Li Steward’s face turned pale. After a long silence, he finally spoke in a hoarse voice, “I’ll talk.
“I have some dealings with Manager Zhao in private. Last night, he came to me and said there was an important customer who wanted the finest japonica rice.”
“But the rice shop didn’t have enough stock, so he wanted to borrow some from me. He said that as soon as the new shipment arrived, he’d return it right away.”
His face was full of bitterness. “Out of years of friendship, I decided to help him out. Who could have known the Young Master would come to check the inventory?”
Fu Tian let out a cold laugh. His words were full of holes—clearly, he was dead set on denying everything.
“Then how do you explain Xiao Er telling me to buy rice from the Zhao Family Rice Shop? And where did all the rice in this warehouse go? I only asked for a hundred shi, you know.”
“Young Master, I really don’t know… The warehouse is empty because everything was sold out, and the estate hasn’t delivered the new grain yet. As for Li Er… maybe he was bribed by the Zhao Family!”
Cold sweat dripped down his forehead. Li Steward suddenly dropped to his knees and crawled toward Fu Tian, trying to grab his robe, but Fu Tian stepped back to avoid him and looked at him coldly.
Li Er, who had been thrown aside by Chu Xiangtian, raised his head as if wanting to protest, but when he met Li Steward’s sinister gaze, he lowered his head again without a word.
Fu Tian took in the whole scene and sneered, “Do you think if you keep denying it, nothing will happen? Don’t forget—your Indenture is still with the Fu Family.”
At those words, Li Steward shuddered, but still kept his head down and stayed silent.
Fu Huo exchanged glances with the others. For Li Steward to stubbornly refuse to confess, there must be something even more serious or threatening that was holding him back.
As long as he didn’t confess, and if Fu Tian and the others couldn’t find other evidence to prove he colluded with the Zhao Family Rice Shop to steal from the Fu Family Rice Shop, the authorities couldn’t convict him.
The worst that could happen to Li Steward would be facing Fu Tian’s wrath—since his Indenture was with the Fu Family, his life and death were in Fu Tian’s hands.
But right now, he clearly wasn’t afraid of that. Even with Fu Tian threatening him, he still wouldn’t speak the truth.
A suspicion began to form in Fu Tian’s mind. Li Steward was nearly forty this year. He had three daughters, and finally, a son—the only son, who was said to be clever since childhood…
“I heard your youngest son is planning to take the Imperial Examination this autumn?” Fu Tian suddenly changed the subject, speaking casually.
Li Steward jerked his head up, eyes wide in shock and fear.
He’d had three daughters in a row, and only after much difficulty had a son, whom he’d cherished like his very own eyes. Fortunately, the boy had always been bright and promising, often praised by the teachers at school.
The teacher even said that if he took the Imperial Examination, he might become a xiucai. Hearing this, Li Steward was overjoyed.
To keep his son’s future from being affected by his status as a servant, he had even arranged for him to be registered under a cousin’s name.
All the silver he’d saved up was for this one son. If the boy became an official, he’d need silver to smooth the way.
He never expected that one misstep would ruin everything. After running things smoothly for so many years, it all fell apart in an instant, and now he didn’t even have a chance to defend himself.
If he confessed, once the authorities passed judgment, he would be a convicted criminal and his son’s bright future would be destroyed.
Gritting his teeth, Li Steward stared fixedly at Fu Tian, his chest rising and falling like an old bellows, gasping for breath.
***
After a while, he finally slumped, head bowed, silent once more.
Seeing how stubborn he was, Fu Huo began to lose his patience. He was a good-tempered man, but not someone who would let others walk all over him.
This parasite had nearly emptied the Fu Family Rice Shop, yet now dared to bargain with him? Clearly, he thought Fu Huo was too soft-hearted.
“You think keeping your mouth shut will protect your son’s future?”
Fu Tian narrowed his eyes. “I have plenty of ways to keep him from taking the Imperial Examination.”
“Think it over carefully.”
With that, Fu Tian clasped his hands behind his back and walked off toward the small study. He had no patience to keep nagging Li Steward.
It would be best if Li Steward confessed on his own—after all, this involved the Zhao Family Rice Shop as well.
Since they dared to provoke the Fu Family, Fu Tian naturally wouldn’t let them off. If Li Steward confessed, it would save a lot of trouble.
But even if he didn’t, it didn’t mean there was no way to deal with the Zhao Family.
