The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 262 Brothers Act for the Future

Those unrelated people around had already wanted to leave while the two princes were arguing, and now that they heard Prince Xing had given them the order to leave, naturally none of them wanted to stay there.

However, since Tu Chengyu wanted to put on a show with the second brother here, they naturally couldn't do without an audience, so each side left a few people behind.

On the second brother's side, it was naturally his two cousins ​​plus Bai Jian, the manor's steward.

Tu Chengyu left behind Quan Wenwei and Quan Xu, along with several children who had just been rescued by outdoor caretakers.

After the others left, the second brother's attitude seemed to soften somewhat. He said to Tu Chengyu:
"Xiao Wu, even if you're here on official business, you can't act so rashly. You should know the relationship between this manor and me. Your blatant barging in like this is just embarrassing me."

Seeing that the second son had softened, Tu Chengyu also cooperated and said:
"Second brother, it's not that I'm not giving you face, it's just that I didn't know beforehand that this place would be related to you, and I was so anxious to save people that I rushed over here."

After hearing Tu Chengyu's explanation, the second son said:

"Even if you didn't know at first, you should have known when you saw your two cousins ​​at the gate. But you still led people to force your way into the manor and searched it extensively."

Your behavior makes outsiders think that you, Xiao Wu, are taking advantage of my dissatisfaction as your older brother.

"Second Brother, who cares what outsiders think? As long as I have a clear conscience, that's enough." Tu Chengyu seemed completely oblivious to Xing Wang's concerns.

"Besides, Second Brother, you don't know, when I came over to ask them to release the people, they pretended to be ignorant. If I didn't force my way in, wouldn't that have let them get away with it?"

After saying this, Tu Chengyu pointed to a few children over there and said:
"Second brother, you should have seen it too. I did find missing children of disaster victims here, and more than one. This proves that I didn't come here on purpose to cause trouble, right?"

Faced with overwhelming evidence, the second son had no good answer to Tu Chengyu.

He said to Kong Hezhen, "Didn't you tell me you weren't taking any children from disaster victims? Then what's the deal with these few?"

Ever since he came in with the second son, Kong Hezhen has been somewhat at a loss when he saw the child not far away.

Fortunately, the two princes started arguing as soon as they met and didn't have time to ask him anything, so Kong Hezhen had plenty of time to think of a solution.

By the time the Prince of Xing asked him about it, he had caught his breath and come up with a solution.

So he said, "Your Highness, I don't know what's going on either. As you know, although this manor is under my name, I don't come here often, so there are some things I'm not clear about."

Hearing this flawed explanation, Tu Chengyu snorted coldly and remained silent.

The second brother, on the other hand, seemed to believe it quite a bit. He asked Kong Hezhen:

"You really didn't know about this?"

"I really don't know."

After asking this question, the second brother turned to Tu Chengyu and said:

"Xiao Wu, you've heard it now. He didn't do it; he was just implicated."

Tu Chengyu didn't expose the blatant protection the second son, but he did ask:

“Since he doesn’t know, then surely someone does. It can’t be that these kids ran into the manor on their own and chose such a secluded place to hide.”

Tu Chengyu's words, on the surface, were a reprimand of the second son, but in reality, they gave Kong Hezhen a chance to escape.

If he's clever enough to understand what Tu Chengyu meant, he can find a substitute for himself.

Kong Hezhen was no fool; he understood the meaning behind Tu Chengyu's words.

However, what he didn't understand was why Prince Su, who had just been determined to kill him, the owner of the manor, had suddenly come up with such a good idea.

Could it really be because the Prince of Xing is here? Kong Hezhen couldn't help but think of it.

The surprise in his heart flashed by, and then he answered Tu Chengyu's question seriously.

"Your Highness, this manor is usually managed by the manor steward, so he should be quite familiar with the affairs here."

By throwing out Chief Inspector Bai at this point, Kong Hezhen was clearly trying to make him a scapegoat.

Upon hearing this, Prosecutor Bai's face turned deathly pale.

A scream rang out: "Master..."

I don't know what to say after that.

He thought that with the arrival of the Prince of Xing, he would be saved, but in the end, he was still the one who couldn't escape.

