Chapter 139 questioning

   "You all say that, what did the second master do?"

  Zhao Shen came out, looking at the servants with a serious face.

  Seeing that the uncle came back, everyone fell to their knees in fright, stammering and shouting: "Master!"

   "Master, please forgive me..."

   Zhao Shen ignored their panic, his face was calm, his eyes were stern, and he asked in a cold voice: "What happened during these days when I was not at home?"

  Everyone trembled in fright, bowed their heads and dared not speak.

  Zhao Shen frowned, pointed to a servant who was closest to him, and shouted: "Tell me, tell me the truth, if there is even half of it adulterated, I will kill you!"

   "Master, please spare me! The little one said, the little one said..." The boy raised his head and looked at the old man tremblingly, supported his knees with trembling hands, swallowed and said, "Second Master, it's Second Master."

  The boy told Zhao Er all the crimes he had done this year, how many people were killed by the Zhao family's carriage, how many people were tortured to death in the underground secret room, how many people were bullied and weak to seek money everywhere, bullied the old and weak women, and so on.

  Zhao Shen clenched his fist when he heard the back, his face was cold and gloomy, and his voice was extremely cold: "Where is the second child?"

  The little servant was so frightened that he hurriedly lowered his head and replied, "The second master is, in the wife's room."

  Zhao Shen didn't speak, and walked straight to the inner courtyard, his whole body couldn't hide the coldness.

  The servants breathed a sigh of relief after the uncle left, and then whispered to each other.

   "You said, the uncle is back, is the Zhao family saved?" said a young man.

  Another elderly woman said in a low voice: "It's not certain, the uncle works beside the county magistrate, maybe he can save the second master, let's be careful what we say."

   "Let's go, let's do our own things..."

  …

The inner court,

  Zhao Er lay on the bed with a bruised face and a swollen nose. If you look carefully at the exposed skin, there are inch-long scratch marks everywhere, with dark red scabs.

  Besides, a fat woman with round pearls and jade was feeding him with a bowl of medicine.

   "Second Master, I drank the medicine."

  Zhao Er opened his mouth when he heard that, but he spit out the bitter medicine in an instant, and cursed in a weak voice: "Bah, which old **** prescribed the medicine for me, maybe he did it on purpose when I fell down."

  The woman hurriedly wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, and explained in a panic: "Master, there are high-quality ginseng in it. You have hurt your vitality, and the injury is so serious. You have to drink the herbal medicine even if it is bitter."

   Zhao Er looked a little impatient, thinking about the discovery of so many foreign debts he owed and the official salt, he grabbed the woman's hand and asked, "Did you write to your father, and haven't you received a reply yet?"

The woman's eyes were a little dodgy, and she said with a stiff smile: "I went to the letter, and I may come back in two days. My father loves me, so naturally I won't let your son-in-law be arrested. The housekeeper will definitely come with money, and you Take care of yourself."

  Zhao Er heard no doubts, smiled and patted Madam's hand, and said weakly: "Thank you Madam, I will remember your kindness, and I will treat you well in the future."

  The two were talking when suddenly the door was kicked open.

  The maid at the door did not dare to stop, Zhao Shen walked in wearing a brocade robe with empty hands.

   Zhao Er, who was lying on the bed, couldn't see who came in, and when he heard such a big commotion, he yelled: "Who doesn't have eyes, dare to disturb the Lord, pull it out and reward the top ten boards!"

  The woman saw clearly that the man had hurriedly covered her husband's mouth, and stammered to explain: "Second master, it is the uncle who is back."

  Zhao Er was shocked, his face flashed a look of panic, he waved away the woman's hand, and hastily leaned on the bed to look sideways.

   What caught my eyes was the elder brother's extremely cold face and gloomy expression.

  Zhao Er's heart skipped a beat, and he called weakly, "Brother."

  Zhao Shen looked at the appearance of other people, ghosts and ghosts, glanced at his sister-in-law and said indifferently: "Siblings and sisters go to the next room to rest, I have something to say to my second brother."

   "Okay, then, then I'll make tea."

  The woman got up and reluctantly glanced at her husband, smiled bluntly with her elder brother, and went out with her head down.

  The woman went out and closed the door intimately.

  The room was quiet for a while, Zhao Er felt the anger of his eldest brother, and hurriedly supported the pillar beside the bed and sat up tremblingly.

   "Brother, listen to my explanation, I, I have difficulties."

   "Let's talk." Zhao Shen pulled the stool beside him over, threw off his robe and sat down.

  Seeing this, Zhao Er became more and more nervous, sweating on his forehead, and the stabbed wound suddenly started to hurt.

"Brother, someone must have messed up the sinking of the ship. Otherwise, how could all three ships sink? As for the private sale of official salt, I really don't know about it. "

  Zhao Shen raised his hand and dropped a teacup, staring at him fiercely and said: "A small shopkeeper dares to buy and sell official salt. Now, you still dare to fool me. Are officials really vegetarians?"

   Zhao Er was frightened, the elder brother was the person he had been afraid of since he was a child, he wiped his sweat when he saw the eyes of his elder brother holding back his anger.

"Brother, I blame my brother-in-law for this matter. He took me to a gambling house, and I lost a lot of money. I think they have a shady scene, but my brother-in-law insisted on guaranteeing me with a big air. My brother-in-law also lost money, plus the previous total of 6,000 taels of silver."

"Although my brother-in-law is the head of the pavilion, his pocket is cleaner than his face. The younger sister begged me crying, saying that the people in the gambling shop wanted to go to the county town to report my brother-in-law to the county magistrate. Naturally, I couldn't just sit idly by, but I couldn't afford so much at the moment." Cash, accidentally met a person on the street that day who said he had refined salt, so I made a deal with him, and the refined salt was very profitable, and I made 10,000 taels of silver in just a few days."

"But, I didn't know until later that it was an official salt. The man threatened me. I was riding a tiger. I was afraid that it would affect your official career, brother-in-law, and my brother-in-law's official younger sister would be sad, so I concealed it. But, I don't know who Let the secret out."

  Zhao Er rubbed his hands together, not daring to look at his elder brother.

Seeing how stupid he was, Zhao Shen stood up abruptly, raised his finger and shouted at him: "The Zhao family has a great business, and they receive a lot of silver taels every day. You don't need your food, you don't need your clothes, and you don't need your money. You have to get into these things with a long brain!"

  Zhao Er bowed his head when he heard this, and only dared to say in a low voice: "Brother, I was wrong."

   "Are you wrong? Apart from these, what other unreasonable things have you done." Zhao Shen's tone was a little cold.

  Zhao Er hurriedly shook his head and said with a smile, "No more, nothing else."

  Thinking of what the servant said, Zhao Shen asked, "Didn't you commit murder or arson?"

  Zhao Er shook his head without thinking, "No, how could I do those things."

  When Zhao Shen heard about it, he grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the ground.

   "Ah! It hurts so much—" Zhao Er took a deep breath while clutching the ruptured wound.

  (end of this chapter)