Chapter 137: The Culinary Tycoon

Confrontation

The bailiff led Old Man Li and several villagers into the courtroom.

Luo Mingda first questioned Old Man Li, asking him to state his name and basic information. Then he asked, “Old Man Li, how long have you been working as a helper at the Jia Family’s residence?”

Old Man Li, who was appearing in court for the first time, was quite frightened. He bowed down and, with his head slightly lifted, replied, “In response to Your Honor, I have been sold to the Jia Family as a helper since I was fifteen years old. It has been thirty-six years now.”

Luo Mingda continued, “Have you ever been to the Jia Family’s suburban estate near Wulipo?”

Old Man Li answered, “Yes.”

“When did you go to the suburban estate to observe the courtyard? How many years did you spend there? Did anything happen during that time?”

Old Man Li replied, “Ten years ago, due to deteriorating health and inability to perform heavy labor, I was assigned to the suburban estate to take care of the house. Five years ago, I was transferred to another suburban estate, and yesterday the main household suddenly sent someone to bring me back to Wulipo villa.”

“Do you know why the Jia Family initially transferred you away?”

“I don’t know. I only heard that it was of great importance.”

“What kind of importance?”

“It seemed like it was for someone important to live there.”

“Who was this person?”

“This humble servant doesn’t know.”

“Then do you know why they brought you back to Wulipo yesterday?”

Old Man Li shook his head and said, “The steward who came to fetch me mentioned that there was no one living there anymore and they needed someone to look after the house.”

“So when you returned to the Villa in Wulipo yesterday, did you notice anything strange? Were there any differences in the yard?”

Old Man Li thought for a moment and replied, “It was very messy. There were many things added, like some wooden stakes. There were many scratches on the walls that weren’t there before. The flower beds that used to be there are gone. The rooms were also in a mess. The cabinets and drawers were all opened and not closed properly, as if it had been ransacked. Oh, and in the kitchen and on the dining table, there was leftover food, and there was fire in the stove.”

Luo Mingda raised an eyebrow and asked, “So, does that mean someone was living there before you arrived at the Villa? Is that what you mean?”

Old Man Li nodded and said, “Yes, sir.”

“Based on the amount of food left, how many people do you think had eaten?”

Old Man Li thought for a moment and said, “There were eight or nine sets of tableware on the dining table, and there were several sets in the pots in the kitchen. There should be more than ten people.”

Luo Mingda asked, “So, what you’re saying is that during the five years you were away from the villa in Wulipo, there were more than ten people living there. And before you arrived at the villa yesterday afternoon, they were supposed to be having lunch but left for some unknown reason?”

Old Man Li nodded and said, “Yes.”

“Thank you, Old Man Li. You can rest now.” Luo Mingda finished questioning Old Man Li and turned to ask the villagers.

The villagers’ answers were consistent. They all said that there were more than ten aggressive and domineering men living in the villa. They would often go to the village and grab poultry, livestock, and vegetables without paying. Some villagers witnessed the steward and servant from the Jia Mansion entering and leaving the Villa. This matched what Cao Yuan had said.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Then, some villagers saw those ten or so men leaving the yard with their bundles at noon yesterday, even the couple who cooked and cleaned for them.

At this moment, outside the courtroom, a group of people arrived behind the onlooking crowd. When the constable guarding the gate saw those people, he bowed and was about to shout out, but the leader stopped him.

The constable nodded and helped them push through the crowd to a spot where they could see inside the hall.

After questioning the villagers, Luo Mingda looked at Jia Xiaoren and asked, “Jia Xiaoren, you previously claimed that no one was living in your family’s villa. But according to the testimonies of Old Man Li and the villagers of Wulipo, there were clearly more than ten men and a couple responsible for cooking and cleaning living there during these five years. How do you explain this?”

Jia Xiaoren had been punished two days ago, his buttocks were still sore, and he had spent two days in the prison cell. He looked disheveled and his mind wasn’t as agile as before. He couldn’t come up with a rebuttal and was momentarily stunned.

Upon seeing this, Lord Lu signaled Old Man Jia to explain.

Old Man Jia quickly stepped forward and said, “Sir, I have something to say.”

“Who caused the disturbance?” Luo Mingda asked loudly.

Old Man Jia hurriedly entered the courtroom and knelt down, saying, “I am Jia Mingzhi, Jia Xiaoren’s father.”

“Oh,” Luo Mingda asked, “What do you have to say?”

Old Man Jia replied, “In my estate in the villa of Wulipo, since I rarely stayed there, it was rented out five years ago. The steward and servant went to the villa to collect rent, and the people living there are not our household staff as the villagers claimed.”

Rented out?

Yu Qingze turned his head and glanced at Old Man Jia. He couldn’t believe that he could come up with such an excuse at this moment.

Luo Mingda raised an eyebrow and asked, “Rented out? To whom? Give me their names and ages. Why did the constable happen to go investigate when it was vacant?”

This was just an impromptu excuse that Old Man Jia came up with on the spot. How could he know who it was rented to? He wiped the sweat off his forehead, hesitated for a moment, and then casually fabricated a name, saying, “It was rented to someone from the north, surnamed Qian, named Qian Youdu. He’s in his forties. As for why he suddenly moved out, I have no idea.”

Luo Mingda furrowed his brow and asked, “Jia Mingzhi, are you sure? In this courtroom, if you deliberately lie and mislead me, I have the authority to deal with you.”

Old Man Jia, who had been domineering all his life, felt somewhat guilty at this moment.

Luo Mingda clearly didn’t show any favoritism to his family. The relationships they relied on were his newphew, Lu Hongsheng, as the governor, and his brother as the Deputy Minister of Rites. However, these connections were of no use to Luo Mingda now. He had tried to offer bribes two days ago, but it didn’t work. Without powerful backing, Jia family was nothing more than a wealthy household in Qingzhou, and people in Tongshan City wouldn’t buy into their story.

