"Housekeeper Wang, This Lady gave you the chance to come clean, but you just wasted the opportunity This Lady gave you. Do not blame This Lady for being unmerciful."
XuanRong glared at Housekeeper Wang who was sitting with his butt on the floor. She did not care that the old man was bleeding on his forehead as she continued to look at him disdainfully.
"I gave you the chance, but you shamelessly denied everything. Housekeeper Wang, do you really view This Lady as an idiotic girl who knows nothing? Let me tell you, I, XuanRong, am not the same person as before.
Ha! Did you really think that you were able to hide the misdeeds you've done for years inside this manor?"
*step*
*step*
*step*
XuanRong slowly made her way towards Housekeeper Wang. Carrying another book, she calmly recited the words written inside the book.
"Year of the Ox, XingYue [1]. Total profit, three hundred and twenty gold coins. Year of the Ox, TaoYue [2]. Total profit, four hundred and five gold coins. Year of the Ox, HuaiYue [3]. Total profit, three hundred and thirty-seven gold coins. Ah? How come the profit written here all exceeded more than three hundred gold coins?"
When XuanRong reached Housekeeper Wang, she leaned forward and showed the shop manager's signature and thumb mark at the bottom of the paper.
"Tell me Housekeeper Wang, how can you explain why the accounting records you gave me only have fifty to a hundred gold coins per month as the total profit from the shop? Where did the other gold coins go?"
Housekeeper Wang paled but he refused to yield. He gritted his teeth and disregarded the throbbing sensation he felt on his forehead. He slowly stood up, trying to stabilize his footing. He stared at XuanRong and stubbornly denied her allegation.
"Da XiaoJie. This old servant really doesn't recognize these books. This old servant already gave you the accounting records. Those accounting records were not falsified by this old servant! This old servant doesn't know anything! Someone must have thought of framing this old servant! This old servant was framed! This old servant is innocent!"
XuanRong sneered with contempt. Housekeeper Wang repeatedly insisted that someone was scheming to frame him. There was no need to point out who that 'someone' was. Even before his final struggle, Housekeeper Wang was still very shameless.
"Oh? Then who do you think schemed behind your back to frame you? Could you be thinking that it was This Lady who planned everything?"
XuanRong laughed.
"You think highly of yourself, Housekeeper Wang. A mere servant like you is not worthy of my time and effort. If I want to, I can even dispose you with just a flick of my hand and destroy your line with just a snap of my fingers."
When Housekeeper Wang heard the words 'destroy your line', his countenance twisted as if he was suddenly struck by lightning. His face turned ashen.
'No! Did she know something? Impossible!'
Seeing the horror in Housekeeper Wang's eyes, XuanRong felt delighted.
She turned and slowly walked back towards the table, returning the book on the top of the stack.
"WANG-MIN-JUE."
Housekeeper Wang once again fell on the ground. His body shook, coupled with the bloodstain on his clothes, he looked so pitiful that one couldn't help but sympathize with him.
"H-how... h-how---"
"How did I find your 'hidden' son? Housekeeper Wang ah, you certainly cannot hide smoke [4]."
Housekeeper Wang snapped himself out of trance and immediately kowtowed in front of XuanRong.
*baam!*
*baam!*
*baam!*
"This old servant begs Da XiaoJie!"
XuanRong did not respond. She only laughed disdainfully towards Housekeeper Wang.
'Hah! Continue and beg... no matter what you do, your fate has been sealed.'
In her previous lifetime, Housekeeper Wang played a huge role in staining her name. Although her life was spared since she was able to hide herself away from those men, her reputation took all the hit and reached the bottom. Aside from that, the years she spent in Lu Shan felt like she was living in hell.
Now that it was Housekeeper Wang's turn to grovel beneath her, how can XuanRong back down and forgive him?
N-E-V-E-R.
Not an ounce of pity could be seen in her eyes.
"You are not a free folk. You are nothing but a slave that was bought and was groomed to be a servant. According to Qian Zou's law, your children should also bear the standing of a slave and should be working under XiangFu. How come your son was living like a noble man in a distant village near Lu Shan? Hah! You dare hide his existence! What a good slave! You dare and deceive Er Niang [5] and the whole Xuan Family? Embezzling money from the treasury and shop, hiding your son to avoid the status of a servant and bullying the master... Housekeeper Wang ah, don't you know that all of your crimes are punishable by death?"
Housekeeper Wang could only kowtow repeatedly.
"This old servant is willing to accept Da XiaoJie's punishment, but this old servant hopes that Da XiaoJie will be magnanimous enough to let Jue'er go. This old servant is willing to do everything."
Housekeeper Wang truly loved his only son. When he was young, he raped a poor maiden and impregnated her. After the poor maiden died due to childbirth, he bribed someone to hide and take good care of his son. He raised him using the money from the manor, away from the status of a slave. That was the reason why his son, Jue'er, was living like a noble man.
Having a status of a Young Lord from a small village into a lowly slave of Xuan Family, working day and night in XiangFu in a blink of an eye... how could his son withstand the massive blow?
"Let him go? Someone like him who loves to terrorize the poor villagers, who harasses females with lowly background and rapes poor maiden against their will--- tell me Housekeeper Wang, is your son a human or a demon?"
XuanRong hated those kinds of scumbags who only thought of their lower half. Being a subject of humiliation in her previous life, XuanRong pitied those women who fell under Wang Min Jue's hands. A dirty scum like him should not live any longer and pollute the world.
Housekeeper Wang swallowed his arrogance and continued to kowtow in front of XuanRong, dyeing the floor red with his blood.
"Asking forgiveness and mercy is already useless. I gave you a rope to hold onto, but you cut it like a righteous person. Ah! That's right, you asked where would This Lady get the money to sustain the manor? Well, since you and your son colluded with each other and embezzled a huge amount of money for years, This Lady will not be polite and will seize everything you have stolen from this manor. You and your son will rot in jail. Don't worry, This Lady will not separate both of you, consider this as my parting gift and your son's filial piety."
"No!! Da XiaoJie----!!!" Before Housekeeper Wang could finish his plea, Zou mama's voice rang outside the outer room of the courtyard.
"Da XiaoJie, this is Zou mama. Magistrate Fu's subordinates are here to arrest Housekeeper Wang."
[PLEASE ADOPT ME \(T^T)/ and DONATE @ paypal.me/sayurihyuuga]
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[1]. Second Month/Apricot Month
[2]. Third Month/Peach Month
[3]. Fourth Month/Locust Tree Month
[4]. Bisaya old saying: "Wala'y aso nga makomkom." Which means "You cannot hide your secrets forever." (Can't think of a better English translation LOL!)
[5]. Second Mother
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Edited and Proofread by: Prikkrang and Supremetobs