Hidden moth

Chapter 215: The Storm is Small

This is a draft of an equity transfer agreement, whereby Huishi Trading Group will transfer 30% of its shares in Huishi Mingpin to the natural person Lu Shutang to offset the 18 million yuan it owes to Lu Shutang.

It is just a printed document, without a specific date or signature or seal. In theory, anyone can print one out at a roadside graphic arts store.

The documents were found in Shi Yunlu's residence. According to common sense, they were either prepared by Shi Yunlu himself or given to him by someone.

Shi Yunlu did not work for Huishi Trading Group, and had no right to sign such an agreement. But after learning of his conspiracy, seeing this document, it was easy to associate it with other things -

If Shi Haotu and his wife died unexpectedly, Shi Yunlu would control Huishi Trading Group and could transfer 30% of the shares to Lu Shutang. As for the so-called 18 million yuan in debt, it actually didn't exist at all. It all depended on how the financial situation was handled.

Lin Qingshuang didn't know Lu Shutang before, nor did she know he was Zou Tianjin's nephew. She reported her findings to the Zongzheng, who knew that Zou Tianjin had a nephew by this name.

The seven major sects only had a total of twenty-one deacons, who were considered the absolute top brass and the actual controllers of daily affairs. The clan law hall would of course conduct a thorough investigation of their background information.

It was Zou Tianjin who personally sealed Shi Yunlu's cultivation. Now that such a document was found in Shi Yunlu's residence, he naturally became a major suspect.

Therefore, the clan law hall did not give orders immediately, but asked Lin Qingshuang to bring Shi Yunlu and the materials over.

Zou Tianjin could be completely innocent, and those pieces of printed paper could not prove anything substantial. Without solid evidence, the clan hall would not rashly deal with such a senior official.

But under such circumstances, Zou Tianjin is definitely not suitable to continue supervising the Huiming Shi family members, nor is it suitable for him to be responsible for tracking down Shi Yunlu and Fabre.

Not only did he have to recuse himself, he also had to proactively ask to be investigated by the Patriarchal Hall to prove his innocence. So the Patriarchal Hall would have to wait until tomorrow to issue an order, so what was the time left for?

If the clan law hall directly ordered to deprive Zou Tianjin of his current power and position, no longer responsible for supervising the children of the Shi family, and not to participate in the investigation of the Shi Yunlu case, the nature of the matter would be serious.

This is the time for Zou Tianjin to explain the situation. It would be best if he could prove his innocence. Even if he cannot prove his innocence for the time being, he must take the initiative to express his attitude.

Zou Tianjin stared at the document, his teeth clenched until his cheeks were stiff. After a long pause, he raised his head and asked, "What do you think?"

Lin Qingshuang answered bluntly, "Frame-up, a crude frame-up, an obvious one."

Gong Xiaodong also nodded and said, "If Old Zou really did this, he wouldn't be so stupid as to let his own nephew hold the shares on his behalf. And there's no need for him to help Shi Yunlu kill Shi Haotu for such a small amount of money. What's his goal?"

After the two big guys expressed their opinions, Qian Guran and the other two younger disciples nodded in agreement.

Zou Tianjin sighed and said, "Brother Lin, Mr. Qian, thank you both for spotting the conspiracy and stopping Shi Yunlu's murder in time. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to explain myself even if I had a mouth full of words!"

Now that Shi Yunlu has been apprehended, his plot has been exposed. But what if, in a different scenario, no one discovered Shi Yunlu's plot and he actually succeeded in murdering Shi Haotu and his wife?
The people present were all shrewd people, and they could deduce based on the existing clues—

Shi Yunlu took over Huishi Trading Group, and then under the arrangement of Mr. Fabre, someone came forward to hold 30% of Huishi Mingpin's shares, and this person was most likely Lu Shutang.

