Foolish People

"Yezi, not a bad name." Zhou Hao smiled and praised him, then said, "Tell me what you want me to help you with!"

Yezi sniffed, but Zhou Hao had already wiped away his snot, so he could not make a sound. Then he said, "Uncle Shi Po was poisoned to death. The murderer definitely wasn't Uncle Heizi. Someone else poisoned Uncle Shi Po."

Zhou Hao sighed and asked, "Can you tell me the whole story in detail?"

With no beginning or end to it, he could not fully understand it either!

Yezi sorted out his thoughts and began, "It happened like this..."

But just then, Ma Hongyun came over. He cupped his hands toward Zhou Hao and smiled. "Sir, let me explain this matter! Yezi is just a child; he can't make it clear."

Zhou Hao nodded slightly. As he patted Yezi's back, he said to Ma Hongyun, "Go ahead."

Just as Ma Hongyun was about to speak, Xu Shan came over as well. Still, he tactfully and respectfully greeted Zhou Hao.

"What's going on?" Xu Shan glanced at Yezi and asked.

Ma Hongyun discreetly shot Xu Shan a glance and smiled. "Nothing much. Sir just wants to understand how Big Brother died."

Xu Shan raised a brow and curled his lip. "What's there to understand? Tiger Fiend Stockade poisoned him. Wasn't it already thoroughly investigated?"

At that, a sharp gleam flashed through Ma Hongyun's eyes. He put on a helpless expression and said, "Since Sir wants to know, then let's go over it in detail!"

"There's nothing to say." Xu Shan waved his hand.

Then he beckoned to Yezi. "Yezi, come with me."

Yezi looked at Zhou Hao. After hesitating for a moment, he still started toward Xu Shan.

"Wait."

Zhou Hao grabbed Yezi's hand and nodded to Ma Hongyun. "Tell me the entire matter, every last detail."

Xu Shan's attitude made him suspect there was some hidden truth behind Shi Po's death.

Ma Hongyun smiled and immediately began recounting the whole story. "It happened like this. Two days ago, Big Brother—oh, Shi Po—died in his own room. From what we observed, he died of poison, but we couldn't tell what kind of poison it was.

"Later, we investigated what Big Brother had eaten that day. Then we found a similar poison in some leftovers, which led us to focus on the cook, Heizi.

"He prepared all of Big Brother's meals, and he was also the one who delivered them to Big Brother. He was naturally the most suspicious.

"Later, when we interrogated him, he admitted it himself. He said he had poisoned Big Brother, that Tiger Fiend Stockade had told him to do it, and that they had given him a large sum of money.

"Afterward, we did find a large sum of money in his room—one thousand gold coins in total."

Gold coins? Zhou Hao paused. So this world used gold coins.

Though his thoughts had wandered somewhat, he had still been listening to Ma Hongyun's account.

"After confirming everything was correct..." Ma Hongyun paused here, turned to look at Xu Shan, and continued, "Xu Shan killed Heizi with a single palm strike."

Xu Shan turned his head away, his eyes darting aside slightly.

"Uncle Heizi wasn't the one who poisoned him," Yezi suddenly said.

Zhou Hao stroked his head and asked, "Why are you so sure Uncle Heizi wasn't the one who poisoned him?"

Tears nearly welled up in Yezi's eyes again. He rubbed them with his hand and said in his childish voice, "Uncle Heizi was really nice. He often gave me food, and he often played with us. He couldn't possibly have killed Uncle Shi Po. The real murderer must be someone else."

Xu Shan's face darkened as he barked, "Yezi, you can know a person's face but not his heart. You're still young; you don't understand."

Zhou Hao shot him a glance and abruptly asked, "Could the real murderer be you?"

Xu Shan's heart trembled. Laughing awkwardly, he said, "How could that be? To avenge Big Brother, I was the first one to suggest going to war with Tiger Fiend Stockade. I nearly came to blows with Third Brother over it."

Ma Hongyun suddenly cut in. "Actually, I also felt that Big Brother's death was full of doubts. Everyone knew Heizi. He was an honest, simple man. He wouldn't kill someone for no reason."

"For money! Didn't Tiger Fiend Stockade give him a great deal of money?" Xu Shan's tone grew somewhat harsh.

Ma Hongyun shook his head, glanced at Xu Shan, and continued, "Actually, I suspected from the beginning that you had poisoned Big Brother. But because you had always maintained the image of an honest and loyal man in the stockade, and because I had always shown that I wanted to rise in rank, even if I voiced my suspicions, all it would bring was everyone's suspicion toward me.

