Chapter 1513: Could Warden Chen Be Hou Fu's Dog?

"Why shouldn't I be disgusted? I have knowledge, I have breeding—anyone who sees me out and about assumes I'm the young master of the Dou family. And I've often impersonated Dou Anzhi, going out to socialize with unimportant people on his behalf. Of course I should be disgusted!"

"Because you've been impersonating the young master for so long, you've grown ambitions of taking his place?" Chen Chen Guanlou probed.

Qiu Gui only smiled mysteriously. "I won't tell you! Guess all you want, I won't tell you. If you ask me why I killed him, I'll say the same thing: I'm a base, petty man, I'm insatiably greedy, I wanted more."

He wore a proud, self-satisfied look, as though he greatly enjoyed being able to toy with others.

Chen Chen Guanlou nodded in understanding. "So this is your true face. That steady, composed Lord Dou—that was your act. Your real nature is a petty man drunk on small successes, smug in his petty cleverness. How nice."

"Nonsense! I'm a man of great wisdom. If I'd only had petty cleverness, how could I have fooled everyone for over a decade? The Dou family are clever people, and yet weren't they all led around by the nose by me, all dead! Ha ha ha… all dead! Great wisdom couldn't beat my petty cleverness. Warden Chen, you tell me—who's clever and who's stupid!"

"You're stupid!" Chen Chen Guanlou mocked. "You relied on petty cleverness plus a face that closely resembled Dou Anzhi's to slip through. Without that face, you'd be nothing! Your petty cleverness would have been seen through long ago."

"Nonsense! You don't know anything, don't talk nonsense!" Qiu Gui broke down; he absolutely refused to admit he was a fool.

For all these years, his proudest achievement was taking Dou Anzhi's place—truly a masterstroke.

And over a dozen years, he had never been exposed.

His sense of accomplishment was overflowing.

And it was precisely because of this sense of accomplishment that, when Lady Chu had urged him to flee back then, he had refused.

He firmly believed that since he'd managed to get through the first few years—the years when he was most likely to be exposed—he could do it again. He'd been Dou Anzhi for over a decade already; this time would be no different.

Who could have expected that Inspector Liu would suddenly appear and impeach him, exposing his true face.

After more than a decade of effort, everything came to nothing in the end.

He threw his head back and roared at the sky, his fury beyond words.

He wanted to kill Inspector Liu!

That Liu bastard—what grudge, what grievance—why must he harm him?

He had lost to bad luck, not to intelligence! He was cleverer than everyone; he was the one with true great wisdom.

Chen Chen Guanlou knows jackshit about wisdom!

A mere little warden who has never even set foot in officialdom—what right does he have to judge him?

A wild thought suddenly popped into Chen Chen Guanlou's head. "Could it be that because of this face, you deluded yourself into thinking you were also a member of the Dou family?"

Qiu Gui said nothing, but his eyes were especially fierce and venomous.

Seeing this, Chen Chen Guanlou had a sudden revelation. "You must have had someone verify it, and the answer wasn't what you wanted—you're not a Dou family member, right? You asked your mother, asked your father, maybe even asked Dou Anzhi's father and mother, and they all denied it, didn't they? You couldn't accept it—and that's the source of the hatred? The same face, yet utterly different fates!"

Qiu Gui still said nothing, but his eyes betrayed everything.

Chen Chen Guanlou burst out laughing, mocking the other's self-righteousness and stupidity.

"Dou Anzhi was cursed with eight lifetimes of bad luck to have you at his side as a study boy. If the Dou family had known your wolfish ambitions, they'd certainly have regretted putting you through school. They treated you as one of their own, and ended up letting the wolf into the house. If you had never learned to read and write, you'd never have had the chance to take Dou Anzhi's place. What sin did the Dou family commit, to run into a madman like you?"

"Does Warden Chen look down on me?" Qiu Gui asked coldly.

Chen Chen Guanlou's expression was somewhere between a smile and a smirk. "Should I be looking up to you, then?"

Qiu Gui gave a cold laugh, his eyes contemptuous. "You're also from a poor family. Though you lean on Hou Fu, you've never received its care since childhood. I thought you'd understand me, that you'd comprehend me—but I never expected you to look down on me. Could it be that Warden Chen has become Hou Fu's dog?"

Chen Chen Guanlou's face instantly darkened. "If I'm Hou Fu's dog, whose dog are you? You do the court's bidding—you're the court's dog. May I ask how many bits of silver the court gave you? You're the Emperor's dog—has the Emperor ever so much as spoken to you? Who in this world is not a dog? When I'm a dog, at least I can live freely and at ease. When you're a dog, you live in constant fear and dread, on edge every single day! May I ask, noble Qiu the dog, what exactly do you have to be proud of?"

"I'm not a dog—you're the dog!" Qiu Gui broke down and started cursing.

His spirits were quite good, a complete change from his earlier weakness and listlessness.

Chatting really could lift one's spirits.

"Fine, you're not a dog. Since you're not a dog, why have you been barking your head off?"

"You you you… on what grounds do you humiliate this official?"

"'This official'?" Chen Chen Guanlou laughed until he couldn't stand up straight, and even Medical Officer Mu outside the cell joined in the laughter.

"You don't really think you're an official, do you?"

"I…" Qiu Gui was instantly struck dumb, and slumped down onto the bed board.

Chen Chen Guanlou shook his head. "Not afraid of killing people, not afraid of wiping out an entire household, but afraid of dying. Truly a base, petty man."

"No matter how base I am, I still lived over a dozen years longer than Dou Anzhi."

"Indeed, over a dozen years longer—in exchange for the execution of your nine clans. Congratulations!" Chen Chen Guanlou said with a smile.

Qiu Gui's face instantly changed drastically. "Execution of nine clans? Why would my nine clans be executed!"

He seemed slow to realize, his face full of terror and unease.

Chen Chen Guanlou looked at him in genuine puzzlement—this reaction wasn't right!

Even an illiterate person knows this kind of case calls for execution of nine clans. Why was Qiu Gui so shocked?

He said slowly, watching the other's reaction as he spoke. "Dou Anzhi was the official. Killing him is killing an official, and killing an official is rebellion. Rebellion brings execution of nine clans—that's the law. You think you can escape? So I said you're not even afraid of killing an official, so why fear death? Could it be you've never read the laws of Da Qian? You studied alongside Dou Anzhi—surely everything you learned went straight into a dog's belly? And you still say you're not a dog. Tsk, tsk…"

Qiu Gui's face changed drastically. "Execution of nine clans is certain?"

"No exceptions!" Chen Chen Guanlou said with absolute certainty.

"Ha ha ha…" Qiu Gui suddenly burst into wild laughter. "Execution of nine clans—it's execution of nine clans. Then all these years of effort, all those things I did—what do they amount to?"

"They make you clever!" Chen Chen Guanlou cheerfully picked up the thread.

The other kept trying to prove he was cleverer than Dou Anzhi, so he kindly obliged.

But to his surprise, Qiu Gui didn't appreciate it at all. His face was full of terror and unease, his eyes resentful and venomous. His eyeballs darted left and right, as though scheming for a way to escape.

He couldn't think of one—he was done for!

He let out a howl, clutched his head, and crouched on the ground like a helpless, pitiful worm.

But no one pitied him.

Everyone was hoping he'd die—only that outcome would be truly satisfying.

Murdering people, stealing Dou Anzhi's scholarly honors, stealing his official status, stealing the Dou family fortune—heinous crimes beyond measure; execution of nine clans wouldn't even be enough to vent the anger!

The very thought of someone killing oneself, taking one's identity, killing one's entire family—how could that be tolerated!