Chapter 17

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

As soon as Liu Yuanqing finished speaking, many people responded.

“Yes, that’s what we should do. Torture him. I’m sure he’ll confess.”

“Hao Jiyong is driving us to our deaths by doing this. Why should we be polite to him?”

“Everyone, listen to Steward Liu. We’ll take down that bastard Hao Jiyong now.”

After the verbal attack was useless, everyone prepared to use force under Liu Yuanqing’s instigation.

Seeing this scene, Hao Jiyong’s wife and daughter stood in front of Hao Jiyong to prevent the villagers from taking him away. They defended Hao Jiyong with tears streaming down their faces.

“Uncles and sisters, don’t you know what kind of person my husband is? He has never taken a needle or thread from anyone all these years and has even helped you a lot. He definitely didn’t do this. He can’t do such a crazy thing.”

“Daddy didn’t steal anything. Don’t arrest Daddy. Boohoo.”

“My father has worked in the warehouse for so long, but he doesn’t even take advantage of it. Why would he steal those precious herbs? Let my father go.”

Looking at the miserable family, Song Ankang frowned. “Are you preparing to force a confession? If Hao Jiyong can’t stand it and confess, what will happen?”

“Erm…” Qiu Shi hesitated for a moment before saying seriously, “According to the clan rules, stealing so many precious herbs will affect the payment of taxes this year. They will definitely be beaten to death, even if they report it to the authorities.”

“I’ll be killed like this…” Song Ankang was stunned. He didn’t expect to be beaten and killed just for stealing something. The rules here were too cruel.

However, when he thought about the possible impact of doing so, he wondered how many people would starve to death this year. Song Ankang understood a little more.

However, without concrete evidence that Hao Jiyong was behind this, Song Ankang could not accept that he would be forced to confess and lose his life.

Even if it was the rule of this place that thieves were killed, they still had to let people die in plain sight.

Therefore, even if his next move might make his reputation in Chaoyun Manor even worse, he might even be sued to the Tang Manor in the capital.

If he could not prove Hao Jiyong’s innocence, he might lose his position as the manor master of Chaoyun Manor. However, Song Ankang still decided to do so.

After all, he was the owner of Chaoyun Tianzhuang. In theory, he could decide anything in Chaoyun Manor, and he also had the right to decide the matters in Chaoyun Manor, let alone kill someone.

Song Ankang couldn’t just watch Hao Jiyong die, and then his family would be destroyed. It would be difficult for Hao Jiyong’s family, who had lost their pillar, to survive this cruel year.

Song Ankang could not bear to see the two crying children and the delicate-looking woman.

So Song Ankang walked firmly towards Hao Jiyong and his family, who were being torn apart.

Even if he was wrong this time, with his special physique, there would always be a moment when Song Ankang would soar into the sky. It would not be worth it if his heart was covered in dust because of this matter.

“Stop!”

The clear voice was the only counter-current at this time and immediately attracted everyone’s attention. When they saw that it was their new owner who shouted this, many people frowned, especially Liu Yuanqing.

Even though everyone disdained Song Ankang’s ability to manage the farmstead, the title of the number one filial son in the capital was enough to make everyone stop pulling Hao Jiyong and look at him indifferently.

Behind him, Jiang Yunhe was also surprised by Song Ankang’s sudden action. A faint look of approval flashed across his eyes.

“My Lord, what are you doing?” Liu Yuanqing braced himself and asked. Clearly, what happened a few days ago had traumatized him.

Song Ankang glanced at the surrounding farmers and looked at Liu Yuanqing. “You want to conclude that Hao Jiyong was behind the theft of the warehouse just because of some personal speculation and imagination. Is there no other conclusive evidence?”

“Conclusive evidence?” Liu Yuanqing was stunned. “What conclusive evidence? Isn’t this conclusive?”

Song Ankang was speechless. “The conclusive evidence I’m talking about is whether anyone witnessed Hao Jiyong stealing the precious herbs in the storeroom or discovered the key he stole?”

“This… No.” Liu Yuanqing shook his head. “But he has the motive to steal the precious herbs in the storeroom. At the same time, he has been staying out at night for the past half a month or so. In addition, someone saw him selling a ten-year-old ginseng. Isn’t this all evidence? It’s enough to confirm that he was the one who did this.”

Song Ankang frowned. “I remember that the storeroom is guarded around the clock, especially at the main door. Since you said that Hao Jiyong opened the door to steal precious herbs by stealing the matching key, can’t the guards see it?”

“Uh…” Liu Yuanqing looked embarrassed and hesitated to speak. However, someone in the crowd quickly answered for him.

“In the past few months, there haven’t been any more staff assigned to the storeroom to watch over it at night because another monthly allowance will have to be made. Manager Liu canceled it if he felt it was a waste.”

Song Ankang looked at Yuanqing. “Is that so?”

“I’ve been managing the warehouse for many years, and it hasn’t been stolen in the past ten years, so… so I felt that night care was useless, so I canceled it.” Sweat appeared on Yuanqing’s forehead.

Song Ankang sneered. “In that case, you should be responsible for the theft of the warehouse, right? And why didn’t you report this matter? Or do you think guarding the warehouse is a small matter and there’s no need to report it, so you can make a decision on your own?”

“Please forgive me, Manor Lord. This is all my fault. Please punish me.” Liu Yuanqing’s face was ashen. He knew that he was quite responsible for this matter, so he wanted to solve the case as soon as possible. It would be best if he could recover the precious herbs that had been stolen. Otherwise, the family’s punishment would definitely not be light.

After all, even though there were not many stolen medicinal herbs, they were all the most precious batch. The worst was a ten-year-old ginseng, which was equivalent to about 10% of the harvest of the Chaoyun Manor in the normal year.

Seeing that Liu Yuanqing had admitted his mistake, Song Ankang sneered. “Let’s talk about the punishment later. Let me ask you, after discovering that Hao Jiyong was selling ten-year-old ginseng, did you ask the shop he was selling? Did Hao Jiyong sell any other precious herbs to them?”

“No.” Yuanqing shook his head. “We’ve already checked with the pharmacies in Tongxin Town. Hao Jiyong only sold a ten-year-old ginseng in one of the pharmacies. The other herbs were not sold in Tongxin Town. They should be sold in other places that we don’t know about to avoid being discovered by us.”

Song Ankang smiled. “Since Hao Jiyong has such a secret selling channel, why did he go to the pharmacy in Tongxin Town to sell a ten-year-old ginseng openly? Is there something wrong with his brain or yours?”