Chapter 525: Interrogation
Chapter 525: Chapter 525: Interrogation
Upon hearing this, Hua Zifeng immediately turned to the crewman. "Who put you up to this?"
"It was... it was..." The crewman’s mind raced before he quickly said, "A woman."
’So it really was a woman!’
Hua Zifeng understood instantly. ’Just as I thought, my suspicions about that Susan weren’t wrong.’ He pressed, "Be specific. Who is this woman? Do you know her? What does she look like?"
The crewman’s eyes darted around as he hastily replied, "I don’t know her name. She’s the woman who argued with Miss Angela on the first day of the voyage. I think they were fighting over a man."
The crewman didn’t know Su Qing’s alias, but the argument between Su Qing and Angela that day was something many people knew about. He had heard the gossip, so he decided to pin everything on Su Qing. He figured that if he could push the blame onto her, the charges against them would be much lighter, as they would only be accomplices following orders.
"Are you sure?" Hua Zifeng pressed.
"Yes, I’m sure," the crewman said quickly. "The woman said she wanted us to teach Miss Angela a lesson, so we... we... did that thing."
As he spoke, the crewman lowered his head guiltily, afraid Hua Zifeng would see the panic in his eyes.
Hua Zifeng turned to the other two crewmen. "Is that right?"
"Yes." The two men flinched and nodded quickly. "That’s right."
They understood their companion’s intention. To lessen their own punishment, finding a scapegoat right now was the best option. As long as the three of them stuck to their story and insisted the woman had ordered them, their chances of receiving a lighter sentence would be much higher.
Hua Zifeng frowned and asked, "What did she offer you in return?"
Hearing Hua Zifeng’s question, the other two crewmen looked at the one who had spoken first. Just as he was about to speak, Hua Zifeng said, "Wait."
The three crewmen froze, not knowing what Hua Zifeng was about to do.
Hua Zifeng instructed his assistant, "Find a few people and take these two out first."
"Yes, sir." The assistant quickly acknowledged the order and left the storage room.
Hearing this, a look of panic appeared in the crewmen’s eyes. Hua Zifeng saw it. He narrowed his eyes slightly without saying a word, his sharp gaze fixed on the three men, who all instinctively averted their eyes.
A short while later, the assistant returned with a few strong, able-bodied men who, following Hua Zifeng’s orders, led the other two crewmen out.
Hua Zifeng looked at the remaining crewman and said calmly, "Alright, talk. What did this woman you mentioned offer you to treat Miss Angela like that?"
The crewman swallowed nervously and said, "She said... she said she’d give us money after it was done. A lot of money."
"How much, exactly?" Hua Zifeng pressed.
The crewman started to panic, his eyes darting wildly. How was he supposed to know how much? Hua Zifeng’s arrival had been so sudden that he had come up with the scapegoat on the spot. But now, it was clear Hua Zifeng intended to question them all separately. ’What if their amounts don’t match?’
"I’m asking you a question. Please answer honestly. What was the exact amount the woman promised you?" Seeing the crewman stammering, Hua Zifeng grew suspicious, and his tone became much sterner.
Hua Zifeng had handled many cases, and his voice carried an imposing sternness without him needing to be angry. The crewman was just an ordinary person and was so terrified that he blurted out a number without thinking, "Ten... ten gold bars."
"Ten gold bars!" Hua Zifeng narrowed his eyes. "Heh, quite a generous offer."
Currently in Xiangcheng, the most common type of gold bar in circulation was the "Big Yellow Fish." Saying "ten gold bars" usually meant ten Big Yellow Fish. A single Big Yellow Fish weighed 312.5 grams. Ten of them were equivalent to nearly one hundred thousand Xiang Coins.
The crewman kept his head down, not daring to say anything else, afraid that the more he said, the more mistakes he’d make.
Hua Zifeng snorted coldly and had his assistant bring in the next crewman. When asked the same question, this man’s answer was clearly different from the first. Likewise, the third crewman’s answer differed from the previous two.
After interrogating all three crewmen, Hua Zifeng left the storage room with his assistant. Before leaving, he ordered the guards at the door to keep a close watch on the three men.
The assistant asked Hua Zifeng in a low voice, "Mr. Hua, are we still going to look for Miss Susan?"
"Yes," Hua Zifeng nodded.
The assistant hesitated. "But their stories didn’t match at all. It seems unlikely that Miss Susan has anything to do with this."
This assistant had been with Hua Zifeng for quite some time, so he knew how these things went. The three crewmen were obviously spouting nonsense. If Miss Susan had truly hired them, it was impossible they wouldn’t know the reward. After all, this was a murder plot. Who would agree to do the job without a satisfactory reward?
"I know," Hua Zifeng said. His initial bias had led him to suspect Su Qing was the mastermind. However, after seeing the crewmen’s evasive eyes and their messy, inconsistent stories, he realized she probably had nothing to do with it. As for why both Angela and the crewmen were trying to frame Su Qing, he had a good grasp of their motives. It was nothing more than resentment and a desire to find a scapegoat to reduce their own culpability.
"Since you know it has nothing to do with Miss Susan, why are we still going to see her?" the assistant asked, confused.
"Because I’ve become quite interested in this Miss Susan," Hua Zifeng said, narrowing his eyes.
There was something about Su Qing’s contradictory nature that made Hua Zifeng exceptionally curious. Moreover, he felt an urge to uncover the truth about the deaths he believed she was connected to. He was one hundred percent certain that Su Qing had killed before—and not just once.
"Ah!" The assistant blinked, said nothing more, and silently followed Hua Zifeng to the outside of Su Qing’s room.
However, when Hua Zifeng knocked on the door, there was no answer.
’Su Qing isn’t in her room!’
At that very moment, Su Qing was on deck, having the time of her life catching fish.
Her luck was good today; she had run into another school of hairtail. Her eyes lit up as she controlled her vines, continuously pulling the fish from the sea. Watching the pile of hairtail grow in her storage space, Su Qing couldn’t suppress her smile.
’When I get back, I’ll ask Mom to make me some braised hairtail,’ she thought. She knew that the braised hairtail Li Wan made was absolutely delicious; it was her favorite dish.
"Miss Susan, what a fine mood you’re in. Out enjoying the scenery on deck again, are we?"
Su Qing couldn’t help but roll her eyes. ’What an annoying voice!’