A Clash of Gods - Chapter 69
Chapter 69 A Manipulator behind the Scenes
After Dou Lianzhong said that, not only Gu Qinghan but Yang Ning also changed the expression slightly.
“Young Master Dou, are you kidding?” Gu Qinghan kept calm. “Lord Dou is the minister of the Ministry of Revenue. As far as I know, your family is wealthy and won’t pawn anything. And it is clear on the pawn tickets that the owner is named Zhao Xin. What does it have to do with you?”
Dou Lianzhong laughed. “To be frank, Zhao Xin is here.” He looked back and called, “Zhao, please come over.”
Somebody immediately stepped out of the people who followed Dou Lianzhong and came up. He was dressed in ordinary clothes and looked ordinary. It was hard to find him in the crowd.
“Manager Xu, do you remember me?” Zhao Xin stepped forward and saluted Manager Xu. “Last time you helped me, and I always keep it in mind.” He spoke with an accent outside the capital city and seemed to come from another city.
Manager Xu was an old hand in the commercial circle. He had been in panic just now, but seeing Zhao Xin come with Dou Lianzhong, he realized something and his expression changed slightly, but out of habit, he saluted. “Mr. Zhao.”
“It appears that you have a good memory, Manager Xu.” Zhao Xin laughed. “Half a month ago, you entertained me in your shop, and it seemed like yesterday.”
Dou Lianzhong introduced, “My Lady, this is the owner of the pawn tickets, Zhao Xin. He is from Lanyang, Jingnan, a distant relative of my family. A few days ago, he needed silver urgently, so he pawned some stuff in your shop, and the pawn tickets are all in his hands. He took seven thousand taels of silver from your pawnshop.”
Gu Qinghan was smart and realized something, asking, “Mr. Zhao, do you want to redeem them?”
Zhao Xin smiled. “I pawned them and planned to redeem them. I told Manager Xu that I would come to redeem them in at most one month. Now I have finished my job and haven’t used the silver. I prepare to go back home these days and want to redeem them before I go back. Tonight, Young Master Dou gave me a farewell dinner and we happened to pass by. We heard that there was a fire here, so we specially came to have a look.”
Dou Lianzhong sighed. “My Lady, I can see that you can’t give him the stuff. The things Zhao Xin pawned were passed down by his ancestors. But now they have been burnt, and it would be troublesome.”
Gu Qinghan responded, “Since we are a pawnshop, it’s natural to pawn and redeem anything. Even if the stuff was damaged, as the pawn ticket is here, we will pay as it is said on the pawn ticket.”
“My Lady, it’s not a small amount if you have to pay.” Dou Lianzhong shook his head and sighed. “According to the agreement, if they were all burnt, it would cost you at least fifteen thousand taels of silver to pay. Well… Of course, the family of Marquis of Honor receives the rent of three thousand families and such an amount of money is no big deal.” He glanced at Yang Ning and added, “Since the shop was burnt, and you are busy now, we won’t disturb you anymore. After dawn, we will pay a visit to your mansion.”
Steward Qiu who kept silent all the time finally asked, “Young Master Dou, Mr. Zhao, can you give us more time?”
“More time?” Dou Lianzhong frowned. “What do you mean? Do you want to fall behind with your indemnity?”
Steward Qiu replied in a hurry, “No, we absolutely don’t, but…”
“We just think Mr. Zhao hasn’t had enough fun in the capital city.” Yang Ning suddenly interrupted Steward Qiu and smiled. “Steward Qiu said that out of kindness. If Mr. Zhao wants to redeem them urgently, please come to our mansion tomorrow. We will pay all the indemnity.”
As soon as Yang Ning finished his words, Steward Qiu furrowed his brows and Gu Qinghan was surprised.
“Okay, Your Excellency, you are easy to get along with.” Dou Lianzhong smiled faintly. “So we will visit you tomorrow.” He stared at Gu Qinghan and saluted with a smile. “My Lady, see you tomorrow.” He didn’t say more but led Zhao Xin and the others to leave.
“Your Excellency, you…” Steward Qiu wanted to say something, but he stopped as he saw those shopkeepers whispering to one another not far away.
Yang Ning ordered, “Steward Qiu, please lead all people to clean up here tonight. Thanks a lot. After dawn, send somebody to the Capital Bureau and ask them to dispatch some people to investigate.”
“Investigate?” Steward Qiu was stunned.
Yang Ning sneered. “Don’t you know that somebody set fire? We need some people to investigate thoroughly.”
Steward Qiu opened his mouth, but before he spoke, Gu Qinghan stated, “Steward Qiu, do as His Excellency said. After dawn, send somebody to ask the Capital Bureau to investigate.” She looked at Duan Canghai. “Canghai, stay here and help Steward Qiu cope with the aftermath.”
Duan Canghai answered yes. Gu Qinghan was exhausted and got into the carriage. Before she put down the curtain, Yang Ning also jumped in and then told the coachman to go back to the mansion.
The carriage of the marquis’s family was spacious. They sat down across from each other with one on the left and one on the right. It was dim in the carriage, but Yang Ning had sharp eyes and could see Gu Qinghan clearly. He stated in a low voice, “Aunt, since it happened and we can’t change it, it’s pointless to worry. We have to take one step at a time.”
