Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
With the purpose of investigation, Wang Qiang entered the warehouse that he had been curious about for a long time. When he came out, he saw Lu Yu standing in the courtyard and asked, “Have you found any clues?”
“I just asked the person in charge. He said that all the medicinal pills in the logistics department were personally handled by Steward Bai. No one else had access to the medicinal pills.”
“The accountant also said that there was no problem with the accounts. Since Steward Bai was the only one who had access to the pills, I wonder he might have made some false accounts so no one would know.”
“Let’s make a hypothesis. When someone came to collect the pills, Steward Bai would secretly add another pill to the account book and then collect another pill in the storeroom.”
“He hides the extra pills somewhere. This way, he’ll pass the body check.”
“Then, he come back to logistics department at night to take away the things he hid during the day and sell them.”
“Moreover, only Steward Bai has access to the account books of the pills. The account books of the storeroom are recorded by storekeeper. Generally speaking, there won’t be any problems if the numbers on the two account books match.”
“But because no one except Steward Bai has access to the account books of the medicinal pills, all the numbers are all filled in by Steward Bai himself. The numbers on both account books match, so no one will find out.”
“But if that’s the case, we can just take the account books and ask the people who receive pills. That way, we can know if Steward Bai had made the false accounts or not.” Wang Qiang said.
“I’ll go to the accounting department to get the account books. We’ll then go and look for them one by one now to see if there are any fake account.” Wang Qiang immediately said.
Wang Qiang was a little anxious. After all, this matter concerned his chance to get into the inner court.
It was a rare opportunity. If he missed it, he didn’t know if there would be a next time.
“Wait.” Lu Yu hurriedly stopped Wang Qiang and explained, “The deduction just now is based on the fact that Steward Bai is a thief. But if Steward Bai is not a thief, the account book will naturally be fine.”
“Then what’s the use of the deduction?” Wang Qiang calmed down. He knew that he was a little too hasty.
If he wanted to satisfy Butler Zhang, then he should look for evidence to prove that Steward Bai was not a thief, and not find evidence to prove that Steward Bai was falsifying the account book.
“It’s useful.” Lu Yu said with a positive tone.
Wang Qiang looked at him curiously. Lu Yu explained, “If Steward Bai was not the thief, the deduction would not be valid. However, there is a very crucial point — the problem must be on the pills.”
“Because only Steward Bai can have access to the medicinal pills, the others have no chance to have access to the medicinal pills. This also provides Steward Bai with some room to do something.”
“If there is a problem with other materials, it is very easy to be discovered. Only the medicinal pills are handled by Steward Bai. It is not easy to be discovered even if he does something.”
Wang Qiang still did not understand what Lu Yu meant by this.
“Wait a moment.” Lu Yu said and then walked to the warehouse.
“Old Sir, excuse me. Are you the one who take out the things from the warehouse for the people, or do people just go in and take things out themselves?” Lu Yu asked the old man who was keeping accounts at the door of the warehouse.
The old man answered while recording the record book, “People go in themselves. How can I move so many things every day? Moreover, if you want to go into the warehouse, you need the bill from the warehouse. You also need to register when you leave the warehouse. You can only go out if the accounts match.”
“Then what about the medicinal pills?”
He glanced at Lu Yu, “Steward Bai always goes in to take the medicinal pills. When he comes out, he registers the number with me. Moreover, every day when he leaves, Steward Bai will take the bill to check the number of medicinal pills. There has never been a mistake.”
Lu Yu noticed the key point and asked again, “Steward Bai always checks the medicinal pills himself? Will anyone else check the number of medicinal pills?”
After some thought, the old man shook his head and said, “The value of the pills is relatively high. It has always been Steward Bai who manages the pills personally. If anyone else touches them, Steward Bai wouldn’t be at ease either, so he has always been the only one checking the number of pills.”
Lu Yu felt as if he had caught onto something, but he lacked a trigger.
What Lu Yu couldn’t understand was why Steward Bai came to the logistics department in the middle of the night? If he knew the reason for Steward Bai’s action, he would be able to understand many things.
The police had to investigate the motive for the crime, but Lu Yu did not even know what Steward Bai’s motive was. How was he supposed to find out the truth?
“Alright, thank you, Old Sir.”
Thinking of this, Lu Yu expressed his gratitude to the information provided by the old man. Although he did not know what Steward Bai’s motive was, the old man’s words made him believe that the problem was the pills.
“No need to thank me. We are all servants of the Han Residence. It is not easy for anyone.” The old man thought of something and said, “Steward Bai has been implicated. Sigh! In the end, we are only servants of the Han Residence. We cannot be compared to the Han Residence’s own people. We cannot stop them from doing whatever they want.”
“After all, we’re in the Han Residence’s territory.”
Hearing the old man’s words, a flash of inspiration flashed through Lu Yu’s mind as he grasped onto a key point.
Lu Yu immediately turned around and asked, “Has anyone from the Han family come here recently, or even entered the warehouse?”
The old man was first stunned when he heard that, then he said, “Master Han Fan has indeed come. Master Han Fan will come to the warehouse to check every day. How did you know?”
“You told me yourself.”
Lu Yu turned around and left. He called Wang Qiang and left the logistics department to look for Butler Zhang.
“Did I say that?” The old man looked at the two of them walking away. He wondered if there was something wrong with his memory.
Lu Yu had almost figured out what the Steward Bai was doing here every night.
The speculation in his mind made him feel a little incredulous. If there was no other evidence, then it could only be the truth.
“Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Aren’t you going to look for clues?” Wang Qiang followed behind Lu Yu and asked in puzzlement.
“I already know the truth.”
“You know the truth? Then quickly tell me!” Wang Qiang’s voice was a little agitated.
“Let’s go and look for Butler Zhang now. You’ll know the truth by then.” Lu Yu said calmly.
He knew that this matter involved the Han family members, so it was not something that a mere courtyard guard like him could handle. He needed people with higher position to handle this matter.
Wang Qiang was not qualified either. Only Butler Zhang, who was above everyone else, had the ability to handle this matter.
The two of them came to the entrance of hall of the martial arts practice field. After telling the gatekeeper that they wanted to see Butler Zhang, they waited at the door for the notification.
Not long after, Butler Zhang appeared in the hall and met with Wang Qiang and Lu Yu.
Lu Yu told Butler Zhang about his deduction.
“You said that Bai Qiu went to the logistics department every night just to make up the the number of pills that Han Fan took from the storeroom during the day?” Butler Zhang was surprised and confused.
Wang Qiang also felt that it was extremely unbelievable after hearing it. Steward Bai was using money to clean up the mess of Master Han Fan?
“Han Fan has been arrested.” Butler Zhang suddenly said.
Hearing this, Lu Yu was a little surprised.
Looking at the two of them, Butler Zhang said, “Follow me. Don’t say anything after entering. Just watch.”
The two of them followed Butler Zhang into the inner courtyard of the Han Residence. There was not much difference between the inner courtyard and the outer courtyard. The only difference was that the road was wider and cleaner.
It was so clean that Lu Yu did not see any dust or fallen leaves on the ground along the way.
One had to know that there were green trees planted in every courtyard by the side of the road. The green trees were already higher than the walls of the courtyard, but there was not a single leaf on the road outside. This could only mean that there were often people cleaning the ground in the inner courtyard.
Following Butler Zhang, Lu Yu came to a courtyard filled with flowers and plants. Before entering, Butler Zhang reminded the two of them again not to speak.
After walking around the courtyard, they came to a lawn. There were already many people standing by the lawn. They were all young masters and young ladies dressed in exquisite clothes. In front of the lawn, there were a few old masters of the Han Residence.
The old master that the servants usually referred to be the head of the Han family, Han Yaozu. However, the Han Residence did not only have one old master.
Similarly, there were more than one young master and young miss. However, Han Yu was the real miss of the Han family because her father was Han Yaozu.
For example, when Lu Yu learned that Han Fan was also known as Young Master Han, his status was far inferior to Miss Han Yu.
Butler Zhang let the two of them stand outside the crowd and said to Lu Yu in a low voice, “The one kneeling there is Han Fan.”
After saying that, Butler Zhang walked out of the crowd and whispered a few words to the middle-aged man standing in the middle. The middle-aged man nodded to show that he understood. Butler Zhang then took a step back and stood behind the masters.
Although Wang Qiang wanted to know what Butler Zhang and Lu Yu had just said, he still remembered Butler Zhang’s exhortation and held back his words.
Han Fan was kneeling on the grass. His clothes were a little messy, and the masters standing in front of him were discussing.
They were discussing how to deal with the matter of Han Fan trespassing into the master’s study room. As for Han Fan stealing the pills from the outer court’s storeroom, that was just a small matter.
“Third Uncle, Han Fan is your son. How do you think we should deal with him trespassing into my study?” Han Yaozu said to the skinny old man with the jade bead coiled around him.
The thin old man narrowed his eyes slightly and said lightly, “Fan’ er is still young and a little insensible. Besides, didn’t he not cause any damage? I think a little punishment is more than enough. Just punish Fan’ er by locking him up at home for ten days.”
“It will be too late when he causes damage!” Han Yaozu looked at the skinny old man and said with a heavy tone. “Just a little punishment? Isn’t it mean that my study room is a vegetable market that anyone can come and go as they please?”
The skinny old man’s face was a little stern, “Then what do you think we should do?” A pair of jade pearls in his hands were pinched until they made cracking sounds.
“According to the family rules, trespassing into the study of the family head should result in a month of confinement in the land of the poles. However, the Han family is no what it used to be, and there is no land of the poles anymore. We will punish him with bludgeon!” Han Yaozu said calmly.
“Men, beat him.”
Hearing Han Yaozu’s words, Han Fan’s body trembled. He raised his head and shouted at the skinny old man, “Father, save me, save me, I will be beaten to death…”
The skinny old man’s expression was very ugly, but he could not defy the family head’s decision. He could not bear to see his son being beaten. Under Han Fan’s pleading gaze, he flicked his sleeve and left quickly.
A few guards holding wooden sticks heard the order and immediately suppressed Han Fan who was trying to get up and hug his father’s thigh.
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Han Fan was powerless in their hands. Two of them suppressed Han Fan while the other two raised their wooden sticks and hit Han Fan’s buttocks one after another.
Not long after, blood started to seep out of Han Fan’s pants. Han Fan pretended to be unconscious so that he could escape the punishment, but the guards continued to hit him. The pain made him cry out again.
Amidst the screams, the surrounding young masters and young ladies also realized the severity of the family rules, and their bodies began to tremble.
However, they were not allowed to leave. The elders asked them to stand here and watch the entire punishment.
They beat Han Fan until his voice was hoarse and he could not make a sound. His whole body twitched, his head tilted, and he really fainted. Only then did Butler Zhang stop the men. Before the punishment ended, Master Han had left a long time ago..