Fu Tian was still fuming, his steps brisk as he walked. He plopped down in a chair, poured himself a cup of tea, and gulped it down. Only then did the fire in his chest subside a little.
Fu Ji refilled his cup and bent over to ask, “Do you want me to bring Li Steward’s youngest son here?”
Fu Tian waved his hand and took another sip of tea. “No rush.”
He’d said those words just now, but after all, the Fu Family were law-abiding citizens. It was best to let the authorities handle such matters, so as not to be accused of bullying others with their power.
“How about I go beat him up? After a good thrashing, he’ll spill everything.” Chang Xi said gruffly.
“All you know is fighting. When will you ever use your brain?” Chu Xiangtian kicked him disapprovingly.
Chang Xi, having been kicked, shrank into the corner and fell silent.
Fu Tian ignored them. His attention had been caught by a pot of Clivia on the shelf.
The Clivia looked very healthy, but its broad leaves were now drooping, and its orange-red blossoms hung listlessly, as if half-dead.
Fu Tian noticed it because this Clivia had been quietly crying for help.
The Clivia’s voice was weak, but in the quiet study, it was especially clear. Fu Tian’s brows twitched as he glanced around, then picked up a watering can by the window and watered the desperate Clivia.
The others looked at his sudden action in confusion.
Finally getting a drink, the Clivia’s voice grew stronger, and in a childish tone, it thanked Fu Tian.
“Thank you, you really are a good person.”
This Clivia must have a lively personality. Compared to the two peonies Fu Tian had seen before, it wasn’t shy at all. Even though its leaves were still limp, after being watered, its voice was already full of joy.
“You saved my life. Let me tell you a secret as thanks.” The Clivia said cheerfully.
Fu Tian’s eyebrows twitched slightly. He neither replied nor moved, simply standing quietly in front of the flowerpot.
The Clivia didn’t care whether he understood or not and just kept talking to itself:
“If you move my pot to the window, there’s a little compartment in the wall behind me. There’s lots of good stuff hidden in there.”
When the Clivia saw he wasn’t moving, it suddenly realized something and muttered in disappointment, “So you can’t understand me after all. I wanted to bask in the sun, too…”
As soon as it finished speaking, Fu Huo moved. He picked up the Clivia and placed it by the sunny window.
Fu Tian doubled back and tapped on the wall behind the flowerpot. The wall made a dull sound, faintly hollow.
Fu Tian turned. “It’s hollow here.”
The others: “???”
All they saw was him suddenly run over to water the Clivia, then stand in front of it without moving. Now he’d picked up the pot and said the wall was hollow.
The shift was so sudden that everyone was momentarily speechless.
It was Chu Xiangtian who reacted first. He stepped forward and knocked on the wall, and sure enough, it sounded hollow.
Frowning, he tapped along the wall for a while, then his brows twitched. He pressed hard with his fingers, and a section of the smooth wall suddenly popped out.
He pushed the protruding section aside, revealing a dark compartment inside.
Behind the wall was a hidden compartment, not too big nor too small. On the outermost side was a stack of silver notes, the middle was piled with gold, silver, and jade, and at the very back were several books.
Ignoring the money and jewels, Chu Xiangtian pulled out the books and flipped through them, then burst out laughing. “Account books.”
Fu Tian took them and flipped through a few pages. He could already understand most account books from previous reconciliations, but this one was much more complicated.
After glancing at it, he still couldn’t quite make out how it was recorded.
He tucked the account book into his sleeve and said, “Let’s have Xiao Qiao and Brother Zhou take a look.”
Chu Xiangtian took out everything from the compartment. Just the silver notes alone totaled over a thousand taels, not to mention the rest of the gold, silver, and jade.
“How did you find this?” Chu Xiangtian clicked his tongue, curious. Even he hadn’t noticed the secret compartment.
Fu Tian pursed his lips, his eyes flickering for a moment. “Just a hunch.”
Chu Xiangtian:
He observed Fu Tian’s slightly guilty expression, and after a moment’s silence, decided to pretend to believe him.
Seeing that he didn’t press further, Fu Tian breathed a sigh of relief and quickly changed the subject. “Let’s go meet up with Brother Zhou and the others, and have Xiao Qiao look at the account book.”
So the group took the collapsed Li Steward and Li Er, and headed to the Zhao Family Rice Shop to meet up with Zhou Chuanqing and the others.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.