Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 730 Survive
Li Bodi, imprisoned in the yamen jail, felt that these past few days had been particularly agonizing. He hoped that Puheluo could rescue them as soon as possible. Whenever a jailer passed by his cell door, he would look at him expectantly, wishing that his cell door would be opened at any moment.

As the days passed, he finally saw a turning point. This time, the jailer really stopped and took out the key. Li Bo's heart almost jumped out of his throat.

"Are you going to let me out?" Li Bo asked anxiously, but received no response.

After the cell door opened, the jailer waved his hand, and two men immediately came up and grabbed Li Bodi's shoulders.

Li Bodi sensed something was wrong; this didn't seem like they were letting him leave.

“What are you doing?” Li Bodi shouted. “I am an envoy from Srivijaya. You… cannot treat me like this. I want to go back to Srivijaya. Let me go back… Call the envoy from Srivijaya… they have us in their hands.”

The jailer remained silent, but a clerk approached and said, "No need to shout anymore. Your Srivijaya envoy has arrived, but not to take you away. He is here to accuse you of corruption, tyranny, and indiscriminate killing of innocent people."

Li Bodi stared wide-eyed, frozen in place. The jailer stepped forward and dragged him away, and his legs went weak, almost causing him to fall to the ground.

"No way, you're lying to me."

“You Liang people are full of lies, I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you.”

Li Bo kept saying he didn't believe it, and he resisted with all his might, refusing to leave the prison. He hadn't wanted to stay here for a moment before, but now he only wanted to stay here.

“It’s Puhara, he’s the one who’s trying to harm me. You must have bribed Puhara.”

Li Bodi realized he had overlooked something: if he and Xin Jia couldn't return, Puheluo would rightfully take control of the waterway. Was it too late for him to compromise with the Liang people now?
Li Bodi was dragged out, and the clerk and jailer followed. The prison seemed to return to silence, but in a dark corner of the cell, a person was trembling.

Xin Jia couldn't stop trembling. After interrogating Li Bodi, it was his turn next.

When Li Bodi was brought in, he spoke with absolute certainty that, given his family's relationship with Datu, they would be safe and sound.

But as his imprisonment dragged on, Singa began to panic. Datu could no longer control everything in Srivijaya. Even though he had grown stronger over the years and could rival Maharaja, Maharaja still held the reins in Srivijaya. Datu dared not launch a real war. Because of this, internal strife was even more unbearable. If it was a minor matter, Datu might lend a hand, but if the trouble became too great, Datu would simply abandon them.

Singa thought she was going to die here.

If he had a choice, he definitely wouldn't stand with Li Bodi.

After an unknown amount of time, footsteps sounded again, this time reaching the front of Xin Jia's prison.

Hearing the sound of chains being opened, and then a jailer entering, Xin Jia seized the opportunity to speak hastily: "I know a lot about the seas and am willing to serve the Liang Dynasty. I have some secrets... that could be useful to the Liang Dynasty. I beg you..."

As soon as Xin Jia finished speaking, something was stuffed into his mouth, and the next moment, he was lifted out of the cell. However, he was not taken out, but instead taken to a darker secret dungeon.

The cell door opened, and Xin Jia was pushed inside. After finally managing to remove the wet cloth from her mouth, Xin Jia was about to speak again when she heard a voice from the darkness say, "What do you know?"

Xin Jia's heart leaped into his throat, his back stiffened, and cold sweat broke out. He hadn't expected there to be someone else in the cell.

“You only have two chances. Think carefully before you speak.” Xin Jia swallowed, and after a long pause, said, “I know where Li Bodi has hidden the money he’s embezzled over the years. I can testify… Li Bodi has been corrupt and lawless…”

Before Xin Jia could finish speaking, the man interrupted him: "You have one more chance..."

Xin Jia nearly collapsed to the ground, clearly showing his complete lack of interest in Li Bodi and his disregard for the money. So what did the Liang people care about?

They were imprisoned because they smuggled goods with officials of the Liang Dynasty. If the Liang people still have any requests of them, it must be because of this matter.

But... the officials of Liang have already been arrested, so what can he do to help the people of Liang?
Singa's eyes adjusted to the light and he saw the figure not far away. This was clearly the person who had asked him the question. The person had lost patience and stood up.

Xin Jia panicked even more. He knew that as soon as this man walked out, he would die in prison and never be able to return to his homeland.

“Those officials… all the officials who associated with us have been arrested,” Singa murmured. “I don’t know what the master wants to know… the master…”

As she watched helplessly as the man walked to the prison gate, Xin Jia's wide eyes began to blur with tears.

Just as the man was about to leave, something flashed through Xin Jia's mind: "The Liang Dynasty people still have a fleet at sea, but their goods will be sold to the Kingdom of Chorian, not through our channels. Li Bodi once tried to use the Liang people to deal with them, but those sorcerers fought with them several times without gaining any advantage."

After saying this, the figure who was about to leave finally stopped and turned to look at Xin Jia: "What is the background of those people? When did they arrive at sea?"

Xin Jia said, "The news is that these people have been trading at sea for at least two hundred years. They were once prominent families. During the war, they moved their entire families across the sea. After the Liang Dynasty was established, they did not want to go back and continued to accumulate wealth. These people are different from ordinary merchants... They have dealings with many countries and do not distinguish between relatives and strangers. As long as they can make money, that's all that matters. Many people have benefited from their information, so no one really wants to put them to death."

“But Li Bodi felt that they had taken away his interests, so he set his sights on those people and had them secretly investigate their information,” Xin Jia paused here, obviously trying to recall, “However, Li Bodi said that these people have not been at sea for that long, at most a few decades. The reason why their lies have not been exposed is because they have absorbed a century-old fleet. If you don’t know the inside story, you will inevitably be fooled by them.”

“Everything I said is true, but I don’t know if Li Bo is lying. Maybe he… said it on purpose to weaken those people’s strength so that we would have no worries and help him deal with them.”

Silence fell over the prison once again.

"And that's all?"

The voice rang out again, and Sinja knelt down and kowtowed: "That's all I know, and I'm definitely not lying to you, sir."

The head was banged so hard it made a "thump" sound. Just when Xin Jia felt he was about to faint, the man said again, "Then I'll show you a way to survive."

Xin Jia almost burst into tears: "I will do as you say, sir."

“You must not mention these words to anyone else,” the man said. “No matter how others interrogate you, you must only talk about your embezzlement with Li Bodi, and remain silent about the fleet.”

"As long as you can persevere, you will have a chance to get out of here."

(End of this chapter)