Top Scholar

Chapter 137 Arima, that kid, has been stubborn since he was little.
At Hejiang Wharf.

After hearing You Muyou's words, Zhu Zihe asked Su Lu curiously, "Is something on your mind?"

"How did you figure it out, sir?" Su Lu said with a wry smile, "I thought I had concealed it very well."

"What a joke! What do I do for a living?" You Muyou laughed loudly. "If I couldn't tell whether a person is nonchalant or carefree after all this time, I would have been fired long ago."

"I don't want the headmaster to worry about me before he leaves," Su Lu sighed softly. "I wonder if he noticed."

"Of course I saw it, otherwise why would he have given me those instructions?" You Muyou laughed, at least that's how he interpreted it.

"So it turns out I was just being presumptuous." Su Lu couldn't help but smile wryly.

“Of course not. Brother Dejia knew your good intentions, so he didn’t ask any questions.” You Muyou said, looking at Su Lu, “Now you can tell me.”

Su Lu glanced at Zhu Zihe and thought to himself, "You can leave now too."

Zhu Liu left on a different riverboat; the other boat, the one with the crooked back, was still waiting for the young master at the dock.

Zhu Zihe remained motionless, looking like he was ready to watch the show.

Helpless, Su Lu could only sigh and bow, saying, "To be honest, I only found out yesterday when I got home that my uncle had been arrested by the officials and I don't know where he's being held. I'm completely in the dark and can only humbly ask you for help, sir."

"Are you sure they are government officials?" You Muyou asked.

“Yes, according to my aunt and uncle, they were wearing the uniforms of the fast shift and were holding county-issued lottery tickets,” Su Lu said.

"..." A flash of anger appeared in You Muyou's eyes, but he still smiled and said, "If he's an official, it's easy to handle. I'll go back and ask him for you. If it's not a big problem, I'll release your uncle."

"Thank you very much, sir." Su Lu hurriedly said gratefully, "If there are any expenses, please let me know."

“That’s all easy to discuss. The county magistrate’s business is more important.” You Muyou said with a smile, “Let’s go back to the yamen and talk about it there.”

As he spoke, he put his hand on the pageboy's shoulder and got into the carriage.

Zhu Zihe also wanted to get on the car, but Su Lu stopped him with his hand.

“You should go there.” Su Lu leaned against the car door, gesturing with his chin towards the crooked boat. “Your family is waiting.”

“Let him wait,” Zhu Zihe said matter-of-factly. “I want to watch the show.”

Su Lu wished he could throw him into the river. With this eyesore around, he couldn't even get a chance to offer a bribe...

~~
The group returned to the county government office, where Instructor Hai also arrived.

"You guys chat for a bit, I'll go ask what's going on." You Muyou led the three of them into his small living room and then left.

In the small living room, Su Lu and Na Hai, the instructor, sat facing each other, helplessly looking at each other's cold faces.

Zhu Zihe sat at the lower end, leisurely cracking pumpkin seeds, looking around at this and that, as if he didn't mind watching the excitement.

"If Instructor Hai has any opinions about this junior, feel free to speak frankly." Su Lu was also quite angry today, unlike before when he would always greet people with a nonchalant smile.

“Alright.” Hai Xun nodded and said, “Actually, I have no problem with you. You’re just a kid who doesn’t know the wickedness of people’s hearts. You’ve probably been used.”

"What do you want with me?" Su Lu asked.

"You've used your deception and fraud to cover up wrongdoings and treat the education and future of all the children in the county as a tool to gain political achievements!" Instructor Hai said with deep disgust, "You're committing a crime! No, you're committing a sin, do you know that?!"

"..." Su Lu finally understood why he had always been so cold to him. But Su Lu couldn't bring himself to dislike such an honest official, and couldn't help but smile wryly, "Is it possible that even if he's trying to gain political achievements, he hasn't actually engaged in any fraud or deception?"

"How is that possible? How could there be a method in the world that allows a child to learn all the phonetic symbols in two months? That's too unbelievable!" Hai Xundao said categorically.

"How can one judge the existence of something without seeing or hearing it firsthand?" Su Lu said with a nonchalant smile.

“Exactly, the person in question is right in front of you, why not figure out what’s going on with his argument before criticizing him?” Zhu Zihe patted the sunflower seed shells off his hands and laughed, “You old folks are so arbitrary, you never give people a chance to explain.”

Haihan is actually only in his thirties, but the two people on the other end combined are not older than him alone, so it's okay for them to call him that...

