The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 146 A Serendipitous Turn of Events

Tu Chengyu was very interested in Manager Wu, who had suddenly appeared out of the six-fingered mouth but was desperately tried to protect by these salt workers.

He had a premonition that this Manager Wu must be hiding the information he wanted.

So when Tu Chengyu heard that Su Xuanbao had arrived with Ding Jia, the head constable of the county government, he immediately ordered someone to bring him in.

Then, a short but sturdy-looking figure was brought in by Su Xuanbao.

This man had a dark complexion, a square face, and half of his face was covered by a thick black beard.

If it weren't for his official robes and his shifty eyes, Tu Chengyu would have thought he was a butcher.

When he came in and stood still, Tu Chengyu did not speak immediately, but instead carefully examined him with a stern face.

As Tu Chengyu sized him up, Constable Ding Jia was also sizing up Tu Chengyu.

However, he was a little confused at this moment, because behind the tables on both sides opposite him, Tu Chengyu and Quan Wenwei were sitting at the same time.

A stern-faced child and an unreadable scholar were both present. He was unsure who was in charge, and his two bright eyes darted back and forth between Tu Chengyu and Quan Wenwei.

Tu Chengyu kept a stern face to create a tense atmosphere and put pressure on the constable.

Surprisingly, after this person came in, instead of feeling pressured, he dared to look around.

Could it be that a fierce tiger is lurking in this small county town?

Tu Chengyu realized that his plan had failed, so he broke his silence and asked:
"You're Ding Jia, the clapper-playing constable?"

Upon hearing that it was Tu Chengyu who spoke, Ding Jia's gaze quickly shifted, and he sized Tu Chengyu up several times.

Seeing this guy's audacity, Tu Chengyu couldn't help but snort coldly.

Standing at the door, Su Xuanbao heard Tu Chengyu's voice and stepped forward without saying a word, then kicked Ding Jia in the back of the knee.

He kicked Ding Jia, who was standing, so hard that he knelt on the ground.

Su Xuanbao moved swiftly and ruthlessly, and before Ding Jia could react, he was already kneeling on the ground.

When he came to his senses, he immediately struggled to stand up.

At the same time, he muttered, "I am a county constable, how dare you humiliate me like this? Once I get away, I will make you pay."

Unfortunately, no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't break free from Su Xuanbao's hold. Finally, exhausted from struggling, he could only collapse to the ground.

This was the first time Tu Chengyu had ever seen such an arrogant and domineering constable.

He couldn't help but look at Su Xuanbao and ask, "What's wrong with this guy? He's been arrested and is still acting so arrogantly."

Before Su Xuanbao could speak after Tu Chengyu finished asking his question, this family member rushed to speak.

"Nonsense! What do you mean by being arrested and thrown in jail? I was invited in by them. If it weren't for your sake, would I be sitting in a jail cell?"

Tu Chengyu was a little confused by what they and you were saying.

He felt that Ding Jia might have mistaken them for someone else.

While Tu Chengyu was still wondering if this was possible, Su Xuanbao finally interjected, saying:
"My lord, what he said seems to be true. When I went there just now, he was drinking and having fun in the prison cell, with maids serving him."

It seems this guy is in cahoots with the rebellious salt workers. Otherwise, why would the head constable be treated like this when the salt workers stormed the county town?

Tu Chengyu thought for a moment and then asked Su Xuanbao, "How did you manage to capture him?"

Su Xuanbao replied, "He came by himself. I went to the cell to look for him and he said, 'Why are you so late?' Then, as soon as I opened the cell door, he followed me in."

At this point, Tu Chengyu was certain that this guy had indeed mistaken him for someone else.

Given this situation, Tu Chengyu thought, why not pretend to be the person he's waiting for? Maybe he can get some useful information out of him.

Just as Tu Chengyu was figuring out how to pretend, Ding Jia couldn't wait any longer and asked:
"Whose son are you?"

Tu Chengyu's mind raced, and following up on his question, he offered an answer he had just thought of:
"What happened to the Yin family?"

"The Yin family?" Ding Jia seemed somewhat skeptical. He said, "Why would the Yin family send a little kid out to work?"

Although Ding Jia was somewhat skeptical, Tu Chengyu was quite pleased to hear it.

Because of this question and answer, Tu Chengyu was at least certain that his answer was on the right track. Now all he needed to do was convince this guy that he was a member of the Yin family.

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu gave Quan Wenwei a wink.

