Chapter 1512: A Measure of Rice Given in Kindness, a Whole Peck Becomes the Seed of Hatred

"That explanation of yours will never pass muster in court. The higher-ups will think you're deliberately defying the law, stringing along the court, and showing contempt for the laws of Great Qian. You'll be beaten half to death. The yamen runners in the hall are not people you want to provoke. They hit without any sense of measure, and it's the height of summer right now. Think about it yourself—your injured legs, bared to the air, crawling with maggots…"

"Enough!"

Chen Chen Guanlou's words had hit far too hard.

That image—just hearing about it, let alone thinking it through in detail, made his whole body clench with the urge to retch.

Qiu Gui was scared sheet-white, like a man on his deathbed.

He panted hard, saying nothing. His gaze was terrifying, like a man shocked past all endurance.

Chen Chen Guanlou, afraid the man would slip back into his dazed state, shut his mouth and stopped needling him.

Once the other's emotions had mostly settled, he went on: "You're an official too. Even if you've never handled a case, you should know perfectly well what officials are like. What you just said will only earn you a harsher reprimand and heavier punishment. It won't do your own situation, or your family's situation, the slightest bit of good."

"My family… my Pan Pan Niangzi and the children—are they all right?"

"Locked up in the women's cell next door. Still alive for now." Chen Chen Guanlou's tone was ice-cold.

Qiu Gui hung his head, refusing stubbornly to speak.

Chen Chen Guanlou clicked his tongue and sighed. He'd seen plenty of prisoners like this. Some were utterly disheartened, wanting to say nothing, only to be released from it all as quickly as possible. Some were hiding things in their hearts, afraid that the more they said, the more mistakes they'd make. Some were simply guilty at the core, and so didn't dare speak.

Qiu Gui had all three, and who knew how much he was hiding inside.

His motive for killing Dou Anzhi was unclear.

The motive for slaughtering the entire Dou family could be explained as the need to keep his identity from being exposed.

Letting Dou Shu live could be explained as being for the sake of her dowry.

Then what about Dou Anzhi?

Such a good man, who had never been harsh to those around him—why was he killed? What on earth was the hidden story?

"The five servants who killed people with you back then—are they still alive?" Chen Chen Guanlou tossed the question out casually.

Qiu Gui seemed utterly stunned, unable to believe it. "You've even dug up this. Something from over a decade ago—how could you possibly find that out?"

"Geese leave a sound as they pass, people leave a trace as they go! As long as one wants to investigate, there's always some thread to pull. The shops along the route back then are still open, and their impression of you lot is quite vivid. After all, a young manservant who looks so much like the young master isn't a common sight. Besides, Dou Anzhi was very flashy back then—it would have been impossible not to leave an impression."

Qiu Gui gave a cold, mirthless laugh, neither confirming nor denying.

"You didn't deny it. So the five missing servants also took part in the killing, is that right?" Chen Chen Guanlou coaxed him along gently. "Who actually struck first? How did you rouse them into joining your murder plan?"

"How do you know it was a planned killing?" Qiu Gui shot back.

Chen Chen Guanlou lifted a brow and smiled. He wasn't afraid of the man firing back questions—only of him clamping his jaws shut and refusing to speak.

Once the mouth opened, the truth would one day see the light.

"You couldn't have just suddenly decided to kill someone. I forgot to tell you—we've already found Dou Anzhi's body, and the body of his loyal servant."

"You people…" Qiu Gui's face changed. He had never imagined that, more than ten years on, they could still find the bodies.

"Impossible! That's impossible! How could you possibly have found the bodies?"

"Were you under the impression that your affairs were suddenly exposed?"

"Weren't they?" Qiu Gui stared fixedly at Chen Chen Guanlou.

Chen Chen Guanlou said mockingly: "So you'll die knowing the truth. Half a year ago, someone had already begun investigating you. Only after every detail was uncovered, and witnesses and evidence secured, did the morning-court impeachment happen. The impeachment of you wasn't some spur-of-the-moment, slap-on-the-head decision—it was planned for a long time."

