72: Chapter 72 Tang Mu's Reaction

Inside the yamen.

Magistrate Tang Mu slammed the teacup in his hand onto the floor, the loud crash startling the clerk outside the door.

However, the steward did not choose this moment to enter.

As Magistrate Tang Mu's trusted confidant, he knew his temper very well.

If anyone stood before Magistrate Tang Mu while he was losing his temper, they would inevitably become the target of his venting.

He was already getting on in years and had no desire to suffer such an ordeal.

Following the shattering of the porcelain cup, Magistrate Tang Mu's cursing could be heard from within the room once more.

For a long while, the study remained quiet.

Only then did the steward rise and slowly knock on the door.

Upon entering the study, the steward saw the fragments scattered across the floor and felt a secret tremor of fear in his heart.

In all these years, this was not the first time he had seen Magistrate Tang Mu lose his temper. But this was the first time he had seen the study smashed to such a state.

The steward walked cautiously toward Magistrate Tang Mu, fearing he might trigger another nerve, "Master, would you like me to have the servants clean up the room?"

Magistrate Tang Mu gave a grunt, though his expression remained extremely ugly, "Mn."

The matter of the Wang Family's herb garden deed was now the talk of the town.

Not only had he failed to reap any benefits after obtaining the deed, but it had instead become a hot potato.

"Damn it all, the Wang Family is roasting me over a fire with this move." Magistrate Tang Mu slammed his hand on the table. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and the temper that had just subsided flared up again instantly.

The table was fine after the slam, but the steward standing nearby was terrified. The words he had just prepared to call the servants in were stuck firmly in his throat.

He deeply regretted coming in so early.

With his temper still raging, why had he foolishly come to his door?

Fortunately, after that one slam on the table, Magistrate Tang Mu made no further moves.

Only then did the steward come to his senses and arrange for the servants to enter and clean up, making as little noise as possible.

Seeing the servants enter, Magistrate Tang Mu went into the side room nearby.

Upon arriving in the side room, Magistrate Tang Mu's thoughts gradually calmed down.

With this incident causing such a stir, even with the herb garden deed in his hands, he dared not go and take over the herb garden while the wind was blowing so hard.

But to have him return the herb garden deed just like that was even more impossible. To say nothing else, he had no habit of spitting out the fat meat that had already reached his mouth.

As a dignified magistrate, how could he possibly bow his head to an ordinary third-rate Family? If this were to spread, where would his face remain, and what would become of the yamen's prestige?

By then, he would likely become the laughingstock among his colleagues, his reputation ruined.

At his age, he had long since lost any hope of promotion, so he valued his face and reputation all the more.

He naturally could not forbid the people in the city from discussing this topic.

But he could wait until the rumors about this matter had completely died down before taking over the herb garden.

However, that did not mean there was nothing he could do in the meantime.

Since the Wang Family and the Pei Family didn't know what was good for them and insisted on making an issue of this,

he could just as well use the Liu residence incident to suppress the Wang Family.

Thinking of this, Magistrate Tang Mu's eyes gleamed with a sharp light, and he called out toward the door, "Laifu."

Hearing the voice, the steward immediately trotted over, "This old servant is here."

"Pass on my order, open the court immediately. I will personally interrogate those petty thieves caught last night."

"Understood, this old servant will go handle it right away."

The steward acknowledged the order and hurried toward the prison. But after entering the cell, he was stunned by the scene before him.

"Dead!" The steward looked at the scene in disbelief; they had been full of vitality last night, and yet they were dead by this morning.

It did not look like a natural death in any way.

The steward looked at the jailer nearby and demanded coldly, "What on earth is going on? Why are the prisoners in Cell No. 3 dead?"

The jailer looked blank, not understanding what the steward meant.

But when he saw the steward's cold expression, a look of terror appeared on his face, and he hurriedly explained, "My Lord, I only came on shift in the late afternoon, and I haven't had time to check all the cells yet. I also don't know what happened in Cell No. 3."

"Damn it, there's no way to explain this to the Master now." The steward cursed inwardly and did not argue with the jailer.

At this moment, he was thinking more about how to face Magistrate Tang Mu.

He could almost foresee that once Magistrate Tang Mu learned these people had died in prison, he would inevitably be furious.

As the person in charge of the interrogation, he would naturally bear the brunt of it.

Even if it wasn't his responsibility, a scolding was unavoidable.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as if he had thought of something, and he said to the jailer, "Later, the Prison Warden will come to interrogate the prisoners in Cell No. 3. At that time, just explain it exactly as you did now."

The jailer nodded, not understanding why.

Seeing the jailer like this, the steward left, satisfied.

Better the Fellow Daoist dies than me.

Upon returning to the yamen, the steward naturally could not reveal the truth; he simply said he had already notified the Prison Warden to interrogate the prisoners.

Magistrate Tang Mu nodded, not doubting the truth of the matter.

But his maneuvering had caused the Prison Warden a terrible disaster.

Unable to interrogate the prisoners, the Prison Warden could only report the situation truthfully.

The subsequent outcome went without saying.

Magistrate Tang Mu flew into a rage, launching a torrent of verbal abuse at the Prison Warden, leaving almost no one in his ancestral line spared.

The steward stood to the side, secretly alarmed, and could only silently mourn for the Prison Warden for three minutes.

After a storm of rage, Magistrate Tang Mu seemed to have tired himself out from cursing and picked up his cup to take a sip of hot tea.

He then said to the two men, "Both of you get out; I need some peace and quiet."

The two men felt as if they had been granted amnesty and couldn't wait to fly out. The Prison Warden, in particular, seemed to have greased soles on his feet.

In the blink of an eye, he was out of the main hall.

Inside the main hall.

Magistrate Tang Mu's face was gloomy; in a single day, he had been thwarted by the Wang Family twice.

This put him in an extremely foul mood.

Since he began serving as magistrate, this was the first time he had suffered such a great loss.

He didn't need to guess to know that the Wang Family had meddled in the prison situation.

In fact, he was not at all surprised that there were Wang Family people in the prison. The Wang Family, the Pei Family, and the Li Family were able to become one of the three great Families of Wuyang County not just because of their own formidable strength.

Their network of relationships in Wuyang County was also intricate and complex.

In the yamen, from him as the magistrate down to the lowest-ranking runner, who hadn't received benefits from the three great Families?

The prison was naturally the same.

People have to make a living.

To make a living, one needs money.

No one is without need for money, and the officials of the yamen were naturally the same. Especially the martial arts-practicing guards and jailers, whose incomes were meager to begin with. If they didn't earn a little extra on the side, how could they maintain their livelihood?

Thus, quite a few people in the yamen had naturally been bought off by the three great Families.

It was just that Magistrate Tang Mu had not expected the Wang Family to act so decisively.

If they had followed the usual methods for judging the crimes of those few, as long as the Wang Family was willing to pay a little money, those people would likely have been fine.

Yet the Wang Family had discarded their lives just like that, completely unlike their usual behavior.