Quan Wenwei immediately understood and said, "Does our young master need your permission to come out for training?"

Quan Wenwei described Tu Chengyu as a young master from the Yin family who had been trained, and that he was the advisor who helped the young master with his affairs.

This perfectly reasonable arrangement of identities instantly put Ding Jia's doubts to rest.

Then he said angrily, "Since you are from the Yin family, why do you humiliate me like this the moment we meet?"

He said this to Quan Wenwei, clearly regarding Quan Wenwei as someone who could make decisions.

However, Quan Wenwei was unaware of Tu Chengyu's specific plans and could only change the subject for the time being:

"You answer my young master's question first."

Ding Jia was taken aback by Quan Wenwei's question and asked, "What question?"

This family has completely forgotten Tu Chengyu's question.

Upon seeing this, Quan Wenwei could only repeat Tu Chengyu's question: "My young master asked, 'Are you going to expedite the arrest of Constable Ding Jia?'"

Upon hearing this question, he immediately replied, "I am Ding Jia."

After answering Wenwei's question, he immediately said, "Now you have to answer my question."

While Quan Wenwei was changing the subject, Tu Chengyu had already thought of an answer.

So I immediately replied, "If you hadn't messed things up, why would I treat you like this?"

"I messed things up?" Ding Jia seemed very angry when he heard this. He said, "This time it had nothing to do with me, so why is it being blamed on me again?"

Hearing this, Tu Chengyu's heart skipped a beat, realizing that he might not have asked the right question this time.

However, he remained calm and collected, saying to Ding Jia, "Think about it again carefully."

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's words, Ding Jia sat down on the ground and remembered what had happened.

After thinking for a while, he frowned and said, "Could there be a problem with the goods?"

Following his words, Tu Chengyu replied ambiguously, "What do you think?"

Ding Jia got anxious and said, "I just helped you find a place to store the goods. Now that there's a problem, how can you blame me?"

He countered by asking, "What's wrong with the goods? Were they lost or destroyed?"

Tu Chengyu had no idea what the goods he was talking about were, so naturally he couldn't answer his question.

However, he came up with a plan to bring in that Manager Wu.

He said, "The goods are missing, but I haven't checked them yet. Old Wu told me all this."

Tu Chengyu brought up Manager Wu at this time for several reasons. First, to dispel Ding Jia's doubts, because Magistrate Zhu Xingwen said that Ding Jia knew Manager Wu. Tu Chengyu's mention of him at this time would give Ding Jia the illusion that Tu Chengyu really knew about their affairs.

Secondly, it was to shift the focus away from Ding Jia, because Tu Chengyu couldn't answer Ding Jia's questions in too much detail.

Therefore, he could only erect a shield in front of him, so that if Tu Chengyu said something wrong later, he could say that Manager Wu, the shield, had not explained things clearly.

Third, this also allows us to test how well Ding Jia knows Manager Wu and subtly inquire about his situation.

Tu Chengyu's attempt to shift the focus was very successful; Ding Jia indeed turned his attention to Manager Wu.

He said, "What did Manager Wu say? Is he trying to shift the blame onto me again?"

Tu Chengyu nodded and said, "He did say it was your responsibility."

Upon hearing this, Ding Jia became so angry that he burst into a tirade of curses. After finishing his tirade, he added:

“He placed the goods himself and arranged the manpower himself. What can I do? Am I supposed to go and watch the goods for him?”

Seeing that he was angry, Tu Chengyu added fuel to the fire, saying:

"Old Wu said that if there's a problem with the goods on your turf, then you're responsible."

Ding Jia said angrily, "He always tries to shirk responsibility, but this time I won't take the blame for him."

“I told him long ago that the Japanese are unreliable, but he insisted on sending them over. Now look what happened.”

From his words, Tu Chengyu could confirm that the Japanese slaves were indeed sent by Manager Wu.

At the same time, it can be confirmed that Ding Jia in front of us also very likely knows what's behind this turmoil.

Tu Chengyu never expected that Ding Jia would be so valuable. After reading him, he would have to interrogate him properly.

However, at this point, all I could do was play along.

Tu Chengyu said, "You say the responsibility is his, he says the responsibility is yours. Whom should I believe?"

Ding Jia said, "This is simple. Have Manager Wu come over, and I'll confront him face to face."

Tu Chengyu thought to himself, "If I could find this Manager Wu, I wouldn't need to put on this show with you."

Although he was thinking this in his heart, he showed no sign of panic on his face.

