Chapter 221: The Truth Is Out

Disclaimer: 

1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests. 

2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author. 

3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.

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They spent the next two hours uneasily waiting. The sky was completely dark and the servants had already covered their evening meal dishes, waiting. 

It was just as everyone’s anxiety had peaked – Shi Cheng’s mother was unable to wait any longer – that they finally returned home. 

Shi Cheng was fine. He had come back with his father. But both of their faces looked dark, especially Shi Cheng’s father. His face was gloomy and his brow was deeply furrowed. Liu Xu’er had never seen her good tempered father-in-law look so stern. 

Shi Cheng’s mother had already come forward to examine Shi Cheng. She repeatedly asked, “What happened? Who invited you over, and what did they invite you for? What on earth happened?”

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Tl pyke yde zssjle vsoyae Nkw Dw’la,&dcpr;

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Fbk Ubldt’p qyvbla pyke, “Nlv’p byhl swa xlyz. El nyd vyzj yqvla.”

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Shi Cheng brought Liu Xu’er to the back courtyard. As they left the main courtyard, he turned and said to Liu Xu’er, “Something big happened!”

Liu Xu’er’s heart quaked!

Shi Cheng very quickly continued, Shandong’s Dongchangfu sent over a dossier. They were currently investigating a smuggling case and asked the government office here in Hanzhong city to help. Because, the suspects in question are from here….”

Liu Xu’er’s heart shook violently She immediately thought of it, “Liu Yun’er!”

Shi Cheng gave a cold smile, “It’s not yet her turn to be the main culprit! The main culprits are your sanshen’s xiaoshushu. Your sanshen and sanshu as well as Fang shi, Fang Jicheng are all accomplices…. As well as Liu Yun’er.”

Liu Xu’er was so shocked, she was speechless!

Shi Cheng pulled her along, “Don’t worry, they only called me over to ask about the situation. They know that I am considered their relative, and the officials here know that the situation had nothing to do with me, so they were quite polite… They didn’t cause any trouble for me.”

He said it so simply, and didn’t say anything further, just dragged her back to their rooms quickly. Liu Xu’er told all the servants to leave and close the door. Then she hurriedly went in to ask more. “What on earth happened? Tell me in detail!”

Shi Cheng nodded his head, then pressed her to sit down. He said, “Don’t worry, just listen to me. It’s a long story,… Otherwise, I wouldn’t have to stay there for so long.”

Liu Xu’er’s heart was beating wildly. She nodded her head. 

Shi Cheng also sat down and said, “Your sanshen is called Jia Xiaozhen, her xiaoshushu is named Jia De. Wasn’t it said that that fellow was out at sea for a very long time? And when he came back, your sanshen was very secretive about where he’d been, and refused to say much to your family? That’s because this Jia De did indeed go out to sea, but he had been engaged in smuggling!”

“What was he smuggling?” Liu Xu’er quickly asked. 

Shi Cheng said, “At first, he just smuggled some silks and porcelain… You know it as well, silk and porcelain are two extremely popular items overseas. Most types of silk and porcelain can be sold overseas, but there are some special ones that can only be used within our country and cannot be sold outside, for example, black glazed porcelain.”

Liu Xu’er was only vaguely aware of such matters. She knew that there were some types that couldn’t be sold outside of the country. It seemed that it was because not many pieces were produced in the official kilns?

Shi Cheng had already gone on, “At the start, he had only dared to smuggle such items. After all, most silks and porcelains can be legally traded overseas. He just needed to hide these illegal items amongst the others and that would cut down on the risks significantly… After doing this for a few years, he slowly started to get bolder and bolder. He wasn’t willing to engage with such small-time activities any longer and started to smuggle silver.”

Liu Xu’er shuddered! Smuggling silver! That was a very serious offense! From the time of the Tang and Song dynasties, the government was extremely strict about the population smuggling silver. If too much gold and silver went overseas, it could affect the country’s economy as well as all their other industries. But of course, smuggling silver still happened frequently, because the rewards were great. 

During the Ming dynasty, there was a long period that they were restricted from sailing overseas. Sea trade had only re-opened about 20 years ago.

“Although there was a lot of money to be made smuggling silver, the risks were also very high. After doing it three or four times, Jia De had made enough money for himself and wanted to stop. But people in this business are cutthroat – would they allow him to stop? So they forced him to continue. Jia De then thought of finding himself a successor.”

Liu Xu’er understood. “So he found my sanshu!”

