Mo Jiuye stopped abruptly and turned to look at him.
"As long as you tell the truth, I will spare your old mother and daughter."
"Three days ago, Chen Wu found me and paid me two hundred taels of silver to teach Gold Boss a lesson. He said that I had been working under Second Master for a short time and Gold Boss did not recognize me, so I was the most suitable person for this task.
After completing the task, he would give me two hundred taels of silver to let my old mother and daughter escape far away.
At that time, I thought that two hundred taels of silver was not a small sum. With this money, I could take them to other places to buy property and live the life of a rich man.
On the day I was about to take action, when I returned home, I found that my old mother and young daughter had disappeared. There was a note left on the table. I had attended a private school for two years when I was young, so I could recognize some words.
The note said that if I wanted my old mother and daughter to live, I had to kill Gold Boss before the end of the day and frame Chen Wu.
In addition, after killing, I had to draw the attention of the officials. If I did not follow the requirements on the note, they would be ready to collect the corpses of my old mother and daughter early tomorrow morning..."
As he spoke, Wang Lin was already crying bitterly. He kowtowed to Mo Jiuye again.
"Sir, I did this because I was forced to. Now I have told you everything. I just beg you to spare my old mother and young daughter."
Wang Lin spoke in tears. Meng Huaining and Mo Jiuye observed his expression and actions carefully.
They could determine that Wang Lin was probably not lying.
If he was not lying and just went to do things after seeing the note, it would be impossible to find out the person behind the scenes from his mouth.
Mo Jiuye did not pay attention to Wang Lin’s plea. After all, his old mother and daughter were not in his own hands. He had just lied to him earlier.
Therefore, he turned to look at Meng Huaining. Aside from his relationship with Meng Huaining, his actions in the court earlier were indeed a bit presumptuous. Moreover, Meng Huaining was not a fool. Now that he had asked to this point, if Mo Jiuye still did not know what to do next, he might as well stop being the county magistrate.
Meng Huaining nodded slightly to Mo Jiuye and ordered: "Come, bring Chen Wu here."
Chen Wu was escorted back into the court again.
"Chen Wu, this official asks you, what did the person who gave you five hundred taels of silver to pretend to be Boss Tang look like? Tell me in detail."
Chen Wu was more honest than Wang Lin. Besides, he had always believed that he did not kill anyone himself, so the problem was not too serious. Seeing the county magistrate inquire, he recounted in detail what he saw.
"The person who gave me five hundred taels of silver was about the same age as the real Boss Tang just now, both around twenty years old.
Only he was a little fatter than Boss Tang, wearing a vermilion purple robe, slightly darker skin, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his accent was a bit like people from Beijing.
Oh yes, after he gave me the silver bill, he left. Judging from his back view when he walked away, he walked with a bit of a limp, but it was not easy to notice if you did not look carefully."
After a pause, as if remembering something else, Chen Wu added: "When that fake Boss Tang gave me the silver bill, he specifically told me to find someone I don't know to do this.
Among Second Master’s men, Wang Lin had arrived the latest, and he often used family affairs as an excuse not to report to Second Master. So I thought it would be most suitable to let him do this."
So far, these were the only clues they could get from these two people.
If this matter was really related to the Xue family, they had gone around such a big circle to frame Tang Mingrui in order to indirectly cut off the Mo family's income. The purpose was nothing more than not wanting people to know that they were making trouble.
This was Mo Jiuye’s own analysis and speculation. Even if it was really done by Xue Jinchuan, evidence had to be found.
Although Mo Chuhan was a bit straightforward, he was not completely ignorant.
When he heard Mo Jiuye mention Jingxian Building, he guessed what was going on.
"Ninth brother, have you discovered something?"
"Well, I just heard Brother Tang say that the prefecture has opened two Jingxian Buildings."
Mo Chuhan was a little surprised. "Jingxian Building? Isn't that Xue's property?"
"Yes, I suspect that the Xue family did not have a simple purpose in coming to the northwest to open Jingxian Buildings." Mo Jiuye felt it necessary to explain things clearly to his brother.
Mo Chuhan had an impatient temper. He turned to Meng Huaining and said, "Sir, let me take some time off. I want to go to the prefecture."
Meng Huaining also heard Mo Jiuye mention Jingxian Building earlier.
Although he did not know what Jingxian Building was and what the Xue family Mo Jiuye mentioned was about, seeing the tight expressions on the Mo brothers, he knew that the matter might be related to them.
"Eighth Brother, go ahead with your business. You don't need to worry about the yamen these days."
With Meng Huaining’s words, Mo Chuhan left with Mo Jiuye without hesitation.
After leaving the court, Mo Chuhan did not forget to change out of his catcher uniform.
Mo Jiuye did have the idea to go to Jingxian Building to investigate. The two brothers raced to the prefecture on fast horses.
Unlike Mo Chuhan, Mo Jiuye was on the list of people exiled by Emperor Wu's edict, so according to the law he was not allowed to leave Yun City.
Fortunately, Meng Huaining was his future brother-in-law. Those officials also knew this fact. Even if he openly left Yun City, those people would only turn a blind eye.
The two brothers rode fast horses and arrived at the prefecture right at noon.
In principle, this was when the restaurants were the busiest. However, there were barely any customers in this Jingxian Building in front of them.
The front door was open with two people standing at the entrance.
On the surface, they were dressed as waiters, standing at the door to solicit customers.
On closer inspection, both of these people were burly. One was even taller than the Mo brothers.
The two stood ramrod straight at the door. Just then, two customers walked in.
The waiters should have enthusiastically come forward to greet them and take them to their seats.
However, these two did not move at all and continued standing there. They looked more like guards than waiters.
In addition, as the brothers observed the interior of Jingxian Building from outside, the furnishings were also very different from Jingxian Buildings in other cities.
The Jingxian Buildings in other cities were decorated magnificently. Even the stone steps at the entrance were made of white marble.
The Jingxian Building here not only lacked luxurious decorations, but even the tables and chairs looked old.
Just as the brothers were pondering the reason, they suddenly heard an unhappy shout from a customer inside the hall.
"Is this what you call Lion's Head worth five taels of silver a plate? There were so many bones in it and the taste was very ordinary too. This is a black shop.
Get your boss out here and refund my money, or else..."
Before the customer could finish speaking, the brothers suddenly saw a man fall to the ground in front of them.
It was the customer who had asked to see the boss for a refund just now.
A burly waiter stood behind him with his hands behind his back, yelling at the customer.
"I see you're here just to cause trouble. Jingxian Building is known nationally as a big restaurant. You don't have any taste yourself yet you dare say Jingxian Building’s food is no good. Who gave you the nerve to cause trouble here?"