Since Mr. Fabre could secretly use Shi Yunlu, couldn't he fool an ordinary person like Lu Shutang?
Isn't Lu Shutang thinking about starting his own business? He might meet a "mentor" and partner with him on a project, and then find an excuse to let him hold shares on his behalf and become a director of Hui Shi Mingpin.

Even finding someone to impersonate Lu Shutang and sign the agreement would be fine. At any rate, there was a way to solidify the frame-up. Later, they could expose the matter in some way and have the clan law hall investigate.

By that time, Zou Tianjin would probably have no way to defend himself.

To outsiders, this was done by Zou Tianjin who manipulated Shi Yunlu behind the scenes, and his purpose was certainly not just to get the 30% stake in Hui Shi Mingpin.

As long as Shi Yunlu really did it, the control of life and death would be in the hands of Zou Tianjin, who could then control the entire Huishi Trading Group, which had assets worth more than a dozen small targets and a steady stream of profit income.

Fortunately, thanks to the intervention of Qian Guran and Lin Qingshuang, all this did not happen.

Shi Yunlu had met Fabre, but Fabre was not Zou Tianjin, so how could such a frame-up succeed? Because with Zou Tianjin's skills, he could easily create a mask that was so exquisite that it could be mistaken for a real one.

Such a mask can deceive the eyes, but it is difficult to deceive the spiritual sense. A third-level warlock may not be able to see through its true face, but he can find out that it is not its true face.

One detail to note is that after breaking through the third level of cultivation, Shi Yunlu never met Fabre again while overseas. By the time they met again in China, Shi Yunlu's cultivation had been sealed, and he was unable to use his spiritual sense.

According to Shi Yunlu's confession, he was in a coma when Fabre unsealed him. When he woke up, his cultivation had recovered, but Fabre was gone.

That is to say, even though Shi Yunlu was able to use his spiritual sense, he had never seen Fabre himself.

Shi Yunlu is also a third-rank appraiser of Ruweimen. Although his character is not good, his cultivation skills are real. He can completely reproduce the life-size image of Mr. Fabre.

According to Shi Yunlu's confession, Fabre's physique is similar to Zou Tianjin's.

In this situation, it would be difficult for Zou Tianjin to clear his name. Even if the frame-up ultimately failed and Zou Tianjin could not be proven to be Fabre, the prestige of this deacon would probably be lost in the eyes of ordinary disciples.

The origin of this matter was Shi Yunlu's conspiracy, but looking at the possible subsequent results, it was an open conspiracy against Zou Tianjin!
Of course, all these analyses are based on the fact that Zou Tianjin is indeed innocent. If it was done by this deacon, then there is nothing to say.

Gong Xiaodong asked again, "Brother Lin, did Shi Yunlu tell us where this document came from?"

During the public interrogation just now, Lin Qingshuang did not mention this matter at all. The two deacons were not aware of the existence of this document at that time. She obviously wanted to talk about it on another occasion.

Lin Qingshuang: "Shi Yunlu doesn't know anything about this. Someone must have secretly left it in his home. If he succeeds in his assassination attempt today, he will probably find out after he returns home."

Qian Guran coughed and finally interrupted, "There's another possibility. Fabre already knew that Shi Yunlu had failed, so he deliberately left this document at his house. He was trying to frame Deacon Zou."

Gong Xiaodong: "I have another question. How did you two happen to see through Shi Yunlu's conspiracy?"

This palace steward has been asking questions almost non-stop today, and they are all very crucial questions.

Qian Guran explained, "You should have heard of He Kao. He's the He Kao from Qiyuan, and Gong Deacon has also met him. I'm the head of his company, and he's been on a business trip to Huishi Mingpin recently."

He Kao told me that he felt there was something wrong with Shi Yunlu, so he asked me to take a look secretly..."

Gong Xiaodong: "Oh, He Kao, how did he notice it?"

