Chapter 266 - Chapter 266: Evil Act
Chapter 266: Evil Act
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Madam Gao poured a cup of tea and said to Li Yu, “Madam, I’ll toast you with tea instead of wine.”
Li Yu picked up a cup of tea and smiled. “I should toast everyone. Because of my health, I can’t drink outside. Sorry to ruin everyone’s mood.” Madam Gao looked at Li Yu with a smile. “It’s my honor to have you here.” Everyone spoke one after another, subtly bantering to cover up the unhappiness that had just happened.
Li Yu hid the fatigue in her heart and smiled politely at everyone. Before the banquet ended, she found an excuse and bade farewell to go home.
When she returned home, she saw Seven Pounds running in from the backyard with Yangyang, who was sweating profusely and had a face full of mud. Behind him was Old Madam Xu, who was running around.
“Mother.” When Yangyang saw Li Yu, he shouted and pounced on Li Yu. Li Yu smiled and supported her body with her hand. She smiled reproachfully and said, “Look at the two of you. One of you is covered in sweat and your hands are covered in mud, and the other is covered in mud. Come with me to the bathroom to wash up first, okay?”
“Okay.” Seven Pounds and Yangyang narrowed their eyes and smiled. They held hands and followed Li Yu to the bathroom.
Mr. Qian and Zhao Cai visited Xingfu Town and returned to the government office. They reported to Zhou Jia, “Sir, Wu Yueze has established a reputation in Xingfu Town. He collects protection fees from those stall owners and shops, as well as maintenance fees for cleaning up the trash. Even those villagers who come to sell some vegetables and eggs are charged dozens of copper coins.”
“When Wu Yueze brought people to collect taxes and food, he used a modified rice bucket to measure the rice. The modified rice bucket had a layer of boards near the bottom. When he collected taxes and food, he removed the boards. The excess food was sold at the grain shop in Wujia Town. The stall owners and citizens in the town called him Exploiter Wu behind his back.”
“Zhong Bao, who was locked up in the government office, bullied women in Xingfu Town. He even forced a young woman who came to sell vegetables to a house where a few ruffians gathered and raped her. The woman hung herself in the courtyard that day and was later thrown into the wilderness. That’s all we found. There might be other bad deeds that haven’t been exposed.”
“They’re worse than pigs and dogs.” Zhou Jia slammed the table angrily. He picked up the investigation results recorded by Mr. Qian and handed them to him. “Take this to Comrade Wu.”
“Yes, sir.” Mr. Qian took the investigation results to Comrade Wu’s room and placed them on his table. He cupped his hands at Comrade Wu and said, “Lord Wu, these are the results of my investigation in Xingfu Town. Lord Zhou asked me to show it to you.”
Comrade Wu said politely, “Thank you, Mr. Qian.”
“Lord Wu is too polite.” Mr. Qian bowed and left.
Comrade Wu picked up the investigation results and looked at them. The more he looked at the records, the angrier he became. He was also unhappy that the constables he had dispatched had yet to send back any news.
Irritated, he got up and went to the office to find a few constables. He told them about Mr. Qian’s investigation and said to them, “Go to Xingfu Town and find the two constables I sent out. Bring Wu Yueze and someone called Dachui back together. Two more people will come with me to interrogate Zhong Bao.”
The constables replied in unison, “Yes, sir.”
Everyone split up. Comrade Wu and two constables went to the prison cell to bring up Zhong Bao and the rest. After a round of interrogation, they spilled the beans and revealed the matter of the Five Tigers Gang, Zhong Bao, and Wu
Yueze.
It turned out that Zhong Bao, his sister, and Wu Yueze were all from the Wu
Village in Xingfu Town. The Zhong family were outsiders to the village, and the Zhong siblings were both good-looking. It was unknown when Zhong Bao’s sister hooked up with Wu Yueze and later became his second wife.
Ever since Zhong Bao’s sister, Zhong Ling, became Wu Yueze’s second wife, he made use of the fact that Wu Yueze was a scholar and doted on his sister, Zhong Ling. He often tried to bully the women in the village and was discovered in time to stop him from causing trouble. The women’s families wanted to chase the Zhong family out of the Wu family village, but they were all settled by Wu Yueze.
Once, when Zhong Bao teased a girl with the surname Chen in the neighboring village, he was discovered by the girl’s brother and beaten up. He lay in bed for a few months before he restrained himself.
Later on, Wu Yueze got to know a high-ranking official and even became the town’s mayor. Zhong Bao relied on Wu Yueze to be even more unrestrained and harassed the beautiful girls and wives in town. He even called Dachui and the others to put Miss Chen’s brother in a sack and throw him into the mountains to feed the wolves. The Chen family was still looking for him even now. Before the New Year, they met Miss Chen, who was already married, selling vegetables in town. He found an excuse to pull her into a house where a few people gathered and raped her. She hanged herself when Zhong Bao was not prepared. This was the woman who hanged herself in Mr. Qian’s investigations.
The protection fee that Wu Yueze had collected in the town was split with 20% for Zhong Bao and 70% for Wu Yueze. The other 10% was given to the other hooligans.
Wu Tingxian first looked at these confessions in fear and regret. The high-ranking official mentioned was him. He felt culpable. Why had he been deceived by a sinister person like Wu Yueze back then?
Wu Tingxian waited for Zhong Bao, Brother Cai, and the others to sign and sign before saying to the bailiff, “Go find Madam Chen’s maternal family and tell them that the siblings are dead.”
Wu Tingxian first took the interrogation results to Zhou Jia’s detention room and reported the results of the interrogation to Zhou Jia. He bowed respectfully and said, “Lord, Zhong Bao has already been heard clearly. Zhong Bao and Wu
Yueze brought the local ruffians to Xingfu Town to accumulate wealth illegally. The Wu family’s illegal gains should be all confiscated. I plan to bring people to Xingfu Town to raid the Wu family.”
Zhou Jia looked at Wu Tingxian and said, “Alright, bring someone to investigate and return the Wu family’s assets to the people.”
“Yes, sir.” Wu Tingxian bowed and left, leading his men toward Xingfu Town.
Zhou Jia returned to the back office and told Li Yu about the results of the inspection. He said to her, “Yu’er, how dare a mere town mayor cause trouble in the countryside. I’ll set off tomorrow to check the grain in the various cities under my jurisdiction and the officials in charge. I’m afraid I won’t be back for a month.”
Li Yu nodded and said, “Yes! Be careful on the way. Bring Zhao Cai, Tiezhu, and Mr. Qian with you. At the same time, take a look at Sir and Ah Wei. They’ve been out for volunteer medical treatment for a few days. ”
“Alright.” Zhou Jia held Li Yu’s hand and walked towards the backyard. “How’s the investigation going with Shopkeeper Chu? Is there any news?”
Li Yu thought for a moment and shook her head. “Not yet. It shouldn’t be so soon. ”
At this moment, Zhou Jia pointed at the two mud monkeys in front and smiled.
“Yu’er, look. What are those two little things doing at the place where Old Madam Liu planted vegetables?”
The two of them were even dirtier than two hours ago. They were covered in mud from head to toe. There were even spring onions hanging on Yangyang’s braids. The ginger gardener and Old Madam Xu were guarding the two of them helplessly.
Li Yu told Zhou Jia about how the two of them had just washed up two hours ago. She smiled and said, “So these two rolled around here like mud monkeys..”