Chapter 798 - 170: Selling Mother for Money_1
Everyone was watching the announcement on the government office’s podium, waiting to see who would come out to take the fall this time. Whether it was Butler Qian or someone else, their coming forward to take the blame or to bribe someone was on behalf of their masters, doing their bidding. Now that trouble had arisen, they were using a servant to take the fall.
Qian Changdong knew that Butler Qian absolutely could not admit to the crime. If he did, Mo Heng would target him next as the mastermind. The key to this affair was in Pei Wenli’s hands, as long as Lady Chen’s death was ruled a suicide, Butler Qian, even if having ordered a follow, was not silencing a witness!
Seeing the look in his master’s eyes, Butler Qian cried out that Lady Chen’s death was either a suicide or someone else’s attempt to smear him, and thereby taint the master and young mistress’s son-in-law.
Lady Chen and Pei Wenli had only recently left, and due to the extreme cold of winter, they had stopped at an inn in a town. Her suicide was deduced because the doors and windows of the room were locked, and she had hanged herself.
The local government office helped with the investigation, which declared that Lady Chen hung herself. The incident during the day, when an old man knocked her hat off revealing her sparse and fluffy few strands of hair, sparked comments that she was a nun wearing secular clothes. A nun’s hair should be shaved clean, not like hers with a few scraggly strands, which clearly indicated she had gone insane, hence the public discussion. Then, everyone in the inn knew about it, and the landlady refused to let them stay. Pei Wenli showed his graduate credentials, claiming he was taking his mother to Capital Jingcheng for treatment, and after much begging, they were allowed to stay.
But the news of the "ghost’s haircut" spread far, and that night, someone disclosed Lady Chen’s identity as having been cursed with the "ghost’s haircut." The landlady wanted to kick them out again, and with no place to go on a bitterly cold night, Pei Wenli offered three times the silver, which finally convinced her to let them stay for one night.
After the investigation, the local government office then stated that Lady Chen committed suicide because she could not bear the humiliation. No one could cure "ghost’s haircut," and going to Capital Jingcheng would be in vain.
Pei Wenli was incensed, convinced that someone murdered Lady Chen to silence her. His mother would never commit suicide! He was certain that it was the Qian family who had poisoned his mother to mute her!
Butler Qian refused to admit to the crime and was thrown into the dungeon for further interrogation later on.