Direction of Investigation

Meng Zhao saw that Lü Zhong was somewhat dejected and hurriedly comforted him.

"Uncle Zhong, do not blame yourself. I think these thieves were not only bold, but also had a powerful force backing them. That was why they acted with such reckless abandon and had the ability to evade our investigation."

Lü Zhong nodded. His tone gradually turned cold, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

"Indeed. When Young Master was attacked this time, someone within the residence clearly tipped these thieves off in secret.

"And they must have been hiding for quite some time, since even Lü Yue was kept in the dark.

"As for the estate, the attack five days ago was also caused by someone eating from the bowl while smashing the pot, colluding with outsiders.

"That was how they so easily bypassed the guards' defenses, penetrated deep into the estate, and caught us completely off guard."

Meng Zhao had also learned about this estate. It was one of the largest estates under his name, engaged in silkworm breeding and silk weaving, tea hills and fishponds, crop cultivation, and more. However, its primary source of profit was the Medicine Field.

Many precious Herbal Ingredients were not only supplied directly to the herbal medicine shops under his name, but also sold to other medical clinics.

Besides bringing in tangible profits, this also established invisible networks of connections.

Therefore, watchtowers had been erected in every corner of the estate, even in remote areas, to protect it from intrusion.

The watchtowers were the stone structures Meng Zhao had seen outside earlier.

With such watchtowers, one could observe the situation outside from afar. With martial experts standing guard and ranged weapons such as bows, arrows, and heavy crossbows in hand, they could completely keep enemies outside the estate.

When that band of thieves had broken into the estate that day, they had in fact bypassed the watchtowers directly, sneaked into the estate by secret means, and shattered the defenses from within.

Without blueprints of the internal defenses or the cooperation of an inside traitor, accomplishing this would have been extraordinarily difficult.

At this moment, Lü Yue suddenly noticed that the information in his adoptive father's words differed somewhat from what he knew. Puzzled, he asked,

"Adoptive Father, why did you say there were seven corpses? The news I received clearly stated that eight people died that night!"

Prompted by Lü Yue, Meng Zhao also recalled this detail and looked at Lü Zhong in confusion.

This old man, who had weathered countless storms without falling and seen all the vicissitudes of the world, now had barely suppressed fury written all over his face. He took a savage pull from his long-stemmed pipe and said in a low voice,

"The reason this old servant remained at the estate these past few days was to examine this matter..."

As Lü Zhong spoke, Meng Zhao and Lü Yue's expressions gradually became grave.

That day, the gang of thieves had broken into the estate with the main purpose of burning the Medicine Field and stealing Herbal Ingredients. They had not intended to slaughter anyone, so they left behind only eight corpses that night.

Five of the corpses were intact, while the other three had been discovered in the burned Medicine Field.

Because the blaze had been too fierce, parts of their skin and even their bodies had been charred. Their identities could only be determined through their builds and more obvious physical characteristics.

Originally, that should have been the end of the matter. The families of the deceased received compensation and consolation to ease their pain.

Those without families would also be given a proper burial by the Meng Family and remembered.

But one elderly man from the farming estate had worked as a coroner in the yamen when he was young and was very familiar with the estate guards. He noticed that something was amiss with one of the corpses.

So he secretly sought out Lü Zhong and told him of his suspicions.

Lü Zhong gave nothing away on the surface, but investigated in secret. Sure enough, as the old coroner had said, the corpse had an old injury in the bone of its right foot and would have walked with a slight limp. Yet that estate guard had been a perfectly healthy martial man, strong of leg and swift as the wind when walking, never having suffered such a hidden injury.

Therefore, this was merely a man with a build and physical features extremely similar to that estate guard, not the guard himself.

This method of faking one's death and then replacing oneself with another's corpse was actually quite crude. Once one saw through it and deliberately investigated, the truth could always be uncovered seven or eight parts out of ten. The only fear was that no one would investigate in that direction.

After seizing upon this crucial lead, Lü Zhong followed the trail and investigated the guard's past. He discovered that the man had secretly left the estate several times and, after entering the city, frequented famous dens where gold vanished, living amid paper-drunk gold and jade.

Based on the income he earned while serving the Meng Family, he might have been able to live quite comfortably—not enough to surpass those above, but more than enough to outdo those below.

But he absolutely could not have afforded such enormous expenses.

Further investigation revealed that in recent years, this man had often stolen precious Herbal Ingredients and other rare items from the estate to sell outside. Once he got the money, he spent it on pleasure, having already sucked no small amount of blood from the estate.

However, the man was clever. He had deliberately pinned these accounts on the two brothers from the main branch, Meng Xi and Meng Wen.

That was why no one on the estate dared report the matter or raise any objections.

After all, the two Meng Family brothers had a long list of misdeeds and had done no shortage of such filthy, rotten things before.

In the eyes of those from the second branch, they were no less than wolves, tigers, and leopards.

They were not only greedy, but vicious as well, so few people pursued such matters.

Even Lü Zhong, the chief steward of the second branch and a dignified Innate Master, had the will but not the strength. What could those at the bottom possibly do?

Distance did not come between close kin. Meng Xi and Meng Wen were the sons of Meng Jizu, head of the Meng Family, and Meng Zhao's paternal cousins. What was wrong with relatives borrowing a little money to spend?

Because of this strange atmosphere, coupled with the estate's longstanding isolation and limited contact with the outside world, the estate guard had been able to move through it like a fish in water, living in great comfort.

In Meng Zhao's view, this man's actions were more accurately described as fraud than theft.

After all, his methods of stealing were not particularly clever, and quite a few people on the estate knew about them.

But by borrowing the skins of Meng Xi and Meng Wen, he had frightened a whole crowd into silence.

He was bold yet meticulous—a talent, in his own way.

While investigating these matters, Lü Zhong discovered that because this estate guard frequently indulged himself in those famous dens where gold vanished, he had even become acquainted with several wealthy and powerful young masters. Sun Chuanshan of the Sun Family was among them.

On several occasions, the guard had deliberately fawned over Sun Chuanshan and had even taken the initiative to sell the precious Herbal Ingredients in his possession to him at low prices. The two had thus established a certain relationship of mutual interest.

Recalling that the Sun Family and the Meng Family had recently been fighting with exceptional ferocity, Lü Zhong realized this was an important clue and a direction worth pursuing.

He therefore mobilized the second branch's forces once more and investigated Sun Chuanshan.

He discovered that not only was Sun Chuanshan lustful, he was also fond of gambling. Unfortunately, he was bad at it but addicted nonetheless.

He had once gambled away all his possessions and been forced to mortgage a property, making him a well-known prodigal son.

Recently, he had also owed the underground Black Gold Organization a large sum of silver.

However, this matter was relatively secret, and very few people knew of it.

In terms of motive, Sun Chuanshan needed money and knew this estate guard. It made sense that they could have colluded to stage an attack on the estate and make some money.

The Sun Family and the Meng Family had already torn each other apart beyond all recognition. One more incident would make little difference.

And with the Sun Family's influence, finding a few desperadoes to carry out such a deed would not have been difficult.

If it had been Meng Zhao, the forces and manpower he could mobilize would have far surpassed those of this playboy.

That was why Lü Zhong had earlier informed Lü Yue that the person behind the attack might be Sun Chuanshan, without disclosing the specifics in writing.

As for why he had said eight people had died rather than seven, it was mainly because what this estate guard had done was, to a certain extent, connected to the two brothers from the main branch, Meng Xi and Meng Wen. It was somewhat difficult to handle, so he had kept it quiet.