"Alright, then please, Prodigy Su, explain your phonetic scheme to me." Hai Han's facial muscles twitched slightly as he suppressed his anger. "If I have truly misunderstood you, I am willing to humbly apologize and become your disciple!"

“Okay.” Su Lu nodded, pulled a folded page from his sleeve, unfolded it, and said, “Instructor Hai, please come forward. I will explain this set of phonetic symbols for the Hongwu Zhengyun to you…”

~~
Meanwhile, You Muyou arrived at the outer signing room with a dark face.

The signing room was similar to the office of a leader in later times. The county magistrate worked in the inner room, while the outer room was You Muyou's territory.

This position is not one that just anyone can hold. For example, the former headmaster Qian did not hold it for long. Not only must one be familiar with documents and laws, understand writing styles, and know the county's finances and taxes, but one must also be able to prioritize official matters and understand the master's mood and preferences. Only an extremely capable and trusted, efficient and strong person can be competent in this position.

In fact, You Muyou was the other half of the county magistrate, and because of Magistrate Lu's negligence in his duties, he held most of the power in the county. Therefore, compared to the nominal second-in-command, the county magistrate's assistant, he was the real "number two leader," and was thus jokingly called "Prime Minister" by his subordinates.

In those days, professional secretaries had not yet been developed, and advisors often handled everything indiscriminately, which often resulted in this situation. Later, when there were specialized secretaries for writing documents, criminal matters, finance, and accounting, those would only be considered "Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet," without the same power as him.

Therefore, upon seeing him enter, the two clerks on duty immediately stood up and greeted him: "Sir, you're here so early today?"

"Bring Wang Xijie here!" You Muyou snapped irritably, then plopped down in the armchair.

"Go quickly!" The older clerk ordered the younger one to run the errand, while he himself quickly brewed a cup of Maojian tea and brought it to You Muyou.

"What has Head Boss Wang done this time to upset you so much, sir?" the old clerk asked softly.

“He tried to extort the wrong person, and now they’ve complained to me!” You Muyou snorted, unwilling to say more.

~~
In the torture chamber of the county prison.

Su Youma was bound like a live pig to a bloodstained bench. A shirtless jailer with a thick patch of chest hair swung a water-soaked leather whip, lashing Su's buttocks with a loud crack! Su immediately suffered a bloody, agonizing scream…

"Ouch!"

"Shut up! He's only been whipped a few times, what's with all the wailing!" Wang Bantou sat opposite him and said irritably, "Tell the truth if you don't want to suffer."

"I'm just telling the truth..." Su Youma said, tears streaming down his face, "Even if you beat me to death, that's still the case..."

"They didn't beat you enough!" Wang, the squad leader, gritted his teeth and said, "Beat them to death!"

"Crack! Crack! Crack!" The jailer lashed out with his whip.

"Awooo! Awooo! Awooo!" Su Youma screamed wildly, so loudly that Wang Bantou couldn't hear what the people outside were saying.

"Stop!" He had no choice but to call the jailer to a halt, and then stood up to ask the clerk outside the cell door, "Brother Zhou is here, what are your orders?"

"Boss Wang, Mr. You wants to see you. He seems quite angry," the clerk said.

"Oh?" Wang Bantou shuddered in fright. Compared to the county magistrate who didn't care about anything, he was more afraid of You Muyou, who was so meticulous that it was outrageous.

He couldn't bother with the interrogation any longer, so he quickly put on the constable's square scarf with peacock feathers and ran to the outer detention room.

~~
"Mr. You, why are you calling me?" Wang Bantou bowed and scraped as soon as he entered the door.

You Muyou, however, said with a frosty expression, "The night before last, you went and arrested a guy surnamed Su?"

"Ah." Wang, the squad leader, nodded and said, "It would be rare if I didn't catch people in my job."

"Who told you to make the arrest? Did I sign any warrants?" You Muyou glared at him and questioned him angrily.

It's almost the end of the year, and the government is hardly making any arrests anymore. He hasn't signed many tickets this month! And there's definitely no one with the surname Su among them!
“You’ve misunderstood,” Wang, the head of the squad, quickly explained. “There was a case the day before yesterday. We originally called that person in for questioning, not to arrest him. But that kid got into a fight with us and demanded to see our identification card, saying he couldn’t come in without it.”

"Can these guys really stand it? I forgot who it was, but they just pulled out an old gambling ticket and fooled him." Wang Bantou said cautiously, glancing at You Muyou's expression.

"You're talking nonsense!" You Muyou didn't believe him at all, slamming his hand on the table and saying, "They know that the officials need a warrant to arrest someone, how could they let you get away with an expired one? It must be a forgery!"

