bookcurios Chapter 2116 The Mu family's debts are never dead ends!
Chapter 2116 The Mu family's debts are never dead ends!
"Heavens... after all, even a blind sparrow won't starve to death! They didn't let me die completely!"
Wu Sansheng wiped away his tears, his eyes becoming empty and pained. "I was hanging from an old, crooked tree halfway up the mountain when I fell and broke my leg. I passed out and spent two days struggling to climb down the mountain, searching the entire ravine... Unfortunately, all I could find was one of Lai Gebao's little shoes..."
He trembled as he pulled a tattered, blackened cloth shoe from his pocket, a shoe that had been worn and rubbed countless times. He clutched it tightly to his heart and wept uncontrollably.
Wang Defa went over and offered the old man a cigarette, asking with concern, "Old man, what happened next?"
Wu Sansheng lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed the grief in his heart, and refocused his eyes, which became sharp and hateful.
"I dragged my broken leg, begging all the way, hiding and running away, and it took me more than two years to barely make it back to the north!"
"I dare not go back to Yanjing. I know that after the Mu family fire, the dye shop hadn't even been shut down yet when the Han family started causing trouble. They must have been involved!"
"I lived in seclusion in the countryside of Baoding, treating my crippled leg while... secretly recalling the formula!"
"I recorded those recipes and information about those channels in fragmented symbols and drawings that only I could understand, to prevent the Mu family's large dyehouse from going out of business! I went undercover to secretly inquire about the Han family in Yanjing, and sure enough, I heard that they made their fortune with that half-baked set of information and channels!"
He suddenly pointed at Han Xianfeng again: "Your Han family is quite clever. The Han-style Secret Colors that you later launched, those so-called independently developed Azure Sky, Red Crabapple, and Pine Morning, aren't they based on my Mu family's stuff!"
"It's just that you cut corners, your techniques were subpar, and the dyeing process was wrong. As a result, the color of the dyed product was 20% less vibrant, and the brightness was also reduced, wasn't it?"
Han Xianfeng was struck by this professional and precise accusation, losing all his previous sharpness. His lips trembled, but he was unable to refute it.
The flaw in the Han family's dye has always been one of the family's core secrets, and a technical bottleneck that they have tried to overcome for many years but have not been able to completely solve!
There was no breakthrough in this area, so the Han family later became wealthy. In order to prevent being investigated, they completely shifted the family business towards the information network, and only continued to operate some dyeing workshops in certain small areas.
But to everyone's surprise, the old man had already seen through the Han family's secrets!
"Forty years..."
Wu Sansheng surveyed the faces in the courtyard—faces filled with shock, fear, and shame—and said in a desolate yet powerful voice, “I, Wu Sansheng, have lived like a lost soul, just waiting for this day! Waiting for the Mu family to return, waiting for an opportunity to expose the true face of your Han family as bandits in front of everyone!”
He turned to Mu Huanying and bowed deeply once again.
“Young Miss, it is this old servant’s fault for failing to preserve all of the Mu family’s craftsmanship… But this old servant has not lived in vain for the past forty years! In addition to what I have memorized, I also remember the accent of Han Laogou when he forced me, his habitual movements, and the style of the jade thumb ring on his hand… and the copper sachet that Han Xu was keeping watch at the door fell to the side of my threshold when I secretly kicked it under the bed and brought it out with me!”
He looked at Han Xianfeng: "I still have that thing!"
As he spoke, he actually pulled out a small bag wrapped in several layers of oilcloth from his pocket, opened it with trembling hands, and inside was an old-fashioned copper sachet that was already rusty, but the Korean characters were still faintly discernible!
Witness testimony!
Living witnesses!
Testimony from witnesses bearing blood and tears, and crucial evidence!
This is more impactful and irrefutable than any paper record!
Han Xianfeng finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed to the ground with a thud, his eyes unfocused, as if all his energy had been drained away in an instant.
The rest of the ten families from Yanjing were also ashen-faced and trembling like leaves.
Han Xianfeng was so frightened that he shrank to the back of the crowd, wishing he could dig a hole in the ground and disappear into it.
Mu Huanying gently patted Wu Sansheng's trembling shoulder, signaling Song Ziming and Wang Defa to help him sit down and rest.
Then, she slowly turned around, her gaze sweeping over Chen Nianyao, Wang Shouye, Lu Zhengpin, and all the other representatives of the ten families of Yanjing, as if she were a circling eagle.
Her voice, though calm, contained the power of a thunderbolt.
