As soon as the man finished speaking, the entire courtroom fell silent.
Lin Yue stared at him.
"What do you mean?"
The man opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
He had blurted out those words in desperation. Now that he actually had to explain, he began to hesitate.
Zhao Heng said nothing either. Although he knew the sums did not add up, he was also rather curious about where his nephew had spent so much money.
"All right, then. Tell me. If the money isn't with you, where did it go?"
Lin Yue lightly tapped his fingers on the desk.
The man lowered his head.
"Some of it... went to my uncle."
Lin Yue turned to Zhao Heng. Zhao Heng looked grim, but did not deny it. Things had reached the point where there was no way he could shirk responsibility anymore. Besides, that money alone could not do much to him. At worst, he would receive a minor punishment.
And besides...
"I can explain this. He does give me a sum of money every month, about eight hundred Gold Soul Coins. But he has always told me it came from a business partnership. I never asked about its exact source. Had I known he was extorting it from ordinary merchants, I naturally would not have accepted it."
Who doesn't know how to shift the blame? My dear nephew, you'll have to take the fall for your uncle.
With Zhao Heng having found an excuse, Lin Yue had no way to investigate further for the moment.
"Eight hundred went to your uncle. What about the thousand or more left over?"
Lin Yue looked at the man.
"Where did the remaining thousand go?"
The man stiffened.
Zhao Heng stared at him too. If he had merely kept a little