However, for the sake of his son, Old Man Jia decided to go all-in and nodded, saying, “I’m sure.”

Luo Mingda didn’t inquire further and raised his voice, saying, “Bring in the witnesses!”

There are more witnesses?

Jia Xiaoren and Old Man Jia turned to look behind them, curious to see who it was. Upon seeing them, their hearts instantly sank.

Niu San was also surprised to see the witnesses. How were they brought here?

“I, Zheng Liang, and I, Zheng Liushi, have seen Lord Luo,” said a middle-aged couple, both around forty years old, as they knelt down and kowtowed in the courtroom.

Luo Mingda addressed them, saying, “Zheng Liang, Zheng Liushi, while in this court, you must truthfully answer any questions I ask. If there is any deceit or misleading of the trial, I will not show mercy. Do you understand?”

Zheng Liang and Zheng Liushi lowered their heads and replied, “Yes, we understand.”

“Very well. I ask you, where were you working for the past five years? And who was your employer?” Luo Mingda asked.

Zheng Liang replied, “As humble servants, my wife and I work as helpers in the Jia Family’s mansion in Qingzhou City. We have been serving in the Jia Family for over ten years. In the past five years, under the orders of the young master, we were assigned to work in a separate villa, responsible for cooking and cleaning duties.”

“Who is the young master? Please state the name,” asked Luo Mingda.

Zheng Liang glanced at Jia Xiaoren, who was staring at him fiercely. He swallowed nervously and quickly lowered his head, saying, “The young master is Jia..Jia Xiaoren.”

Luo Mingda continued, “Which villa specifically? Provide the exact location.”

“It’s the villa at the Wulipo outside the city,” Zheng Liang answered.

Luo Mingda further inquired, “Besides you and your wife, were there any other people residing in that villa?”

“Yes, there were,” Zheng Liang replied.

“What kind of people are they?” asked Luo Mingda.

Zheng Liang stole a glance at Jia Xiaoren, who narrowed his eyes and dangerously stared back, silently threatening him.

Upon seeing this, Luo Mingda slammed the table with a loud bang, “Crack!”

“Zheng Liang, you don’t need to fear him. Answer truthfully,” he said.

“Yes, yes,” Zheng Liang jumped at the sound of the table and instinctively lowered his waist even more. He replied, “Replying to Your Honor, apart from my wife and me, there are also fourteen men, all between the ages of eighteen and twenty-seven. The young master somehow found them, but I don’t know from where. They used to be ruffians, involved in theft, deception, and even a few of them had been to prison before.”

As Zheng Liang spoke, his head dropped lower, and his voice became quieter, although it was still audible to everyone in the courtroom.

“Zheng Liang, lift your head and repeat it, speak louder,” demanded Luo Mingda.

Reluctantly, Zheng Liang had no choice but to raise his head and repeat his statement in a louder voice.

“Can you go to the front and take a look at the person with a black mole on the right side of their chin? Do you know him? Is he one of the people from Wulipo villa?”

Zheng Liang knelt and walked to the front. He glanced at Niu San and then returned to his original position, nodding and saying, “Master, this person is called Niu San, and he is one of the people living in Wulipo villa.”

Luo Mingda nodded and asked Zheng Liushi, “Is there any error or omission in what Zheng Liang said?”

Zheng Liushi shook his head and said, “There is no error.”

Luo Mingda asked, “Why did all of you suddenly leave the other courtyard yesterday at noon?”

Zheng Liushi replied, “In response to your question, my lord, yesterday during lunch, a servant by the young master’s side suddenly came and told us to leave quickly, go anywhere we wanted, and take all our belongings with us. We didn’t even finish our lunch.”

“Did he mention a reason?”

“He didn’t say anything, just asked us to leave within fifteen minutes.”

Upon hearing this, Luo Mingda slammed the table in astonishment and shouted sternly, “Jia Xiaoren, you threatened the vendors to suppress Yu Qingze’s snack shop and restaurant, and then you sent Niu San to secretly drug the food at his House of Prosperity. Now, the truth is clear. Niu San is your subordinate, caught in the act, with solid evidence. What else do you have to say?”

Jia Xiaoren was completely stunned. The Zheng Liang couple from the villa had been found by them. Now, he couldn’t find any excuses.

He slumped down on the ground, but his injured buttocks hadn’t healed yet, causing him to grimace and writhe in pain.

Old Man Jia became anxious and looked back, signaling to the servant eavesdropping by the door.

The servant was Jia Xiaoren’s personal attendant, the one who would report the news back to Qingzhou.

Receiving Old Man Jia’s signal, he nodded and shouted, “Lord Luo, my young master has been falsely accused. It wasn’t him who instructed Niu San to go to House of Prosperity. There is someone else involved.”

Everyone turned their heads towards the direction of the voice, where a young man in his late teens stood.

Jia Xiaoren’s eyes brightened. Did his father and the others have another trick up their sleeves? A glimmer of hope emerged in his eyes.

Luo Mingda furrowed his brow. Another person had emerged?

“Who is it? Come in and speak!”

The servant immediately entered the hall, knelt down, and kowtowed before saying, “Sir, I am Wu Shun, the personal attendant of Young Master Jia Xiaoren from the Jia residence. The person who instructed Niu San to drug the food at House of Prosperity was not my young master.”

Luo Mingda furrowed his brow and asked, “Then who was it?”

The servant replied, “It was, it was my young master’s concubine, Shi Sheng.”

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Thandar: Wow Shi Sheng, karma I have to say.