Unlimited estates for rural beauty-Chapter 142 Poisoning to Redeem Someone (9)
"Let’s go and check it out," said the men as they rode in a horse-drawn carriage, arriving at the tavern’s branch within half an hour.
"Miss, you’ve arrived, the incident just now was so dangerous," Shopkeeper Chen greeted the young lady as she arrived at the tavern, walking towards the woodshed as he recounted the events that had just occurred that afternoon.
The shopkeeper took out the keys and opened the doors to the woodshed to find a man bound up tightly, with his mouth stuffed with a cloth. Judging by his fine clothes, he must be a wealthy young master. How did he end up poisoning the tavern? The shopkeeper approached and removed the cloth from the man’s mouth, Feng Xuxu saw the man glaring at her with defiance. She sneered dismissively, "Why?"
The man turned his head away with resentment and remained silent.
"Not talking, huh? It seems we’ll have to take this to the Prefecture Government, let the magistrate decide. Poisoning in a tavern is no small crime. From your attire, I can tell you’re from a well-off family. At most, your property will become state property, and your wife and children will belong to someone else," she said with a smirk of mockery.
Upon hearing this, the man turned his head and shouted, "I alone did this, it has nothing to do with my family. Kill or mutilate me if you wish, just spare my family." He struggled violently at the mention of his family.
Feng Xuxu half-closed her eyes, touched that he was a family man, "Why should I spare your family when you wish for their safety? Did you ever consider sparing me when you wanted me to spare them?"
"Did you ever think about us, the smaller taverns?" The man stopped struggling and gazed steadily at Feng Xuxu.
"Hmph, in this world it’s the survival of the fittest. If you don’t improve and only blame others, how can you complain about poor management?" 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
"Heh heh, survival of the fittest," the man laughed bitterly a few times upon hearing this, then said, "I admit defeat at your hands, but I beg you to spare my family." With a defeated look, he knew he had come to this realization too late.
Feng Xuxu was pondering whether to hand him over to the authorities when a servant from the front courtyard came to report that the boss of the tavern across the street was looking for Feng Xuxu. She immediately guessed that it might be the family of the man before her.
"Right, I’ll go take a look." Feng Xuxu glanced at the man on the ground, who by now had tears streaming down his face.
When Feng Xuxu arrived in the front courtyard, she saw a man hurry over and kneel down before her with a thud. "Miss Xuxu, I beg you to spare my younger brother. He is young and ignorant, with elderly above and youngsters below. Please, for the sake of the old and the children, spare him," Zhao Peng knelt on the ground, tears streaming down earnestly as he spoke to Feng Xuxu.
"I spared him, but who spares me? Have you considered that if the poisoning had succeeded, I would have been the one to die," Feng Xuxu shouted indignantly.
"Yes, my brother is too naive. Miss Xuxu, I am bowing my head to you. Please spare him. We’ll give you all of our family’s wealth, and we will all leave this town or even this Prefecture, as long as you spare my brother’s life." After speaking, he started to kowtow intensely on the ground.
Feng Xuxu watched the man before her, who was even willing to use all of his family’s wealth to save his brother, just like her own big brother had once resolutely left his clan for her, leaving with nothing but himself. The memory touched the softest part of her heart.
"Are you really willing to give up everything just for your brother’s life?"
"Yes, I am willing," Zhao Peng replied upon hearing Feng Xuxu’s words, lifting his tearful eyes to look at her.
"Then get up, go get ready, and come back to redeem him."
"Yes, yes, yes, I’ll go now. Miss Xuxu, wait for me," he said, rushing out without even bothering to brush off the dirt from his clothes.
Zhao Peng returned home and began to rummage through his belongings, taking out anything of value, even his wife’s jewelry and his child’s necklet did not escape his desperate grasp. With everything packed into a large bundle, he hurriedly wrapped it up. His wife, seeing this, questioned him, "Dapeng, what are you doing?"
"Step aside, I need to save my brother," he said, pushing his wife away and taking the key to the vault. From inside, he took out the Luminous Pearl, the most valuable Silver he possessed, and then headed to his study to open a drawer. Inside lay stacks of gold ingots, which he hurriedly dumped into the bundle along with the silver note, preparing to find Feng Xuxu. However, he was confronted by his wife on the way out.
"Dapeng, what’s wrong with Xiaoquan? Speak, will you? You’re taking away everything from our home, how are we supposed to live?" his wife cried, holding their child.
Zhao Peng also felt pained for his wife, but thinking of his only brother, whose father died early and mother was paralyzed in bed from overwork, and the brother he raised with difficulty all these years, he couldn’t just watch his brother head towards death. Hardening his heart, he shouted, "Do you think I would let you starve? Get out of my way." Then he shouldered the bundle and ran towards the tavern to save his brother.
