The Incense Monopoly Order

Chapter 72: Incredibly Smooth
"Shi Erchuan, why don't you tell the truth? Why did you hire villagers to go up the mountain and burn the tea trees late at night?" Faced with overwhelming evidence, County Magistrate Gao could not cover up for him.

This matter involved tea trees in several counties and was too biased. Shang Zishu would definitely turn around and find someone else to make the decision for her. If he had known this would happen, it would have been better for Shang Zishu to turn around and leave at the beginning, and he would not have stopped her.

"Sir, I am innocent. I really didn't hire anyone to burn the tea trees late at night." Shi Erchuan was so anxious that he almost cried.

"You hired these people to guard the tea trees on the mountain. Who else would hire them to burn the trees? The people of Shijia Village can still say they're angry about the Shang sisters humiliating them in public yesterday, but the people of the other villages have no connection with the Shang sisters. The tea trees on the mountain are theirs, and they have no problem with them. No one has tempted them, so why did they go up the mountain?" County Magistrate Gao stared coldly at Shi Erchuan. "The villagers of each village have presented the money you hired them to the court as evidence, and the amount is consistent in every village."

"Sir, I only gave you half. The remaining half is not mine." Shi Erchuan was speechless and cried out in injustice, "Where did I get so much money?"

"This is exactly what you need to explain. You're just an ordinary farmer. The combined amount of money from all the villages is more than a hundred strings of silver. How could you possibly come up with such a large sum of money?" Shang Zishu stared at Shi Erchuan aggressively. "Tell me the truth. Who ordered you to do this?"

"I, I, I..." Shi Erchuan really cried, "I, I really didn't... wuwuwu..."

However, the villagers were numerous, and everyone said they had seen Shi Erchuan come looking for them, and they had money as evidence, so Shi Erchuan had no room for excuses: "If you don't confess, don't blame this county for torturing you!"

"Sir, sir, I am innocent. I really didn't..." Shi Erchuan howled in panic.

County Magistrate Gao said solemnly, "Come here, drag him away and give him twenty strokes of the cane. If he refuses to confess, another twenty strokes!"

"My lord, spare my life, my lord, spare your life -"

Shi Erchuan was panicking, but he was still dragged away by the yamen runners. When he was hit by heavy boards, he realized that it was not as easy to endure as he thought. He cried out after taking ten boards, "Sir, I confess, I confess!"

County Magistrate Gao raised his hand to stop the yamen runners. Shi Erchuan was dragged back. Tears streamed down his face, and he could only blame the whole thing on the Shi family's steward: "It was Shi Bing, the steward, who ordered me to do this..."

When Shi Bing was summoned, he personally went to find Shi Erchuan and asked Shi Erchuan to find someone to go up the mountain to guard the tea trees.

He did not give Shi Erchuan money to hire these people to go up the mountain to burn the tea trees. Shi Erchuan knew it, but he could not bear the burden and had no one else to report to, so he could only push it to Shi Bing.

Meeting Shi Bing's questioning gaze, he lowered his head guiltily.

Shi Bing insisted on giving Shi Erchuan only half of the money, and he had no idea where Shi Erchuan got the other half from to burn the tea trees.

"What a joke." Shang Zishu sneered. "What Manager Shi meant was that Shi Erchuan, who wasn't close to your Shi family, unexpectedly got fifty strings of cash, but instead of keeping it for himself, he went up the mountain to burn our Shang family's tea trees for your Shi family. If anyone gets to know this, even a fool would laugh."

Shi Bing was not someone like Shi Erchuan who had never seen the world. He was Shi Houqiong's right-hand man. He knew very well that they had fallen into a trap, a carefully laid net that would not allow them to escape.

But he was unwilling to surrender just like that.

"That's the truth." Shi Bing didn't argue with Shang Zishu, but knelt straight, "I hope you can understand."

Clear observation?

Whenever the Shi family members talked to him, they thought he was biased and shielding them. He couldn't help but start to reflect on whether he had been too indulgent towards Shi Houqiong in the past, so that the Shi family thought that he, the county magistrate, was working for the Shi family?

"Shi Bing, the evidence is conclusive. First, you hired Shi Erchuan to go up the mountain to guard the tea trees. Then Shi Erchuan personally testified that you paid him to hire people to go up the mountain to burn the tea trees. Now, how do you want this county to investigate this matter?" County Magistrate Gao now dislikes the Shi family more than he dislikes the merchants.

"Sir, Shi Erchuan is slandering me!" Shi Bing felt the attitude of County Magistrate Gao and he panicked.

"Slander? I'll let you prove your innocence!" Magistrate Gao was stern and impartial. Shang Zishu looked at him suspiciously, then turned to look at Shi Bing, confirming that this was Shi Houqiong's butler, not theirs.

Did Mr. Gao take the wrong medicine?
Shang Zishu was secretly complaining in her heart.

County Magistrate Gao felt a lump in his throat when he accidentally met Shang Zishu's gaze, which was as if she was possessed by a monster.

The Shang sisters are really good at it!
"Sir, I did meet Shi Erchuan privately yesterday. I was ordered by the head of the family to deliver a message to the villagers guarding the tea trees on the mountain to withdraw. The tea trees have been owned by the merchants. We did not have any other conversations. I haven't seen him since then." Shi Bing's heart sank a little.

"Shi Erchuan, this county would like to ask you, is what Shi Bing said true?"

Shi Erchuan shuddered, grimacing in pain. Reason returned to him. He knew he had just fainted in the pain, but the man had already confessed, and there was no turning back. He could only bite the bullet and say, "Sir, he lied. He paid the common people to encourage the villagers to go up the mountain and burn the tea trees."

"Shi Erchuan!" Shi Bing never thought that one day he would fall into the hands of such an ant whom he despised!
"Sir, look, he threatened me..." Shi Erchuan cried even harder. He just wanted to curry favor with the Shi family and make a few coins, but why was it so difficult? Now there were wolves in front and tigers behind.

Nothing he said seemed to be right.

"Shi Bing, you are provoking the court and refusing to plead guilty. Come, give him thirty strokes of the cane!" County Magistrate Gao directed all his anger at Shi Bing.

"grown ups!"

"Drag him away and beat him!" County Magistrate Gao didn't want to hear a word.

Shi Bing was gagged and beaten with a stick thirty times. His face turned pale and his back was covered in blood.

"Shi Bing, we have both witnesses and evidence. Do you want to plead guilty?" asked County Magistrate Gao.

Shi Bing was a tough guy: "Sir...I am innocent!"

"Come on, keep beating him until he confesses!" County Magistrate Gao and Shi Bing started arguing.

Shang Zishu: ???

Suddenly she felt useless, which was different from what she expected.

Shouldn't it be that County Magistrate Gao favored the Shi family in every way, so she argued with the county magistrate in the court and killed everyone.

Could it be that County Magistrate Gao was really possessed by some evil creature, and his personality had completely changed, which made her a little scared.

County Magistrate Gao really beat Shi Bing, but Shi Bing was really stubborn and was knocked unconscious. County Magistrate Gao then had cold water poured on him, and when he woke up, he continued to beat him. Shi Bing finally passed out and even the cold water couldn't wake him up.

It was only after the doctor at the county government office said that if he continued to beat him, someone would die that County Magistrate Gao took the man into custody and waited for Shi Bing to wake up before retrial.

Shang Zishu left in a daze, and even when she got home, she hadn't come to her senses yet. The first thing she said when she saw Shang Mingshu was, "Third sister, do you think County Magistrate Gao and Shi Bing are colluding to put on this drama?"

(End of this chapter)