CHAPTER 483: CHAPTER 483: TWO JARS OF GOLD

He was originally the youngest son of the County Magistrate, spoiled with love and enjoying the best life. After the exam next year, he would be able to compete for the official position of Scholar and challenge the eldest for the place of County Magistrate.

All his well-laid plans were ruined by the families who arrived to escape famine.

Hah, beggars who fled the famine dared to attack his maternal family’s home and caused him to turn into the ghostly figure he is today!

"It’s all because of those who fled the famine... I want them dead... I want their daughter to experience all the suffering... cough, cough, cough..." Zou Yuzhen hated the Gu Family to death, and even as he was dying, even as he coughed up blood, he still cursed the Gu Family.

Zou Hai thought Zou Yuzhen was sick and snatched the silver note from his hand: "You are going to die."

And he was supposed to harm Miss Gu too, wouldn’t her silver note be all his once he’s dead?

Zou Yuzhen knew this bag of silver notes wouldn’t buy Zou Hai’s loyalty, mustering his last strength he said: "...I’ve buried two jars of gold elsewhere... If you swear a venomous oath to destroy Miss Gu... I’ll tell you where the gold is hidden..."

Two jars of gold!

Zou Hai’s eyes lit up, no one in the world would complain about having too much money, let alone gold.

With these silver notes and the two jars of gold, after leaving Tianfu County, he could live a life of ordering servants around with his wife and children.

Indeed, Zou Hai had a family.

He did some unscrupulous work for the County Magistrate, moving between Jianghuai, Jiangnan, and Central State, using the County Magistrate’s help, he had households registered in all three regions, married and had children there.

For those two jars of gold, Zou Hai swore a venomous oath: "Zou Hai swears, I will definitely sell Miss Gu into prostitution for Third Master, let them die in utter humiliation."

"Heh... Are you called Zou Hai?" Having guessed Zou Hai had another identity, Zou Yuzhen said: "Swear by your real self... if you break this venomous oath... your whole family will die miserably... you yourself will die in agonizing pain..."

As Zou Yuzhen spoke, his expression was ferociously twisted; his mouth covered in blood foam and the bloody tears from his eyes made him look as horrifying as an Evil Spirit from hell, scaring even Zou Hai.

Zou Hai had no choice, in order to learn where the gold was hidden, he still swore the venomous oath: "I myself swear, after escaping, I will definitely sell Miss Gu into prostitution for Third Master. If I violate this oath, my family will die miserably, and I myself will also die in agonizing pain!"

After swearing the oath, Zou Hai angrily demanded: "Tell me where the gold is buried quickly."

Zou Yuzhen whispered a location to him and Zou Hai’s eyes sparkled as he recognized the place.

Just as Zou Hai was delighted, Zou Yuzhen suddenly burst into strength, grabbing Zou Hai’s arms tightly, his blood-red eyes glaring furiously at Zou Hai: "If you dare to deceive me... I will become an Evil Spirit... haunt you night after night... let you be devoured and killed by the Evil Spirit!"

With that, he intentionally spat a mouthful of blood foam at Zou Hai, then collapsed from exhaustion.

Zou Hai was frightened by the blood Zou Yuzhen spat at him last, hurriedly stepping back, his body breaking out in cold sweat. After a while, he dared to approach to check Zou Yuzhen’s breathing, finding him thoroughly dead, he finally felt relieved.

However, after a short while, Zou Hai grew fearful again, afraid that Zou Yuzhen would really turn into an Evil Spirit and cling to him, he immediately acted, using the cover of night, he moved the bodies of Zou Yuzhen and Fan Dabiao through the exit, staging them near an old tree outside of the government office, making it look like a mutual kill.

He even left a few silver notes behind to let people think they died fighting over the silver notes.

Zou Hai finished all this, then quickly donned his clothes and messed up his hair to imitate the appearance of a beggar, rushing into the night.

A while later, shortly after a cup of tea’s time, the men under Squad Leader Zhu patrolling the vicinity discovered the corpses of Zou Yuzhen and Fan Dabiao, immediately they struck the copper gong and shouted loudly: "Someone come, we’ve found Zou Yuzhen!"

Clang clang clang!

The sound of copper gong and shouts soon gathered all nearby Government Officials.

Seeing the body of Zou Yuzhen, Squad Leader Zhu was overjoyed and laughed out loud: "Haha, this kid is finally dead."

His death happened so conveniently that it granted him a great deed effortlessly.

"All Government Officials, form a human wall, surround this place, do not let people from Squad Leader Jiang and Squad Leader Yang enter, I am going to inform the Lord County Magistrate." Squad Leader Zhu was all smiles as he led a Government Official directly to the county government to report the good news of Zou Yuzhen’s death to County Magistrate Xu.

County Magistrate Xu was so shocked he stood up: "Dead? Really dead?!"

Squad Leader Zhu laughed: "Dead, he died right outside Zou Mansion, both of their bodies stuck in the locust tree cavity outside the mansion, it seems like internal fighting."

County Magistrate Xu looked at Squad Leader Zhu’s grinning face, feeling somewhat displeased. With Zou Yuzhen committing so many severe crimes, his death like this was somewhat disadvantageous to him. It would have been better to capture him alive, taken to the Prefecture, only then could his own faults be minimized.

"Take me to see." County Magistrate Xu went with steward Yu, forensic doctor, several Government Officials, and Protector, following Squad Leader Zhu straight to the locust tree outside the Zou Mansion.

Under the locust tree, County Captain Jiang had already arrived with the county soldiers, two Government Officials under Squad Leader Zhu were sitting on the ground holding their stomachs, clearly having tried to stop County Captain Jiang and were beaten.

Squad Leader Zhu broke out in a cold sweat, cursing his Government Officials as fools, he had told them to stop Squad Leader Yang and Squad Leader Jiang, but not County Captain Jiang. Was County Captain Jiang someone they could stop? This really doomed him!

"Your subordinate pays respects to you, Lord, reporting to you, your subordinate discovered Zou Yuzhen’s body 30 minutes ago, it seems they died from internal fighting," Squad Leader Zhu stepped forward a few steps, speaking to County Captain Jiang.

Unfortunately, County Captain Jiang simply ignored him, stood up and saluted County Magistrate Xu, saying: "The other body is likely that of Fan Dabiao from Willow Leaf Lane, residents there described a tall, burly man with a scar by his ear, it matches."

County Magistrate Xu nodded, spoke to the forensic doctor: "Go check those two bodies."

"Yes," two forensic doctors with their cases examined the bodies of Zou Yuzhen and Fan Dabiao, eventually concluding: "Both men likely died fighting each other."

Following this, they described the wounds on their bodies and their poses fighting over the money bag before death as evidence of their mutual fight.

County Magistrate Xu took the money bag, opened it to see, and found a total of thirteen hundred-tael silver notes inside: "Thirteen hundred taels, not a small amount."

Fighting over these silver notes made sense.

County Captain Jiang, experienced in such matters, somewhat doubted that they died from fighting each other, because Fan Dabiao was too robust, with his capabilities, it would have been easy for him to kill Zou Yuzhen and take the silver notes away, but how was he killed by Zou Yuzhen?

However, even though he had the forensic doctor check the bodies again and himself repeatedly examined under the locust tree and the connected hidden chamber, no evidence of homicide by another party was found, and he had to give up.

The crimes committed by Zou Yuzhen were too significant, now that he was dead, County Magistrate Xu dared not delay, nor could he afford to delay, seeing that County Captain Jiang found no sign of homicide, the next day he wrote an official document, arranged the evidence, and sent it hastily by horse to the Magistrate Government Office by evening.