TGCFNM -Chapter 215 I Must See This Through

About a quarter of an hour later, Boss Bao stormed into the main hall with fury written all over his face, dragging a man with him. He forced the man to his knees.

“How dare you! You actually dare to arrest me!”

Boss Bao let out a cold snort and immediately knelt. “Your Honor, this man is the Young Master of the Lin family who gave the order—Lin Zhu. The vicious servant who beat my brother to death has already been killed by them. They’re planning to use that corpse to deny everything.”

Lin Zhu stood up at once, straightened his clothes, and pointed at Boss Bao as he cursed, “Deny what? That man killed someone. We’ve already given you the body—what more do you want?”

“You killed him!” Boss Bao roared, his eyes bloodshot.

Lin Zhu replied impatiently, “So one life for one life. What else do you want? You expect me to pay with my life for that lowly commoner?”

“You should apologize to his wife and daughter! You should compensate them so they can survive!” Boss Bao shouted coldly.

Lin Zhu sneered. “I’ve never seen someone as shameless as you. Liu Fu owed me three hundred taels of silver. I went to collect the debt, he refused to pay, and one of my men accidentally killed him. That man has already paid with his life. And now you still want money from me? Why don’t you just go rob someone?”

“Liu Fu earned only one string of cash a month. How could he possibly owe you three hundred taels?” Boss Bao simply did not believe it.

Rolling his eyes, Lin Zhu turned to Chu Ling. “Your Honor, I have a promissory note. It even bears his personal thumbprint.”

“Present it,” Wan Sanjin said with a frown.

Lin Zhu snorted and handed it over.

After personally examining it, Wan Sanjin placed it on the desk. “Your Honor, the note appears valid. There’s even a guarantor listed.”

Chu Ling glanced at it, then had Wan Sanjin pass it to Boss Bao.

Boss Bao held the note in disbelief, muttering, “Liu Fu owed three hundred taels? How could he possibly owe that much?”

Chu Ling lightly tapped the desk and asked Boss Bao, “Did he gamble? Visit prostitutes? Drink heavily?”

Boss Bao shook his head. “Your Honor, Liu Fu did manual labor for a living. Whatever he earned, he brought home to his wife. At most, once a month he’d come drink with me and buy a couple of liang of meat.”

Chu Ling turned to Lin Zhu. “Liu Fu was a laborer. How did he come to know you, the young master of the Lin family? And why would you agree to lend him money?”

Lin Zhu scoffed lightly. “Your Honor, when someone wants to borrow money, is it hard to find a way? I’m very kind-hearted. If someone comes asking and seems honest, I lend it to them. As long as they repay on time, there’s no problem.”

“And if they don’t repay on time, you beat them?” Chu Ling narrowed her eyes. “That sounds quite similar to how gambling dens operate.”

Lin Zhu froze for a moment, then hurriedly replied, “I—I’m not running any gambling den.”

Chu Ling’s voice turned colder. “The fact that Liu Fu could even come to know you and borrow money from you is suspicious in itself. And you claim you lend money simply because someone ‘looks honest’? If you’re so benevolent, why haven’t I heard of your good reputation anywhere in Dongle City?”

Lin Zhu licked his dry lips and glanced aside.

“When did Liu Fu borrow the money from you?” Chu Ling demanded, slamming the gavel.

“Last year. He was getting married and borrowed money from me to build a house,” Lin Zhu answered quickly.

Chu Ling looked at Boss Bao. “For a house like Liu Fu’s, would it really cost three hundred taels to build?”

Boss Bao immediately waved his hands. “Your Honor, how could that be? Liu Fu’s house—at most twenty or thirty taels would be more than enough. With three hundred taels, you could buy a courtyard house in this city.”

Chu Ling looked at Lin Zhu and asked, “Even if you were kind enough to lend money, you lent three hundred taels at once to a laborer? Who would believe that?”

Boss Bao immediately seized on the point and glared fiercely at Lin Zhu. “How could you possibly be willing to lend three hundred taels to a laborer? You’re lying!”

