958 The Vaul (1/2)

Gao Yang danced about in excitement, the chains around him jingling. \”Yes. You were the one who hired me to kill that guy. Now I have evidence. You're the Dragon King's man, right?\”

Duan Zihua shook his head apathetically. \”No.\”

Having not detected the bad omen in this simple answer, Meng Mingshu explained aloud in lieu of his old servant. \”He's a servant of my family. The Dragon King coerced him into assisting him from inside to steal the Meng family's money. From then on, he's been working for the Dragon King all along. Duan Zihua, tell them the truth.\”

Duan Zihua turned around and kowtowed to his young master respectfully.

Meng Mingshu was confused. \”Duan Zihua, stand up and talk. Didn't you say that you had a terrible conscience and wanted to come back to serve me again? Aren't you worried that the Dragon King might kill you to keep that thing a secret forever? Well, the Governor of the Western Regions is here. Nobody will dare to hurt you.\”

Pang Jing looked around with a confused look, as if Meng Mingshu had just told a big joke. All those present were prudent and observant people, and they all had a premonition that misfortune was going to strike this very person.

Meng Mingshu didn't notice the look on the Governor's face, so he continued urging the old man with absolute confidence. \”Duan Zihua, I'm counting on you to help me rejuvenate the Meng family.\”

With a natural look on his face, Duan Zihua stood up, took two steps backwards, and said in a sonorous voice, as if he had fulfilled all his responsibilities towards the Meng family with the former two kowtows. \”Master, I have old parents to serve as well as young children to raise in my family, so I can't help you cheat other people any longer. The Dragon King didn't rob the Meng family. Nobody robbed the Meng family. You've been hiding all of the gold and silver ingots in the old mansion of the Meng family this whole time. Nobody has ever touched it.\”

It was totally quiet in the hall. Everybody knew that a single casual remark of theirs, that even a glance from them might bring unpredictably dire consequences upon their heads at this moment. They all knew that, before the situation became clear, their best choice was to act dumb.

\”Ha-ha.\” Gao Yang dissolved into laughter, finding it very interesting that everybody in the hall looked like statues. \”Nonsense. Everybody knows that the Meng family's money is in the Dragon King's hands. Didn't Wu Xuan get a gold ingot from the Dragon King?\”

Duan Zihua deliberately avoided his master's eyes as he said, \”I put that gold ingot in Wu Xuan's hand to attract everyone's attention, and then I framed the Dragon King. This was Meng Mingshu's plan. I-\”

Upon hearing his name come out from his servant's lips, Meng Mingshu appeared as if somebody had just punched him in the face. Finally, he realized what was going on. He had fallen into a huge trap but had no idea who had set it. He had bet all he had on this but lost everything. Desperate, he abruptly pounced onto Duan Zihua. \”Cheap servant! You stabbed me in the back! The Dragon King. You and the Dragon King…\”

Duan Zihua had prepared himself. Drawing back step by step, he quickly said, \”Back then, the old master had just died, and you were afraid that your status was at stake, and that you would have to share the family assets with other family members. Thus, you faked the robbery. Everybody says that the Dragon King did that. The Dragon King didn't deny it, and you were also glad that someone else had accepted the responsibility for it. But you couldn't stand living a hard life, and the family property had already been divided anyways. You were eager to use the money, so you framed the Dragon King again in order to rightfully…\”

For those who had sharp eyes, the situation was clear enough, so four or five people walked up to Meng Mingshu. They seemed to be trying to persuade him, but they were actually restraining him. They didn't even let him speak, while on the other hand, Duan Zihua was under no such restraints.

The old servant of the Meng family had disclosed \”the truth about the subterfuge,\” but the others felt that his remarks had been intended to exculpate the Dragon King.

The more Meng Mingshu heard, the angrier he became. Abruptly, he gathered all his strength and freed himself from the several people's arms. \”I'll kill you-\” Somebody suddenly hit him hard on the back of his waist. Meng Mingshu fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth, unable to speak anymore.

The entire hall descended into chaos. Pang Jing stepped forward and loudly said, \”Quiet. Quiet. Listen to me. That things went this way… is really surprising. I believe the Dragon King from the very beginning, but this Duan Zihua's words were too incredible. It was very difficult for me to believe him.\”

\”Didn't he say that the Meng family's money is still out there? Let's go and find out whether he was telling the truth,\” somebody yelled, believing that nobody would oppose his suggestion.

Pang Jing flicked an unnatural glance at the Dragon King and then asked Duan Zihua, \”The Meng family's money is still there?\”

\”Exactly.\”

\”That can't be true. I came here late, but I also heard that all the Second Young Master Meng got was the Bodhi Garden when they divided the family property. Both the old mansion and the vault should have been assigned to his grandmother. Wasn't that true?\”

\”That was a cover-up. Meng Mingshu has already purchased the old mansion in someone else's name.\”

\”Let's go to the Meng family!\”

\”Go to the old mansion!\”

…

Everybody was excited, generating empathy with their respective roles. But the Dragon King, who was the most important person involved in this situation, remained indifferent. His role was the simplest one. All he needed to do was quietly accept everything that had happened in this hall. As long as he didn't deny anything, then he would be deemed to have cooperated with Pang Jing.

So far, Pang Jing had been acting like an ethical merchant. He had taken advantage of the Dragon King's reputation, but had also given him the compensation that he deserved.

There would surely be rumors that the Dragon King had incited Duan Zihua to frame his master, which was a price that the Dragon King would have to pay. He had already gained the reputation of a robber anyways, so this kind of rumor wouldn't do much harm.

But Meng Mingshu had lost the bet and all his \”family assets\” now belonged to the Dragon King, which could be counted as a gift given to the Dragon King by the Governor.

Gu Shenwei knew that he would eventually have to give half of the money to Pang Jing according to the agreement.

Somebody took the lead and dozens followed. Even Meng Mingshu, who was lying unconscious on the ground, was dragged away by a couple other people.