Listening to the conversation between the two, Luo Ge and Gu Jinchen raised their eyebrows simultaneously.
Sure enough, these tofu dregs were at it again, already biting at each other.
"Is that so? Did he speak the truth that you instigated him to do this?"
Captain Hu Jun looked at this scene with some disdain in his heart, but he did not show it on his face, only gazing solemnly at Manager Lu.
Hearing Hu Jun's words, beads of sweat ran down Manager Lu's forehead, his heart in disarray.
"No, no, Officer, do not listen to his nonsense. This matter was not masterminded by either of us." He hurriedly responded.
He did not understand how the situation had devolved to this point. They had clearly never slipped up.
Could it be that this Gu character had anticipated this? But how was that possible?
They had only finalized their plan a couple of days ago, never revealing it to a third party.
Thinking this, he turned to look at the nearly petrified Chef Luo.
Could it be that this fool had let the cat out of the bag?
Damn it! Stupid thing!
Looking at Luo Ge and Gu Jinchen, he silently cursed, regretting that he had underestimated them and failed to be more cautious, to make the plan absolutely watertight.
But now that things had come to this... he could only confess the truth.
Seeing Manager Lu's resentful expression as he pondered, Luo Ge narrowed her eyes.
"Then why don't you tell us who the mastermind is?" Hearing this, Hu Jun turned to look at Gu Jinchen before speaking again.
Hearing this, Manager Lu instantly showed signs of distress, both fearful and afraid, his acting skills quite impressive.
"It... it was Spring Bloom Pavilion." He said after a long pause.
"They forced us to do this. Our First Class Pavilion was doing good business, and Spring Bloom Pavilion had always looked upon us as a thorn in their side."
"They threatened the lives of our family members and forced us to do this. We really had no choice!"
Manager Lu spoke with tears streaming down his face, even the Chef Luo beside him was stupefied, then nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Yes, Officer, we were forced to do this. We had no choice!" He too broke down in tears.
The two men acted as if they had been driven to the brink of despair.
That Spring Bloom Pavilion was the mastermind was true, but that they were forced was false - they had in fact been more than happy to do it themselves.
But a half-truth, half-lie is often the most convincing.
Hu Jun, who had already learned most of the situation from Gu Jinchen, merely sneered coldly at their act, completely unmoved.
No matter how tragically they cried, no matter how they claimed to have been forced, he remained completely indifferent.
"Master, Madam, we admit our mistake, we admit our mistake."
Seeing Hu Jun's reaction, Manager Lu paused as he wiped away his tears, then turned towards Luo Ge and the others, frantically kowtowing.
He did so with such ferocity that his head soon turned red after just a few kowtows.
This act might have melted the hearts of others and convinced them.
But unfortunately, these officers and constables had seen far too many of this type, and would never be swayed by private emotions until the very end when the truth was fully uncovered.
For while the situation seemed one way now, in many cases, the truth that came to light later was often an unexpected reversal.
So no matter how well these two men acted, none of those present reacted.
"These account books were recorded by you?"
Hu Jun stood silently until they had beaten their heads raw, then slowly took out the account books that Luo Ge and the others had examined earlier, asking Manager Lu.
The abrupt change of topic caught Manager Lu off guard, but since he had always been the one managing the pavilion's accounts, he could only obediently admit to it upon hearing the question.
"Yes, I wrote these account books." A vague sense of foreboding arose in his heart.
Hearing this, Hu Jun revealed a smile. "As long as you admit it, that's enough."
With that, he turned to Gu Jinchen and the others and nodded, then gave his orders.
"Lu Hongxun, Luo Dade! These two conspired to embezzle a total of 30 taels of silver from First Class Pavilion over the past half month, and attempted poisoning! The perpetrators and evidence have all been obtained! Take them away!"
Hearing this, Manager Lu's eyes widened in shock, but he could no longer say a word.
He could only stare dumbly as Luo Ge and the others handed Hu Jun the account books retrieved from the pavilion's suppliers.
"You have only yourselves to blame for being too greedy. You were only focused on covering your tracks here, but neglected the other end."
"You didn't even give them a single benefit or perk, so why would they help hide things for you?"
As if sensing Manager Lu's confusion, Luo Ge smiled and explained.
Manager Lu and Chef Luo's method of embezzlement was actually quite sophisticated. The pavilion required large daily quantities of meat, vegetables, rice, oil, sauces, vinegar, tea, and alcohol.
And this was the source of their ill-gotten gains. Since the suppliers provided goods in bulk to the pavilion, their prices were significantly lower than what ordinary citizens paid.
The difference ranged from 2-5 wen per jin or per item, depending on the goods. Some items like alcohol could have an even larger price differential.
Manager Lu and the others exploited this loophole by embezzling an extra wen or two from the differential.
The prices remained reasonably priced for the pavilion, so it was difficult for them to notice anything amiss.
With the pavilion requiring thousands of jin of goods daily, even embezzling just one wen per jin would amount to over a thousand wen, or one tael of silver per day.
One tael a day, thirty taels a month. Over the course of a year, it accumulated to hundreds of taels embezzled.
Not to mention, for some goods where they embezzled more, the amount stolen was even greater.
And Chef Luo, the head chef, had been helping Manager Lu cover their tracks all along, making it even harder to detect.
Manager Lu also had an honest, good-natured appearance that made it hard to suspect his greed.
The previous owner of the pavilion trusted him greatly, giving him full authority over procurement, only examining the pavilion's account books.
And since Manager Lu did not embezzle excessively, keeping the prices reasonable, the previous owner never noticed anything amiss until now.
In fact, when Gu Jinchen took over the pavilion, the previous owner had even wanted to take Manager Lu with him.
But Manager Lu refused, probably unwilling to give up his "accomplishments."
Hearing Luo Ge's explanation, Manager Lu's face stiffened as he let out a wry laugh.
"It seems I was too careless. I never imagined your minds would be so meticulous."
Hearing his words, Luo Ge raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "Not at all. You simply betrayed the trust your former master placed in you."
The previous owner trusted Manager Lu, but Luo Ge and the others could not afford to do the same.
Early on when Gu Jinchen first understood the suppliers of Spring Bloom Pavilion, he had already arranged with the suppliers to keep invoices for them.
This was something that any new proprietor would do out of necessity.
And Lu Manager and the others were indeed greedy, but they were only stealthily embezzling from Spring Bloom Pavilion's end, hiding it from the pavilion, and had never bothered to bribe the suppliers.
It was precisely because of this that Luo Ge and the others were now able to present solid evidence.
Hearing Luo Ge's words, Lu Manager was rendered speechless.
"Yes, it was indeed the former proprietor's complete trust that caused me to let down my guard."
"......" Seeing that Lu Manager still hadn't come to his senses, Luo Ge couldn't be bothered to waste more words.
"Let's go!" Hu Jun called out, taking the person away.
After the people under arrest had all left, Hu Jun returned and patted Gu Jinchen on the shoulder.
"I'll come back later for a drink with you."
He then looked towards Luo Ge. "Sister-in-law, I'm off!"
"Alright, thank you for your trouble today. Come by later and I'll have more food and drinks prepared for you all."
"Sure!"
Hu Jun grinned and nodded, but as soon as he turned and saw Lu Manager and the others again, his face instantly turned cold.
