Border Cook

Not only did he personally pour cold water on the group to make them all sober up a little, but he also took the whip in his own hands and planned to torture them himself.

The whip "snaps" twice in the air. Zhang Heming frowned slightly, "The sound of this whip doesn't sound right."

The yamen runner beside him understood immediately, and hurriedly came forward to explain loudly, "My Lord, this whip was often stained with blood in the past. It was nourished by blood and naturally had strong toughness, and it was powerful and loud when it was whipped. It has not been used much recently, and the blood on it has dried up a little, so it naturally looks a little bit off, but it doesn't matter. It's okay if it sees more blood this time."

"The first one was not easy to whip either." Zhang Heming was not satisfied with the answer. He thought for a moment and said, "Since there is no blood, soak it in salt water first. This way, when you whip it, more blood will appear, it will be easier to do, and the sound will be louder."

The sound of the whipping is loud, and the person being whipped screams even louder.

"Your Excellency is wise!" Upon hearing this, the bailiff hurriedly prepared a wooden basin and salt water and soaked the whip in it.

Jiang Yi and his group were still lying straight on the stools, unable to move. They saw that the whip was completely soaked in the wooden basin filled with salt water. The salt water even bubbled out when they pressed the whip. They suddenly felt pain all over their bodies.

"You still have time to tell the truth now. If you don't want to tell the truth, that's fine. There are many torture instruments in the torture room. We can try them one by one."

Zhang Heming leisurely picked up a cup of tea and said, "I have already told the doctor to wait outside. I will make sure that you will not die or faint from this."

If I can't even faint, am I going to have to endure all of this?
Just thinking about it, I feel it would be better to just die!
Everyone's hair stood on end and they almost forgot to breathe. After a moment, they all struggled to get up from the benches and knelt in front of Zhang Heming, vying to explain the whole story.

After listening for half a day, Zhang Heming finally understood the whole thing.

Needless to say, Du Ruian, who relied on the fact that he had read several books and was a student, liked to point fingers at everything. He also had some complaints about the Wufu Workshop, thinking that it did not do enough good deeds.

But for Jiang Yihe, things are very complicated.

Previously, he tried to sell his daughter to someone else as a concubine but was secretly stopped by Xia Mingyue, which resulted in him losing some money. In addition, after the incident was exposed, his reputation was ruined and he lost his qualification to take the imperial examination. He blamed all his resentment on Xia Mingyue.

He came to Changzhou City this time to find an opportunity to take revenge. He happened to meet Du Ruian, who was dissatisfied with Wufu Workshop, and intended to win him over and make Du Ruian work for him.

Last night, they all gathered together to discuss how to deal with Xia Mingyue and Wufu Workshop. After a whole night of discussion, they initially decided on a plan of action.

As for Wu Fu Workshop, they planned to demand an explanation from the workshop on the grounds that they fell into a coma after eating the tofu dregs sold by the workshop, in order to ruin its reputation.

As for Xia Mingyue, they were going to spread rumors that Xia Mingyue used the excuse of setting up the Wufu Workshop to embezzle and enrich herself, and that Xia Mingyue looked dignified and virtuous on the surface, but in fact she was filthy inside and had affairs with many men...

The more Zhang Heming listened, the more his brows furrowed.

The rumor that the tofu dregs from Wu Fu Workshop were improper was quite easy to resolve. They invited a doctor to investigate, and with the testimony of many people who bought tofu dregs on a daily basis, there was nothing wrong with the workshop's reputation, so it was naturally cleared.

But spreading rumors about Xia Mingyue's corruption and adultery... this kind of thing is the most difficult to deal with.

People who hear such rumors will not subconsciously ask the person who spread the rumors what evidence he has. Instead, they will subconsciously ask the person who is surrounded by the rumors for evidence to prove his innocence.

It is the most difficult to prove these two things by oneself, and even if many people come out to testify that Xia Mingyue did not do these two things, when it is mentioned by others in the future, they will still say something like "a fly doesn't bite an egg without cracks" and "this matter is probably based on some shadow".

It is like dropping a drop of ink into a bowl of clear water. No matter how you remedy it, the water will not be as clear as it was at the beginning.

Jiang Yihe and others spread rumors and slander in this way, which can be said to be forcing Xia Mingyue to death!
Not to mention that Xia Mingyue has done a lot for the entire Changzhou city. Even if she is an ordinary woman, justice must be done for her and those evil people who have evil intentions and spread rumors to cause trouble must be severely punished!
Since these people still have the energy to curse and beat each other in the torture room of the government office, it means that they have no place to use their energy. So they should go and do labor to dig wells and repair river embankments, and never come back again!

When they learned that they would have to do hard labor for the rest of their lives, they were so disheartened that they almost fainted. Jiang Yihe, on the other hand, struggled and shouted, "Sir, I am the father of Jiang Zhuguo, the manager of Xia Ji. Please allow me to see Jiang Zhuguo for the last time!"

As long as he could still meet Jiang Zhuguo, he was confident that he could use his eloquence to convince Jiang Zhuguo to pay money to get him out of here!
As long as Jiang Zhuguo opened her mouth, Xia Mingyue would definitely nod because she loved Jiang Zhuguo. Then Zhang Heming would naturally not pursue any responsibility for Xia Mingyue's sake.

Therefore, he must meet Jiang Zhuguo.

Jiang Zhuguo's father?

Zhang Heming was stunned.

He had some dealings with Jiang Zhuguo and knew that Jiang Zhuguo was a capable and sensible woman, second only to Xia Mingyue in terms of talent among women. Moreover, she had good character and a kind heart, and was admired by everyone in Xia's company.

How could such a person like Jiang Zhuguo have a father like Jiang Yihe?
If this is the case, then the daughter that Jiang Yihe just mentioned, who tried to be sold to someone else as a concubine but was saved by Xia Mingyue, must be Jiang Zhuguo.

No wonder Jiang Zhuguo works so hard at Xia Ji and is not shaken by anything or any reason.

Zhang Heming finally understood this, and after thinking for a moment, he finally sent someone to inform Jiang Zhuguo.

It took time for the yamen runners to go back and forth, so Jiang Yihe was naturally not taken to the prison immediately.

During this period of waiting, Jiang Yihe was nervous, but he kept comforting himself.

After all, he is Jiang Zhuguo's biological father. Jiang Zhuguo is kind-hearted and considerate of family ties, so he will definitely not sit idly by. Although he did think of selling Jiang Zhuguo at the time, that was many years ago, and Jiang Zhuguo probably has almost forgotten it...

After waiting for a long time, until the sun rose to mid-sky, Jiang Yihe finally saw the return of the yamen runner.

After taking a glance at Jiang Yihe, the yamen runner said loudly to Zhang Heming, "Sir, Madam Jiang said that she had severed her relationship with Jiang Yihe a few years ago, and Jiang Yihe has also signed a severance agreement. Everyone in the family can testify to this, so Madam Jiang has no father and no mother." (End of this chapter)