The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1200 - 1179 Interrogation

Chapter 1200: Chapter 1179 Interrogation

Bai Shan wrote a letter and gave it to Daji, asking him to send someone to Yizhou and Luojiang County, but the letter never left the estate. It circulated within the house and eventually returned to Old Madam Liu’s hands.

Bai Shan and Manbao were then called over for questioning.

After pondering for a moment, Old Madam Liu said, "I will send the letter for you, but I must also inform Lord Wei. They can handle these matters quicker than we can."

Old Madam Liu said, "Shanbao, you are going to school tomorrow, stop going to the dungeon, and you too, Manbao."

Manbao opened his mouth slightly and said in a low voice, "We still want to ask them more questions, to ask more thoroughly."

Old Madam Liu placed the letter on the table and said softly, "Lord Wei and his people will take care of it. The dungeon is a place of bad omen, you should not keep going there."

Manbao asked, "Is this considered atoning for their crimes? Can they be spared the execution?"

Old Madam Liu frowned and involuntarily looked at Mr. Zhuang.

Mr. Zhuang asked, "Who do you want to be spared from execution?"

Manbao said softly, "Bapo deserves his punishment."

Mr. Zhuang understood and nodded slightly, "We will mention it to Lord Wei, but whether it is successful depends on the Ministry of Justice."

Manbao was pleased and nodded readily, "Okay, then we won’t go tomorrow."

Bapo, who was in jail waiting for them to deliver food, did not see Bai Shan; instead, he saw several unfamiliar high officials. He and a female prisoner across from him, named Qiu Niang, were both taken out for interrogation.

Qiu Niang spoke without holding anything back; after all, she had nothing to hide. Wei Zhi was very satisfied with her honesty and thoroughly inquired about the specifics of Maozhou, including where her maternal family lived, where her aunt’s family resided, how many people in her family, their sources of livelihood, whether there were any interactions regularly...

Her questioning was thorough, and although Qiu Niang felt uneasy, she carefully responded.

Bapo, however, was shifting his eyes around, and while he answered the questions, his responses were vague, and he also tried to find out their purpose.

But with Lord Tang presiding in the hall, could Bapo possibly succeed?

Seeing his dishonesty, Lord Tang waved his hand and bluntly said, "This man is a thief and only occasionally visits Maozhou, he might not know much. We’ll keep Qiu Niang here, send him back to wait for the autumn execution."

There are still three days until the scheduled autumn execution.

Bapo’s eyes widened, and he immediately prostrated on the ground, shouting loudly, "I know, I also know a lot about Maozhou, I beg your mercy, I beg your mercy."

Lord Tang disliked him, Bapo had the blood of four people on his hands; in his view, even significant merits could not exempt him from the death penalty, so he asked expressionlessly, "What do you know?"

"I, I..." As Bapo observed the expressions of the three officials above him, he cautiously said, "Whatever the officials want to know, I can tell some of it, just begging for mercy, spare my life."

Lord Tang snorted coldly and waved his hand to the bailiffs, who immediately stepped forward to drag Bapo away. Ji Xiang and Lord Tang said, with one in response to the other, "You really don’t know what’s good for you. If you had confessed honestly, perhaps you could have had a few more comfortable days within these next two or three days; maybe we would have postponed it until next year’s autumn execution, sparing your life? Do you think others from Maozhou or other prisoners don’t know what you know? We didn’t question others; we only questioned you because it’s less trouble."

The bailiffs were about to drag Bapo out the door when hearing this; Bapo truly cried, with tears streaming down his face, "I’ll talk, I’ll talk, just ask whatever the official wants."

Then Lord Tang raised his hand, and the bailiffs dragged him back.

Ji Xiang and Wei Zhi did not speak again; when it comes to interrogation, the two of them combined were not as formidable as Lord Tang.

Lord Tang drank a cup of tea, pondered for a moment, then asked, "I heard that you have exceptional hearing, what did you do previously in the army?"

Bapo was startled, not understanding why he was bringing up his military past; Ji Xiang and Wei Zhi did not object but simply sat above drinking tea.

Seeing Lord Tang frown, Bapo immediately said, "I am a military scout, serving at the scout camp."

Ji Xiang couldn’t help but furrow his brow, "How could the scout camp have someone like you? You actually deserted!"

Ji Xiang had served in the army, as a scout, where loyalty is paramount because they are always on the front line, aware of many secrets. Once captured, the consequences are unimaginable.

Bapo said anxiously, "I had just joined the camp when I was assigned to the scout camp. I didn’t plan to desert. It was during a battle with Tubo; I was injured and fell into the forest. When I woke up, I was alone, and in a moment of desperation, I... I fled..."

He was a scout, and at that time, he was with four other comrades. They had detected the movement of the Tubo army but were accidentally discovered. As they fled, his horse was shot down, and he himself was struck by an arrow, falling into the forest...

Being a soldier was too harsh, constantly on the brink of life and death. He thought, they would surely report him as killed in action upon returning, thus not implicating his family. If he just left, he would be free as a bird in the sky...

With this thought flashing through his mind, he ran.

Lord Tang nodded slightly and continued his questioning, "So you say, your scouting skills are quite impressive. In Yizhou City, you always managed to steal successfully, and the prefect of Huayang County failed to catch you several times. How come you were found out immediately in Maozhou?"

Lord Tang leaned forward slightly and asked, "Whose house did you steal from?"

After a moment of surprise, Bapo replied, "I stole from the Chu Family, a well-known wealthy family in Maozhou. Their son is even married to the daughter of the Governor of Maozhou. Such a family surely has a lot of money."

Lord Tang, without changing his expression, asked, "Then why didn’t you steal from Governor Wang?"

Bapo: "...The Governor’s mansion has soldiers patrolling. I’m not foolish. It’s enough to steal from the Chu Family."

Lord Tang nodded slightly and asked, "Did it go smoothly?"

Bapo hesitated, "Smoothly, I guess. As soon as I entered, I found a courtyard, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find any gold or silver, only a makeup box filled with many jewels, which I took."

Lord Tang: "Did you steal at twilight?"

Bapo nodded, "During the day, it’s easy to be seen. At night, their household guards increase, so I opted for twilight to sneak in."

But how did this Lord know?

Bapo looked up at Lord Tang; no official had ever questioned him like this before.

Lord Tang asked, "What did you see when you went in, what did you hear?"

"I didn’t see much. At the time, most of their family was enjoying family time in the main courtyard, and there were few servants in the courtyard I went to, so I sneaked past and stole."

Lord Tang stared at him and asked, "If no one discovered you, then how were you caught?"

"I was discovered when I went to the pawnshop."

Lord Tang raised his lips and asked, "What did you pawn?"

"A silver hairpin."

"A silver hairpin can be directly exchanged for silver at the silver shop, why go to a pawnshop?"

"The silver shops in Maozhou belong to the Chu Family. Although the hairpin had no markings, I still didn’t dare go there, so I directly went to the pawnshop, not knowing that it was also their property."

"Didn’t you check before going?"

"I did, but I really didn’t know at that time that the pawnshop was theirs."