Lin Qingshuang explained, “I’m sure you’ve all heard that Elder Jiang gave him a magical weapon, a beast claw pendant, which has the magical effect of calming the mind and detecting malicious intent.

I borrowed it for half a year and found that this device is indeed extraordinary, but it needs to be worn long-term to be effective... The child has worn it close to his body since he was three years old, and even without practicing the art of reading qi, he can still detect the ill intentions of others.

Everyone suddenly realized, "So that's how it is!"

Zou Tianjin: "Then I have to thank this little friend He as well!"

Lin Qingshuang: "Don't be in a hurry to thank anyone yet. The Zongfa Hall is still waiting for your attitude. I didn't expect that you actually talked to Shi Haotu about the 30% stake. This is a bit difficult to explain."

Qian Guran interrupted again, "That Fabre might have heard about this and set up the scheme."

Zou Tianjin: "I will contact the clan law hall right now and voluntarily request to recuse myself from the matter. I will no longer be in charge and will accept the investigation to prove my innocence."

Gong Xiaodong: "Don't worry about contacting the sect elders yet. We just asked you. We still need to verify the relevant information with Shi Haotu."

Zou Tianjin: "Thank you for the reminder, it's only right."

Qian Guran: "I have already informed Shi Haotu and his wife on the way here and told them what happened. They are waiting at the Kanglin Hotel now."

Shi Haotu and his wife were called into the conference room, looking very nervous.

About half a month ago, Lan Jiuwan suddenly appeared and found Li Yu.

In fact, the two had met before. Lan Jiuwan had asked her about the Huimingshi family. At that time, Lan Jiuwan was wearing a mask, but this time Lan Jiuwan revealed her true face and frankly admitted that the person last time was herself.

Lan Jiuwan, claiming to be a disciple of Ruwei Sect, was ordered to investigate some matters, but unexpectedly discovered Shi Yunlu's conspiracy. Lan Jiuwan produced a batch of materials that were recently discovered.

If this material were released, it wouldn't be enough to serve as irrefutable evidence to arrest Shi Yunlu, but Shi Haotu and his wife were terrified after reading it, because many of the details were only known to them. There were some things Shi Haotu and his wife didn't dare to say, but they did have some suspicions about Deacon Zou Tianjin.

Lan Jiuwan claimed that she was ordered by the sect to remind the two and to temporarily protect them, so she became Li Yu's assistant.

Lan Jiuwan also requested that they keep her identity secret, because she was acting in secret and had another mission. On the other hand, the identity of the master who helped Shi Yunlu to release the ban was unknown.

Of course, Shi Haotu and his wife agreed readily.

Just this afternoon when they were driving along the Huinan Expressway, Lan Jiuwan told them that someone on the road had secretly cast a spell in an attempt to cause an accident, but it was resolved by someone else.

Shi Haotu didn't notice the stone sliding mysteriously from the roadside to the driveway, but Li Yu caught a glimpse of it. But she only caught a glimpse; if no one was secretly protecting her, she probably wouldn't have had time to react.

After returning to Nanhua, Shi Haotu received a call from Qian Guran, who told him what happened today and explained why he got involved in the matter - it turned out that it was a reminder from He Kao.

Shi Haotu knew Qian Guran. Since the two companies had a cooperation, he went to Qiyuan in person last month, both to discuss business and to pay a visit. Qian Guran received him personally.

In the opinion of Shi Haotu and his wife, He Kao was the secret disciple of Gu Chun, the leader of Xinpan Sect, and Lan Jiuwan was also a disciple of Xinpan Sect. It must have been Lan Jiuwan who managed to inform He Kao, and then He Kao reminded Qian Guran.

When they were called to the small reception room, they were still wondering how they should answer if the two deacons asked about Lan Jiuwan.
Fortunately, the two deacons didn't bring up this matter at all. They just asked about Zou Tianjin's investment intention three months ago. Deacon Zou didn't say anything, and it was Gong Xiaodong who asked the questions.