"Master Wu, you're just the first one!"
"Over the past forty years, there have been many people like Master Wu who, despite being forced, framed, and separated from the Mu family, have always held onto a sense of longing and responsibility for the Mu family, silently waiting and recording the stories of the elders, former subordinates, farmers, and employees of the Mu family... and so on!"
"Some are still alive, and others have entrusted their evidence to future generations!"
"Do you think I only have inanimate evidence recorded in this booklet?"
She gave a cold laugh that sent chills down the spines of all the creditors.
"Let me tell you, I still have living people who are willing to stand up and testify for the Mu family when necessary, and identify your crimes from back then!"
"The reason I sent the message to Master Wu to come today is to make things clear to you!"
Mu Huanying suddenly raised her voice, enunciating each word clearly, as if delivering a verdict.
"The Mu family's debts are never just dead debts! They are debts of human lives, debts of blood and tears!"
"What you swallowed back then, you have to spit out now, with interest, in the same way!"
"You don't admit it? Fine! Then we'll take it slow. After Master Wu, there's Master Li, Foreman Zhao, Accountant Sun... one by one, we'll check each one. Let's see if your skin is thicker, or if my Mu family has more witnesses!"
These words, like a final, heavy blow, completely shattered the last vestiges of hope held by the Chen, Wang, Lu, and Han families, and even the ten families of Yanjing.
Physical evidence might allow for some sophistry and maneuvering, but the psychological deterrence and moral pressure brought by a living, bloody witness accusing someone face-to-face is devastating!
This means that Mu Huanying not only possesses evidence of past crimes, but also has the power to pursue the matter relentlessly at any time!
The courtyard was deathly silent, save for the howling winter wind.
The five family heads of Zhongwujia were ashen-faced and filled with despair.
They knew that, faced with such preparations, any denial or delay would be pointless.
At this moment of extreme oppression, Mu Huanying's gaze, like a sharp sword piercing through time, suddenly shot towards the little monk who had been trying to hide at the boundary between the crowd and the shadows and was already terrified.
Her gaze shifted instantly, from a sharp judgment of the ten crimes to a deeper, colder light, as if she had touched upon something more core and hidden.
The young monk, upon meeting that gaze, shuddered, frozen in place like a frog being stared at by a venomous snake, his breath almost stopping.
Mu Huanying spoke slowly, her voice not loud, yet it seemed to come from the deepest hell, carrying a power that could see through all hypocrisy, clearly reaching the little monk's ears and echoing in everyone's hearts.
"Have you seen enough? Have you heard enough?"
"Go back and tell the guy behind you that he wasn't even qualified to stand here and divide the spoils back then. He only dared to act like a stray dog, taking advantage of the chaos to snatch a few sacrificial artifacts from my Mu family ancestral hall, thinking he had obtained something of great fortune!"
"What did he think those things were? A key to wealth and power? Or magical artifacts that allowed him to deceive and bewitch people?"
"ridiculous!"
"That was nothing more than a warning, a curse, left by the ancestors of the Mu family for their unworthy descendants!"
The little monk's pupils dilated, and the last trace of color drained from his face as boundless fear instantly overwhelmed him.
Mu Huanying stared at him, a cruel smile curving her lips.
"Go back and tell that Buddha behind you who's afraid to show his face!"
"He wasn't qualified to touch her back then, so don't even think about it now!"
"He thinks that by hiding in the shadows, using some deceptive and manipulative methods to amass some dirty money, and training a few lunatics like you, he can turn black into white and covet the true heirloom of my Mu family?"
A disdainful smile appeared on her aged face.
“Tell him that what he’s eyeing has been guarded by the Mu family for hundreds of years, not something prepared for a rat in the gutter like him!”
"and……"
She drew out her words, each one like a heavy hammer blow to everyone's heart, especially the young monk's nerves, which were already on the verge of collapse.
"Did he really think that no one knew about his secret dealings?"
"His connection to that fire... what he stole during the chaos... the real source of his later rise to power..."
"They all carry the debts from the incense offerings of the Mu family ancestral hall!"
"The Mu family's things are not so easy to take! If you eat what you shouldn't have eaten, or take what you shouldn't have taken, sooner or later you'll have to spit it out, blood and flesh, twice as much!"
"Including him, and his filthy Buddhist temple!"
boom!
As soon as he finished speaking, the little monk could no longer hold on. He coughed up a mouthful of black blood, collapsed to the ground, his eyes glazed over, as if his very soul had been shattered by those few words...