"Really, no!" Foreman Wang hurriedly cried out, feigning innocence. "We wouldn't dare do something that could cost us our heads! Besides, we don't have the ability..."

"Don't give me that crap. Do you think I don't know? You have a forger named Huang San under your command. He can forge not only lottery tickets, but even the county magistrate's seal!" You Muyou knew Wang Bantou's situation inside and out, but he just didn't expose him usually.

But Chief Wang interrogates prisoners every day; how could he not know the principle of leniency for confession and life imprisonment for dishonest conduct? Even if he insists he didn't forge anything, perhaps the person in the dark simply didn't see clearly...

Faced with such a stubborn person, You Muyou had no choice but to snort and change the subject, asking, "Put all this rubbish aside for now, what exactly did that person do that requires your personal intervention, Chief Wang?"

"It's a murder case. The proprietress of Shunyi Distillery reported to the police the day before yesterday that her husband drank that Su Youma liquor and died that very night." Foreman Wang hurriedly said:

"But the magistrate is not here. The fourth magistrate is worried that the murderer will destroy the evidence, so he ordered me to bring the person back and interrogate him first, so that I can report back when the magistrate returns."

"The county magistrate is not here, but I am. Why didn't you report this to me?" You Muyou said with a dark face.

"Fourth Master forbade it, saying it wasn't necessary," Wang, the head constable, whispered. To protect himself, he had no choice but to try and shift the blame elsewhere.

The so-called Fourth Master was the county clerk, ranking below the county magistrate, county assistant, and registrar, and was the fourth in the county. Although he was a low-ranking miscellaneous official, he wielded considerable power, overseeing arrests, investigations, prisons, and maintaining public order.

You Muyou immediately understood why Jiang Dianshi didn't let Wang Bantou report to him: according to custom, when the county magistrate was away on official business, the Dianshi was authorized to handle the case on his behalf.

He was used to ruling by himself and didn't take the other officers seriously, which made them very resentful.

Now that the county magistrate is away, the clerk naturally doesn't want to consult me ​​before ordering arrests. But without my approval, there are no warrants, so Wang, the head constable, is caught in the middle and might be resorting to forged warrants to fool people.

Now he couldn't just order the release of the people directly, or he might be humiliated by Jiang Dianshi.

He then softened his tone and said, "Tell me about the details of that case."

"It's what I just mentioned. The victim reported that the deceased died from drinking Su Youma's Erlang wine." Wang Bantou hurriedly said, "We also found two jars of Erlang wine at Su's house, both of them weighing twenty catties. One jar is empty, and the other is almost empty."

"Erlang wine. Drink our wine and you'll be drunk..." You Muyou couldn't help but sing that catchy tune, slapping his thigh and saying, "The wine of Commander Ma of Taiping Town!"

"You know about this wine too?" Wang Bantou said with lingering fear, "Someone recently gave it to me, and I even drank it. Luckily, nothing happened."

"How much did they drink? They drank themselves to death?" You Muyou asked.

“I interrogated Su Youma and also questioned the others who were drinking with him. It was roughly one ounce each,” said Wang, the squad leader. “They said it was some kind of wine tasting party, with three cups per person and no food. What a bunch of poor bastards with fancy tricks…”

"Can a tael of wine really kill someone? Is it poison?" You Muyou scoffed.

"Yes. Even arsenic isn't that poisonous," the old clerk chimed in.

"Besides, the wine wasn't brewed by Su Youma, so why are you arresting him?"

"So originally, I only wanted to call him in to ask if he had any grudge against the deceased, and where the wine came from. I didn't even consider him a suspect," Wang, the foreman, said with a wry smile. "But that kid insisted that what he drank the night before wasn't Erlang wine, and had nothing to do with it!"

"What do you mean? Didn't he invite them to drink Erlang wine?" You Muyou was also confused.

“He said he brought the two jars of wine back for the Double Ninth Festival. It’s been a whole winter now, and he’s already drunk them all, both when he was treating people to drinks and when he was drinking them himself.” Wang Bantou said, “So the wine he was treating people to that night was something he got from the street and mixed himself; it had nothing to do with Erlang wine.”

She said angrily, "You always say that kid is stupid, always trying to take the blame himself, no matter how much you beat him, he won't change his tune!"

"Why must we make him admit that he drank Erlang wine?" You Muyou asked coldly.

P.S. Three chapters for 10,000 words, isn't that exciting? Not bad, right? Keep asking for monthly votes and subscriptions!!

(End of this chapter)