"So after you shifted suspicion toward Tiger Fiend Stockade as the ones behind it, I simply went with the flow and let the stockade place its suspicions on Tiger Fiend Stockade.

"If I'm not mistaken, you must have threatened Heizi, right? You captured his mother?"

Ma Hongyun's gaze remained fixed tightly on Xu Shan.

Xu Shan opened his mouth, then snorted coldly. "Those are merely your guesses. Do you have any evidence?"

"I've already sent people to Heizi's hometown. They should return today, and then we'll have evidence." Ma Hongyun looked at Zhou Hao as he spoke. "I only revealed this early because Sir is here today to make the decision."

Zhou Hao felt embarrassed. This seemed to have nothing to do with him, did it? Ma Hongyun had practically explained everything already. He only needed to watch the show from the side.

Xu Shan snorted. "Stop slandering me. Maybe you're the thief crying thief. Maybe you killed Big Brother."

Well, well, he was trying to turn the tables! Zhou Hao thought as he watched the show.

"We'll know when the evidence returns," Ma Hongyun said confidently.

Their quarrel also drew the attention of the people in the stockade.

These stockade brothers could not tell who was right and who was wrong, but instinctively, they were certainly more willing to believe Xu Shan. Still, what Ma Hongyun said made sense, was clear and logical, and seemed true as well.

They could not tell the two sides apart, and their minds were already muddled.

Listening to the discussions around him, Ma Hongyun inwardly sighed. "As expected, more people are willing to believe Xu Shan. After all, Xu Shan's image as an honest, loyal man who valued brotherhood has already taken root deep in their hearts."

His earlier decision had not been wrong. If he had pointed out the issue back then and Xu Shan had bitten back at him, it would truly have been hard for him to clear his name.

But today, with Zhou Hao making the decision and the evidence about to return, he would use this chance to expose Xu Shan.

He believed that anyone with clear eyes could see Xu Shan had a problem. It was just that the people in the stockade were unwilling to think in that direction.

Zhou Hao, a person with clear eyes, had indeed seen that something was wrong with Xu Shan. What he could not understand was why, when it was so obvious, the people of this stockade were still more willing to believe Xu Shan.

Just from the nearby discussions, Zhou Hao could tell that Xu Shan had more support.

What kind of baffling behavior was this? He was rather speechless.

He lowered his head to look at Yezi, thought for a moment, and asked softly, "Yezi, between these two, who do you think looks more like the murderer?"

Yezi froze for a moment, thought about it, then raised his hand and pointed at Xu Shan.

"Uncle Xu Shan."

Zhou Hao smiled helplessly. Well then! Even a child could see it, yet these adults watching from the sidelines could not.

The moment Xu Shan heard that, he roared, "Yezi, don't talk nonsense!"

Frightened, Yezi hugged Zhou Hao's thigh and shrank behind him.

A sharp gleam flashed in Zhou Hao's eyes. With a wave of his hand, he sent out a strand of Metamorphosis Power.

Xu Shan's face changed drastically, but the Metamorphosis Power was too fast. In the next moment, it struck him.

Yet after a while, he did not feel any pain. He lowered his head to examine his body and felt himself all over, but it seemed he was not injured anywhere.

Three black lines ran down Zhou Hao's forehead. Uh... he had forgotten. What he cultivated was the "Metamorphosis Incantation"; Metamorphosis Power had no offensive power at all.

To avoid embarrassing himself, he suddenly took a step forward and appeared before Xu Shan in an instant.

Xu Shan was still rejoicing that he had not been injured when he suddenly sensed something. Looking up, he found that Zhou Hao had already appeared before him.

Bang!

Zhou Hao kicked Xu Shan in the stomach.

Xu Shan flew high into the air. When he landed, he skidded across the ground on his knees, carving two deep furrows before slowly collapsing to the ground.

Zhou Hao brushed the dust off his shoe and returned to Yezi's side.

Ma Hongyun swallowed hard at the sight, grateful that he had not provoked Zhou Hao earlier.

Zhou Hao asked, "When will the evidence return?"

"Tonight," Ma Hongyun replied.

Zhou Hao nodded and waved his hand. "You two can confront each other again tonight. Dismiss for now!"

"Yes." Ma Hongyun did not dare say otherwise. One look at Xu Shan lying on the ground was enough.

Soon afterward, everyone dispersed, and they would continue tonight.