He calmly turned to Quan Wenwei and said, "Go and call Lao Wu over so you can confront him face to face."

Upon hearing this, Quan Wenwei did not hesitate at all and immediately got up to go out and look for someone, as if there really was an Old Wu here.

Tu Chengyu made this arrangement to further convince Ding Jia of his abilities and prepare for the next step of testing.

Sure enough, after seeing Tu Chengyu and Quan Wenwei's performance, Ding Jia had even fewer doubts.

Even when Tu Chengyu asked a very risky question, he didn't show any doubt.

Tu Chengyu asked, "Before Lao Wu arrives, tell me about Lao Wu."

If Ding Jia had asked Tu Chengyu this question before, he might have become suspicious and questioned Tu Chengyu's identity.

Now that the question is asked, he only seems a little puzzled.

He said, "Isn't Manager Wu helping you with some business? Why are you asking me about it?"

Tu Chengyu had anticipated Ding Jiafa's question, and he said:
"This is my first time working outside. Although I've heard of Lao Wu before, I don't know him well."

"So I wanted you to tell me, so that I won't be unable to tell if he lies later."

Tu Chengyu's explanation was perfectly reasonable, and Ding Jia couldn't find any fault with it, so he didn't suspect anything.

Moreover, he felt that the doll in front of him seemed to want to side with him.

So without thinking, he revealed Lao Wu's secrets.

"Manager Wu's real name is Wu Qing. He is the manager of Yuanrenhe in Zhenjiang. On the surface, he is a silk merchant, but in reality, he smuggles Western goods for your families. You should know this, Young Master Yin."

Tu Chengyu nodded noncommittally, then gestured for him to continue.

Next, Ding Jia revealed all of Manager Wu's secrets, emphasizing, "Manager Wu is very cunning; don't trust him easily."

By the time he finished speaking, quite a bit of time had passed.

He asked in confusion, "Why hasn't Manager Wu arrived yet?"

Tu Chengyu said, "They might not have found him yet, but don't worry, we'll find him eventually. I have another question for you."

Ding Jia asked, "What's the problem?"

Tu Chengyu asked, "Where exactly is the goods that Lao Wu arranged placed?"

Ding Jia asked, puzzled, "Don't you know?"

Tu Chengyu said with a smile, "He did tell me, but I'm afraid he's lying to me, so I wanted to verify it with you."

Ding Jia, without any suspicion, readily gave an address.

Tu Chengyu silently wrote down the address, and then prepared to ask him again.

However, Ding Jia was getting anxious and kept asking Manager Wu why he hadn't arrived yet.

Seeing that he could no longer hide it, and having already answered most of the questions he wanted to ask, Tu Chengyu decided to confront him.

However, to Tu Chengyu's surprise, Quan Wenwei pushed the door open and came in at that moment.

He walked up to Tu Chengyu in a serious manner and said, "Young Master, we haven't found Old Wu. I heard that he wandered around the old alleyway for a while and then hurriedly left the city."

The old alley was the place Ding Jia had mentioned where the goods were hidden. Quan Wenwei was right outside the door, so he heard it too.

Hearing that Manager Wu had left, Ding Jia was dumbfounded; he had been thinking of confronting Manager Wu.

At the same time, Tu Chengyu was also puzzled, as he did not know why Quan Wenwei would say such a thing.

However, he still cooperated tacitly and said, "Old Wu, is something the matter?"

Quan Wenwei nodded and said, "They said they went to get the goods from the Japanese. It seems the goods hidden in the old alley were stolen by the Japanese."

Quan Wenwei's words were also fabricated based on the information Ding Jia had just given him.

But to Ding Jia, it sounded as if what he had said before had come true.

He immediately said, "I told you the Japanese devils would cause trouble, but Manager Wu wouldn't listen."

Tu Chengyu said, "So what should we do now?"

Quan Wenwei said, "Since Lao Wu is not here, we can't do the confrontation. Let Constable Ding go and rest first, and we'll talk about it when Lao Wu comes back."

Tu Chengyu didn't know what Quan Wenwei was going to do, so he could only go along with him and say, "In that case, you can make arrangements for Constable Ding."

After Quan Wenwei responded, he led the somewhat bewildered Ding Jia out.

As soon as the two left, Tu Chengyu immediately ordered Su Xuanbao to take people to the old alley they had mentioned earlier and quickly retrieve the goods hidden there.

(End of this chapter)