Lin Zhu flew into a rage. “Nonsense! I’m not lying! He owed me three hundred taels. It’s written clearly in black and white, with his handprint. No one can deny it!”

“He owed you three hundred taels? But he didn’t borrow that much, did he?” Chu Ling pressed him with a sharp gaze.

Lin Zhu coughed lightly, his voice turning weak. “He borrowed thirty taels.”

“Thirty turned into three hundred? What kind of calculation is that?” Wan Sanjin exclaimed in shock.

Lin Zhu’s eyes widened at once. “When I lent him the money, I made it clear. If he repaid it within one month, he only needed to return thirty-five taels. But if he went over the time limit, then each month he had to add five taels in interest. He pressed his handprint and agreed to it himself!”

Only then did Chu Ling understand how the three hundred taels had come about.

Liu Fu had been trapped. Lin Zhu was nothing but a loan shark. The debt kept growing like a snowball—larger and larger—until it became impossible to repay.

Boss Bao pointed at the IOU and glared at Lin Zhu. “You… how can you calculate a debt like that?”

“Why can’t I? He agreed before I lent him the money. There was even a guarantor who signed and stamped it,” Lin Zhu sneered. “Originally, seeing that he’d lost his life, I was prepared to cancel the debt. But now I won’t. Let his wife and daughter repay it for him.”

Boss Bao clenched his teeth in fury. “You! You’ve already caused a man’s death, and you still won’t spare his family?”

Lin Zhu shot him a sideways glance. “If you want to blame someone, blame his wife. She insisted on having a house built before marrying him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have borrowed money.”

“Bullshit!” Boss Bao’s eyes reddened with anger. “If Liu Fu didn’t have money to marry and chose to borrow it, that’s his own affair. Blaming it on his wife is something only a coward would do! No wonder he worked himself to the bone every day, and in the end all his money was cheated away by you.”

“Cheated? What cheating?” Lin Zhu pointed at Boss Bao and cursed. “A debt must be repaid. That’s the natural order of things.”

Chu Ling suddenly slammed the gavel and barked coldly, “Repaying debts may indeed be the natural order. But when did the laws of Great Zhou ever state that a debt of thirty taels must become three hundred? Who gave you permission to lend money privately?”

Lin Zhu jumped in fright, yet still stiffened his neck stubbornly. “It’s written clearly in black and white with his handprint. He owes me three hundred taels.”

Chu Ling frowned. The signed agreement did make things troublesome. Moreover, the laws of Great Zhou did not explicitly forbid private lending. Such folk practices were indeed difficult to restrain.

But—

“Your servant beat a man to death under your orders. According to Great Zhou law, the master must also bear responsibility,” Chu Ling said sternly, her tone deliberately intimidating.

Lin Zhu was startled. “That vicious servant is already dead. One life for one life!”

“That’s not how it works,” Chu Ling shook her head. “The servant acted on your command. You are the true culprit. Since you refuse to cancel the debt, Liu Fu’s wife can continue to press charges and demand that you pay with your life for her husband’s.”

“Wait!” Lin Zhu shouted, suppressing his reluctance. “Seeing that Liu Fu’s wife is truly pitiful, I will let the matter of the IOU go. From this day forward, we are even.” With that, he hurriedly left, unable to wait another moment.

Boss Bao’s eyes were red as he gripped the IOU tightly, tears welling up. “My lord… thirty taels turned into three hundred. How can that be? How can that be?”

“Of course it cannot,” Chu Ling said. She beckoned Boss Bao closer and instructed him in a low voice, “You have many men under you. Keep an eye on Lin Zhu for me. Find out who is acting as guarantor and who is backing these loans. I will see this matter through to the end.”

Boss Bao’s eyes lit up. Thumping his chest, he assured her, “Rest assured, my lord. I’ll send men to investigate at once and dig up everything about him!”

Chu Ling slapped the table once more, her expression grave. “Good!”