Shen Hao has always been narrow-minded. When he could be suppressed, he could endure humiliation and bow his head, but he’d carve every grudge into his heart, waiting for a future payback. But once he was no longer suppressed, he never let a grudge last overnight.
Retribution cos fast—who has ti for nonsense?
So the mont Shen Hao heard Hu Tian say that the Song Family dared to show contempt right at his doorstep, he decided not to let them walk away easily. Otherwise, would everyone start parading their arrogance in front of his house in the future?
And did everyone think the fat piece of at that was Zhang Family’s Wine Shop was just under Shen Hao’s protection? Maybe in the beginning, but not anymore.
Zhang Family’s Wine Shop is now the funding source for the Black Water Plan. Even in the Governor’s Office, there are official records: the allocated budget is laundered at Zhang Family’s Wine Shop before being funneled to the Black Water Plan. You could say Zhang Family’s Wine Shop is now the hidden money bag secretly backed by the Jingxi Town Governor’s Office.
The Song brat coming to strut around—wasn’t that just digging his own grave? He wanted to swallow the Jingxi Town Governor’s Office’s money bag?
Shen Hao didn’t hesitate a bit. Whether the evidence was solid or not, he’d arrest first and talk later. Any issues would be shielded by the Governor’s Office above anyway.
On the other side, Song Zhizhou and that Chen-nad deputy of the Governnt Office were scared stiff. Monts ago, they’d been sulking over Shen Hao’s arrogance, planning to use the Seventh Prince to put more pressure on him. But before a word was out, several Xuanqing Guards charged in and pinned them to the floor, fastening board locks and dragging them off instantly.
From initial bewildernt to later rage, being shackled and dragged away completely drove Song Zhizhou and Chen mad. How dare that bastard!?
Only when the two realized they’d been separated and thrown into dark rooms full of torture instrunts did their boiling anger instantly turn into fear.
This was the Xuanqing Guard Punishnt Room?!
What were they planning to do?
Isn’t there a saying: ’Business fails, but humanity remains’? Wasn’t it just a few harsh words? Surely they wouldn’t drag them into a punishnt room and kill them?
No wonder the two were terrified. The reputation of the Xuanqing Guards was no joke. It had been built on countless lives; those who survived the place were rare, and to rely lose a few layers of skin while keeping one’s life counted as being lucky.
The two groups assigned to the interrogation had a writ—it was clearly written, no need to use deadly force, no need for the heavy stuff. Just serve up a few small dishes and ask a series of questions repeatedly. Anyone experienced could see this was about teaching them a lesson, not extracting any real information.
Shen Hao had never planned on killing them.
The Song Family’s bottom line was unclear; offending them was fine, but killing would be costly. Besides, the Zhang Family’s Wine Shop could never be handed over—offending the Song Family was inevitable, so why not use the chance to vent a little?
As for the deputy nad Chen, Hu Tian had already said: it was this Chen who was being cryptic yesterday, and during the Blue Moon Association matter, the officials at the office had tripped him up plenty of tis; this Chen was right there among them. Settling old scores was just right.
Throwing them into the punishnt room—especially one run directly by the Black Banner Battalion—ant that if anyone wanted to bail them out, even Wu Changhe would have to show up in person.
anwhile, Shen Hao took back the unfinished case files from earlier that day and went ho, got another bowl of noodles from Xia Nu, and, after eating, holed up in his study to continue working on the files. He had to hurry—he planned to head to the Imperial City tomorrow to report directly to Jiang Cheng.
Until late at night, Shen Hao fell asleep, while in the punishnt room of the Black Banner Battalion, Song Zhizhou and the unlucky Chen were tasting the consequences of "fronting without strength." Both were from the ’upper-tier’ and had never tasted torture; with just a few small dishes, they were already wailing like babies. The executioners found it dull and just kept to the process, continuing the session by the book.
But when Shen Hao entered the Public Office the next day, the interrogators brought a surprise...
"My lord, these are last night’s confessions. Only myself and a colleague have seen them."
"Is sothing wrong?" Shen Hao caught a strange, abnormal smirk on the face of the interrogator.
"Yes, my lord. That Song Zhizhou is just a spineless blabbermouth—only three simple dishes in and he lost his mind, started spouting nonsense, and ended up spilling a lot. I wrote it all down."
Broken by the pain? Spouting nonsense?
This kind of thing was actually pretty common during interrogations. Extre pain and terror would shatter a person’s ntal barriers, and secrets buried deep would be tossed out as bargaining chips just to make the torture stop. Typically, it happened to the weak-willed; turns out, Song Zhizhou was one of them.
Shen Hao didn’t let the interrogator leave—he read through the confession at lightning speed right in front of him before looking up again.
"Rember—if you don’t want trouble, let what’s written here rot in your heart, understood?" Truth was, even Shen Hao was shocked by Song Zhizhou’s confessions. After closing the confession, his face beca stern as he warned the man.
"You can rest assured, my lord. I understand—I’ll forget it right away."
"Good. You’re excused. This counts as a rit for you. As for those two, send them to the dungeon."
"Yes, my lord."
After that, Shen Hao summoned Wang Yiming, instructing him that if anyone ca to bail them, just send them back—unless Wu Changhe showed up in person, nobody would be released.
Everything should be done with limits. After this beating, even the arrogant Song Family would have to figure Shen Hao out before making any moves. If they still dared to ss with Zhang Family’s Wine Shop, that’d be outright picking a fight with the Jingxi Town Governor’s Office. So what if it’s the Seventh Prince? As long as Lord Pang at the top hadn’t taken a side, it wasn’t a problem.
"My lord, you heading out?"
"Yes, heading to the Imperial City."
Wang Yiming watched Shen Hao leave with a carefree smile, and for the second ti had to admire this ’Lord Hundred Households’. Right after offending the Fifth Prince, he’d turned around and brutalized the Seventh Prince’s people—these were moves that defied logic. Even stranger, this Lord Hundred Households looked totally unbothered, showing no anxiety at having offended two princes at once.
Leaving the Thousand Households Station, Shen Hao took two Guards and headed back to the Imperial City.
Reaching the Governor’s Office, he showed his Waist Token. The Small Banner Officer in the tea room rembered this Hundred Households was one of the Lord Governor’s trusted n and asked Shen Hao to wait a mont while he went to report.
It was nearly half an hour before Jiang Cheng was free.
"Greetings, my lord."
Jiang Cheng, as ever, showed no emotion. He treated Shen Hao casually, put down his paperwork, leaned back in his chair, and smiled, "Sit. Got results from the Black Water Plan?"
"Yes, my lord. Though so things happened by accident."
"Oh?" Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow—he didn’t like surprises.
Shen Hao didn’t waste words. He pulled out from his Storage Bag the files he’d written over the past two days and handed them over.
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