Chapter 354: Chapter 78: Strangulation
“When did you start contacting Shangguan Xiao?”
“…During the thirty-ninth year of Hongguang, in May, I don’t remember the exact day.”
“How did you make contact?”
“…I hadn’t graduated from Wuda yet, I remember that day I went to a social club party, had a few drinks, and was a bit drunk. Then someone suddenly approached me, and I thought he was some young master trying to befriend me.”
“Then we started chatting, and he told me that he understood me, knew that I was someone very ambitious and capable, but my status in the Zhang Family doomed me to a life as at most a Ninth Level Subordinate Official. Ha, he was damn right!”
“He asked me to talk privately, and we found a teahouse. He said he was from Xing City and that he could help me. Of course, I didn’t trust him that easily, but he left me a bottle of Elixir, a very high-quality one, which I couldn’t get a few of even in a month at the Zhangs.
Later, I had the Elixir tested, and indeed it was genuine, no problems at all. After I finished the bottle, the same person came back and gave me another bottle. I asked him who he really was and what he wanted. He said I’d only earn the right to know once I had grown.”
“For the next two years, not only did he provide me with the resources necessary for Martial Arts Cultivation regularly, but he also helped me complete the tasks from Wuda, allowing me to earn Academic Points more easily. I graduated from Wuda at least three years ahead of schedule! This got my family’s attention, and they soon placed me directly in the Zhi Ge General Hospital.”
“Then the man finally confessed his identity. He said he was my aunt’s business partner, which meant Shangguan Xiao. That was when I found out I even had an aunt, and she was a potentate at the Tao Foundation Stage.
The man roughly explained the grievances of the past. He said the younger generation of the Zhang family lacked capable members, with no Tao Foundation Stage strongmen; Shangguan Xiao was the most promising candidate to take over. They favored her and chose to collaborate. As for me, I was their chosen partner from within the Zhang family.”
“Then with the help of my aunt and her partner, I climbed step by step, eventually becoming the Fourth Level Execution Officer in the Zhi Ge General Hospital, even in charge of the Elixir distribution…”
“During this period, did you ever meet Shangguan Xiao?”
“I never met her in person but had phone conversations and corresponded through letters. Before the Family Head decided to use family resources to help my aunt assume the position of Chief at Xing City’s Zhi Ge Court, my aunt wrote to me about it in advance. She said we had been preparing for so many years, and now the opportunity had come!”
“When did you start planning to kill the Family Head, Zhang Zongyang?”
“I actually didn’t know about my aunt’s plan to kill the Family Head!”
“My aunt only asked me to find a way to replace a painting hanging in the Family Head’s study; I had no idea she meant to harm him!”
“After that, when the news of the Family Head’s sudden death came back, I realized that the painting was a trigger, definitely some kind of tool used against the Family Head. At that point, people were already dead, could I possibly wash my hands of this? I called my aunt and questioned her, but she just said that it was her great opportunity to return to the Zhang family. She then instructed me to pretend that I didn’t know her at all, not to give away any signs, or it would bring disaster upon me!”
“Have you investigated the allies you teamed up with Shangguan Xiao? Do you know who those people are?”
“…I’m not a fool. After so many years of cooperation, how could I not investigate? I know those people back there might likely be Western spies.”
“They plotted against your Zhang family’s head, nearly cost your family a lot, and you weren’t afraid it was a conspiracy?”
“I was scared at first, and I did suspect it. But later, when my aunt came back, she helped our Zhang family weather the crisis step by step. Now isn’t the Zhang family doing well again? Moreover, in the future, the Zhang family will be completely under my aunt’s control, and I will become the Family Head!”
“Is this the promise Shangguan Xiao gave you?”
“Yes, her identity isn’t suitable to become the public face of the Zhang family’s head, so in the future, the public head will be me. That was also the agreement we made at the beginning of our collaboration.”
“Besides letters and phone calls, do you have another way to confirm that the person you’re cooperating with is Shangguan Xiao?”
“Of course, she opened a Qingyuan Fist Village in Xing City; some people there have met me, and they are her confidants. After I became an Execution Officer, I even supplied quite a few resources to Qingyuan Fist Village, all of which I have detailed records of.”
“Did you keep a card up your sleeve in case she crossed the river and demolished the bridge?”
“Is the Green-faced Ghost from the Western spy side?”
“I don’t know about this one; this person suddenly appeared, and I have never been able to trace his background.”
The Inspector General of the Inspection General Office, Qu Xun, walked out of the interrogation room a bit weary.
This case was so significant that even he, the Inspector General, came to personally listen to the interrogation of Zhang Shiwei.
To avoid any suspicion, the interrogation of Zhang Shiwei by the Inspection General Office was held fully “transparently” with officials from the Inspection General Bureau, Zhi Ge General Hospital, Righteous Law General Institute, and the Government Affairs Building all sent to watch.
After the interrogation had ended, several high-level officials from Datong Prefecture gathered for a short meeting.