Chapter 434
“Master, the Yu family’s ancestors were once serving as mountain surveyors under the Imperial Metals Office. During the years of dynastic change, the political situation was unstable—who knew if the Xie family could hold onto the throne?
Back then, an ancestor of the Yu family used his position to survey several rich mineral deposits but concealed them and failed to report them. His original plan was to preserve them for his descendants.
Only a few successive heads of the Yu family and a handful of core members had a rough idea of this. As for the specific location of the mines, because that ancestor who discovered them died suddenly without passing on the details, the secret remains unsolved to this day.
Yet somehow, though the Yu family guarded the secret tightly over generations, the news of their hidden rich mines still reached the ears of the Panshan and Youtan sects.
They used human-skin masks to replace members of the Yu family’s direct lineage, all for the purpose of investigating the mines.”
“Little Bead, since you say it’s a rich mine, tell me, how rich is it? And what kind of mine did the Yu family’s mountain surveyor find?”
Indeed, Feng Tang, Huang Xie, and the others were equally curious, while generals like Shen Jian and Wei Shouyi speculated—could it be an even larger iron ore deposit?
Wei Shouyi now deeply regretted how, yesterday, when he met that cowardly head of the Yu family, he had so easily believed his words. If only he had applied a few more lashes with his saltwater-dipped whip, maybe the man would have confessed then and there!
On reflection, he shuddered: had it not been for the great artifact spirit’s love of gossip, tracing the clues like a vine, uncovering one shocking revelation after another, wouldn’t he have failed in his duty?
“Your Grace, this guilty official has confessed everything he can!” Just as everyone was straining to hear more, they were interrupted by Hao Ren’s words.
Disturbed in her gossip, Yue Fuguang showed no annoyance. Instead, she swept a curious glance over the Hao father and son. “County Magistrate Hao, are you sure you’ve confessed everything?”
Her fair fingers tapped lightly on the table, one after another, neither heavy nor gentle, yet each tap struck Hao Ren’s heart like a sledgehammer.
Seeing Yue Fuguang watching him with such amused interest, Hao Ren’s heart began to waver. His hands, pressed against the ground, trembled slightly. He had no idea just how much the Junior Preceptor knew about his background and secrets.
Every single one of those secrets was enough to cost him his head. Hao Ren dared not admit it, nor could he gamble on it.
Yue Fuguang noticed him lowering his head, gritting his teeth in silence, and her patience wore thin. “Don’t want to talk? Then let me, the Junior Preceptor, say it for you!”
Feeling weary from sitting, she stood up and walked a few steps, stopping three meters away from them, looking down at them from on high. “County Magistrate Hao, shouldn’t I really be calling you County Magistrate Tong Jiaren?”
At the name Tong Jiaren, Hao Ren could no longer pretend. He jerked his head up, staring at Yue Fuguang in terror, his mouth opening and closing as if to speak, but no words came out.
Behind him, his eldest son fared even worse. Hearing the surname “Tong,” he prostrated himself on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
Over the years, he knew all too well how the imperial court dealt with members of the Tong family—either rotting away in some sunless prison for life or being dragged to the vegetable market to be beheaded.
Given the extent of his involvement, his fate was inevitably the same as his father’s: to lose his head.
Watching his father and eldest brother, the Hao family’s second son looked utterly bewildered. He had handled some trivial matters involving the mines, but what did “Tong” have to do with any of this? County Magistrate Tong Jia—was that his father? Did that mean they weren’t surnamed Hao at all, but Tong?
When the second son thought of the most infamous members of the Tong clan… then looked at his elder brother, who looked like he had lost his own father, and his actual father, whose expression was darker than if he had buried a son, his body couldn’t stop shaking!
In his heart, he screamed: I don’t want to be surnamed Tong! I’m not one of those Tong people!
Li Qingxue, witnessing her future father-in-law and lover react so violently to the name “County Magistrate Tong,” understood all too well with her sharp mind.
As a former member of the prominent Li clan—even if just a branch daughter—her family had thoroughly investigated Hao Ren and his lineage before agreeing to the betrothal.
As the magistrate of an upper-ranked county under Yingchuan Prefecture, Hao Ren’s son managing to marry a Li branch daughter was a testament to the allure of the Hao family’s past prestige. After all, the Hao family had once been a distinguished clan with considerable legacy.
Li Qingxue knew that Hao Ren had been kidnapped as a child.
Her thoughts raced as she linked things together: perhaps this Hao Ren was not the child the Hao family had lost, but one deliberately swapped in by the Tong family!
Their goal, too, was to seize the Hao family’s wealth and connections, much like the earlier incident with the yu clan.
One had to say, women had such vivid imaginations. While her speculation wasn’t entirely accurate, it wasn’t far off from the plans that the Ouyang family and Hao Ren had later conceived.
Hao Ren’s face stiffened, twisted as he forced a feeble defense. “The Junior Preceptor jokes. This guilty official is surnamed Hao, from a great clan of Yingzhou.”
As for the surname “Tong,” he didn’t even utter it, as if the word burned his tongue.
“Is that so?” Yue Fuguang mused. “Then why do I hear that your birth parents were members of the former imperial clan? Oh, they’ve changed their surname now. What was it…”
She paced a couple of steps before the Hao father and son, then suddenly snapped her fingers, as if recalling something. “Ah, right—it’s Ouyang, isn’t it, County Magistrate Hao?”
Hao Ren's hands clutched the hem of his robe in a death grip, his head bowed low as he used silence to resist Yue Fuguang's interrogation. He dared not look up, afraid she would see the terrified, twisted expression on his face.
Yue Fuguang paid no heed to his reaction. Instead, she turned to ask Huang Xie, the prefect, who was still trying to process the cascade of shocking news he had just received.
"Prefect Huang, are there any wealthy families or prominent clans with the surname Ouyang in Yingzhou?"
Hearing Yue Fuguang’s question, Huang Xie immediately rose from his chair and bowed in response. "Your Excellency, there is a landowner who moved here from elsewhere and settled on the outskirts of Yingchuan Prefecture. His surname is indeed Ouyang."
Yue Fuguang nodded and waved her hand. "I’ll trouble Prefect Huang to send someone familiar with the situation to accompany my men in raiding the entire Ouyang clan."
Over the past two years, she had witnessed so many household raids that ordering one herself hardly weighed on her conscience. Perhaps the Ouyang family included innocent people, but distinguishing good from bad was the court’s job. Hers was simply to complete the system’s tasks and earn points. Selfish as it might be, what wouldn’t she do for her own sake?
"General Shen, I’ll need you to handle this," she said. For capturing remnants of the former dynasty, who could be more suitable than Shen Jian, the emperor’s own nephew?
When Hao Ren heard the hurried footsteps of Shen Jian leaving, his face turned completely ashen. He knew who Shen Jian was—after all, he and his father had been arrested by the very same man.
Hao Ren closed his eyes in despair. Thinking back on everything they had done over the years, he knew the Ouyang family was finished. Their actions had left them no escape.
Yue Fuguang waved her hand to have Hao Ren and the others taken away. She had never expected him to tell the truth anyway. She had only used him to test the system, and sure enough, it triggered a task. Moreover, using him as a pretext had led to the Tong family being exposed, completing half of her mission.
Once the irrelevant people had been dismissed, only Yue Fuguang, Feng Tang, Huang Xie, and the other officials remained.
Yue Fuguang thought for a moment and then asked Wei Shouyi, "General Wei, how is the interrogation of the Yu family going?"
Wei Shouyi recalled that the Divine Artifact had mentioned a rich mine, yet there had been no further update, and he couldn’t help feeling a bit anxious.