Liu Dabao was already guilty of something, and Jiang Cheng's intimidation only left him completely dumbfounded. He had no idea where the silver Wu's family had come from. He never thought... never thought it would actually be connected to the Hou Mansion.
They said the common folk couldn't fight the rich, and the rich couldn't contend with officials. In Luo'an City, the Hou Mansion stood alone at the top; no one could outdo Zhennan Hou. Liu Dabao had been used to throwing his weight around, but he immediately caved, his lips trembling so badly he couldn't get a complete sentence out.
"M-my lord, if I leave right now, is there still time?" Liu Dabao asked, his face crumpling. It took him a long while to force the words out. He truly hadn't known where the silver came from. If he'd known it had come about this way, he never would have dared come looking for them. It was all that old fool Wu's fault, keeping his mouth shut right up until he died.
Jiang Cheng gave him a cold smile, and Liu Dabao's heart sank to the bottom. Just then, Wu Yujiao's mother stepped forward. The old woman seemed accustomed to scenes like this and didn't lose her composure. She gently urged, "Young Master Jiang, how about this? For my Yujiao's sake, let bygones be bygones and spare him this once."
"Mother, how many people has he ruined—driven into poverty and torn apart from their families? We can't let him go!" Wu Yujiao thought of all the suffering those poor people had endured. Seeing Liu Dabao's face made her furious.
"Yujiao!" the woman scolded, and Wu Yujiao shut her mouth, still fuming.
Jiang Cheng glanced at the old woman with some surprise. Though she was blind, she saw the situation