Gu Qinghan smiled bitterly. “Since General passed away, nothing went on well, and trouble came one after another. The fire tonight is big trouble.” Then she looked at Yang Ning. “Ning, you told Dou Lianzhong to come to our mansion tomorrow. We can’t give out so much silver.”
Yang Ning laughed. “Aunt, do you think it is strange?”
“What do you mean?”
“Zhao Xin pawned some stuff to get seven thousand taels of silver from our pawnshop. Is it a big amount of money?” Yang Ning stared at Gu Qinghan in the dim light and could see her beautiful eyes rolling, which were like water.
Gu Qinghan nodded. “Seven thousand taels of silver is naturally not a small amount of money. I clearly remember this deal with Zhao Xin. At that time, General’s body was being carried back to the capital city in secret, and all people in the mansion didn’t know that he had died of an illness. It happened that a customer came to the pawnshop with a big order, so they took three thousand taels of silver away from the mansion.”
Yang Ning’s eyes were sharp, and he asked, “After the transaction, Gene…Father’s body was sent back to the capital?”
Gu Qinghan sighed. “Right. Then I regretted. If I had known that General passed away and we would arrange the funeral, we shouldn’t have made the deal. But since we signed the contract, we couldn’t break the promise.”
Yang Ning sneered. “Seven thousand taels of silver is not a small amount. Zhao Xin pawned the stuff before Father came back, and when there was a big fire, he came to redeem his stuff. Isn’t it strange?”
“It’s weird.” Gu Qinghan frowned. “And Dou Lianzhong showed up all of a sudden. It is unusual.”
Yang Ning pondered for a while and then asked, “Aunt, you said after Father passed away, nothing went on well in our family. Do you mean that the silver from Jiangling couldn’t be sent in time and there was a fire for no reason and Zhao Xin wanted to redeem his stuff?”
“One more thing, of course. You were almost assassinated in the villa of the Loyalty Cemetery,” Gu Qinghan whispered.
Yang Ning asked softly, “Aunt, don’t you think that everything was not independent but was implicated with one another?”
“Implicated?” Gu Qinghan was astonished. “Ning, why did you say so?”
Yang Ning responded, “I think there is a manipulator behind the scenes who tries to damage our family.”
“A manipulator behind the scenes?”
Yang Ning slightly leaned over Gu Qinghan and whispered, “After the fire was put out, I entered and had a check. Guess what I have found.”
“What?”
“There seemed to be oil stains on the ground of the burnt warehouse,” Yang Ning replied gently.
Gu Qinghan trembled and grabbed Yang Ning’s wrist. “Ning, did you see them clearly? Do you mean that you found oil stains in the warehouse?”
Yang Ning nodded. “I checked carefully, and there were few oil stains. I found them on two or three spots. I smelled it and if I guessed right, it must be the black oil which could burn most easily. This kind of oil would burn in fire. According to what they said, after the fire started in the warehouse, it spread fast, and the whole warehouse was on fire in an instant. It must be because of the black oil.”
Gu Qinghan furrowed her arch brows tightly and calmed down. She thought for a while before saying, “So this fire must have been planned carefully.”
Yang Ning explained, “Perhaps it is true. It might be related to Dou Lianzhong. Even if he didn’t do it, he must be involved.”
“If Dou Lianzhong really did something at the back, they burnt the pawnshop just to get the compensation of more than ten thousand taels of silver?” Gu Qinghan frowned. “It might be not so simple.”
“Aunt, Dou Lianzhong’s father, Dou Kui is the minster of the Ministry of Revenue?” Yang Ning asked. “Did he bear a grudge against our family?”
Gu Qinghan nodded. “Dou Kui was promoted to minister of the Ministry of Revenue six years ago. In fact, a few years ago, when he was the assistant minister, he had connections with General. General was on the battlefield outside, and the money and food were provided by the Ministry of Revenue. Dou Kui had personally sent food to the military camp several times, so he had a good relationship with General. Before he was promoted, General seemed to have spoken for him in front of His Majesty.”
“So Father helped the Dou Family?”
Gu Qinghan expressed gloomily, “The two families were on good terms in the past, but the year before last, General suddenly reported to the imperial court, and then Dou Kui was rebuked by His Majesty at the imperial court and was punished to lose his salary of half a year. I heard that because the food was delivered several days later and General was upright, he reported Dou Kui to His Majesty. From then on, the two families became enemies, but Dou Kui respected General in public.”
“I see.” Yang Ning nodded, as if lost in thought. “So the Dou Family must be involved in this matter, and the fire is not simple.”
“But without any evidence, we can do nothing to them.” Gu Qinghan wrinkled her brows. “Tomorrow Dou Lianzhong would come to our mansion with Zhao Xin. We can’t take out five thousand taels of silver for now, let alone fifteen thousand taels.”
Yang Ning laughed. “Aunt, don’t worry. Since Dou Lianzhong is involved, I will let him move a stone to injury himself.” He looked serious and added coldly, “They try every means to add insult to injury. I am going to see who can laugh at last.”
Seeing that Yang Ning was confident, Gu Qinghan was happy but more worried. She didn’t know how he would handle the compensation of more than ten thousand taels of silver.