They all answered truthfully, stating the situation was no different from what Zou Tianjin had described. After asking, Gong Xiaodong reminded them not to spread the news for the time being.

Shi Haotu and his wife felt very fortunate and expressed their gratitude to all the experts present, especially Mr. Qian, the leader of the cooperative unit, and He Kao, the outstanding employee who was not present at the time.

Zou Tianjin then personally contacted the clan elders, proactively explaining the situation and requesting to recuse himself from the investigation. The official order from the clan law hall came down in the early hours of the morning, prior to daybreak, placing Gong Xiaodong in full charge of the investigation.

Gong Xiaodong made a series of arrangements on the spot -

The first order was for Shi Yunlu to redeem himself from his crime by contacting Mr. Fabre, telling him that the plan had been successful and asking Mr. Fabre to ban his cultivation again.

If Mr. Fabre didn't know that Shi Yunlu had been captured, he might have been lured out.

However, Shi Yunlu could not be contacted. Fabre left him an overseas mobile phone number, which should have been used for domestic roaming, but it was now unreachable.

The second order required Zou Tianjin and Shi Haotu to recall separately who were the insiders when they discussed investment and shareholding three months ago.

They certainly wouldn't publicly announce such things, but they might have mentioned them to those close to them. Judging from the documents found at Shi Yunlu's house, Fabre was clearly aware of this, which was also a clue for the investigation.

The answer was clear on the spot. Zou Tianjin hadn't told anyone, not even his nephew Lu Shutang. Shi Haotu had only told Li Yu, and Li Yu had only told one person: her master Shi Zhiliao.

Gong Xiaodong immediately sent someone to find Shi Zhiliao to verify the situation, mainly asking who else Shi Zhiliao had told?

The third order was to verify the status of the cultivation restrictions on all the sorcerers of the Shimingshi family and to check who else had been unsealed...

The fourth order was that according to Shi Yunlu's confession, he had met Fabre thirteen times in total, twelve of which were overseas and once in China. So someone was sent to check Zou Tianjin's whereabouts during the same period of time.

The most important information is what Zou Tianjin was doing when Fabre lifted the ban on Shi Yunlu?
The fifth order was also based on the information provided by Shi Yunlu, which was to secretly send people overseas to investigate and try to find Fabre or confirm his specific identity.

Shi Yunlu first met Fabre at a public gathering, and there must be other people who have seen him... The identity of the investigators sent overseas is kept secret for the time being to prevent Fabre from noticing.

The sixth order was to send someone to Chongchuan City to investigate Lu Shutang's situation and verify whether he was Fabre's accomplice. If not, he was to inquire whether anyone had recently approached him about starting a business together or holding shares on his behalf.

Zou Tianjin made a request, hoping to rush to Chongchuan, the city where his eldest sister and her family live, as soon as possible.

Zou Tianjin was worried about the safety of his eldest sister's family. If Fabre had really found Lu Shutang, he might have killed him to silence him in order to cut off the clues of the clan hall's investigation.

No matter how likely this possibility is, it exists.

Gong Xiaodong said, "Old Zou, the Zongfa Hall only asked you to stay away, not to confine you. You want to rush to Chongchuan to prevent any accidents. As long as you don't interfere with or disrupt the Zongfa Hall's investigation, there is no problem at all."

After receiving a positive response, Zou Tianjin couldn't wait to get to Chongchuan. The earliest flight from Nanhua to Chongchuan was at 9:45 AM, so he booked that one.

Gong Xiaodong sent his trusted disciple, Yuan Lang, a fourth-level sorcerer from the Guanshen Sect, to Chongchuan, and requested the Zongfa Hall to dispatch two sorcerers from the Xingshen Sect and Wangqi Sect to support him in Chongchuan.

The combination of mind skills and qi-reading skills, when used in interrogation situations, can not only determine whether the other party is telling the truth, but also guide the other party to reveal the situation you want to ask...

