Chapter 453
Zhao Shensuan and the others felt a chill listening to the screams, imagining the pain. Kang Ziqian and Zhuang Wei had already confessed all their dirty deeds, spilling them out like beans from a bamboo tube.
They had falsified accounts, embezzled money, hired thugs to beat up shopkeepers who opposed their wicked ways, and colluded with shop assistants to cheat villagers who sold medicinal herbs…
Although they lacked the courage to commit heinous crimes like murder and arson, the accumulated misdeeds of Kang Ziqian and Zhuang Wei were enough to land them in prison for five to six years.
"Have mercy, officer… this bank note is truly not stolen by me…" Kang Ziqian, in pain and fear, had lost all the arrogance he displayed when bullying Shi Fan. "If I had such ability, why would I be an accountant, earning only five taels of silver a month?"
He earned five taels of silver because Kang Ziqian always followed Zhao Shensuan's lead. That's how he became an accountant at the dock. Not only was his monthly salary higher than ordinary accountants, but he could also take on private jobs. Coupled with his falsified accounts, he could pocket ten taels of silver a month.
However, compared to being able to casually take a thousand tael bank note from a box under everyone's watchful eyes, these ten taels were insignificant. With just one move, one could steal not just a hundred or a thousand, but even a five tael silver ingot. Doing this three to five times a month could net twenty to thirty taels of silver. Why bother being an accountant, constantly fiddling with abacus beads, and earning this meager sum through hard labor?
Seeing that the interrogator seemed to believe Kang Ziqian's words, Zhuang Wei quickly chimed in, "It wasn't me who stole it either. I am a scholar."