Kong Hezhen saw that Bai Jian was almost collapsing to the ground, but he showed no pity. Instead, he looked angry.

"With the two princes here, if you have really done something, you should honestly explain it clearly, otherwise it will be bad if it is found out."

After saying that, he seemed to feel unsure, so he added two more sentences.

"But don't worry, you've been living in my house for so many years. If something really happens to you, your family and household will still take care of you."

These words were less a way of comforting Prosecutor Bai and more a threat.

Upon hearing this, Prosecutor Bai's eyes instantly lost all hope.

He already understood that his employer wanted him to take responsibility for the matter, and had even threatened him with his family, warning him not to think about backing out.

Tu Chengyu stood aside and watched the whole thing unfold, a whole drama called "Finding a Scapegoat".

Then, with a half-smile, he looked at the second brother and the others, and finally said:
"Has a candidate been found yet?"

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's words, the people opposite him showed a hint of unease.

They knew in their hearts that Prince Su was aware of their tricks, but he simply didn't expose them.

Kong Hezhen brazenly said, "Prosecutor Bai, Prince Su is asking you a question. Tell me what you think."

Bai Jian had long since lost his spirit. Upon hearing Kong Hezhen's words, he blankly raised his head, glanced at Tu Chengyu, and then replied weakly:
"Your Highness, I did all these things."

Tu Chengyu looked at him and said, "Are you sure you did it yourself, and that no one instructed you to do it? You need to think this through. Once you admit it now, you won't have a chance to back out later."

Upon hearing this, Prosecutor Bai glanced at Tu Chengyu, then turned to look at Kong Hezhen, and finally sighed deeply.

His mention of this startled Kong Hezhen, who feared that Bai Jian might betray him at this crucial moment.

At the same time, he also felt some resentment towards Tu Chengyu. You've already made it clear that you want your side to find a scapegoat, so why are you still holding on to this?

On the other end, Prosecutor Bai sighed and didn't reply immediately, as if he was weighing the pros and cons.

After a long while, he seemed to have figured it out, and said with his head down:
"Your Highness, I did everything."

Hearing that he ultimately chose to take the blame, Tu Chengyu stopped arguing and said to Quan Xu:
"Send two men to take him away and keep him under guard, to await further interrogation."

After the prosecutor was taken away, Kong Hak-jin visibly relaxed.

At this point, his mood improved, and he was even thinking about how to impress Tu Chengyu.

"Oh dear, Your Highness, please forgive me. I never expected such a person to appear in your household. It has troubled you to make this trip. I am guilty of oversight. Once the matter is investigated, I will definitely come to apologize."

Tu Chengyu had originally planned to stop his act with the second brother here and discuss the rest privately. He never expected Kong Hezhen to be like this, taking advantage of his kindness while pretending to be innocent.

Therefore, Tu Chengyu did not intend to let him off easily.

Tu Chengyu said, "I didn't expect you to take the initiative to recognize your guilt. That's good. But you don't need to come to apologize later. Let's settle things now."

Kong Hezhen never expected that his momentary slip of the tongue would cause such trouble.

He quickly said, "Your Highness, what do you mean by this?"

Tu Chengyu said with a serious expression, "Isn't this your way of apologizing? I will help you clarify your guilt."

"Ah, Your Highness, I was just speaking casually. Why take it so seriously?"

Tu Chengyu shook his head and said, "This concerns matters of the imperial court; how can we not take it seriously?"

Kong Hezhen panicked upon hearing this. He quickly looked at Prince Xing and said:
"Your Highness, please put in a good word for us."

When Xing Wang saw his cousin in this state, he really wanted to punish him, but in order to make the act with Tu Chengyu more realistic, he still stood up and spoke up for Kong Hezhen.

"Fifth brother, now that the mastermind has been caught, let's not waste our energy on the others who are not involved."

Tu Chengyu shook his head and said, "Second brother, you are mistaken. Although this cousin from the Kong family is not the mastermind, as the owner of the manor, he cannot escape the crime of negligence."

The crime of negligence is a minor offense, but if Tu Chengyu pursues it relentlessly, it could cause him some trouble.

So the second brother asked, "Fifth brother, what do you plan to do with him?"

