Chapter 395 Chain Plan
The captain's house was very small, just an ordinary courtyard, about the same size as the one Zhao Yushu rented in Chang'an.
Judging from his residence alone, the leader of Yuezhou lives a very simple life.
Master Zhu knocked on the door. After a moment, he heard someone getting up from inside: "Who is it?"
"Captain, it's me, Zhu Xian."
"Why are you here at this time?"
When the old helmsman opened the door, he was startled by the group of people standing outside. He was especially confused when he saw Zhao Yushu, who was holding a sword and had a cold face, and Xu Sheng, who was brought here by Lord Zhu and had a shoulder injury.
"Master Zhu, what does this mean?"
Lord Zhu frowned and pulled Xu Sheng over: "Go ahead!"
Xu Sheng trembled, "In the afternoon, two of my men and I collected two taels of silver, disguised ourselves as scholars and went to provoke a monk in the clinic. Then, two of your monks stood up to fight for justice, and then, um, A-Dong got lost."
Xu Sheng's words didn't make sense, and the old captain looked confused: "What do you mean?"
Zhao Yushu stepped forward and said, "To put it simply, someone has kidnapped my friend, and one of your subordinates was involved."
The old helmsman was immediately furious: "Ridiculous! I am old and have never done anything that is against the will of heaven and earth. Zhao Yushu, are you relying on your cultivation and the reputation of the academy to deliberately humiliate me?"
Zhao Yushu forced himself to calm down and said, "Old Captain, why don't you ask him to tell you who the two people are? Please call them over for a confrontation. If I am wrongly accused, how about I kill this beast first and then apologize to you?"
Zhao Yushu pushed Xu Sheng forward, but his eyes never left the old helmsman's eyes for a moment.
He is not good at playing tricks, and he hates others using these means. If you have the ability, just come straight at me. Let's see who's the real deal with what we can do. Kidnapping a little girl is nothing. He is the worst scum.
"No need for him to tell me. I have two young men following me all year round. They are both cultivators of the Second Heaven. Today is the Winter Festival, so I specially let these young men go out and have some fun. Even if they were the ones, they would definitely stand up for justice and would never get involved in such a dirty thing."
Lord Zhu felt something was wrong: "Captain, why don't we ask them to come back and ask about the right and wrong?"
"I taught them both personally, Master Zhu, do you doubt me too?"
Lord Zhu felt that this old friend was usually quite smart and not a very rigid person. So why was he so reluctant to talk today?
Seeing the situation becoming increasingly tense, Lord Zhu felt somewhat powerless for the first time. He did not want to offend either side, and at the same time he hated the instigator of this incident. What on earth did he want to do?
"Snow Fairy?"
Zhu Huo, who followed, suddenly spoke, and everyone turned around subconsciously.
"Why are you here?" Zhao Yushu noticed that Lan Ling looked strange.
"I asked around all the way here. A-Dong is back."
Lord Zhu was the first to breathe a sigh of relief: "It's good that he's back. This child is so old, but he's still so playful. He needs to be disciplined in the future."
But he soon realized something was wrong because Lan Ling looked solemn.
"Did something happen to Adong?" Zhao Yushu asked cautiously.
Lan Ling shook her head: "No, Adong is fine, but she didn't come back by herself."
"Who else?"
Lan Ling looked up at the old helmsman and said, "There are two more bodies. Grandpa Adong recognized them. They are the old helmsman's men."
This year's Winter Festival was the second uncomfortable Winter Festival since the founding of the Red Lotus Sect.
The last time such a thing happened was when the Red Lotus Sect had just started an uprising. They were surrounded and attacked by soldiers from several counties in the south of the Yangtze River. They defended the city of Yuezhou for more than 60 days and managed to hold out until deep winter when they forced the soldiers to retreat.
Everyone's minds were in a mess along the way. No one could imagine why someone would kidnap Adong during a simple Winter Festival. No one could imagine why Adong was released safely after being kidnapped. No one could imagine why the people who participated in kidnapping Adong became a corpse.
The small clinic was immediately packed with people. Lord Zhu waved his hand and asked his son to take everyone else to leave, leaving only him and the old helmsman to follow Zhao Yushu inside.
The black deer had woken up and was staring at the old helmsman with a fierce look. As soon as the old helmsman entered the house and saw the two corpses, tears immediately fell from his eyes.
"Who killed them? Who killed them!"
A-Dong was so scared that she took a step back. Zhao Yushu stood in front of her and said, "A-Dong, don't be afraid. Tell me what happened."
Ah Dong poked his head out tremblingly: "In the afternoon, Brother Lu and I were playing in the building, and then three scholars scolded Brother Lu, so Brother Lu scared them, and the two of them came out and started fighting with Brother Lu. Then, someone slapped me from behind, and I fainted. When I woke up, I was at home, and I had this in my hand..."
Adong carefully handed over a note, and Zhao Yushu hurriedly took it. There were not many words on it, but it shocked him greatly.
"These two dared to touch the tiger's whiskers of the academy. I have already taught them a lesson on behalf of the academy. Mr. Liu does not need to thank you."
The old helmsman snatched it away, then pointed at Zhao Yushu with a trembling hand: "What a great academy! What a great Mr. Liu! You treat human life as worthless! Give me back my child's life!"
The old helmsman lunged forward, but his body went limp and he fell down.
Lord Zhu embraced the old helmsman and said, "Mr. Liu, this is a plan to sow discord."
"I know."
"Who is it?"
"The underworld."
"How can the people from the underworld control the helmsman's men?"
Zhao Yushu shook his head: "I don't know."
It was a very simple plan, but very effective. Zhao Yushu believed that even if everyone present today kept their mouths shut, within two days, the entire Yuezhou would still know about this matter, and it would be an exaggerated version of the story.
A Mr. Six came to the academy and killed the leader of the Red Lotus Sect's Yuezhou branch without any evidence. The Red Lotus Sect must fight back.
Otherwise, the surging public opinion and media sentiment alone would destroy the authority of the Red Lotus Cult's top leaders.
If you are afraid of the academy, you will be said to be afraid of Dongdu. If you are afraid of Dongdu, who would dare to rebel against you?
Lord Zhu's expression changed several times: "Something is wrong."
Zhao Yushu suddenly looked up: "Xu Sheng, and his two companions."
Lord Zhu suddenly realized: "Yes, I will interrogate the three of them overnight, and I am sure I can find out something. Mr. Liu, the situation is complicated, please do not leave Yuezhou without permission, and wait until the truth is revealed or the leader comes back."
Zhao Yushu nodded. If he left now, it would be tantamount to confirming his indiscriminate killing. This move by the underworld not only provoked the academy and the Red Lotus Sect, but also trapped him in Yuezhou.
The underworld won a game.
It was late at night, and Zhao Yushu arranged for everyone to rest first, while he sat in the hall all night.
The next morning, Zhu Huo came in person with some bad news. The two thugs pretending to be scholars who went with Xu Sheng were found dead at home when they went to arrest people last night. There were words "venting for the academy" written on their bodies. By this morning, rumors had begun to spread in Yuezhou City.
"I don't like you, but I also don't like the underworld that uses such despicable tactics."
Zhu Huo walked to the door and said, "Zhao Yushu, you are the sixth teacher of the academy. You won't be led by them by the nose, right?"
Zhao Yushu raised his head and looked at the young man in front of him: "No."