Shi Cheng nodded his head, “That’s right! That’s why Jia De returned to his home village dripping in finery, despite engaging in such shady business. He had originally planned to find someone from his hometown, but your sanshu and sanshen went up to ask him. In fact, they were the most eager – your sanshen was the first to agree! So Jia De handed over the business to your sanshu.”

Liu Xu’er could figure out the rest on her own. No wonder her sanshu became so secretive, and suddenly refused to associate with their family. No wonder he became rich overnight. It turned out that he was engaged in such shady business. Of course he had to be secretive!

“At that time, didn’t we consider that Liu Changgui was probably engaged in some form of illegal activity? I did think that he might be smuggling, but I never thought he was smuggling silver…. Honestly, I didn’t think he had even sailed overseas.” Shi Cheng shook his head, “But Liu Changgui is no fool either. After doing it a few times, he too wanted to stop.”

Liu Xu’er nodded her head, “My sanshu does have some small cunning.”

Shi Cheng nodded his head, “He probably thought that it was too dangerous, sailing out to sea and visiting other areas. Lawlessness is rampant there, and those he met with were not afraid of the law. Even if he died, no one would know. There was also another reason. Your sanshen….”

“What about her?” Liu Xu’er asked. She only knew that her sanshen insisted on staying in Shandong.

Shi Cheng shook his head. In a voice filled with disgust, he said, “Your sanshen met a wealthy man in Shandong’s Binzhou city…. They didn’t get married, that person has his own family. Your sanshen and that man just… hooked up outside.”

Liu Xu’er was shocked. She frowned, disgusted. 

Shi Cheng said, “That person was also someone in the smuggling business. He had money and power. I presume that he was just fooling around with your sanshen. Your sanshen is really extraordinarily lazy. She probably felt that with him, she could just laze around all day without doing anything and still be well fed and clothed, so she dallied with him. In a rage, your sanshu returned here.”

As Shi Cheng spoke, Liu Xu’er was thinking. Recalling the situation before, it did seem that ever since some unknown time before, they had never seen Jia shi around. 

“When your sanshu came back, he brought home a little concubine – that is, Fang Yun. That’s why your sanshu refused to mention Jia shi, and treated Fang Yun like his wife. She birthed his children, he bought their house for her, and all of his own money goes to Fang Yun to manage.” Shi Cheng continued. “Since your sanshu had gone out a few times and made himself enough money and because Jia shi had gone to someone else, he didn’t want to continue in this line of business. So just like Jia De, he too went to look for a successor.”

Liu Xu’er nodded her head, that should be Fang Jicheng!

Shi Cheng nodded his head and said, “It was Fang Jicheng. But Fang Jicheng was no fool. He went once and knew that this type of business risked his life, so refused to continue! And in that one trip out with Liu Changgui, he had made a few hundred taels of silver. So at Liu Yun’er’s instigation, they opened a store to compete with us.”

After he said that, Liu Xu’er could somewhat guess what happened next, “But those two didn’t know how to do business, especially Liu Yun’er. All she wanted to do was to compete with us, so the store eventually lost money and had to close down. All the money he had made before had probably gone into this, so Fang Jicheng had no choice but to head out on another smuggling trip.”

Shi Cheng nodded his head, “That’s right! But when he went out to sea, something happened and he was killed!”

Liu Xu’er was shocked!

The one who killed him was also in the business. That person had been watched by the authorities for some time, so after he had completed that piece of business, he was arrested. Because this was a big case, they continued to escalate it up the ladder until it reached Dongchangfu. When the officials there investigated… They managed to blow the case wide open! Jia De, Liu Changgui, Jia shi, Fang Jichen and the rest were all from Hanzhong city, so they naturally needed their counterparts help. That was why they sent the dossier over.”

When he said that, Shi Cheng shook his head, “The department of Public Safety had only just received the dossier half a month ago. They carefully investigated all of their friends and relatives. Since I came over, and because I had just become a juren last year, the primary investigator had some impression of me. So they called me over to ask about the situation.”

Finally, the truth was out!

Liu Xu’er quickly asked, “So where are they now? My sanshu, Liu Yun’er… how are they?”

“They’ve all been arrested! You didn’t know, right? Liu Tao and his father probably don’t know anything either! They’d already been arrested more than 10 days ago!” Shi Cheng shook his head, “They are all in jail in Hanzhong city! If I hadn’t been called over… I wouldn’t have known anything.”

Liu Xu’er was both shocked and dismayed. She didn’t know what to say.

“This case has involved quite a few people. It’s quite a major case at Dongchangfu. They’ve already arrested dozens of people! Jia shi and her lover didn’t manage to escape! The only ones involved here are probably Liu Changgui and his group.”