Tu Chengyu thought for a moment and said, "For the sake of my second brother, I naturally can't really arrest him and punish him. How about this, let him donate a thousand dan of grain to the disaster victims?"

A thousand dan of grain is nothing to a family like Kong Hezhen's, but bearing the burden of being punished is something he doesn't want to see.

Therefore, Kong Hezhen was a hundred times unwilling.

Seeing this, Tu Chengyu asked in an annoyed tone:

"What, you're not even willing to eat a little bit of food?"

Kong Hezhen said, "Prince Su, I was deceived by the servants in my residence and am also a victim. How can Your Highness punish even a victim like me?"

Whether he is a victim or not, everyone here knows very well.

If anyone else had the chance to find a scapegoat and get away with it, they would have quietly hidden away so no one would notice.

But this guy seemed to genuinely believe that what happened in the manor was done by others and had nothing to do with him.

Whether it's his thick skin or self-hypnosis, he makes him feel innocent.

Tu Chengyu naturally wouldn't give a guy like that a friendly look.

Tu Chengyu slowly said:
"Are you sure you're the victim? Then shall I take out the other things from the cellar and let everyone see them?"

As he said this, Tu Chengyu made a gesture of drawing a knife.

Others might not understand this action, but Kong Hezhen understood it very well.

He knew that Prince Su was doing this to remind him that there were taboo weapons hidden in his family's cellar.

Although everyone knows that hoarding such a small amount of weaponry won't cause any major problems.

Many noble and wealthy families in the capital secretly kept some weapons.

However, this matter can only be kept secret and cannot be brought to the public eye.

Therefore, if Tu Chengyu were to bring these weapons into the open, the Kong family would not face any major problems, but Kong Hezhen would be in trouble.

Thinking of all this, Kong Hezhen immediately deflated and whispered:

"Your Highness, I admit my mistake. I will hand over the thousand dan of grain to Your Highness in full."

"It's good that you've admitted it, but you're a bit late. You'll have to pay two thousand now."

"Your Highness, you..." Kong Hezhen was furious when he heard Tu Chengyu double the grain price with just one sentence, and wanted to say something.

"Hmm?" Tu Chengyu looked at Kong Hezhen and asked sharply, "You're unwilling?"

Seeing the expression on Prince Su's face, which suggested he was about to raise the price at the slightest disagreement, Kong Hezhen forcefully suppressed his dissatisfaction.

"Yes, I am willing."

"If you're willing, then I'll give you three days. Deliver the grain outside the South Gate after three days."

Kong Hezhen had been subdued by Tu Chengyu and dared not resist any longer, readily agreeing to the terms.

Having said all that, it seems that today's business is coming to an end.

So Tu Chengyu said to the second brother and Kong Hezhen:
"Second brother, now that everything has been explained, you should take them and leave. I need to stay here to handle the follow-up issues."

Hearing Tu Chengyu's words, the people opposite him were dumbfounded.

Kong Hezhen, disregarding the pain from his earlier beating, hurriedly asked:

"Your Highness, this is my territory. How can you ask us to leave?"

Tu Chengyu said with a surprised look, "This is your place, but it is also the crime scene. I will temporarily seal this place off and investigate the whole incident."

It must be said that this reason is quite valid.

After hearing this, Kong Hezhen didn't know how to refute it, and in the end he could only look to Prince Xing, hoping that Prince Xing could make a decision for him.

As for Xing Wang, it seems he has given up hope that Tu Chengyu will give him face.

He looked at Tu Chengyu and said, "Fifth Brother, do you really want to take things this far?"

Faced with this accusatory question, Tu Chengyu pretended to be unwilling to compromise and said:

"Second brother, I've already given you enough face, otherwise that guy surnamed Kong would still be talking back here."

Upon hearing this, the second son said with a stern face:
"Okay, very good. Brother, thank you for giving me face, Xiao Wu."

In just a few words, the two brothers seemed about to start arguing again.

Seeing this, people on both sides again tried to dissuade them.

The two brothers, seeing that their act was almost over, decided to stop while they were ahead and, after being persuaded, stopped arguing.

The second brother, pretending to be angry with Tu Chengyu, left the manor with Kong Hezhen and Liu Shigui in a huff.

(End of this chapter)