Zou Tianjin followed Yuan Lang to Chongchuan to cooperate with and assist Yuan Lang in his investigation.

In short, after receiving the instructions from the clan law hall, Gong Xiaodong acted very quickly. Before dawn, he had arranged all the things he could think of and the measures he could take.

By noon, Yuan Lang and Zou Tianjin had arrived in Chongchuan, and the others also took action in their respective positions, and many situations were gradually reported.

In the evening, Shi Haotu and his wife specially held a banquet to thank the relevant people, and He Kao finally showed up... No matter how much work there is, you still have to eat.

Lan Jiuwan didn't show up at the dinner. This was the first time in nearly two weeks that Li Yu had gone out without her assistant. It was during dinner that He Kao heard in detail about the instructions from the clan hall and Gong Xiaodong's arrangements.

In He Kao's opinion, this palace steward was quite capable and experienced. If it were him, he might not have considered it so carefully.

Since they were in a private room in the hotel, there were many people around and some situations needed to be kept confidential for the time being, so no one talked much about the results of the day's investigation.

Shi Haotu and his wife repeatedly expressed their gratitude to He Kao, and He Kao had to humbly say that he had done nothing and that it was mainly the credit of the masters and predecessors.

His apparent identity was just a junior and a friendly guest, so he was very low-key at the dinner table.

After this meal, there was no money left and it was certainly related to Lin Qingshuang's matter. They were just doing something for justice this time. Those who needed to be rescued had been rescued and those who could be caught had been caught. Gong Xiaodong would be responsible for the subsequent investigation.

After sending He Kao back to his apartment, Qian Guran and Lin Qingshuang stayed behind. Huang Xiaopang also wanted to stay and listen in, but his master ordered him and Meng Ya to return to the hotel first.

After making tea and sitting down, Lin Qingshuang asked, "Xiao Kao, you were the first to discover Shi Yunlu's situation, but why didn't you say anything during dinner just now?"

He Kao: "I'm just a nobody and I didn't participate in the investigation. How can I speak?"

Lin Qingshuang: "This isn't a hotel room, so feel free to say whatever you want. I'd really like to ask what you think."

He Kao: "I don't have any opinions, but I'm a little surprised that such a big matter was handed over to the palace steward. Why didn't the elders of the clan law hall go out in person... Old Qian, what's with that expression on your face?"

Qian Guran's expression was a little strange, which He Kao noticed. He waved his hand and said, "Well, let Senior Lin explain this to you."

Lin Qingshuang smiled bitterly and said, "Little test, there are so many disciples in the world. If there is any movement, the elders have to come out in person. Do you want to keep them busy or tire them to death?"

He Kao then realized that he had taken things for granted. This was mainly because in the past year, almost every time something happened, the elders of the clan hall would be alerted to come forward in person, and several elders would be alerted, so he had formed a fixed mindset.

There are only seven elders in the clan hall, and one of them is the Plum Blossom Fairy who doesn't take care of things. If anything happens, several of them will have to be alerted to deal with it personally, and they are really busy to death.

If it had always been like that, He Kao probably wouldn't have had the chance to see Old Man Jiang setting up a chess stall in the past twenty years.

As for this incident, it was just a fight between relatives over family property and a murder attempt, which was unsuccessful. If it were another situation, it would be an ordinary criminal case that had nothing to do with the art of magic.

But it has two special features that lead to the intervention of the patriarchal hall.

First, the perpetrator was a sorcerer who attempted to use magic to rob money and kill people, and the targets of the murder were also sorcerers and Zhiyuanke; second, someone secretly unsealed the ban on Shi Yunlu, and the clues left behind implicated the deacon of the magic sect.

The sect elder personally gave the order, assigning a deacon on the spot to be responsible for a full investigation. Under normal circumstances, this would actually be a major commotion, with considerable intensity and scale.

**
(End of this chapter)