I inherited my grandfather's Tang Dynasty assets.

Chapter 36 The Truth About the Blood Child Case Revealed

Master Yuming stared at Fan Tao with a livid face, his expression filled with anger.

Fan Tao looked at him and snorted coldly.

"Then you'll have to ask the real person. It was you who refused to go to the government office with me."

After saying that, she ignored him and looked at the mute girl, whose face had turned ashen.

"Dumb girl, this is Fan Tao, the magistrate of Wannian County. He just returned from Wuli Temple outside the city half an hour ago."

Upon hearing this, the mute girl subconsciously looked up at him, then quickly lowered her head again.

"Even now, you still refuse to confess? In that case, let this county magistrate speak for you."

Fan Tao took a deep breath, glanced down, and spoke in a clear, resonant voice.

Five years ago, Yang Wanli, a famous silk merchant in Chang'an, was so audacious that he poisoned the silk he supplied to the palace and sold inferior goods as superior ones. As a result, more than thirty members of his family were executed.

Many of you here should be aware of this matter.

"That's right, I used to often buy clothes from his fabric shop."

It was only five years ago, not long ago. Moreover, the execution of more than thirty members of the family was a rare occurrence since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, and many people have a deep impression of it.

Hu Shanren seemed to have thought of something, and stared intently at the mute girl.

"As for Hu Shanren, he was a good friend of Yang Wanli. After that, he succeeded him as the new imperial silk merchant. Although this county does not know the specific relationship between this woman and Yang Wanli, she must be a member of the Yang family."

She didn't know why she escaped the calamity of that year, and blamed all the mistakes on Hu Gong. So three years ago, she plotted to take advantage of Hu Gong's kindness and faint at his doorstep.

Because of her excellent cooking skills, she successfully infiltrated the Hu family and became a cook. She disguised herself as a mute and used the alias "Dumb Girl". She worked hard and made everyone believe her. However, Hu Gong was unaware that he had let a wolf into the house. Dumb Girl was waiting for an opportunity to avenge the Yang family.

But could a woman really accomplish that? Every year thereafter, she would sign up for the Ascension Ceremony, and that's how she met the Jade Emperor.

As the Ascension Ceremony declined year by year, Master Yuming was extremely anxious. He wanted more people to believe and pay money to participate. So, the two of them, one seeking revenge and the other seeking fame, conspired to stage this horrifying Blood Child Reaper murder.

Using his identity as a Taoist priest, Master Yuming secretly provided the mute girl with pollen from the Manjusaka flower, a substance used by Taoist priests in alchemy and cultivation, which has a strong hallucinogenic effect.

More than a month ago, the mute girl began her revenge plan by putting datura pollen in the food of the two young masters, causing them to often fall into hallucinations.

He then used the excuse of cleaning the room to subtly manipulate them with words, and used a paper figure to impersonate the Blood Child, making it difficult for the two of them to distinguish between reality and illusion.

The servants of the Hu family said that during that period, the two young masters' temperaments changed drastically, and they would often curse and beat people, which proved to be true.

The mute girl knew that the greatest revenge for Hu Gong was not to kill him, but to kill his two most prized sons, making the Hu family line end completely and letting him experience the pain of a white-haired man burying his black-haired son. That would be the most satisfying way to vent her hatred.

So, the day after Hu Gong's sixtieth birthday, she took action. In addition to the pollen of the datura flower, she added another drug, causing the two of them to experience unbearable itching while they were hallucinating.

In a fit of terror, he kept scratching his chest, oblivious to the blood and gore he was covered in, and eventually died suddenly.

Having avenged her great grudge, she left the Hu family under the pretext of searching for her relatives. These days she has been hiding in the Wulipu mass grave outside the city, where the former Yang family members are buried.

Half an hour ago, the county magistrate led a group there and found that someone had just performed a ritual in that area. Since the ascension ceremony is about to begin, the mute girl is coming to perform a final prayer for the Yang family before committing suicide to join them in death.

After saying all this in one breath, Fan Tao slowly looked at the mute girl, his gaze full of complex emotions.

"Dumb girl, is there any error in what I said? Unused datura pollen and the white paper figure were found in your room. The evidence is complete."

These words shocked everyone present; no one had expected the truth to be like this.

Master Yuming's calm demeanor vanished, replaced by intense emotion.

"Your Honor, how can you make baseless accusations without any evidence? I don't even know this woman! How can you claim she was an accomplice?"

"shut up!"

Fan Tao suddenly shouted and pointed at Master Yuming.

"Now that things have come to this, you still dare to spout such clever words! Otherwise, where would her pollen come from? And why did you say you captured the Blood Child?"

"Hahaha……"

The mute girl suddenly burst into wild laughter, but her face was covered in tears. A moment later, she looked at Hu Shanren with a face full of resentment.

"You old scoundrel! How does it feel to lose your son? That's right, my real name is Yang Xi'er, and Yang Wanli, whom you killed, was my father!"

"You, you are Yang Wanli's daughter? How come I didn't know?"

Hu Shanren glared at her through gritted teeth. Even Fan Tao was stunned. His daughter was Yang Wanli's closest relative. Why would he have missed her?

"You naturally don't know that because my mother almost died during childbirth, the fortune teller said that my fate was incompatible with my parents' and that I could only be brought home after I turned 20."

Therefore, my father sent me to live outside Chang'an, claiming that I had died young. My parents would visit me twice a year, for a month each time. I was just one month away from turning 20 and returning home.

If it weren't for you, you old scoundrel, colluding with that corrupt official of the Imperial Wardrobe to frame my father, how could my family of over thirty people have been killed?

You covet my father's status as a royal merchant, and you want your two sons to become officials through the imperial examinations? I'll make sure your wish comes true! I'll make sure your Hu family line ends in extinction! I'll make them ghosts! Hahaha…”

"You, you're actually Yang Wanli's third daughter? You're still alive!"

Hu Shanren collapsed to the ground, muttering in disbelief, looking utterly dejected.

Seeing him like this, the mute girl felt very relieved and looked at Fan Tao.

"Your Excellency, you are absolutely right. This scoundrel is no good either. He devised this revenge plan against me in order to make more people believe in his ascension ceremony."

He wanted to use the deaths of the old scoundrel's two sons to make his ascension ceremony famous.

However, what you said is not complete. Even with his help, I alone could not have done it. It is this old scoundrel who brought this upon himself.

Back then, his eldest daughter clearly had a man she loved, but he disliked him because he was a poor scholar, and forcibly separated the couple. In order to curry favor with officials, he forced her to marry a man she did not like.

Hu Wenyu had long harbored resentment, and when I found out, I took advantage of this and told him that I could help her vent her anger. Without her help, this plan would never have been able to proceed so smoothly.

Unfortunately, Hu Wenyu was also a fool. She never dreamed that I would kill her two younger brothers directly. She had no way to express her bitterness. Hahaha, you all deserve to die! You all deserve to die!

At this moment, the mute girl was no different from a madwoman.

"Yu'er, Yu'er was involved too?"

The mute girl's last words were the final straw that broke the camel's back, completely destroying Hu Shanren. He pointed at the mute girl, his body trembling violently, and with a "pfft," he vomited a large amount of blood and fainted.

"Come here! Seize this Master Yuming and throw him in jail! Ma Feng, immediately send men to the Hu family to arrest Hu Wenyu!"