanyou continued to appease the crowd, "I have understood everything about this matter. Everyone, please return to your residences. By tomorrow evening at the latest, the money owed to you will be delivered to your homes."
The crowd looked at each other. One person said, "Alright, we'll trust you this time. After all, you can't run away from the temple."
With the legitimate son of the General's Mansion still in their hands, they didn't believe they would dare to go to extremes.
After a brief discussion, the crowd all left.
Su Yunmo arrived just as she bumped into these people.
"Daddy, Mommy? How is my second brother?" she panted, rushing into the room, stumbling and almost falling due to her haste.
Fortunately, Zhou Wanyou caught her in time, "Don't worry, your second brother will be fine."
Acai, "Madam, the total has been calculated. It comes to twenty-three thousand taels."
Su Qingtian immediately smashed a teacup, "Twenty-three thousand taels? Those people really think I'm a fool!"
What did they take the General's Mansion for, their treasury?
Su Yunmo ran over and peered at the debt notes on the table, noticing that besides Su Qing's signature, there were many thumbprints.
She reached out and compared them. They were slightly larger than hers, undoubtedly her second brother's.
It seemed those people merely wanted to pressure her second brother and use him to extort money from the General's Mansion; they didn't intend to harm his life.
Su Yunmo breathed a sigh of relief, then her brow furrowed again.
Even if Su Qing was deceived by Su Chenghai and took a wrong turn in a moment of urgency, resorting to deceiving others, kidnapping his own grandson was different from deceiving people.
It didn't feel like something Su Qing would come up with.
At this moment, Linlang entered from outside, "Young master, this subordinate has already been to the second branch's side room. The place is deserted. This subordinate asked the neighbors, and they said they left last night."
These words made both father and daughter frown.
So they had absconded with the money! It seemed they had been planning this all along.
Zhou Wanyou's expression shifted slightly, as if she had expected this.
"Let me go! You scoundrels dare to grab me! I am Su Qingtian's father! Let go! All of you, let go!"
Su Qing was shoved in from outside by two servants, cursing all the way.
"Shut up!" Su Qingtian pointed at him and roared, his teeth almost grinding to dust.
Su Qing was startled by his roar and then shamelessly yelled again, "I am your father!"
Su Qingtian was filled with hatred. How could he have such a father!
"You all may leave," Zhou Wanyou dismissed the servants.
Acai also bowed and left, closing the door behind her.
Su Yunmo gestured to Linlang and glanced at Su Qing.
Linlang nodded in response and quietly withdrew.
Only the family of four remained in the room.
Zhou Wanyou then got down to business, "Father, there's no need to be angry. We didn't call you here for any other reason than to ask if Si Qi was taken out by you yesterday."
"Are you interrogating your father? Your child is lost, so go find him! What does this have to do with me?" Su Qing snorted and turned his head away, "I don't know."
Su Qingtian gritted his teeth and threw a stack of debt notes on the table at him, "Then what is this? People are already at our doorstep demanding their money, and you say you don't know?"
Su Qing cried out "Aiyo!" after being hit and pointed at Su Qingtian, cursing, "You unfilial wretch! You dare to hit your own father, you've gone too far!"
He slapped his knees with both hands, acting like a resentful wife.
"How could I have raised such a son who has no regard for his father or ruler? If I had known you wouldn't cherish my parental kindness at all, I should have strangled you when you were born!"
Su Qingtian clenched his fists tightly, his eyes bloodshot, and rolled up his sleeves as if to get up.
He wished he could strangle him right now, and it would be worth it to die after killing him!
"Daddy! Daddy, don't be angry." The little dumpling quickly hugged Su Qingtian's leg, raising both hands to pat his stomach.
Su Qingtian glanced at the little dumpling, gritted his teeth, and suppressed his anger for the moment.
Su Qing made a scene alone in the hall, but no one paid him any attention.
He made a fuss for a while and, seeing that no one was speaking, felt bored himself, "If you called me here to ask this, I have only three words: I don't know."
Zhou Wanyou's eyes flickered, "Since Father says he doesn't know, then we must have been mistaken."
Su Qingtian was stunned, "You'er?!"
Zhou Wanyou reached out to stop him and added, "The General's Mansion will be responsible for repaying those debts, so Father doesn't need to worry."
Hearing this, Su Qing's heart leaped with joy, "Is that true?"
His guess was correct. No matter what, he was Su Qingtian's biological father. In the end, even if they were unwilling, they would have to pay the money for him.
Zhou Wanyou nodded and sighed again, "However, the amount owed is too large, and the General's Mansion cannot produce it all at once. We were thinking of asking Second Brother for help, but unfortunately, their family moved away in the night."
Su Qing's face changed drastically, "They left?!"
Good, they had agreed to cooperate, but in the end, they were leaving all the mess to him!
If he had known this, he shouldn't have trusted him in the first place!
Su Yunmo furrowed her brows.
This man didn't know that Su Chenghai had absconded? Then it seemed the money wasn't in his hands but had been embezzled by Su Chenghai.
"Yes, so we have no other options now, which is why we wanted to find Father to discuss it," Zhou Wanyou wiped her tears with a handkerchief.
"Now that Si Qi is still in those people's hands, I am truly afraid that something will happen to him."