Qiu Gui's face twisted savagely. He howled, "Who on earth is trying to ruin me? I've always been careful and thorough in my dealings, and I've never offended anyone. Why investigate me? Why try to harm me?"

"Of course it's the wronged spirits of the Dou family investigating you."

"Don't try to fob me off with that kind of talk. If the dead really had vengeful ghosts, why have I never once dreamed of Dou Anzhi over all these years? Someone is deliberately targeting me. Who? Warden Chen, tell me—I have money."

"Are you sure you have money?" Chen Chen Guanlou's expression was somewhere between a smile and a smirk as he looked the man up and down. At a time like this, still spouting nothing but lies.

If he hadn't been investigated, he might actually have believed it. It's only natural for an official to be rich! Who would suspect an official's finances?

"Of course I have money. Everything of the Dou family is mine."

"If you have money, why are you still hankering after Dou Shu's mother's dowry?"

Qiu Gui ground his teeth. "She's just a slip of a girl. A dowry of a few thousand taels is plenty respectable. I raised her all those years—taking a little compensation isn't too much to ask, is it? You can't really mean to hand over her dead mother's entire dowry to her—what a joke. A girl from a good family, with that much dowry—watch out she'll burst!"

"Poor is poor—what's the point of dragging up so many excuses. You really think no one knows the state of the Dou household these days? Oh, wait—that's not the Dou household, that's the Qiu household. It's your, Qiu Gui's, home."

Qiu Gui was seething, his face dark as iron. "That is the Dou household. It's the residence Dou Anzhi personally bought back then. I saw with my own eyes him settling the handover with the previous owner."

"Did you follow him when he went to get the money?" Chen Chen Guanlou asked, affecting a casual air.

Qiu Gui shook his head. "He ordered me to stay in the residence and keep an eye on the household goods. Just a bunch of Ben Zhong pieces of wood—what was there to see? He took Fuquan to withdraw the money and handle the paperwork at the yamen. He didn't take me."

"The servant you lot killed—was his name Fuquan?"

"I was his study boy, yet the person he trusted most was Fuquan. For something that important, he'd rather take Fuquan than me. He thought I knew nothing, but in fact I understood everything. He simply looked down on me."

Qiu Gui roared, every word brimming with resentment toward Dou Anzhi.

Chen Chen Guanlou shook his head and smiled. At a time like this, still trying to sling mud at Dou Anzhi in a mad attempt to lighten his own sins—utterly sick in the head.

He only asked one thing: "As his study boy, why is your insight so shallow?"

He was genuinely curious.

Qiu Gui had stayed by Dou Anzhi's side. Even if they didn't eat and sleep together, the treatment he received was at least that of a half young master. With such favor, where did such a heavy streak of malice come from?

Not a trace of gratitude toward the Dou family, not a trace of gratitude toward Dou Anzhi—every word was nothing but fury and hatred.

Did Dou Anzhi kill his entire family or something?

Chen Chen Guanlou laughed coldly. A measure of rice given in kindness, a whole peck becomes the seed of hatred—the old saying never lies!

And this was someone bound by a contract of sale.

Those without a contract of sale—wouldn't they be even more vicious?

"On what grounds do you say my insight is shallow!" Qiu Gui's face was full of defiance, his malice so heavy it was rarely seen in an offending official. It looked far more like the prisoners in the third-rank cell!

Chen Chen Guanlou explained: "You said those household goods were all Ben Zhong pieces of wood, meaning they're worthless. But do you know that the Ben Zhong goods you speak of, taken outside, might not fetch a fortune, but could still be traded for a thousand-odd taels of silver?"

"So what? Compared to the Dou family's wealth, that bit of money is nothing."

Tsk, tsk…

"Dou family's money isn't yours, yet you're complaining about it. You really are..." — beyond words.